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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: Constitutional Convention, Topeka, Kansas Territory [Topeka]
Description: Wood engraving depicting the Topeka Constitutional Convention of December 15, 1855. At the convention, Free-Staters voted to adopt the Topeka Constitution for Kansas Territory, provisionally banning slavery in Kansas and allowing suffrage for "civilized" male Native Americans, but still excluded blacks from settling in the state. However, the constitution failed to gain the recognition of proslavery settlers and the federal government, including President Franklin Pierce, who declared the Topeka legislature to be illegal and treasonous.
Object Type: Image
Date: December 15, 1855

Title: From Samuel R. Ayres to Lyman Langdon
Description: This letter, dated May 6, 1862, is from Samuel R. Ayres to Lyman Langdon. Ayres states that he was ordered, along with the 7th Kansas Volunteer Regiment, to report at Fort Riley. The 1st and 2nd Kansas Volunteer Regiments and the 12th and 13th Wisconsin Regiments are also at Fort Riley, Ayres says, and they are all preparing to move to New Mexico. Ayres suspects that the purpose of the relocation is to move the abolitionist soldiers away from “the vicinity of slavedom.”
Date: May 6, 1862

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