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Title: From Edward Bates to James L. McDowell
Description: This letter, dated July 23, 1861, was written by U.S. Attorney General Edward Bates to James L. McDowell, U.S. Marshal in Kansas. Bates replies to McDowell’s request for advice about enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law, declaring that no government official can choose to enforce the laws he likes and ignore those he dislikes. Bates adds that the recent “insurrectionary disorder” in Missouri does not alter its legal status as a member of the Union.
Date: July 23, 1861

Title: Gettysburg Address
Description: This is a facsimile of President Lincoln’s handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln delivered the famous speech on November 19, 1863 at the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In his address, Lincoln memorializes the Battle of Gettysburg and declares that the Declaration of Independence guarantees the liberty and equality of all people. He concludes by proclaiming that the “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Object Type: Speech
Date: November 19, 1863

Title: From Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Description: This letter, dated September 30, 1862, is from Joseph H. Trego, a lieutenant in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, to his wife Alice. Trego, writing from Helena, Arkansas, says that he was sick the previous week, and that several of the soldiers in his regiment are severely ill: “There are three lying in the hospital now awaiting coffins. We will all be thankful if we ever get out of this place.” He adds that he was pleased to learn of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Date: September 30, 1862

Title: Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, 1862
Description: This Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to take effect on Janurary 1st, 1863, only granted freedom to slaves residing in states in active rebellion. The document is so conditional that Union captured counties or cities of seceded states such as New Orleans were not subject to this Proclamation.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: September 22, 1862

Title: From Fred L. Haywood to Dear Sister Loesa
Description: This letter, dated April 6, 1863, is from Fred L. Haywood, a soldier in the 1st Minnesota Battery, McArthur’s Division, Army of the Tennessee, to his sister Loesa. He writes from Louisiana, where both his regiment and the 1st Kansas Regiment are camped. He tells his sister that the 1st Kansas Regiment recently discovered, upon the death of one of their sergeants, that the sergeant was a woman: “You can imagine their astonishment . . . She was brave as a Lion in battle . . . She would have been promoted to a Lieutenancy in a few days if she had lived.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: April 6, 1863

Title: From John Brown, Jr. to My Dear Friend
Description: This letter, dated July 18, 1862, is from John Brown, Jr., a former member of the 7th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, to his friend Parker Pillsbury. Last winter, Brown writes, he and his regiment helped to free more than 2,000 slaves. Now, he says, the commander of the regiment, Lieut. Col. Daniel R. Anthony, is under arrest. Brown includes a copy of a letter he received from another friend, Arthur T. Reeve, concerning Brig. Gen. Mitchell's arrest of Anthony. Brown writes: “His arrest for such a cause is in the estimation of every true man a greater honor than to have won a battle.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 26, 1862-July 18, 1862

Title: Union Men and Their Sufferings in North-Western Missouri
Description: This 1864 pamphlet, entitled “Union Men and Their Sufferings in North-Western Missouri,” was written by Major J.M. Bassett, former Provost Marshal-General of the Northwest District of Missouri. Bassett provides a “glance at the history of the Rebellion in Northwest Missouri,” admitting “it may be that my hatred for rebels is too intense, my sympathy for loyal men too strong, to make every sentence I write acceptable to all.” The pamphlet, which features several black-and-white illustrations, was published by the Press of Wynkcop, Hallenbeck, and Thomas in New York, with proceeds from its sale given to The Ladies’ Aid Society of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Date: 1864

Title: Second Inaugural Address
Description: This is a copy of the inaugural speech President Lincoln delivered at the start of his second term, on March 4, 1865. In his speech, Lincoln attributes the cause of the Civil War to slavery: “To strengthen, perpetuate and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union by war.” He expresses hope for the future of the country, while emphasizing that his fight against slavery is not over. He concludes with a plea for “a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Object Type: Speech
Date: March 4, 1865

Title: A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
Description: This is a copy of Abraham Lincoln's speech, "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand", delivered on June 16, 1858 at the Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois. This speech is preserved here in its entirety with original italics as part of a 1936 publication that includes an introduction by Douglas C. McMurtrie.
Object Type: Speech
Date: June 16, 1858

Title: From Samuel R. Ayres to Lyman Langdon
Description: This letter from Samuel R. Ayres to Lyman Langdon is dated January 1, 1863, the day that President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In his letter, Ayres expresses support for the proclamation, but mentions the possibility of it being revoked and questions whether or not slaves will indeed be set free. Ayres also reports that his two sons are in Gen. Grant’s division of the 7th Kansas Cavalry Regiment and have had to fight nearly every day.
Object Type: Letter
Date: January 1, 1863

Title: From Hamilton R. Gamble to Abraham Lincoln
Description: On May 2, 1863, Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble writes from St. Louis to President Lincoln. Gamble informs Lincoln about "the perpetration of murders and arsons and other outrages committed by persons connected with the Army…and whose crimes you have the power to restrain." He asks Lincoln to put a stop to the "butcheries" occurring in Missouri's western counties, and suggests that Lincoln replace Gen. Curtis as commander of the district in favor of someone who is "too brave to be cruel."
Object Type: Government Document
Date: May 2, 1863

Title: From David M. Fox to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter, dated November 27, 1860, is from David M. Fox in Fredericktown, Missouri to Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Fox complains about violent guerrilla attacks launched by James Montgomery and John Brown. He claims that the people in his town have neither arms nor militia for defense, and he asks Stewart to send somebody to organize a militia. Fox also complains that the election of President Lincoln has “thrown a gloom over our people.”
Date: November 27, 1860

Title: From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Description: This letter, dated March 11, 1861, was written by James Montgomery in Mound City, Kansas, to George L. Stearns. Montgomery offers his opinion of sending fugitive slaves to Canada: “it will cost less to protect them here…and, besides, the principle is much better.” He believes that “Kansas is truly a free state, and ever shall be. A fugitive can travel as safely here, in Southern Kansas, as he can in Canada.” Montgomery adds that a free African-American was recently kidnapped by the Missouri Militia, because his guns had not been kept in firing condition.
Date: March 11, 1861

Title: From Calvin Iserman to Brother William
Description: This letter, dated January 20, 1861, was sent by Calvin Iserman in Independence, Missouri, to his brother William. Calvin writes that Independence is “in favor of secession,” and predicts “there is going to be a civil war.” He fears being driven from Missouri along with other “Eastern men,” adding that those who voted for Lincoln are also under threat. Calvin describes a foiled “abolitionist” raid on a Missouri plantation (possibly Walker’s Raid of December 10, 1860), in which all the attackers were killed.
Date: January 20, 1861

Title: Emancipation Proclamation
Description: Commemorative lithograph celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation.
Object Type: Image

Title: The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation Before the Cabinet
Description: Print of F.B. Carpenter's painting of President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation on July 22, 1862.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Powell Clayton to John Halderman
Description: Powell Clayton writes a letter from Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Gen. John Halderman on October 21, 1864. He says that he is not convinced by Gen. Magruder’s threats to attack Pine Bluff; he believes that Magruder is attempting to detract attention from Gen. Price’s movements in Missouri. Clayton expresses hope that slavery will be abolished and that Lincoln will win the upcoming presidential election. He declares, “it is the duty of all Patriots, independent of past party predilections, to vote for Lincoln and Johnson.”
Date: October 21, 1864

Title: "Corner Stone" Speech
Description: This is the text of a speech that Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, delivered on March 21, 1861 in Savannah, Georgia. In his discourse, commonly known as the “Cornerstone Speech,” Stephens defends the pro-slavery stance of the Confederate constitution. The cornerstone of the Confederacy, he declares, “rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition.”
Object Type: Speech
Date: March 21, 1861

Title: From T.W. Trego to Dear Sister Alice
Description: This letter, dated September 24, 1862, is from T.W. Trego of Chicago to his sister-in-law Alice in Kansas. He decries the “anxieties of the War” and praises Alice and other women in Kansas for their bravery: “we think very, very often of your exposed situation and believe you must be perfect heroines.” He also commends President Lincoln for announcing that he will issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
Date: September 24, 1862

Title: Emancipation Proclamation
Description: This is a photograph of President Lincoln’s handwritten draft of the final Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln liberated millions of African Americans from slavery with these famous words: “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.” The original draft of the Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, was lost in the Chicago fire of 1871.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: January 1, 1863

Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865

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