When the Kansas Territory was formed in 1854, abolitionists from New England clashed with pro-slavery settlers from Missouri to determine whether the territory would be free soil or a slave state. This conflict, which came to be known as "Bleeding Kansas," is considered by many to be the cradle of the Civil War. After Kansas joined the union in 1861, immigrants flocked to the untamed prairies in the western part of the state and converted them into viable farmland. Towns such as Wichita and Dodge City became prominent during the cattle drive era and have since become icons of America's Old West history.