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Title: From S.G. Cato to John W. Geary
Description: This letter, dated October 29, 1856, is from Judge S.G. Cato in Shawnee County, Kansas to Gov. John W. Geary. Cato reports on the judicial proceedings he has presided over as Associate Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court. He lists the number of bills of indictment returned by grand juries in Anderson, Allen, Lykins, Bourbon, Franklin, and Shawnee counties, and reports that three criminal trials have been held in Bourbon County.
Date: October 29, 1856

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: From Leigh R. Webber to Miss Brown
Description: This letter, dated March 8, 1862, is from Leigh R. Webber to Miss Brown. Webber describes marching with his regiment from Kansas City, Missouri to Fort Scott, Kansas, and shares concerns about an upcoming march to Fort Smith, Kansas.
Date: March 8, 1862

Title: From Daniel L. Chandler to John Stillman Brown
Description: In a letter dated April 26, 1862, Daniel L. Chandler writes from Mound City, Kansas to John Stillman Brown. Chandler believes the consolidation of the 3rd and 4th regiments is complete, and "hereafter our Regt. will be the 10th." He reports on the movements of various staff officers, and says "I think I will remain, for when it was rumored in camp that my removal was contemplated a petition was spontaneously got up and some 500 persons put there names to it, to have me remain."
Date: April 26, 1862

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: Kansas Territorial Records
Description: These documents include letters and affidavits documenting election fraud that occurred in Leavenworth, Johnson, Coffey, and Linn Counties in Kansas Territory. Kansas citizens voted on January 4, 1858 to determine the fate of the Lecompton Constitution and to elect state officials. These documents refer to incidents of “enormous fraud” including men voting repeatedly under false names, falsifying poll books, and destroying ballot boxes “by violence and force.”
Object Type: Government Document
Date: January 5, 1858-March 15, 1858

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 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 Samuel Worthington to Dear Father
Description: This letter, dated October 27, 1864, was written by Samuel Worthington at Headquarters, District of South Kansas, Paola, Kansas, to his father. Worthington states that he recently returned from the front, where he took part in five cavalry charges in one day during the Battle of Mine Creek. He describes participating in a charge with the 7th Kansas Cavalry in which they took 5 pieces of artillery and captured 300 prisoners including Confederate Gen. Marmaduke. “The Rebs are whipped completely,” Worthington declares.
Date: October 27, 1864

Title: Extracts From Instructions to Capt. A.J. Weaver
Description: This unsigned document is an extract of military instructions to Capt. A.J. Weaver, dated June 26, 1858. Weaver is instructed to “preserve the peace and protect all the peaceable inhabitants in the counties of Bourbon and Linn particularly.” The writer adds, “I cannot too strongly urge on you the importance of establishing and keeping up a good understanding with the people living on the Missouri side of the boundary line…in no event will you allow the troops under your command to enter the State of Missouri. You will see that your men do not annoy the people...or in any way needlessly alarm the community."
Date: June 26, 1858

Title: From Samuel Medary to Robert M. Stewart
Description: In this January 5, 1859 letter, Kansas Gov. Samuel Medary introduces Capt. A.J. Weaver of Linn County, Kansas to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Medary states that he is sending Weaver to Missouri to transport arms, and asks that Stewart help him complete his mission safely: “You will confer a great favor upon me by granting him the use of your name as security to the people of Missouri.”
Object Type: Government Document
Date: January 5, 1859

Title: Marais des Cygnes Massacre
Description: Illustration of the Marais des Cygnes Massacre by John R. Chapin copied from "Beyond the Mississippi" by Albert D. Richardson, 1867.
Object Type: Image

Title: Soldiers, Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Description: This portrait, taken ca. 1861-1865, depicts fifteen members of the Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Company B. The photograph was taken in Pleasanton, Linn County, Kansas. On the back of the photograph is a list of the soldiers' names and hometowns.
Object Type: Image

Title: It Went Against Us
Description: Samuel J. Reader painting of the Battle of Mine Creek (or "Little Osage"), Kansas, which occurred October 25, 1864. Reader was a Union prisoner of war captured by the Confederate army; he escaped capture shortly after this battle. Over forty years later in 1906, Reader produced this painting.
Object Type: Image
Date: March 24, 1906

Title: Augustus Wattles
Description: A photograph of Augustus Wattles, abolitionist and founder of the Free-State town of Moneka, in Linn County, Kansas.
Object Type: Image

Title: John Otis Wattles
Description: A photograph of John Otis Wattles, abolitionist and founder of the Free-State town of Moneka, in Linn County, Kansas.
Object Type: Image

Title: Sectional Map of Kansas Territory
Description: This color map, dated April 1857, is entitled "Sectional Map of Kansas Territory." It was drafted by C.P. Wiggin and signed by L.A. MacLean, Chief Clerk of the Surveyor General’s office in Lecompton, Kansas Territory. MacLean certifies that the map was compiled from U.S. survey field notes. The map was published by MacLean and Lawrence and printed by William Schuchman and Bro. in Philadelphia.
Object Type: Map
Date: April 1857

Title: New Sectional Map of Kansas
Description: This color map, drafted in 1859 by Robert L. Ream, was published by Stevenson and Morris of St. Louis, and printed by A. Janicke and Co. of St. Louis. The map is entitled “New Sectional Map of Kansas,” and was compiled from the field notes in the Surveyor General’s office.
Object Type: Map
Date: 1859

Title: Sectional Map of the Territory of Kansas
Description: This color map, entitled “Sectional Map of the Territory of Kansas,” was compiled from the field notes in the Surveyor General’s office. It was published in 1857 by John Halsall in St. Louis.
Object Type: Map
Date: 1857

Title: From Samuel R. Ayres to Lyman Langdon
Description: In this letter, dated November 15, 1861, Samuel R. Ayres tells Lyman Langdon that he recently travelled to Kansas City, Missouri on an expedition to escort a provision train, but the train was captured by Secessionists. Ayres tells Langdon that there are a lot of Secessionists in Clay County, Missouri, and he suspects that they will try to take possession of Kansas City. He also mentions a rumor that Gen. Lane is in danger, as his regiment is vastly outnumbered by the enemy, but he plans to unite his forces with those of Col. Jennison.
Date: November 15, 1861

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

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