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Title: Quarterly Return of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores, 1865
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 second quarter of 1865.
Date: May 26, 1865

Title: Statement of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores
Description: This military document is a half completed statement of ordnance and ordnance stores for Company "A", 8th Cavalry Regiment, Missouri State Militia. Soldiers are listed on the statement along with articles charged to them, but no commanding officer signed or certified the document.
Date: 1863-1865

Title: From John W. Pattison to Unknown
Description: In this letter, John W. Pattison asks for a reply to his previous letter and requests any amount of money the letter recipient may have collected concerning John Bloomer.
Date: October 4, 1863

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: 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 Abishai Stowell to "Dear Sister"
Description: On March 26, 1862, Abishai Stowell writes from Springfield, Missouri to his sister, Margaret. Stowell, a member of Co. A, 2nd Regt., Kansas Volunteers, says that he recently went home and reports that their family was mostly in good health. Stowell asks his sister to write to Jim "and try to persuade him to go home…if he will only stay at home till this war is ended."
Object Type: Letter
Date: March 26, 1862

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 Emma Adair to Florella Brown Adair
Description: On May 10, 11, and 21, 1862, Emma Adair writes from Oberlin, Ohio, to her mother Florella Brown Adair. Emma writes that her school term ends on May 27, and that she believes there will be a place for her next term. She says that a report came by telegram “that Richmond was taken, but there was not much confidence put in it.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: May 10, 1862-May 21, 1862

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: 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 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: 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

Title: From Maurice E. Pitcher to Mr. Colgan
Description: On November 6, 1864, Maurice E. Pitcher writes from Independence, Missouri to Mr. Colgan. Pitcher states that he saw Colgan's son Willie on October 21 when he came into Missouri with Gen. Price's army: "he is looking quite well…he had no appearance of being 'one of Price's starved to death, rag-muffins.'" He says that Price's men "had a series of battles from little blue (in this county) until within a few miles of Fort Scott, and you may well imagine they had a series of successes."
Date: November 6, 1864

Title: From Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Description: This letter, dated August 6 and 7, 1862, is from Joseph H. Trego to his wife Alice. Trego, a lieutenant in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, writes from Camp Beech Grove. He reports that the weather is so hot that a number of his fellow soldiers have become ill. He includes $690 with his letter and instructs his wife to “take good care of it . . . you may need it before you will find anyone to take my place if I should be so unfortunate as to get killed.”
Date: August 6, 1862-August 7, 1862

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This undated letter was written ca. December 1862 by Florella Brown Adair in Osawatomie, Kansas, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella expresses distress over reports regarding “the great battle of the 6 of this month.” She states that their son Charles is among the missing, and does not know if he is dead or has been taken prisoner. Florella says that her friends “seemed to sympathize & hoped it might not be so bad, or that it was not true, as many reports are exagerated.”

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

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