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Title: From Morse to Joseph H. Trego
Description: This letter, dated October 28, 1862, is from a soldier named Morse to Lieut. Joseph Trego of the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment. Morse says that he was elected to Trego’s position after Trego left the company. He updates Trego on daily life at Camp Vandiver, informing him that Col. Clayton is planning to build barracks and that Lieut. Cox, who had gone AWOL, returned to camp drunk. He also mentions that rebels recently attacked an Illinois regiment and took 70 prisoners.
Date: October 28, 1862

Title: From G.A. Parsons to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This dispatch, dated June 3, 1858 is from G.A. Parsons, Adjutant General of the Missouri Militia, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Parsons reports from Cass County, Missouri on the border conflict; he states that a number of Missouri farmers have abandoned their farms and moved into the interior of the state to seek safety. He adds that James Montgomery and a group of Kansas citizens met with a committee of Missouri citizens and demanded their surrender.
Date: June 3, 1858

Title: From W.W. Thayer to James Montgomery
Description: On April 16, 1861, W.W. Thayer of Boston writes a letter to James Montgomery, encouraging him to mount an insurrection in the South and help liberate the slaves. Thayer argues that an organized slave rebellion could bring a swift end to the war: “a bloody war full of horrors concentrated into a few days or months would be far preferable to one consuming time, money, lives.” He warns Montgomery that the people of the South are brave and that they “will fight to the bitter End.” A note from R.J. Hinton at the bottom of the letter states that James Lane was recently put in command of 1,000 troops in Washington.
Date: April 16, 1861

Title: From Daniel L. Chandler to John Stillman Brown
Description: This letter, dated September 11, 1861 is from Daniel L. Chandler to John Stillman Brown. Chandler reports that his regiment just arrived at Fort Scott, Kansas after a forced march from Lawrence. He complains that the unnecessary march and a lack of blankets caused a number of soldiers to fall ill.
Date: September 11, 1861

Title: Sworn Statement of George W. Harris
Description: This affidavit was sworn by George W. Harris before Edmund Bartlett, J.B.C.C., in Bates County, Missouri on July 12, 1858. Harris states that on July 8, he and William Pape were threatened and robbed by several men accusing them of being part of James Montgomery’s company. The outlaws took Harris and Pape to Papinville, Missouri and subsequently shot both men, injuring Harris in the arm before he escaped. Harris believes that the outlaws killed Pape although he admits he did not actually witness the murder.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: July 12, 1858

Title: From James Montgomery to Capt. Fail
Description: This is a copy of a letter written on August 13, 1859 by James Montgomery in Barnesville, Kansas, to Capt. Fail. Montgomery tells Fail he believes “there is an armed force in your vicinity. If this is so we would respectfully ask an explanation of the object for which they are assembled.” Montgomery adds that a group of Kansas citizens met and resolved “that the kidnapping of Wm. Wright (alias Pickles) is an outrage…we therefore demand his immediate return to his home in the Territory.” Capt. James McCool, Company D, Missouri Volunteers, certifies that the document is a true copy of the original letter.
Date: August 13, 1859

Title: From Alice Trego to Joseph H. Trego
Description: This letter, dated September 22, 1862, is from Alice Trego in Mound City, Kansas to her husband Joseph. She reports on the movements of Kansas military units and informs Joseph that Gen. James Lane was authorized to raise four regiments of black soldiers. Alice also mentions that there has been a picket guard of citizens in her neighborhood ever since the Sacking of Olathe. She laments, “Oh! how I wish the war was over, and slavery abolished.”
Date: September 22, 1862

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: 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: Petition from Jackson County Citizens
Description: This petition, ca. 1860, is addressed to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart and signed by 43 citizens of Jackson County, Missouri. The signers declare their need for protection from the “murderous attacks of Montgomery” and his band of guerrillas. They ask Stewart to authorize Samuel Ralston to raise a company of troops to serve under the command of Col. Frost.
Object Type: Petition

Title: From James Montgomery to G.L. Stearns
Description: These two letters were sent to G.L. Stearns by James Montgomery. Writing from Mound City, Kansas on May 8, 1861, Montgomery states that he has organized a regiment and accepted a position on the Governor’s War Council. He reports that the Missourians are “trying to stir up the Indians on our border,” and asks Stearns for two small breech-loading guns. Writing from Lawrence, Kansas on June 21, 1861, Montgomery says that southern Kansas is threatened by invasion from Missouri and Arkansas, while Union men in Missouri are either driven out of the state or drafted into the Confederate army. Montgomery states that he has used Stearns' letter of credit at various times, and thanks him for his generosity.
Date: May 8, 1861 and June 21, 1861

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

Title: From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Description: In this July 5, 1861 letter from Mound City, James Montgomery informs George L. Stearns that he has entered Missouri, along with 180 men, to aid the Union soldiers. Montgomery describes battles at Ball’s Mill and Bates County, reporting that his men have killed several Rebels and have had no casualties. He also mentions plans to raise a regiment.
Date: July 5, 1861

Title: From D.M. Frost to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This dispatch, dated November 28, 1860, is from Brig. Gen. D.M. Frost to Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Frost writes from Camp Stewart, Headquarters of the South-West Expedition, informing Stewart that troops from St. Louis and Jefferson City have joined his forces. He also relays information that James Montgomery has killed two Missouri citizens and is presently at Fort Scott, Kansas, “holding a Court by his own authority” and “condemning persons whom he has arrested to be hung.”
Date: November 28, 1860

Title: From Ben J. Newsom to Robert M. Stewart
Description: Ben J. Newsom sends a telegram from Kansas City, Missouri to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart on December 30, 1858. He relays a request from Kansas Gov. Samuel Medary for an officer to visit the Kansas-Missouri border near Fort Scott, capture any armed men and hold them in Missouri. He adds that this will “aid in preventing the escape of Montgomery” and warns that Missouri citizens should not cross into Kansas Territory.
Object Type: Telegram
Date: December 30, 1858

Title: From James McCool to Capt. Doah
Description: This letter was written on August 15, 1859 by Capt. James McCool, Company D, Missouri Volunteers, in Papinsville, Missouri, to Capt. Doah. McCool reports that James Montgomery and his associates are “demanding the immediate release of Pickles (alias Wright),” and that Missouri citizens living on the border “demand protection to which they are certainly entitled.” McCool is preparing to start with his company as soon as he can, and requests pistols, side arms, and bullet molds from Doah.
Date: August 15, 1859

Title: From Florella Brown Adair to Samuel Lyle Adair and Emma Adair
Description: This letter, dated November 21, 1860, was written by Florella Brown Adair in Hudson, Ohio to her husband Samuel Lyle Adair and daughter Emma in Osawatomie, Kansas. Florella responds to their recent letters, which were “so complaining and discouraging, that I feel more like staying away, than hurrying home…it seems to me that the Territory is cursed of the Lord and that it is fighting against him to try to live there and do anything but barely to exist…I cannot help feeling a perfect disgust for Kansas life, and most of Kansas people.” Florella adds that she read about the “Montgomery and Fort Scott troubles” in the newspapers.
Object Type: Letter
Date: November 21, 1860

Title: From Sumner Corbin to Frank Walker
Description: Sumner Corbin writes a letter from Linn County, Kansas to his friend Frank Walker on March 4, 1862. He tells Walker that many local men have enlisted in the 3rd and 4th Kansas Volunteer Regiments under the command of Col. Montgomery. He adds that a number of them no longer like Montgomery because he refused to commission Charles Jennison. Since then, Corbin says, Jennison became a Brigadier General of another regiment and has “cleaned out all the border counties of Missouri.”
Date: March 4, 1862

Title: From Samuel Ayres to Lyman Langdon
Description: Samuel Ayres writes a letter from Centreville, Linn County, Kansas, to Lyman Langdon on January 7, 1859. The letter includes a copy of a December 30, 1858 article from the Lawrence Republican titled “Who is Responsible?” The article argues that the guerrilla violence in Linn and Bourbon Counties is not the fault of the Free State supporters, as many have argued, but is rather the fault of the proslavery Democrats. The article also explains how Captain Montgomery has tried to defend Free Staters: “his practice has been to warn an offender to leave in a given time . . . If he does not leave at that time, a company of men called ‘jay-hawkers’ goes and takes a part of his property . . . and otherwise frightens him, thus compelling him to leave.” Ayres ends the letter with the news that he has been instructed to put Linn County under martial law.
Date: January 7, 1859

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

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