What should we call me kansas

That tension helped lead to the Civil War in , the same year that Kansas became a state. Today some Kansans call themselves Jayhawkers. Before the Civil War, the term actually referred to Kansan bands of robbers. But once the war started, many Jayhawkers enlisted to fight in support of the Union in the North and the abolition of slavery.

Kansas' nickname, the Sunflower State, comes from the fields of sunflowers that bloom here. These flowers are grown for their seeds and oil. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska in the north, Missouri in the east, Oklahoma in the south, and Colorado in the west. Gentle hills with pastures and forests can be found in the northeast. This area is called the Dissected Till Plains. The land here was cut or dissected into hills and valleys by moving glaciers and wind over , years ago.

South are the Southeastern Plains. Kansas' western half is covered by the Great Plains, which rise in elevation as you continue west toward the Rocky Mountains.

Nine-banded armadillos, black-tailed jackrabbits , plains pocket gophers, and least shrews are common in Kansas. Reptiles include prairie king snakes, western worm snakes, prairie lizards, and Great Plains skinks. In the northeast part of the state, cedar, maple, oak, and walnut trees grow. Cottonwood, the state tree, crops up throughout the state.

But Kansas is covered in a lot of grass: the west grows buffalo grass; the Southeastern Plains have bluestem grass, switch grass, and Indian grass; and the Great Plains grow bluegrass.

Common wildflowers include sunflowers, verbena, purple coneflower, prairie phlox, and prickly poppy. A general store, jail, and schoolhouse are all on display. William E. Connelly, author of History of Kansas , explained a possible source for the nickname. It was accepted by some of the Kansas soldiers, and soon came to be the name by which all of them were known.

It now includes all Kansas people. The origin of the name is unknown, that given by Wilder and Ingalls being erroneous. The name was in use in Texas and the West many years before Kansas was a territory. Wilder, in his Annals of Kansas , said "One morning, in this year , Pat. Devlin, a Free-State Irishman, rode into Osawatomie on a horse heavily laden with many kind of goods. We have a bird in Ireland, we call the jayhawk; it worries its prey before devouring it' and jayhawking is a good name for the business I've been in.

Colonel Jennison, early in the war, called himself and his soldiers Jayhawkers, and the name soon came to be applied to all Kansans. Professor Frank W. The myth had its rise in the characters of two birds that frequent the Missouri Valley, namely the blue jay, a noisy, quarrelsome robber. Just when, where and by whom the names of the two birds were joined in 'Jayhawk,' and applied to human beings, no one knows. However, it is known that the term 'Jayhawk' originated in the home territory of these birds somewhere between Texas and Nebraska.

It is known that it was applied to an overland company of gold seekers on their way through Nebraska to California. It was applied to Jennison's band of freebooters, to Montgomery's rangers, to Missouri guerilla bands of border ruffians, and finally, in a general way, to the free-soilers of Kansas.