History Of Bleeding Kansas And Arkansas: Jayhawkers And Bushwhackers

The Kansas Jayhawks are of course one of the powerhouse college basketball programs. But what the heck is a Jayhawk?

I believe it's rooted in the term 'Jayhawker.'

More on Jayhawkers and Bushwhackers here:

“...Jayhawker” originated in Kansas, and according to some authorities, it came into use in the late 1840s. The name was inspired primarily by the predatory habits of the hawk, but it implied, too, the noisy, mischievous nature of the jay. The combination became the “jayhawk,” a bird unknown to ornithology. The name was widely accepted in Kansas by the late 1850s, when anti-slavery advocates intent on defending Kansas Territory against pro-slavery “border ruffians” from Missouri adopted it. Kansans liked the tough image it conveyed during those bloody days of pre-Civil War violence, and they continued to use it once the war began. Missourians applied the name to Kansans, too, but negatively. They thought it fit the destructive raiders who plundered and destroyed their property before and during the war."

"...The origins of “bushwhacker” also date to the late 1840s, when Washington Irving, the New York author, referred to “gallant bush-whackers and hunters of raccoons” in a story for Knickerbocker Magazine. Essentially, bushwhackers were woodsmen who knew how to fend for themselves in rugged terrain. The name was affixed to guerrillas who struck from ambush during the Civil War. It often implied a lone killer who prowled the hills, swamps, or forests and struck without warning, but it applied equally to whole gangs. Whatever the numbers involved, their slinking style put bushwhackers on the fringes of outlawry. They were deemed too cowardly to fight in open combat, and they drew no line between combatants and noncombatants. As with jayhawker, the word could also be used as a verb..."

I think I'm going to term myself a Jaywhacker or Bushhawker.