Leigh R. Webber to Miss Brown
Creator: Webber, L. R.
Date: March 8, 1862
A letter written by Leigh R. Webber from Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas, to Miss Brown, a daughter of John Stillman Brown, a Unitarian minister who lived west of Lawrence, Kansas. Webber describes the march from Kansas City, Missouri, to Fort Scott, Kansas, describing landmarks along the way and discussing the soldiers' state of exhaustion. He continues a discussion from a previous letter regarding his father's death. Webber also describes camp life and future plans to march on to Fort Smith.

Daniel L. Chandler to John Stillman Brown
Creator: Chandler, Daniel L.
Date: April 26, 1862
A letter written by Daniel L. Chandler from Mound City, Kansas, to John Stillman Brown, a Unitarian minister who lived west of Lawrence. Chandler described promotions and staff changes in the regiments at Mound City, as well as a petition to prevent his removal as hospital steward. Chandler also wrote of the deaths of soldiers and a new order that would discharge soldiers who spent two months in the hospital.

Mound City, Kansas
Date: Between 1900 and 1905
A photograph of Mound City, Kansas, taken from a hill above the town.

Mound City, Kansas
Date: Between 1873 and 1874
A view of wagons, buggies and storefronts along Main Street in Mound City, Kansas. The town is located south of Kansas City and is the county seat of Linn County.

Appetite
Creator: Franklin, William S. (William Suddards), 1863-1930
Date: 1894
A temperance booklet that notes "morbid appetite, once created is the tyrant which ruins the individual," and that abstinence from a habit which has no benefit, such as coffee, tobacco, liquor, etc., is the solution to society's troubles.

Championship of Woman
Creator: Train, George Francis, 1829-1904
Date: 1867
This pamphlet contains excerpts from and/or newspaper accounts of thirty speeches that George Francis Train, a supporter of women's rights, gave in Kansas over a two week period in October and November of 1867. Train came to Kansas after participating in an excursion to the Rocky Mountains with approximately 200 newspapermen to hunt buffalo. Numerous Kansas women's suffrage supporters are mentioned in the booklet. Train gave speeches in Leavenworth, Lawrence, Olathe, Paola, Ottawa, Mound City, Fort Scott, LeRoy, Humboldt, Burlington, Emporia, Junction City, Topeka, Atchison, Wyandotte, and possibly other communities. Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were also campaigning in Kansas and shared the podium and/or communicated with Train. Train was an author, speaker, and a celebrity for his eccentricity.

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.

Mary Lovell territorial loss claim
Creator: Strickler, Hiram Jackson
Date: 1859
Report of H.L. Strickler, Commissioner to Audit Claims of Citizens of the Territory of Kansas, contained in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set of congressional and executive documents. Claim #280 was filed on behalf of Mrs. Mary Lovell, a widow, for property taken in August, 1856. She lived in Sugar Mound in Linn County. Her horses and household goods were taken by various armed groups and she stated she walked 25 miles to Westport, Missouri, because she feared for her life. Each claimant had to submit an itemized list and have two witnesses attest to the losses claimed. Even though many of these claims were approved for payment, no funds were ever appropriated or distributed.

Grand New Year's Ball
Date: December 30, 1859
This invitation was to a ball to be held at the Osage Valley House in Osawatomie, Kansas Territory. Tickets were $2.50 and a supper was to be served at ten o'clock. The proprietors of the Osage Valley House were Fisher and Crouch. The invitation was issues by several men from Osawatomie and surrounding communities.

Public Speaking!
Date: September, 1855
This broadside listed six places where John W. Whitfield planned to speak during his campaign for reelection as the delegate to Congress from Kansas Territory. Whitfield was a proslavery supporter. The speeches were to be given between September 24 and September 29, 1855. He planned to speak at Dr. Chapman's, Otta Creek; Henry Sherman's; Old Pottawatamie Mission; Sugar Mound; crossing of the Little Osage, and Fort Scott. A barbecue was scheduled for Fort Scott on September 29.

G. Stockmyer, Starving Kansas
Creator: Stockmyer, G
Date: December, 1860
This broadside was prepared by G. Stockmyer, agent for Kansas Relief. It included descriptions of the conditions in most parts of Kansas Territory from individuals such as Thaddeus Hyatt, Allen Hodgson, and W. F. M. Arny and excerpts from various newspapers. Relief efforts were being coordinated by Samuel C. Pomeroy from Atchison, Kansas Territory. Freight and railroad companies provided free shipping for relief goods sent to K. T.

Joseph Harrington Trego to an unidentified recipient [probably his wife, Alice Trego]
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: September 10, 1857
Trego was in St. Louis, Missouri awaiting a boat trip to Kansas City. He describes his trip to that point as well as the weather. Trego was a doctor and he wrote about trying to locate his medicine chest for the second part of the journey. He also described his activities as he waited. It is not clear whether he had been to Kansas Territory before but he knew he was going to Sugar Mound in Linn County, Kansas Territory.

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: Around September, 1857
Joseph H. Trego, en route via steamboat to Kansas City, wrote to his wife Alice in Rock Island, Illinois. Trego commented on the unpredictable and perilous conditions of steamboat travel on the Missouri River due to snags and sandbars, but despite these, admitted that the journey itself had "little to claim his attention." He feared that his wife might have an accident in his absence, and asked her to wait until he returned to "indulge her spirit." Trego, though he missed his family, was comforted by their miniatures (small portraits).

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: October 16, 1857
Joseph H. Trego wrote from his cabin in Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to his wife Alice in Rock Island, Illinois, about his journey from Kansas City to Sugar Mound. His friends, Thomas Ellwood Smith (Ell) and his brother Edwin (Ed), and himself were poorly prepared as they expected to stay in public houses during the journey, not camp outside as their wagon transportation preferred. As the road they took went right down the Missouri state line, Trego contrasted the well-established farms to the East with the "open, wild prairie" to the West. He and his brother, upon arriving at their cabin, found that they had "Hoosier" neighbors (from Indiana), who were pleasant but proslavery. Trego recounted the difficulty they had acquiring home furnishings and food, fighting adverse weather at every turn. He spoke at length of how he was comforted by writing to his wife, as he and his friends greatly missed their families.

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: December 5, 1857
Joseph Trego wrote from Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, in Illinois. Trego described the furnishings and atmosphere in their "Bachelor's Hall" of a cabin. As he greatly missed them, Trego was eager to receive his family's daguerreotypes by mail; he also spoke at length about both business and domestic matters at home. His friend Ell (Thomas Ellwood Smith) prepared to embark on a trip to St. Louis to purchase a corn mill, which they hoped would translate into a business enterprise that would sustain the three of them.

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: December 11, 1857
Joseph Trego wrote from his cabin near Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory to his wife, Alice, at home in Illinois with their three daugthers. His friend Ell's trip to St. Louis had been aborted due to the freezing conditions of the Missouri River. The town company of Sugar Mound was meeting that day, in which the formal site of the town would be selected; Trego hoped to build their new home on a lot near his mill, which was in an especially picturesque area. His comments about the current "political storm" reveal the variation of perspectives among free state supporters, as he found free state supporters in his area were for a "free state government from politic[al] motives & not humane." He also reported that a group of armed free state men had passed by two days before, looking for a "nest" of pro-slavery men in Bourbon County. Trego added descriptions of their daily life and their struggle to keep their living expenses down.

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: December 21, 1857
Joseph Trego wrote from Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, in Illinois. Trego, in addition to elaborating on hunting and mill work, described at length the skirmishing between local free state and proslavery men, which had been continuous throughout the summer and fall. He reported the manner in which Missourians had seized and occupied lands in the absence of their owners, who were free state men. "Bogus courts" had brought the free state men who defended their lands to court, which resulted in so many fees owed that the men had to sell their land to pay them; the new owners were usually Missourians. Trego accused proslavery supporters of fabricating stories about destruction caused by warring Abolitionists in order to draw the support of the U.S. troops. Controversy over the Lecompton Constitution flourished in free state circles; the Free State Legislature in Topeka had repealed the "bogus laws" of the Territorial Legislature and appointed James Lane the head of a free state militia.

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: January 2, 1858
Joseph Trego wrote from his cabin near Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, in Rock Island, Illinois. Trego briefly updated her on the status of the mill enterprise before expressing more personal sentiments. He felt it had been a mistake not to bring her to the Territory, as he could not devote all of his energy to the tasks at hand for missing her. Trego also discussed the length of time it took her letters to reach him via the postal service.

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: January 9, 1858
Joseph Trego wrote from Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, in Illinois. Trego reported that the mill was finally up and running, leaving them to occupy themselves with housekeeping and construction of outbuildings near the mill; he had decided to delay building a new home for his family until the spring. Trego responded to his wife's concerns about free state and proslavery skirmishing in the area, conveying his confidence that "truly there is no probability of the people here at Sugar Mound being molested" by them.

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: January 18, 1858
Joseph Trego wrote from Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, at their family's home in Illinois. Trego, tired of "keeping bach" (living a bachelor's lifestyle), he occupied himself with the milling business, which was sawing 4000 ft of lumber each day. A member of the town company in Mound City, he had also recently traveled to gain support for the construction of some new roads in the area; he was also interested in developing a school. At the end of the letter, Trego wrote personal notes to each of his three daughters.

Joseph Harrington Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: January 24, 1858
Joseph Trego wrote from Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, at their family's home in Illinois. Trego described how, since the shelter being built around the mill equipment was not yet complete, the wind and rain interfered with their ability to work. Though the work was hard, he favored the milling business over other means toward income. Trego responded to a newspaper article from the Rock Island Advertiser that his wife had sent him, deeming their coverage of the Kansas troubles "sensational." He expected that Fort Scott would soon be destroyed by free state militiamen, as "Bourbon County Bandits" (proslavery supporters) had been harassing extensively free state supporters in the area. Despite all this disorder, the development prospects of Mound City, in Linn County, appeared favorable.

Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: February 11, 1858
Joseph Trego wrote from Mound City, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, at their family's home in Illinois. Trego responded emotionally to his wife's proposition that she would travel East in the spring to visit friends and come to the territory in the fall, instead of the coming in the spring, as previously planned. He conveyed great disappointment, but insisted that she go East if she really wanted. According to Trego, the structure that would shelter his mill would be raised the next day, and Fort Scott had been seized peacefully by free state men "as the villains fled to save their bacon." He doubted that the treaty drawn there would change the antagonistic conduct of the opposing sides.

Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: February 13, 1858
Joseph Trego wrote from Mound City, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, at their family's home in Illinois. Trego expressed his continued disappointment that his wife did not plan to travel to the territory with him that spring. The change in plans did not seem to disrupt those of the Smith brothers, Trego's companions, as they planned to gather their own families. Trego supposed he would stay behind and conduct business at the mill and, perhaps, enter the market for land sales. He reported that the mill's shelter had been erected successfully the day before, so the mill's production would not be as dependent on the weather conditions.

Joseph H. Trego to Alice Trego
Creator: Trego, Joseph H. (Joseph Harrington), 1823-1905
Date: February 28, 1858
Joseph Trego wrote from Mound City, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Alice, at their family's home in Illinois. Trego described his overland travels to an Osage Indian trading post and his encounters with the Osage people. He and his friend, Edwin, traveled through Fort Scott, Bourbon County, on their way back to Mound City. Trego recounted their tour of the town, describing its large homes, a plaza at the town's center, and a steam mill much like his own. Trego reported that, if they had stayed longer in Fort Scott, they may not have been allowed out, as free state men were collecting in large numbers to capture proslavery "thieves" and destroy the town in the process.

Frank Walker to his family
Creator: Walker, Frank
Date: March 24, 1859
Walker wrote to his family from Mound City, Linn County, Kansas Territory, to report that he had $10 left but could obtain all the work he wanted at $25 per month. He liked the county, and intended to plant corn on eighteen acres he had "taken," and to preempt his claim the next fall (it was not yet open). Part of the letter refers to his recent imprisonment (at a tavern in Lawrence) for some unexplained cause that had been dismissed by a judge for lack of evidence.