LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) A hotel development project in downtown Lawrence might solve a historical mystery dating to the early 1900s.
City officials say they are likely to ask for test excavations at a proposed hotel site to look for evidence that several black soldiers killed in Quantrill’s Raid are buried there.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports a 1903 master’s thesis by a University of Kansas student contends the soldiers were buried there, but historians haven’t been able to corroborate the claim.
Kansas state archaeologist Robert Hoard asked City Manager David Corliss in March to consider allowing him to do test excavations at the site before any development occurred.
A spokesman for the project’s development group said he was open to discussing the issue with city officials.
