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Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written January 28 and 30, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair in Lafayette, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella describes her trip from Grafton, Ohio to Lafayette. She writes that everyone is talking about “Kansas & the political condition of the union…Many think war will be declared before many weeks. Democrats lay all the blame on Republicans & Kansas for all the trouble, but not many are ready to fight for the south.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: January 28, 1861-January 30, 1861

Title: Indenture of Robertson Moore and David L. Cavanagh
Description: This April 1864 document declares the upcoming sale of the late John C. Cavanagh’s real estate and his three slaves, Abe, Lucy, and Eliza. Robertson Moore, Sheriff of Chariton County, announces that he will auction off Cavanagh’s property outside of the courthouse in Keytesville, Missouri.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: April 1864

Title: From Mary E. Bedford to Alex M. Bedford
Description: On July 17, 1863, Mary E. Bedford writes from Savannah, Missouri to her husband Alex M. Bedford. Mary says that she believes Alex will be exchanged soon, and expresses hope that the war will soon come to an end. She states that she could not retrieve the horse Alex left in Clay County, Missouri, because it was taken as contraband. Mary provides an update about various friends in the area, including several who have left and some who joined the military. She adds that the price of goods is very high and that she may go to Kentucky to stay with relatives.
Date: July 17, 1863

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter, dated November 21, 1860, was written by Florella Brown Adair in Hudson, Ohio to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma in Osawatomie, Kansas. Florella responds to their recent letters, which were “so complaining and discouraging, that I feel more like staying away, than hurrying home…it seems to me that the Territory is cursed of the Lord and that it is fighting against him to try to live there and do anything but barely to exist…I cannot help feeling a perfect disgust for Kansas life, and most of Kansas people.” Florella adds that she read about the “Montgomery and Fort Scott troubles” in the newspapers.
Object Type: Letter
Date: November 21, 1860

Title: From G.H. Forkney to Col. Peery
Description: This letter, dated June 13, 1856, is from G.H. Forkney in Basin Knob, Missouri to Col. Peery. Forkney discusses business dealings, then goes on to describe the "deplorable state of affairs" in Kansas Territory: "murders are common & occasionally the women & children fall victim to the fury of the northern fanatics." He reports that President Franklin Pierce has put Kansas under martial law, and that Missourians are preparing for "a war of extermination."
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 13, 1856

Title: Excerpt from George Palmer's Diary
Description: Union Captain George Palmer’s diary, written July-August, 1861, records daily life in his company of dragoons. Palmer writes of meeting “Col. Grant,” searching a suspicious barge, and receiving orders from General Pope. He also hears news of a “battle at Springfield,” presumably the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. Palmer recalls that during a storm in camp, 100 men from Col. Williams’ regiment “stripped of all their clothes and ran out in the rain,” causing “much merriment.”
Object Type: Diary

Title: From Charles Adair and Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on August 18, 1860 by Charles Adair and Florella Brown Adair in Grafton, Ohio, to Samuel Lyle Adair. Charles reports that they arrived in Grafton the previous night and had a pleasant journey. Florella shares news of various friends and relatives. She says that people throughout the states believe that the original settlers of Kansas should remain there and that it would be “a great moral and political evil to the territory” if they were to leave at this particular time.
Date: August 18, 1860

Title: From A.M. Bedford to Mary E. Bedford
Description: This letter, dated October 12, 1864, is from Lieut. Alex M. Bedford to his wife Mary E. Bedford in Savannah, Missouri. He writes from Morris Island off the coast of Charleston, S.C., where he is imprisoned. He informs his wife that he has written to Gen. Craig and requested parole. He tells Mary, “I am very tired of prison life + want to get out if there is any honorable way.”
Date: October 12, 1864

Title: From T.E. Brawner to Sue Brawner
Description: This letter, from January 12, 1862, is from T.E. Brawner in Linneus, Missouri, to Sue Brawner. T.E., presumed to be a Union soldier, writes “I am now out of the service but if the Rebels make their raids in this State again this summer, you will no doubt hear of me being in the service again.” T.E. notes that, regardless of the War, he has not "lost any of my love for the old stars and stripes." He sends his love for his son Eddie, asking Sue to “tell him Pa wants to see him more than ever.”
Date: January 12, 1862

Title: From Mattie Jane Tate to Cousin Mary
Description: This letter of December 14, 1864, is from Mattie Jane Tate in Jackson County, Missouri, to her cousin Mary. While Mattie’s family was vacating their home under Order No. 11 in September 1863, “some soldiers from Kansas” shot and killed her husband and five others. “I am left with three small children to take care of [and] am not able a great part of my time to take care of myself,” she writes. Blaming the massacre on anti-slavery factions, Mattie declares “I can never have any love for any of that side or stripe again.”
Date: December 14, 1864

Title: From Mary E. Bedford to A.M. Bedford
Description: This letter, dated May 1, 1864, is from Mary E. Bedford in Savannah, Missouri to her husband, Lieut. Alex M. Bedford, at the Officers Prison in Point Lookout, Maryland. Mary updates him on the health of family members and on her tenant’s upkeep of her farm. She reports that two acquaintances who joined the army the previous spring have both recently died. Missouri, she states, “is peaceable . . . and I hope it will remain so.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: May 1, 1864

Title: Application of Catharine Richmond
Description: This is Catharine Richmond’s application for compensation from the United States government for the military service of her slave, Basil Hayden. The application, dated November 26, 1866, includes an oath of allegiance to the United States, a statement that Richmond lawfully obtained her slave, and the signatures of two witnesses and a notary public in Marion County, Missouri.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: November 26, 1866

Title: Sara Tappan Lawrence Robinson
Description: Portrait of Sara Robinson taken in 1857. The wife of Dr. Charles Robinson, Sara Robinson was a notable Free-State activist and author of Kansas: Its Interior and Exterior Life.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1857

Title: Petition to the Constitutional Convention of Kansas
Description: This is a petition sent to the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention of Kansas in support of equal political rights for Kansas women. The petition, dated 1859, protests against “any Constitutional distinctions based upon sex,” and is signed by Charles Robinson and 14 others. A second copy of the petition from Auburn, Shawnee County, Kansas is signed by 69 men and women.
Object Type: Petition
Date: 1859

Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: John A. Bushnell writes a letter to Eugenia Bronaugh on August 18, 1863. He describes the beautiful scenery and overwhelming heat in Calhoun, Missouri. He complains about those who do not fear the law, claiming they would “sink the government, their neighbors—everything for their own dear personal safety.”
Date: August 18, 1863

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter was written by Florella Brown Adair on January 13 and 14, 1861 at Martha’s, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair. Florella is glad to hear they received the barrels she sent, but was dismayed that they had to pay additional money for their delivery upon receipt, and that they had been broken open, seemingly on purpose. Florella writes of a man from Douglas County, Kansas who is in a nearby Ohio town collecting money to send home. She says he might collect so much from people they will not have as much to give to Osawatomie, Kansas; she also fears that Lykins County, Kansas will not receive its fair share of relief funds.
Date: January 13, 1861-January 14, 1861

Title: From A.J. Huntoon to Lizzie P. Huntoon
Description: This letter was written on July 7, 9, and 11, 1861 by A.J. Huntoon in Williamsport, Shawnee County, Kansas, to his wife Lizzie P. Huntoon. A.J. describes a party he attended on July 4 in Topeka, Kansas, and states that he enlisted in the service as part of “the Lane guards.” He says that since Lizzie is away from home, “I feel that there is no excuse for not taking an active part in this struggle for freedom & humanity…Such as can leave should be the first to offer themselves, & I feel that I am one.” A.J. adds that he recruited three local men for his company.
Date: July 7, 1861-July 11, 1861

Title: From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Description: This letter, dated December 10, 1864, was written by James Montgomery in Mound City, Kansas, to Maj. George L. Stearns. Montgomery writes that he resigned his military position due to poor health, but then took command of 15 companies – including two companies of black militia – after the commencement of Price’s Raid. He briefly describes the Battle of Westport, and explains that Price's Raid disrupted planting season. Montgomery asks Stearns about the bounty paid to soldiers in his state, and says that he will bring a few recruits with him when he visits over the winter.
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 10, 1864

Title: From L. Maria Child to James Montgomery
Description: On December 26, 1861, L. Maria Child writes from Wayland, Massachusetts to Col. James Montgomery. Child writes of her interest in and support for Kansas, asking “Are there any regiments, except those from Kansas, upon whom we can rely, with certainty, as the protector of poor hunted slaves?” She discusses the possibility of war with England, and the “strange alliance…of England with slave-holders.” Child says that she has enclosed several knitted several items she made for Montgomery and John Brown, Jr.
Date: December 26, 1861

Title: From J.D. Kirk to Dear Sister
Description: This is a handwritten copy of a letter from J.D. Kirk in California to his sister on March 3, 1863. Kirk writes about the debate over slavery, criticizing "this bogus, free-negro, puritan congress" and explaining that his father opposes abolition of slavery in parts of the country "where the economy depends solely on its continuation." He also mentions the recently adopted Conscription Act, and predicts an imminent end to the Civil War.
Date: March 3, 1863

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

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