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Title: Resolutions Presented to the Missouri State Convention
Description: This document includes several resolutions presented to the Missouri State Convention held in Jefferson City, Missouri during February and March 1861. Mr. Linton suggests that “there exists no adequate cause why Missouri should secede from the Union,” while Mr. Hendrick declares that the secession of other states “is unauthorized in law and without adequate cause in fact.” Mr. Orr resolves “that we have the best government in the world and intend to keep it.” The signature of Secretary Samuel A. Lowe attests that the document is a true copy.
Object Type: Government Document

Title: War in Kansas!
Description: This 1856 broadside announces the commencement of civil war in Kansas. It urges the citizens of Lafayette County, Missouri to gather with their guns and horses in Lexington on August 20, and "put an end to Abolitionism in Kansas." The broadside, signed by twelve men, reports that John Brown, James Henry Lane, and their forces have launched several guerrilla attacks upon Kansas residents, and are now "advancing upon us--the next breath from Kansas may bring to our ears the death shrieks of our Fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, neighbors and friends."
Object Type: Broadside
Date: August 1856

Title: General Orders, No. 38
Description: Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis issued General Order No. 38 from the Department of the Missouri Headquarters in St. Louis on May 22, 1863. The order details the proceedings of recent Military Commissions in St. Joseph, St. Louis, and Springfield, Missouri, where citizens were tried for war crimes, including consorting with guerrillas and bushwhackers, killing United States soldiers from the Seventh Cavalry Regiment Missouri Volunteers, and encouraging rebellion against the government. The order was signed by Assistant Adjutant General A.V. Colburn.
Date: May 22, 1863

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