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Title: 1860 Missouri Census Table
Description: This ca. 1860 printed document presents the results of the 1860 Missouri census, showing the population of whites, “free colored” and slaves in each county. The table lists the total state population as 1,182,012, with 1,063,599 whites, 3,572 Free Colored, and 114,931 slaves. Lafayette County has the largest slave population with 6,374 slaves. The table also reveals a small American Indian population in Gasconade and Jackson Counties.
Object Type: Government Document

Title: Special Orders, No. 70 and No. 4
Description: These orders were issued by Brig. Gen. Thomas E. Ewing in 1863. Special Order No. 70, dated September 5, 1863 and signed by Maj. Preston B. Plumb, commands Dr. Joseph Chew and his family, residents of Kansas City, Missouri, to leave the area “during the rebellion.” Special Order No. 4, dated October 20, 1863 and signed by Lt. Col. R.T. Van Horn, revokes the banishment of Chew and his family, and authorizes them to reside in Clay, Platte, Ray, or Carroll Counties, Missouri.
Date: September 5, 1863 and October 20, 1863

Title: From "C." to "Col."
Description: This letter, dated September 21, 1861, is from "C." in St. Joseph, Missouri to "Col." C. reports that the Federal troops surrendered at the Battle of Lexington on September 20. He writes that "our country has been rob[b]ed by both parties . . . nearly evry body that is worth any thing has been rob[b]ed more or less, no matter what their politics are." He adds that people are "bitter" about the Platte Purchase, and predicts that fighting will ensue.
Date: September 21, 1861

Title: From Frederick Starr to My Dear Father
Description: On March 19, 1855, Frederick Starr writes from Weston, Missouri to his father. Starr transcribes a recent article from the local newspaper “Liberty Platform,” in which he is accused of being a “political priest” in charge of a “gang” of abolitionists. Starr believes the article makes unjust and false statements about him, but admits “it may be the impression which has fixed itself upon the minds of the fire eating part of the community. If so I would not have it otherwise.” The article also describes the nomination of Gen. Whitfield as the Kansas Territory delegate to Congress.
Date: March 19, 1855

Title: War in Kansas!
Description: This 1856 broadside announces the commencement of civil war in Kansas. It urges the citizens of Lafayette County, Missouri to gather with their guns and horses in Lexington on August 20, and "put an end to Abolitionism in Kansas." The broadside, signed by twelve men, reports that John Brown, James Henry Lane, and their forces have launched several guerrilla attacks upon Kansas residents, and are now "advancing upon us--the next breath from Kansas may bring to our ears the death shrieks of our Fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, neighbors and friends."
Object Type: Broadside
Date: August 1856

Title: Kansas and Nebraska 1856
Description: This color map, entitled “Kansas and Nebraska 1856,” was printed by J.G. Wells in New York.
Object Type: Map
Date: 1856

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