A group of young men from Illinois trooped to Leavenworth, Kansas in September of 1861 to join a Union Cavalry regiment. There was no hint at the outset that the 7th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry would quickly become one of the more notorious regiments of the Civil War, the Kansas Jayhawkers. Webster W. Moses, a young teacher, was among the 85 from Wyanet, Illinois, who formed Company D of the 7th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The regiment began raiding and plundering and killing "Secesh" sympathizers in Missouri. Soon Washington was threatening to disband the regiment, or send it west to control...