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Title: From Willard P. Hall to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On August 31, 1863, Willard Hall writes from Headquarters, State of Missouri in St. Louis to Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble. Hall refers to "an order from Gen. Ewing"--presumably Order No. 11--and predicts that Jackson and Cass Counties in Missouri "will be laid waste" after its implementation. Hall adds that he will continue to protect the Missouri counties of Clay and Platte.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: August 31, 1863

Title: From Thomas Carney to E.M. Stanton
Description: This telegram, dated May 9, 1863, is from Kansas Gov. Thomas Carney to E.M. Stanton, U.S. Secretary of War. Carney, writing from Leavenworth, Kansas, requests permission from Stanton to raise a regiment of Home Guards for border protection, as well as two or more “Negro Regiments for General service.” Carney adds that “A portion of the State will be depopulated unless protection given.”
Object Type: Telegram
Date: May 9, 1863

Title: Letters Received (Kansas Provost Marshal's Office)
Description: This notebook is a record of correspondence received by the Kansas Provost Marshal's Office in Leavenworth, Kansas, between 1863 and 1865. Topics addressed include army deserters; American Indians; information about new recruits and substitutions; and special orders from Washington. Participants in the correspondence include Gen. H.S. Halleck; Maj. Gen. John Pope; and Sidney Clarke, Kansas Acting Asst. Provost Marshal General.
Date: 1863-1865

Title: From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Description: James Montgomery writes a letter from Mound City, Kansas to George L. Stearns on May 8, 1861. He reports that, “We are in a perilous position here, and have not ammunition enough to make a respectable fight.” He says that he has organized a regiment to help defend Kansas against pro-slavery Missourians, whose troops are camped along the border of Linn and Bourbon counties. He mentions that an Osage Indian chief attacked some of these troops, then “tied them with ropes to the Horns of his Saddles and dragged them out of the country.” Montgomery asks for Stearns’s assistance in acquiring arms and declares that, “If we have to fight, we will carry the war out of Kansas.”
Date: May 8, 1861

Title: From Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Description: This letter, dated August 6 and 7, 1862, is from Joseph H. Trego to his wife Alice. Trego, a lieutenant in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, writes from Camp Beech Grove. He reports that the weather is so hot that a number of his fellow soldiers have become ill. He includes $690 with his letter and instructs his wife to “take good care of it . . . you may need it before you will find anyone to take my place if I should be so unfortunate as to get killed.”
Date: August 6, 1862-August 7, 1862

Title: Jesse Connell
Description: This undated portrait depicts Jesse Connell, a Kentuckian who moved to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1855. Connell, a slave-owner, served as a delegate to the Lecompton Constitutional Convention in 1857, and was later elected to the Senate of the first Kansas State Legislature.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: Letters Sent (Provost Marshal, Northern District of Kansas)
Description: This notebook contains copies of correspondence sent by the Provost Marshal's Office, Northern District of Kansas in Leavenworth, Kansas, between May and August 1864. Topics addressed in the correspondence include military enrollment, accounting matters, and desertions. Participants in the correspondence include Provost Marshal General James B. Fry and Capt. J. McCahon, Provost Marshal for the Northern District of Kansas.
Date: May 1864-August 1864

Title: From James Montgomery to G.L. Stearns
Description: These two letters were sent to G.L. Stearns by James Montgomery. Writing from Mound City, Kansas on May 8, 1861, Montgomery states that he has organized a regiment and accepted a position on the Governor’s War Council. He reports that the Missourians are “trying to stir up the Indians on our border,” and asks Stearns for two small breech-loading guns. Writing from Lawrence, Kansas on June 21, 1861, Montgomery says that southern Kansas is threatened by invasion from Missouri and Arkansas, while Union men in Missouri are either driven out of the state or drafted into the Confederate army. Montgomery states that he has used Stearns' letter of credit at various times, and thanks him for his generosity.
Date: May 8, 1861 and June 21, 1861

Title: From Daniel R. Anthony to Sister
Description: This letter, dated February 3, 1862, was written by Daniel R. Anthony in Mound City, Kansas, to his sister. Anthony’s command will march the following day to Humboldt, Kansas; he also plans to visit the Cherokee Nation where “there are 6,000 or 7,000 friendly Indians…ready and willing to fight all rebeldom.” He says that when his troops are on the march, they free and arm every slave they meet, hoping to incite a slave insurrection. Anthony notes that many men believe Frederick Douglass should come to Kansas and raise a regiment of blacks.
Date: February 3, 1862

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas writes a letter on August 25, 1856 to his parents, who live in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Edward argues that Hopkinton, his hometown, should pay him for his contributions to the Free State cause in Kansas. He adds that a lot of his neighbors also need financial help and don’t have enough food or clothing. He writes that he recently attended the funeral of Captain Shombre, who was fatally wounded at the Battle of Fort Titus, and mentions that Major David S. Hoyt was killed the same week in an attack at Washington Creek.
Object Type: Letter
Date: August 25, 1856

Title: From George H. Hoyt to Charles Robinson
Description: On August 12, 1862, George H. Hoyt writes from Leavenworth, Kansas, to Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson. Hoyt states that Gen. Lane has given Col. Jennison “the authority…to organize the colored regiments in the State…with no conditions of any sort.” Hoyt says that Jennison will be pleased to receive suggestions from Robinson regarding this work.
Date: August 12, 1862

Title: Soldier, Eleventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Description: This sepia carte de visite, ca. 1861-1865, depicts an unidentified soldier who served in the Eleventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The carte de visite was produced by R.H. Kimball & Company of Leavenworth, Kansas. Carte de visites were small photographs that were often used as calling cards and became very popular during the Civil War.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Frederick Starr to My Dear Father
Description: On March 19, 1855, Frederick Starr writes from Weston, Missouri to his father. Starr transcribes a recent article from the local newspaper “Liberty Platform,” in which he is accused of being a “political priest” in charge of a “gang” of abolitionists. Starr believes the article makes unjust and false statements about him, but admits “it may be the impression which has fixed itself upon the minds of the fire eating part of the community. If so I would not have it otherwise.” The article also describes the nomination of Gen. Whitfield as the Kansas Territory delegate to Congress.
Date: March 19, 1855

Title: From George Collamore to G.L. Stearns
Description: This letter was written on May 2 and 7, 1861 by George Collamore in Leavenworth, Kansas to G.L. Stearns in Boston. Collamore writes that Kansas is under threat of attack from Missouri and the Cherokee and Osage Indians, and that Kansas’s defenses are weak. He reports that Gov. Robinson offered him the position of Quartermaster General of the Kansas Militia, which he temporarily accepted. Collamore asks Stearns to send “thick colored blankets” and other items to Kansas, urging Stearns to keep his activities secret and to be cautious about what he writes in future letters.
Object Type: Letter
Date: May 2, 1861 and May 7, 1861

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas, writes a letter to his parents in Massachusetts on August 9, 1857, announcing that Kansas has voted to ratify the Topeka Constitution. He adds that Free State supporters appear to comprise a majority in Kansas. Fitch complains about a recent Herald of Freedom article on the apportionment of the Kansas Legislature, and claims that it is “the most damning piece of villany ever perpetrated by any men or set of men.”
Date: August 9, 1857

Title: Letters Received (Kansas Provost Marshal's Office)
Description: This notebook contains copies of correspondence received by the Kansas Provost Marshal's Office in Leavenworth, Kansas, between December 1863 and March 1864. Topics addressed include military enrollment, soldiers' requests for extended sick leave, and general management of the office. Participants in the correspondence include Provost Marshal General James B. Fry; Sidney Clarke, Kansas Acting Asst. Provost Marshal General; and J. McCahon, Provost Marshal for the Northern District of Kansas.
Date: December 1863-March 1864

Title: Planters Hotel, Leavenworth, Kansas
Description: The Planters Hotel in Leavenworth, Kansas, where Abraham Lincoln gave a speech denouncing slavery and popular sovereignty on December 5, 1859.
Object Type: Image

Title: From William Murphy to John W. Geary
Description: William Murphy, mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas, writes a letter to Gov. John W. Geary on October 11, 1856. In response to Geary’s inquiry about the death of Addison Rogers, Murphy states that Rogers was not killed in a political skirmish, but was shot by a fellow gambler. Murphy also informs Geary that U.S. Marshal Israel Donalson took M.J. Mitchell into custody and will bring him to Lecompton to stand trial before Judge Samuel Lecompte.
Date: October 11, 1856

Title: From Thomas Carney to Col. James B. Fry
Description: This letter, dated January 9, 1864, was written by Kansas Gov. Thomas Carney in Topeka, Kansas, to Col. James B. Fry, Provost Marshal General, in Washington, DC. Carney says that part of a letter he wrote to Fry was published in the Leavenworth Daily Conservative, “accompanied with scurrilous remarks.” Carney blames Capt. Sidney Clarke, Assistant Provost Marshal General, for publishing the letter, but leaves it up to Fry to determine Clarke's guilt.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: January 9, 1864

Title: From Josiah Miller to Dear Father and Mother
Description: This letter, dated January 25, 1856, is from Josiah Miller in Lawrence, Kansas to his parents living in a Southern state. Miller tells his parents about a recent election for Kansas state officers that ended in a skirmish between Free State men and proslavery men, including some from Missouri. He predicts that "this slavery question" will result in civil war, and urges his parents to move to a free state.
Object Type: Letter
Date: January 25, 1856

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

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