Civil War

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on February 26 and 27, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair in Grafton, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella writes that “much excitement prevails here in anticipation of the inauguration of Pres. Lincoln, many fears are expressed in his behalf, there is a good deal of war spirit felt most every where I go, most feel that the time for compromise has passed. I hope we shall not have war but I fear it.”
Date: February 26, 1861-February 27, 1861

Title: From Jacob Hall to My Dear Daughter
Description: This letter, dated February 7, 1864, was written by Jacob Hall in Independence, Missouri, to his daughter. Jacob writes that the counties of “Jackson, Cass, Bates and the Southern portion of Vernon have been reattached to the District of Missouri and placed under the command of Gen. Brown – and Gen. Ewing has left for Kansas with nearly all his command.” He adds that “Col. Fort is in command of…the above named counties.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: February 7, 1864

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: On September 8, 1855, Edward Fitch writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to his parents in Massachusetts, reporting that Governor Andrew Reeder was nominated for Congress at the recent convention in Big Springs, Kansas. He also informs his parents of his efforts to protect a free black man against a group of pro-slavery men who wanted to capture and enslave him. If they hadn’t eventually backed down, Fitch says, “we should have pitched in to them with our rifles.”
Date: September 8, 1855

Title: Examination of Michael Ryan
Description: This is Michael Ryan's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Ryan, a 44-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War, though he did, at times, call himself a "Southern man." He says that he "did not like it" when the Federal army was defeated at Bull Run and adds, "the more that was killed the less I thought of the thing." His oath, labeled No. 82 in a bound volume, was signed by Ryan in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Assassination of President Lincoln
Description: Joseph Edward Baker painting of John Wilkes Booth fleeing the scene of President Lincoln's assassination at Ford's Theater.
Object Type: Image

Title: Robert T. Van Horn
Description: Portrait view of Robert Thompson Van Horn, as an early middle-aged man. Identified as Kansas City Pioneers with name written on back of photograph.
Object Type: Image

Title: Battle of Cold Harbor
Description: Kurz & Allison lithograph of the Battle of Cold Harbor, one of the final battles of the Overland Campaign fought from May 31 to June 12, 1864.
Object Type: Image

Title: From John B. Wood to George L. Stearns
Description: On November 19, 1861, John B. Wood writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to his friend George L. Stearns in Boston, informing him that thousands of slaves have escaped Missouri and settled in Kansas. He says that in the past ten days, 131 escaped slaves have moved into Lawrence. Most of them have found employment on farms, Wood writes, but when the harvest season is over, they may be out of work. Wood worries that there will be “much suffering” and death, and he asks Stearns to “lay this matter before the friends of humanity of the East and ask them to send us funds” to assist the liberated slaves.
Date: November 19, 1861

Title: Charles Sanders
Description: Charcoal portrait of Charles Sanders (Saunders) in suit coat, vest, shirt, and tie. Sanders served with Quantrill and was part of the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, August 21, 1863. While recuperating at the home of Mrs. Richard Kinney in Jackson County from wounds, Sanders was shot and killed in March 1865 by Captain J. W. Sheets' company of soldiers.
Object Type: Image

Title: E.D. Hessings
Description: This tintype, ca. 1861-1865, depicts E.D. Hessings, who served in the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry.
Object Type: Image

Title: Black Jack Battleground in Douglas County, Kansas
Description: Photograph of the site of the Black Jack battlefield near Palmyra in Douglas County, Kansas. On June 2, 1856, abolitionist John Brown and his followers attacked the forces of a proslavery settler, Henry C. Pate in the unofficial first battle of the Civil War (nearly five years prior to the war's beginning). Pate, who held two of Brown's sons captive, exchanged them for 23 prisoners after Brown and his free-state forces won the battle.
Object Type: Image
Date: December, 1888

Title: Examination of Joseph L. Pryor
Description: This is Joseph L. Pryor's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Pryor, a 36-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he was born in Kentucky and that he served in the militia during the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 130 in a bound volume, was signed by Pryor on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: From Samuel Medary to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter, dated April 14, 1859, is from Kansas Gov. Samuel Medary to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Medary responds to Stewart’s April 8 letter stating that Gen. Parsons is patrolling the Kansas-Missouri state line to protect Missourians from guerrilla attacks. Medary expresses surprise and claims no knowledge of guerrilla bands in Kansas. He assures Stewart that he will investigate and that he will cooperate with Stewart’s efforts to preserve peace along the border.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: April 14, 1859

Title: From John A. Halderman to Samuel R. Curtis
Description: This letter, dated November 6, 1862, is from Maj. John A. Halderman of the 1st Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment to Maj. Gen. Curtis, commander of the Department of the Missouri. Halderman asks, on behalf of Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson, for Curtis’s assistance in arming the Kansas State Militia so that they can better protect the Kansas-Missouri border “against the violence of lawless bands in Missouri.”
Date: November 6, 1862

Title: From Mary C. Irvine to Mr. Bohart
Description: On September 13, 1863, Mary C. Irvine writes to Mr. Bohart. Mary thanks Bohart for sending news of her son, who was wounded at Champion Hill. She asks Bohart to tell her son that many changes have taken place in the neighborhood, such as the escape of local slaves to Kansas: "Mr. Bedford's negroes have run off and took about $500 worth of horses with them." Mary adds that many of their neighbors are relocating to different states including Kentucky and Illinois, and that it would not be safe for her son to return home now.
Date: September 13, 1863

Title: Examination of Philip Fraker
Description: This is Philip Fraker's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Fraker, a 48-year-old native of Ireland, states that he has lived in Missouri for 15 years and served in the militia during the war. He also says he was required by the military authorities to give bond, "but it was under protest. I claimed to be loyal at the time." The oath is No. 173 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Cyrus Leland, Jr. to Dear Mother
Description: Cyrus Leland, Jr. writes a letter to his mother in Troy, Kansas on September 16, 1863. Leland, a lieutenant of the 10th Kansas Infantry, Company F, reports that he recently arrived in Kansas City, Missouri from Atchison, Kansas. He tells his mother that a colonel fought a band of Bushwhackers the previous day: “He killed several and captured forty Horses.”
Date: September 16, 1863

Title: Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln Entering the Senate Chamber Before the Inauguration
Description: Harper's Weekly illustration of Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan prior to Lincoln's inauguration as President.
Object Type: Image
Date: March 16, 1861

Title: Description of Territorial Seal
Description: This is an excerpt from a newspaper article published in January 1855 by the Easton Argus in Easton, Pennsylvania. The article describes the Territorial Seal of Kansas, which was engraved by Robert Lovett of Philadelphia according to the design of Kansas Gov. Andrew Reeder. The article declares that the motto “is a beautiful allusion to the principle on which the Territory was organized, and consists of ‘Populi voce,’ thus translated—Born of the popular will.”
Object Type: Newspaper Article
Date: January 1855

Title: From Alex M. Bedford to Mary E. Bedford
Description: On November 11, 1864, Alex M. Bedford writes from Fort Pulaski, off Savannah, Georgia, to his wife Mary E. Bedford in Savannah, Andrew County, Missouri. Alex says he has not been exchanged yet and fears there is no chance of it happening soon, although he is pleased with the move to Fort Pulaski. He tells Mary that his bunkmate is Lt. David Bronaugh of Clay County, Missouri, whose cousin Miss F.A. Bronaugh lives in Barry, Clay County. Alex tells Mary that Miss Bronaugh may soon write to her and that she can get news of him through contact with her.
Date: November 11, 1864

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

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