The Person:
From Wikipedia entry on Samuel Crawford:
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"Samuel Johnson Crawford (April 10, 1835 – October 21, 1913) was an American Civil War General in the Union armies, and the third Governor of Kansas (1865–1868). He also served as one of the first members of the Kansas Legislature.
Crawford was born in Lawrence County, Indiana and grew up on a farm while he attended school in Bedford, Indiana. He later attended law school at Cincinnati College. His parents were William and Jane (Morrow) Crawford, who were natives of North Carolina and had moved to Indiana Territory in 1815. His paternal grandparents were James and Mary (Fraser) Crawford, his grandfather having been a Revolutionary soldier.
Samuel J. Crawford arrived in Kansas Territory and began the practice of law at Garnett, Kansas on March 1, 1859. In May of the same year of his arrival he attended the Osawatomie Convention and participated in the organization of the Republican Party in Kansas. In September of the same year he was a delegate to the Republican state convention at Topeka, which placed in nomination state officers under the Wyandotte Constitution.
In November 1859, he was elected a member of the first state Legislature, and assisted in putting the state government into operation.
Toward the close of the first session the country was involved in war. He resigned his legislative seat to become captain in the 2nd Kansas Infantry. He participated in the 1861 Southwest Missouri campaign led by General Lyon, and took part in all the engagements, including the crucial Battle of Wilson's Creek. In March 1862, Crawford was assigned command of Company A, 2nd Kansas Cavalry, and later commanded of a battalion in the same regiment.
With the 2nd Kansas Cavalry he was with General James G. Blunt in Southwest Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Territory until early in the fall of 1862. During that time he participated in the battles of Newtonia, Old Fort Wayne, Cane Hill, Bald Peak, Cove Creek, Prairie Grove and Van Buren. At Old Fort Wayne he led his battalion in the charge which resulted in the capture of an entire battery of artillery.
On March 12, 1863, he was assigned command of the 2nd Kansas Cavalry and soon afterward joined Blunt at Fort Gibson for an expedition south through the Choctaw Nation. This campaign ended with the taking of Fort Smith, Arkansas and Colonel Crawford was instrumental in capturing a number of prisoners, wagons, horses, a Confederate paymaster and $40,000 of Confederate money.
In November 1863, he was appointed colonel of the 2nd Kansas (Colored) Infantry (later the 83rd U.S. Colored Troops). His regiment participated in the Camden Expedition and performed admirably in the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry where it relieved an Indiana regiment and captured a rebel artillery battery consisting of three guns. In March 1864, he joined General Frederick Steele on an expedition to the Red River under the general command of General Nathaniel Banks. At Jenkins Ferry his command lost heavily and his own horse was shot.
While still in active service, on September 8, 1864, Crawford was nominated for governor of Kansas. On October 1 he was granted a leave of absence, the first he had had since entering the service at the beginning of the war. However, on arriving in Kansas learned of Price's Missouri Raid. Instead of entering the canvass for office, he at once reported to and was assigned to the staff of General Samuel R. Curtis. For meritorious services on the field of battle he was brevetted Brigadier General on March 13, 1865.
On November 8, 1864, he was elected governor, and on January 9, 1865 took the oath of office; On September 5, 1866 he became the first person to be re-elected governor of Kansas.
Governor Crawford resigned on November 4, 1868 to take command of the 19th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry which was to join the 7th United States Cavalry in the Custer-Sheridan Winter Campaign of 1868–69.
After retiring from the governorship Crawford was in the real estate business at Emporia, Kansas until 1876, when he moved to Topeka to undertake the prosecution of certain claims against the United States for indemnity school lands, and in this he rendered much aid to Kansas. Subsequently, he moved to Washington, DC, and practiced law there for a number of years. Among other activities Crawford published Kansas in the '60s, a work which attracted much attention as a picture of conditions in early Kansas history.
On December 1, 1870 he formed the Florence Town Company. It was a group of men who learned of the proposed route of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway who decided on a town site where the railroad would cross the Cottonwood River. He named the town, Florence, in honor of his daughter.
Samuel J. Crawford is the namesake of Crawford County, Kansas.[2] Many cities in Kansas also have streets named after Crawford."
The Place:
From the Wikipedia page for Ceawford County, Kansas:
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"Crawford County (county code CR) is a county located in Southeast Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 39,134.[1] Its county seat is Girard, and its most populous city is Pittsburg. The county was named in honor of Samuel J. Crawford, Governor of Kansas.
Located in the Osage Cuestas and Cherokee Lowlands, it lies halfway between Kansas City, Missouri and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Crawford County, and much of southeast Kansas, was founded on coal mining, the Pittsburg-Weir Coalfield being located here, and is still known for mining today. Pittsburg State University is located in Crawford County.
In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1867, Crawford County was established (formed from Bourbon County and Cherokee County). It is named for Samuel J. Crawford, who was the governor in office at the time of the county's establishment.
In the early 20th century, Crawford County was often referred to as the "Little Balkans". It was also the site of a number of illegal bootlegging operations, most of which were organized by immigrants so as to supplement their meager earnings as strip miners. During his governorship, Walter R. Stubbs (the 18th governor of Kansas) made it his mission to stamp out this practice. According to the criminal justice scholar Ken Peak, "The [Little] Balkans drove [Stubbs] absolutely nuts. He had his hands full and sent people down to the Balkans to clean it up". Despite this immense crack down, however, the governor was unable to eradicate the crime completely from the area.
On Sunday, May 4, 2003, a strong and violent F4 tornado touched down in western Crawford County, several miles west of Frontenac at around 4:40 p.m. The tornado remained on the ground throughout Crawford County until it entered neighboring Barton County, Missouri—traveling a total of 35 miles (56 km) and ending near Liberal, Missouri. The towns of Ringo, Franklin, and Mulberry, all in Crawford County, were devastated. The tornado cut a path of destruction roughly one quarter mile wide. Several F4 and F5 tornadoes hit Kansas, Missouri, and several other states that day, including the Kansas City metropolitan area. Six deaths were reported in Kansas, and Governor Sebelius declared much of eastern and southeastern Kansas a disaster area, including Crawford County."
The Courthouse:
From the Crawford County Courthouse Wikipedia page:
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"The Crawford County Courthouse in Girard, Kansas is a Classical Revival-style courthouse built in 1922. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
The building is a three-story reinforced concrete building faced with stone, designed with Classical Revival symmetry, Tuscan columns, pilasters and pedimented entries. It is about 123 by 97 feet (37 m × 30 m) in plan. It was designed by architects Tonini and Bramblet.
The listing included the entire courthouse square, about 400 by 400 feet (120 m × 120 m) in size, and a gazebo as a second contributing structure. It also included three non-contributing objects: a Huey helicopter, a Vietnam War veteran's memorial, and a deer statue."