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Title: From James H. Moss to A.W. Doniphan
Description: On October 3, 1863, James H. Moss writes from Liberty, Missouri to Col. A.W. Doniphan. Moss describes his recent efforts to restore order in Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri by raising a local military force. He writes that the newspapers have been publishing "reckless" lies about his activities, and urges Doniphan not to believe what he reads. Moss asks Doniphan to explain the situation to Gov. Gamble, adding, "We have had perfect quiet in Clay and Platte for five days and nights past."
Date: October 3, 1863

Title: From Alice Trego to Joseph H. Trego
Description: This letter, dated September 22, 1862, is from Alice Trego in Mound City, Kansas to her husband Joseph. She reports on the movements of Kansas military units and informs Joseph that Gen. James Lane was authorized to raise four regiments of black soldiers. Alice also mentions that there has been a picket guard of citizens in her neighborhood ever since the Sacking of Olathe. She laments, “Oh! how I wish the war was over, and slavery abolished.”
Date: September 22, 1862

Title: From George H. Hoyt to Charles Robinson
Description: On August 12, 1862, George H. Hoyt writes from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson. Hoyt states that Gen. Lane has given Col. Jennison “the authority…to organize the colored regiments in the State…with no conditions of any sort.” Hoyt says that Jennison will be pleased to receive suggestions from Robinson regarding this work.
Date: August 12, 1862

Title: From Hamilton R. Gamble to Abraham Lincoln
Description: On September 8, 1862, Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble writes from St. Louis to President Lincoln. Gamble states that Gen. Lane and Col. Jennison are raising a military force and plan to invade Missouri. Gamble declares that if the invasion is carried out, "I will resist it with all the force I can command and…shall find myself obliged to give the people of Kansas a taste of the evils of war in their own territory." Gamble asks Lincoln to forbid U.S. troops from entering Missouri without permission.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: September 8, 1862

Title: From Daniel Woodson to William Hutchinson and H. Miles Moore
Description: This letter, dated September 3, 1856, was written by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson at Lecompton, Kansas to William Hutchinson and H. Miles Moore on behalf of the Kansas State Central Committee. Woodson refers to Gen. James Lane’s recent raid on Franklin, Kansas and several other areas of the Territory. He reminds Hutchinson and Moore about the proclamation issued August 25, 1856, declaring Kansas to be in a state of insurrection, and also cites the recent general order issued to Gen. Richardson and Gen. Coffey forbidding the burning of houses under any circumstances.
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 3, 1856

Title: From Leigh R. Webber to Esteemed Friend
Description: This letter, dated September 20, 1862, is from Leigh R. Webber to an "Esteemed Friend." He writes from camp in Tennessee, where he has just returned after a "jayhawking trip," during which the soldiers in his regiment foraged for food and robbed a family of Secessionists, but "did not so much as get a glimpse of a rebel soldier." Webber identifies himself as an abolitionist and voices his support for James Henry Lane's proposal to arm and enroll African-American troops.
Date: September 20, 1862

Title: From Allen T. Ward to My Dear Sister
Description: Allen T. Ward writes a letter from Paola, Kansas to his sister, S.T. Roberts, on October 21, 1861. He describes the warfare in Missouri: “as the Secession army sweeps over it, the union party has to fly for their lives; then in turn comes the union forces under Jim Lane and Montgomery, and all the Secessionists have to leave in a hurry or be shot down as so many wolves.” He states that the war has destroyed much of western Missouri, rendering it “almost entirely depopulated.” He tells her that Jayhawkers have been robbing people in both Kansas and Missouri, and that business and farming in Kansas have mostly ceased.
Date: October 21, 1861

Title: Kansas Colored Volunteers Correspondence
Description: This bound letterbook contains copies of letters exchanged between the Adjutant General’s Office in Fort Scott, Kansas and various correspondents including the War Department in Washington. The letters relate to the recruitment and commission of troops and officers for the Kansas Colored Volunteers. Participants in the correspondence include Major General James G. Blunt, Major General J.M. Schofield, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and Kansas Governor Thomas Carney.
Date: 1863-1864

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