Civil War

Title: From O.C. Stewart to John W. Geary
Description: This letter is from O.C. Stewart, mayor of Lecompton, Kansas, to Gov. John W. Geary. In the letter, dated October 3, 1856, Stewart informs Geary that he has issued a proclamation prohibiting the use and sale of liquor in Lecompton. He asks Geary for help enforcing the proclamation, “as I have no law to justify me in destroying the liquor of persons selling under law.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 3, 1856

Title: From William Clarke Quantrill to My Dear Mother
Description: This letter is from William Clarke Quantrill to his mother. Quantrill writes from Stanton, Kansas on January 26, 1860. He acknowledges "the wrongs committed" by the proslavery party, but argues that the abolitionists are "the most lawless set of people." He criticizes their sympathy for John Brown, calling him a murderer and a robber, and declaring that he "should have been hung years ago."
Date: January 26, 1860

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Unknown
Description: This undated letter was written ca. April 15, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair, presumably to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella reports that she plans to start for home on April 21, arriving home on the following Saturday. Florella says that Samuel’s father’s health is poor, and that she may attend a family wedding before she leaves Ohio. She writes that Charles and Ada are both well.

Title: Upton Hayes
Description: Charcoal portrait drawing of Colonel Upton Hays [Hayes] in suit. Hays, a great grandson of Daniel Boone, lived in Westport. He enlisted in the Second Missouri Calvary in 1861 and fought in the early battles of Carthage, Missouri, July 5, 1861; Wilson's Creek, Missouri, August 10, 1861; Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 9, 1862; and others. Hays was killed in the battle of Newtonia, Missouri, on September 30, 1862. "In 1898, the United Daughters of the Confederacy exhumed his body and reburied it in the Confederate Cemetery at Westport, now known as the Forest Hills Cemetery" (Joseph K. Houts, Jr., "Quantrill's Thieves," page 153 [MVSC 973.742 H84q].)
Object Type: Image

Title: Delaware Indians
Description: Photograph of Delaware Indians, ca. 1860-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: John A. Bushnell of Calhoun, Missouri writes to Eugenia Bronaugh in Hickory Grove, Missouri, reacting to news that her family has fallen victim to “outrages” perpetrated by “evil minded persons.” In the letter, dated July 12, 1864, he informs Eugenia that a Mr. Taylor and a Mr. Robinson have taken possession of two of his houses. He also makes reference to an attack on a black woman’s home, but he omits details because he does not want his words to be “wrongly construed.”
Date: July 12, 1864

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. 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 D.W. Frost to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on January 9, 1859 by Brig. Gen. D.M. Frost, Missouri Militia, at Headquarters, 1st Military District in St. Louis, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart in Jefferson City, Missouri. Frost refers to Stewart’s recommendation that a military force be organized to protect “our State frontiers against the depredations of Kansas Outlaws & Ruffians,” and states that he is “prepared at any moment to Execute your orders.”
Date: January 9, 1859

Title: From S.H. Woodson to George R. Smith
Description: On July 1, 1856, S.H. Woodson writes from Independence, Missouri to Gen. George R. Smith. Woodson denies the charge that he called Smith "as great an Abolitionist as there was in Massachusetts or in New York," declaring "There is not one word of truth in it."
Date: July 1, 1856

Title: From the Kansas State Central Committee to Philip St. George Cooke
Description: This September 3, 1856 letter is from the Kansas State Central Committee to Lieut. Col. Philip St. George Cooke. The committee members state that Free State supporters have been forced to take up arms to defend themselves against “the inhuman atrocities of organized bands of assassins” from Missouri. They claim that the civil authorities have not helped, and they ask Cooke for protection. The letter is signed by H. Miles Moore, secretary of the committee, as well as W.R. Frost, Morris Hunt, and J. Lawson.
Date: September 3, 1856

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: William Gordon and Robert Henderson
Description: This black and white portrait, ca. 1861-1865, depicts Capt. William Gordon (on the left) and Capt. Robert Henderson (on the right). Gordon served in Company F, Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry and Henderson served in Company G, Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry.
Object Type: Image

Title: Examination of Victor Boyer
Description: This is Victor Boyer's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Boyer, a 29-year-old Missouri native, states that he resides in Clay County, Missouri and was enrolled by the military authorities as "disloyal" in 1862. The oath is contained in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Daniel Read Anthony
Description: This black and white photograph shows Daniel Read Anthony, (1824-1904), brother of suffragist Susan B. Anthony. He migrated to the Kansas territory in 1854 as a member of the New England Emigrant Aid Company and settled in Leavenworth, Kansas; where he established a long and successfully career as a newspaper editor and publisher.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1880-1904

Title: Examination of D.C. Allen
Description: This unsigned 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States bears the name of D.C. Allen. The oath is No. 192 in a bound volume of loyalty oaths given by citizens of Liberty, Missouri between 1866 and 1868.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of Samuel Ruffner
Description: This is Samuel Ruffner's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Ruffner, a 72-year-old Kentucky native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 16 years and "was always in favor of the Constitution of the United States." The oath is No. 225 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Jesse James
Description: Charcoal portrait of Jesse James dressed in suit coat, vest, shirt, tie, and hat. In 1863, James joined Quantrill's Guerrillas and after the Civil War became leader of the James-Younger gang. He was shot by a new member of his gang, Robert (Bob) Ford, April 3, 1882.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1893

Title: Neosho, Missouri Masonic Hall
Description: Rendering of the Masonic Hall at Neosho, MO, site of Secession Convention, October 21-28, 1861.
Object Type: Image

Title: Unidentified Man in Confederate Uniform
Description: Charcoal portrait of unidentified man in Confederate uniform and hat with ostrich plume. The drawing is unsigned but attributed to Anna Lee (Dillenbeck) Stacey.
Object Type: Image

Title: General Orders, No. 15
Description: This is Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis’s General Order No. 15, signed and dated October 23, 1864 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The order revokes General Order No. 54, which had established Martial Law north of the Kaw River. Curtis states that the enemy has moved south and that the area is no longer in danger. He adds that he is “glad to relieve the People from this burden.”
Date: October 23, 1864

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

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