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Title: From Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Description: This letter, dated July 21, 1863, is from Joseph H. Trego, a lieutenant in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, to his wife Alice. He writes from Atkinson, Illinois, updating Alice on his recent and future travels, and reporting on the health and well-being of several acquaintances. He expresses optimism for the future of Kansas, predicting that it will prosper if it “should prove capable of producing enough to support a large population.”
Date: July 21, 1863

Title: From Charles Adair to Florella Brown Adair and Samuel Lyle Adair
Description: On June 17, 1862, Charles Adair writes from Emporia, Kansas, to his parents Florella Brown Adair and Samuel Lyle Adair. Charles writes that his company is encamped near the town of Emporia, and explains that they have no arms other than sabers. He says that since he is not allowed to ride his government-issued horse home on furlough, he may try to buy his own horse. Charles plans to write a letter home once a week, but says his parents should not worry if they don't hear from him: "It is hard work to get a chance to write when on the march.”
Date: June 17, 1862

Title: Charles Ransford Jennison
Description: Photograph of Charles R. Jennison posing in fur hat, coat, and gloves, with his rifle, and a dog at his feet.
Object Type: Image

Title: General Orders, No. 15
Description: This is Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis’s General Order No. 15, signed and dated October 23, 1864 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The order revokes General Order No. 54, which had established Martial Law north of the Kaw River. Curtis states that the enemy has moved south and that the area is no longer in danger. He adds that he is “glad to relieve the People from this burden.”
Date: October 23, 1864

Title: From A.J. Huntoon to My Beloved Wife and Boy
Description: This letter, dated September 15, 1861, is from A.J. Huntoon to his wife Lizzie and son Prentice. He writes from Mapleton, Bourbon County, Kansas, where he is assisting at a military hospital for General Lane’s Brigade. He reports that his regiment, the 5th Kansas Cavalry volunteers, recently arrived at Mapleton from Fort Lincoln along with Wier’s, Montgomery’s, and Jennison’s regiments. He expresses a desire to return to the battlefield, saying that “it is impossible to lay idle . . . when treason shows its dragon head in every settlement.”
Date: September 15, 1861

Title: From Charles R. Jennison to Charles Robinson
Description: This letter was written by Charles R. Jennison in Mound City, Kansas, to Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson on August 22, 1862. Jennison writes that in southern Kansas there is “a general feeling that Lane is a great humbug.” Jennison notes that he has a petition from Dr. Mitchell – a Missourian – and other “Lane men” who are organizing a new regiment in Mound City. Jennison believes that Kansas men should command Kansas troops.
Date: August 22, 1862

Title: From Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Description: This letter, dated September 30, 1862, is from Joseph H. Trego, a lieutenant in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, to his wife Alice. Trego, writing from Helena, Arkansas, says that he was sick the previous week, and that several of the soldiers in his regiment are severely ill: “There are three lying in the hospital now awaiting coffins. We will all be thankful if we ever get out of this place.” He adds that he was pleased to learn of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Date: September 30, 1862

Title: From Leigh R. Webber to John Stillman Brown
Description: This letter, dated December 23, 1864, is from Leigh R. Webber in Troy, Vermont to John Stillman Brown in Kansas. Webber disagrees with Brown's opinion of Sen. James Henry Lane: "I don't sympathize so much as you do, with the anti-Lane movement." Webber expresses gratitude for recent Union victories, and communicates his fear that a war with Great Britain is imminent.
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 23, 1864

Title: Battle of the Big Blue
Description: Benjamin D. Mileham painting of the Battle of the Big Blue, which occurred in Jackson County, Missouri, on October 22, 1864.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1896

Title: From J.M. and H.R. Waugh to A.J. Huntoon
Description: This letter was sent by J.M. and H.R. Waugh in Norwalk, to A.J. Huntoon in Williamsport, Kansas on July 21, 1861. J.M. expresses sympathy for the citizens of Missouri, and says he wants “to hear that the D—ned Mo. rebels ar ‘cleaned out’ with terrible loss of life and property in every engagement.” The Waughs are unsure if they will move back to Kansas, although they enjoyed their time there, “where a fellow can have a farm to live on and a home to go to without paying an enormous rent.”
Date: July 21, 1861

Title: Charles Robinson, First Kansas Governor
Description: Portrait of Charles Robinson, early leader of the New England Emigrant Aid Society and the first Governor of the State of Kansas.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1861

Title: From Emma Adair to Florella Brown Adair, Samuel Lyle Adair, and Ada Adair
Description: On May 30 and 31, 1862, Emma Adair writes from Leavenworth, Kansas, to her parents Florella Brown Adair and Samuel Lyle Adair and sister Ada Adair. Emma writes about staying with her Uncle and his family, who live in Leavenworth and own a store there. She supposes they have already heard about the evacuation of Corinth by the Rebels, and notes that “5 boats left here yesterday filled with soldiers.”
Date: May 30, 1861-May 31, 1861

Title: From Mary Savage to Dear Mother and Sister
Description: Mary Savage writes a letter to her mother and sister on October 10 and 12, 1863, describing Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence. She writes of the “fiendish pleasure” the attackers took in “witnessing the death agonies of our best citizens Murdered in cold blood.” She mentions helping soldiers and taking care of her minister’s family after their house was burned down in the raid. Mary says she fears an imminent guerrilla attack and tells her family, “we live in a state of constant excitement . . . our citizens are all armed . . . but their mode of warfare is so treacherous that we cannot have a fair fight.”
Date: October 10, 1863-October 12, 1863

Title: From Thomas E. Ewing to Thomas Carney
Description: This telegram, dated August 27, 1863 was sent by Brig. Gen. Thomas E. Ewing in Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas Gov. Thomas Carney. Ewing writes: “I ask you to use your influence & authority to prevent any expedition of citizens or militia organizing in Leavenworth for a Raid into Missouri.”
Object Type: Telegram
Date: August 27, 1863

Title: From Fred L. Haywood to Dear Sister Loesa
Description: This letter, dated April 6, 1863, is from Fred L. Haywood, a soldier in the 1st Minnesota Battery, McArthur’s Division, Army of the Tennessee, to his sister Loesa. He writes from Louisiana, where both his regiment and the 1st Kansas Regiment are camped. He tells his sister that the 1st Kansas Regiment recently discovered, upon the death of one of their sergeants, that the sergeant was a woman: “You can imagine their astonishment . . . She was brave as a Lion in battle . . . She would have been promoted to a Lieutenancy in a few days if she had lived.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: April 6, 1863

Title: Business Permits
Description: These four business permits were issued on October 12, 21, and 22, 1864 by Col. R.N. Hershfield. Hershfield grants permission to four different citizens to produce beer for the Army, to run a ferry boat, to keep a shop open, and to continue operating a millinery establishment.
Date: October 12, 1864 and October 21, 1864-October 22, 1864

Title: From Lizzie P. Huntoon to A.J. Huntoon
Description: On July 28 and 29, 1861, Lizzie P. Huntoon writes from Walpole, New Hampshire to her husband A.J. Huntoon. On July 28, Lizzie begs A.J. not to join the army, urging him to hire someone to go in his place even “if it takes all we have.” After receiving a letter from A.J. on July 29, in which he states he has joined the army, she writes of her “hard feelings” toward him for this action.
Object Type: Letter
Date: July 28, 1861-July 29, 1861

Title: From John Brown, Jr. to My Dear Friend
Description: This letter, dated July 18, 1862, is from John Brown, Jr., a former member of the 7th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, to his friend Parker Pillsbury. Last winter, Brown writes, he and his regiment helped to free more than 2,000 slaves. Now, he says, the commander of the regiment, Lieut. Col. Daniel R. Anthony, is under arrest. Brown includes a copy of a letter he received from another friend, Arthur T. Reeve, concerning Brig. Gen. Mitchell's arrest of Anthony. Brown writes: “His arrest for such a cause is in the estimation of every true man a greater honor than to have won a battle.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 26, 1862-July 18, 1862

Title: From Thomas Carney to E.M. Stanton
Description: This telegram, dated May 9, 1863, is from Kansas Gov. Thomas Carney to E.M. Stanton, U.S. Secretary of War. Carney, writing from Leavenworth, Kansas, requests permission from Stanton to raise a regiment of Home Guards for border protection, as well as two or more “Negro Regiments for General service.” Carney adds that “A portion of the State will be depopulated unless protection given.”
Object Type: Telegram
Date: May 9, 1863

Title: From Sara Robinson to "My Dear Martha"
Description: This letter, dated October 19, 1862, is from Sara Robinson in Topeka, Kansas to Martha. Sara reports that her husband, Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson, went to Altoona, Pennsylvania to meet "the Governors," but by the time he arrived they had already gone to Washington, D.C. Charles "had no wish to see the Sec. of War or the President, both of whom have treated him & the young state of Kansas so villainously & did not follow them." Sara states that when Charles returned, he went to St. Louis to see Gen. Curtis.
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 19, 1862

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

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