Last Stand at Rebel Creek: The Osage as Union Allies in Civil War Kansas
presented by Isaias McCaffery
88th Annual Meeting of the Members of the Franklin County Historical Society
Saturday, January 25, 2025, 2 p.m.
In person: FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 E Logan St, Ottawa, KS 66067
Online: Click Here to Register for Zoom Access
As conflicts between states increased during the Civil War, both the Union and the Confederacy tried to use the Osage to achieve their own aims. Initially divided over how their people should respond in the face of escalating struggles, the Osage eventually emerged as important allies of the Union forces, thwarting an 1863 Confederate expedition tasked with reviving Southern resistance in Colorado and New Mexico territories. Isaias McCaffery will explore the Osage contributions to the Union cause in Kansas during the Civil War.
“Last Stand at Rebel Creek: The Osage as Union Allies in Civil War Kansas” is the featured program during the 88th Annual Meeting of the Members of the Franklin County Historical Society. The meeting will open at 2 p.m. with a review of 2024 and a preview of 2025, with a short intermission before Isaias McCaffery’s presentation, which will begin at approximately 2:30 p.m.
Isaias McCaffery is Professor of History at Independence Community College, where he has served on the faculty for 23 years. He earned a Ph.D. in History from the University of Kansas, and his primary research interests focus on immigrant, ethnic, and minority communities on the Central Plains. He is a past President of the Kansas Association of Historians [KAH], and a board member of the Independence Historical Museum. In 2024, McCaffery was awarded the Edgar Langsdorf Award of Excellence by the Kansas State Historical Foundation for his article, “Mashers, Dudes, and Street Loafers: The Harassment of Kansas Women in Late-Nineteenth Century Public Spaces,” which was published in Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains.
The program will be held in person at the FCHS Archives & Research Center or online via Zoom.
“Last Stand at Rebel Creek: The Osage as Union Allies in Civil War Kansas” is part of Humanities Kansas’s Speakers Bureau and “21st Century Civics,” a collection of resources that invite Kansans to participate in community discussions and learn more about the history of American democracy and the shared responsibilities of citizenship. “21st Century Civics” is made possible with support from “A More Perfect Union: America at 250,” an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Background Image:
- Mitchell’s sectional map of Kansas, 1859, available through the Library of Congress.
