Civil War

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This letter was written on February 20, 1861 by Florella Brown Adair in Grafton, Ohio, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella says that the citizens of York “held a meeting and raised over $80.00 for Kansas.” Florella adds that there are many misconceptions about sending relief funds to Kansas: “I could have sent two or three hundred dollars to our town, if it had not been for the idea that all must go through the hands of the committee at Atchison.”
Date: February 20, 1861

Title: Examination of James H. Gant
Description: This is James H. Gant's Oath of Loyalty to the United States, signed October 13, 1866. Gant, a 78-year-old North Carolina resident, states that he has resided in Missouri since 1838. He says he "told [Col.] Penick to enroll me as loyal" in 1862, but admits that Penick required him to give bond "against my consent." The oath is No. 164 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 13, 1866

Title: From Sara Robinson to Charles S. Gleed
Description: This letter is from Sara Robinson, abolitionist and wife of Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson, to Charles S. Gleed, a businessman in Topeka. Robinson writes from Lawrence, Kansas on January 7, 1881 and criticizes an "error" in an article Gleed wrote: "[you] connected John Brown's name with the safety of Lawrence. He really never had anything to do with its defense in any way." Attached to the letter is an unsigned document describing Brown's role in the "Invasion of the 2800" on September 14, 1856.
Date: January 7, 1881

Title: From George M. Beebe to Jefferson Davis
Description: George M. Beebe writes a letter from Doniphan County, Kansas to Jefferson Davis on June 9, 1860. Beebe reacts to the news that Davis and A.G. Brown have "indefinitely postponed" his confirmation as Secretary of Kansas Territory. He defends his status as a Democrat, insisting that accusations of his alliance with the Free State Party are false. He claims that he has fought in favor of slavery and remains committed to the cause.
Date: June 9, 1860

Title: Petition of Citizens of Wise County
Description: This petition, dated December 5, 1856, is addressed to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary and is signed by C. Columbia, Esq., on behalf of 20 families of recent settlers to Wise County, Kansas. Columbia claims that the families staked their claims based on a map that showed the nearest Indian reservation 25 miles away. John Montgomery, Indian Agent, recently informed the families that their land belonged to the Kansas Indian Agency and ordered them to leave within three days. Columbia asks Geary to stay Montgomery’s proceedings, “until the circumstances of the case may be inquired into, and determined in a just and lawful manner.”
Object Type: Petition
Date: December 5, 1856

Title: Rescue of Jacob Branson, 1855
Description: Woodcut depicting the rescue of Free-Stater Jacob Branson following his arrest for threats made to Franklin Coleman. A skirmish broke out in the Wakarusa River Valley near Lawrence, Kansas, following the murder of Charles Dow, a Free-State settler who was killed by the proslavery Franklin Coleman. While the murder was not about politics, the resulting political unrest led Douglas County Sheriff Samuel J. Jones to raise a militia and place Lawrence under siege. The "war" claimed one more victim, a Free-Stater named Thomas Barber.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1855

Title: From Mary Savage to Dear Mother and Sister
Description: Mary Savage writes a letter to her mother and sister on October 10 and 12, 1863, describing Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence. She writes of the “fiendish pleasure” the attackers took in “witnessing the death agonies of our best citizens Murdered in cold blood.” She mentions helping soldiers and taking care of her minister’s family after their house was burned down in the raid. Mary says she fears an imminent guerrilla attack and tells her family, “we live in a state of constant excitement . . . our citizens are all armed . . . but their mode of warfare is so treacherous that we cannot have a fair fight.”
Date: October 10, 1863-October 12, 1863

Title: Examination of Thomas S. Dabney
Description: This is Thomas S. Dabney's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Dabney, a 54-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, originally from Virginia, states that during the Civil War, he demonstrated his loyalty to the United States Government by "fulfilling all my duties to the best of my ability and skill." The oath, No. 4 in a bound volume, was signed by Dabney in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of J.T.V. Thompson
Description: This is an unsigned Oath of Loyalty to the United States, No. 5 in a bound volume of oaths taken in 1866-1888 by Clay County, Missouri voters. The document bears the name of J.T.V. Thompson, a resident of Liberty, Missouri.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Battle of Missionary Ridge
Description: Kurz & Allison lithograph of the Battle of Missionary Ridge, which occurred on November 23-25, 1863, near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Object Type: Image

Title: Thomas Hart Benton
Description: Portrait of Missouri political figure, Thomas Hart Benton, by Ferdinand Thomas Lee Boyle, circa 1861.
Object Type: Image

Title: From O.C. Stewart to John W. Geary
Description: O.C. Stewart, mayor of Lecompton, Kansas, writes a letter to Gov. John W. Geary on October 11, 1856. Stewart asks Geary to send troops to Lecompton to seize an illegal supply of liquor that someone has been selling to soldiers.
Date: October 11, 1856

Title: Examination of Mulford Rose
Description: This is Mulford Rose's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Rose, a 35-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, states that he was born in Pennsylvania and that he served in the militia in Kansas during the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 33 in a bound volume, was signed by Rose in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Examination of William A. Morton
Description: This is William A. Morton's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Morton, a 54-year-old Kentucky native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 24 years and served in the U.S. army during the war. He also says he used his influence "to prevent persons going into rebellion." The oath is No. 196 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Frederick Starr to Dear Father & All the Others
Description: On November 29, 1854, Frederick Starr writes to "Dear Father & all the others.” Starr describes attending a meeting of the Platte County, Missouri Self Defensive Association “in order to clear my character.” Starr recounts that Mr. Vineyard accused him of interfering with local slave owners and teaching at a school for slaves. In his defense, Starr explains how this small school came to be established, naming each of his students and the masters who permitted them to attend. Starr notes that the school was discontinued after “there was some disturbance attempted through the papers.”
Date: November 29, 1854

Title: From J.M. Kingsbury to J.J. Webb
Description: This September 22, 1856 letter is from J.M. Kingsbury in Kansas City, Missouri to J.J. Webb in Santa Fe. Kingsbury writes that Kansas Territory is still plagued by "difficulties" and that Congress has passed the Army Bill. He expresses hope that the new governor of Kansas, John W. Geary, will "succeed in quieting things there and be able to carry out the law."
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 22, 1856

Title: Examination of Henry Weber
Description: This is Henry Weber's Oath of Loyalty to the United States, signed October 13, 1866. Weber, a 39-year-old native of Switzerland, states that he has resided in Missouri for 22 years and served in the militia for 16 months during the war. The oath is No. 163 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 13, 1866

Title: Examination of Thomas Field
Description: This is Thomas Field's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Field, a 52-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, originally from Kentucky, states that during the Civil War he demonstrated his loyalty to the United States Government by "staying at home." The oath, No. 11 in a bound volume, was signed by Field in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: The Cabinet of the Confederate States at Montgomery
Description: Harper's Weekly illustration of President Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Cabinet.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1861

Title: Business Permits
Description: These four business permits were issued on October 12, 21, and 22, 1864 by Col. R.N. Hershfield. Hershfield grants permission to four different citizens to produce beer for the Army, to run a ferry boat, to keep a shop open, and to continue operating a millinery establishment.
Date: October 12, 1864 and October 21, 1864-October 22, 1864

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

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