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Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: On July 29, 1863, John A. Bushnell writes a letter to Eugenia Bronaugh in Calhoun, Missouri, informing her that he has arrived in St. Louis. He had planned to apply for exemption from military service during his trip to St. Louis, but has discovered that he must apply to the Board of Enrollment in his home district. He says he hopes to familiarize himself with news of the war, which has been difficult to do in Calhoun: “as now is a critical period of the times I can perhaps inform myself better here than at home.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 29, 1863

Title: Release From Arrest
Description: This document exonerates ten men who were charged with conspiracy to assassinate military officers at a post in Brunswick, Missouri. The document is dated November 29, 1862 and is signed by Brig. Gen. Richard C. Vaughan at the 6th Military District Headquarters in Lexington, Missouri. Vaughan states, “I have examined all the testimony . . . there is no foundation in truth for the charge against them.”
Date: November 29, 1862

Title: From E.B. Alexander to A. Comingo
Description: On December 10, 1863, Col. E.B. Alexander, Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General in St. Louis, writes to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal for the 6th District of Missouri, in Lexington, Missouri. Alexander states that he received a telegram from Provost Marshal General James B. Fry dated December 9, 1863: "Awards for bringing recruits may be paid to the recruiting agent, or to any other person as you and the authorities deem best."
Date: December 10, 1863

Title: From J.W. Black to A. Comingo
Description: On December 14, 1863, J.W. Black, Deputy Provost Marshal for Ray County, Missouri, writes from Richmond, Missouri to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal for the 6th District of Missouri, in Lexington, Missouri. Black thanks Comingo for securing his new appointment as Recruiting Agent. He says he assumes Comingo is "annoyed very much with persons from our side of the river applying to you to be stricken from the enrollment list," and reports that he has already prevented many men from doing so.
Date: December 14, 1863

Title: From James Boyer to A. Comingo
Description: On December 23, 1863, James Boyer, Deputy Provost Marshal for Chariton County, Missouri writes from Brunswick, Missouri to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal for the 6th District of Missouri, in Lexington, Missouri. Boyer informs Comingo that his check on the Treasury at St. Louis has been drawn at Washington, DC in favor of enrolling officer Joseph Standley. Boyer states that he also received two checks drawn at Washington as "payment in full" for services rendered by James Sportsman as enrolling officer for Subdistrict No. 30.
Date: December 23, 1863

Title: Report on Loss of Clothing and Equipage
Description: This report, dated March 30, 1865, is signed by Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal for the 6th District of Missouri, and members of his Enrollment Board. The report attempts to explain "the destruction and loss of Clothing, Camp and Garrison Equipage…that occurred during the rebel raid into this state" in October 1864. Comingo concludes that the loss was "inevitable" under the circumstances. The report includes a copy of a letter sent by Gen. Samuel R. Curtis to Comingo on October 5, 1864.
Date: March 30, 1865

Title: Wyllys C. Ransom vs. George C. Bingham
Description: These documents, created between 1866 and 1867, relate to the Jackson County, Missouri court case Wyllys C. Ransom vs. George C. Bingham. Ransom accuses Bingham of slander, asserting that Bingham publicly and repeatedly said he was a “murderer, robber, thief and a house burner” during the Civil War. Portions of testimony are from Ransom’s fellow officers in the Kansas Volunteers. Ransom seeks $30,000 in damages.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: 1866-1867

Title: From W.E. Prince to R.T. Van Horn
Description: This telegram was sent from Capt. W.E. Prince at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Maj. R.T. Van Horn on August 23, 1861. Prince instructs Van Horn to "destroy everything" if forced to "abandon position." He also tells Van Horn to "continue work on gun" and to "communicate with Lexington and obtain Grahams Company ordered by me to this place."
Object Type: Telegram
Date: August 23, 1861

Title: Report on Price's Raid
Description: James Henry Lane wrote this report ca. October 1864 about his role in the campaign against Price's Raid. Lane states that he accompanied Gen. Blunt, Col. Moonlight, Col. Jennison, and Gen. Curtis on an expedition into Missouri to impede Sterling Price and his forces. Lane describes the Second Battle of Lexington, the Second Battle of Independence, the Battle of Byram's Ford, the Battle of Westport, and the Battle of Little Blue River.

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