Civil War

Title: Monument to the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Description: This photograph depicts a monument to the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col. John A. Martin, of Willich's Brigade, Wood's Division, Granger's Corps. It consists of a bronze sculpture of a Union Soldier and a plaque that describes a November 25, 1863 battle between Col. Martin's regiment and Gen. Bragg's Army of Tennessee. The monument is located on Missionary Ridge at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. The photograph was taken by Schmedling of Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Charles T. Gilman to Albert G. Boone
Description: In this letter, dated September 16 and 17, 1856, Charles T. Gilman informs Col. Albert G. Boone that 20 abolitionists recently launched an attack on the proslavery citizens living near Council Grove, Kansas. Gilman states that the attackers stole horses and mules, wounded a woman, and threatened to burn down houses and force the proslavery men out of Kansas. They also claimed that they would return in four days with 400 men; Gilman tells Boone that the people of Council Grove have been awaiting their arrival and have plenty of arms and ammunition to defend themselves.
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 16, 1856-September 17, 1856

Title: Samuel A. Croft
Description: This carte de visite depicts Samuel A. Croft, who served in the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph was produced ca. 1861-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Description: This letter, dated August 6 and 7, 1862, is from Joseph H. Trego to his wife Alice. Trego, a lieutenant in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, writes from Camp Beech Grove. He reports that the weather is so hot that a number of his fellow soldiers have become ill. He includes $690 with his letter and instructs his wife to “take good care of it . . . you may need it before you will find anyone to take my place if I should be so unfortunate as to get killed.”
Date: August 6, 1862-August 7, 1862

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: This undated letter was written ca. December 1862 by Florella Brown Adair in Osawatomie, Kansas, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella expresses distress over reports regarding “the great battle of the 6 of this month.” She states that their son Charles is among the missing, and does not know if he is dead or has been taken prisoner. Florella says that her friends “seemed to sympathize & hoped it might not be so bad, or that it was not true, as many reports are exagerated.”

Title: From Daniel R. Anthony to Dear Father
Description: Daniel R. Anthony writes a letter from Leavenworth, Kansas to his father on November 5, 1861. He states that he will command his regiment on a trip to Sedalia, Missouri to bring oxen and wagons to Gen. Fremont’s army, while Col. Jennison stays behind in Kansas. At the end of the letter, Anthony lists the equipment his regiment needs, including saddles, clothing, sabres, rifles, and revolvers.
Object Type: Letter
Date: November 5, 1861

Title: From Martin White to John W. Geary
Description: This letter, dated October 5, 1856, was sent by Martin White in Miami County, Kansas, to Kansas Governor John Geary. White is frustrated by Geary’s lack of response to his previous requests for troops to protect local citizens against John Brown’s raids. White states that has raised a company of 80 men who wish to be mustered into the U.S. service to help with local defense.
Date: October 5, 1856

Title: Joseph Wasson
Description: This carte de visite depicts Joseph Wasson, who served in the Fifth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. The photograph was produced ca. 1861-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Samuel Worthington to Dear Father
Description: This letter, dated October 27, 1864, was written by Samuel Worthington at Headquarters, District of South Kansas, Paola, Kansas, to his father. Worthington states that he recently returned from the front, where he took part in five cavalry charges in one day during the Battle of Mine Creek. He describes participating in a charge with the 7th Kansas Cavalry in which they took 5 pieces of artillery and captured 300 prisoners including Confederate Gen. Marmaduke. “The Rebs are whipped completely,” Worthington declares.
Date: October 27, 1864

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: On November 30, 1862, Florella Brown Adair writes from Osawatomie, Kansas, to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair. Florella discusses various household and community matters, stating that she has “a black woman coming to help me.” She says she heard a report that Gen. Blunt was going to Fort Smith with his whole command, and also heard that their son Charles was involved in battle and was “among the first to take the Rebbel Battery.”
Date: November 30, 1862

Title: Squatter Sovereign
Description: The first issue of the Squatter Sovereign. The Squatter Sovereign, the most prominent of the proslavery newspapers in Kansas Territory, was first published in Atchison, Kansas in 1855. It printed some of the most inflammatory proslavery rhetoric in the territory, before ironically being purchased by the antislavery Samuel C. Pomeroy in March 1857. Pomeroy, an affiliate of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society, turned the paper in favor of the Free-State cause before reselling it to John A. Martin, who renamed it Freedom's Champion.
Object Type: Newspaper Article
Date: February 3, 1855

Title: Proclamation of Daniel Woodson
Description: This proclamation was issued July 4, 1856 by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson. Woodson forbids all persons claiming legislative authority or power in Kansas from assembling at Topeka, Kansas and from organizing, attempting to organize, or acting in any legislative capacity whatsoever. Woodson declares that this proclamation upholds President Pierce’s proclamation of February 11, 1856, which decreed that all such acts would be considered insurrectionary.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: July 4, 1856

Title: 1st Kansas Colored Infantry flag
Description: Regimental flag of the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry, who triumphed over the Missouri State Guard in the Battle of Island Mound. It was the first battle of the Civil War to be fought by a regiment of African-American soldiers.
Object Type: Image

Title: From Thomas Carney to James L. McDowell
Description: This dispatch, dated September 15, 1863, is from Kansas Gov. Thomas Carney to General James L. McDowell. Carney informs McDowell that Col. C.G. Foster and Major Crowell of the Kansas State Militia want additional arms and cavalry. He urges McDowell to grant their request.
Date: September 15, 1863

Title: From Leigh R. Webber to Miss Brown
Description: On August 30 and 31, 1862, Leigh R. Webber writes from Gibson County, Tennessee to Miss Brown. Webber says there are rumors that his regiment may go back to Kansas, but he hopes not. He writes that some of his fellow soldiers say "they had rather go to hell than to Lawrence and that it is the meanest place they were ever in, full of damned Abolitionists." Webber also offers his opinion that "guerrillas infest the country just in proportion, as the great rebel armies...are successful."
Date: August 30, 1862 - August 31, 1862

Title: From A.J. Huntoon to My Dear Wife and Boy
Description: This letter, dated October 6, 7, 10, and 11, 1861, is from A.J. Huntoon to his wife Lizzie and son Prentice. Huntoon, a member of the 5th Kansas Cavalry volunteer regiment, tells his family that he was ordered to take charge of a military hospital in Mapleton, Bourbon County, Kansas. He estimates that there are 50,000-55,000 Union soldiers in Missouri, including the companies of Generals Sturgis, Siegel, and Fremont, and that there are about 70,000 Confederate troops in Missouri under the commandment of Generals McCulloch and Rains. Huntoon predicts that “We will have a big battle in this vicinity ere so long.”
Date: October 6, 1861-October 11, 1861

Title: From Daniel R. Anthony to Sister
Description: This letter, dated February 3, 1862, was written by Daniel R. Anthony in Mound City, Kansas, to his sister. Anthony’s command will march the following day to Humboldt, Kansas; he also plans to visit the Cherokee Nation where “there are 6,000 or 7,000 friendly Indians…ready and willing to fight all rebeldom.” He says that when his troops are on the march, they free and arm every slave they meet, hoping to incite a slave insurrection. Anthony notes that many men believe Frederick Douglass should come to Kansas and raise a regiment of blacks.
Date: February 3, 1862

Title: From R.F. Stiger to John W. Geary
Description: R.F. Stiger, Sheriff of Madison County, Kansas writes a letter to Gov. John W. Geary on December 4, 1856. Stiger tells Geary that several families from the East have recently settled in his neighborhood, and that they all appear to be “true and faithful citizens” with the exception of one man, Herman B. Elliott. Elliott has said that all Free State men, including Stiger, must leave the neighborhood. Stiger asks Geary to keep the interests of Madison County citizens in mind, and assures him that they will remain loyal.
Date: December 4, 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. It was produced by photographer J.P. Babbitt of Fort Scott, 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: From Charles Doubleday to James Montgomery
Description: This dispatch, dated April 1, 1862, was sent by Adj. Brig. Gen. Charles Doubleday at Fort Scott, Kansas, to Col. James Montgomery. Doubleday writes that he will investigate the “guerrilla parties” in Bates County as soon as he receives more specific instructions from department headquarters. He says he is reluctant to send his cavalry very far at present since he expects to receive marching orders for them.
Date: April 1, 1862

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

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