Civil War

Title: Examination of George M. Pryor
Description: This is George M. Pryor's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Pryor, a 63-year-old Kentucky native, states that he has resided in Missouri for 30 years and was enrolled by the military authorities as "loyal" in 1862. The oath is No. 152 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Reynolds's Political Map of the United States
Description: Printed on map: "Designed to exhibit the comparative area of the free and slave states and the territory open to slavery or freedom by the repeal of the Missouri compromise. With a comparison of the principal statistics of the free and slave states, from the census of 1850." Political map delineating the slave states, free states, and open territories, ca. 1856. The maps were created as political propaganda for the first Republican Party candidate for President, John C. Fremont, whose likeness is visible in the upper left corner of the map.
Object Type: Map

Title: Notice! to Citizens of Weston
Description: This broadside calls on “The Citizens of Weston and vicinity” to meet at the Weston, Missouri courthouse on September 1, 1854 at 7:00pm, “to adopt such measures as they may deem most proper and expedient, and best calculated to counteract the effect produced by SOME of the doings of SOME of the men connected with the ‘PLATTE COUNTY SELF DEFENSIVE ASSOCIATION.’” The broadside is signed “Many Citizens,” and is dated August 31, 1854.
Object Type: Broadside
Date: August 31, 1854

Title: Examination of Leonard Brassfield
Description: This is Leonard Brassfield's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Brassfield, an 80-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, originally from Kentucky, states that he remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War. He declares that, "I have always been a Union man," and "I have always been true to the Government in evry way." The oath, No. 13 in a bound volume, was signed by Brassfield in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of John Tay
Description: This is John Tay's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Tay, who was born in Ireland and describes himself as a 35-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that during the Civil War "I took up my musket and went in to the field." The oath, No. 18 in a bound volume, was signed by Tay in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From John A. Halderman to B.M. Prentiss
Description: This dispatch, dated October 13, 1861, is from Maj. John A. Halderman at Camp Prentiss near Chillicothe, Missouri to Gen. Benjamin Prentiss. Halderman informs Prentiss that he recently visited Kansas to discuss with military authorities the defense of their state and of St. Joseph, Missouri. In the event of an insurrection or invasion, Halderman states, “you may safely rely upon two thousand troops being raised on a short notice from the ranks of the state militia.” He also mentions that Gov. Charles Robinson expressed his gratitude for Prentiss’s concern about Kansas.
Date: October 13, 1861

Title: Kansas Territorial Records
Description: These documents include letters and affidavits documenting election fraud that occurred in Leavenworth, Johnson, Coffey, and Linn Counties in Kansas Territory. Kansas citizens voted on January 4, 1858 to determine the fate of the Lecompton Constitution and to elect state officials. These documents refer to incidents of “enormous fraud” including men voting repeatedly under false names, falsifying poll books, and destroying ballot boxes “by violence and force.”
Object Type: Government Document
Date: January 5, 1858-March 15, 1858

Title: From D.A.W. Morehouse to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on December 24, 1858 by D.A.W. Morehouse in Papinsville, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart in Jefferson City, Missouri. Morehouse declares that “The troubles again are rife in Kansas. They do not stop there, but again have penetrated with an armed force into Mo.” Morehouse asks Stewart to “order that a Company of Rangers be placed upon the Line,” since “Montgomery & Brown…play back and forward into the state in the night time.” Morehouse also asks Stewart to assign him a duty to perform in responding to the guerrillas.
Date: December 24, 1858

Title: Oath of Allegiance of John T. Armantrout
Description: In his Oath of Allegiance, signed and dated June 22, 1865, former Confederate soldier John T. Armantrout declares loyalty to the United States government and denounces the Confederacy. Attached is a document that permits Armantrout to return home, by order of Major General Canby, following the surrender in Shreveport, Louisiana on June 8, 1865. Also attached is Armantrout’s Certificate of Enrollment in the Missouri Militia, signed in Saline County in 1866. Armantrout served as a private in Company C, 10th Regiment of Missouri Volunteers.
Date: 1865 - 1866

Title: Examination of John W. Collins
Description: This is John W. Collins's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Collins, a 43-year-old Kentucky native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 38 years and served in the militia during the war. The oath is No. 240 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Amos Lawrence to Francis Granger
Description: This letter, dated September 9, 1856, is from Amos A. Lawrence in Boston to Francis Granger. Lawrence criticizes President Pierce and his administration for assuming that Kansas settlers are mounting an insurrection against the government. Lawrence insists that Kansans are loyal to the U.S. government, despite resisting the laws of Missouri. He adds that Kansans have "been on the defensive wholly" and have not retaliated against the Missourians who "robbed, burned & murdered" Kansas residents.
Date: September 9, 1856

Title: Letters Sent (Provost Marshal General's Bureau)
Description: This notebook contains copies of correspondence between Kansas Provost Marshal Alexander R. Banks in Leavenworth, Kansas, and Provost Marshal General James B. Fry in Washington, DC. The correspondence, written between June and December 1863, covers topics such as guerrilla warfare in Kansas and the raising of military forces to address it; appointments to various government positions; and how to handle property brought into Kansas by escaped slaves.
Date: June 1863-December 1863

Title: From Abishai Stowell to "Distant But Not Forgotten Sister"
Description: On January 8, 1863, Abishai Stowell writes from Elm Springs, Arkansas, to his sister. Stowell reports that he has been in "4 fights:" Maysville, Indian Territory on October 22; Boonsboro, Arkansas on November 28; Prairie Grove, Arkansas on December 7; and Dripping Springs, Arkansas on December 28, which he describes in some detail. Stowell tells his sister not to worry about him, explaining, "I am on the right side as our recent victories will show for. I have never been hit although I have been in the thickest of the fight & have had my clothes cut by bullets."
Object Type: Letter
Date: January 8, 1863

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas writes a letter to his parents on March 25, 1855, discussing controversy over the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society. Some consider it “a curse to the territory,” Fitch says, but he disagrees and claims it merely “has not done as much good as I wish it had.” He informs his parents, who live in Massachusetts, that he has turned his school into a boardinghouse to accommodate an influx of emigrants. He also mentions the upcoming state legislative election in Kansas and expresses concern that the pro-slavery ticket will win.
Object Type: Letter
Date: March 25, 1855

Title: Invoice of Ordnance for August 20th 1862
Description: In this military document, Major Edward B. Eno certifies the transfer of six thousand rounds of ammunition to Lieutenant James J. Akard commanding the Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Regiment Company "A".
Date: August 20, 1862

Title: From Abishai Stowell to "Dear Sister"
Description: On July 8, 1863, Abishai Stowell writes from Springfield, Missouri to his sister. Stowell says he was "heartily glad that the Rebels went into Pennsylvania," and predicts the war will soon come to an end. He tells his sister that his time in the U.S. service will expire in November 1864.
Date: July 8, 1863

Title: Examination of Edward McSweeny
Description: This is Edward McSweeny's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. McSweeny, a 37-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, states that he was born in Ireland and remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 27 in a bound volume, was signed by McSweeny on September 22, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: September 22, 1866

Title: From B.F. Dawson to Colonel of the Second Kansas Militia
Description: This letter, dated October 14, 1864 but presumably written ca. October 22, 1864, was sent by B.F. Dawson in Topeka, Kansas, to the Colonel of the 2nd Kansas Militia. Dawson, a member of Capt. Huntoon’s Company B, 2nd Kansas Militia, describes his participation in the Battle of the Blue, during which he was taken prisoner by the Confederates. He was later paroled by Gen. Shelby and marched back to Topeka.

Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: John A. Bushnell of Calhoun, Missouri writes a letter on February 28, 1863 to Eugenia Bronaugh in Hickory Grove, Missouri. He tells her that “petty acts of tyranny have been committed elsewhere” and predicts that if similar violence occurs where he lives, his neighbors will be too cowardly to defend themselves. He also complains about censorship in newspapers and shares news that General Price “is appointed to the command in rebel army west of the Mississippi.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: February 28, 1863

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter was written on April 1, 2, and 8, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair in Greenfield, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair. Florella writes about going on a “calling & begging trip for Kansas” among friends in the area, and how she was disappointed to receive only $3.00 for her efforts. Florella discovered that many people had already given funds for Kansas to Mr. Stephenson, who managed to collect over $300.00 by representing himself as an acquaintance of John Brown.
Date: April 1, 1861-April 8, 1861

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

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