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Title: From Unknown to Dear Brother
Description: This unsigned letter, dated September 30, 1861, describes a recent Missouri state convention, which resulted in a majority vote against secession. The writer expresses ambivalence about the motivations for this vote: "As the Union at that time was hanging on a pivot, and all were anxious that it should be preserved--few having the boldness to assert that they were for secession--of course we elected good Union men . . . but there is no telling what men will do when they have the power."
Date: September 30, 1861

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 W.W. Thayer to James Montgomery
Description: On April 16, 1861, W.W. Thayer of Boston writes a letter to James Montgomery, encouraging him to mount an insurrection in the South and help liberate the slaves. Thayer argues that an organized slave rebellion could bring a swift end to the war: “a bloody war full of horrors concentrated into a few days or months would be far preferable to one consuming time, money, lives.” He warns Montgomery that the people of the South are brave and that they “will fight to the bitter End.” A note from R.J. Hinton at the bottom of the letter states that James Lane was recently put in command of 1,000 troops in Washington.
Date: April 16, 1861

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: From Leigh R. Webber to John Stillman Brown
Description: This letter, dated December 23, 1864, is from Leigh R. Webber in Troy, Vermont to John Stillman Brown in Kansas. Webber disagrees with Brown's opinion of Sen. James Henry Lane: "I don't sympathize so much as you do, with the anti-Lane movement." Webber expresses gratitude for recent Union victories, and communicates his fear that a war with Great Britain is imminent.
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 23, 1864

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 Abishai Stowell to "Dear Sister"
Description: On July 8, 1863, Abishai Stowell writes from Springfield, Missouri to his sister. Stowell says he was "heartily glad that the Rebels went into Pennsylvania," and predicts the war will soon come to an end. He tells his sister that his time in the U.S. service will expire in November 1864.
Date: July 8, 1863

Title: From Abishai Stowell to "Dear Sister"
Description: On April 22, 1865, Abishai Stowell writes from Lewisburg, Arkansas to his sister. Stowell, a member of Co. B, 2nd Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, reports that "the prospect is good for me to go home in a few days for the war is just about ended." He says the assassination of President Lincoln "has caused a great deal of excitement here[,] the Union people feel the loss to be one that can never be repaid while the Secesh are overjoyed with the news."
Object Type: Letter
Date: April 22, 1865

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: Diary of C.T. Kimmel
Description: This is an excerpt from the diary of C.T. Kimmel, an assistant surgeon in the 2nd Missouri State Militia Cavalry. The entries, dated May 10 – June 2, 1865, describe Kimmel mustering out of service and returning home to Chariton County, Missouri. He mentions nearby guerrilla warfare, and writes about mourning the death of President Lincoln. Attached is an invitation to a New Year’s Union Ball on December 31, 1865 in Brunswick, Missouri.
Object Type: Diary
Date: May 10, 1865-December 30, 1865

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: From Sara Robinson to "My Dear Martha"
Description: This letter, dated October 19, 1862, is from Sara Robinson in Topeka, Kansas to Martha. Sara reports that her husband, Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson, went to Altoona, Pennsylvania to meet "the Governors," but by the time he arrived they had already gone to Washington, D.C. Charles "had no wish to see the Sec. of War or the President, both of whom have treated him & the young state of Kansas so villainously & did not follow them." Sara states that when Charles returned, he went to St. Louis to see Gen. Curtis.
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 19, 1862

Title: Excerpt from John Deering's Diary
Description: This excerpt from John Deering’s diary was written between January 5 and June 7, 1858. Deering, who arrived in Kansas Territory from Maine in March 1857, describes daily life in Douglas County, Kansas. Deering records his purchase of a new claim after his own was “taken by Indians,” and his efforts to build a shop in Prairie City, Kansas. On February 27, Deering writes that he attended an election to nominate delegates for the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention. On April 23, he notes that he heard Jim Lane and others speak about the constitution.
Object Type: Diary
Date: January 5, 1858-June 7, 1858

Title: From James B. Fry to E.B. Alexander
Description: On November 7, 1863, James B. Fry, Provost Marshal General in Washington, DC, writes to Col. E.B. Alexander, Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General in St. Louis. Fry informs Alexander that the enrollment quota for Missouri under Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand volunteers is 13,516 men. Fry also provides the exact number of men required from each Missouri district.
Date: November 7, 1863

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: From Edward Bates to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On August 2, 1861, Edward Bates writes from the Attorney General's Office to Hamilton R. Gamble. Bates applauds "the wise course taken by the Missouri Convention," and congratulates Gamble on his appointment as Provisional Governor of the state. "The internal peace of Missouri & its security," he declares, "…will do more towards the suppression of the insurrection in the border states, than 100,000 of our best men in arms."
Date: August 2, 1861

Title: From Orville Chester Brown to Friend Pomroy
Description: These are two drafts of a letter written by Orville Chester Brown to his friend Pomroy on December 12, 1861. Brown decries the evil of slavery, declaring that it has “poisoned and demoralized not only the social and political system, but the most sacred fountains of justice.” Congress will be meeting soon to discuss slavery, Brown says, and he hopes that they will end “the barbaric institution.” If slaves are legal property, he reasons, and if Congress has passed laws confiscating the property of rebels, then the rebels’ slaves should be confiscated and set free.
Date: December 12, 1861

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

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

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