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From Edward Fitch to Dear Mother
Title
From Edward Fitch to Dear Mother
Description
This unsigned April 11, 1858 letter, presumably from Edward Fitch to his mother, discusses the immigrants living in Kansas Territory. The Irish immigrants, Fitch says, are predominantly pro-slavery, while the German immigrants are mostly supporters of the Free State Party. He also describes to his mother the spring flowers in Lawrence, Kansas and his beautiful baby.
Date
April 11, 1858
General Orders, No. 15
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
Sentinel Extra: Mass Meeting at Platte City
Title
Sentinel Extra: Mass Meeting at Platte City
Description
This September 12, 1863 article from the Platte County Sentinel describes a “mass meeting” held at Platte City, Missouri, on September 7, 1863. According to the article, attendees at the meeting passed several resolutions condemning the recent attacks on Lawrence. Attendees also passed a resolution calling for the immediate emanicpation of all the slaves in Missouri.
Object Type
Newspaper Article
Date
September 12, 1863
From Emma Adair to Florella Brown Adair, Samuel Lyle Adair, and Ada Adair
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
From Sara Robinson to Charles Robinson
Title
From Sara Robinson to Charles Robinson
Description
Sara Robinson writes a letter to her husband, Kansas Gov. Charles Robinson, on May 11, 1862. She discusses officer appointments in a Kansas military regiment, and reports that some regiments have been ordered to leave for New Mexico soon. She also discusses their finances, expresses concern for her ill husband's health, and seeks his permission to let her visit him.
Date
May 11, 1862
From Thomas E. Ewing to Thomas Carney
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
From Willard P. Hall to Hamilton R. Gamble
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
From Thomas Carney to E.M. Stanton
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
From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Title
From James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Description
James Montgomery writes a letter from Mound City, Kansas to George L. Stearns on May 8, 1861. He reports that, “We are in a perilous position here, and have not ammunition enough to make a respectable fight.” He says that he has organized a regiment to help defend Kansas against pro-slavery Missourians, whose troops are camped along the border of Linn and Bourbon counties. He mentions that an Osage Indian chief attacked some of these troops, then “tied them with ropes to the Horns of his Saddles and dragged them out of the country.” Montgomery asks for Stearns’s assistance in acquiring arms and declares that, “If we have to fight, we will carry the war out of Kansas.”
Date
May 8, 1861
From Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Title
From Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Description
This letter, dated August 6 and 7, 1862, is from Joseph H. Trego to his wife Alice. Trego, a lieutenant in the 5th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, writes from Camp Beech Grove. He reports that the weather is so hot that a number of his fellow soldiers have become ill. He includes $690 with his letter and instructs his wife to “take good care of it . . . you may need it before you will find anyone to take my place if I should be so unfortunate as to get killed.”
Date
August 6, 1862-August 7, 1862
From James Montgomery to G.L. Stearns
Title
From James Montgomery to G.L. Stearns
Description
These two letters were sent to G.L. Stearns by James Montgomery. Writing from Mound City, Kansas on May 8, 1861, Montgomery states that he has organized a regiment and accepted a position on the Governor’s War Council. He reports that the Missourians are “trying to stir up the Indians on our border,” and asks Stearns for two small breech-loading guns. Writing from Lawrence, Kansas on June 21, 1861, Montgomery says that southern Kansas is threatened by invasion from Missouri and Arkansas, while Union men in Missouri are either driven out of the state or drafted into the Confederate army. Montgomery states that he has used Stearns' letter of credit at various times, and thanks him for his generosity.
Date
May 8, 1861 and June 21, 1861
From Daniel R. Anthony to Sister
Title
From Daniel R. Anthony to Sister
Description
This letter, dated February 3, 1862, was written by Daniel R. Anthony in Mound City, Kansas, to his sister. Anthony’s command will march the following day to Humboldt, Kansas; he also plans to visit the Cherokee Nation where “there are 6,000 or 7,000 friendly Indians…ready and willing to fight all rebeldom.” He says that when his troops are on the march, they free and arm every slave they meet, hoping to incite a slave insurrection. Anthony notes that many men believe Frederick Douglass should come to Kansas and raise a regiment of blacks.
Date
February 3, 1862
From George E. Young to My Dear Father
Title
From George E. Young to My Dear Father
Description
This letter, dated August 23, 1863, is from George E. Young in Minneola, Kansas to his father. Young writes that he was in Lawrence on the day of Quantrill's Raid and "came very near being killed." He describes how the attackers approached the boarding house where he was staying, ordered all the women and children to leave, then lined up the men and shot at them. Young tells his father that he ran away and hid in a nearby cellar, narrowly escaping death.
Date
August 23, 1863
From George Collamore to G.L. Stearns
Title
From George Collamore to G.L. Stearns
Description
This letter was written on May 2 and 7, 1861 by George Collamore in Leavenworth, Kansas to G.L. Stearns in Boston. Collamore writes that Kansas is under threat of attack from Missouri and the Cherokee and Osage Indians, and that Kansas’s defenses are weak. He reports that Gov. Robinson offered him the position of Quartermaster General of the Kansas Militia, which he temporarily accepted. Collamore asks Stearns to send “thick colored blankets” and other items to Kansas, urging Stearns to keep his activities secret and to be cautious about what he writes in future letters.
Object Type
Letter
Date
May 2, 1861 and May 7, 1861
From John M. Schofield to Thomas Carney
Title
From John M. Schofield to Thomas Carney
Description
This letter, written on the letterhead of Headquarters, Department of the Missouri and dated August 29, 1863, was sent by John M. Schofield in St. Louis to Kansas Governor Thomas Carney in Topeka, Kansas. Writing in the aftermath of Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas, Major General Schofield states his hope that President Lincoln will appoint a Court of Inquiry to investigate the raid. Schofield refers to a meeting proposed for September 8, 1863 in Paola, Kansas, in which participants plan to enter Missouri “to recover their stolen property.” Schofield emphasizes the need to preempt this potentially violent meeting.
Date
August 29, 1863
From Cyrus Leland, Jr. to Dear Mother
Title
From Cyrus Leland, Jr. to Dear Mother
Description
Cyrus Leland, Jr. writes a letter from Leavenworth, Kansas to his mother in Troy, Kansas on September 2, 1863. He disputes a rumor that Maj. Preston Plumb had displayed cowardice during Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence: “It is all wrong about him. . . I was with him and saw all.” He also mentions that some people are trying to have Gen. Ewing removed from his position.
Date
September 2, 1863
From R.G. Elliott to Dear Sister
Title
From R.G. Elliott to Dear Sister
Description
This letter, dated August 3, 1863, is from R.G. Elliott in Lawrence, Kansas to his sister. He responds to her complaints about Copperheads: "If you could only send them out here we would make them keep quiet." He writes about a political meeting in Leavenworth that ended in threats of violence. He adds that there has been an increase in guerrilla activity near the Kansas-Missouri border, and that the people of Kansas are preparing to defend themselves against attack.
Date
August 3, 1863
From John Stillman Brown to John L. Rupur
Title
From John Stillman Brown to John L. Rupur
Description
On September 1, 1863, John Stillman Brown writes a letter to John L. Rupur about Quantrill's August 21 Raid on Lawrence. He lists the names of friends who were killed in the raid, and describes watching the bushwhackers from a hill west of Lawrence "as they went to their work of death, burning and plunder." He also mentions seeing "the brave" Gen. James Henry Lane.
Object Type
Letter
Date
September 1, 1863
Examination of D.D. Gant
Title
Examination of D.D. Gant
Description
This is D.D. Gant's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Gant, a 32-year-old North Carolina native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 29 years, and served in the militia during the war. When asked which side he supported during the war, Gant replies, "I claimed to be a government man and a southern man at the same time." The oath is No. 257 in a bound volume.
Object Type
Government Document
Date
1866
From Joseph Moore to Hugh Fisher
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

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