Civil War

Title: Thomas Archer
Description: This carte de visite depicts Thomas Archer, who served in the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph was produced ca. 1861-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: Speech on Price's Raid
Description: This is an excerpt from a speech given by James Henry Lane in 1864. Lane describes several military engagements during Price's Raid, including the Battle of Little Blue River and the Battle of Westport. He commends the "skill & courage" of Generals Curtis, Blunt, and Pleasanton, and the "bravery & devotion" of the Kansas troops in their victory over General Price.
Object Type: Speech
Date: 1864

Title: From Charles W. Graeff to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter, dated July 29, 1858, is from Charles W. Graeff to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Graeff reports that he has just arrived in Polk County, Missouri and will soon travel to Jefferson City, Missouri. He tells Stewart that several hundred men are hiding in a place called “Osage rocks” in Kansas Territory. These men, he states, have invaded Missouri, robbed citizens, driven families away from their homes, murdered a man, and injured several others.
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 29, 1858

Title: Examination of William Bailey
Description: This unsigned Oath of Loyalty comes from a bound volume of oaths sworn between 1866-1888 by Clay County, Missouri voters. The document bears the name of William Bailey, a 22-year-old resident of Clay County who was born in Illinois.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: The Arrest of Governor Robinson by Marshall Donaldson
Description: Illustration of the arrest of Governor Charles Robinson by Marshall Donaldson in Lexington, Missouri on May 10, 1856. Charles Robinson, then considered the Kansas Territorial Governor by the Free-Staters' illegitimate Topeka legislature, was arrested for treason in Lexington, Missouri due to his faux "governorship" and his denouncements of the proslavery "Bogus Legislature." He was imprisoned at Lecompton, Kansas before being released on September 10, 1856. He was finally acquitted of the charges of treason on August 20, 1857. This image was originally published in the 1856 publication of "True History of the Kansas Wars" by O. N. Merrill.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1856

Title: Examination of H.C. Everett
Description: This is H.C. Everett's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Everett, a 39-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he obeyed all the laws of the United States during the Civil War, and sympathized with both parties in the War because "I had friends in both." The oath, labeled No. 69 in a bound volume, was signed by Everett on September 29, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: September 29, 1866

Title: From George Collamore to G.L. Stearns
Description: This letter was written on October 23, 1861 by George Collamore in Lawrence, Kansas to G.L. Stearns. Collamore writes that Kansas cannot expect a good harvest next year because so many men have volunteered for the service and left the state. He says that “large numbers of fugitives from Missouri…are daily arriving,” and many of them lack clothing for the winter. Collamore adds that “slavery is fast disappearing in Missouri,” and may be completely abolished within six months.
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 23, 1861

Title: From Mrs. Silliman to My Dear Brother
Description: This letter, dated August 24, 1862, is from Mrs. Silliman to her brother. She describes the “horror” of life in Warrensburg, Missouri, which has been invaded by both Bushwhackers and Jayhawkers, and is now “swarming with runaway slaves.” She complains about her health and says that the black girl who was caring for her was lured away to Kansas by soldiers. She also describes how her son Oscar avoided military service: “he was exempted from drafting, as not being ‘able bodied,’ caused by an internal injury.”
Date: August 24, 1862

Title: Missouri Militia Order to Organize Platoons and Companies for Polk and Cedar Counties
Description: Missouri Militia Colonel Hosea G. Mullings orders that residents of Polk and Cedar Counties in Missouri enrolled in military duty to be organized into companies and platoons. Mullings provides specifications of rank and number for a platoon and company.
Date: June 3, 1865

Title: From Calvin Iserman to Brother William
Description: In this letter of October 3, 1858, Calvin Iserman writes from Independence, Missouri to his brother William. Calvin wants to leave Independence, where non-slaveholders are “counted just nobody at all," and “a poor man, and mechanic is looked upon as no better than a slave.” He declares that “any man East that upholds Slavery…should be made to live in a Slave State all of his life time.” Calvin plans to go to Kansas Territory and “take a look around.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 3, 1858

Title: From E.B. Alexander to A. Comingo
Description: On December 31, 1863, Col. E.B. Alexander, Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General in St. Louis, writes to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal for the 6th District of Missouri, in Lexington, Missouri. Alexander informs Comingo that "Recruiting Agents appointed by the Provost Marshal General have nothing to do with the Enlistment of slaves." He refers Comingo to Col. J. Broadhead, in the Department of the Provost Marshal General, for information on that subject.
Date: December 31, 1863

Title: Examination of Larkin Bradford
Description: This is Larkin Bradford's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Bradford, a 52-year-old Tennessee native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 18 years and manifested his loyalty during the war by "attending to my own business and letting everything else alone." Bradford declares that he cannot recall his feelings about the Federal defeat at Bull Run in 1861, and describes the question as "irrelevant." The oath is No. 179 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From S.B. Wait to A. Comingo
Description: This letter, dated October 1, 1863, is from S.B. Wait, Deputy Provost Marshal of Carroll County, Missouri, to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th district of Missouri. Wait states that he is sending Comingo the military roll for the 25th sub-district. He asks, on behalf of the enrolling officers, for information about their pay, and he informs Comingo that there has been considerable "ill will" towards the enrolling officers in his community.
Date: October 1, 1863

Title: Petition of Sundry Citizens of Pottawatomie Creek
Description: This petition, dated September 19, 1856, is addressed to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary and is signed by 32 Kansas citizens living near the Pottawatomie, Sugar, and Middle Creeks and the Osage River. The petitioners describe several recent guerrilla attacks in their region, including the Battle of Osawatomie, and ask for Geary to take action. They complain that the attacks, launched by Missourians and “guided by a few desperate men in our midst,” have succeeded in “sacking and burning houses and in robbing and plundering and menacing the lives of our citizens.”
Object Type: Petition
Date: September 19, 1856

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: In a May 18, 1856 letter to his parents in Massachusetts, Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas announces that “the blow has been struck, the war has begun.” He reports that two men have been killed near Lawrence and that several, including Governor Robinson, have been captured. He expresses concern that Kansas does not have adequate resources for defense, and he appeals for support: “Tell every one who has the least interest in Kansas that now we want help-–men money and arms.”

Title: From Thomas Carney to E.M. Stanton
Description: This telegram, dated May 9, 1863, is from Kansas Gov. Thomas Carney to E.M. Stanton, U.S. Secretary of War. Carney, writing from Leavenworth, Kansas, requests permission from Stanton to raise a regiment of Home Guards for border protection, as well as two or more “Negro Regiments for General service.” Carney adds that “A portion of the State will be depopulated unless protection given.”
Object Type: Telegram
Date: May 9, 1863

Title: Examination of W.H. Ellis
Description: This is W.H. Ellis's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Ellis, a 35-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he was born in Tennessee and that he demonstrated his loyalty to the United States Government during the Civil War by "taking care of my family the best I could." The oath, labeled No. 120 in a bound volume, was signed by Ellis in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of William Galvin
Description: This is William Galvin's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Galvin, a resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he was born in Ireland and that he aided the United States Government during the Civil War by serving in the militia. The oath, labeled No. 57 in a bound volume, was signed by Galvin in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of William A. King
Description: This is William A. King's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. King, a 34-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he demonstrated his loyalty to the Union during the Civil War by "risking my life as a Provost Marshall." The oath, labeled No. 46 in a bound volume, was signed by King in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

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

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

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