Search results

Title: From Sue Brawner to All at Home
Description: This letter of July 24, 1859 is from Sue Brawner in Linneus, Missouri to “all at home.” She describes a recent trip from Lexington, Missouri to Linneus via the city of Brunswick. Along the way she and her traveling companions visited relatives. Sue writes of staying with Tom, a relative in Linneus who owns several slaves: “They have a black girl as large as I am.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 24, 1859

Title: John R. Howe against William Mitchell
Description: Dated November 7, 1859, this document states that its signers will pay a sum of $400 to John P. Bowman, Lafayette County sheriff, for a female slave aged about 42 years. The slave was “sold by said sheriff...in the Probate Court of Lafayette County” as part of a lawsuit brought by John R. Howe against William Mitchell.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: November 7, 1859

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: Slave Bill of Sale
Description: This slave bill of sale, dated March 31, 1860, is signed by Lafayette County sheriff John P. Bowman. Bowman attests that he sold a female slave and a slave boy named John to Nathaniel Mitchell at auction on November 7, 1859. Mitchell paid $400 for the female slave and $150 for John.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: March 31, 1860

Title: From William S. Field to George R. Smith
Description: William S. Field writes a letter from Lexington, Missouri to Gen. George R. Smith in Georgetown, Missouri on June 10, 1856. Field informs Smith that M.W. Smallwood recently received a nomination to the Georgetown Convention. He encourages Smith in his candidacy for Congress: "you have many friends here & should you receive the nomination you will get a heavey majority here notwithstanding the howl of freesoilism against you."
Date: June 10, 1856

Title: Nicholas Haerle
Description: Two black-and-white photographs depict Nicholas Haerle, a German immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1856. In May 1861, Haerle attended a pro-Union meeting at the Lexington, Missouri courthouse. The meeting was stormed by Confederate supporters and Haerle was shot and wounded in the resulting struggle. He later fled to St. Louis. The September 11, 1862 document on State of Missouri letterhead certifies Haerle’s American citizenship.
Object Type: Image

Title: From E.R. Brawner to Sue Brawner
Description: This letter, dated November 10, 1861, is from E.R. Brawner in Linneus, Missouri, to her sister Sue Brawner. E.R. Brawner writes that her friend Greg is recruiting for a cavalry company. Greg is also making plans with another man known as “Jack the Jayhawker” to “go down to Lexington and clear it out.” E.R. Brawner notes that she tried to dissuade Jack from this plan, but he is a “dare devil” and would not listen.
Object Type: Letter
Date: November 10, 1861

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