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Title: From Jesse Newell to John W. Geary
Description: In this September 20, 1856 letter to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary, Jesse Newell complains that he was driven from his house by a band of guerrillas. He claims that they destroyed his property and threatened to hang him, his son Robert, and his brother-in-law. He adds that his neighbors are not safe either, and that his neighborhood is “pested” with guerrillas.
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 20, 1856

Title: From Florella Brown Adair and Charles Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on April 14 and 15, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair and Charles Adair in Greenfield, Ohio, to Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella reports that she has been thinking about “the mysterious providence of God toward Kansas & toward our church, why does he permit such trying & afflictive things to come upon us as a people?” Charles finishes the letter on April 15, stating that they will be home the following week. He refers to the capture of Fort Sumter and declares, “The war has begun.”
Date: April 14, 1861-April 15, 1861

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on February 26 and 27, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair in Grafton, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella writes that “much excitement prevails here in anticipation of the inauguration of Pres. Lincoln, many fears are expressed in his behalf, there is a good deal of war spirit felt most every where I go, most feel that the time for compromise has passed. I hope we shall not have war but I fear it.”
Date: February 26, 1861-February 27, 1861

Title: From John B. Wood to George L. Stearns
Description: On November 19, 1861, John B. Wood writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to his friend George L. Stearns in Boston, informing him that thousands of slaves have escaped Missouri and settled in Kansas. He says that in the past ten days, 131 escaped slaves have moved into Lawrence. Most of them have found employment on farms, Wood writes, but when the harvest season is over, they may be out of work. Wood worries that there will be “much suffering” and death, and he asks Stearns to “lay this matter before the friends of humanity of the East and ask them to send us funds” to assist the liberated slaves.
Date: November 19, 1861

Title: From George Henry Hoyt to George L. Stearns
Description: This letter, dated August 13, 1862, was written by George Henry Hoyt in Leavenworth, Kansas, to George L. Stearns. Written on the letterhead of “Office Recruiting Commissioner, Northern District, Kans.,” the letter addresses the organization of the 3rd Regiment of Colored Kansas. Hoyt states that the regiment is “armed, uniformed, and equipped precisely as other Kansas Regiments,” while its officers are all “men of tried and settled principles.”
Date: August 13, 1862

Title: From John A. Halderman to Samuel R. Curtis
Description: This letter, dated November 6, 1862, is from Maj. John A. Halderman of the 1st Kansas Volunteer Infantry Regiment to Maj. Gen. Curtis, commander of the Department of the Missouri. Halderman asks, on behalf of Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson, for Curtis’s assistance in arming the Kansas State Militia so that they can better protect the Kansas-Missouri border “against the violence of lawless bands in Missouri.”
Date: November 6, 1862

Title: From Cyrus Leland, Jr. to Dear Mother
Description: Cyrus Leland, Jr. writes a letter to his mother in Troy, Kansas on September 16, 1863. Leland, a lieutenant of the 10th Kansas Infantry, Company F, reports that he recently arrived in Kansas City, Missouri from Atchison, Kansas. He tells his mother that a colonel fought a band of Bushwhackers the previous day: “He killed several and captured forty Horses.”
Date: September 16, 1863

Title: Description of Territorial Seal
Description: This is an excerpt from a newspaper article published in January 1855 by the Easton Argus in Easton, Pennsylvania. The article describes the Territorial Seal of Kansas, which was engraved by Robert Lovett of Philadelphia according to the design of Kansas Gov. Andrew Reeder. The article declares that the motto “is a beautiful allusion to the principle on which the Territory was organized, and consists of ‘Populi voce,’ thus translated—Born of the popular will.”
Object Type: Newspaper Article
Date: January 1855

Title: From Daniel Woodson to William P. Richardson
Description: This order, dated September 1, 1856, was sent by Acting Kansas Governor Daniel Woodson in Lecompton, Kansas, to Major General William P. Richardson, Kansas Militia, Northern Division. Woodson reminds Richardson that General Order No. 1, issued August 21, 1856, directed that all peaceable Kansas citizens and their property were to be protected regardless of their political views, and that no houses were to be destroyed unless they were proven to be used as forts or arsenals against the territorial government. Woodson directs Richardson to use the “severest penalties” against soldiers violating the order, and prohibits the burning of dwellings.
Date: September 1, 1856

Title: From William Murphy to John W. Geary
Description: This letter, dated October 3, 1856, is from William Murphy, mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas, to Gov. John W. Geary. Murphy states that three Leavenworth citizens received letters signed by “Regulators” ordering them to leave Kansas Territory; he tells Geary that he has investigated the incident but cannot determine who sent the letters. Murphy admits to Geary that citizens have complained about his performance as mayor, but he insists that their criticism is not justified. Murphy complains about people who are disloyal to the country and to President Pierce, and he expresses his support of the Democratic Party.
Date: October 3, 1856

Title: Petition from Leaders of Emigrant Train
Description: This petition, dated October 14, 1856, is addressed to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary and is signed by six conductors of an emigrant train that brought families from Mount Pleasant, Iowa to settle in Kansas. They tell Geary that they brought sabres with them because they had heard that armed men were blockading the Missouri River to Free State emigrants. They state that they were stopped at the border by U.S. troops, who searched their wagons, stole their arms, and imprisoned them. The conductors assert their rights as American citizens “to bear arms, and to be exempt from unlawful search or seizure,” and they request Geary’s assistance.
Object Type: Petition
Date: October 14, 1856

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter, dated January 2, 1861, was written by Florella Brown Adair in Grafton, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella expresses frustration that Samuel seems to disapprove of her letters and activities in Ohio: “I have been frank in saying that as long as we were all here & well provided for, & there was such a want of every thing in Kansas that it seemed best to stay this winter & send back what I could for you & others that are suffering there.”
Date: January 2, 1861

Title: From J. Heath to John Stillman Brown
Description: In a letter dated September 30, 1862, J. Heath writes from Paola, Kansas to John Stillman Brown. Heath implies that it is too late for Brown to be appointed Chaplain of his regiment, but reassures him that "I should prefer you for Chaplain...to any one I know of." Heath also discusses life in camp, and reports that his regiment drills "four and one half hours per day now beside dress parade at halft past five PM. Our time hangs heavily on our hands and I think upon the whole I should rather be on the move."
Date: September 30, 1862

Title: From Daniel Woodson to William Hutchinson and H. Miles Moore
Description: This letter, dated September 3, 1856, was written by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson at Lecompton, Kansas to William Hutchinson and H. Miles Moore in behalf of the Kansas State Central Committee. Woodson states that he received their letter asserting that a deputation from their committee is being illegally detained at Lecompton. Woodson replies that although he met with two men from the committee, they did not represent themselves as a deputation and were rightly arrested as spies.
Date: September 3, 1856

Title: From W.L. Marcy to John W. Geary
Description: This telegram was sent from W.L. Marcy in Washington, D.C. to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary on September 27, 1856. Marcy acknowledges receipt of an earlier dispatch from Geary. He informs Geary that “Military law can properly be applied, But you have not power to proclaim Martial law, you must get along without doing so.”
Object Type: Telegram
Date: September 29, 1856

Title: From John Wright to John W. Geary
Description: In this September 20, 1856 letter to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary, John Wright complains that a mob of 15 to 20 armed men raided his house. According to Wright, the mob was led by Capt. Miller of Leavenworth County, Kansas. They broke into his home with revolvers, threatened to kill him, and captured Joseph Wright and John Kissinger. Wright asks Geary to rescue Joseph and John from the mob and “Save their Lives.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 20, 1856

Title: From George W. Collamore to William P. Dole
Description: This letter, dated April 21, 1862, is from George W. Collamore to Hon. William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Writing from Washington, DC, Collamore provides an account of his "recent visit to the Loyal Indians who were obliged to flee from their pursuers (the rebel Indians and Texans) in the dead of Winter and are now encamped on the Neosho River" in southern Kansas. Collamore states that these Indians, numbering about 8,000, have suffered and many have died from exposure and lack of food.
Date: April 21, 1862

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written between December 30, 1860 and January 2, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella says that she is often asked about the situation in Kansas, with people wanting to know if the money and provisions sent from Ohio have been received in the Territory, or by Missourians.
Date: December 30, 1860-January 2, 1861

Title: From Samuel Jones to John W. Geary
Description: Samuel Jones, Sheriff of Douglas County, Kansas, writes a letter to Gov. John W. Geary on November 15, 1856. He informs Geary that he has a warrant to arrest Thomas Addy. He states that he anticipates Addy will resist, and he requests that Geary send troops to aid in the arrest.
Date: November 15, 1856

Title: From Florella Brown Adair and Ada Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This undated letter, ca. December 1862, was presumably written by Florella Brown Adair and Ada Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella writes that some local women have formed a benevolent society to raise funds for “buying land or fencing in ground for a general burying ground for the place.” Florella has attended only one of the society’s meetings and is not sure if she will attend their Christmas fundraising event. On the last page of the letter, Florella transcribes a message from her young daughter Ada to “Dear PaPa.”

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

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