A. D. Way to Governor John St. John
Creator: Way, A. D.
Date: August 18, 1880
In this letter from Mound City, Kansas, Governor St. John is invited to be among the speakers at a grand temperance rally to be held September 5, in Linn County, Kansas.

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.

Avis Chitwood's dress
Date: between 1897 and 1900
This childhood dress of Avis Chitwood is made of brown and rust-colored silk. Chitwood grew up in Mound City, Kansas, and took an early interest in art. As she aged, she took classes in watercolor and china painting, etching, and architectural design. The works she produced were displayed in exhibitions and won awards and honors. One of her etchings was displayed at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Chitwood gave this dress to her niece, Janice Gartrell, who donated it to the museum.

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.

Charles D. Stough
Date: Between 1953 and 1954
This black and white photograph shows Charles D. Stough, (1914-1995). Born in Mound Valley, Kansas and a graduate from the University of Kansas Law School. He began his career practicing law in Chicago, Illinois and latter in Lawrence, Kansas before enlisting at the age of twenty-eight, in the U.S. Navy. After his honorable discharge, Stough made a successful bid in 1946 for a political office to the Kansas House of Representatives where he served four regular sessions as a Republican from the Eleventh District. He was also majority leader from 1951 to 1953 and speaker of the house from 1953 to 1954. Stough did not seek re-election in 1954, but continued to serve in a number of key political posts at the local, state and national levels. On December 8, 1995 just two days after observing his eighty-first birthday, Charles Stough passed away.

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.

Dr. C. R. Jennison to George L. Stearns
Creator: Jennison, Charles Rainsford, 1834-1884
Date: November 28, 1860
From Mound City, Kansas Territory, Jennison opens his letter to Stearns by acknowledging that the two men did not know each other but Jennison counts Stearns "a true friend to the cause of freedom." Jennison tells him about the so-called "desperadoes known as Kidnapers" who had been active in the region. After warning them of serious consequences if caught and convicted of "man hunting," Jennison's free state force captured, tried, and hung one Russ Hinds. Despite the threat from Gen. William S. Harney's federal troops, Jennison insists "we are determined to Stand or fall by our weight for we have taken our position and it is honorable and Just." He feels federal troops were unfairly targeting free staters and ignoring proslave outrages.

Eighth annual fair of the Linn County Agricultural and Mechanical Association
Creator: Linn County Agricultual and Mechanical Association
Date: September 25 - 28, 1883
This poster announce a fair to be held at Mound City, Kansas, sponsored by the Linn County Agricultural and Mechanical Association. Highlights of the fair include racing, $3,500 in premiums, and live stock shows. The poster includes color illustrations of livestock and sulky racing.

Fourth annual fair of the Linn County Agricultural and Mechanical Association
Creator: Linn County Agricultural and Mechanical Association
Date: October 1 - 4, 1879
This poster announces a fair to be held at Mound City, Kansas, sponsored by the Linn County Agricultural and Mechanical Association. Highlights of the fair include $800 in cash premiums, ample accommodations, and racing. The poster includes an illustration of livestock.

Frank Walker to Augusta Walker
Creator: Walker, Frank
Date: April 10, 1859
This letter from Frank Walker was written in Mound City, Linn County, Kansas Territory. He described his plans to acquire land, and his hope that it would increase in value to $40 per acre in less than ten years. He recounted an incident in which someone named Byron was shot through the right thigh by "the Missourians" during an encounter between Byron and six other free staters against forty-six men.

Frank Walker to brother
Creator: Walker, Frank
Date: May 23, 1859
This is part of a series of letters from Frank Walker written in Mound City, Linn County, Kansas Territory. The letter implied that Walker was part of a free state militia group, and stated that the free state men never stole from each other (although, he wrote, the proslavery men took their horses). He mentioned a meeting of the Republican Party in anticipation of forming a constitution and entering the union as a state, and that Horace Greeley had given a speech.

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.

Frank Walker to Milo Walker
Creator: Walker, Frank
Date: June 26, 1859
In this letter to his brother, Milo, Frank Walker wrote that he had preempted land in Linn County, Kansas Territory, in Section 25 of Township 21S, Range 22E. He had 80 acres he thought were worth a total of $1000, and he intended "to engage in a little speculation that I will make 1000 more." He suggested that, if Milo or their sisters could send $150, he could buy 80 acres for them, as well. Walker was writing from Mound City, Kansas Territory.

General staff roll of officers on duty at Sugar Mound
Date: December 19 and 21, 1857
This staff roll of regimental officers of the First Regiment, Kansas Militia, lists officers present in a skirmish at Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, on December 19 and 21, 1857. Major General James Lane is included among the officers listed. The list appears to be incomplete, as age, stature, and equipment notes for each man are provided only on the list's first page.

George L. Stearns and James Montgomery correspondence
Creator: Montgomery, James, 1814-1871
Date: May 08, 1861
A letter from George L. Stearns to James Montgomery and Montgomery's responding letter. Stearns writes about the threat of battle coming to Kansas and Montgomery responds that the Confederacy is trying to win over Indians to fight for them.

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.

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.

Independent Kansas Jay-Hawkers
Date: August 24, 1861
Broadside recruiting men for the Independent Kansas Jay-Hawkers, 1st Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. Charles R. "Doc" Jennison was colonel of the regiment and, as a consequence of his position, was responsible for the recuritment of the men under his command.

James B. Abbott to Elizabeth W. Abbott
Creator: Abbott, James Burnett
Date: December 22, 1857
James Abbott, serving as a Colonel in the Kansas free state militia wrote from a military skirmish in Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to his wife, Elizabeth, in Lawrence. He had hoped to return home within a week from his departure, but had received word from James Lane, Major General of the militia, that he could start home the following Saturday. Abbott reported the events of the skirmish, which thus far had resulted in the arrests of some men; no deaths had been reported.

James Henry Lane to A. W. Philips
Creator: Lane, James Henry, 1814-1866
Date: December 17, 1857
James Lane, Major General of the free state militia forces, wrote to General A. W. Philips, ordering him to Sugar Mound, Kansas Territory, to help "our friends who are there. . .defending themselves against an invading force."

James Montgomery to Franklin B. Sanborn
Creator: Montgomery, James, 1814-1871
Date: January 14, 1861
Just two weeks before Kansas would be admitted to the Union, and in the midst of the early secession crisis, Montgomery (Mound City, Kansas Territory) writes Franklin B. Sanborn (Boston, Massachusetts) that although Montgomery did not favor an invasion of "the slave states so long as they keep themselves at home," Missouri was crossing the line and interfering in Kansas affairs. He also comments on recent mob violence in Boston and General Harney's futile efforts to enforce the Fugitive Slave law in southern Kansas.

James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Creator: Montgomery, James, 1814-1871
Date: October 6, 1860
Having returned from a trip to the East (where he visited George Stearns, Horace Greeley, and others in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia), Montgomery writes from Mound City, Linn County, Kansas Territory, that he "found the people greatly excited." News of violence directed against free state men in Texas and Arkansas has awakened Kansans' sense of urgency, as Montgomery continues his efforts to free slaves and undercut the slave economy of western Missouri.

James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Creator: Montgomery, James, 1814-1871
Date: December 12, 1860
Montgomery writes from Mound City, Kansas Territory, to update Stearns on the activities of "old Harney" (General William S. Harney) and the futile federal government efforts at "enforcing the Fugitive Slave law on us here; it can't be done." Montgomery insists that despite the government's effort to portray "'Montgomery and his band'" as not of the people, popular support for his activities had just been unanimously endorsed at a mass meeting in Mound City.

James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Creator: Montgomery, James, 1814-1871
Date: December 14, 1860
In response to a letter dated November 29, Montgomery informs Stearns that "Uncle Sam has stolen all my late corrispondence [sic]. I suppose he thinks he will find some Treason in it:--He is welcome to all he can find." Much of the news about his activities and intention, insists Montgomery, is simply newspaper talk. "'Montgomery's Band' is a myth. Montgomery's men are the people, and Montgomery himself is one [of] them." He is very interested in getting the press back East to inform the public of "the real state of affairs here."

James Montgomery to George L. Stearns
Creator: Montgomery, James, 1814-1871
Date: November 27, 1860
From Mound City, Kansas Territory, James Montgomery writes George Stearns about recent trouble at Fort Scott and about acting governor George M. Beebe's visit to Mound City. He came, according to Montgomery, to ascertain for himself if the rumors about Montgomery's activities were correct. He left satisfied that the free staters were acting properly and "promising to do what he could to reform abuses" in the federal courts and protect their rights. Although things were quiet at present, and more fugitive slaves had arrived who could now stay safely in Kansas, Montgomery warns that the introduction of federal troops into southern Kansas would create an explosive situation.