Established and garrisoned by the U.S. Army from 1842 to 1853, soldiers at Fort Scott assisted with the protection of the permanent Indian Frontier. After the army abandoned the fort in 1853, the buildings were purchased by local settlers at a government auction in 1855. Between 1855 and 1861, the citizens of Fort Scott experienced the violent unrest that preceded the American Civil War on the Kansas and Missouri border. Eastern newspapers described this violence as "Bleeding Kansas", a result of the national controversy concerning the extension of slavery into the new territories. Murder, mayhem, robbery, and arson were committed by bold free-state and pro-slavery advocates in the name of their cause. On January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the union as a free state, but the turmoil of "Bleeding Kansas" continued throughout the Civil War. During the Civil War, Fort Scott was a U.S Army district Headquarters, quartermaster supply depot, training center, and recruitment station. It was strategically vital to the defense of Kansas and the Midwest. A battle over the fort occurred in August 1861 just across the Missouri line in the Battle of Dry Wood Creek. The battle was a pro-South victory for General Sterling Price and his Missouri State Guard. Price did not hold the fort and instead continued a northern push into Missouri in an attempt to recapture the state. General James H. Lane (a United States senator from Kansas)launched a Jayhawker offensive behind Price from Fort Scott that led to the Sacking of Osceola.
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