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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: Correspondence of the Kansas Territory Executive Department
Description: These documents, dated between 1855 and 1856, relate to the organization and administration of the Kansas Territorial Militia, Southern Division. The documents address officer appointments, military commissions, arms requisitions, and company requests to be mustered out of service. Included among the correspondence are several letters written by Capt. John Donaldson, Company A, 2nd Regiment Infantry, to Gov. Geary regarding criminal charges brought against him.
Date: 1855-1856

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 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 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: 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

Title: From A.J. Huntoon to Lizzie Huntoon
Description: A.J. Huntoon writes a letter from Shawnee County, Kansas to his wife Lizzie in New Hampshire. The letter, dated December 30, 1860-January 4, 1861, describes Huntoon’s daily life in Kansas Territory. He also reports to his wife that he plans to travel to Lecompton the following week “to witness the convening of our territorial legislature.”
Date: December 30, 1860-January 4, 1861

Title: From James A. Holmes to John W. Geary
Description: This letter, dated October 2, 1856, was written by James A. Holmes on behalf of the people of Osawatomie, Kansas, to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary. Holmes states that on August 30, 1856, a band of 410 Border Ruffians led by Martin White attacked Osawatomie, killing two men and injuring a third before plundering and burning the town. Holmes seeks permission for the citizens of Osawatomie to organize in self-defense against another attack by White.
Date: October 2, 1856

Title: From James H. Lane to Charles A. Foster
Description: This note, dated December 5, 1855, was sent by James H. Lane in Lawrence, Kansas, to Charles A. Foster. The note reads: “We want every true Free State man in Kansas at Lawrence immediately,” probably referring to the conflict known as the Wakarusa War.
Date: December 5, 1855

Title: From William P. Richardson to Wilson Shannon
Description: This dispatch, dated August 20, 1856, was written by Major General William P. Richardson of the Kansas Militia, Northern Division, at Headquarters at Whitehead, Doniphan County, Kansas, to Kansas Governor Wilson Shannon. Richardson tells Shannon that General James Lane has recruited a large military force and intends to enter Kansas. Richardson says he has issued an order to assemble the Northern Division militia at Whitehead and awaits Shannon’s authorization to employ the troops.
Date: August 20, 1856

Title: James Montgomery
Description: Carte de visite portrait of James Montgomery.

Title: From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Description: James Montgomery writes a letter from Mound City, Kansas to George L. Stearns on May 8, 1861. He reports that, “We are in a perilous position here, and have not ammunition enough to make a respectable fight.” He says that he has organized a regiment to help defend Kansas against pro-slavery Missourians, whose troops are camped along the border of Linn and Bourbon counties. He mentions that an Osage Indian chief attacked some of these troops, then “tied them with ropes to the Horns of his Saddles and dragged them out of the country.” Montgomery asks for Stearns’s assistance in acquiring arms and declares that, “If we have to fight, we will carry the war out of Kansas.”
Date: May 8, 1861

Title: From The Few That Are Left to John W. Geary
Description: This letter to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary is dated September 18, 1856 and signed by “The few that are left.” The letter asks Geary to send troops to protect the citizens of Cass County, Missouri; Sugar Mound, Kansas; and Fort Scott, Kansas. “This section of the country has just been ravaged by the war parties from Missouri,” the letter says. “The people here are unarmed and defenseless.”
Date: September 18, 1856

Title: From Daniel Woodson to H.H. Sibley
Description: This dispatch, dated July 4, 1856, was sent by Acting Kansas Gov. Daniel Woodson in camp with the 1st Cavalry at Topeka, Kansas, to Major H.H. Sibley, 2nd Dragoons. Woodson instructs Sibley to march his command down to the vicinity of Topeka and encamp for the day just above the town.
Date: July 4, 1856

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: 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

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

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