Search results

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: Edward Fitch writes a letter to his parents from Lawrence, Kansas on May 5, 1861. He tells them that if Missouri secedes, Kansas will have to fight. He asks how people in Massachusetts feel about the war, and expresses hope that the “Yankees” will go to battle with the South and not stop until slavery is eradicated. “War is terrible,” he says, “but sometimes it is necessary for the good of the whole world.”
Date: May 5, 1861

Title: Letters Received (Kansas Provost Marshal's Office)
Description: This notebook is a record of correspondence received by the Kansas Provost Marshal's Office in Leavenworth, Kansas, between 1863 and 1865. Topics addressed include army deserters; American Indians; information about new recruits and substitutions; and special orders from Washington. Participants in the correspondence include Gen. H.S. Halleck; Maj. Gen. John Pope; and Sidney Clarke, Kansas Acting Asst. Provost Marshal General.
Date: 1863-1865

Title: Missouri State Militia Special Order No. 174
Description: By order of Missouri State Militia Major George W. Murphy, Thomas J. Shinn instructs Captain James J. Akard to take his men of the 8th Cavalry Regiment and march to Greenfield, Missouri. Once there, Akard is instructed to report to Captain Calvin S. Moore for further instructions in order to pursue Confederate forces.
Date: June 25, 1864

Title: From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Description: James Montgomery writes a letter from Mound City, Kansas to George L. Stearns on May 8, 1861. He reports that, “We are in a perilous position here, and have not ammunition enough to make a respectable fight.” He says that he has organized a regiment to help defend Kansas against pro-slavery Missourians, whose troops are camped along the border of Linn and Bourbon counties. He mentions that an Osage Indian chief attacked some of these troops, then “tied them with ropes to the Horns of his Saddles and dragged them out of the country.” Montgomery asks for Stearns’s assistance in acquiring arms and declares that, “If we have to fight, we will carry the war out of Kansas.”
Date: May 8, 1861

Title: Battle of Carthage, Missouri
Description: This drawing, based on a sketch made during the battle on July 5, 1861, shows Union troops under Franz Sigel's command firing upon the Confederate position in Carthage, Missouri.
Object Type: Image
Date: August 3, 1861

Title: From H.C. Wood to A. Comingo
Description: This dispatch, dated October 9, 1863, is from U.S. Army Capt. H.C. Wood to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th district of Missouri. Wood states that Comingo's accounts cannot be settled until he sends the "Oaths" of his employees to the Provost Marshal General's Bureau in Washington, D.C.
Date: October 9, 1863

Title: James S. Cunningham
Description: This tintype photograph, taken circa 1861-1865, shows James S. Cunningham in the uniform of the 8th Regiment of the Missouri Infantry. Cunningham served as a private in Company D and was a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Object Type: Image

Title: From James B. Fry to E.B. Alexander
Description: On November 7, 1863, James B. Fry, Provost Marshal General in Washington, DC, writes to Col. E.B. Alexander, Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General in St. Louis. Fry informs Alexander that the enrollment quota for Missouri under Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand volunteers is 13,516 men. Fry also provides the exact number of men required from each Missouri district.
Date: November 7, 1863

Title: From A.F. Cox to A. Comingo
Description: On December 14, 1863, A.F. Cox writes from Weston, Missouri to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal for the 6th District of Missouri. Cox discusses the progress of enrollment in Platte County, noting that many names are missing from the published enrollment lists. He asks Comingo to give William Wells a special appointment as an enrollment officer for the county.
Date: December 14, 1863

Title: Quarterly Return of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores, 1863
Description: This military document is a return of ordnance and ordnance stores for Company "A" 8th Cavalry Regiment Missouri State Militia under command of Captain James J. Akard for the fourth quarter of 1863.
Date: January 13, 1864

Title: Missouri State Militia General Orders Outlining Delegation of Responsibilities
Description: This General Order to the Missouri State Militia describes in detail the delegation of responsibilities amongst commissioned and non-commissioned officers. Some of these responsibilities include making sure privates "wash their feet at least once a week; that they wash their hands and faces daily; that they brush or comb their heads, and keep their hair and whiskers neatly trimmed; ..."
Date: January 8, 1862

Title: From Manoah Miles to A. Comingo
Description: On March 13, 1864, Manoah Miles, Enrolling Officer for the 37th and 38th subdistricts, 6th District Missouri, writes from Ridgely, Missouri to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal, 6th District Missouri. Miles sends a list of soldiers recruited in Preston, Missouri between August and October 1863; the list includes nine recruits under the age of 20. Miles adds that he will begin enrolling slaves in his districts, but says he may not have time to complete the work in six days.
Date: March 13, 1864

Title: From H.C. Wood to A. Comingo
Description: This dispatch, dated November 10, 1863, is from U.S. Army Capt. H.C. Wood to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th district of Missouri. Writing from the Provost Marshal General's Bureau in Washington, D.C., Wood states that Comingo's account for postage expenses from the previous month cannot be paid until he submits duplicate sub-vouchers signed by the Postmaster.
Date: November 10, 1863

Title: Monument to the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Description: This photograph depicts a monument to the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col. John A. Martin, of Willich's Brigade, Wood's Division, Granger's Corps. It consists of a bronze sculpture of a Union Soldier and a plaque that describes a November 25, 1863 battle between Col. Martin's regiment and Gen. Bragg's Army of Tennessee. The monument is located on Missionary Ridge at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The photograph was taken by Schmedling of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Ben Loan to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On September 28, 1862, Brig. Gen. Ben Loan writes from Headquarters, Central Division of Missouri, in Jefferson City, Missouri to Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble. Loan reports that he sent Capt. Hout's company to Sedalia, Missouri and ordered Col. Spedden to take command at Warrensburg, Missouri. He tells Gamble that "the condition of our citizens on the western border is most deplorable," and that the Missouri militia has suffered "persecution and outrage at the hands of the guerrillas."
Date: September 28, 1862

Title: From James Griffing to My Dear Wife
Description: This letter, dated October 23, 1864, was written by James Griffing in camp at Kansas City, Missouri, to his wife. James provides an account of “a tremendous battle about five miles south of this” (presumably the Battle of Westport), which he heard about via dispatches from the battlefield. James includes an assessment of the Union casualties from regimental surgeon Dr. Hidden: “he thought but few cases would prove fatal.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 23, 1864

Title: From G.C. Bingham to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On June 8, 1863, G.C. Bingham writes from the Treasurer's Office in Jefferson City, Missouri to Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble. Bingham informs Gamble of his suspicion that Gen. Loan plans to cooperate with Kansas Jayhawkers "in subjecting Lafayette and Johnson Counties to the desolation which has depopulated Jackson and Cass." Bingham predicts that Loan is also plotting to overthrow the Missouri provisional government, and asks Gamble to appoint a "Loyal commander...before the meeting of the Convention."
Object Type: Government Document
Date: June 8, 1863

Title: Certificate of Lost Clothing at Bolivar, Missouri
Description: In this military document, Captain James J. Akard certifies that thirty-three pairs of socks were destroyed in a tent fire on December 27, 1864 in Bolivar, Missouri.
Date: January 30, 1865

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

Title: John R. Boyd Handbill
Description: This handbill, signed by John R. Boyd, urges the citizens of Buchanan County, Missouri to join arms and fight against the “usurping invader, Fremont.” Boyd instructs them to bring their shot guns and rifles to Rock House Prairie, where hundreds of men have set up camp and plan to fight until they achieve freedom, “or be buried beneath the dead bodies of men who would rather die than be slaves.”
Object Type: Leaflet

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

Error message

Pages

Pages

Object Type

Local Subject

People

Geographic Subject

Owning Organization