Sunflower Ordnance Works Plant, DeSoto, Kansas
Creator: Muth, Henry L.
Date: December 26, 1945
This black and white photograph shows the manufacturing area of the Sunflower Ordnance Works Plant in De Soto, Kansas. In the background, a network of pipes and a number of water tanks are visible. Established during World War II, the facility was the world's largest smokeless power plant owned by the United States Government.

Sunflower Ordnance Works Plant, DeSoto, Kansas
Creator: Muth, Henry L.
Date: May 26, 1945
This black and white photograph, looking north from Kansas Highway No. 10, shows the Sunflower Ordnance Works Plant in DeSoto, Kansas. In the foreground, a network of pipes and a number of water tanks are visible. Established during World War II, the facility was the world's largest smokeless power plant owned by the United Sates Government.

John Stillman Brown to John L. Rupur
Creator: Brown, John Stillman, 1806-1902
Date: September 1, 1863
A letter written by John Stillman Brown from Lawrence, Kansas, addressed to John L. Rupur. Brown gives a detailed and emotional account of William Quantrill's August 21, 1863, raid on Lawrence. Brown lists individual men and groups such as African Americans and Germans who were killed in the attack. He witnessed much of the violence from a hill above the city, and describes the destruction of life and property. Brown mentions that the town had no warning before the attack and that there was a second panic the following evening when townspeople feared another raid. He also describes how the community's churches came together for a memorial service.

Thomas Ewing, Jr., to General James H. Lane
Creator: Ewing, Thomas, 1829-1896
Date: January 25, 1861
In this "Private" reply to his political rival, Ewing apparently responded to a request from Jim Lane for information about troops and munitions at Fort Leavenworth. Ewing provided some detailed information about this and about the local militia's readiness and strength. The troop strength at the fort was weak, but "Dragoons" from Fort Scott were expected soon: "If the Cavalry Companies come, all will be safe at the Fort. But we must have a force prepared to defend the City--& such preparation is our best guaranty for peace with our neighbors.

Albert D. Searl to Thaddeus Hyatt
Creator: Searl, Albert D
Date: August 21, 1856
The author wrote from Tabor, Iowa to Thaddeus Hyatt, president of the National Kansas Committee. He began the letter by mentioning a skirmish between pro-slavery and free state forces somewhere between Lawrence and Topeka. This correspondence also deals with emigrant settlements within the territory, the shipment of weapons and provisions, and the morale among the emigrants as they struggled to make ends meet. Furthermore, Searl mentioned a great deal about James Lane and his activities within Kansas Territory.

Francis Tomes and Sons to Thaddeus Hyatt, receipts
Date: August 22, 1856 - August 23, 1856
These two receipts, from Francis Tomes and Sons, New York, detail supplies acquired to benefit the free state cause. They include the prices of Bowie knives, Colt pistols, and other pieces pertaining to the use of firearms.

James M. Winchell to Thaddeus Hyatt
Creator: Winchell, James M
Date: September 20, 1856
James M. Winchell wrote from Burlington to Thaddeus Hyatt, president of the National Kansas Committee, regarding an emigrant train of 500 settlers heading south from Iowa City. The author intended to travel to speak with Governor Geary before he met up with the emigrants. Winchell also included in this letter a private insert pertaining to the unscrupulous dealings of a Kansas politician named Dr. Root.

Milton C. Dickey to Thaddeus Hyatt
Creator: Dickey, Milton C.
Date: October 23, 1856
This letter to Thaddeus Hyatt of the National Kansas Committee, written by Milton Dickey from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, informed Hyatt of Dickey's journey west. The author described the hardships endured by Kansas settlers, as well as the enthralling tale of a free state man who escaped from the prison at Lecompton.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Creator: Notman Photo Co.
Thomas Wentworth Higginson was an ardent Northern abolitionist. He also served as an agent for the Massachusetts Kansas Aid Committee, procuring rifles, powder, cartridges and other materials for free state settlers in Kansas. He was from Worcester, Massachusetts, but he made a trip to Kansas in 1856.

James Henry Lane to John Brown
Creator: Lane, James Henry, 1814-1866
Date: September 29, 1857
James H. Lane wrote from Falls City, Nebraska Territory, to John Brown in Tabor, Iowa, urging Brown to get guns and ammunition to Kansas as soon as possible. Lane wanted Brown's help in preventing proslavery supporters from disrupting the October 7, 1857, election for representatives to the territorial legislature.

Sharps' Rifle Manufacturing Company, Advertisement
Creator: Sharps' Rifle Manufacturing Company
Date: Circa 1855
C. Sharps' Patent Breech-Loading and Self-Priming Rifle, Carbine, Shot Gun, and Pistol, Manufactured and sold by Sharps' Rifle Manufacturing Company, at Hartford, Connecticut. This advertisement explained how the rifle was loaded and primed. It included testimonials from various users. The flyer also included one drawing of the rifle and an illustration for making and loading shot cartridges.

Free State Militia Companies: Personnel and Armaments
Date: November and December, 1855
This document lists general information about militia recruited by free state leaders during the Wakarusa War, which was conducted from November 27 through December 12, 1855. These troops gathered to defend Lawrence against an estimated 2000 Missourians. Details on the number of commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers and rank and file are provided for Companies A through I, Horse Company No. 1, and the headquarters company. The documents also listed the weapons available ("Sharpe's Rifles," "Other Arms," and "Cartridges"). A total of 349 men were recruited, equipped with 156 Sharpe's rifles, 169 other weapons, and 6807 cartridges. James H. Lane served as the brigadier general, and William Y. Roberts was the adjutant general. Colonels were Lyman Allen, M. A. Hunt, and C, K. Holliday. Majors were Jno. A. Wakefield, David Dodge, J. M Mitchell, Geo. W. Smith, Sr., Milton C. Dickey, and men with the last names of Thomas, Tuton, Sampson, and Yates. George W. Smith, Jr. was the Sergeant Major, A. H. Malory, Quartermaster; Jno. G. Crocker, Quartermaster Sergeant; Mr. Hunt, Commisary; and Dr. S. B. Prentiss and Dr. Foles, surgeons.

Muster Roll of Captain John Brown's Company, Fifth Regiment, 1st Brigade, Kansas Volunteers
Date: December 12, 1855
This muster roll identified men who served in the Wakarusa War from November 27 to December 12, 1855. The fifth regiment was commanded by Col. George W. Smith, and this company was recruited from the area around Osawatomie, Kansas Territory. The information provided included name, rank (if an officer), and age. Officers, in addition to Captain John Brown, were William Updegraff, Henry H. Williams, James J. Holbrook, Ephraim Reynolds, R. W. Wood, Frederick Brown, John Yelton, Henry Alderman, H. Harrison Updegraff, Daniel W. Collis, and William Partridge. William Partridge furnished one keg of powder and 8 pounds of lead that were used by the company. This was a small company, and its other members were Amos D. Alderman, Francis Brennon, William W. Caine, Benjamin L. Cochran, Jeremiah Harrison and John Brown's sons John, Jr., Owen, and Salmon. Ages of the company ranged from 19 to 55 years old.

Receipt and memorandum concerning weapons and ammunition
Creator: Miller, Joseph C.
Date: September 27, 1856
This receipt, which provides a detailed listing of revolvers, knives, cartridges, and other weapons and ammunition, declared that these weapons were "received of Chas. Robinson." The following page is a memorandum by Preston Plumb, who writes that he received the weapons and ammunition listed on the receipt in Iowa City, Iowa "on or about the 4th of September 1856." The weapons were to be delivered to J. M. Winchell in Kansas but were to be used for the "defense of Kanzas." Several hundred weapons were involved.

Invoice of property received of Col. Shalor W. Eldridge
Creator: Kansas State Central Committee
Date: n.d.
This is a copy of an invoice most likely created during the late fall or winter 1856-1857. Starting with five Colt Revolvers, the invoice identifies over thirty separate listings for various firearms, foodstuffs, harness, etc., plus a good number of horses and mules, received from Colonel Shalor W. Eldridge. Among the different items listed are cartridges, blankets, canvas tents, shovels, bayonets, tin cups, and "25 old Sabors."

James M. Arthur receipt to Kansas Central Committee
Creator: Arthur, James M.
Date: December 27, 1856
This receipt, signed by James M. Arthur and dated "Lawrence, December 27, 1856," reads as follows: "Received . . . Of Kansas Central Committee six U S. Breach loading Rifles and two U S Muskets one Box U S Caps and six Bullet molds for Rifles. Said arms to be returned on the order of said Kansas Central Committee."

Gaius Jenkins' bill to the Kansas State Central Committee
Creator: Jenkins, Gaius
Date: June 24, 1856
Most of the items on this itemized bill, presented to the Kansas State Central Committee by Gaius Jenkins of Lawrence (a free-state man who was subsequently shot and killed by Jim Lane), are related to armaments (powder, lead, etc.) or other necessities for supplying a militia force in the Kansas Territory.

George W. Hunt and C. Stearns to Blood, Hutchinson, et. al.
Creator: Hunt, George W.
Date: September 29, 1856
On behalf of a committee of Lawrence citizens, Hunt and Stearns write the State Central Committee of Kansas "to urge upon your attention several important points in reference to the present condition of Kansas." They were convinced that a "storm" from Missouri was about "to burst upon the devoted heads of the freemen of Kansas" and "perhaps to deluge Kansas with rivers of blood." The committee urges the state and national organizations to help them prepare for the storm, while things were relatively calm, with an adequate supply of arms and ammunition and men. They call only for "moral heroes" who would not follow the "principles of Border Ruffianism."

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company box cars, Fort Hood, Texas
Creator: Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
Date: Between October 22, 1962 and November 20, 1962
This black and white photograph shows soldiers loaning ammunition onto Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company box cars at Fort Hood, Texas, for transport to Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Roster and Equipment, 19th Kansas Cavalry, Company D
Date: 1869
This table lists the equipment issued to soldiers of the 19th Kansas Cavalry, Company D, from Douglas County, Kansas. It includes the soldier's name, their firearms, and their cavalry supplies (saddle, bridle, etc.), in addition to other belongings such as blankets, swords, and belts.

Hercules drivers, De Soto, Kansas
Date: Between 1941 and 1948
A view of three women drivers employed by Hercules Powder Company from the Sunflower Ordinance Works plant in De Soto, Kansas. The plant, established in 1941, was the world's largest smokeless powder and propellant manufacturing plant. It was owned by the U.S. government but operated by the Hercules Powder Company. The company changed it's name to the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant on August 1, 1963.

Sunflower Ordnance Works float
Date: Between 1941 and 1948
This black and white photograph shows a group of female employees from the Sunflower Ordnance Works Plant during a parade in Topeka, Kansas. The Sunflower Ordnance Works Plant, established at the start of World War II and located in De Soto, Kansas, was the world's largest smokeless power plant owned by the United States Government.

Location of vast shell loading plant at Parsons
Creator: Topeka Daily Capital
Date: June 05, 1941
This map from the Topeka Daily Capital, shows the size and location of the proposed site for the $35,000,000 shell loading plant that was built near Parsons, Kansas in the early years of World War II. Authorized by President Roosevelt in 1941, the Parsons plant occupied over 16,000 acres of land that had previously been used primarily for farming.

J.R. Mead to George W. Martin
Creator: Mead, James R. (James Richard), b. 1836
Date: October 13, 1908
In this letter to George W. Martin of the Kansas State Historical Society, J.R. Mead of Wichita, Kansas, discusses the events surrounding the Treaty of Little Arkansas.

Samuel D. Russell, World War I soldier
Date: 1918-1919
Around 1919, the Kansas State Historical Society and the American Legion solicited biographical information from returning veterans (primarily members of the 35th and 89th infantry divisions) and the families of those who died in service, notably from the Gold Star Mothers. Each veteran or family member was asked to provide letters, photographs, a biography, and military records. This file contains information on Samuel D. Russell, Co. A, 353rd Infantry, 89th Division. Russell died on October 4, 1918 in Beney, France, from injuries sustained by shellfire.