Civil War

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: 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: 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: Examination of William V. Inskeep
Description: This is William V. Inskeep's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Inskeep, a 61-year-old Virginia native, states that he has lived in Missouri since 1845 and manifested his loyalty during the war by staying at home "to take care of three helpless children all the time." He says he left Missouri during the war to take the children "to their friends in Kentucky." The oath is No. 224 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Daniel Woodson to William P. Richardson
Description: This order, dated September 1, 1856, was sent by Acting Kansas Governor Daniel Woodson in Lecompton, Kansas, to Major General William P. Richardson, Kansas Militia, Northern Division. Woodson reminds Richardson that General Order No. 1, issued August 21, 1856, directed that all peaceable Kansas citizens and their property were to be protected regardless of their political views, and that no houses were to be destroyed unless they were proven to be used as forts or arsenals against the territorial government. Woodson directs Richardson to use the “severest penalties” against soldiers violating the order, and prohibits the burning of dwellings.
Date: September 1, 1856

Title: Examination of John C. Hall
Description: This is John C. Hall's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Hall, a 23-year-old Missouri native, states that he served in the militia during the war. He also says that he was enrolled by the military authorities as "disloyal" in 1862 and was required to give bond. The oath is No. 253 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

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: From Mary E. Bedford to A.M. Bedford
Description: This letter, dated March 8, 1864, is from Mary E. Bedford to her husband, Lieut. A.M. Bedford, who is at the military hospital in Point Lookout, Maryland. Mary reports that she has just arrived in St. Joseph, Missouri after visiting relatives and friends in Kentucky. She expresses hope that her husband will soon be able to return home. She encourages him to write letters to his relatives, and offers to send him money.
Object Type: Letter
Date: March 8, 1864

Title: Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, Officer of the Federal Army
Description: Photograph of Major General Alfred Pleasonton.
Object Type: Image

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: Examination of James T.V. Thompson
Description: This 1866 document attests that James T.V. Thompson, a 73-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, refused to sign an Oath of Loyalty to the United States following the Civil War. Thompson claims that he remained loyal during the war, and offers a pardon from President Johnson in lieu of taking the oath.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Eugenia Bronaugh to John A. Bushnell
Description: Eugenia Bronaugh writes a letter to John Bushnell in St. Louis on December 16, 1863. She tells him that the Kansas Delegation recently invaded her hometown of Hickory Grove, Missouri and stole property and recently-freed slaves from people whom they had determined were disloyal to the government. Eugenia complains that Christmas is around the corner and “yet great armies are in the field and among them my own dear Brothers.”
Date: December 16, 1863

Title: Benjamin "Pap" Singleton
Description: Sepia carte de visite portrait of Benjamin "Pap" Singleton. Singleton, a former slave from Tennessee, became known as the leader of the “Exoduster Movement” for his efforts establishing black colonies and helping thousands of Exodusters relocate to Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1880

Title: From Daniel Woodson to William Hutchinson and H. Miles Moore
Description: This letter, dated September 3, 1856, was written by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson at Lecompton, Kansas to William Hutchinson and H. Miles Moore in behalf of the Kansas State Central Committee. Woodson states that he received their letter asserting that a deputation from their committee is being illegally detained at Lecompton. Woodson replies that although he met with two men from the committee, they did not represent themselves as a deputation and were rightly arrested as spies.
Date: September 3, 1856

Title: From W.L. Marcy to John W. Geary
Description: This telegram was sent from W.L. Marcy in Washington, D.C. to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary on September 27, 1856. Marcy acknowledges receipt of an earlier dispatch from Geary. He informs Geary that “Military law can properly be applied, But you have not power to proclaim Martial law, you must get along without doing so.”
Object Type: Telegram
Date: September 29, 1856

Title: Poor Deluded Miss-Sori Takes a Secession Bath
Description: Political cartoon satirizing secessionist attitudes in Missouri. The image is from a series of Civil War "Union Envelopes," which featured images of Union patriotism and war propaganda.
Object Type: Image

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

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