Civil War

Title: From Abishai Stowell to "Dear Sister"
Description: On September 20, 1862, Abishai Stowell writes from Camp Drywood near Fort Scott, Kansas, to his sister. Stowell says that his regiment just returned from Fort Union, New Mexico. He was able to visit home on the return trip, and reports that most of the family is well. Stowell also gives his sister a list of the officers of his regiment, including General James G. Blunt, Col. William F. Cloud, and Lt. Col. Owen A. Bassett.
Date: September 20, 1862

Title: From Unknown to Abraham Lincoln
Description: This letter, dated May 19, 1862, is presumably from Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble in St. Louis to President Lincoln. Gamble asks for Lincoln's help in restoring peace to Missouri's border counties by ordering that no troops raised in Kansas may enter Missouri unless by request. Gamble adds that in the interest of impartiality, "I am perfectly willing that Missouri troops shall be prohibited from entering Kansas without like request."
Object Type: Letter
Date: May 19, 1862

Title: From P.A. Thompson to William Fowler
Description: On November 27, 1864, P.A. Thompson writes from Rock Port, Missouri to Capt. William Fowler. Thompson states that two boys under the age of 19 have been drafted from Atchison County, Missouri, and asks whether affidavits from their parents attesting to their ages will exempt them from military duty.
Date: November 27, 1864

Title: Examination of James M. Bowing
Description: This is James M. Bowing's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Bowing, a 23-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he served in the militia during the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 127 in a bound volume, was signed by Bowing in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of Fredrick Gwinner
Description: This is Fredrick Gwinner's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Gwinner, 49, states that he has resided in Liberty, Missouri for 25 years. As evidence of his loyalty to the U.S. government, Gwinner reports that he "fed soldiers during the war." The oath is No. 136 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Sale of Slave
Description: This document declares the $800 sale of a male slave named Pleasant from Nathan C. Skinner of Stewart County, Tennessee to Jesse L. Ingram of St. Joseph, Missouri on February 22, 1855. Skinner promises that the slave is "sound, healthy, sensible, and a slave for life."
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: February 22, 1855

Title: Soldier, Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Description: This tintype, ca. 1861-1865, depicts an unidentified member of the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry.
Object Type: Image

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

Title: From Edward Fitch to Those...Who So Generously Responded to the Appeal for Help
Description: Edward Fitch writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to the people in his hometown of Hopkinton, Massachusetts on December 17, 1856. He thanks them for responding to his recent request for help by donating clothing to poor Kansas emigrants. He describes the people who have received their donations and the suffering they have endured. Many of them, Fitch says, have been robbed, attacked, or had their houses burned down by Border Ruffians.
Date: December 17, 1856

Title: Examination of William Bryant
Description: This is William Bryant's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Bryant, a 46-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, states that he was born in Kentucky and demonstrated his loyalty to the United States Government during the Civil War by "staying at home and attending to my own business and treating soldiers as they ought to be." The oath, labeled No. 83 in a bound volume, was signed by Bryant in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Odon Guitar
Description: This sepia photograph, ca. 1860s, depicts Union Col. Odon Guitar of the 9th Cavalry, Missouri State Militia, in military uniform.
Object Type: Image

Title: Examination of W.G. Searcy
Description: This is W.G. Searcy's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Searcy describes himself as a 70-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri who was born in Kentucky. He states that during the Civil War, he remained loyal to the United States Government and "took but very little part" in the conflict. The oath, labeled No. 109 in a bound volume, was signed by W.G. Searcy on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: Wyandotte Constitution
Description: The first page of the Wyandotte Constitution, which became the Constitution of the State of Kansas when Kansas was admitted as the 34th state of the United States of America on January 29, 1861.
Object Type: Image
Date: July 29, 1861

Title: Examination of John R. Hall
Description: This is John R. Hall's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Hall, a 61-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, states that he was born in Kentucky and that he thought General Sterlin Price "ought to have been arrested by Fremont" after the capture of General Mulligan at the First Battle of Lexington. The oath, labeled No. 106 in a bound volume, was signed by Hall on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: From Joseph Denison to Br. Griffing
Description: This letter, dated January 3, 1861, was written by Joseph Denison in Philadelphia to Br. Griffing. Joseph discusses the relief efforts of the Methodist Church in Kansas, which are being hindered by the threat of war. “Many think that War is inevitable,” he writes, “and affirm that if it does come it will be the end of slavery.” Joseph adds that if more people heard about the difficulties of Kansans, “it would arouse them to a sense of the real suffering in Kansas.”
Date: January 3, 1861

Title: Examination of Anderson B. Everett
Description: This unsigned Oath of Loyalty to the United States bears the name of Anderson B. Everett. The document is labeled No. 132 in a bound volume of oaths taken in 1866-1888 by Clay County, Missouri voters.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Nancy Walker Lyon Harris
Description: This ca. 1860 black-and-white photograph depicts Nancy Walker Lyon Harris, who was born in 1803. Nancy’s father, William Lyon, served as clerk of the court when Cass County, Missouri (originally Van Buren County) was first established. Nancy’s husband, Fleming Harris, helped found Harrisonville, Missouri, in Cass County, and served as its first town commissioner. Nancy died in Cass County in 1864.
Object Type: Image

Title: Examination of Thomas Morrison
Description: This is Thomas Morrison's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Morrison, a 65-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, originally from Ireland, states that he remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War. He claims that he defended the Union during "a little fight" in Lexington, Missouri. The oath, labeled "No. 5 1/2" in a bound volume, was signed by Morrison in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From William McNeill Clough to A. Comingo
Description: This letter, dated November 24, 1863, is from William McNeill Clough, Attorney and Notary Public in Leavenworth, Kansas, to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th district of Missouri. Clough responds to Comingo's request for information about a Kansas resident named Daniel Woodson. He states that Woodson has not been in Kansas for a long time and is probably "within the Confederate lines in Virginia." He adds that he is enclosing a copy of the Kansas statutes regarding disloyal citizens.
Date: November 24, 1863

Title: Letters Sent and Endorsements (Commissioner of Musters)
Description: This notebook contains copies of letters sent by Col. B.L.E. Bonneville, Commissioner of Musters, Department of the Missouri, between August 20, 1864 and July 1865. Correspondents include Capt. Ben Sharp, Assistant Commissioner of Musters in St. Joseph, Missouri, and Capt. John G. Quinn, Assistant Commissioner of Musters in Springfield, Missouri. Topics addressed in the correspondence include enrollment of recruits and muster rolls.
Date: August 20, 1864-July 1865

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

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