Search results

Title: From G.A. Parsons and A.G. Blakey to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This dispatch, dated June 16, 1858, is from G.A. Parsons, Adjutant General of the Missouri Militia, and A.G. Blakey, Division Inspector, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. They inform Stewart that they have obeyed his orders to organize volunteer companies in Cass, Vernon, and Bates Counties. They add that they have heard rumors of “violence and plunder” throughout western Missouri and do not believe the companies they have raised will provide sufficient protection.
Date: June 16, 1858

Title: From S.H. Woodson to George R. Smith
Description: On July 1, 1856, S.H. Woodson writes from Independence, Missouri to Gen. George R. Smith. Woodson denies the charge that he called Smith "as great an Abolitionist as there was in Massachusetts or in New York," declaring "There is not one word of truth in it."
Date: July 1, 1856

Title: Special Orders
Description: This order, issued by Brig. Gen. Thomas E. Ewing, commands John Poyntz, a resident of Cass County, Missouri, to leave the state until the end of the war. The document is written on official letterhead from the Headquarters of the District of the Border in Kansas City, Missouri. It is signed by Charles S. Hills, Captain and Acting Assistant Provost Marshal for the District of the Border, and dated September 19, 1863.
Date: September 19, 1863

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 John Tasmilen to John Ament
Description: This 1864 letter was written by John Tasmilen in Centralia, Missouri to John Ament. Declaring that “slavery is dead” and the war nearly over, John predicts that preachers will try to take credit for ending slavery, “but they lie, they sanctioned it as long as they could.” John encourages Ament to return to Cass County, Missouri: “I think you would find a great political change since you left…so that I think you might feel safe.”
Date: 1864

Title: From Willard P. Hall to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On August 31, 1863, Willard Hall writes from Headquarters, State of Missouri in St. Louis to Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble. Hall refers to "an order from Gen. Ewing"--presumably Order No. 11--and predicts that Jackson and Cass Counties in Missouri "will be laid waste" after its implementation. Hall adds that he will continue to protect the Missouri counties of Clay and Platte.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: August 31, 1863

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 G.C. Bingham to Hamilton R. Gamble
Description: On June 8, 1863, G.C. Bingham writes from the Treasurer's Office in Jefferson City, Missouri to Missouri Gov. Hamilton R. Gamble. Bingham informs Gamble of his suspicion that Gen. Loan plans to cooperate with Kansas Jayhawkers "in subjecting Lafayette and Johnson Counties to the desolation which has depopulated Jackson and Cass." Bingham predicts that Loan is also plotting to overthrow the Missouri provisional government, and asks Gamble to appoint a "Loyal commander...before the meeting of the Convention."
Object Type: Government Document
Date: June 8, 1863

Title: Martial Law or Order No. 11
Description: Depiction of Order No. 11, which was issued by Union General Thomas E. Ewing at the District of the Border Headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri on August 25, 1863. The order commanded residents of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and northern Vernon counties to leave their homes and move away from the area within fifteen days. Ewing issued the directive four days after Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, in an attempt to suppress guerrilla violence.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1868

Title: From Robert M. Stewart to J.W. Denver
Description: This letter, dated August 7, 1858, is from Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart to Kansas Gov. J.W. Denver. Stewart informs Denver that Missouri citizens living near the state line in Cass and Bates Counties are in constant danger of attacks by “marauding parties” from Kansas. Therefore, Stewart writes, he plans to station troops along the border to protect his citizens. Stewart asks Denver to cooperate and to do everything in his power to prevent further invasions.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: August 7, 1858

Title: Laura Hidden Pearson
Description: This tintype, ca. 1860, depicts Laura Hidden Pearson, an Ohio native who married William D. Pearson in Cass County, Missouri. William was the oldest child of Robert D. Pearson, an early Cass County pioneer. William served in Confederate Captain Shanks’ company for nine months until he was taken prisoner near Lexington, Missouri; he was eventually released on parole. Laura and William married after the war.
Object Type: Image

Title: Diary of John Ament
Description: This diary, kept by John Ament or possibly one of his children between August 7, 1863 and August 24, 1863, records the family's flight out of Cass County, Missouri after being ordered to leave their home. Ament and several neighboring families travelled by wagon “in the dust and dirt,” through the towns of Boonville, Sturgeon, Mexico, and others. The diary, kept in a penmanship notebook originally used to document Ament’s work as Treasurer for his church, includes a transcription of the poem “The Soldier’s Misfortune.”
Object Type: Diary
Date: August 7, 1863 - August 24, 1863

Title: From Robert M. Stewart to G.A. Parsons
Description: This dispatch, dated May 31, 1858, is from Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart to Adj. Gen. G.A. Parsons. Stewart relays information that “a marauding party of armed men” from Kansas has invaded Bates and Cass Counties in Missouri and are threatening to commit arson and murder. Stewart orders Parsons to investigate the matter and decide what steps should be taken to protect Missouri citizens. He authorizes Parsons to organize a volunteer force if necessary.
Date: May 31, 1858

Title: From Robert M. Stewart to G.A. Parsons
Description: This letter, dated April 5, 1859, is from Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart to Adj. Gen. G.A. Parsons. Stewart reports that the western border of Missouri in Cass and Bates Counties “is threatened anew by a marauding band” from Kansas. He orders Parsons to travel to the border and take charge of preventing invasions. He authorizes Parsons to organize military companies for the protection of Missouri citizens, and instructs him to seek the cooperation of Kansas authorities. Attached is a copy of the first draft of the letter.
Date: April 5, 1859

Title: General Orders, No. 11
Description: This is a copy of the infamous Order No. 11, issued by Union General Thomas E. Ewing at the District of the Border Headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri on August 25, 1863. The order commands residents of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and northern Vernon counties to leave their homes and move away from the area within fifteen days. Ewing issued the directive four days after Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, in an attempt to suppress guerrilla violence.
Date: August 25, 1863

Title: From S.G. Allen to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter, dated May 30, 1858, was written by S.G. Allen in Harrisonville, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Allen states that three military companies have been organized in Bates and Cass Counties in Missouri “to act only in self defence” against guerrillas from Kansas. Allen asks Stewart to provide additional protection for the citizens, explaining that “new depredations have been committed new threats have been made and vigorous preparations are going on just over the line—what is to be the end God only knows.”
Date: May 30, 1858

Title: From Robert M. Stewart to Samuel Medary
Description: This letter, dated April 8, 1859, is from Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart to Kansas Gov. Samuel Medary. Stewart states that he has ordered Adj. Gen. G.A. Parsons to patrol the state line in Cass, Bates, and Vernon Counties, to protect Missouri citizens and repel attacks from bands of Kansas guerrillas. He adds that the Missouri General Assembly has given him authority to use $30,000 for protection of the state border. Stewart asks for Medary’s cooperation in preventing violence.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: April 8, 1859

Title: From R.A. Boggess to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This letter was written on May 22, 1858 by R.A. Boggess in Harrisonville, Missouri, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart in Jefferson City, Missouri. In this letter of introduction for S.G. Allen, Boggess informs Stewart that Allen will present him with a paper concerning “matters of very great importance…to the section of country in which we live.” Boggess refers Stewart to Allen for additional information, since “he is thoroughly acquainted with the minutia.”
Date: May 22, 1858

Title: Nancy Walker Lyon Harris
Description: This ca. 1860 black-and-white photograph depicts Nancy Walker Lyon Harris, who was born in 1803. Nancy’s father, William Lyon, served as clerk of the court when Cass County, Missouri (originally Van Buren County) was first established. Nancy’s husband, Fleming Harris, helped found Harrisonville, Missouri, in Cass County, and served as its first town commissioner. Nancy died in Cass County in 1864.
Object Type: Image

Title: Pass for Paralee Hudspeth
Description: This pass, issued by Headquarters, Central District Missouri and signed by E.B. Brown, permits Paralee Hudspeth “to enter the Border Counties of the State of Missouri, for the purpose of securing property abandoned while obeying General Order No. 11.” The pass, dated November 18, 1863, was issued from Jefferson City, Missouri by special order of Brigadier General Thomas L. Ewing, Jr.
Date: November 18, 1863

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

Error message

Pages

Pages

Object Type

Local Subject

People

Geographic Subject

Owning Organization