In 1763 France ceded its territories east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain.

It regained the western territory under Napoleon, who sold it in 1803 to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase.

The Plains Indians retained control of much of their territory until the late 19th century, giving way finally before superior United States arms and technology.

[citation needed] In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France, but keeping title to about 7,500 square miles.

In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre.

[4] On November 17, 1866, the fort was renamed Fort Harker in honor of General Charles Garrison Harker who had died on June 27, 1864, from wounds received in an abortive offensive action in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

[citation needed] On March 22, 1869, Fourteen Pawnee Indians, including scouts who had been honorably discharged after working for the army, were traveling through Ellsworth County when they ran into U.S. cavalry troops.

Their attackers set fire to grass at the cave's entrance, and six to nine Pawnees were killed as they ran out.

A few days later, the post surgeon at nearby Fort Harker, in today's town of Kanopolis, removed six heads from their bodies, and shipped them to the Army Medical Museum in Washington, D.C., for cranial study.

The city of Ellsworth is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships.