Civil War

Title: Missouri State Militia Special Order No. 279
Description: By order of Major Robert W. Fyan, H. Mitchell instructs Lieutenant T. A. Wakefield of the Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Regiment Company "A" to take charge of one hundred men and pursue Sterling Price as his Confederate forces raid central Missouri.
Date: October 10, 1864

Title: From F.W. Smith to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This dispatch was sent on November 29, 1860 to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart by Maj. F.W. Smith, at Headquarters, 1st Battalion, 4th Military District, in St. Joseph, Missouri. Smith sends Stewart a report from the Division Inspector regarding the election of officers for the German Rifle Company, Company C, 1st Battalion. Smith says that if Stewart believes the elections were properly conducted, Lt. Schmitz and Lt. Baumer should receive their commissions.
Date: November 29, 1860

Title: Battle of Mobile Bay
Description: Xanthus Russell Smith painting of the Battle of Mobile Bay, which was fought on August 5, 1864, in Mobile Bay, Alabama.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1890

Title: Lists of Slaves Enlisted from the 8th Sub-District, Missouri
Description: These military rolls list the names of slaves enlisted in the United States service in January and February 1864. The recruits were enlisted in the 8th sub-district of the 6th congressional district of Missouri in Ray County. The lists are dated March 30, 1864 and are signed by G.N. Black, Recruiting Agent.
Date: March 30, 1864

Title: Battle of Pea Ridge
Description: This map of the Battle of Pea Ridge was originally published in Abraham Lincoln: A History, Vol. V, by John G. Nicolay and John Hay.
Object Type: Map
Date: n.d.

Title: Petition from Vernon County Citizens
Description: This petition, dated November 21, 1860, is addressed to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart and signed by 34 citizens of Little Osage, Vernon County, Missouri. The signers assert that they are “imminently in danger of another invasion” from Kansas guerrillas. They claim that they have been victim to numerous attacks over the past three years, and that during one attack, John Brown stole “ten or eleven thousand dollars” of property. The petitioners ask Stewart to station the Missouri Mounted Militia, Company A, in Little Osage for their protection.
Object Type: Petition
Date: November 21, 1860

Title: From A. Comingo to Joseph H. McGee
Description: This dispatch, dated November 19, 1863, is from Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th district of Missouri, to Maj. Joseph H. McGee in Lexington, Missouri. Comingo asks McGee to provide a military escort for James Zeiler, Enrolling Officer for the 6th district, 1st sub-district of Missouri. In his response on the other side of the document, erroneously dated November 18, 1863, McGee states that he has only one squadron on duty at his post and cannot provide an escort.
Date: November 19, 1863

Title: Examination of Finess Tilford
Description: This is Finess Tilford's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Tilford, a 46-year-old native of Clay County, Missouri, states that he opposed "the enemies of the Government" by advising them "to stay at home and behave themselves." He also says he "took the Union side invariably." The oath is No. 188 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of M.C. Drake
Description: This is M.C. Drake's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Drake, a 58-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he was born in Kentucky and that he remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 105 in a bound volume, was signed by Drake on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: Discharge of James S. Cunningham
Description: These are the official discharge papers for James S. Cunningham, who served as a private under Captain John B. Coles in Company D of the 8th Regiment of the Missouri Infantry from 1861 to 1864. The document, dated July 1, 1864, describes Cunningham as a 20 year old farmer from Washington, Pennsylvania. He was discharged after completing his term of service.
Date: July 1, 1864

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: Siege of Vicksburg
Description: Kurz & Allison lithograph depicting the Siege of Vicksburg, circa 1888.
Object Type: Image

Title: Application of Thomas P. Burris
Description: This is Thomas P. Burris’s application for compensation from the United States government for the military service of his slave, Phillip. The application, dated November 10, 1866, includes an oath of allegiance to the United States, a power of attorney transfer to Isaac C. Dodge, and the signature of a notary public in Cooper County, Missouri. A note in pencil on the fourth page indicates that the application was rejected. Attached are two bills from 1855 declaring the sale of slaves to Burris, of Howard County, Missouri.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: February 7, 1855-November 10, 1866

Title: Jillson Hotel, Osawatomie, Kansas
Description: Postcard depicting The Jillson Hotel in Osawatomie, Kansas, where on May 18, 1859, Horace Greeley reorganized the Free-State Party as the Republican Party in Kansas.
Object Type: Image

Title: Examination of W.F. Gordon
Description: This is W.F. Gordon's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Gordon, a 35-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, states that he was born in Kentucky and that he demonstrated his loyalty to the United States Government during the Civil War by "doing all the law required." The oath, labeled No. 77 in a bound volume, was signed by Gordon in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From James H. Moss to A.W. Doniphan
Description: On October 3, 1863, James H. Moss writes from Liberty, Missouri to Col. A.W. Doniphan. Moss describes his recent efforts to restore order in Clay and Platte Counties, Missouri by raising a local military force. He writes that the newspapers have been publishing "reckless" lies about his activities, and urges Doniphan not to believe what he reads. Moss asks Doniphan to explain the situation to Gov. Gamble, adding, "We have had perfect quiet in Clay and Platte for five days and nights past."
Date: October 3, 1863

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 P. McClanahan to A. Comingo
Description: This letter, dated November 28, 1863, is from P. McClanahan in Independence, Missouri to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th district of Missouri. McClanahan informs Comingo that he mailed the military enrollment forms from two officers, Rodewald and Warren. He says that the two officers have not been as productive as they would have been "in ordinary times" and adds, "you are aware of the difficulties under which we labor in this county."
Date: November 28, 1863

Title: Will of Cecil D. Ball
Description: This is the will and testament of Cecil D. Ball of Little Osage County, Missouri, dated April 16, 1859. In this document, Ball bequeaths $5,000 to the Presbyterian Church of Little Osage as long as the church never employs a preacher who promotes “in public or private any abolition or anti-slavery doctrines or principles.” Ball stipulates that if the church fails to comply, the bequest will be forfeited. A codicil dated November 15, 1860 voids this stipulation.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: April 16, 1859

Title: Berry O. Singleton's Appointment to Second Corporal
Description: By the order of Colonel Joseph J. Gravely, David Hunter informs the Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Regiment that Berry O. Singleton is appointed to Second Corporal, in Company "A", of the Eighth Regiment of Cavalry, M.S.M..
Date: April 13, 1863

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

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