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Title: Petition for a Provision Train to Leavenworth
Description: This petition, dated September 18, 1856, requests that Kansas Gov. John W. Geary send a provision train to Leavenworth. It states: “Hundreds of our citizens are suffering – almost starving for supplies that could be easily obtained by your aid in three days. It seems impossible to wait until next week, and we hope you will give our case your earliest possible attention.” The petition is signed by ten citizens of Leavenworth, Kansas.
Object Type: Petition
Date: September 18, 1856

Title: From Daniel R. Anthony to Father
Description: This letter, dated June 10, 1857, was written by Daniel R. Anthony in Leavenworth, Kansas, to his father. Anthony has just arrived in Leavenworth, calling it “the most enterprising city in all Kansas.” Anthony states that land prices are very high but will likely decline during the winter until emigration begins again in the spring. He predicts that insurance will be a "good business" in Leavenworth and discusses various investment options. Anthony reports that he saw Gov. Harney, Sheriff Jones, and Judge Lecompte, who is presiding over the murder trial of Charles Fugett.
Date: June 10, 1857

Title: Statement of Hiram D. Preston
Description: This statement, dated September 11, 1856, was given by Hiram D. Preston regarding the robbery of a team of horses and a load of provisions near Leavenworth, Kansas in August 1856. Preston states that he was accosted by three men on the road from Lawrence, who took him to Capt. Emory’s camp nearby. After being held hostage for several days, Preston lost the team, which belonged to H.L. Jones, and provisions worth $120.52.
Object Type: Document
Date: September 11, 1856

Title: From William McNeill Clough to A. Comingo
Description: This letter, dated November 24, 1863, is from William McNeill Clough, Attorney and Notary Public in Leavenworth, Kansas, to Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal of the 6th district of Missouri. Clough responds to Comingo's request for information about a Kansas resident named Daniel Woodson. He states that Woodson has not been in Kansas for a long time and is probably "within the Confederate lines in Virginia." He adds that he is enclosing a copy of the Kansas statutes regarding disloyal citizens.
Date: November 24, 1863

Title: From Joseph Moore to Hugh Fisher
Description: Joseph Moore writes a letter from Marysville, Kansas to Rev. Hugh D. Fisher on August 8, 1863. Moore requests that Fisher send African Americans to work in Marshall County: “I understand you have charge of all the contrabands at Leavenworth, hence I write to you requesting you to send me a stout negro man. Quite a number could get good steady employment here at good wages.”
Date: August 8, 1863

Title: From Thomas P. Akers to Hamilton Gamble
Description: On September 12, 1862, Thomas P. Akers writes from Kansas City, Missouri to Missouri Governor Hamilton Gamble in St. Louis. Akers, a former Missouri Congressmen who opposed secession, states that when he returned to Lexington, Missouri after a year's absence, his wife and children were forcibly removed from their home and his father-in-law was arrested and imprisoned under false charges. Fearing arrest, Akers seeks Gamble's permission to peacefully resolve his affairs in Lexington before leaving the state.
Date: September 12, 1862

Title: Leavenworth City, Kansas Territory
Description: Depiction of the city of Leavenworth, Kansas in 1856. Missourians from Weston, Missouri and residents of Fort Leavenworth founded the city in the fall of 1854.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: From Powell Clayton to John Halderman
Description: Powell Clayton writes a letter from Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Gen. John Halderman on October 21, 1864. He says that he is not convinced by Gen. Magruder’s threats to attack Pine Bluff; he believes that Magruder is attempting to detract attention from Gen. Price’s movements in Missouri. Clayton expresses hope that slavery will be abolished and that Lincoln will win the upcoming presidential election. He declares, “it is the duty of all Patriots, independent of past party predilections, to vote for Lincoln and Johnson.”
Date: October 21, 1864

Title: Maps of Shawnee Indian Reservation
Description: These 21 plat maps were made ca. 1857 by Isaac Cooper Stuck. The maps are marked with geographical features and locations of people’s land claims within the Shawnee Indian Reservation in eastern Kansas.
Object Type: Map

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, Northern Division. The documents include commissions issued by acting Kansas Governor Daniel Woodson, officer appointments, and company requests to be mustered out of service.
Date: 1855-1856

Title: Report of the Secretary of War
Description: This is Executive Document No. 50, 2nd Session, 33rd Congress, presented to the Senate on February 14, 1855 by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. The report contains copies of correspondence “respecting a claim advanced by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the military reservation at Fort Leavenworth; together with the result of his investigation of the alleged interference of certain army officers…with the rights of the Delaware Indians.”
Object Type: Government Document
Date: February 14, 1855

Title: From George Henry Hoyt to George L. Stearns
Description: This letter, dated August 13, 1862, was written by George Henry Hoyt in Leavenworth, Kansas, to George L. Stearns. Written on the letterhead of “Office Recruiting Commissioner, Northern District, Kans.,” the letter addresses the organization of the 3rd Regiment of Colored Kansas. Hoyt states that the regiment is “armed, uniformed, and equipped precisely as other Kansas Regiments,” while its officers are all “men of tried and settled principles.”
Date: August 13, 1862

Title: From Cyrus Leland, Jr. to Dear Mother
Description: Cyrus Leland, Jr. writes a letter to his mother in Troy, Kansas on September 16, 1863. Leland, a lieutenant of the 10th Kansas Infantry, Company F, reports that he recently arrived in Kansas City, Missouri from Atchison, Kansas. He tells his mother that a colonel fought a band of Bushwhackers the previous day: “He killed several and captured forty Horses.”
Date: September 16, 1863

Title: From William Murphy to John W. Geary
Description: This letter, dated October 3, 1856, is from William Murphy, mayor of Leavenworth, Kansas, to Gov. John W. Geary. Murphy states that three Leavenworth citizens received letters signed by “Regulators” ordering them to leave Kansas Territory; he tells Geary that he has investigated the incident but cannot determine who sent the letters. Murphy admits to Geary that citizens have complained about his performance as mayor, but he insists that their criticism is not justified. Murphy complains about people who are disloyal to the country and to President Pierce, and he expresses his support of the Democratic Party.
Date: October 3, 1856

Title: From John Wright to John W. Geary
Description: In this September 20, 1856 letter to Kansas Gov. John W. Geary, John Wright complains that a mob of 15 to 20 armed men raided his house. According to Wright, the mob was led by Capt. Miller of Leavenworth County, Kansas. They broke into his home with revolvers, threatened to kill him, and captured Joseph Wright and John Kissinger. Wright asks Geary to rescue Joseph and John from the mob and “Save their Lives.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 20, 1856

Title: From George W. Collamore to William P. Dole
Description: This letter, dated April 21, 1862, is from George W. Collamore to Hon. William P. Dole, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Writing from Washington, DC, Collamore provides an account of his "recent visit to the Loyal Indians who were obliged to flee from their pursuers (the rebel Indians and Texans) in the dead of Winter and are now encamped on the Neosho River" in southern Kansas. Collamore states that these Indians, numbering about 8,000, have suffered and many have died from exposure and lack of food.
Date: April 21, 1862

Title: From James H. Lane to E.M. Stanton
Description: On September 3, 1863, James H. Lane writes from Leavenworth, Kansas to Secretary of War E.M. Stanton. Lane states that as Col. S.W. Eldridge has suffered greatly from the loss of The Free State Hotel in Lawrence, Kansas, during Quantrill's Raid on the town, he should be granted a leave of absence to travel east, presumably to appeal for aid in rebuilding the hotel.
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 3, 1863

Title: Kansas Colored Volunteers Correspondence
Description: This bound letterbook contains copies of letters exchanged between the Adjutant General’s Office in Fort Scott, Kansas and various correspondents including the War Department in Washington. The letters relate to the recruitment and commission of troops and officers for the Kansas Colored Volunteers. Participants in the correspondence include Major General James G. Blunt, Major General J.M. Schofield, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, and Kansas Governor Thomas Carney.
Date: 1863-1864

Title: From Wilson Shannon to E.V. Sumner
Description: This dispatch, dated June 4, 1856, was sent by Kansas Gov. Wilson Shannon in Lecompton, Kansas, to Col. E.V. Sumner at Headquarters, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Shannon informs Sumner that there are about 300 Free State men in Prairie City, Kansas, “fortified and prepared to fight.” Shannon adds that Capt. Pate and twenty or thirty prisoners are confined there.
Date: June 4, 1856

Title: Report on Loss of Clothing and Equipage
Description: This report, dated March 30, 1865, is signed by Capt. A. Comingo, Provost Marshal for the 6th District of Missouri, and members of his Enrollment Board. The report attempts to explain "the destruction and loss of Clothing, Camp and Garrison Equipage…that occurred during the rebel raid into this state" in October 1864. Comingo concludes that the loss was "inevitable" under the circumstances. The report includes a copy of a letter sent by Gen. Samuel R. Curtis to Comingo on October 5, 1864.
Date: March 30, 1865

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

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