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Title: Instructions to Gen. P.F. Smith
Description: This document comprises a series of instructions given by the Secretary of War to Gen. P.F. Smith, Commander of the Department of the West, between February 15, 1856 and September 5, 1856. Smith is instructed to “make every exertion in your power with the force under your orders to preserve the peace and prevent bloodshed.” The Secretary of War empowers Smith to act if armed resistance is made by citizens of any political persuasion. Smith is instructed not to interfere with the activities of the Kansas Militia.
Date: February 15, 1856-September 5, 1856

Title: John McHale
Description: This carte de visite depicts John McHale, who served in the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph was produced ca. 1861-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: Survivors of the Sixth Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Description: These are portraits of 79 men who served in the Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry under Col. William R. Judson during the Civil War. Pictured are the survivors of Companies A, B, C, D, E, G, H, K, and L. The regiment was organized September 9, 1861 and reorganized March 27, 1862. The survivors were mustered out of service July 18, 1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: Charles Robinson, First Kansas Governor
Description: Portrait of Charles Robinson, early leader of the New England Emigrant Aid Society and the first Governor of the State of Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1861

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: On September 14 and 15, 1860, Florella Brown Adair writes from Grafton Station, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair. Florella describes the contents of a barrel of clothing and other items she is sending to them. She says that her health has improved, and that her relatives and friends are “trying to make me look more like civilized folk than we did in Kansas.” Florella adds that she recently spent hours in conversation with a friend “about Kansas matters.”
Date: September 14, 1860-September 15, 1860

Title: Gale Block, Topeka, Kansas
Description: Photograph of the Gale block in Topeka, Kansas, where the Kansas state legislature convened in the 1860s.
Object Type: Image

Title: Kansas Territorial Records
Description: These documents include letters and affidavits documenting election fraud that occurred in Leavenworth, Johnson, Coffey, and Linn Counties in Kansas Territory. Kansas citizens voted on January 4, 1858 to determine the fate of the Lecompton Constitution and to elect state officials. These documents refer to incidents of “enormous fraud” including men voting repeatedly under false names, falsifying poll books, and destroying ballot boxes “by violence and force.”
Object Type: Government Document
Date: January 5, 1858-March 15, 1858

Title: From Abishai Stowell to "Distant But Not Forgotten Sister"
Description: On January 8, 1863, Abishai Stowell writes from Elm Springs, Arkansas, to his sister. Stowell reports that he has been in "4 fights:" Maysville, Indian Territory on October 22; Boonsboro, Arkansas on November 28; Prairie Grove, Arkansas on December 7; and Dripping Springs, Arkansas on December 28, which he describes in some detail. Stowell tells his sister not to worry about him, explaining, "I am on the right side as our recent victories will show for. I have never been hit although I have been in the thickest of the fight & have had my clothes cut by bullets."
Object Type: Letter
Date: January 8, 1863

Title: Julia Louisa Hardy Lovejoy
Description: Portrait of Julia Louisa Hardy Lovejoy. Lovejoy and her husband, Charles Haseltine Lovejoy, came to the Kansas Territory in 1855, where Rev. Lovejoy was the second traveling Methodist preacher in the territory. They built the first house on the Manhattan Town Company site, but moved to a farm near Baldwin, Kansas Territory, in 1857.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Abishai Stowell to "Dear Sister"
Description: On July 8, 1863, Abishai Stowell writes from Springfield, Missouri to his sister. Stowell says he was "heartily glad that the Rebels went into Pennsylvania," and predicts the war will soon come to an end. He tells his sister that his time in the U.S. service will expire in November 1864.
Date: July 8, 1863

Title: From B.F. Dawson to Colonel of the Second Kansas Militia
Description: This letter, dated October 14, 1864 but presumably written ca. October 22, 1864, was sent by B.F. Dawson in Topeka, Kansas, to the Colonel of the 2nd Kansas Militia. Dawson, a member of Capt. Huntoon’s Company B, 2nd Kansas Militia, describes his participation in the Battle of the Blue, during which he was taken prisoner by the Confederates. He was later paroled by Gen. Shelby and marched back to Topeka.

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter was written on April 1, 2, and 8, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair in Greenfield, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair. Florella writes about going on a “calling & begging trip for Kansas” among friends in the area, and how she was disappointed to receive only $3.00 for her efforts. Florella discovered that many people had already given funds for Kansas to Mr. Stephenson, who managed to collect over $300.00 by representing himself as an acquaintance of John Brown.
Date: April 1, 1861-April 8, 1861

Title: Representatives of Kansas, 1868
Description: This legislative panel shows the members of the Kansas House of Representatives for A.D. 1868. In the lower portion of the panels the legislature's names are listed in numeric order. Notable historical figures in this panel include: Everard Bierer, labeled "2"; John B. Bruner, "5"; Thomas H. Butler, "6"; Joel Kishler Goodin, "13"; Joel Grover, second left picture from bottom center; John Guthrie, "15"; John Hamilton, "55"; Richard W. Jenkins, top of left-most column; Charles Ransford Jennison, "22"; William Henry Harrison Kelley, "23"; Vincent J. Lane, "24"; Samuel D. Lecompte, "25"; William Mitchell, "66"; Preston Bierce Plumb, "31"; Philip Rockefeller, "33"; Charles May Sears, second right picture from bottom center; William Hillary Smallwood, "37"; George W. Smith, center; James Donaldson Snoddy, "39"; Thomas Jefferson Vanderslice, "44"; Henry H. Williams, "47"; and John K. Wright, "50".
Object Type: Image
Date: 1868

Title: Franklin G. Adams
Description: Portrait of Franklin G. Adams, the election judge who presided over the 1858 vote on the Lecompton Constitution, circa 1876-1883.
Object Type: Image

Title: Affidavit of Q. Jernigan
Description: This is the sworn affidavit of Q. Jernigan, dated October 7, 1856 and signed in Douglas County by S.G. Cato, Associate Supreme Court Justice of Kansas Territory. Jernigan claims that in June, a group of armed men seized from him a Sharps rifle and a large Bowie knife, and that these items are now in the possession of Gov. John W. Geary. At the bottom of the page is an order from Cato to the U.S. Marshal of Kansas Territory, commanding him to obtain Jernigan’s stolen items and bring them before Cato “to be dealt with according to law.”
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: October 7, 1856

Title: From Abishai Stowell to "Dear Sister"
Description: On April 22, 1865, Abishai Stowell writes from Lewisburg, Arkansas to his sister. Stowell, a member of Co. B, 2nd Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, reports that "the prospect is good for me to go home in a few days for the war is just about ended." He says the assassination of President Lincoln "has caused a great deal of excitement here[,] the Union people feel the loss to be one that can never be repaid while the Secesh are overjoyed with the news."
Object Type: Letter
Date: April 22, 1865

Title: Russell W. Maryhugh
Description: This sepia carte de visite depicts Russell W. Maryhugh, who served in Company E, Seventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph, ca. 1861-1865, was produced by Armstead & White of Corinth, Mississippi.
Object Type: Image

Title: Henry Moon
Description: This carte de visite depicts Henry Moon, who served in the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph was produced ca. 1861-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: From John W. Geary to Israel Donalson
Description: Kansas Gov. John W. Geary writes a letter from Lecompton, Kansas to U.S. Marshal Israel Donalson on November 24, 1856. Geary inquires about a rumor that a large number of prisoners who were in Donalson’s custody have escaped. He asks Donalson how many prisoners escaped, what their names are, and what steps have been taken to find them.
Object Type: Letter
Date: November 24, 1856

Title: J.F. Vaughn
Description: This carte de visite depicts 2nd M. Sgt. J.F. Vaughn, who served in the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph was produced ca. 1861-1865.
Object Type: Image

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

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