Error message
Notice: Trying to access array offset on value of type null in IslandoraSolrDisplayManagerResults->currentQueryDisplays() (line 222 of /var/www/drupal7/sites/all/modules/islandora_solr_display_manager/includes/islandora_solr_display_manager.inc).
Pages
-
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
From Edward Fitch to Dear Father
-
Description
-
This unsigned May 20, 1858 letter is presumably from Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas to his father in Massachusetts. Fitch criticizes the Lecompton Constitution and the English Bill due to their proslavery stance. He fears that those in the Kansas territory will accept the English Bill since it offers large amount of public lands to Kansas settlers. Though Fitch fears Kansas' entrance into the Union as a slave state, he ends his letter in an optimistic tone, remarking that it would be as impossible to make Kansas into a slave state “as it would be to make Hell out of Heaven.”
-
Object Type
-
Letter
-
Date
-
May 20, 1858
-
-
Title
-
From George H. Hall to Dear Lydia
-
Description
-
This letter is from George H. Hall to his sister Lydia. Hall writes from St. Joseph, Missouri on November 17, 1859, and refers to John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry. He calls Brown a coward, and argues that "his only acts in Kansas Territory . . . were the assassination of unarmed families and his great skill in running off negroes."
-
Object Type
-
Letter
-
Date
-
November 17, 1859
-
-
Title
-
Another Abolition Outrage
-
Description
-
The St. Louis Daily Bulletin printed this article on December 11, 1860, announcing that a party of abolitionists tried to steal forty slaves from Morgan Walker in Independence, Missouri. J.H. McMurray, author of the article, writes: "Walker told them to take the negroes, and commenced shooting. One of the gang fell dead on the steps; one was taken prisoner, and the messenger thought two others were killed."
-
Object Type
-
Newspaper Article
-
Date
-
December 11, 1860
-
-
Title
-
From William Hutchinson and H. Miles Moore to Daniel Woodson and Col. Cook
-
Description
-
This letter, dated September 2, 1856, was sent by William Hutchinson and H. Miles Moore in Lawrence, Kansas, to Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson and Col. Cook. Hutchinson and Moore contend that after they sent two men to meet with Woodson about crimes against their property, these men were taken by a mob and detained in Lecompton, Kansas. They ask that Woodson explain why the two men continue to be detained when there are no legal charges against them.
-
Date
-
September 2, 1856
-
-
Title
-
From John Stillman Brown to William Brown
-
Description
-
On February 14, 1858, John Stillman Brown writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to his son William. Brown criticizes the Lecompton Constitution and declares that "Our politics, like the weather, are some what squally." He predicts an influx of immigrants to Kansas, and states his belief that "Kansas is sure to be Free. In two years there will not be a slave in Kansas."
-
Date
-
February 14, 1858
-
-
Title
-
From M. Jeff Thompson to Robert M. Stewart
-
Description
-
On November 27, 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 suggests that Stewart send troops to guard the Missouri River to prevent the escape of guerrilla attackers and prevent further invasions. Thompson also states that Major F.W. Smith has 200 troops ready for orders.
-
Date
-
November 27, 1860
-
-
Title
-
From Frederick Starr to My Dear Father
-
Description
-
On February 22, 1855, Frederick Starr writes from Weston, Missouri to his father. Starr recounts a recent speech he gave regarding slavery: “I consider slavery a moral and political evil…and the only wedge of contention which threatens to disturb & divide the Union. I am a Colonizationist.” He derides anyone falsely accusing him of being an abolitionist, stating that their lies “steal not only my property, but my comfort, my friendships, my domestic quietude, my influence, respect, and good name.” Starr adds that after he gave his speech, Gen. Stringfellow incited the crowd by encouraging an armed invasion into Kansas.
-
Date
-
February 22, 1855
-
-
Title
-
From Sara Robinson to My Dear Sister
-
Description
-
This letter is from Sara Robinson, the wife of Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson, to her sister. Robinson, writing from Lawrence, Kansas on January 5, 1858, tells her sister that an election was held yesterday for the Lecompton Constitution. She states that Charles opposed the constitution and that voting against it was the only option that "promised victory to the Free State men." She also mentions that he has been attending sessions of the Topeka Legislature.
-
Date
-
January 5, 1858
-
-
Title
-
From S. Norton to John W. Geary
-
Description
-
This letter, dated September 9, 1856, was sent to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary by S. Norton and seven other citizens of Leavenworth, Kansas. Writing from St. Louis, Norton states that on September 2, 1856, he and the others were ordered to leave Leavenworth by Capt. Emory and his “armed posse.” They seek protection from Geary so they may safely return to their homes.
-
Object Type
-
Letter
-
Date
-
September 9, 1856
-
-
Title
-
From William H. Doah to Robert M. Stewart
-
Description
-
This letter was written on August 16, 1859 by Capt. William H. Doah, Company B, Missouri Militia, in Butler, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Doah states that after Kansan William Wright (alias Pickles) was imprisoned for murder and robbery in Vernon County, Missouri, the citizens of that county “were threatened with violence by the outlaws of Kansas.” Doah says that James Montgomery later sent a letter demanding Pickles’ immediate release. Doah writes that he plans to “repel invasion and meet out justice” to the Kansas guerrillas; if Stewart does not approve of this plan, Doah says he will resign as Captain of Company B.
-
Date
-
August 16, 1859
-
-
Title
-
From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
-
Description
-
This undated letter was written by Florella Brown Adair to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma Adair. Florella describes her recent trip to Ashtabula, Ohio to visit friends and relatives. She writes of visiting the “great oil county where all seemed to be alive pumping oil from the bowels of the earth…Their are now five hundred wells sunk & most in opperation, they are worked by steam engines & yeald from five to therty barrels of oil in its crude state.”
-
-
Title
-
Memorial to the President of the United States
-
Description
-
This 1854 broadside, entitled “Memorial to the President of the United States,” was drafted “on behalf of the settlers upon lands in Kansas Territory, ceded to the United States in July last, by the Delaware Indians.” The memorandum protests against a new treaty between the U.S. government and the Delaware Indians, because it will result in white settlers being driven from Kansas Territory and “will benefit none but speculators.” The document’s authors beg the President to reconsider the treaty.
-
Object Type
-
Broadside
-
Date
-
1854
-
-
Title
-
From Charles W. Graeff to Robert M. Stewart
-
Description
-
This letter, dated July 29, 1858, is from Charles W. Graeff to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Graeff reports that he has just arrived in Polk County, Missouri and will soon travel to Jefferson City, Missouri. He tells Stewart that several hundred men are hiding in a place called “Osage rocks” in Kansas Territory. These men, he states, have invaded Missouri, robbed citizens, driven families away from their homes, murdered a man, and injured several others.
-
Object Type
-
Letter
-
Date
-
July 29, 1858
-
-
Title
-
From Calvin Iserman to Brother William
-
Description
-
In this letter of October 3, 1858, Calvin Iserman writes from Independence, Missouri to his brother William. Calvin wants to leave Independence, where non-slaveholders are “counted just nobody at all," and “a poor man, and mechanic is looked upon as no better than a slave.” He declares that “any man East that upholds Slavery…should be made to live in a Slave State all of his life time.” Calvin plans to go to Kansas Territory and “take a look around.”
-
Object Type
-
Letter
-
Date
-
October 3, 1858
-
-
Title
-
Petition of Sundry Citizens of Pottawatomie Creek
-
Description
-
This petition, dated September 19, 1856, is addressed to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary and is signed by 32 Kansas citizens living near the Pottawatomie, Sugar, and Middle Creeks and the Osage River. The petitioners describe several recent guerrilla attacks in their region, including the Battle of Osawatomie, and ask for Geary to take action. They complain that the attacks, launched by Missourians and “guided by a few desperate men in our midst,” have succeeded in “sacking and burning houses and in robbing and plundering and menacing the lives of our citizens.”
-
Object Type
-
Petition
-
Date
-
September 19, 1856
Pages