Civil War

Title: Memorial to John Brown at Quindaro Townsite, Kansas City, Kansas
Description: Lifesize marble statue of John Brown, which was dedicated on June, 1911, at Western University campus in Quindaro Townsite, Kansas City, Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1911

Title: Samuel Ryan Curtis
Description: Black and white portrait of General Samuel Ryan Curtis standing, as published in a photographic album by E & H.T. Anthony. One of the first Republicans elected to Congress representing Iowa's 1st congressional district, Curtis resigned his seat in 1861 to join the Union Army. Curtis commanded Union forces to several victories during the Civil War, including at the Battle of Pea Ridge and the Battle of Westport.
Object Type: Image

Title: Correspondence of the Kansas Territory Executive Department
Description: This group of documents, dated between 1855 and 1856, comprises correspondence and other papers relating to the construction of the capital building at Lecompton, Kansas. Kansas Governors Reeder, Geary, and Shannon participated in the correspondence, which includes the appointment of Owen C. Stewart as Superintendent of Construction on October 20, 1855, and a contract for construction dated December 27, 1855.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1855-1856

Title: From D.A.W. Morehouse to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on June 28, 1858 by D.A.W. Morehouse in Papinsville, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart in Jefferson City, Missouri. Morehouse tells Stewart about the organization of a company of mounted dragoons in Papinsville, and lists the company’s officers. Morehouse requests that Stewart issue the appropriate commissions and supply them with arms: “It is actually necessary that we should be armed and equipped to sustain civil order. Our lives and property and our families cannot otherwise be protected.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 28, 1858

Title: General Orders, No. 39
Description: Brig. Gen. James Totten and Maj. Lucien J. Barnes of the Missouri State Militia issued General Order No. 39 on September 1, 1862 in Springfield, Missouri. The order warns the militia's officers to stop "preventing their men from entering the volunteer service . . . by so doing they render themselves liable to arrest under the Presidents order for 'discouraging enlistments.'"
Date: September 1, 1862

Title: Meriwether Jeff Thompson
Description: Carte de visite of Meriwether Jeff Thompson, Brigadier General, Missouri State Guard, posing in uniform with cavalry saber. Thompson participated in several notable Civil War battles, including the Battle of Fredericktown, Battle of Westport, and Battle of Mine Creek.
Object Type: Image

Title: Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811-1896
Description: Portrait of abolitionist and author, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," galvanized anti-slavery sentiment in the North, while provoking widespread anger in the South.
Object Type: Image

Title: William Napoleon (Babe) Hudspeth
Description: Charcoal portrait drawing of William "Babe" Hudspeth in suit, vest, and tie. Hudspeth was one of four brothers from eastern Jackson County that rode with Quantrill and Bill Anderson. He participated in the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, (August 21, 1863) and the Centralia, Missouri, massacre (September 1864). After the Civil War he lived on his farm in Jackson County and bred horses. He died in 1907. (from "Babe Hudspeth: Missouri Guerrilla" by John Sickles in "Military Images," Jan/Feb 2007, Vol. 28, #4, pp. 30-33.")
Object Type: Image

Title: From James S. Hackney to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on June 11, 1858 by James S. Hackney at “Noland House” in Independence, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Hackney reports that Col. Blakely and Gen. Parsons are in the process of organizing several military companies in Cass and Vernon Counties in Missouri. According to Hackney, Col. Blakely has “seen over 100 men who have been driven from the Territory by Montgomery’s band. He says ‘I’ll tell you times are hot down here—the people are boiling over with rage.’”
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 11, 1858

Title: From Jesse Newell to John W. Geary
Description: In this September 20, 1856 letter to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary, Jesse Newell complains that he was driven from his house by a band of guerrillas. He claims that they destroyed his property and threatened to hang him, his son Robert, and his brother-in-law. He adds that his neighbors are not safe either, and that his neighborhood is “pested” with guerrillas.
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 20, 1856

Title: John Ross
Description: Charcoal portrait of John Ross in suit coat, shirt, and string tie. Ross was one of Quantrill's guerrillas and took part in the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, August 21, 1863. He was with Quantrill when Quantrill was mortally wounded in Kentucky. Ross, along with 14 others of Quantrill's band, surrendered to the U.S. Army at Samuel's Depot, Kentucky, July 25, 1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: Battle of Boonville Political Cartoon
Description: This black-and-white cartoon, ca. June 1861, mockingly depicts Confederate General Sterling Price “taken with a Violent Diarrhea” at the beginning of the Battle of Boonville. Price is depicted in military uniform with his pants down, saying “I didn’t think the Smell of Gun-powder would have such an effect on my Bowels.” A note below the cartoon refers readers to the daily papers from June 20, 1861.
Object Type: Image

Title: St. Louis, Missouri
Description: This stereograph displays the commercial district of St. Louis, Missouri."
Object Type: Image
Date: 1862 - 1868

Title: Missouri State Militia Special Order to Receive New Privates
Description: By order of Brigadier General John B. Sanborn, 1st Lt. W. D. Hubbard informs Capt. James J. Akard that five privates from the old 14th Cavalry will be joining Akard's ranks in Company "A" of the 8th Cavalry.
Date: November 16, 1863

Title: Slave Hire
Description: In this document, James Lawrence and W.W. Walter promise to pay Hugh G. Rees sixty dollars for the hire of a 15-year-old female slave named Nancy. Lawrence and Walter agree to “treat the said girl humanely…and not take her out of the State of MO.” The two men promise to return Nancy to Rees on January 1, 1856.
Object Type: Legal Document

Title: From Florella Brown Adair and Charles Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on April 14 and 15, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair and Charles Adair in Greenfield, Ohio, to Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella reports that she has been thinking about “the mysterious providence of God toward Kansas & toward our church, why does he permit such trying & afflictive things to come upon us as a people?” Charles finishes the letter on April 15, stating that they will be home the following week. He refers to the capture of Fort Sumter and declares, “The war has begun.”
Date: April 14, 1861-April 15, 1861

Title: James Henry Lane (1814-1866), Politician and Leader of the Free State Party of Kansas, with Gun
Description: Carte de visite featuring a sepia photograph of James Henry Lane posing with a gun.
Object Type: Image

Title: General Orders, No. 23
Description: Samuel P. Simpson, Adjutant General of Missouri, issued General Order No. 23 from Jefferson City on August 8, 1865. The order instructs all officers of the Missouri State Militia to file an "Oath of Loyalty" to the United States Government, and it instructs officers on detached service to report monthly on their duties. The order also cites an act of the General Assembly of Missouri that authorizes the governor to issue commissions to military officers.
Date: August 8, 1865

Title: Constitutional Convention, Topeka, Kansas Territory [Topeka]
Description: Wood engraving depicting the Topeka Constitutional Convention of December 15, 1855. At the convention, Free-Staters voted to adopt the Topeka Constitution for Kansas Territory, provisionally banning slavery in Kansas and allowing suffrage for "civilized" male Native Americans, but still excluded blacks from settling in the state. However, the constitution failed to gain the recognition of proslavery settlers and the federal government, including President Franklin Pierce, who declared the Topeka legislature to be illegal and treasonous.
Object Type: Image
Date: December 15, 1855

Title: Monthly Return of Wagons, Harness, and Other Means of Transportation
Description: This military document is a collection of two monthly returns of various means of transportation including horses, wagons, and carts used by Company "A", 8th Cavalry Regiment, Missouri State Militia. The first return, June 1862, was completed by Captain David D. Stockton and certified by Second Lieutenant Thomas A. Wakefield. The second return, June 1863, was completed and certified by Captain James J. Akard.
Date: June 1862 - June 1863

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

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