Civil War

Title: Examination of Thomas R. Martin
Description: This is Thomas R. Martin's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Martin, a 39-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he was born in Kentucky and that he served as a Union soldier in the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 101 in a bound volume, was signed by Martin on October 6, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: October 6, 1866

Title: From A.J. Sexton to Catherine
Description: This letter was written on April 29, 1862, by A.J. Sexton in camp at Fort Riley, Kansas, to his wife Catherine. A.J. writes of his plans to send Catherine $20.00 after he is paid on May 1st. He reports that the health of his regiment is good, and he believes they will be sent next to Mexico. A.J. refers to the Battle of Shiloh, and writes with regret about the death of Wisconsin Gov. Harvey shortly after the battle.
Date: April 29, 1862

Title: From J.M. Vincent to Thomas Carney
Description: This telegram, dated May 11, 1863, is from J.M. Vincent in Washington, D.C. to Kansas Gov. Thomas Carney. Vincent denies Carney’s request for authority to raise a Home Guard, and informs him that U.S. Secretary of War E.M. Stanton “does not wish to raise more negro regiments at present.”
Object Type: Telegram
Date: May 11, 1863

Title: Examination of William Brining
Description: This is William Brining's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Brining describes himself as a 46-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri, who was born in England. He states that he felt "Grief beyond Description" when he heard that Gen. Sterling Price had captured Gen. Mulligan and his army at Lexington, Missouri. The oath, labeled No. 30 in a bound volume, was signed by Brining on September 29, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: September 29, 1866

Title: Examination of J.H. Timms
Description: This is J.H. Timms's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Timms, a 47-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he was born in Virginia and remained loyal to the United States Government during the Civil War. The oath, labeled No. 62 in a bound volume, was signed by Timms on September 29, 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: September 29, 1866

Title: Quarterly Return of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores, 1864
Description: This military document is a return of ordnance and ordnance stores for Company "A" 8th Cavalry Regiment Missouri State Militia under command of Captain James J. Akard for the fourth quarter of 1864.
Date: January 10, 1865

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: Examination of S.P. Clarke
Description: This is S.P. Clarke's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Clarke, a 42-year-old North Carolina native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 40 years and manifested his loyalty during the war by obeying "all the laws and the requirements of the military, I stayed at home." The oath is No. 181 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: The Homestead Act, 1862-1962 : 4 Cents, U.S. Postage
Description: U.S. postage stamp commemorating the 1862 Homestead Act.
Object Type: Image
Date: 1962

Title: Examination of Granvill M. Farnsworth
Description: This is Granvill M. Farnsworth's 1866 Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Farnsworth, a 21-year-old Virginia native, states that he has lived in Missouri for 12 years and served 16 months in the militia during the war. The oath is No. 192 in a bound volume.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From Lewis Stafford to Kate Newland
Description: This letter, dated October 10, 1861 is from Lewis Stafford in Chillicothe, Missouri to Kate Newland. Stafford, a member of the 1st Kansas Infantry, Company E, expresses pride in his regiment and mentions their participation in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. He laments, however, that the regiment has lost a number of soldiers: “What sad havock war makes with the lives and health of men.”
Date: October 10, 1861

Title: Examination of A. Lightburne
Description: This is A. Lightburne's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Lightburne describes himself as a 63-year-old resident of Liberty, Missouri. He states that he has "always been for supporting the Government," and that during the Civil War, "I tried to attend to my own business." The oath, labeled No. 84 in a bound volume, was signed by Lightburne in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: From A.W. Mitchell to J.T. Sweringen
Description: This letter, dated May 29, 1861, is from A.W. Mitchell in Huntsville, Missouri to J.T. Sweringen in St. Louis. Mitchell notes that there has been some controversy over the U.S. providing arms to the Kansas Militia, and expresses concern that it will be detrimental to Missouri. He tells Sweringen that planting season has begun, and thus people are too busy "to attend much to politics," but adds that "no matter what our sentiments are we are all forced at this time to be Union men."
Date: May 29, 1861

Title: Quarterly Return of Ordnance and Ordnance Stores, 1865
Description: This military document is a return of ordnance and ordnance stores for Company "A" 8th Cavalry Regiment Missouri State Militia under command of Captain James J. Akard for the end of the company's service on January 25, 1865.
Date: February 19, 1865

Title: Examination of James M. Bland
Description: This is James M. Bland's Oath of Loyalty to the United States. Bland, a 23-year-old resident of Clay County, Missouri, states that he demonstrated his loyalty to the United States Government during the Civil War "by staying at home and attending to my business, and by joining the Militia." The oath, labeled No. 56 in a bound volume, was signed by Bland in 1866.
Object Type: Government Document
Date: 1866

Title: Diary of A.H. Lewis
Description: This diary, written between December 15, 1861 and March 19, 1862, records the experience of A.H. Lewis of Saline County, Missouri as a Confederate soldier and prisoner of war. Lewis’s company of Missouri State Guards was captured by Col. Davis in the Battle of Blackwater River on December 19, 1861. After being held for several weeks at the St. Louis military prison, the Confederate prisoners were moved to the penitentiary at Alton, Illinois. Although Lewis initially criticized prisoners who took an Oath of Loyalty to the Federal government to gain freedom, Lewis took the Oath himself on March 14, 1862 and was released.
Object Type: Diary
Date: December 15, 1861 - March 19, 1862

Title: Memorandum of Losses to Federal Troops, 1861-1863
Description: This table, written between 1861 and 1863, summarizes property losses sustained by Daniel A. DeWitt of Jackson County, Missouri during the war. Raided six times, DeWitt kept a careful record of each item lost to Union forces, listing its description and value and the name of the commanding officer responsible for the raid. Clothing, horses, livestock, farm equipment, and crops were among the items taken; the final raid, including the loss of “house and contents,” occurred on August 25, 1863 when DeWitt’s farm was burned out.
Object Type: Document
Date: 1861-1863

Title: Upton Hayes
Description: Charcoal portrait drawing of Colonel Upton Hays [Hayes] in suit. Hays, a great grandson of Daniel Boone, lived in Westport. He enlisted in the Second Missouri Calvary in 1861 and fought in the early battles of Carthage, Missouri, July 5, 1861; Wilson's Creek, Missouri, August 10, 1861; Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 9, 1862; and others. Hays was killed in the battle of Newtonia, Missouri, on September 30, 1862. "In 1898, the United Daughters of the Confederacy exhumed his body and reburied it in the Confederate Cemetery at Westport, now known as the Forest Hills Cemetery" (Joseph K. Houts, Jr., "Quantrill's Thieves," page 153 [MVSC 973.742 H84q].)
Object Type: Image

Title: Delaware Indians
Description: Photograph of Delaware Indians, ca. 1860-1865.
Object Type: Image

Title: From John A. Bushnell to Eugenia Bronaugh
Description: John A. Bushnell of Calhoun, Missouri writes to Eugenia Bronaugh in Hickory Grove, Missouri, reacting to news that her family has fallen victim to “outrages” perpetrated by “evil minded persons.” In the letter, dated July 12, 1864, he informs Eugenia that a Mr. Taylor and a Mr. Robinson have taken possession of two of his houses. He also makes reference to an attack on a black woman’s home, but he omits details because he does not want his words to be “wrongly construed.”
Date: July 12, 1864

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

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