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Title: Rescue of Jacob Branson, 1855
Description: Woodcut depicting the rescue of Free-Stater Jacob Branson following his arrest for threats made to Franklin Coleman. A skirmish broke out in the Wakarusa River Valley near Lawrence, Kansas, following the murder of Charles Dow, a Free-State settler who was killed by the proslavery Franklin Coleman. While the murder was not about politics, the resulting political unrest led Douglas County Sheriff Samuel J. Jones to raise a militia and place Lawrence under siege. The "war" claimed one more victim, a Free-Stater named Thomas Barber.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1855

Title: From B. Hoonsley to George R. Smith
Description: On December 11, 1855, B. Hoonsley writes from Big Creek to Gen. George R. Smith. Hoonsley says that "all is confusion here," and reports a rumor that there is still fighting in Lawrence, Kansas, although "it may all be false." He adds that the destruction of Lawrence was predicted months ago by several men. Hoonsley informs Smith that he and two other men are "marked objects" and suggests that "the legislation ought to take immediate…action."
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 11, 1855

Title: Wakarusa Treaty (Draft)
Description: This document is a draft of the Wakarusa Treaty, signed by Kansas Gov. Wilson Shannon, Charles Robinson, and James H. Lane on December 8, 1855, ending the Wakarusa War. The signers declare that they "have no knowledge of the previous--present or prospective existence of any organization in [Kansas] Territory for the resistance of the laws." They agree to “aid the Governor in securing a posse” to execute the laws, provided that accused individuals are arrested with “legal process” and receive a hearing before a U.S. District Court judge.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: December 8, 1855

Title: Certificates of Kansas Soldiers
Description: These papers list the names of soldiers who served in the Wakarusa War for the Kansas Rifles No. 1, 1st Regiment, 1st Brigade of Kansas Volunteers. The papers were signed in Lawrence on December 12, 1855 by Capt. William I.R. Blackman, Col. Lyman Allen, Gen. James Henry Lane, and Maj. Gen. Charles Robinson.
Date: December 12, 1855

Title: From Edward Fitch to Those...Who So Generously Responded to the Appeal for Help
Description: Edward Fitch writes a letter from Lawrence, Kansas to the people in his hometown of Hopkinton, Massachusetts on December 17, 1856. He thanks them for responding to his recent request for help by donating clothing to poor Kansas emigrants. He describes the people who have received their donations and the suffering they have endured. Many of them, Fitch says, have been robbed, attacked, or had their houses burned down by Border Ruffians.
Date: December 17, 1856

Title: From James Henry Lane to R.M. Ainsworth
Description: This is a copy of a letter written by Gen. James Henry Lane, labeled the first letter of the Wakarusa War. In the letter, dated December 1, 1855 and addressed to R.M. Ainsworth, Lane writes that a Free State man, Charles Dow, was “cowardly + brutally murdered by a gang of Proslavery men” in Lawrence, Kansas. Violence and threats followed, Lane says, and according to rumors, “this city is to be demolished without delay.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: December 1, 1855

Title: From John Brown to Orson Day
Description: This letter, dated December 14, 1855, is from John Brown to Orson Day of White Hall, New York. Writing from his homestead in Osawatomie, Kansas, Brown tells Day that he has just returned from the "Kansas War" and that he believes Kansas Territory is now "entirely in the power of the Free State men." He announces that on the following day, Kansas residents will vote on whether to adopt the Free State Constitution. Brown also informs Day that he has secured a piece of land for him in Kansas.
Date: December 14, 1855

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