In August 1862, Senator James H. Lane started to recruit runaway slaves and free blacks for the First Kansas (colored) Regiment. The new recruits, attacked while training in boot camp, were the first blacks to engage confederates, suffer causalities and taste victory. At Honey Springs, Indian Territory, the First Kansas (colored) created history one day before the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts gained its fame July 18 at Battery Wagner, South Carolina. “The First Kansas (colored) particularly distinguished itself…bravery I have never seen surpassed;” Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt, U.S.Army, commanding District of the Frontier. “Too much praise cannot be awarded…in the face of superior numbers, flushed with victory.” Brig. Gen Douglas H. Cooper, C.S.Army, commanding Confederate forces. “Each seemed to vie with the other…under the most galling fire.” Lieut. Col. John Bowles, First Kansas Colored Infantry. All maps produced and annotated by Alvin G. Keezee