![]() Membership in the group was fluid and some of the men went on to serve in the 7th Kansas Cavalry or other regular army commands and state militias. The Red Legs were a somewhat secretive organization of about 50 to 100 ardent abolitionists who were hand selected for harsh duties along the border. The Red Legs were never officially mustered into the Union Army and there are no formal unit histories however, their deeds along the border became notorious among Missourians and notable among Kansans. The men who joined the group called themselves the Red Legged Scouts and their stated purpose was to serve as scouts and spies for the Union Army. Hoyt, a Massachusetts lawyer who defended John Brown at his trial after the Harpers Ferry Raid. The Red Legs first joined together near Atchison, Kansas, under the command of Charles R. Lane were all supporters of the group, and Kansas Governor Thomas Carney personally financed it for service. Union Generals Thomas Ewing, James Blunt, and Senator James H. Although the name “Red Legs” is commonly conflated with the term “ jayhawkers” to describe Kansas guerilla units that fought for the Free-State side during the Bleeding Kansas era or the Union side in the Civil War, Red Legs originally referred to a specific paramilitary outfit that organized in Kansas at the height of the Civil War. ![]()
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