6th Cavalry Band, Fort Riley, Kansas
Date: 1900
View of the mounted 6th Cavalry Band at Fort Riley, Kansas.

Fort Lyon and Fort Union
Creator: Riddle, J. R.
Date: Between 1886 and 1890
These are views of soldiers and buildings at Fort Lyon, Colorado, and Fort Union, New Mexico. Fort Lyon was active from 1868 through 1888. It was laid out as a typical 19th-century western military fort possessing a central parade ground surrounded by officers' row in the north, company quarters on the east and west, and the headquarters building to the south. Fort Union was established in 1851 as the guardian of the Santa Fe Trail. During it's forty-year history, three different forts were constructed close together. The third Fort Union was the largest in the American Southwest and functioned as a military garrison, territorial arsenal, and military supply depot for the southwest.

Survivors from the 6th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Date: Between 1870 and 1900
Photographs of the survivors from the 6th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry.

Wyllys Cadwell Ransom
Date: Between 1890 and 1895
This is a photograph showing Wyllys Cadwell Ransom who was born in Townshend, Vermont, April 28, 1828 to Epaphroditus and Almire (Caldwell) Ransom. He graduated from the University of Michigan and later studied law. In 1857, he accepted a position in the office of the surveyor-general of Kansas and Nebraska and was appointed chief clerk. Ransom served in that capacity until 1860 when he was placed in charge of the United States land office at Fort Scott, Kansas. At the beginning of the Civil War he organized Company E of the 2nd Kansas Cavalry. Later, he organized the 6th Kansas Cavalry and made major. By order of general Blunt he was given special command in the field embracing all the western portion of Missouri and Arkansas, with three companies of infantry, three of cavalry and a section of artillery. After serving in active service for two years he moved to the staff of General Samuel B. Curtis and served as judge advocate and commissary of musters until the close of the war. After the war, he was elected president of the Kansas City & Cameron Railroad. On leaving this office he returned to Lawrence, Kansas and was appointed assistant treasurer of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company until the company went into receivership. Soon after, he was appointed auditor of the Chicago, Lake Huron Railroad. Ransom married Mary E. Mottram and they had seven children. He was active in the Masonic Lodge and Lawrence Board of Education. Ransom died February 1, 1908 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.