Civil War

Title: From William N. Taylor to Sir
Description: This letter of July 3, 1860 is from William N. Taylor, sheriff of Raymond Hinds County, Mississippi; the recipient is presumably a slaveowner. In the letter, Sheriff Taylor indicates he is holding a male slave in his jail who “says that he belongs to you and that he Ranaway from you in Missouri.” Taylor writes, “If he be your property you will please…take him away after paying charges, etc.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 3, 1860

Title: Memorial to John Brown at Quindaro Townsite, Kansas City, Kansas
Description: Lifesize marble statue of John Brown, which was dedicated on June, 1911, at Western University campus in Quindaro Townsite, Kansas City, Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1911

Title: Correspondence of the Kansas Territory Executive Department
Description: This group of documents, dated between 1855 and 1856, comprises correspondence and other papers relating to the construction of the capital building at Lecompton, Kansas. Kansas Governors Reeder, Geary, and Shannon participated in the correspondence, which includes the appointment of Owen C. Stewart as Superintendent of Construction on October 20, 1855, and a contract for construction dated December 27, 1855.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1855-1856

Title: From D.A.W. Morehouse to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on June 28, 1858 by D.A.W. Morehouse in Papinsville, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart in Jefferson City, Missouri. Morehouse tells Stewart about the organization of a company of mounted dragoons in Papinsville, and lists the company’s officers. Morehouse requests that Stewart issue the appropriate commissions and supply them with arms: “It is actually necessary that we should be armed and equipped to sustain civil order. Our lives and property and our families cannot otherwise be protected.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 28, 1858

Title: Examination of John S. Thomason
Description: This is John S. Thomason's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Thomason, a 38-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, states that he remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 95 in a bound volume, was signed by Thomason on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811-1896
Description: Portrait of abolitionist and author, Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," galvanized anti-slavery sentiment in the North, while provoking widespread anger in the South.
Object Type: Image

Title: Examination of W.W. Dougherty
Description: This is W.W. Dougherty's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Dougherty, who was born in Indiana, describes himself as a 47-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri. He claims that he had "no particular sympathy" with either side during the Civil War. Upon hearing that Gen. Sterling Price had captured Gen. Mulligan and his army at Lexington, Missouri, Dougherty "felt that there was a big mess on hand." The oath, labeled No. 49 in a bound volume, was signed by Dougherty in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: William Napoleon (Babe) Hudspeth
Description: Charcoal portrait drawing of William "Babe" Hudspeth in suit, vest, and tie. Hudspeth was one of four brothers from eastern Jackson County that rode with Quantrill and Bill Anderson. He participated in the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, (August 21, 1863) and the Centralia, Missouri, massacre (September 1864). After the Civil War he lived on his farm in Jackson County and bred horses. He died in 1907. (from "Babe Hudspeth: Missouri Guerrilla" by John Sickles in "Military Images," Jan/Feb 2007, Vol. 28, #4, pp. 30-33.")
Object Type: Image

Title: From James S. Hackney to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on June 11, 1858 by James S. Hackney at “Noland House” in Independence, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Hackney reports that Col. Blakely and Gen. Parsons are in the process of organizing several military companies in Cass and Vernon Counties in Missouri. According to Hackney, Col. Blakely has “seen over 100 men who have been driven from the Territory by Montgomery’s band. He says ‘I’ll tell you times are hot down here—the people are boiling over with rage.’”
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 11, 1858

Title: From Jesse Newell to John W. Geary
Description: In this September 20, 1856 letter to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary, Jesse Newell complains that he was driven from his house by a band of guerrillas. He claims that they destroyed his property and threatened to hang him, his son Robert, and his brother-in-law. He adds that his neighbors are not safe either, and that his neighborhood is “pested” with guerrillas.
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 20, 1856

Title: John Ross
Description: Charcoal portrait of John Ross in suit coat, shirt, and string tie. Ross was one of Quantrill's guerrillas and took part in the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, August 21, 1863. He was with Quantrill when Quantrill was mortally wounded in Kentucky. Ross, along with 14 others of Quantrill's band, surrendered to the U.S. Army at Samuel's Depot, Kentucky, July 25, 1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: St. Louis, Missouri
Description: This stereograph displays the commercial district of St. Louis, Missouri."
Object Type: Image
Date: 1862 - 1868

Title: General Orders, No. 38
Description: Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis issued General Order No. 38 from the Department of the Missouri Headquarters in St. Louis on May 22, 1863. The order details the proceedings of recent Military Commissions in St. Joseph, St. Louis, and Springfield, Missouri, where citizens were tried for war crimes, including consorting with guerrillas and bushwhackers, killing United States soldiers from the Seventh Cavalry Regiment Missouri Volunteers, and encouraging rebellion against the government. The order was signed by Assistant Adjutant General A.V. Colburn.
Date: May 22, 1863

Title: Slave Hire
Description: In this document, James Lawrence and W.W. Walter promise to pay Hugh G. Rees sixty dollars for the hire of a 15-year-old female slave named Nancy. Lawrence and Walter agree to “treat the said girl humanely…and not take her out of the State of MO.” The two men promise to return Nancy to Rees on January 1, 1856.
Object Type: Legal Document

Title: From Florella Brown Adair and Charles Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on April 14 and 15, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair and Charles Adair in Greenfield, Ohio, to Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella reports that she has been thinking about “the mysterious providence of God toward Kansas & toward our church, why does he permit such trying & afflictive things to come upon us as a people?” Charles finishes the letter on April 15, stating that they will be home the following week. He refers to the capture of Fort Sumter and declares, “The war has begun.”
Date: April 14, 1861-April 15, 1861

Title: James Henry Lane (1814-1866), Politician and Leader of the Free State Party of Kansas, with Gun
Description: Carte de visite featuring a sepia photograph of James Henry Lane posing with a gun.
Object Type: Image

Title: Battle of Hickory Point
Description: Painting by Samuel J. Reader depicting the Battle of Hickory Point. On September 13, 1856, James H. Lane led a force of jayhawkers against Hickory Point, a proslavery settlement in Jefferson County, Kansas that had supported an attack against Grasshopper Falls. Lane soon understood that he lacked artillery to attack the log buildings, and he retreated. During the retreat, Missourians pursued Lane's forces and attacked, but the jayhawkers returned fire. After receiving word that Territorial Governor John Geary had ordered a ceasefire, Lane withdrew, but reinforcements from Lawrence under command of Colonel James A. Harvey arrived on September 14, toting the captured cannon "Old Sacramento," and fired on the town. One proslavery man was killed, four others wounded, and several Free-Staters were wounded before a ceasefire was called and the Missourians withdrew from the area. 100 Free-Staters were arrested by U.S. troops, but they were later acquitted for acting in self-defense.
Object Type: Image

Title: Constitutional Convention, Topeka, Kansas Territory [Topeka]
Description: Wood engraving depicting the Topeka Constitutional Convention of December 15, 1855. At the convention, Free-Staters voted to adopt the Topeka Constitution for Kansas Territory, provisionally banning slavery in Kansas and allowing suffrage for "civilized" male Native Americans, but still excluded blacks from settling in the state. However, the constitution failed to gain the recognition of proslavery settlers and the federal government, including President Franklin Pierce, who declared the Topeka legislature to be illegal and treasonous.
Object Type: Image
Date: December 15, 1855

Title: Examination of Mortimer Deering
Description: This is Mortimer Deering's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Deering, a 42-year-old Virginia native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 17 years and was enrolled by the military authorities as "loyal" in 1862. The oath is No. 200 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Stephen A. Douglas
Description: Black and white portrait of Stephen Douglas, Senator from Illinois and designer of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Object Type: Image

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

Error message

In collections

Pages

Pages

Object Type

Local Subject

People

Geographic Subject

Owning Organization