Civil War

Title: From James Henry Lane to R.M. Ainsworth
Description: This is a copy of a letter written by Gen. James Henry Lane, labeled the first letter of the Wakarusa War. In the letter, dated December 1, 1855 and addressed to R.M. Ainsworth, Lane writes that a Free State man, Charles Dow, was “cowardly + brutally murdered by a gang of Proslavery men” in Lawrence, Kansas. Violence and threats followed, Lane says, and according to rumors, “this city is to be demolished without delay.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 1, 1855

Title: Price's Raid
Description: Samuel J. Reader painting of Price's Raid when Reader was a Union prisoner of war amongst the Rebel Army from October 22-25, 1864, escaping shortly after the Battle of Mine Creek. Reader made this painting the following year at his home in Indianola (just north of downtown Topeka), Kansas. Reader labels the painting, "'Close Up' 'Double Quick!' Members of the 2nd Regiment Kansas State Militia, prisoners of war. 'Price Raid', October, AD. 1864. An eye-witness. On the way to 'Camp Ford' prison pen, near Tyler, Texas".
Object Type: Image
Date: February 13, 1865

Title: Correspondence of the Kansas Territory Executive Department
Description: This group of documents, dated between 1855 and 1856, comprises correspondence and other papers relating to the construction of the capital building at Lecompton, Kansas. Kansas Governors Reeder, Geary, and Shannon participated in the correspondence, which includes the appointment of Owen C. Stewart as Superintendent of Construction on October 20, 1855, and a contract for construction dated December 27, 1855.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1855-1856

Title: From Thomas Carney to James L. McDowell
Description: This letter, dated February 9, 1864, was written by Kansas Governor Thomas Carney in Topeka, Kansas to Major General James L. McDowell. Carney orders McDowell to organize and assume command of the Topeka militia for the purpose of protecting the city and its vicinity from guerrilla attacks. Carney states that he will promptly grant any necessary assistance in securing the public safety.
Object Type: Letter
Date: February 9, 1864

Title: From Jesse Newell to John W. Geary
Description: In this September 20, 1856 letter to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary, Jesse Newell complains that he was driven from his house by a band of guerrillas. He claims that they destroyed his property and threatened to hang him, his son Robert, and his brother-in-law. He adds that his neighbors are not safe either, and that his neighborhood is “pested” with guerrillas.
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 20, 1856

Title: From Florella Brown Adair and Charles Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on April 14 and 15, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair and Charles Adair in Greenfield, Ohio, to Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella reports that she has been thinking about “the mysterious providence of God toward Kansas & toward our church, why does he permit such trying & afflictive things to come upon us as a people?” Charles finishes the letter on April 15, stating that they will be home the following week. He refers to the capture of Fort Sumter and declares, “The war has begun.”
Date: April 14, 1861-April 15, 1861

Title: Battle of Hickory Point
Description: Painting by Samuel J. Reader depicting the Battle of Hickory Point. On September 13, 1856, James H. Lane led a force of jayhawkers against Hickory Point, a proslavery settlement in Jefferson County, Kansas that had supported an attack against Grasshopper Falls. Lane soon understood that he lacked artillery to attack the log buildings, and he retreated. During the retreat, Missourians pursued Lane's forces and attacked, but the jayhawkers returned fire. After receiving word that Territorial Governor John Geary had ordered a ceasefire, Lane withdrew, but reinforcements from Lawrence under command of Colonel James A. Harvey arrived on September 14, toting the captured cannon "Old Sacramento," and fired on the town. One proslavery man was killed, four others wounded, and several Free-Staters were wounded before a ceasefire was called and the Missourians withdrew from the area. 100 Free-Staters were arrested by U.S. troops, but they were later acquitted for acting in self-defense.
Object Type: Image

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. 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 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 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: 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: From George Henry Hoyt to George L. Stearns
Description: This letter, dated August 13, 1862, was written by George Henry Hoyt in Leavenworth, Kansas, to George L. Stearns. Written on the letterhead of “Office Recruiting Commissioner, Northern District, Kans.,” the letter addresses the organization of the 3rd Regiment of Colored Kansas. Hoyt states that the regiment is “armed, uniformed, and equipped precisely as other Kansas Regiments,” while its officers are all “men of tried and settled principles.”
Date: August 13, 1862

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 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: 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 William Murphy to John W. Geary
Description: This letter, dated October 3, 1856, is from William Murphy, mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas, to Gov. John W. Geary. Murphy states that three Leavenworth citizens received letters signed by “Regulators” ordering them to leave Kansas Territory; he tells Geary that he has investigated the incident but cannot determine who sent the letters. Murphy admits to Geary that citizens have complained about his performance as mayor, but he insists that their criticism is not justified. Murphy complains about people who are disloyal to the country and to President Pierce, and he expresses his support of the Democratic Party.
Date: October 3, 1856

Title: Petition from Leaders of Emigrant Train
Description: This petition, dated October 14, 1856, is addressed to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary and is signed by six conductors of an emigrant train that brought families from Mount Pleasant, Iowa to settle in Kansas. They tell Geary that they brought sabres with them because they had heard that armed men were blockading the Missouri River to Free State emigrants. They state that they were stopped at the border by U.S. troops, who searched their wagons, stole their arms, and imprisoned them. The conductors assert their rights as American citizens “to bear arms, and to be exempt from unlawful search or seizure,” and they request Geary’s assistance.
Object Type: Petition
Date: October 14, 1856

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter, dated January 2, 1861, was written by Florella Brown Adair in Grafton, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella expresses frustration that Samuel seems to disapprove of her letters and activities in Ohio: “I have been frank in saying that as long as we were all here & well provided for, & there was such a want of every thing in Kansas that it seemed best to stay this winter & send back what I could for you & others that are suffering there.”
Date: January 2, 1861

Title: From J. Heath to John Stillman Brown
Description: In a letter dated September 30, 1862, J. Heath writes from Paola, Kansas to John Stillman Brown. Heath implies that it is too late for Brown to be appointed Chaplain of his regiment, but reassures him that "I should prefer you for Chaplain...to any one I know of." Heath also discusses life in camp, and reports that his regiment drills "four and one half hours per day now beside dress parade at halft past five PM. Our time hangs heavily on our hands and I think upon the whole I should rather be on the move."
Date: September 30, 1862

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

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