Civil War

Title: Examination of A.J. Turpin
Description: This is A.J. Turpin's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Turpin, a 61-year-old Kentucky native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 12 years. He was arrested twice during the war: once in August 1862 for feeding Quantrill's men; and in June 1863 by Lt. Col. Hayes. Turpin declares, "I was always always a strong Union man until the Red legs stole my Property." The oath is No. 191 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Resolutions from a Meeting of the Marble City Guards
Description: This document records the resolutions adopted at a meeting of the Marble City Guards in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on November 27, 1860. The officers and members of the guard volunteer to “march to the defence of the Commonwealth, whenever the Executive of the State deems our service necessary.” The document is signed by E.P. Albert, Secretary of the Marble City Guards.
Object Type: Document
Date: November 27, 1860

Title: John C. Fremont
Description: Glass plate negative of military officer, explorer, and politician John C. Fremont in profile, circa 1855-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: Diary of John Ament
Description: This diary, kept by John Ament or possibly one of his children between August 7, 1863 and August 24, 1863, records the family's flight out of Cass County, Missouri after being ordered to leave their home. Ament and several neighboring families travelled by wagon “in the dust and dirt,” through the towns of Boonville, Sturgeon, Mexico, and others. The diary, kept in a penmanship notebook originally used to document Ament’s work as Treasurer for his church, includes a transcription of the poem “The Soldier’s Misfortune.”
Object Type: Diary
Date: August 7, 1863 - August 24, 1863

Title: Unidentified Civil War Soldiers or Guerrillas
Description: Charcoal portrait of two men dressed in cloaks, uniforms, and hats with plumes and holding pistols. Drawing is signed by the artist with "93" immediately below the signature. Each of these has his own portrait (taken from this one) in this same collection by the same artist (MVO-99F and MVO-100F).
Object Type: Image
Date: 1893

Title: Order for Sharps Rifle
Description: This document, possibly dated March 14, 1865, is a purchase order for one Sharps rifle at the price of five hundred dollars. The order, from Confederate Brigadier General Shelby to E.M. Scrogham, is signed by Major Joseph Moreland, whose signature verifies that "the Gun was purchased for the use of the Confederate states."
Date: 1865

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Friends at Home
Description: Edward Fitch writes a July 26, 1855 letter from aboard a steamboat on Lake Erie. He tells friends in his hometown of Hopkinton, Massachusetts that he is en route from Boston to Osawatomie, Kansas. He describes the other members of his travelling party, a group of nineteen emigrants he is taking to Kansas for the New England Emigrant Aid Company.
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 26, 1855

Title: Oath of Loyalty of Philip W. Shambaugh
Description: This document establishes that Philip W. Shambaugh has taken an oath of loyalty to the United States and to the state of Missouri. Shambaugh declares that “I have Not During the Present Rebellion, willfully taken up arms, nor levied war against the United States nor against the provisional government of the state of Missouri.” The oath is dated October 29, 1862 and is signed by Shambaugh and a clerk.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 29, 1862

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: In a June 29, 1856 letter to his parents in Massachusetts, Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas predicts the onset of war and states that he is happy about it, “for the North needs something to wake them up once.” He also expresses happiness about the recent presidential nomination of John C. Fremont. He anticipates that there will be trouble at the July 4 convention of the Topeka Legislature, stating, “I hope for the best, but fear for the consequences.” He recommends that his parents read the book "Six Months in Kansas" by Hannah Anderson Ropes.
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 29, 1856

Title: Quantrill's Raid
Description: An illustration entitled, "The War in Kansas-Fearful Massacre at Lawrence by Quantrell's Guerillas", originally published in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper.
Object Type: Image
Date: September 12, 1863

Title: Leonard Tripp
Description: This carte de visite depicts Leonard Tripp, who served in Company A, Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph was produced ca. 1861-1865 by Hasie & Benton of Helena, Arkansas.
Object Type: Image

Title: Map Showing the Distribution of the Slave Population of the Southern States of the United States
Description: Map created by the U.S. Coast Survey in 1861 using census data from 1860, which depicts the distribution of slavery in Southern counties of the United States. The map indicates the percentage of slaves in each county by varying shades of gray.
Object Type: Map
Date: September, 1861

Title: Quarterly Return of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores, 1864
Description: This military document is a return of ordnance and ordnance stores for Company "A" 8th Cavalry Regiment Missouri State Militia under command of Captain James J. Akard for the third quarter of 1864.
Date: December 14, 1864

Title: Charles Robinson
Description: An artist's rendering of Free-State activist Charles Robinson speaking to the Lecompton Territorial Legislature. On October 6, 1856, Free-Staters boycotted the territorial elections that resulted in the second territorial legislature at Lecompton, Kansas. The Free-Staters complained that the options given on the referendum asked voters to choose between making Kansas a slave state or merely banning the new importation of slaves. The latter option would have sanctioned slavery for slaves who were already in Kansas, and its restrictions on new importations of slaves were likely unenforceable.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1856

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 Durland & Company in Lawrence, 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: Kansas Executive Department Council Journal
Description: This excerpt from the 1855 Kansas Executive Committee Council Journal records the Council’s discussion of various proposed acts and bills. These acts and bills address topics such as coal mining, the territorial capital at Lecompton, Kansas, enacting a state census and state constitutional convention, enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law, and voting rights for American Indians. The journal also features correspondence from Andrew Reeder.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1855

Title: From Thomas Hart Benton to Unknown
Description: In this letter ca. 1856-1858 to an unknown recipient, Senator Thomas Hart Benton provides evidence to prove his place of residence in St. Louis in order to run for office in Missouri. He states that he first arrived in St. Louis in 1815, “bringing with me slaves.” Benton relates details of his family’s connections to St. Louis, asserting that he “never thought of quitting the state.” He gives the names of three witnesses who can verify that St. Louis is his place of residence.

Title: From T.W. Trego to Dear Sister Alice
Description: This letter, dated June 10, 1862, is from T.W. Trego in Chicago to his sister-in-law Alice. He asks Alice about her husband Joseph, a lieutenant in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment. He mentions that Col. Jennison told him that Joseph might have been transferred to the 6th Regiment; he asks Alice whether this is true. T.W. adds that he hopes “the biggest part of the fuss will soon be over so that Joseph can be released from his duties in the field, and devote himself to you.”
Date: June 10, 1862

Title: From Philip St. George Cooke to John W. Geary
Description: This letter, dated September 18, 1856, was written by Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke in camp near Lecompton, Kansas to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary. Cooke states that he received Geary’s recent dispatch, but objects to Geary’s instructions to divide his force at Lecompton and cross the river. Cooke argues that if his forces “meet an armed body…it would be under circumstances in which we could not legally stop them.”
Date: September 18, 1856

Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: John A. Bushnell writes a letter from St. Louis to Eugenia Bronaugh of Hickory Grove, Missouri on August 3, 1864. He tells her that one of his former slaves was arrested and brutally attacked in Sedalia, Missouri, and he expresses hope that the Conservative Party will put an end to the violence and lawlessness. He tells Eugenia that he wishes he could write to her freely, without “the fear of fiendish eyes,” but he suspects that all of the letters he sends her are intercepted and read.
Date: August 3, 1864

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

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