![]() ![]() "I feel it to be my duty, Gentlemen of the Jury, to call your attention especially to a form of lawlessness commonly denominated "jayhawking." It seems to be a word sufficiently comprehensive to embrace in its signification three of the worst crimes known to criminal jurisprudence, namely, murder, robbery and larceny. In 1861, A Kansas judge offered the following definition. The term came into wider use during the Civil War. KU professor Spring, who wrote his 1896 Kansas history based on extensive first hand accounts, had the following description of the original jayhawkers, men from southeast Kansas during the territorial period, " Confederated at first for defense against pro-slavery outrages, but ultimately falling more or less completely into the vocation of robbers and assassins, they have received the name - whatever its origin may be - of jayhawkers." Given the odious nature of the original Kansas jayhawkers, how did the jayhawker term come to be embraced by Kansans, and later by KU? Does the legacy of the original jayhawkers endure?įirst, the meaning of the jayhawker term during the Kansas territorial period and the Civil War will be reviewed. ![]() ![]() (Official KU web site, Traditions at the University, The Jayhawk.) It seemed only natural to call them Jayhawkers." "When KU football players first took the field in 1890, ![]()
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