Civil War

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: On September 6, 1860, Florella Brown Adair writes from Grafton, Ohio to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair. Florella says that her friends think she should spend the winter in Ohio instead of returning to Kansas, and that “if you & Emma were out of Kansas I should be glad & we would not return there until things are better in temporal prospects.” Florella shares a rumor about a Methodist preacher in Osawatomie, Kansas, who was seen several times with “colored emegrants” on their way to Canada. “I am inclined to think he has been falsely accused by free state men in Kansas” she concludes.
Date: September 6, 1860

Title: Examination of Joseph Thorp
Description: This is Joseph Thorp's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Thorp, a 62-year-old Kentucky native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 57 years and says that "although I was over age and did not take up arms" during the war, "I opposed others going into the Confederate service." The oath is No. 180 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Confederate Paper Currency
Description: This collection of thirteen Confederate paper bills were produced in Richmond, Virginia from 1861 to early 1864 and include $5, $10, $20, and $50 denominations.
Object Type: Currency
Date: 1861-1864

Title: From Ben J. Newsom to Robert M. Stewart
Description: Ben J. Newsom sends a telegram from Kansas City, Missouri to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart on December 30, 1858. He relays a request from Kansas Gov. Samuel Medary for an officer to visit the Kansas-Missouri border near Fort Scott, capture any armed men and hold them in Missouri. He adds that this will “aid in preventing the escape of Montgomery” and warns that Missouri citizens should not cross into Kansas Territory.
Object Type: Telegram
Date: December 30, 1858

Title: Missouri State Militia Order to Muster Out Troops
Description: By order of Major John Cosgrove, Captain William T. Kittredge instructs Capt. James Akard and his men of the Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Regiment Company A to travel to St. Louis, MO so that these troops can be mustered out and paid for their service.
Date: January 10, 1865

Title: The Osawatomie Battlefield
Description: Osawatomie Battlefield courtesy of Oswald Garrison Villard's John Brown 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After. On August 30, 1856, Abolitionist John Brown and 40 other Free-Staters unsuccessfully defended the town of Osawatomie, Kansas against 250-300 border ruffians under John W. Reid. The Free-Staters were routed, Osawatomie was burned, and one of Brown's sons was killed, but Brown escaped with his life and earned the nickname "Osawatomie Brown" for his spirited defense.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: Willard Preble Hall
Description: Illustrated portrait of Missouri Governor Willard Preble Hall.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: Examination of R.P. Wood
Description: This is R.P. Wood's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Wood describes himself as a 52-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri who was born in Kentucky. He states that he supported the United States Government during the Civil War and that he "volunteered here several times in defence of the town." The oath, labeled No. 87 in a bound volume, was signed by Wood on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: Examination of George W. Warren
Description: This is George W. Warren's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Warren, a 55-year-old Kentucky native who lived in Missouri for 21 years, states that he was too old to enlist in the Union army. The oath is No. 175 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Edward Bates to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On August 2, 1861, Edward Bates writes from the Attorney General's Office to Hamilton R. Gamble. Bates applauds "the wise course taken by the Missouri Convention," and congratulates Gamble on his appointment as Provisional Governor of the state. "The internal peace of Missouri & its security," he declares, "…will do more towards the suppression of the insurrection in the border states, than 100,000 of our best men in arms."
Date: August 2, 1861

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

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

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