Civil War

Title: Examination of Joseph L. Pryor
Description: This is Joseph L. Pryor's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Pryor, a 36-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he was born in Kentucky and that he served in the militia during the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 130 in a bound volume, was signed by Pryor on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: From Samuel Medary to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter, dated April 14, 1859, is from Kansas Gov. Samuel Medary to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Medary responds to Stewart’s April 8 letter stating that Gen. Parsons is patrolling the Kansas-Missouri state line to protect Missourians from guerrilla attacks. Medary expresses surprise and claims no knowledge of guerrilla bands in Kansas. He assures Stewart that he will investigate and that he will cooperate with Stewart’s efforts to preserve peace along the border.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: April 14, 1859

Title: From Mary C. Irvine to Mr. Bohart
Description: On September 13, 1863, Mary C. Irvine writes to Mr. Bohart. Mary thanks Bohart for sending news of her son, who was wounded at Champion Hill. She asks Bohart to tell her son that many changes have taken place in the neighborhood, such as the escape of local slaves to Kansas: "Mr. Bedford's negroes have run off and took about $500 worth of horses with them." Mary adds that many of their neighbors are relocating to different states including Kentucky and Illinois, and that it would not be safe for her son to return home now.
Date: September 13, 1863

Title: Examination of Philip Fraker
Description: This is Philip Fraker's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Fraker, a 48-year-old native of Ireland, states that he has lived in Missouri for 15 years and served in the militia during the war. He also says he was required by the military authorities to give bond, "but it was under protest. I claimed to be loyal at the time." The oath is No. 173 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln Entering the Senate Chamber Before the Inauguration
Description: Harper's Weekly illustration of Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan prior to Lincoln's inauguration as President.
Object Type: Image
Date: March 16, 1861

Title: From Alex M. Bedford to Mary E. Bedford
Description: On November 11, 1864, Alex M. Bedford writes from Fort Pulaski, off Savannah, Georgia, to his wife Mary E. Bedford in Savannah, Andrew County, Missouri. Alex says he has not been exchanged yet and fears there is no chance of it happening soon, although he is pleased with the move to Fort Pulaski. He tells Mary that his bunkmate is Lt. David Bronaugh of Clay County, Missouri, whose cousin Miss F.A. Bronaugh lives in Barry, Clay County. Alex tells Mary that Miss Bronaugh may soon write to her and that she can get news of him through contact with her.
Date: November 11, 1864

Title: Receipts of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores
Description: This military document is a collection of Ordnance and Ordnance Store Receipts for the Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Regiment Company "A" that shows transfers of weapons and ammunition in between Colonel Joseph W. McClurg, Captain Julius Glade, Captain James J. Akard, and others.
Date: 1862-1865

Title: Examination of William V. Inskeep
Description: This is William V. Inskeep's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Inskeep, a 61-year-old Virginia native, states that he has lived in Missouri since 1845 and manifested his loyalty during the war by staying at home "to take care of three helpless children all the time." He says he left Missouri during the war to take the children "to their friends in Kentucky." The oath is No. 224 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Men Transferred to Missouri State Militia 8th Cavalry Regiment Company A
Description: This document is a descriptive roll of men transfered from the old 14th Cavalry Regiment Missouri State Militia to Company "A", 8th Cavalry Regiment MSM. It provides the name, rank, age, eye and hair color, complexion, height, birthplace, occupation, and other details of each transferred soldier.
Date: March 4, 1863

Title: Examination of John C. Hall
Description: This is John C. Hall's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Hall, a 23-year-old Missouri native, states that he served in the militia during the war. He also says that he was enrolled by the military authorities as "disloyal" in 1862 and was required to give bond. The oath is No. 253 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Mary E. Bedford to A.M. Bedford
Description: This letter, dated March 8, 1864, is from Mary E. Bedford to her husband, Lieut. A.M. Bedford, who is at the military hospital in Point Lookout, Maryland. Mary reports that she has just arrived in St. Joseph, Missouri after visiting relatives and friends in Kentucky. She expresses hope that her husband will soon be able to return home. She encourages him to write letters to his relatives, and offers to send him money.
Object Type: Letter
Date: March 8, 1864

Title: General Orders, No. 27
Description: Brig. Gen. James Totten and Maj. Lucien J. Barnes of the Missouri State Militia issued General Order No. 27 from the Headquarters of the Division of Central Missouri in Jefferson City on July 9, 1862. The order prohibited alcoholic beverages within the Division, except with special permit from the Provost Marshal General. The permit required applicants to certify that they were loyal citizens and that they would not furnish liquor to soldiers or disloyal citizens.
Date: July 9, 1862

Title: Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, Officer of the Federal Army
Description: Photograph of Major General Alfred Pleasonton.
Object Type: Image

Title: Examination of James T.V. Thompson
Description: This 1866 document attests that James T.V. Thompson, a 73-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, refused to sign an Oath of Loyalty to the United States following the Civil War. Thompson claims that he remained loyal during the war, and offers a pardon from President Johnson in lieu of taking the oath.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Eugenia Bronaugh to John A. Bushnell
Description: Eugenia Bronaugh writes a letter to John Bushnell in St. Louis on December 16, 1863. She tells him that the Kansas Delegation recently invaded her hometown of Hickory Grove, Missouri and stole property and recently-freed slaves from people whom they had determined were disloyal to the government. Eugenia complains that Christmas is around the corner and “yet great armies are in the field and among them my own dear Brothers.”
Date: December 16, 1863

Title: From W.J. Clasbey to Alex M. Bedford
Description: This letter, dated August 13, 1865, was written by W.J. Clasbey in Nebraska City, Nebraska Territory, to his brother-in-law, Alex M. Bedford. Clasbey congratulates Bedford on returning home to his family “after four long, dark, wearisome years of strife and suffering.” Clasbey suggests that they “look back upon these unfruitful years not with feelings of regret…but with pleasing emotions and gratitude to Kind Providence.” Clasbey reports that he recently met their old friend Jeff Patton, who “had become sick in consequence” of taking the Oath of Loyalty.
Object Type: Letter
Date: August 13, 1865

Title: Poor Deluded Miss-Sori Takes a Secession Bath
Description: Political cartoon satirizing secessionist attitudes in Missouri. The image is from a series of Civil War "Union Envelopes," which featured images of Union patriotism and war propaganda.
Object Type: Image

Title: Examination of Haywood Colvin
Description: This is Haywood Colvin's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Colvin, a 60-year-old Virginia native, states that he has resided in Missouri for seven years and was enrolled by the military authorities as "loyal" in 1862. The oath is No. 150 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of Patrick Ryan
Description: This is Patrick Ryan's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Ryan, who was born in Ireland and describes himself as a "45 or 50" year old resident of Liberty, Missouri, declares that he remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War. He states that "anything that I was asked to furnish I gave." The oath, No. 16 in a bound volume, was signed by Ryan in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From E.B. Alexander to William Fowler
Description: On August 8, 1863, Col. E.B. Alexander, Acting Assistant Provost Marshal General in St. Louis, writes to Capt. William Fowler, Provost Marshal for the 7th District of Missouri. Alexander reports that four "desperate" horse thieves have escaped from a court house in Iowa and are rumored to be in northern Missouri. He adds that one of the men, Washington Rodgers, is charged with enlisting men for the Confederate side "and is supposed to have been an active guerrilla in northern Missouri."
Date: August 8, 1863

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

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