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Title: Court Martial Proceedings Against Capt. John E. Stewart
Description: This document details the court martial proceedings at Kansas City, Missouri against Capt. John E. Stewart, Co. C, 9th Kansas Volunteers on November 18, 1863. Stewart is accused of “conduct unbecoming an officer and a Gentleman” by misrepresenting himself as a Missouri citizen to Kansas City election officials on November 5, 1863. Stewart pleaded not guilty and was acquitted. On the last page of the document, General Ewing writes a response in which he asks the court to reconsider the verdict.
Date: November 18, 1863

Title: From John M. Schofield to Thomas Carney
Description: This letter, written on the letterhead of Headquarters, Department of the Missouri and dated September 3, 1863, was sent by John M. Schofield in Kansas City, Missouri, to Kansas Governor Thomas Carney. Major General Schofield expresses his agreement with Gov. Carney on the necessity of preempting a potentially violent meeting in Paola, Kansas. Schofield states that he will issue an order preventing armed men not in the U.S. service from entering Missouri. He also accepts Carney’s offer of the services of the militia to help avert “any irregular action.”
Date: September 3, 1863

Title: Special Orders
Description: This order, issued by Brig. Gen. Thomas E. Ewing, commands John Poyntz, a resident of Cass County, Missouri, to leave the state until the end of the war. The document is written on official letterhead from the Headquarters of the District of the Border in Kansas City, Missouri. It is signed by Charles S. Hills, Captain and Acting Assistant Provost Marshal for the District of the Border, and dated September 19, 1863.
Date: September 19, 1863

Title: From Z.M. Hadly to Edmund G. Ross
Description: This 1864 telegram was sent by Capt. Z.M. Hadly in Kansas City, Missouri, to Capt. Edmund G. Ross in Lawrence, Kansas. Hadly states that between 150 and 200 guerrillas crossed into Kansas the previous night, heading in the direction of Olathe, Kansas. Hadly reports that 350 cavalry were immediately dispatched from Kansas City to Olathe.
Object Type: Telegram
Date: 1864

Title: From G.A. Parsons to Robert M. Stewart
Description: This dispatch, dated June 3, 1858 is from G.A. Parsons, Adjutant General of the Missouri Militia, to Missouri Gov. Robert M. Stewart. Parsons reports from Cass County, Missouri on the border conflict; he states that a number of Missouri farmers have abandoned their farms and moved into the interior of the state to seek safety. He adds that James Montgomery and a group of Kansas citizens met with a committee of Missouri citizens and demanded their surrender.
Date: June 3, 1858

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: 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: Fort Union
Description: Camp Union at 10th and Central Streets in Kansas City, Missouri.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1861

Title: From Daniel L. Chandler to John Stillman Brown
Description: This letter is from Daniel L. Chandler to John Stillman Brown. Chandler writes from West Point and Kansas City, Missouri, and Mapleton, Kansas on September 25 and 28, and October 1 and 6, 1861. Chandler, a steward at a military hospital, describes caring for soldiers wounded in the Battle of Dry Creek and the Sacking of Osceola. Chandler shares his fears about the future: "The condition of the State of Missouri is indeed most gloomy, and if the war continues a year longer the territory will be turned into a desert."
Object Type: Letter
Date: September 25, 1861-October 6, 1861

Title: .44 Caliber Lead Ball
Description: Black and white photograph of a .44 caliber lead ball found by archaeologist Doug Shaver during excavations in 2013 at Wornall House in Kansas City, Missouri. Wornall House, located on the site of the Battle of Westport, became one of six local buildings and houses that served as a hospital for troops wounded during the battle, which was fought from October 21-23, 1864.
Object Type: Image
Date: 2014

Title: Disloyalists Banished from Western Missouri
Description: This newspaper clipping, ca. August 1863, lists the names of "disloyalists" who were banished from Western Missouri in accordance with Gen. Ewing's General Order No. 11. The people listed were residents of Kansas City, Missouri; Independence, Missouri; Osage County, Kansas; and Olathe, Kansas. The order prohibits these "disloyal" citizens from residing in their homes or in Platte, Clay, Ray, or Carroll counties.
Object Type: Newspaper Article

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 M. Jeff Thompson to Robert M. Stewart
Description: On November 27, 1860, Col. M. Jeff Thompson writes a dispatch from the Headquarters of the 4th Military District in St. Joseph, Missouri to Missouri Gov. R.M Stewart. Thompson suggests that Stewart send troops to guard the Missouri River to prevent the escape of guerrilla attackers and prevent further invasions. Thompson also states that Major F.W. Smith has 200 troops ready for orders.
Date: November 27, 1860

Title: Battle of Westport
Description: Newell Convers Wyeth mural of the Battle of Westport, fought on October 23, 1864, which is displayed at the Missouri State Capitol.
Object Type: Image

Title: From James Griffing to My Dear Wife
Description: This letter, dated October 23, 1864, was written by James Griffing in camp at Kansas City, Missouri, to his wife. James provides an account of “a tremendous battle about five miles south of this” (presumably the Battle of Westport), which he heard about via dispatches from the battlefield. James includes an assessment of the Union casualties from regimental surgeon Dr. Hidden: “he thought but few cases would prove fatal.”
Object Type: Letter
Date: October 23, 1864

Title: Martial Law or Order No. 11
Description: Depiction of Order No. 11, which was issued by Union General Thomas E. Ewing at the District of the Border Headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri on August 25, 1863. The order commanded residents of Jackson, Cass, Bates, and northern Vernon counties to leave their homes and move away from the area within fifteen days. Ewing issued the directive four days after Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, in an attempt to suppress guerrilla violence.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1868

Title: From A.J. Huntoon to My Dear Wife and Boy
Description: This letter, dated October 6, 7, 10, and 11, 1861, is from A.J. Huntoon to his wife Lizzie and son Prentice. Huntoon, a member of the 5th Kansas Cavalry volunteer regiment, tells his family that he was ordered to take charge of a military hospital in Mapleton, Bourbon County, Kansas. He estimates that there are 50,000-55,000 Union soldiers in Missouri, including the companies of Generals Sturgis, Siegel, and Fremont, and that there are about 70,000 Confederate troops in Missouri under the commandment of Generals McCulloch and Rains. Huntoon predicts that “We will have a big battle in this vicinity ere so long.”
Date: October 6, 1861-October 11, 1861

Title: From G.W. Veale to George W. Dietzler
Description: On October 30, 1864, this dispatch was sent by Col. G.W. Veale at Headquarters, 2nd Regiment, Kansas State Militia in Topeka, Kansas, to Maj. Gen. Dietzler, Comm. Kansas State Militia. Veale reports on a recent campaign in which his regiment moved from Topeka to Shawneetown in Johnson County, Kansas, to Jackson County, Missouri, where it fought in the Battle of the Blue on October 22, 1864. Veale states that his regiment lost 44 killed and wounded, with 68 men taken prisoner after fighting “a force six times our number for three quarters of an hour.” The dispatch includes a list of the soldiers killed and wounded in the battle.
Date: October 30, 1864

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Parents
Description: Edward Fitch of Lawrence, Kansas writes a letter on August 25, 1856 to his parents, who live in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Edward argues that Hopkinton, his hometown, should pay him for his contributions to the Free State cause in Kansas. He adds that a lot of his neighbors also need financial help and don’t have enough food or clothing. He writes that he recently attended the funeral of Captain Shombre, who was fatally wounded at the Battle of Fort Titus, and mentions that Major David S. Hoyt was killed the same week in an attack at Washington Creek.
Object Type: Letter
Date: August 25, 1856

Title: Statement of Wilson Shannon
Description: This statement by Kansas Gov. Wilson Shannon was written ca. December 1855. Shannon describes the series of events leading to the Wakarusa War, beginning with the murder of a Free State supporter named Charles Dow by Franklin Coleman, a proslavery man. To address the subsequent civil unrest in Douglas County, Kansas, Shannon asks General Richardson, General Strickler, and Col. Sumner to supply troops and assist Douglas County Sheriff Samuel J. Jones in restoring order.
Object Type: Government Document

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

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