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Title: From Sarah A. Fitch to My Dear Mother
Description: Sarah A. Fitch writes a letter to her mother on April 24, 1861 from Lawrence, Kansas. She discusses her son's health and reports that her husband Edward has postponed his trip to St. Louis after hearing news of the war’s commencement, and says, “I feel as tho I could fight when I read of the outrageous conduct of the South.” She mentions the possibility of Missouri seceding and predicts that Missourians will face trouble if they do not “let Kansas alone.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: April 24, 1861

Title: Edward Fitch
Description: This black and white portrait depicts Edward Payson Fitch. He was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts in 1857 and was one of the early settlers in Kansas Territory. On August 21, 1863, he was killed in Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence. An intruder shot him in the heart, then burned down his house with his body still inside. His wife and three children escaped.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Edward Fitch to Those...Who So Generously Responded to the Appeal for Help
Description: Edward Fitch writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to the people in his hometown of Hopkinton, Massachusetts on December 17, 1856. He thanks them for responding to his recent request for help by donating clothing to poor Kansas emigrants. He describes the people who have received their donations and the suffering they have endured. Many of them, Fitch says, have been robbed, attacked, or had their houses burned down by Border Ruffians.
Date: December 17, 1856

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Father
Description: In a May 26, 1856 letter to his father in Massachusetts, Edward Fitch describes the Sack of Lawrence that had occurred six days earlier on May 21, 1856. He mentions that Governor Shannon has called for protection “for fear we should rise up and exterminate him and the Pro-Slavery party.” He expresses his own fear that the Free State Party will be defeated and that Kansas will become a slave state. He also fears for his personal safety, saying he "shall not dare to stay at my cabin without a rifle or gun at my bedside." He adds that he hopes John C. Fremont will win the upcoming presidential election.
Date: May 26, 1856

Title: From Edward Fitch to Mr. Editor
Description: In a July 23, 1856 letter to the editor of the Hopkinton (MA) Patriot, Edward Fitch writes that “two or three” men were killed for attending a meeting of the Free State Legislature in Topeka. He says that U.S. Troops have been disarming members of the Free State party and that Border Ruffians have driven out and captured a number of Free State men. He ends the letter by stating that the people of Kansas will not allow themselves to be taxed by the Bogus Legislature.
Date: July 23, 1856

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: On September 8, 1855, Edward Fitch writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to his parents in Massachusetts, reporting that Governor Andrew Reeder was nominated for Congress at the recent convention in Big Springs, Kansas. He also informs his parents of his efforts to protect a free black man against a group of pro-slavery men who wanted to capture and enslave him. If they hadn’t eventually backed down, Fitch says, “we should have pitched in to them with our rifles.”
Date: September 8, 1855

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