Civil War

Title: From Daniel Woodson to Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke
Description: This letter, dated September 1, 1856, was written by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson in Lecompton, Kansas, to Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke near Lecompton. Woodson instructs Cooke to proceed immediately with U.S. troops to Topeka, Kansas and disarm all insurrectionists, burn their fortifications and breastworks, and take as prisoner any man found in arms against the Territorial government. Woodson also directs Cooke to station a detachment of troops near the road leading from the Nebraska line to Topeka, to “intercept all aggressive invaders…that may make their appearance.”
Date: September 1, 1856

Title: From James McCool to Capt. Doah
Description: This letter was written on August 15, 1859 by Capt. James McCool, Company D, Missouri Volunteers, in Papinsville, Missouri, to Capt. Doah. McCool reports that James Montgomery and his associates are “demanding the immediate release of Pickles (alias Wright),” and that Missouri citizens living on the border “demand protection to which they are certainly entitled.” McCool is preparing to start with his company as soon as he can, and requests pistols, side arms, and bullet molds from Doah.
Date: August 15, 1859

Title: From E.B. Alexander to William Fowler
Description: On September 3, 1863, Col. E.B. Alexander, Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General in St. Louis, writes to Capt. William Fowler, Provost Marshal for the 7th District of Missouri, in St. Joseph, Missouri. Alexander instructs Fowler not to enroll anyone who is "in the Rebel service." He adds that if any such men have been enrolled, their names must be stricken from the enrollment lists.
Date: September 3, 1863

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Father
Description: Edward Fitch writes a letter to his father on September 19, 1855, four days after the Bogus Legislature’s Gag Law has gone into effect. He says he attended a meeting where he and others illegally spoke out against the Gag Law. He adds that Governor Shannon showed up “but refused to speak . . . he is a Dough face, Dough head + a Fool Knave Rascal and all.”
Date: September 19, 1855

Title: Examination of David Bourke
Description: This is David Bourke's Oath of Loyalty to the United States, signed October 13, 1866. Bourke, a 47-year-old native of Ireland, states that he has resided in Missouri for 10 years and was enrolled by the military authorities as "disloyal" in 1862. The oath is No. 162 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 13, 1866

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter, dated November 21, 1860, was written by Florella Brown Adair in Hudson, Ohio to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma in Osawatomie, Kansas. Florella responds to their recent letters, which were “so complaining and discouraging, that I feel more like staying away, than hurrying home…it seems to me that the Territory is cursed of the Lord and that it is fighting against him to try to live there and do anything but barely to exist…I cannot help feeling a perfect disgust for Kansas life, and most of Kansas people.” Florella adds that she read about the “Montgomery and Fort Scott troubles” in the newspapers.
Object Type: Letter
Date: November 21, 1860

Title: 1860 Presidential Election Returns from Vernon County, Missouri
Description: This document presents the election returns from Vernon County, Missouri for the Presidential election held on November 6, 1860: John C. Breckenridge and Joseph Lane received 380 votes; John Bell and Edward Everett received 207 votes; and Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson received 151 votes. Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin are not listed on the document. S.D. German received 174 votes for Circuit Attorney. On November 7, DeWitt C. Hunter, Clerk of the Vernon County Court, certified the results.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: November 7, 1860

Title: Receipt of Clothing for Military Duty
Description: This military document shows that "the Non-commissioned Officers, Musicians and Privates... acknowledge to have received of JJ Akard Capt Co A 8 Cav MSM the several articles of clothing" that are listed along with the names and signatures of those enrolled in the Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Regiment Company "A".
Date: 1863-1865

Title: Statement of Wilson Shannon
Description: This statement by Kansas Gov. Wilson Shannon was written ca. December 1855. Shannon describes the series of events leading to the Wakarusa War, beginning with the murder of a Free State supporter named Charles Dow by Franklin Coleman, a proslavery man. To address the subsequent civil unrest in Douglas County, Kansas, Shannon asks General Richardson, General Strickler, and Col. Sumner to supply troops and assist Douglas County Sheriff Samuel J. Jones in restoring order.
Object Type: Government Document

Title: Examination of Jeremiah Rice
Description: This is Jeremiah Rice's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Rice, a 34-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. He says that "it was a pretty bad thing" when Gen. Sterling Price captured Gen. Mulligan and his army at Lexington, Missouri. The oath, labeled No. 104 in a bound volume, was signed by Rice on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: Joseph Orville Shelby
Description: Charcoal portrait of General Joseph Orville Shelby in suit coat, vest, shirt, and tie. General Shelby lived in Waverly, Missouri, at the beginning of the Civil War where he raised hemp. He organized a company of State Guards and fought at the Wilson's Creek, Lexington, and Pea Ridge battles. His unit became known as Shelby's Iron Brigade. In the summer of 1862, the Confederate government sent him to organize guerrilla groups in Missouri. After the war, he went to Mexico for a couple years before returning to Missouri. In 1893 until 1897, Shelby was the U.S. Marshal of the western district of Missouri. He died February 13, 1897, and was buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri. (O'Flaherty, Daniel. "General Jo Shelby, Undefeated Rebel." Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1954 [ MVSC 92 S544O ]).
Object Type: Image

Title: Charles Sumner
Description: Daguerreotype portrait of Charles Sumner, Senator from Massachusetts.
Object Type: Image

Title: James Buchanan
Description: Engraving of James Buchanan by John Chester Buttre from 1857.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1857

Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: On February 11, 1864 John A. Bushnell writes from Calhoun, Missouri to Eugenia Bronaugh in Hickory Grove, Missouri. John writes that he has been suffering from a cold he caught on a recent trip to Sedalia, Missouri. He plans to visit Eugenia during the upcoming weekend. John states, "I have not succeeded yet in getting a house for my contrabands,” presumably referring to recently freed slaves.
Object Type: Letter
Date: February 11, 1864

Title: Petition from Bates County Citizens
Description: This petition, dated November 23, 1860, is addressed to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart and signed by 13 citizens of Bates County. The signers declare their need for further protection from Jayhawker attacks. They inform Stewart that they are sending fellow citizen William Doak, a captain in the Missouri Militia, to visit him and request protection. They assure Stewart that Doak is a trustworthy citizen.
Object Type: Petition
Date: November 23, 1860

Title: From Daniel Woodson to William P. Richardson
Description: This order, dated August 21, 1856, was sent by Acting Kansas Governor Daniel Woodson in Lecompton, Kansas, to Major General William P. Richardson, Kansas Militia, Northern Division. Woodson approves the use of the Northern Division militia to intercept General James Lane and his forces when they attempt to enter Kansas. Woodson emphasizes that the militia must protect all peaceable citizens and their property regardless of their political views. He adds that no houses may be destroyed unless they are proven to be used as forts or arsenals against the territorial government.
Date: August 21, 1856

Title: Examination of Samuel Hardwick
Description: This is Samuel Hardwick's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Hardwick, a 33-year-old Missouri native, states that he served in the Union army during the war, and opposed the "enemies of the Government" by persuading men "to leave the Rebel Army." The oath is No. 168 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From G.H. Forkney to Col. Peery
Description: This letter, dated June 13, 1856, is from G.H. Forkney in Basin Knob, Missouri to Col. Peery. Forkney discusses business dealings, then goes on to describe the "deplorable state of affairs" in Kansas Territory: "murders are common & occasionally the women & children fall victim to the fury of the northern fanatics." He reports that President Franklin Pierce has put Kansas under martial law, and that Missourians are preparing for "a war of extermination."
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 13, 1856

Title: Missouri State Militia Battalion Orders No. 5
Description: Missouri State Militia Major Edward B. Eno dictates that all wives and families of enlisted men belonging to the 8th Cavalry Regiment 1st Battalion must be sent home, claiming that it is "detrimental to the service."
Date: May 28, 1863

Title: Proclamation to the State of Missouri
Description: In response to the federal government’s order that all eligible men enroll for the draft, Upton Hays and William Clarke Quantrill issue this proclamation to the state of Missouri. Hays and Quantrill state that all Missourians joining their forces will be furnished with arms and ammunition. “Any one who shall be found guilty of reporting to any military post the whereabouts of any Southern person shall be shot,” while men eligible for military duty who leave the state will be deemed “enemies of the ‘South’ and treated accordingly.”
Object Type: Circular
Date: August 4, 1862

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

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