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Title: Petition of a Number of Citizens of Anderson and Coffey Counties Praying for Relief
Description: This petition, dated September 23, 1856, is addressed to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary and is signed by 31 “law and order citizens” of Anderson and Coffey Counties. The petitioners complain that bands of abolitionist guerrillas have driven them from their homes, robbed them, destroyed their crops, and threatened their lives. The attackers’ objective, the petitioners claim, is “resisting civil authority and trampling underfoot the laws of the Territory.” The petition requests that Geary send troops to protect the citizens and help them return to their homes.
Object Type: Petition
Date: September 23, 1856

Title: Julia Sumner Fitch
Description: This black and white photograph, taken circa 1890, portrays Julia Sumner Fitch. Julia was born to Edward and Sarah Fitch in Lawrence, Kansas in 1858. At the age of five, she survived Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, but her family’s house was burned down and her father was killed in the attack.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Daniel Woodson to Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke
Description: This letter, dated September 1, 1856, was written by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson in Lecompton, Kansas, to Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke near Lecompton. Woodson instructs Cooke to proceed immediately with U.S. troops to Topeka, Kansas and disarm all insurrectionists, burn their fortifications and breastworks, and take as prisoner any man found in arms against the Territorial government. Woodson also directs Cooke to station a detachment of troops near the road leading from the Nebraska line to Topeka, to “intercept all aggressive invaders…that may make their appearance.”
Date: September 1, 1856

Title: From James McCool to Capt. Doah
Description: This letter was written on August 15, 1859 by Capt. James McCool, Company D, Missouri Volunteers, in Papinsville, Missouri, to Capt. Doah. McCool reports that James Montgomery and his associates are “demanding the immediate release of Pickles (alias Wright),” and that Missouri citizens living on the border “demand protection to which they are certainly entitled.” McCool is preparing to start with his company as soon as he can, and requests pistols, side arms, and bullet molds from Doah.
Date: August 15, 1859

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: From Daniel Woodson to William P. Richardson
Description: This order, dated August 21, 1856, was sent by Acting Kansas Governor Daniel Woodson in Lecompton, Kansas, to Major General William P. Richardson, Kansas Militia, Northern Division. Woodson approves the use of the Northern Division militia to intercept General James Lane and his forces when they attempt to enter Kansas. Woodson emphasizes that the militia must protect all peaceable citizens and their property regardless of their political views. He adds that no houses may be destroyed unless they are proven to be used as forts or arsenals against the territorial government.
Date: August 21, 1856

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 T.W.B. Rockwell to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on February 28, 1859 by T.W.B. Rockwell in Butler, Bates County, Missouri to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Rockwell states that he arrived in Butler that day and found the citizens in a state of alarm after several thefts by "collections of thieves" from Kansas. Among the items taken were "fifty stand of those guns that was in charge of Capt. Weaver." Rockwell says that many citizens of Bates County have moved to the central and eastern portions of the county in an effort to escape the thieves; "What must our President think of this," he asks.
Date: February 28, 1859

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: From William Clarke Quantrill to William W. Scott
Description: William Clarke Quantrill writes a letter from Olathe, Kansas to William W. Scott on January 22, 1858. Quantrill reports the results of a recent election on the Lecompton Constitution, which he refers to as the "Lecompton swindle." He mentions a recent skirmish at Fort Scott and declares it "a pity" that the Kansas settlers "had not shot every Missourian that was there." He also calls James Henry Lane "as good a man as we have here" and describes Kansas Democrats as "rascals."
Date: January 22, 1858

Title: From George E. Young to My Dear Father
Description: This letter, dated August 23, 1863, is from George E. Young in Minneola, Kansas to his father. Young writes that he was in Lawrence on the day of Quantrill's Raid and "came very near being killed." He describes how the attackers approached the boarding house where he was staying, ordered all the women and children to leave, then lined up the men and shot at them. Young tells his father that he ran away and hid in a nearby cellar, narrowly escaping death.
Date: August 23, 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

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

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