a military base. Hunting was a popular pastime; according to Captain Swords, "wolf chasing and duck hunting" was the only way one officer could tolerate the place. Bleeding Kansas Two years after the army abandoned the fort, the buildings were sold by auction to civilians, with two being converted to hotels. In 1854 the Kansas–Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had kept slavery out of Kansas. Missourians in favor of slavery soon moved to Kansas to try to sway the vote of whether or not Kansas would permit slavery. Settlers from New England arrived equally determined to keep it out. Each of the two competing factions of the Bleeding Kansas conflict claimed one of the hotels at Fort Scott: Free-Soil at the Fort Scott Hotel and Pro-Slavery at the Western Hotel. Most of the residents in Fort Scott supported slavery, but those outside the town tended to the free-soil side. During this time, there were local incidents of murder and attempted arson, typical elements of the guerrilla conflicts that were prevalent in the fighting. Army returns During the American Civil War, the fort was renewed as a US military post. In August 1861, the Union Army took command of Fort Scott, and readied it for the war times. The United States Army also took over several blocks within the town for commissary and quartermaster functions. The Union Army rented the properties from the current civilian owners. Troops from Indiana, Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, and Wisconsin would come to the fort, and either stayed by the fort, or traveled farther, to subjugate Missouri, Arkansas, or the Indian Territory. Fort Scott was one of the few installations that recruited and trained black soldiers for the United States Colored Troops of the Union Army. A major supply depot was situated at the fort. Confederate general Sterling Price hoped to capture the town, but the closest the Confederate force came to the garrison was away at Battle of Dry Wood Creek. The site was strategically important as it was within a Southern-sympathizing area and close to the Confederate state of Arkansas and the "unstable" Indian Territory (present-day state of Oklahoma), where many of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes were allied with the Confederates. The fort served as a "general hospital" (large military hospital) and prison until after the war. Following the end of the war, in October 1865 the US