The following is a list of Civil War Era primary sources suggested for use with students and lesson planning according to Missouri social studies learning standards. Each of the documents listed below has been reviewed for content by Michael Wells, a licensed social studies teacher in the state of Missouri and Missouri Valley Room staff member. However, this list is not a comprehensive account of the many Civil War Era primary sources made available through the Civil War on the Western Border website.
The documents are listed below according to topics inspired by the five essential measurable learning objectives designed to direct 8th grade-level Civil War curriculum by the Missouri Department of Secondary and Elementary Education.
Slavery | Kansas-Nebraska Act | Bleeding Kansas | Kansas Statehood | The Home Front | Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence | The Presidential Election of 1860
Military Actions | General Orders, No. 11 | African Americans in the War | General Orders No. 23 (Loyalty Oaths)
Slavery
- Emancipation of Eliza Jane – Nodaway County, Missouri, December 5, 1844
- Slave State Population Statistics – 1852
- Letter from Frederick Starr to Unknown – Weston, Platte County, Missouri, December 29, 1854
- Letter from Frederick Starr to Dear Father – Weston, Platte County, Missouri, January 15, 1855
- Letter from Frederick Starr to My Dear Father – Missouri, February 22, 1855
- Slave Hire – Jackson County, Missouri, ca. 1856
- Sale of Slave – Clinton County, Missouri, July 5, 1857
- Letter from Edward Fitch to Dear Mother – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, April 11, 1858
- Letter from D.R. Anthony to Dear Sister – Leavenworth, Leavenworth County, Kansas, September 11-September 12, 1858
- Letter from Calvin Iserman to Brother William – Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, October 3, 1858
- Slave Bill of Sale – Lafayette County, Missouri, March 31, 1860
- Letter from William N. Taylor to Sir – Missouri, July 3, 1860
- Letter from Edward Bates to James L. McDowell – Kansas, July 23, 1861
- Contract for Hire of Slaves – Howard County, Missouri, January 1, 1863
Kansas-Nebraska Act
- Letter from Silas Reed to Mrs. Abner Stone – Missouri, August 6, 1854
- Letter from J. Locke Hardeman to George R. Smith – Missouri, June 10, 1855
- Letter from Edward Fitch to Dear Friends at Home – Kansas, July 26, 1855
- Diary of Lewis Timothy Litchfield – 1854-1855
- Petition from Leaders of Emigrant Train – October 14, 1856
Bleeding Kansas
- Letter from Frederick Starr to Dear Father, Mother, and Boys Great and Small – Weston, Platte County, Missouri, October 18, 1854
- Diary Entries – Kansas, 1854-1855
- Letter from W.J. Patterson to Sterling Price – Platte County, Missouri, April 26, 1855
- Letter from Amos Lawrence to Francis Granger – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, September 9, 1856
- Petition of Sundry Citizens of Pottawatomie Creek – Kansas, September 19, 1856
- Petition from Leavenworth Women – Leavenworth, Leavenworth County, Kansas, ca. September 1856
- Statement of Julia Mariata – Jackson County, Missouri, October 5, 1856
- Battle of Osawatomie – Kansas, ca. 1856-1861
- Letter from William Clarke Quantrill to My Dear Mother – Kansas, January 26, 1860
- Petition from Vernon County Citizens – Vernon County, Missouri, November 21, 1860
- Letter from D.M. Frost to Robert M. Stewart – Missouri, November 27, 1860
- Another Abolition Outrage – Jackson County, Missouri, December 11, 1860
- Petition from Jackson County Citizens – Missouri, ca. 1860
Kansas Statehood
- Letter from Frederick Starr to Unknown – Kansas, December 1, 1854
- Petition to Set Aside Election for Delegate – Kansas, 1854
- Letter from James Griffing to Augusta – Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, April 6, 1855
- Letter from Frederick Starr to Dear Father – Weston, Platte County, Missouri, March 31, 1855
- Letter from John Brown to Orson Day – Miami County, Kansas, December 14, 1855
- Free State Convention! – Kansas, 1855
- Letter from Daniel Woodson to E.V. Sumner – Kansas, June 30, 1856
- Letter from Edward Fitch to Mr. Editor – Kansas, July 23, 1856
- Kansas – Col. Sumner Arriving at Constitution Hall – Woodcut Print, Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, July 26, 1856
- Indictment Against Andrew Reeder et al. – Douglas County, Kansas, October 4, 1856
- Territory of Kansas vs. Charles Robinson – Kansas, 1857
- Kansas Territorial Records – Kansas, January 5-March 15, 1858
- Letter from William Clarke Quantrill to William W. Scott, Kansas, January 22, 1858
- Letter from William Rachel to Josiah Miller – Kansas, March 2, 1858
- Wyandotte Constitution – July 29, 1861
The Home Front
- Letter from Samuel Lyle Adair to Florella Brown Adair – Kansas, March 26-April 1, 1861
- Letter from W.W. Phillips to John B. Ward – Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, May 21, 1861
- Letter from Lewis Stafford to Kate Newland – Henry County, Missouri, July 6, 1861
- Letter from "C." to "Col." – Missouri, September 21, 1861
- Letter from J.C. Iserman to Brother William – Missouri, September 21, 1861
- Letter from Allen T. Ward to My Dear Sister – Miami County, Kansas, October 21, 1861
- Letter from George Collamore to G.L. Stearns – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, October 23, 1861
- Memorandum of Losses to Federal Troops, 1861-1863 – Jackson County, Missouri, 1861-1863
- Letter from Mrs. Silliman to My Dear Brother, Johnson County, Missouri, August 24, 1862
- Letter from Susan A. Staples to Mary W. Mason – Missouri, ca. February 1, 1863
- Letter from E.F. Slaughter to Eliza Colgan – Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, February 25, 1863
- Letter from William to Ellen W. McCoy – Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, June 7, 1863
- Letter from Mary E. Bedford to Alex M. Bedford – Missouri, July 17, 1863
- Diary of John Ament – Missouri, August 7-23, 1863
- $10 Missouri Note (Confederate) – Missouri, January 1, 1864
- Letter from John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh – Henry County, Missouri, February 21-23, 1864
- Letter from E.F. Slaughter to Eliza Colgan – Jackson County, Independence, Missouri, October 7, 1864
- Letter from Lisbon Applegate to William Heryford, Jr. – Chariton County, Missouri, January 15, 1865
Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence
- Letter from Samuel R. Ayres to Lyman Langdon – Kansas, Missouri, August 24, 1863-August 27, 1863
- Letter from John Stillman Brown to John L. Rupur – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, September 1, 1863
- Letter from Sarah Fitch to My Dear Father and Mother – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, September 2, 1863
- Letter from Elizabeth S.C. Earl to Dear Brother – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, September 22, 1863
- Letter from Mary Savage to Dear Mother and Sister – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, October 10, 1863-October 12, 1863
- Letter from Mary Savage to Jane Simpson – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, November 29, 1863
The Presidential Election of 1860
- A Defence of Republicanism – Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, ca. September 15, 1860
- Dividing the National Map – Cartoon, ca. 1860
- 1860 Presidential Election Returns from Caldwell, Carroll, Chariton, and Clay Counties, Missouri
- 1860 Presidential Election Returns from Putnam County, Missouri
- 1860 Presidential Election Returns from Vernon County, Missouri
- Letter from Thornton Grimsley to Robert M. Stewart – Missouri, November 23, 1860
Military Actions
- Letter from D.R. Anthony to Dear Father – Missouri, December 22, 1861
- Proclamation to the State of Missouri – Missouri, August 4, 1862
- Diary of Dr. J.H.P. Baker – Missouri, October 10-27, 1864
- Letter from James Griffing to My Dear Wife – Missouri, October 23, 1864
- Letter from James Montgomery to George L. Stearns – Missouri, December 10, 1864
- Diary of Jonathan B. Fuller – Missouri, June 4-June 25, 1865
General Orders, No. 11
- General Orders, No. 11 – Missouri, August 25, 1863
- Letter from Willard P. Hall to Hamilton R. Gamble – Missouri, August 31, 1863
- Disloyalists Banished from Western Missouri – Missouri, ca. August 1863
- Letter from Mattie Jane Tate to Cousin Mary – Jackson County, Missouri, December 14, 1864
- Martial Law – Painting, George Caleb Bingham, 1868
African Americans in the War
- Letter from John B. Wood to George L. Stearns – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, November 19, 1861
- Letter from George Collamore to George L. Stearns – Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas, July 21, 1862
- General Orders, No. 17 – Missouri, March 5, 1863
- Report of Colored Recruits Enlisted, Warrensburg, Missouri –March 16, 1864
- Emancipation Ordinance of Missouri – January 11, 1865
General Orders No. 23 (Loyalty Oaths)
- General Orders, No. 23 – Missouri, August 8, 1865
- Letter from W.J. Clasbey to Alex M. Bedford – Andrew County, Missouri, August 13, 1865
- Examination of S.W. Long – Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, October 6, 1866
- Examination of James H. Ford – Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, 1866
- Examination of James W. Crow – Missouri, 1866
- Examination of John A. Estes – Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, 1866
- Examination of Littleberry Estes – Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, 1866
- Examination of Nicholas C. Michalucun – Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, 1866
- Examination of Samuel Hardwick – Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, 1866
- Oath of Loyalty of Stephen Blanchard – Holt County, Missouri, October 28, 1867