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Title: Kansas Colored Volunteers Correspondence
Description: This bound letterbook contains copies of letters exchanged between the Adjutant General’s Office in Fort Scott, Kansas and various correspondents including the War Department in Washington. The letters relate to the recruitment and commission of troops and officers for the Kansas Colored Volunteers. Participants in the correspondence include Major General James G. Blunt, Major General J.M. Schofield, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and Kansas Governor Thomas Carney.
Date: 1863-1864

Title: 1st Kansas Colored Infantry flag
Description: Regimental flag of the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry, who triumphed over the Missouri State Guard in the Battle of Island Mound. It was the first battle of the Civil War to be fought by a regiment of African-American soldiers.
Object Type: Image

Title: William D. Matthews
Description: Sepia carte de visite of William Dominick Matthews, Captain of the First Kansas Colored Volunteers, posing in uniform with cavalry saber.
Object Type: Image

Title: William D. Matthews
Description: A sepia colored carte-de-visite of First Lieutenant William Dominick Matthews. Matthews was a member of the Independent Battery, U.S. Colored Light Artillery, who served at Fort Leavenworth and helped protect eastern Kansas during Price's invasion in 1864. In addition, Matthews helped recruit many members of the First Colored Kansas Volunteer Infantry. Prior to the Civil War, Matthews operated a boarding house in Leavenworth, Kansas that was used as part of the underground railroad. Assisted by Daniel R. Anthony, the brother of Susan B. Anthony, Matthews helped many Missouri slaves escape to Kansas and other "free" states.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1861-1865

Title: A Negro Regiment in Action
Description: This is a print of a Thomas Nast wood engraving, originally published in Harper’s Weekly on March 14, 1863. It depicts the Battle of Island Mound, the first Civil War battle to include African-American troops. In that battle, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers triumphed over a band of pro-Confederate guerrillas in Bates County, Missouri on October 29, 1862.
Object Type: Image
Date: March 14, 1863

Title: 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Memorial at Fort Scott National Cemetery
Description: A memorial in the Fort Scott National Cemetery honors members of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry who died in a guerrilla attack on Sherwood, Missouri in 1863.
Object Type: Image
Date: 2005

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: Letters and Telegrams Sent (Provost Marshal's Office, 6th District Missouri)
Description: This notebook contains copies of letters and telegrams sent from the Provost Marshal's Office, 6th District of Missouri, in Lexington, Missouri, between June 24, 1863 and May 19, 1864. Capt. A. Comingo was appointed Provost Marshal of the 6th District of Missouri in June 1863 and corresponded frequently with Missouri Provost Marshal General E.B. Alexander and U.S. Provost Marshal General James B. Fry. Topics addressed include the appointment of deputy provost marshals, military enrollment, recruitment of black soldiers, and the threat of attack by bushwhackers and guerrillas.
Date: June 24, 1863-May 19, 1864

Title: Letters Sent (Provost Marshal's Office, 7th District Missouri)
Description: This notebook contains copies of letters sent from the Provost Marshal's Office, 7th District of Missouri, in St. Joseph, Missouri, between July 15, 1863 and June 30, 1864. The correspondence, written by Capt. William Fowler, Provost Marshal of the 7th District, addresses such topics as military enrollment and recruitment of free blacks, army deserters, and management of the draft. Correspondents include Missouri Provost Marshal General E.B. Alexander and U.S. Provost Marshal General James B. Fry.
Date: July 15, 1863-June 30, 1864

Title: Diary of A.H. Lewis
Description: This diary, written between December 15, 1861 and March 19, 1862, records the experience of A.H. Lewis of Saline County, Missouri as a Confederate soldier and prisoner of war. Lewis’s company of Missouri State Guards was captured by Col. Davis in the Battle of Blackwater River on December 19, 1861. After being held for several weeks at the St. Louis military prison, the Confederate prisoners were moved to the penitentiary at Alton, Illinois. Although Lewis initially criticized prisoners who took an Oath of Loyalty to the Federal government to gain freedom, Lewis took the Oath himself on March 14, 1862 and was released.
Object Type: Diary
Date: December 15, 1861 - March 19, 1862

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