Civil War

Title: From Edward Fitch to Mr. Editor
Description: This letter, dated July 4, 1856, is from Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas to the editor of the Hopkinton (MA) Patriot. Fitch states that the Free State Legislature was supposed to convene that day in Topeka, but Colonel Sumner arrived with armed troops and, under orders from Washington, commanded everyone to leave. Fitch declares that “unless the North awakes and men (not fools) are placed in the Presidential chair this fall, Civil War must follow.” He also discusses a group of women who, in response to local rum selling, "took possession of the Liquor, which they spilled without mercy." He signs the letter “Yours for Free men, Free speech, Free Kansas, and Fre-mont.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 4, 1856

Title: From Thomas Carney to James L. McDowell
Description: This letter, dated June 16, 1863, was written by Kansas Governor Thomas Carney in St. Louis, Missouri, to Major General James L. McDowell. Carney plans to travel to Washington to ask Secretary of War Edwin Stanton for approval to raise a regiment of U.S. cavalry to defend Kansas. Carney states that this step, authorized by Major General Schofield, will relieve Kansas from having to pay for its own defense. He advises McDowell to begin planning for the prospective new regiment.
Date: June 16, 1863

Title: 1860 Presidential Election Returns from Holt County, Missouri
Description: This document presents the election returns from Holt County, Missouri for the Presidential election held on November 6, 1860: Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson received 453 votes; John Bell and Edward Everett received 348 votes; Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin received 202 votes; and John C. Breckenridge and Joseph Lane received 171 votes. On November 9, James Scott, Clerk of the Holt County Court, certifies the results and notes that Thomas Thoroughman received 313 votes for Circuit Attorney with no opposition.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: November 6, 1860

Title: Preston B. Plumb
Description: A Portrait of Preston B. Plumb, Senator of Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1865-1880

Title: Beecher "Bible & Rifle" Church, Wabaunsee, Wabaunsee County, KS
Description: This photograph, taken by Douglas McCleery for the 1958 Historic American Buildings Survey, shows the north facade of the Beecher "Bible and Rifle" Church, built during the Civil War in Wabaunsee, Wabaunsee County, Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: June 1958

Title: State vs. Thomas Brown
Description: These documents, created between 1855 and 1856, relate to the Jackson County, Missouri court case State vs. Thomas Brown. Brown is accused of attempting to take four slaves out of Missouri with the intention of procuring their freedom. The slaves were caught in DeKalb County, Missouri in November 1855; a witness recounts that “Brown stated he took those Negroes for the love he had for them.” In a signed statement dated November 28, 1855, Thomas Brown pleads guilty to the charges.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: November 25, 1855 - March 11, 1856

Title: From W.J. Marion to A. Comingo
Description: This dispatch, dated November 2, 1863, is from W.J. Marion to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th district of Missouri. Marion, the editor of the Plattsburg American in Clinton County, Missouri, responds to Comingo's request for information about advertising in the newspaper.
Date: November 2, 1863

Title: Soldier, Eleventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Description: This sepia carte de visite, ca. 1861-1865, depicts an unidentified soldier who served in the Eleventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The carte de visite was produced by G. Wertz's company, Photograph Rooms, in Kansas City, Missouri. Carte de visites were small photographs that were often used as calling cards and became very popular during the Civil War.
Object Type: Image

Title: From James Mooney to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on January 4, 1859 by Capt. James Mooney in West Point, Missouri to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Mooney describes several recent incidents of robbery, property destruction, and murder perpetrated against the citizens of Bates and Vernon Counties in Missouri by guerrillas from Kansas. Mooney states that a company of 100 men has been organized within the counties; he requests that the company be “properly armed and equipped” and accepted into the service of the state. The final page of the letter is an endorsement of Mooney’s statements by J.A. Pigg and four other men.
Date: January 4, 1859

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on December 13, 1860 by Florella Brown Adair in Hudson, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella writes that she has been reading in the papers about “the troubles in Kansas,” and that she occasionally reads Samuel’s letters to relatives who are interested in events in the Territory. She adds that Lincoln’s election has caused “great excitement” in Hudson, where “every kind of business seems to be out of joint & in a depressed state.”
Date: December 13, 1860

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter was written on April 8, 9, and 10, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair in South Salem, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair. Florella writes that she continues to have difficulty collecting money for Kansas, and declares “I hope there will be not one cent given to those who will not work, as hard as I have to get the little I have for their benefit.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: April 8, 1861-April 10, 1861

Title: Missouri State Militia List of Articles Lost or Destroyed
Description: This military document lists articles lost or destroyed in the public service in Forsythe, Missouri while in the possession of James J. Akard, Captain of Company "A", 8th Cavalry Regiment Missouri State Militia in the month of December 1863.
Date: December 1863

Title: From James Henry Lane to R.M. Ainsworth
Description: This is a copy of a letter written by Gen. James Henry Lane, labeled the first letter of the Wakarusa War. In the letter, dated December 1, 1855 and addressed to R.M. Ainsworth, Lane writes that a Free State man, Charles Dow, was “cowardly + brutally murdered by a gang of Proslavery men” in Lawrence, Kansas. Violence and threats followed, Lane says, and according to rumors, “this city is to be demolished without delay.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 1, 1855

Title: Republican Banner for 1860
Description: Republican Party banner for the 1860 Presidential campaign featuring Abraham Lincoln of Illinois for president and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for vice president.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1860

Title: Quarterly Return of Quartermaster's Stores, 1862
Description: This military document is a return of quartermaster's stores for Company "A" 8th Cavalry Regiment Missouri State Militia under command of Captain David D. Stockton for the second quarter of 1862.
Date: 1862

Title: From H.M. Rice to William Fowler
Description: On January 21, 1865, H.M. Rice, Deputy Provost Marshal, 7th District Missouri, writes from Albany, Missouri to Capt. William Fowler, Provost Marshal, 7th District Missouri. Rice states that he is forwarding the corrected enrollment lists for Gentry County, Missouri. He adds that "Negro Culp" has been seen in the area, possibly on his way to St. Joseph, Missouri "to give himself up." "I will get him if there is any chance," Rice concludes.
Date: January 21, 1865

Title: The Fall of General Lyon
Description: Nathaniel Lyon falling from horse after being shot in the Civil War, Wilson's Creek, Mo., Aug. 10, 1861. Engraving by H.B. Hall. Drawing by F.O.C. Darley.
Object Type: Image

Title: Lee Surrenders to Grant at Appomattox
Description: The Room in the McLean House, at Appomattox C.H., in which Gen. Lee surrendered to Gen. Grant. Most written accounts of Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, noted the difference between Lee’s stiff dignity and Grant’s more relaxed demeanor. This lithograph of the event, showing the two men as they waited for the peace terms to be copied, captures that difference better than most. After the surrender, Wilmer McLean, the owner of the house, lost much of his furniture to soldiers desiring mementos of the historic event. Later, in what proved to be a futile effort to recoup his losses and raise funds for his needy family, he commissioned this print.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1867

Title: Governor Wilson Shannon (1802–1877)
Description: Wilson Shannon, a former governor of Ohio, was appointed Kansas territorial governor by President Franklin Pierce. In contrast to his predecessor, Andrew H. Reeder, Shannon was outspoken in his proslavery stance and even failed to defend the town of Lawrence from a proslavery raid in May 1856. The "Bleeding Kansas" era began during Shannon's term in office, as the Pottawatomie Massacre and other threats of violence emerged. Admitting failure, Shannon left the territory on June 23, 1856 and his resignation was tendered on August 18, 1856. Still, Shannon's 9.5 month tenure was the longest of any of Kansas Territory's embattled governors.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: From William N. Taylor to Sir
Description: This letter of July 3, 1860 is from William N. Taylor, sheriff of Raymond Hinds County, Mississippi; the recipient is presumably a slaveowner. In the letter, Sheriff Taylor indicates he is holding a male slave in his jail who “says that he belongs to you and that he Ranaway from you in Missouri.” Taylor writes, “If he be your property you will please…take him away after paying charges, etc.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 3, 1860

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

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