Discover the life of a man who helped shape the history of Kansas and the United States, through firsthand accounts of life on the Kansas frontier, Civil War combat and behind-the-scenes politics of the 19th Century as a United States Senator. Whether it was running guns to make Kansas a free state, founding the town of Emporia, Kansas as a teenager, or serving with distinction along the Kansas-Missouri border and the territory of present-day Wyoming as a Union cavalry officer, Preston B. Plumb put himself in the very crossroads of American history over and over. In the style of narrative history, you will learn about this incredible man's exciting life, a life lost to history for over a century, as told in his own words, as well as through interviews and stories of the people who knew him. "Preston B. Plumb is unquestionably the most important United States Senator who you have never heard of. This superb biography will, for the first time in over a century, document a life fully and well lived, which directly influenced the growth and development of the western states of our republic." --Douglas R. Cubbison, Curator, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania