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Title: From Edward Bates to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On August 2, 1861, Edward Bates writes from the Attorney General's Office to Hamilton R. Gamble. Bates applauds "the wise course taken by the Missouri Convention," and congratulates Gamble on his appointment as Provisional Governor of the state. "The internal peace of Missouri & its security," he declares, "…will do more towards the suppression of the insurrection in the border states, than 100,000 of our best men in arms."
Date: August 2, 1861

Title: 1860 Presidential Election Returns from Vernon County, Missouri
Description: This document presents the election returns from Vernon County, Missouri for the Presidential election held on November 6, 1860: John C. Breckenridge and Joseph Lane received 380 votes; John Bell and Edward Everett received 207 votes; and Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson received 151 votes. Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin are not listed on the document. S.D. German received 174 votes for Circuit Attorney. On November 7, DeWitt C. Hunter, Clerk of the Vernon County Court, certified the results.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: November 7, 1860

Title: From Orville Chester Brown to Friend Pomroy
Description: These are two drafts of a letter written by Orville Chester Brown to his friend Pomroy on December 12, 1861. Brown decries the evil of slavery, declaring that it has “poisoned and demoralized not only the social and political system, but the most sacred fountains of justice.” Congress will be meeting soon to discuss slavery, Brown says, and he hopes that they will end “the barbaric institution.” If slaves are legal property, he reasons, and if Congress has passed laws confiscating the property of rebels, then the rebels’ slaves should be confiscated and set free.
Date: December 12, 1861

Title: A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand
Description: This is a copy of Abraham Lincoln's speech, "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand", delivered on June 16, 1858 at the Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois. This speech is preserved here in its entirety with original italics as part of a 1936 publication that includes an introduction by Douglas C. McMurtrie.
Object Type: Speech
Date: June 16, 1858

Title: From Samuel R. Ayres to Lyman Langdon
Description: This letter from Samuel R. Ayres to Lyman Langdon is dated January 1, 1863, the day that President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. In his letter, Ayres expresses support for the proclamation, but mentions the possibility of it being revoked and questions whether or not slaves will indeed be set free. Ayres also reports that his two sons are in Gen. Grant’s division of the 7th Kansas Cavalry Regiment and have had to fight nearly every day.
Object Type: Letter
Date: January 1, 1863

Title: Abraham Lincoln, Candidate for U.S. President, Before Delivering His Cooper Union Address in New York City
Description: Photograph of presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln prior to his Cooper Union speech, one of the most critical in his successful campaign for the presidency.
Object Type: Image
Date: February 27, 1860

Title: 1860 Presidential Election Returns from Putnam County, Missouri
Description: This document presents the election returns from Putnam County, Missouri for the Presidential election held on November 6, 1860: John C. Breckenridge and Joseph Lane received 287 votes; Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson received 107 votes; John Bell and Edward Everett received 62 votes; and Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin received 7 votes. On November 7, the Clerk of the Putnam County Court certified the results.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: November 7, 1860

Title: Merchant's Bank of Trenton One Dollar Bill
Description: The dollar bill issued by the Merchant's Bank of Trenton, New Jersey, on November 20, 1861. The Merchant's Bank dollar bill was one of the earliest dated bills to depict President Lincoln's likeness following the President's authorization to print $250 million worth of Demand Notes in July, 1861.
Object Type: Image
Date: November 20, 1861

Title: From Hamilton R. Gamble to Abraham Lincoln
Description: On September 8, 1862, Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble writes from St. Louis to President Lincoln. Gamble states that Gen. Lane and Col. Jennison are raising a military force and plan to invade Missouri. Gamble declares that if the invasion is carried out, "I will resist it with all the force I can command and…shall find myself obliged to give the people of Kansas a taste of the evils of war in their own territory." Gamble asks Lincoln to forbid U.S. troops from entering Missouri without permission.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: September 8, 1862

Title: From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Description: This letter, dated March 11, 1861, was written by James Montgomery in Mound City, Kansas, to George L. Stearns. Montgomery offers his opinion of sending fugitive slaves to Canada: “it will cost less to protect them here…and, besides, the principle is much better.” He believes that “Kansas is truly a free state, and ever shall be. A fugitive can travel as safely here, in Southern Kansas, as he can in Canada.” Montgomery adds that a free African-American was recently kidnapped by the Missouri Militia, because his guns had not been kept in firing condition.
Date: March 11, 1861

Title: From George W. Dietzler to Charles Robinson
Description: George W. Dietzler writes on April 16, 1861 from Lawrence, Kansas, to Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson. Dietzler declares that “Old Abe has decided ‘to put his foot down firmly’ against the ‘Confederate government,’” and suggests that Robinson offer 1000 or more Kansas troops to support Lincoln. He writes, “We must be ready for war—all Lawrence will enlist at short notice. Heaven grant that peace may not be restored until the disease is effectively & permanently cured.”
Date: April 16, 1861

Title: From W.L. Wood to W.P. Howard
Description: This letter, dated July 19, 1861, is from W.L. Wood in Liberty Landing, Missouri to Col. W.P. Howard in St. Louis. Wood informs Howard that he went to Lexington, Missouri with state troops and planned to travel farther south, but "did not precisely understand" Gov. Claiborne Fox Jackson's intentions. He expresses ambivalence about Jackson, but supports his stance against Lincoln, and declares that he wants "to see Lincoln's troops whipped."
Date: July 19, 1861

Title: From Calvin Iserman to Brother William
Description: This letter, dated January 20, 1861, was sent by Calvin Iserman in Independence, Missouri, to his brother William. Calvin writes that Independence is “in favor of secession,” and predicts “there is going to be a civil war.” He fears being driven from Missouri along with other “Eastern men,” adding that those who voted for Lincoln are also under threat. Calvin describes a foiled “abolitionist” raid on a Missouri plantation (possibly Walker’s Raid of December 10, 1860), in which all the attackers were killed.
Date: January 20, 1861

Title: Campaign Banner, Belfast, Maine, 1860
Description: Lincoln and Hamlin cotton campaign banner from the Presidential Campagin of 1860.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1860

Title: Abraham Lincoln, Two Weeks Before the Final Lincoln-Douglas Debate in Lincoln's Unsuccessful Bid for the Senate
Description: Photographic print of Abraham Lincoln copied from an ambrotype made by Calvin Jackson, circa 1900-1911. Original ambrotype was taken two weeks before the final Lincoln-Douglas debate in Lincoln's unsuccessful bid for the Senate on October 1, 1858.
Object Type: Image

Title: Emancipation Proclamation
Description: Commemorative lithograph celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation.
Object Type: Image

Title: The First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation Before the Cabinet
Description: Print of F.B. Carpenter's painting of President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation on July 22, 1862.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Thomas P. Akers to Hamilton Gamble
Description: On September 12, 1862, Thomas P. Akers writes from Kansas City, Missouri to Missouri Governor Hamilton Gamble in St. Louis. Akers, a former Missouri Congressmen who opposed secession, states that when he returned to Lexington, Missouri after a year's absence, his wife and children were forcibly removed from their home and his father-in-law was arrested and imprisoned under false charges. Fearing arrest, Akers seeks Gamble's permission to peacefully resolve his affairs in Lexington before leaving the state.
Date: September 12, 1862

Title: From James B. Fry to E.B. Alexander
Description: This letter, dated November 7, 1863, is from James B. Fry, Provost Marshal General, to Col. E.B. Alexander, Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General of Missouri. Writing from the War Department in Washington, D.C., Fry tells Alexander the number of volunteers that must be recruited from each Missouri district. To comply with President Lincoln's October 17 proclamation ordering the United States to recruit 300,000 volunteers, the state of Missouri must recruit 13,516 volunteers.
Date: November 7, 1863

Title: From Powell Clayton to John Halderman
Description: Powell Clayton writes a letter from Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Gen. John Halderman on October 21, 1864. He says that he is not convinced by Gen. Magruder’s threats to attack Pine Bluff; he believes that Magruder is attempting to detract attention from Gen. Price’s movements in Missouri. Clayton expresses hope that slavery will be abolished and that Lincoln will win the upcoming presidential election. He declares, “it is the duty of all Patriots, independent of past party predilections, to vote for Lincoln and Johnson.”
Date: October 21, 1864

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

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