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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: 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: 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

Title: From Thomas Carney to James L. McDowell
Description: This letter, dated June 26, 1863, was written by Kansas Governor Thomas Carney in Washington, DC, to James L. McDowell. Carney writes that Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War, has refused to approve Major General Schofield’s order to raise a regiment. Carney says that if necessary he will “foot the bill” himself to defend “helpless women and children” from the “brutal...ruffian raids that have so long cursed our state.”
Date: June 26, 1863

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 May 21, 1864 and November 3, 1864. The letters, written by A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th District of Missouri, address topics such as guerrilla activity in Chariton County, Missouri and reopening the Provost Marshal's office in Lexington following "the rebel invasion." Correspondents include Missouri Provost Marshal General E.B. Alexander, U.S. Provost Marshal General James B. Fry, and Maj. Gen. W.S. Rosecrans.
Date: May 21, 1864-November 3, 1864

Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: This May 26, 1864 letter is from John A. Bushnell of Clinton, Missouri to Eugenia Bronaugh. He tells Eugenia that he avoids going out much of the time because he is afraid of being attacked by bushwhackers. He also tells her that, according to newspaper reports, Joseph Orville Shelby recently crossed the Arkansas River with 2,000 troops. He voices frustration with news sources, which he describes as “stirring” but “confused and contradictory.”
Date: May 26, 1864

Title: William (Bill) Hulse
Description: Charcoal portrait drawing of a seated William Hulse (Bill) dressed in shirt with pullover decorated on edges typical of Quantrill's guerrillas, tie, and hat. A member of Quantrill's guerrillas, Hulse participated in the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, in August 1863, and the massacre at Centralia, Missouri, September 1864. On July 26, 1865, he surrendered at Samuel's Depot, Kentucky. Hulse died in 1890 and is buried in the Lee's Summit, Missouri, cemetery.
Object Type: Image

Title: Jesse James
Description: Charcoal portrait of Jesse James dressed in suit coat, shirt, and cravat. In 1863, James joined Quantrill's Guerrillas and after the Civil War became leader of the James-Younger gang. He was shot by a new member of his gang, Robert Ford, April 3, 1882.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Leigh R. Webber to Miss Brown
Description: Leigh R. Webber writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to Miss Brown on October 22, 1859. He reports on recent events in Kansas politics, mentioning that Charles Robinson was nominated for Governor and James Henry Lane plans to run for Senate if Kansas is admitted to the Union. He reports that John Brown has caused "quite a row in the East" and criticizes Brown's "insane madness against the Slave Power."
Date: October 22, 1859

Title: From Sumner Corbin to Frank Walker
Description: Sumner Corbin writes a letter from Linn County, Kansas to his friend Frank Walker on March 4, 1862. He tells Walker that many local men have enlisted in the 3rd and 4th Kansas Volunteer Regiments under the command of Col. Montgomery. He adds that a number of them no longer like Montgomery because he refused to commission Charles Jennison. Since then, Corbin says, Jennison became a Brigadier General of another regiment and has “cleaned out all the border counties of Missouri.”
Date: March 4, 1862

Title: Fletcher Taylor with Frank and Jesse James
Description: Charcoal drawing of three of Quantrill's guerrillas: Fletcher Taylor (left), Frank James (sitting), and Jesse James (right). Fletch and Jesse are dressed in suits and hats; Frank is hatless and in uniform.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1893

Title: Unidentified Civil War Soldier or Guerrilla
Description: Charcoal portrait of unidentified person in cloak, shirt, and hat with plume andfive stars on the hatband. Drawing is signed by the artist with "93" immediately below the signature. Person in this drawing is taken from another drawing (MVO-101F).
Object Type: Image
Date: 1893

Title: Affidavit of Resolved Fuller
Description: Resolved Fuller of Jefferson County, Kansas swore this affidavit on or around September 20, 1856. He states that he was arrested the previous week by a group of men claiming to be Capt. Miller’s company. The company, Fuller says, also captured a Mr. Newell and his son, demanded information, and threatened to hang them. Fuller claims he was captured that morning by four strangers, held prisoner for a half hour, and then escaped.
Object Type: Legal Document

Title: From H.D. Palmer to Isaac Feback
Description: This letter, dated December 20, 1862, was written by H.D. Palmer in Independence, Missouri, to Isaac Feback. Palmer thanks Feback for his kindness, lamenting that he has few friends left who can rise above “political prejudice” as Feback has done. Palmer says he has done everything “to keep down jayhawking & protect my Union friends,” but has been betrayed by those friends and the militia who took his livestock without proper payment. Palmer notes that the oath of allegiance is meaningless unless it offers government protection for those who take it.
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 20, 1862

Title: Peyton Long
Description: Charcoal portrait of Peyton Long in suit coat, vest, shirt, and tie. Peyton Long enlisted May 1861 in Captain Tom McCarty's company of John T. Hughes regiment, of the Confederacy, but in January 1862, he joined Silas Gordon and in the summer of 1863, Quantrill. It's reported that Long killed more men during the Lawrence, Kansas, massacre on August 21, 1863, than any other raider. Long was killed in Meade County, Kentucky, during a skirmish around April 30, 1864. The "Liberty Tribune" (June 21, 1901) said he was killed in 1865.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1893

Title: From John C. Gage to Dear Friends
Description: This letter, dated September 1, 1862, was written by John C. Gage in Kansas City, Missouri to friends in Pelham, New Hampshire. John states that Confederate forces camped nearby have retreated to Arkansas, leaving the area vulnerable to guerrilla attacks. The biggest threat comes from Jim Lane’s brigade under Jennison, which is “raising and arming negroes in Kansas to plunder good citizens in Missouri.” Of Jennison, John declares, “He ought to be killed and I would esteem it the best act of my life to do it.”
Date: September 1, 1862

Title: From Elias Stover to William Sayer Blakely
Description: Elias Stover writes a letter from Camp Blair, Kansas on March 25, 1862 to his friend William Sayer Blakely. Three days prior, Stover says, he marched into Missouri along with Maj. Pomeroy and 70 other men from the 2nd Kansas Cavalry Regiment. They ambushed a house where William Quantrill and his men were staying; they killed eight people, took six prisoner, stole horses and arms, and burned down the house, but Quantrill escaped.
Date: March 25, 1862

Title: Documents Relating to United States vs. John Brown, Jr.
Description: These documents from May and June 1856 relate to the case United States versus John Brown Jr. and others for subverting the U.S. government. Included among the documents is a warrant for Brown’s arrest, signed by Judge S.G. Cato on May 28, 1856. Also included are two witness subpoenas, dated June 14, 1856; one is signed by Judge Cato, the other by Charles P. Bullock.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: May 28, 1856 and June 14, 1856

Title: From Hamilton R. Gamble to Abraham Lincoln
Description: On May 2, 1863, Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble writes from St. Louis to President Lincoln. Gamble informs Lincoln about "the perpetration of murders and arsons and other outrages committed by persons connected with the Army…and whose crimes you have the power to restrain." He asks Lincoln to put a stop to the "butcheries" occurring in Missouri's western counties, and suggests that Lincoln replace Gen. Curtis as commander of the district in favor of someone who is "too brave to be cruel."
Object Type: Government Document
Date: May 2, 1863

Title: From G.A. Parsons to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This dispatch, dated December 8, 1860, is from G.A. Parsons, Adjutant General of the Missouri Militia, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Parsons reports that a “band of marauders of Kansas Territory” murdered a Missouri citizen for capturing a fugitive slave. The 300 mounted and armed marauders, under the command of James Montgomery and Charles Jennison, have also captured slaves and threatened the lives of Missouri citizens. Parsons asks Stewart to send troops to the border to protect citizens “threatened with arson plunder and death.”
Date: December 8, 1860

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

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