John Brown Jr. correspondence
Creator: Brown, Jr., John
Date: 1862
Letters from John Brown Jr. concerning the 7th Kansas Cavalry and their tendency to protect slaves rather than returning them to their owners. John Brown Jr. was the son of well known abolitionist, John Brown, Sr.

Sarah Brown to William Brown
Creator: Brown, Sarah
Date: February 23, 1862
A letter written by Sarah Brown from Lawrence, Kansas, addressed to her brother, William Brown, who was in college in New York. The first part of her letter discusses the presence of the Kansas First in Lawrence. She describes the soldiers as "rough" and notes the proslavery attitude of the regiment, which leads them to abuse African Americans living in Lawrence. Sarah goes on to discuss her views on the need for immediate emancipation. She discusses family issues such as the death of her cousin and a scrapbook she was making with her sister, Mary. The last portion of the letter discusses Sarah's interest in botany and local plants.

William Brown to Sarah Brown
Creator: Brown, William
Date: August 4, 1858
This letter, written from Ashley, Massachusetts, by William Brown, was addressed to his sister, Sarah Brown. William and Sarah were the children of John Stillman Brown, a Unitarian minister who lived west of Lawrence, Kansas. William discussed his vacation from school at Phillips Exeter Academy. He expressed his anxiety about whether or not the Lecompton Constitution had been defeated, and worried that it may have succeeded due to presidential support for slavery.

M.R. Brown to William Brown
Creator: Brown, Mary Ripley, d. 1878
Date: December 11, 1861
A letter written from Lawrence, Kansas, by M.R. Brown, addressed to her son, William Brown, who was in college in New York. Brown begins by discussing the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. She discusses the 300 African Americans who had fled slavery and were now living in Lawrence, and the efforts of an African-American minister in the community. Brown expresses fear that Lawrence would be attacked by Missourians. She also gives news of Leigh R. Webber, a Kansas soldier who often wrote to members of the Brown family.

Leigh R. Webber to Miss Brown
Creator: Webber, L. R.
Date: August 12, 1862
This letter, written by Leigh R. Webber from Gibson County, West Tennessee, was addressed to Miss Brown, a daughter of John Stillman Brown, a Unitarian minister who lived west of Lawrence. Webber discussed insubordination among the troops. He also expressed his opinions on the political situation in the South and conflicting views on slavery. Webber described camp life and the role of individual black army staff. The final portion of his letter said that the draft would soon begin in Kansas.

Leigh R. Webber to Miss Brown
Creator: Webber, L. R.
Date: August 30, 1862-August 31, 1862
A letter written by Leigh R. Webber from Gibson County, West Tennessee, addressed to Miss Brown, a daughter of John Stillman Brown, a Unitarian minister who lived west of Lawrence, Kansas. Webber begins with the news that the troops may return to Kansas, though he and the other soldiers particularly wished to avoid Lawrence due to previous negative experience there. He describes camp news as well as local individuals and commerce. The second portion of Webber's letter relates news that the troops would be sent back to Missouri and expresses dread at the prospect of guerrilla warfare.

Leigh R. Webber to Esteemed Friend
Creator: Webber, L. R.
Date: September 20, 1862
A letter written by Leigh R. Webber from Trenton, Tennessee, likely addressed to a member of the John Stillman Brown family. Webber describes a "jayhawking trip" his regiment took to take goods and food from a local Confederate family. He discusses the treatment of slaves and escaped slaves, both by Confederate locals and his fellow Union troops. A portion of the letter states Webber's opinions on James H. Lane's efforts to arm African-American troops in Kansas.

William R. Griffith to Governor Charles Robinson
Creator: Griffith, William Riley
Date: May 03, 1861
A report to Governor Robinson relating to the Kaw, Osage, and Cherokee Indians, around White Water Creek in Butler County. Unease was being felt in the area. Indians had set black slaves free in retaliation for their ponies being stolen by white settlers.

Cyrus K. Holliday to Franklin Crane
Creator: Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900
Date: November 14, 1856
The letter, written by Cyrus Holliday from Meadville, Pennsylvania, discusses the results of the 1856 Presidential election and its anticipated impact on the Kansas issue. Holliday describes to Franklin Crane, a prominent Topeka doctor, a meeting in Boston where he was encouraged to make Kansas a free state. Many of those present at the meeting were influential figures in emigrant aid companies. The letter also discusses efforts to make Nicaragua a slave state in order to achieve a compromise with the South. In addition, Holliday mentions making speeches on behalf of John C. Fremont and Kansas.

Mrs. Grenville M. Dodge to Mrs. S. N. Wood
Creator: Dodge, Mrs. Grenville M.
Date: March 31, 1862
From St. Louis, Missouri, Mrs. Dodge writes her friend Mrs. S. N. Wood about how a Mr. Wheelan has taken Mrs. Robbins' slave Louisa to a "slave yard." Mrs. Dodge is outraged about how Louisa was treated and wants Mrs. Wood to have her husband, a Lieutenant Colonel in the "Freemont's Battalion, catch Wheelan. Mrs. Dodge indicates that her husband General Dodge is ill but hopes that he will improve with rest. The locator History Military is also called Collection 617 and this item is in Box 1, folder labeled letters.

Thomas L. McKenney to James Barbour
Creator: McKenney, Thomas Loraine, 1785-1859
Date: December 13, 1825
Thomas McKenney, the current Superintendent of Indian Affairs, wrote this letter to James Barbour, Secretary of War, explaining the perceived success of the government's attempts to "civilize" Indian tribes. As part of this process of "civilization," the government believed that it was necessary for native groups to become assimilated into white American society by adopting white agricultural methods, Christianity, and other elements of European American culture. Thomas McKenney was a passionate proponent of this system, and so he included a transcription of a letter written by a Cherokee man named David Brown who describes how his people had adopted Christianity, a republican form of government, and other elements of white culture. According to McKenney, as well as many other white Americans during this time period, the "civilization" process had a positive effect on Native Americans. McKenney also advocated Indian removal, writing that "should they retain their present location [within the United States] they will, in the course of a few years, be lost as a race."

Settlers on Little Sugar Creek
Creator: Stewart, John E.
Date: c. 1856 or 1857
This listing of the settlers along Little Sugar Creek includes information about each settler, the resources in the area, and local buildings. It also includes an account of an attack by the Missouri ruffians in which a number of men were carried off to Westport, Missouri. It was most likely compiled by John E. Stewart at the request of Thaddeus Hyatt, president of the National Kansas Committee.

Settlers on the Marais des Cygnes River
Creator: Stewart, John E.
Date: c. 1856 or 1857
This document, presumably compiled by John E. Stewart at the request of Thaddeus Hyatt, lists the pro-slavery and free state settlers who resided on the Marais des Cygnes River in Kansas Territory. The author also included a listing of where the free-state settlers lived before coming to Kansas.

John N. Gardner to Thaddeus Hyatt
Creator: Gardner, John N.
Date: January 9, 1860
This letter, written from Buffalo by John N. Gardner, is addressed to Thaddeus Hyatt, president of the National Kansas Committee. Mr. Gardner relates the tale of Mrs. H.G. Hyzen of Waitsfield, Vermont, an ardent supporter of John Brown who claimed to have a clairvoyant vision of him in his prison cell. The entire letter is a passionate piece of correspondence, speaking frequently of liberty and the "Total Annihilation of that Scourge of Humanity, Human Slavery." The letter also mentions other abolitionists--Henry C. Wright and Mrs. Child--who wrote letters to John Brown. Though dated 1859, the letter must have been written in January 1860 after Brown's execution on December 2, 1859.

Political Anti-Slavery Convention
Date: May 29, 1860
This announcement called for a political anti-slavery convention to be held in Boston on May 29, 1860. The men who called the convention, who were listed at the end of the announcement, believed that neither of the current political parties truly represented their anti-slavery sentiments. They stated their goal in terms of liberty for all people, both black and white.

By Authority. Official Message of His Excellency Gov. A. H. Reeder, to the First Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Kansas.
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: July 3, 1855
This printed version of Reeder's address included a review of how the land that became Kansas was acquired by the United States and of various legislation and treaties that applied before the passage of the Kansas Nebraska Act. Reeder also identified some of the responsibilities of the Legislature including establising a means of determining if Kansas was to be slave or free, establishing counties, setting up a judicial system, levying taxes, organizing a militia, determining a permanent seat of government, and creating a constitution. He also included some statistics from the first official census, which recorded 2,904 qualified voters out of 8,521 residents (only free males could vote). Reeder indicated the need to resolve the issue of selling intoxicating liquors to Native Americans.

Inaugural Address of R. J. Walker, Governor of Kansas Territory. Delivered in Lecompton, K. T., May 27, 1857
Creator: Walker, Robert J. (John), 1801-1869
Date: May 27, 1857
In this long and formal printed document directed to the citizens of Kansas, Robert Walker reviewed various issues facing Kansas Territory. He argued that all of the voters of Kansas Territory needed to vote on the Constitution and that he was pledged to seeing that the elections were fair. He explained that this was the procedure that had been set up by Congress. The address also discussed issues related to public lands in Kansas, particularly grants of lands for railroads and schools and to taxation. Walker addressed the issue of slavery in detail and explained that the "law of the thermometer, of latitude or altitude, regulating climate, labor and productions" would determine the extent of the spread of slavery based on profit and loss. Walker explained that this law rendered slavery unprofitable in cooler climates which were "unsuited to the tropical constitution of the negro race." He also argued that it was more important that the people of Kansas determined their government rather than not having one because of the issue of slavery.

Circular Letter, Underground Rail Road Depot, To the Friends of the Fugitives from Slavery
Creator: Ormsbee, Lucius J.
Date: March 4, 1858
This printed, circular dated Syracuse, March 4, 1858, announce the dissolution of the Syracuse Fugitive Aid Society and directed all "Fugitives" interested in such assistance in the future to contact Rev. J. W. Loguen of that place who would assume "the entire care of the Fugitives who may stop at Syracuse.

U.S. Constitution and Slavery
Date: April 9, 1859
This comes from the Thomas Ewing letter press book no. 3, which began with an alphabetical name index to the letters that follow, but the first document therein was a statement dated April 9, 1859, composed of three principles regarding the U.S. Constitution, governance, and slavery in the territories: "1st. We hold that the constitution of the U. States does not carry slavery into the Territories . . ." The second and third points asserted the rights of the people of the territories to govern themselves.

Thomas Ewing, Jr., to Edward Everett
Creator: Ewing, Thomas, 1829-1896
Date: December 21, 1859
In the wake of John Brown's execution, Ewing wrote to congratulate the renowned Whig congressman, governor, and U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Edward Everett, for the sentiments expressed by Everett and others at "the great meeting at Fanueil Hall to give expression to the opinion of the conservative people of Boston respecting the foray of old John Brown." Nevertheless, Ewing had to point out "an erroneous statement" in Everett's speech "to the effect that the migration of free negroes into the Territory of Kansas is prohibited by law." This of course was not the case and Ewing believed to say so did disservice to the people of Kansas, "who, after achieving their own liberties . . . Have not disgraced themselves by denying the freedom of the Territory to any human being."

Thomas Ewing, Jr., to Thomas Ewing, Sr.
Creator: Ewing, Thomas, 1829-1896
Date: April 21, 1860
Three days after he argued for the defense in a fugitive slave case, Ewing, Jr., reported to his father (Thomas Ewing, Sr., Ohio) that his "argument on the motion [i.e., to quash the indictment against one of the nine Leavenworth citizens, including D.R. Anthony, charged with the violation] added greatly to my stature as a lawyer in the public view." This opportunity arose in connection with the so-called "Charley Fisher rescue cases." (See coverage in the Daily Times, Leavenworth, April 19, 1860, and April 24, 1860.)

Topeka Constitutional Convention journal
Date: November 9, 1855
During the course of the proceedings recorded for the afternoon of November 9, 1855, discussion turned to the effort by Jim Lane to first include a provision for the "removal" of all blacks and then all "slaves" from Kansas by July 4, 1860. Charles Robinson supported an amendment which changed the effective date to July 4, 1857. All other provisions were to take effect immediately upon the adoption of the constitution.

Address of the Constitutional Convention to American Public
Date: April 3, 1858
A committee made up of John M. Walden, James Fletcher, Thomas Ewing, Jr., Isaac T. Goodnow, Henry J. Adams, T. Dwight Thacher, and Addison Danford prepared this eleven-page manuscript "address to accompany the instrument" adopted at the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention. The statement essentially laid out the philosophical foundations and rationale for the new document. It argued that the facts showed the overwhelming majority of Kansans desired admission as a free state.

Martin Brimmer to Martin Franklin Conway
Creator: Brimmer, Martin
Date: July 16, 1858
Martin Brimmer, member of the New England Emigrant Aid Company Executive Committee, wrote from Boston, Massachusetts to Martin F. Conway, general agent for the New England Emigrant Aid Company in Kansas Territory. Brimmer asked Conway for advice on whether the Company should start offering to sell town lots and shares on terms requiring a cash down payment and the balance paid over a period of months. Previously, the Company had required a cash payment for the entire cost of the town share or lot. Brimmer also speculated that Kansans would vote against the Lecompton Constitution in the upcoming August 1858 election.

New England Emigrant Aid Company Texan Committee, Report
Creator: New England Emigrant Aid Company. Texan Committee
Date: March 8, 1860
Samuel Cabot submitted a report of the Texan Committee to the New England Emigrant Aid Company Executive Committee. The committee recommended that the Company take action to settle portions of Texas northwest of San Antonio with antislavery advocates as part of the effort to halt the westward advance of slavery. Cabot expressed the committee's view that the only peaceful solution to the slavery issue required demonstrating to slaveholders the superiority of free labor over slave labor; the committee believed West Texas a logical place for this demonstration to occur.