Civil War

Title: From Eugenia Bronaugh to John A. Bushnell
Description: Eugenia Bronaugh writes a letter from Hickory Grove, Missouri to John A. Bushnell of Calhoun, Missouri on October 15, 1863. She says that she went to the post office to pick up a letter from him and the officer on duty refused to give it to her because it had been determined to be disloyal. Eugenia argues that, “You meant no disloyalty, it is far from you to do anything against our government—the government which has and is protecting us.” Nevertheless, she warns him to “weigh every word” he writes.
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 15, 1863

Title: From B. Hoonsley to George R. Smith
Description: On December 11, 1855, B. Hoonsley writes from Big Creek to Gen. George R. Smith. Hoonsley says that "all is confusion here," and reports a rumor that there is still fighting in Lawrence, Kansas, although "it may all be false." He adds that the destruction of Lawrence was predicted months ago by several men. Hoonsley informs Smith that he and two other men are "marked objects" and suggests that "the legislation ought to take immediate…action."
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 11, 1855

Title: Correspondence With Recruiting Officers and Special Orders (Provost Marshal General's Bureau)
Description: This notebook contains copies of correspondence between the Missouri Provost Marshal General's Bureau and recruiting officers in the field from February to November 1863. Topics addressed in the correspondence include appointments to various military positions; issues with payment to soldiers; and information about new recruits. Participants in the correspondence include Col. B.L.E. Bonneville, Col. E.B. Alexander, and Provost Marshal General James B. Fry.
Date: February 1863-November 1863

Title: Joseph Wasson
Description: This carte de visite depicts Joseph Wasson, who served in the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph was produced ca. 1861-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: Dividing the National Map
Description: Satirical illustration parodying the four candidates of the 1860 presidential election. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas tear at the western part of the country, John C. Breckinridge tears at the southern part of the map, while John Bell attempts to glue the map back together with a comically small jar of glue.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Samuel Worthington to Dear Father
Description: This letter, dated October 27, 1864, was written by Samuel Worthington at Headquarters, District of South Kansas, Paola, Kansas, to his father. Worthington states that he recently returned from the front, where he took part in five cavalry charges in one day during the Battle of Mine Creek. He describes participating in a charge with the 7th Kansas Cavalry in which they took 5 pieces of artillery and captured 300 prisoners including Confederate Gen. Marmaduke. “The Rebs are whipped completely,” Worthington declares.
Date: October 27, 1864

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: On November 30, 1862, Florella Brown Adair writes from Osawatomie, Kansas, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella discusses various household and community matters, stating that she has “a black woman coming to help me.” She says she heard a report that Gen. Blunt was going to Fort Smith with his whole command, and also heard that their son Charles was involved in battle and was “among the first to take the Rebbel Battery.”
Date: November 30, 1862

Title: From William Heryford Jr. to Lisbon Applegate
Description: This letter, dated March 24, 1865, is from William Heryford, Jr. to Lisbon Applegate in Keytesville, Chariton County, Missouri. Heryford states that he had contracted a black girl named Rose to work in his home for a year, but her master, Mr. Hyde, violated their contract by taking her home prematurely. Heryford requests that Applegate hire an attorney for him, and complains that “Mr. Hyde is the last man friend . . . to take advantage of me after the many favors Ive done him during this unholy war.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: March 24, 1865

Title: Squatter Sovereign
Description: The first issue of the Squatter Sovereign. The Squatter Sovereign, the most prominent of the proslavery newspapers in Kansas Territory, was first published in Atchison, Kansas in 1855. It printed some of the most inflammatory proslavery rhetoric in the territory, before ironically being purchased by the antislavery Samuel C. Pomeroy in March 1857. Pomeroy, an affiliate of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, turned the paper in favor of the Free-State cause before reselling it to John A. Martin, who renamed it Freedom's Champion.
Object Type: Newspaper Article
Date: February 3, 1855

Title: Missouri Militia Request for Recommendations for Enrolling and Exemption Officers
Description: Missouri Militia Colonel Hosea G. Mullings requests that James J. Akard recommends "suitable persons as Enrolling and Exemption Officers for Polk and Cedar Counties" in southwestern Missouri.
Date: May 18, 1865

Title: Examination of Timothy R. Dale
Description: This is Timothy R. Dale's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Dale describes himself as a 62-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri who was born in Kentucky. He states that he remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War but "was too old to take up arms." The oath, labeled No. 112 in a bound volume, was signed by Dale in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Charles Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: On September 16, 1860, Charles Adair writes from Rawsonville to his father Samuel Lyle Adair. Charles describes his recent visit to Oberlin, where he met an old classmate of his father’s and attended a concert. He says that he would like to attend school in Hudson, Ohio, but believes his father may need his assistance at home; Charles asks him to decide what is best.
Date: September 16, 1860

Title: Examination of F.M. Corum
Description: This is F.M. Corum's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Corum, a 32-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he has resided in Missouri for four years and was enrolled by the military authorities as "loyal" in 1862. The oath is No. 139 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: First Territorial Capitol, Pawnee, Kansas
Description: An 1855 photograph of the first territorial capitol of Kansas during its construction, located in the ghost town of Pawnee, Geary County, Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1855

Title: From William S. Field to George R. Smith
Description: On May 27, 1856, William S. Field writes from Lexington, Missouri to Gen. George R. Smith in Georgetown, Pettis County, Missouri. Field states that he has consented to run for Circuit Attorney if he becomes the nominee for the American party, and will likely run against Mr. Crews of Saline County, Missouri. He refers to "the contest for Congress" between Smith and Mr. Akers, and warns Smith that "Many here are trying to slay you on the negro question, which is unjust & wrong."
Date: May 27, 1856

Title: From William Fowler to John Flint
Description: On January 31, 1865, Capt. William Fowler, Provost Marshal, 7th District Missouri, writes from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Deputy Provost Marshal John Flint. Fowler states that he has been directed by the War Department to gather information about the family of Thomas Megglemore of Harrison County, Missouri. He explains that Megglemore's father applied for his son's release from Co. D, 23rd Mo. Vols., so he can "contribute to the support of" of the family. Fowler instructs Flint to procure at least two affidavits regarding the family's "true condition."
Date: January 31, 1865

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: Letters Sent (Provost Marshal, Northern District of Kansas)
Description: This notebook contains copies of correspondence sent by the Provost Marshal's Office, Northern District of Kansas in Leavenworth, Kansas, between May and August 1864. Topics addressed in the correspondence include military enrollment, accounting matters, and desertions. Participants in the correspondence include Provost Marshal General James B. Fry and Capt. J. McCahon, Provost Marshal for the Northern District of Kansas.
Date: May 1864-August 1864

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: Proclamation of Daniel Woodson
Description: This proclamation was issued July 4, 1856 by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson. Woodson forbids all persons claiming legislative authority or power in Kansas from assembling at Topeka, Kansas and from organizing, attempting to organize, or acting in any legislative capacity whatsoever. Woodson declares that this proclamation upholds President Pierce’s proclamation of February 11, 1856, which decreed that all such acts would be considered insurrectionary.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: July 4, 1856

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

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