TOPEKA — A group dedicated to Kansas history plans a three-day celebration in Topeka next month to mark the 150th anniversary of the formation of the first unit of black soldiers to go into battle during the Civil War. The Kansas Fever Committee will honor the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was formed in 1862 by controversial U.S. Senator. Jim Lane of Kansas in defiance of the federal government. The unit went into its first battle in Bates County, Mo., in October 1862. That was nine months before the battle of Fort Wagner, in South Carolina, involving the better-known 54th Massachusetts Infantry, subject of the 1989 film, “Glory.” The 1st took part in several battles in and around Kansas and received the heaviest number of casualties of any Kansas military unit in the civil war.
Tuesday, July 10, 1 p.m.