Campus scene, University of Kansas, Lawrence
Date: Between 1900 and 1930
A view of the University of Kansas campus. Visible in the photograph is a large cannon, two children, a KU building, and a vehicle.

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.

World War I toy soldier
Date: between 1914 and 1925
This figure represents a World War I soldier sitting at an anti-craft gun. Made of lead, he is part of a set of toy soldiers dating from 1914 to 1925.

Sarah Brown to William Brown
Creator: Brown, Sarah
Date: March 7, 1858
A letter written from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, by Sarah Brown, addressed to her brother, William Brown, who was studying at Phillips Exeter Academy. Sarah and William were the children of John Stillman Brown, a Unitarian minister who lived west of Lawrence. Sarah writes of her position as a local schoolteacher. The final part of her letter describes how she and others heard cannon fire outside and later discovered it was part of a celebration of Carmi William Babcock's election as mayor.

United States Soldier's Home, Wadsworth, Kansas
Creator: Wolf, Henry L. 1850-1924
Date: Between 1890 and 1900
A photograph showing the United States Soldier's Home in Wadsworth, Kansas. The photograph shows several buildings, a line of canons, and men sitting on benches.

Sailors with the ship's guns on the USS Hopewell
Date: Between 1943 and 1946
A photograph of Harold Edward McNeive (bottom right) and shipmates with the ship's guns on the USS Hopewell. McNeive, from Topeka, Kansas, served on the destroyer, which was involved in numerous South Pacific battles during World War II.

Army Battery at an old settlers meeting, Bismarck Grove,
Date: 1879
This photo shows an Army Battery at Bismarck Grove near Lawrence, Kansas, September 1879.

Battery A on the Kansas State Capitol grounds, Topeka, Kansas
Date: February 1893
During the Populist War of 1893, Battery A, a militia unit from Wichita, Kansas, was stationed on the grounds outside of the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka, Kansas.

Charles Robinson to Reverend Edward Everett Hale
Creator: Robinson, Charles, 1818-1894
Date: April 9, 1855
Charles Robinson, writing from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, to Edward Everett Hale, commented that Free State supporters were forming military companies in response to perceived "outrageous conduct" by Missourians during the March 30, 1855, election of representatives for the territorial legislature. Robinson asked Hale to send two hundred Sharp's rifles and two cannon for the use of Lawrence settlers.

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.

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 Bickerton, testimony
Creator: Hyatt, Thaddeus
Date: December 5, 1856 - December 12, 1856
This testimony, taken down by Thaddeus Hyatt as part of the Journal of Investigations in Kansas, is divided into two parts. It begins with descriptions of his life before he came to Kansas Territory and his efforts to set up a claim outside of Lawrence, including his technique for building his sod house. Thomas Bickerton was a well traveled individual and an influential commander of a free state artillery company. He was involved in skirmishes with border ruffians and in the attack on Franklin. Also, General James Lane sent him to Kansas City to obtain a brass howitzer (later known as the Abbott howitzer) for use against the proslavery forces.

Hiram Hill to Dear Brother
Creator: Hill, Hiram, 1804-
Date: December 7, 1855
Hiram Hill, a resident of Williamsburgh, Massachusetts en route to Kansas City and ultimately to Lawrence, Kansas Territory, wrote from Richmond, Missouri to his brother. He relayed the murder of an unnamed free state man (likely Charles W. Dow), the gathering of 1,100 free state and 800 proslavery men at Lawrence, and other Wakarusa War events. Hill, a free state supporter, felt that the information he received from Missourians was inaccurate or exaggerated. He doubted reports that 60 proslavery men had been killed at Lawrence, or of abolitionists driving proslavery settlers from their homes. Hill reported the arrests of free state men including Judge Johnson and General Pomeroy, who he heard had escaped.

Hiram Hill to Dear Wife
Creator: Hill, Hiram, 1804-
Date: December 7, 1855
In a brief letter similar to the one written to his brother on the same date, Hiram Hill told his wife that he would continue to Kansas Territory. Hill was in Richland (possibly Richmond), Missouri, on his way to Kansas City and ultimately to Lawrence, where he had heard that 1,100 free state and 800 proslavery men were prepared to fight. The governor of Missouri had called for 3,000 more to oppose the free state "Rebils." Hill, a free state supporter, assured his wife of his well-being.

Hiram Hill to Dear Wife
Creator: Hill, Hiram, 1804-
Date: December 8, 1855 - December 9, 1855
Hiram Hill wrote from Westport, Missouri to his wife as he received new information concerning the Wakarusa War at Lawrence. Hill was frustrated by these reports, which conflicted and were from the proslavery perspective, and which concerned the number of free state and proslavery soldiers, the status of the war, and government action taken to prevent conflict. Hill was also troubled by shameless "traveling and drinking and swearing" and gunshots on the Sabbath. The last page of the letter expresses his relief at news of peace in Lawrence, where he would learn "the other syde of the story" upon arrival. The murder of Thomas W. Barber, who rode outside Lawrence and was shot by a proslavery supporter on December 6th, was mentioned. Hill also described an eventful stagecoach journey.

Charles Robinson to Eli Thayer
Creator: Robinson, Charles, 1818-1894
Date: April 2, 1855
Charles Robinson, writing from Lawrence, Kansas Territory to Eli Thayer in Worcester, Massachusetts, described voting irregularities in the March 30, 1855 election of members to the territorial legislature. Robinson maintained that the election was "controlled entirely by Missourians" who came to the territory, took over the polling places, and cast illegal ballots to ensure that proslavery supporters were elected to the legislature. Robinson also reported that free staters in Lawrence had formed themselves into four military companies, and urged Thayer to send Sharps rifles and cannons for these forces.

Watson Brown to Mary Brown
Creator: Brown, Watson , 1835-1859
Date: October 30, 1856
En route to Kansas Territory via St. Charles, Iowa, Watson Brown wrote to his sister, Mary Brown, and their extended family to report that he was in "fine spirits besides being in good company we are in the company of a train of Kansas teams loaded with Sharps rifles and canon."

Frederick Law Olmsted to James B. Abbott
Creator: Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903
Date: October 4, 1855
Frederick Law Olmstead, a New York free state fundraiser and landscape architect, wrote to James B. Abbott, informing him of his recent trouble securing contributions enough to purchase substantial amounts of weapons. Olmstead repeated to Abbott advice he had received from a veteran military officer, who suggested that "M's" [muskets] would serve the militia forces well enough for general use, with "S's" [Sharp's rifles] reserved for "special service." Thus, Olmstead concluded, he would send Abbott either "M's" or an "H" [howitzer, a type of cannon].

Frederick Law Olmsted to James B. Abbott
Creator: Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903
Date: October 7, 1855
Frederick Law Olmstead, a New York free state fundraiser and landscape architect, wrote to James B. Abbott to report he had ordered "the instrument" [howitzer cannon], and that it would be ready to ship in three days time along with its ammunition accessories (excepting powder). Olmstead wrote he would send instructions for its use separately, so that the howitzer may be used to "best effect," which he approximated as "equally effective with a simultaneous fire of 100 muskets" and "worth a dozen field pieces."

Frederick Law Olmsted to James B. Abbott
Creator: Olmsted, Frederick Law, 1822-1903
Date: October 24, 1855
Frederick Law Olmstead wrote a short note from New York to James B. Abbott in Lawrence, Kansas Territory, confirming the shipment of a howitzer cannon and its accessories. It was sent in five separate cases, to avoid arousing suspicion, and was shipped to "B. Slater" in St. Louis.

James B. Abbott to O. P. Bayne
Creator: Abbott, James Burnett
Date: February 3, 1858
James Abbott wrote from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, to Captain O. P. Bayne, to explain his delay in responding to Bayne's request for military aid. Abbott wrote that his engagement with the committee investigating election fraud in the December 21 and January 4 elections had caused him to pass the request to General Phillips (possiblity William A. Phillips). Phillips, instead of responding directly, waited for Major General James Lane to return to town and approve the action. Abbott was apologetic, and stated "if I had been at liberty I would have started at once. . .entirely independent of the Territorial Militia."

Free-State emigrants' battery
Date: 1856
This daguerreotype shows one of the cannons brought by a company to Topeka, Kansas Territory, in 1856. During 1856, the pro-slavery people of Missouri virtually cut off free-state emigration to Kansas Territory by the way of the Missouri River. Numerous emigrant parties were intercepted and turned back. This circumstance led to an organized emigration to Kansas Territory overland through Iowa. Parties came in organized companies and were generally armed. These arms were furnished largely through organized movements in the Eastern states from which the emigrants came. In a number of instances, cannons were brought by these emigrant parties.

Field artillery, Fort Leavenworth
Date: 1872
A battery of field artillery at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Firing a gun from the USS New Orleans
Date: Between 1914 and 1919
A photograph showing sailors firing a gun from the USS New Orleans, a PG-34 protected cruiser. It was commissioned in 1898, decommissioned in 1922, and served during both the Spanish-American War and World War I.