Civil War

Title: Examination of Jefferson Slide
Description: This is Jefferson Slide's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Slide, a 48-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he was born in Canada and remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War. He claims that he "felt a little sorry for Old Mulligan" when Gen. Sterling Price captured Gen. Mulligan's army at Lexington, Missouri. The oath, labeled No. 53 in a bound volume, was signed by Slide in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Gettysburg Address
Description: This is a facsimile of President Lincoln’s handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address. Lincoln delivered the famous speech on November 19, 1863 at the Soldiers National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In his address, Lincoln memorializes the Battle of Gettysburg and declares that the Declaration of Independence guarantees the liberty and equality of all people. He concludes by proclaiming that the “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Object Type: Speech
Date: November 19, 1863

Title: 1860 Presidential Election Returns from Mercer County, Missouri
Description: This document presents the election returns from Mercer County, Missouri for the Presidential election held on November 6, 1860: Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson received 682 votes; John Bell and Edward Everett received 491 votes; John C. Breckenridge and Joseph Lane received 169 votes; and Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin received 80 votes. On November 10, R.R. Ballew, Clerk of the Mercer County Court, certified the results.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: November 10, 1860

Title: From James Boyer to Unknown
Description: On December 2, 1863, James Boyer, Deputy Provost Marshal for Chariton County, Missouri, writes a letter from Brunswick, Missouri to an unknown recipient. Boyer tells his correspondent he is grateful "for your kind offer of 95 cents on the dollar for my vouchers." He adds that he is "anxiously looking for the authority spoken of by you for recruiting."
Date: December 2, 1863

Title: Examination of Elisha Estes
Description: This is Elisha Estes's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Estes, who was born in Virginia and describes himself as a 53-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that during the Civil War he "staid at home and furnished soldiers something to eat." The oath, No. 17 in a bound volume, was signed by Estes in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Sue Brawner to All at Home
Description: This letter of July 24, 1859 is from Sue Brawner in Linneus, Missouri to “all at home.” She describes a recent trip from Lexington, Missouri to Linneus via the city of Brunswick. Along the way she and her traveling companions visited relatives. Sue writes of staying with Tom, a relative in Linneus who owns several slaves: “They have a black girl as large as I am.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 24, 1859

Title: James J. Akard
Description: James J. Akard was born July 7, 1838, in Polk County, Missouri. He was captain of Company A, Eighth Missouri State Militia Cavalry during the Civil War. After the war he was elected to the state legislature and held other important Polk County positions including sheriff, collector and clerk of the county court. He died in 1919.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: From Willard P. Hall to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On August 12, 1862, Willard P. Hall writes from St. Joseph, Missouri to Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble in St. Louis. Hall assures Gamble that Gen. Loan is not guilty of insubordination and remains loyal to the provisional state government. He suggests that Loan's enemies are trying to discredit him with false rumors. Hall adds that no applications have been made for the "privileges" accorded by Order No. 23.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: August 12, 1862

Title: Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Circular Orders Requesting Information on Deserters
Description: In this Circular Order to the Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Company "A", commanding officers are requested to provide detailed information on deserters, including where the deserter lived when enlisted.
Date: March 28, 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 Hoag & Quick's Art Palace in Cincinnati. 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 G.A. Parsons to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This dispatch, dated June 3, 1858 is from G.A. Parsons, Adjutant General of the Missouri Militia, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Parsons reports from Cass County, Missouri on the border conflict; he states that a number of Missouri farmers have abandoned their farms and moved into the interior of the state to seek safety. He adds that James Montgomery and a group of Kansas citizens met with a committee of Missouri citizens and demanded their surrender.
Date: June 3, 1858

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter, dated November 8, 1860, was written by Florella Brown Adair in Hudson, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair in Osawatomie, Kansas. Florella writes that she just returned to Hudson after a trip to Ashtabula, Geauga, and Portage Counties. She says that she will come home if necessary, but is reluctant to because of the present difficult times in Kansas. Florella adds that she came to Ohio “hoping to enjoy the society of my friends once more after being so long shut up in Kansas and I have so far not been disappointed.”
Date: November 8, 1860

Title: Free State Convention!
Description: Invitation to the Free State Convention in Big Springs, Kansas. On September 5-6, 1855, approximately 100 delegates gathered at Big Springs, Kansas, along the California Road in Douglas County, to form the Free-State Party. The party supported the entry of Kansas into the Union as a free state, but it did not necessarily espouse abolition of slavery in the South, a position commonly considered to be radical in both the North and the South.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1855

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: This letter, dated September 21, 1856, is from Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas to his parents in Massachusetts. He tells them that he and his army regiment marched to Franklin the previous week in an attempt to defend the town from Border Ruffians. The Ruffians rode into town, burned several buildings, robbed Fitch of everything he owned, and then “dispersed in different directions . . . stealing and murdering as they went.” Fitch mentions his suspicion that Governor Geary is a traitor who has negotiated with the Border Ruffians.
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 21, 1856-September 28, 1856

Title: From Charles R. Jennison to Charles Robinson
Description: This letter was written by Charles R. Jennison in Mound City, Kansas, to Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson on August 22, 1862. Jennison writes that in southern Kansas there is “a general feeling that Lane is a great humbug.” Jennison notes that he has a petition from Dr. Mitchell – a Missourian – and other “Lane men” who are organizing a new regiment in Mound City. Jennison believes that Kansas men should command Kansas troops.
Date: August 22, 1862

Title: From John Tasmilen to John Ament
Description: This 1864 letter was written by John Tasmilen in Centralia, Missouri to John Ament. Declaring that “slavery is dead” and the war nearly over, John predicts that preachers will try to take credit for ending slavery, “but they lie, they sanctioned it as long as they could.” John encourages Ament to return to Cass County, Missouri: “I think you would find a great political change since you left…so that I think you might feel safe.”
Date: 1864

Title: Examination of Z. Barnes
Description: This is Z. Barnes's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Barnes, a 69-year-old Pennsylvania native, states that he has lived in Missouri since 1845. He says that during the war he was "in sentiment on the Southern side," and was not required by the military authorities to give bond. The oath is No. 256 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From H.M. Clark to R.M. Stewart
Description: This June 2, 1858 letter is from Capt. H.M. Clark in Boonville, Missouri to Missouri Gov. R.M. Stewart. Clark volunteers his company, the Union Riflemen of Cooper County, Missouri, to assist in patrolling the western border to "preserve peace with Kansas." He states that he can offer a force of fifty mounted men, or light infantry, and adds that they need a few additional tents and wagons.
Date: June 2, 1858

Title: Abstract of Ordinance Expenditure, 1864
Description: This military document includes two abstracts of materials expended or consumed by the Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Regiment Company "A". These abstracts are documentation of the first and second quarters of 1864.
Date: 1864

Title: From W.W. Thayer to James Montgomery
Description: On April 16, 1861, W.W. Thayer of Boston writes a letter to James Montgomery, encouraging him to mount an insurrection in the South and help liberate the slaves. Thayer argues that an organized slave rebellion could bring a swift end to the war: “a bloody war full of horrors concentrated into a few days or months would be far preferable to one consuming time, money, lives.” He warns Montgomery that the people of the South are brave and that they “will fight to the bitter End.” A note from R.J. Hinton at the bottom of the letter states that James Lane was recently put in command of 1,000 troops in Washington.
Date: April 16, 1861

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

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