less than three months after kansas became a state, on april 12, fort sumter was attacked by confederate troops and the civil war began. in washington d.c., there were rumors that president abraham lincoln would be kidnapped or even assassinated. a senator from kansas, james henry lane organized 120 men from kansas called the "frontier guard". for three weeks they remained in the white house to protect the president. most kansans favored joining the union in the war. governor charles robinson and senator lane recruited troops for the union army. during the war the federal government called for a total of 16,654 men from kansas. but more than 20,000 enlisted and the state sent 19 regiments and four batteries to fight for the union army. some of the men came from other states as kansas only had about 30,000 men old enough to join the military. kansas soldiers suffered a total of about 8,500 casualties during the war.