The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and subsequent major tremors along the San Andreas Fault prompted California scientists to explore ways to predict the next "big one. "England's first attempt to colonize the New World in 1585 at Roanoke ended in the mysterious disappearance of the entire expedition. Pro- and anti-slavery factions battled for statehood in 1850s Kansas, propelling America toward the Civil War. The first act of open rebellion in America's Revolutionary War took place at Fort William and Mary when the British stronghold was raided for weapons and munitions. When Virginia joined the Confederacy in 1861, Union loyalists in the western portion of the state rebelled, forming their own state government, but not without a struggle.