While I have lived in Texas for nearly 50 years, I was born and grew to an adult in Kansas. When I tell someone of my origins, they almost always respond in one of two ways: “I have been there but I don’t remember much about it” or “that 400 mile drive across the state on Interstate 70 is really boring.” There is more to the state than that.
Kansas achieved statehood in 1861, but it was far from civilized. Until about the 1890s the region was a frontier and at the center of important events in US history: there was the westward movement of pioneers from Europe and the eastern US and the subsequent conflicts with Native Americans; the Santa Fe Trail and Pony Express both crossed the state; there were border wars because Kansas was a free state and a center of the abolitionist movement, whereas neighboring Missouri was a slave state; and finally the several Kansas railheads were the destinations of cattle drives from Texas. Each trackable in this series of metal travel bugs is named for towns with interesting histories (at least to me), some of which have connections to my youth.
Abilene is the seat of Dickenson County. First settled in 1858, it was named by Timothy and Eliza Hersey from a passage in the Bible, meaning "city of the plains." The first terminus of, and later a station on, the Butterfield Overland Stage Line, the Hersey's secured a contract with the company to feed the passengers and employees. The establishment, consisting of two log houses, a log stable and corral for horses, advertised to the west-bound traveler: "the last square meal east of Denver."
The town retained a sleepy existence until a livestock dealer from Illinois, named Joseph G. McCoy saw Abilene as the perfect place for a railhead from which to ship cattle. The city soon filled with not only cowboys, but also gamblers, outlaws, and prostitutes. By 1870, it had become so lawless, that Abilene hired its first marshal, Thomas Smith, whose first official act was to issue an order that no one would be allowed to carry firearms within the city limits without a permit. However, before the year ended, Smith was killed trying to arrest two accused murderers. The town began to build a stone jail, but about the time the walls were up, a band of cowboys tore them down.
Tom Smith's successor as a city marshal was the famous Wild Bill Hickok, who was already well known before he came to Abilene, for deadly marksmanship and gunfighting skills. Appointed on April 15, 1871, Wild Bill at first tended to routine business, using his deadly twin pistols to prevent a number of murders and destruction of property throughout the town. Early on, Hickok ran into the likes of outlaw John Wesley Hardin, who Hickok actually befriended until Hardin shot a man and fled Abilene.
Hickock spent most of his time in the Alamo Saloon, the center of the town's wild life, and was not too friendly with the "upstanding” citizens of Abilene. Instead, he spent more time at the gaming tables and with the ladies of the evening than he did taking care of his duties. He moderated gunplay with his reputation, otherwise he made little other attempts to "clean up” the town.
However, on October 5, 1871, Wild Bill heard shots near the Alamo Saloon. He discovered a man named Phil Coe had shot at a dog that had tried to bite him. Hickok explained to Coe that firearms were not allowed in the city. For whatever reasons, Coe shot at Hickok. Hickok returned the fire and shot Coe twice in the stomach. Then, Hickok heard footsteps coming up behind him and turning swiftly, he fired again and killed Deputy Mike Williams. Coe died three days later.
By this time, Abilene had had enough. The city fathers told the Texans there could be no more cattle drives through their town and two months later, dismissed Hickok as city marshal. It was the last big year for Abilene, as more than 40,000 head of cattle were shipped out by rail. New railheads were by then built to Newton, Wichita and Ellsworth, becoming the favored shipping points. During its four year reign, over 3 million head of cattle were driven up the Chisholm Trail and shipped from Abilene. With the cowboys gone, the town quieted down into a peaceful, law-abiding community.
Abilene could make another claim to fame when future President Dwight D. Eisenhower's family moved there from Denison, Texas in 1892. Eisenhower attended both elementary and high school in the city and always called it "home." When he died, it became his final resting place, along with his wife, Mamie, and one son.
Aside from driving through the city I have no history with Abilene. However, my great-great-great grandfather was the first commissioner of Dickinson County before he settled two counties west. While he was away on business, his first wife and infant son died from exposure in the woods behind their cabin while seeking refuge from marauding Indians. Their burial site is in the southern part of the county. It is surrounded by a cultivated field, but there is a modest stone fence and a marker erected by her descendants.