Welcome to Civil War on the Western Border

Featured Document

Charles Robinson Arrested for Treason

This warrant from May 24, 1856, instructed the marshal of the United States for Kansas Territory: "You are hereby commanded to hold Charles Robinson, now in your custody, to answer an indictment ... In the crime of High Treason." Robinson, a staunch Free-State advocate, was accused of "resisting enforcement of the Territorial laws," in part by claiming to be the legitimate governor of the territory of Kansas and rejecting the proslavery "Bogus Legislature" that had been established in a deeply controversial election on March 30, 1855. Robinson's arrest at Lexington, Missouri, came at the onset of the worst period of violence in the "Bleeding Kansas" conflict.

All featured document posts »

Essays

A Long and Bloody Conflict: Military Operations in Missouri and Kansas, Part I

An essay by Terry Beckenbaugh
Union Colonel Franz Sigel led troops in a failed attack on Wilson's Creek.

Although the conflict in Virginia has commanded the lion’s share of attention and scholarship, Missouri and Kansas witnessed a tremendous amount of fighting during the American Civil War. Only two states, Virginia and Tennessee, had more actions fought on their soil during the Civil War than Missouri. Missouri was a strategically vital state for President Abraham Lincoln and the federal government’s war effort, and a case can be made that the Civil War started on the Missouri-Kansas border in the 1850s, during “Bleeding Kansas.” Missouri was split in its sentiments, and many Missourians fought on both sides of the war. By contrast, Kansans overwhelmingly fought for the Union.

Read more »

Learn More

  • See Civil War presentations, author events, speaker series and more, presented by the Kansas City Public Library. View Civil War events »