Civil War

Title: Map of Douglas County, Kansas
Description: This map of Douglas County, Kansas Territory was drawn by I. Cooper Stuck in July of 1857. The map is marked with the locations of individual people's land claims.
Object Type: Map
Date: July 1857

Title: Diary of Lewis Timothy Litchfield
Description: This is an excerpt from the diary of Lewis Thomas Litchfield, written between 1854 and 1855. Litchfield writes about leaving Boston and travelling to Kansas with a party from the Emigrant Aid Society. He describes the pioneer camp established near the junction of the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers, voting to name the settlement "Lawrence," and construction of the first building. Litchfield also mentions a burgeoning conflict between the Kansas settlers and the Missourians.
Object Type: Diary
Date: 1854-1855

Title: Charles Jennison's Jayhawkers
Description: Antislavery guerrillas under Charles Jennison attacking civilians in Missouri.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1864

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: Claim of Rias Lewis against Jonah Moore
Description: This is the legal claim of Rias Lewis, “a free man of color,” against Jonah Moore for $40 in unpaid wages. The claim is dated September 26, 1854 and is signed by a justice of the peace, a public administrator, and two witnesses in Chariton County, Missouri. A note on the back indicates that the debt was settled in court on August 10, 1855. Attached to the claim is the original agreement for Lewis to work for Moore, signed by both parties and dated February 12, 1850.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: February 12, 1850-August 10, 1855

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: Correspondence of the Kansas Territory Executive Department
Description: This correspondence, dated January 7, 1858 through April 6, 1858, relates to contracts between the Kansas Territorial government and Charles A. Perry, Findley Patterson, and F.J. Marshall, to construct the capital building at Lecompton, Kansas. Perry, Patterson, and Marshall each claim that they have not been paid for contracted work on the capital building. Patterson’s letter dated March 10, 1858 refers to an upcoming Congressional vote on the "Kansas question."
Date: January 7, 1858-April 6, 1858

Title: Baxter Springs Civil War Monument
Description: Monument commemorating the casualties of Quantrill's attack on Fort Blair in Baxter Springs, Kansas on October 6, 1863.
Object Type: Image
Date: May 31, 1886

Title: Petition to the Constitutional Convention of Kansas
Description: This is a petition sent to the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention of Kansas in support of equal political rights for Kansas women. The petition, dated 1859, protests against “any Constitutional distinctions based upon sex,” and is signed by Charles Robinson and 14 others. A second copy of the petition from Auburn, Shawnee County, Kansas is signed by 69 men and women.
Object Type: Petition
Date: 1859

Title: From M. Jeff Thompson to Robert M. Stewart
Description: On November 26, 1860, Col. M. Jeff Thompson writes a dispatch from the Headquarters of the 4th Military District in St. Joseph, Missouri to Missouri Gov. R.M Stewart. Thompson reports that Major F.W. Smith is preparing his battalion to be ready for orders. Thompson urges Stewart to authorize Smith’s Quarter Master to procure sufficient arms and ammunitions.
Date: November 26, 1860

Title: From Daniel Woodson to John Sedgwick
Description: This dispatch, dated July 7, 1856, was sent by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson in Lecompton, Kansas, to Major John Sedgwick. Woodson instructs Sedgwick to furnish Deputy Marshal William P. Fain with a small detachment of troops to assist him in issuing writs.
Date: July 7, 1856

Title: From Samuel H. Robertson to Sterling Price
Description: This letter was written ca. October 7, 1854 by Samuel H. Robertson in Bates County, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Sterling Price. Robertson states that Osage Indians have been crossing the state line into Missouri to steal horses and crops, and asks Price for protection against this “Indian outrage and oppression.” He suggests that Price call some military companies into service for this purpose, and says that the Osage should be prevented from crossing the state line without written permission from their agent.
Object Type: Letter

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter was written by Florella Brown Adair on January 13 and 14, 1861 at Martha’s, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair. Florella is glad to hear they received the barrels she sent, but was dismayed that they had to pay additional money for their delivery upon receipt, and that they had been broken open, seemingly on purpose. Florella writes of a man from Douglas County, Kansas who is in a nearby Ohio town collecting money to send home. She says he might collect so much from people they will not have as much to give to Osawatomie, Kansas; she also fears that Lykins County, Kansas will not receive its fair share of relief funds.
Date: January 13, 1861-January 14, 1861

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: In this November 21, 1856 letter to his parents, Edward Fitch describes attending a fundraising dinner in Lawrence, Kansas for the Free State Prisoners in Lecompton. He reports that Governor Geary was not there and that, according to rumors, Judge Lecompton had ordered Geary arrested. He mentions that Governor Robinson and Lieutenant Governor Roberts were both in attendance and gave optimistic speeches about the future of Kansas as a free state.
Object Type: Letter
Date: November 21, 1856

Title: From W.N. Drinkard to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on September 12, 1859 by W.N. Drinkard, Acting Secretary of War, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart in Jefferson City, Missouri. Drinkard states that he received Stewart’s request “that the quota of arms to become due to the State of Missouri next year may be issued in advance.” Drinkard replies that “Such an issue of the whole quota is without a precedent and cannot be entertained, but…this Department will direct an advance of one half to be made upon your requisition.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 12, 1859

Title: Writ Relating to United States vs. James Lane, Wilson Shannon, and David S. McIntosh
Description: This writ, dated March 19, 1860, relates to the case Kansas Territory, U.S. District Court, 2nd District versus James H. Lane, Wilson Shannon, and David S. McIntosh for forfeited recognizance. The writ is signed by L. McArthur, Clerk of the Second U.S. District Court in Kansas Territory.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: March 19, 1860

Title: John Brown
Description: Photograph showing three-quarter length portrait of John Brown, with beard, facing slightly right.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1859

Title: Western House, or Pro-Slavery Hotel, Fort Scott, Kansas
Description: A crude illustration of the Western House, also known as the Pro-Slavery Hotel, that burned on December 16, 1858 during James Montgomery's raid on Fort Scott, Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: From O.H.P. Craig to A.M. Bedford
Description: This letter, dated April 25, 1861, is from O.H.P. Craig in St. Joseph, Missouri to Alex M. Bedford in Savannah, Missouri. Craig announces, “We have nothing here, but War! War!” He reports that local business has stagnated and that everyone is eager for news about the war. He also mentions that he recently returned from a trip to St. Louis and that residents there are full of “excitement and alarm.”
Date: April 25, 1861

Title: From Philip St. George Cooke to John W. Geary
Description: This dispatch, dated September 16, 1856, is from Lieut. Col. Philip St. George Cooke to Gov. John W. Geary. Cooke states that after returning to camp near Lecompton, he discovered that 101 prisoners who were taken at the Battle of Hickory Point are now being held at the camp. Cooke asks Geary to send a “proper civil officer” to take the prisoners into custody.
Date: September 16, 1856

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

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