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Title
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Tragic Prelude
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Description
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Native Kansan John Steuart Curry's allegorical painting, "Tragic Prelude." Curry's work depicts John Brown and the clash of Free-State and proslavery forces in Bleeding Kansas along with other symbollic elements representing late 19th century Kansas.
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Object Type
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Image
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Title
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John Brown
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Description
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Painting of John Brown by Ole Peter Hansen Balling, 1870.
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Object Type
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Image
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Date
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1870
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Title
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From Edward Fitch to Dear Mother
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Description
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This unsigned April 11, 1858 letter, presumably from Edward Fitch to his mother, discusses the immigrants living in Kansas Territory. The Irish immigrants, Fitch says, are predominantly pro-slavery, while the German immigrants are mostly supporters of the Free State Party. He also describes to his mother the spring flowers in Lawrence, Kansas and his beautiful baby.
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Date
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April 11, 1858
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Title
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Old Sacramento
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Description
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Photograph of Mexican-American War cannon, nicknamed "Old Sacramento," that was captured by Free-State forces at the attack on Franklin, Kansas. On August 12, 1856, Free-Staters attacked Franklin, Kansas, and six proslavery settlers were killed. The attackers captured "Old Sacramento," the name given to a cannon used by Missourians in the Mexican-American War. The attack was a success in part because the Free-Staters managed to roll a wagon of hay up to the front of a building holding proslavery men, where they ignited the hay and threatened the building.
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Object Type
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Image
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Date
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n.d.
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Title
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From George Lewis to Mrs. Fitch
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Description
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George Lewis of Lawrence, Kansas writes a letter to Mrs. Fitch (Edward Fitch’s mother) in Massachusetts on January 14, 1857. He thanks her for donating clothing to his family and to other poor emigrants in Kansas. He tells her that a band of proslavery men robbed him and burned down his house, leaving him living in a tent with his wife and six children. Despite his struggles, Lewis, a Welsh immigrant, expresses hope about the future of Kansas: “It must be made a Free State. It shall be a Free State.”
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Date
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January 14, 1857
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Title
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Battle of Osawatomie
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Description
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In this excerpt of a ca. 1856-1861 document, Orville Chester Brown describes the August 30, 1856 Battle of Osawatomie. In the middle of the night, Brown states, John Reid led his men towards Osawatomie. At dawn they marched into the town armed with bayonets, and the men of the town “flew to arms – whilst the women in their night clothes bearing their children in their arms fled to the woods.” Brown's house was burned down in the battle and his son was taken prisoner.
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Object Type
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Document
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Title
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Charles Robinson, First Kansas Governor
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Description
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Portrait of Charles Robinson, early leader of the New England Emigrant Aid Society and the first Governor of the State of Kansas.
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Object Type
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Image
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Date
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1861
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Title
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Sarah and Julia Fitch
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Description
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This black and white photograph shows Sarah Wilmarth Fitch Stevens along with her daughter Julia Sumner Fitch. They both lived in Lawrence, Kansas and were survivors of Quantrill’s Raid. Edward Fitch, husband to Sarah and father to Julia, was shot and killed in the 1863 attack. Their house was burned down and the rest of the family escaped.
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Object Type
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Image
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Title
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John Brown's Sharps Rifle
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Description
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Photograph of John Brown's personal Sharps rifle, which he carried during his Kansas campaign of 1856.
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Object Type
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Image
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Date
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n.d.
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Title
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From Mary Savage to Dear Mother and Sister
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Description
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Mary Savage writes a letter to her mother and sister on October 10 and 12, 1863, describing Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence. She writes of the “fiendish pleasure” the attackers took in “witnessing the death agonies of our best citizens Murdered in cold blood.” She mentions helping soldiers and taking care of her minister’s family after their house was burned down in the raid. Mary says she fears an imminent guerrilla attack and tells her family, “we live in a state of constant excitement . . . our citizens are all armed . . . but their mode of warfare is so treacherous that we cannot have a fair fight.”
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Date
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October 10, 1863-October 12, 1863
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Title
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From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
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Description
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Edward Fitch writes a letter to his parents from Lawrence, Kansas on May 5, 1861. He tells them that if Missouri secedes, Kansas will have to fight. He asks how people in Massachusetts feel about the war, and expresses hope that the “Yankees” will go to battle with the South and not stop until slavery is eradicated. “War is terrible,” he says, “but sometimes it is necessary for the good of the whole world.”
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Date
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May 5, 1861
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Title
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James Montgomery
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Description
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Carte de visite portrait of James Montgomery.
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Title
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From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
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Description
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James Montgomery writes a letter from Mound City, Kansas to George L. Stearns on May 8, 1861. He reports that, “We are in a perilous position here, and have not ammunition enough to make a respectable fight.” He says that he has organized a regiment to help defend Kansas against pro-slavery Missourians, whose troops are camped along the border of Linn and Bourbon counties. He mentions that an Osage Indian chief attacked some of these troops, then “tied them with ropes to the Horns of his Saddles and dragged them out of the country.” Montgomery asks for Stearns’s assistance in acquiring arms and declares that, “If we have to fight, we will carry the war out of Kansas.”
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Date
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May 8, 1861
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Title
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From A.J. Huntoon to My Dear Wife and Boy
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Description
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This letter, dated October 6, 7, 10, and 11, 1861, is from A.J. Huntoon to his wife Lizzie and son Prentice. Huntoon, a member of the 5th Kansas Cavalry volunteer regiment, tells his family that he was ordered to take charge of a military hospital in Mapleton, Bourbon County, Kansas. He estimates that there are 50,000-55,000 Union soldiers in Missouri, including the companies of Generals Sturgis, Siegel, and Fremont, and that there are about 70,000 Confederate troops in Missouri under the commandment of Generals McCulloch and Rains. Huntoon predicts that “We will have a big battle in this vicinity ere so long.”
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Date
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October 6, 1861-October 11, 1861
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Title
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Marais des Cygnes Massacre
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Description
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Illustration of the Marais des Cygnes Massacre by John R. Chapin copied from "Beyond the Mississippi" by Albert D. Richardson, 1867.
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Object Type
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Image
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Title
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The Osawatomie Battlefield
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Description
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Osawatomie Battlefield courtesy of Oswald Garrison Villard's John Brown 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After. On August 30, 1856, Abolitionist John Brown and 40 other Free-Staters unsuccessfully defended the town of Osawatomie, Kansas against 250-300 border ruffians under John W. Reid. The Free-Staters were routed, Osawatomie was burned, and one of Brown's sons was killed, but Brown escaped with his life and earned the nickname "Osawatomie Brown" for his spirited defense.
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Object Type
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Image
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Date
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n.d.
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Title
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Baxter Springs Civil War Monument
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Description
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Monument commemorating the casualties of Quantrill's attack on Fort Blair in Baxter Springs, Kansas on October 6, 1863.
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Object Type
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Image
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Date
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May 31, 1886
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Title
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From O.H.P. Craig to A.M. Bedford
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Description
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This letter, dated April 25, 1861, is from O.H.P. Craig in St. Joseph, Missouri to Alex M. Bedford in Savannah, Missouri. Craig announces, “We have nothing here, but War! War!” He reports that local business has stagnated and that everyone is eager for news about the war. He also mentions that he recently returned from a trip to St. Louis and that residents there are full of “excitement and alarm.”
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Date
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April 25, 1861
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Title
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From George Miller to Dear Father and Mother
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Description
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This letter, dated January 14, 1861, is from George Miller in Pleasant Hill, Cass County, Missouri, to his parents. Miller writes that Lt. Col. Daniel R. Anthony and his Kansas troops invaded Pleasant Hill, stealing 55 slaves and $10,000 worth of property. He complains that the Missouri Secessionists are "fast beginning to give up the contest" and laments that "the country is being ruined."
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Object Type
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Letter
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Date
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January 14, 1861
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Title
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Camp Saunders, Kansas Territory
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Description
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Photograph of proslavery stronghold, Camp Saunders, located 12 miles southwest of Lawrence, Kansas Territory, 1856. Camp (Fort) Saunders, one of three proslavery "forts" in Douglas County, Kansas, came under attack from Free-Staters, led by James H. Lane and angered at the Sacking of Lawrence and the murder of Major S. D. Hoyt, who had traveled to Fort Saunders to request an end to hostilities. The proslavery men at Fort Saunders (which was really no more than a sturdy log cabin), surrendered before any fighting began. The building was burned to the ground, and the Free-Staters turned their attention to Fort Titus.
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Object Type
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Image
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Date
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1856
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