Civil War

Title: David Rice Atchison
Description: Daguerreotype of Missouri politician David Rice Atchison, taken by photographer Mathew Brady at the United States Capitol at Washington, D.C., March 1849. On October 3, 1855, Atchison and other proslavery activists met at Leavenworth, Kansas to form the Law & Order Party, which cited criminal violence as justification to target, attack, and arrest persons associated with the Free-State cause.
Object Type: Image
Date: March, 1849

Title: Battle of Spotsylvania
Description: L. Prang & Co. lithograph print of the Battle of Spotsylvania as painted by Thure de Thulstrup, circa 1887.
Object Type: Image

Title: William T. Anderson
Description: A photograph of William "Bloody Bill" T. Anderson that appears in the 1914 publication of "Three years with Quantrell; a true story".
Object Type: Image
Date: 1864

Title: John T. Hughes
Description: Photograph of Colonel John Taylor Hughes of the First Infantry Regiment, Fourth Division, Missouri State Guards. A veteran of the Mexican War, Hughes joined the Missouri State Guard following the Camp Jackson Affair and participated in several battles including the Battle of Carthage, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, the Siege of Lexington, and the First Battle of Independence where he was killed while leading a charge.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: 1st Kansas Colored Infantry flag
Description: Regimental flag of the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry, who triumphed over the Missouri State Guard in the Battle of Island Mound. It was the first battle of the Civil War to be fought by a regiment of African-American soldiers.
Object Type: Image

Title: Ho for Kansas!
Description: One of Benjamin "Pap" Singleton's fliers urging African Americans to leave for Kansas. Ultimately, Singleton's advertisements prompted thousands of individuals and families to leave the South.
Object Type: Leaflet
Date: March 18, 1878

Title: Sterling Price
Description: Major General Sterling Price led the largest Confederate cavalry raid of the war.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1860-1870

Title: Franz Sigel
Description: Print showing Major General Franz Sigel, full-length portrait, facing right, riding on horseback with troops marching in formation.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1862

Title: Martial Law or Order No. 11
Description: Depiction of Order No. 11, which was issued by Union General Thomas E. Ewing at the District of the Border Headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri on August 25, 1863. The order commanded residents of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and northern Vernon counties to leave their homes and move away from the area within fifteen days. Ewing issued the directive four days after Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, in an attempt to suppress guerrilla violence.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1868

Title: Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence
Description: This print, originally published in Harper's Weekly on September 5, 1863, shows Quantrill and his rebel guerrillas killing the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas, and setting fire to the buildings.
Object Type: Image
Date: September 5, 1863

Title: Emancipation Ordinance of Missouri
Description: Commemorative lithograph celebrating the emancipation of Missouri slaves by ordinance of Governor Thomas C. Fletcher on January 11, 1865, three weeks before the Thirteenth Amendment was proposed by Congress.
Object Type: Image

Title: Chisolm Inhaler
Description: Reproduction of a Chisolm Inhaler, invented by Confederate surgeon Julian John Chisolm for the administration of chloroform to wounded soldiers. During the Civil War, chloroform slowly replaced ether as an incapacitating agent to subdue struggling and suffering patients. Traditionally, chloroform was administered to wounded soldiers by placing drops of the drug onto a cone-shaped cloth, which was then placed over the patient's nose and mouth. Not only did this method waste chloroform, as much of it evaporated into the air, but also it often left everyone in the operating room slightly affected by the drug. Dr. Chisolm's invention solved this issue with his inhaler, which confined the fluid to the patient alone.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

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. It was produced by photographer J.P. Babbitt of Fort Scott, Kansas. 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: William S. Graham
Description: This portrait of Lieutenant William S. Graham, Company H, 2nd U.S. Volunteers is affixed to a postcard with the words, "Ever Thine" written above Graham's signature. The postcard was sent to Osceola, St. Clair Co., Missouri with a 3 cent stamp attached.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1860 - 1865

Title: John Brown Fort, Shenandoah Street, Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, WV
Description: Photograph of U.S. Armory watchman's house at Harpers Ferry, where Abolitionist John Brown and his followers saught refuge during their unsuccessful raid on the federal arsenal.
Object Type: Image

Title: Allen H. Parmer
Description: Charcoal portrait of Allen Parmer (sometimes spelled Palmer) with pullover trimmed shirt worn over a checked shirt with tie. Allen Parmer took part in the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, August 21, 1863, the Centralia massacre September 27, 1864, and numerous other skirmishes. In 1870 he married Jesse James' sister Susan. The Parmers lived mostly in Texas after the Civil War. He died in Wichita Falls, Texas, October 25, 1927.
Object Type: Image

Title: Union Pacific Railway Co., Wyandotte, Kansas
Description: Stereograph of the Union Pacific Railway Co. building in present day Kansas City, Kansas. The back of the print states, "Office U. Pacific Railway Co. E. D. Wyandotte, Kansas, 286 miles west of St. Louis, Mo." The Wyandotte Constitutional Convention was most likely held in this building.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1867

Title: Laura Hidden Pearson
Description: This tintype, ca. 1860, depicts Laura Hidden Pearson, an Ohio native who married William D. Pearson in Cass County, Missouri. William was the oldest child of Robert D. Pearson, an early Cass County pioneer. William served in Confederate Captain Shanks’ company for nine months until he was taken prisoner near Lexington, Missouri; he was eventually released on parole. Laura and William married after the war.
Object Type: Image

Title: Western University, Quindaro, Kansas
Description: A photograph of Ward Hall and Industrial Building, Western University, once located in the now abandoned town of Quindaro, Wyandotte County, Kansas. This image is included in the 1911 publication of "History of Wyandotte County, Kansas, and its people". Western University opened in 1865 as an exclusively African American college.
Object Type: Image

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 Bliss & Wentworth in Topeka, Kansas. Carte de visites were small photographs that were often used as calling cards and became very popular during the Civil War.
Object Type: Image

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

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