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Title: Civil War Muster Rolls
Description: These muster rolls from 1861 and 1864 list the names of soldiers enlisted in Captain James R. Murphy’s Company of Home Guards from Caldwell County, Missouri. Attached is a January 22, 1946 letter from Bertha E. Booth of Caldwell County to Mr. Shoemaker. Booth notes that the muster roll from 1864 is likely to be “a list of the militiamen who were in pursuit of the Thrailkill (Confed.) raiders.”
Date: 1861 and 1864

Title: From Mary Savage to Jane Simpson
Description: This is an excerpt from a November 29, 1863 letter that Mary Savage wrote to Jane Simpson about Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence. She describes watching two bushwhackers murder her neighbor: “I can never efface from my memory the look and cry of anguish that he gave as he fell, the blood running in streams from his wounds.” Mary says the bushwhackers also threatened to kill her husband, but she saved his life by convincing them that he was sick and was not a member of the Kansas Militia. She writes that nearly every house in town burned down, but some “heroic” women put out a few of the fires. After the raid, she says, downtown Lawrence was reduced to “a heap of ashes.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: November 29, 1863

Title: From Sarah Fitch to My Dear Father and Mother
Description: In an emotional letter dated September 2, 1863, Sarah Fitch informs her husband Edward’s parents that he was killed during Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence. She estimates that 250-300 of Quantrill's men arrived in Lawrence on horseback and fired at everyone in sight, leaving bodies “scattered all over town.” She writes that they approached her home, “screaming and yelling like so many demons from the infernal pit,” then shot Edward in the heart and burned down their house. She suspects they targeted her family because her children had been playing "soldier" and had left a Union flag hanging on their woodshed.
Date: September 2, 1863

Title: Upton Hayes
Description: Charcoal portrait drawing of Colonel Upton Hays [Hayes] in suit. Hays, a great grandson of Daniel Boone, lived in Westport. He enlisted in the Second Missouri Calvary in 1861 and fought in the early battles of Carthage, Missouri, July 5, 1861; Wilson's Creek, Missouri, August 10, 1861; Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 9, 1862; and others. Hays was killed in the battle of Newtonia, Missouri, on September 30, 1862. "In 1898, the United Daughters of the Confederacy exhumed his body and reburied it in the Confederate Cemetery at Westport, now known as the Forest Hills Cemetery" (Joseph K. Houts, Jr., "Quantrill's Thieves," page 153 [MVSC 973.742 H84q].)
Object Type: Image

Title: From the Kansas State Central Committee to Philip St. George Cooke
Description: This September 3, 1856 letter is from the Kansas State Central Committee to Lieut. Col. Philip St. George Cooke. The committee members state that Free State supporters have been forced to take up arms to defend themselves against “the inhuman atrocities of organized bands of assassins” from Missouri. They claim that the civil authorities have not helped, and they ask Cooke for protection. The letter is signed by H. Miles Moore, secretary of the committee, as well as W.R. Frost, Morris Hunt, and J. Lawson.
Date: September 3, 1856

Title: From John M. Schofield to Thomas Carney
Description: This letter, dated September 3, 1863, is from Major General John M. Schofield to Kansas Governor Thomas Carney. Schofield thanks Carney for offering the assistance of the Kansas Militia in protecting Lawrence and other border towns from Missouri rebels. Many of Schofield’s troops, he says, have left to fight with the regiments of Generals Grant, Steele, and Blunt. Schofield expresses a desire to avenge Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, and he hopes that the extra troops will be able to “destroy the guerrilla bands which have so long savaged the border.”
Date: September 3, 1863

Title: Unidentified Man in Confederate Uniform
Description: Charcoal portrait of unidentified man in Confederate uniform and hat with ostrich plume. The drawing is unsigned but attributed to Anna Lee (Dillenbeck) Stacey.
Object Type: Image

Title: William Clarke Quantrill
Description: Portrait of William Clarke Quantrill from the book "Quantrill and the Border Wars" by William Elsey Connelley (1st Ed., 1909).
Object Type: Image

Title: William Gregg
Description: Charcoal portrait drawing of a bearded Captain William Gregg in jacket. Gregg was one of the first to join William Quantrill's gang in December 1861 and one of the first to leave (December 1863) when Quantrill began losing control of the bushwhackers. That same month Gregg joined General Joseph O. Shelby's brigade and was made a First Lieutenant in command of Company I. After the war, Gregg lived in Kansas City and became a deputy sheriff for Jackson County. He died at the age of 78 on April 22, 1916, in Kansas City and is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Elizabeth S.C. Earl to Dear Brother
Description: This letter, dated September 22, 1863, is from Elizabeth S.C. Earl to her brother. Writing from Lawrence, Kansas, Earl describes Quantrill's Raid. She writes that Quantrill and 300 of his men invaded Lawrence at dawn and travelled from house to house knocking on doors: "when the men opened the door, they would shoot them down, and then rush in, and set fire to the house, threatening death to the women." Earl tells her brother, "You know nothing of the Horrors of this war."
Date: September 22, 1863

Title: From Z.M. Hadly to Edmund G. Ross
Description: This 1864 telegram was sent by Capt. Z.M. Hadly in Kansas City, Missouri, to Capt. Edmund G. Ross in Lawrence, Kansas. Hadly states that between 150 and 200 guerrillas crossed into Kansas the previous night, heading in the direction of Olathe, Kansas. Hadly reports that 350 cavalry were immediately dispatched from Kansas City to Olathe.
Object Type: Telegram
Date: 1864

Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: John A. Bushnell writes a letter from his home in Calhoun, Missouri to Eugenia Bronaugh. In the letter, dated August 17, 1864, Bushnell expresses his contempt for disloyal citizens, declaring them evil. He tells Eugenia of his plans to visit her, but emphasizes his need for caution due to the danger of bushwhackers and radicals. He speaks of his hope for peace in Missouri and predicts an impending “crisis” in the northern states.
Date: August 17, 1864

Title: From R.G. Elliott to Dear Sister
Description: This letter, dated August 24, 1863, is from R.G. Elliott in Lawrence, Kansas to his sister. He informs her that he was taken prisoner during Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, but managed to escape. He states that troops from Kansas City are in pursuit of Quantrill's Raiders, but he does not believe they will catch them. Following the Raid, he writes, "We have been engaged ever since in burying the dead."
Object Type: Letter
Date: August 24, 1863

Title: Quantrill's Flag
Description: Small cotton and wool flag dropped during Quantrill's raid on Olathe on September 7, 1862. The flag resembles the Confederate First National Flag, nicknamed the "Stars and Bars," however, the canton displays either a fist or palmetto tree and "Quant" for Quantrill.
Object Type: Image

Title: Thomas B. Harris
Description: Charcoal portrait drawing of Thomas B. Harris (Tom) dressed in suit and plumed hat. One of Quantrill's guerrillas, Harris was with Quantrill in Kentucky when Quantrill was mortally wounded on June 6, 1865. Little is known of Harris after the Civil War. There is mention of Harris in two documents held by the Missouri State Archives Missouri's Union Provost Marshal Papers: 1861-1866 collection. He appears to have been Callaway county's representative to the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1865. (See also"Constitutional Conventions of Missouri, 1865-1875 in" Missouri Historical Review," January 1907, page 111.)
Object Type: Image

Title: From Alex M. Bedford to Mary E. Bedford
Description: On August 2, 1864, Alex M. Bedford writes from Fort Delaware, Delaware, to his wife Mary E. Bedford in Savannah, Missouri. Alex says that although he is eager to return home on parole, he will not do so now because of troubles with the bushwhackers: “I am done on bushwhackers…it is a dishonorable warfare.” Alex asks Mary to tell Samuel Lewis that Capt. Charles D.S. Jones sends his respects, and adds that “Bohart joins me in love to you & father.”
Date: August 2, 1864

Title: From Hamilton Gamble to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On August 26, 1863, Hamilton Gamble writes from Headquarters, State of Missouri, in St. Louis to his father, Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble. Gamble reports, "The Democrat abuses you as usual, and charges the horrible massacre at Lawrence to the sympathy of the Hamilton Dynasty with the bushwhackers." He adds that Gen. Schofield issued "a bombastic order in reference to the Lawrence outrage, and…is preparing to cut loose from the 'Gamble Dynasty.'"
Date: August 26, 1863

Title: Thomas Coleman (Cole) Younger
Description: Charcoal portrait of Cole Younger dressed in suit coat, vest, shirt, and tie. Cole Younger was active in several Civil War battles and a member of Quantrill's guerrillas when they raided Lawrence, Kansas, August 21, 1863, and was part of the Baxter Springs massacre, October 6, 1863. After the war, he joined with Frank and Jesse James in several robberies. After the Northfield, Minnesota, bank robbery on September 7, 1876, he was arrested and sent to prison at Stillwater, Minnesota. He was granted a full pardon in 1903. He died March 21, 1916, at Lee's Summit, Missouri, and is buried in the Lee's Summit Cemetery.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Leigh R. Webber to Mrs. Brown
Description: This letter, dated September 5, 1863 is from Leigh R. Webber in Natchez, Mississippi to Mrs. Brown. Webber claims that in Natchez, "Nearly everybody has protection papers though they are avowed rebels of the deepest dye…It is an unendurable wrong and insult to the Union soldiers and foolish and wicked leniency to traitors for the Government and its generals thus to manage the war." Webber also expresses sadness about Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence: "It exceeds in atrocity our worst fears."
Date: September 5, 1863

Title: From Fred Brown and Sara Ann Brown to Michael H. Jose
Description: Fred Brown and his wife Sara Ann write a letter to Michael Jose on October 14, 1866 to share news of mutual acquaintances, including several that were killed by Bushwhackers or by members of the Missouri Militia during the War. They describe an atmosphere of political unrest in Vernon County but express a hope for peace in the aftermath of the conflict, stating “lets all do our next fighting at the Ballot Box.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 14, 1866

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

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