Agreement, Construction of Office Building in Leavenworth
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: September 29, 1855
A. H. Reeder enters into an agreement with H. M. Hook for the latter to "erect" an office building on lot #8, block #3 of Leavenworth, Kansas Territory. Hook agrees to build the structure, "16 feet by 32 feet similar to the office of M. I. Parrot" (perhaps, Marcus J. Parrott) for $400. Hook is to be paid out of the rent received on this property when finished, as well as from what rent he receives on three other properties he has leased from Reeder.

A. H. Reeder to Franklin Crane
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: November 28, 1859
Andrew Reeder, former governor of Kansas Territory, wrote from Easton, Pennsylvania to Dr. Franklin Crane of Topeka. The letter discussed business interests in Kansas Territory and prospects for its admission to the union. Reeder also suggested it might be beneficial to replace place names, which had been established by the bogus legislature, that had pro-slavery connections.

A. H. Reeder to Franklin Crane
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: September 1, 1858
Andrew Reeder, former governor of Kansas Territory, wrote from Easton, Pennsylvania, to inform Franklin Crane of the eastern response to elections in Kansas, and the prospects for the Leavenworth Constitution. Reeder also discussed the value of Topeka lots and a request to donate one lot for a church.

Andrew Horatio Reeder
Date: 1856
A photograph of a painting depicting Andrew Horatio Reeder as he escaped from Kansas Territory disguised as a woodchopper. The artist probably painted this from a photograph taken upon Reeder's arrival in Chicago, Illinois. Reeder was appointed to serve as territorial governor of Kansas on June 29, 1854, took the oath of office on July 7, 1854, and arrived in Kansas Territory on October 7, 1854. He served to April 17, 1855, and then again from June 23 to August 16, 1855. In 1854, Reeder called for an election to choose a delegate to Congress. On election day, Missourians came in great numbers and, voting illegally, elected a proslavery candidate. This same situation occurred in March, 1855, when an election was called to form a legislature. Early in 1856, Lecompton was designated the territorial capital of Kansas. Sheriff Samuel Jones, a strong proslavery supporter, arrested several free-staters in Lawrence. Several people for whom Jones was looking escaped, including Reeder, who left Kansas dressed as a woodchopper.

Andrew Horatio Reeder
Date: 1856
Portrait of Andrew Horation Reeder, governor of Kansas Territory.

Andrew Horatio Reeder
Date: Between 1854 and 1855
Portrait of Andrew Reeder, 1807-1864, who was the first Kansas Territorial Governor. He was commissioned on June 29, 1854, took the oath of office on July 7, and arrived in Kansas on October 7, 1854. He served two terms as territorial governor: October 7, 1854 to April 17, 1855, and from June 23, 1855 to August 16, 1855.

Andrew Horatio Reeder to Franklin Crane
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: December 23, 1856
This letter by Andrew Reeder, former governor of Kansas Territory, was written from Easton, Pennsylvania, where both Reeder and Crane had lived before coming to Kansas. Reeder encloses payment for the taxes on his Topeka lots. He also reports that he has been in Washington, D. C. lobbying for the free-state cause and informs Crane of various issues being discussed in the capitol.

Andrew Horatio Reeder to unknown man
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: July 16, 1863
A letter written by former Kansas Territorial Governor Andrew Horatio Reeder to an unknown man regarding the payment of Reeder's taxes. A searchable, full-text version of this letter is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Andrew H. Reeder
Portrait of Andrew H. Reeder, first governor of the Kansas Territory. Reeder was commissioned as governor on June 29, 1854, and took the oath of office on July 7, 1854. He arrived in the Kansas Territory on October 7, 1854, and served to April 17, 1855, and served again in a second term from June 23, 1855, to August 16, 1855.

Andrew H. Reeder portrait
Creator: Hall, Cyrenius
Date: 1880
Portrait of Andrew Horatio Reeder, 1807-1864, who was the first governor of Kansas Territory. In 1855, Reeder was removed from office by President Pierce and forced to leave Kansas when threatened with arrest for a charge of high treason issued by a pro-slavery grand jury. He escaped with the help of Thomas and Julia Stinson, who dressed him in women's clothing. In May 1856, Reeder disguised himself as a woodcutter (as depicted in this painting) and escaped via a steamboat on the Missouri River. Artist Cyrenius Hall painted this portrait in 1880.

Andrew H. Reeder's instructions about his land claim in the Wyandotte Float
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: [1857]
This document, obviously written by Andrew H. Reeder either to the surveyor or to Reeder's attorney, John A. Halderman, is undated but was most likely composed in 1857. It addresses issues related to the location of Reeder's claim to land in the Wyandotte Float in the Kansas Territory.

Andrew H. Reeder to Charles Robinson
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: February 16, 1856
From "Washington City" on February 16, 1856, former Kansas Territory governor Andrew H. Reeder wrote Charles Robinson regarding Reeder's efforts to influence Kansas Territory policy in the nation's capital. Reeder was working through friends, since he no longer had personal influence with President Pierce, and he was not pleased with the president's February 11 proclamation, which he called "the low contemptible trickstering affair which might expected from Pierce, and is like the Special Message [of January 24] a slander on the Free State Party." Nevertheless, Reeder thought it could have been worse and insisted that Robinson and the other free-state leaders "should not organize the State Govt" as Pierce would just use that action to justify aggressive moves to suppress the free state movement.

Andrew H. Reeder to Charles Robinson
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: February 18, 1856
On February 18, 1856, former Kansas Territorial governor, Andrew Reeder, writes Charles Robinson to advise Robinson of the current situation in Washington, D.C., and to urge caution. Reeder believes that Robinson, and the Topeka movement and legislature, must clearly state that they are organizing a "state government" solely for the purpose of being ready to assume authority if and when Congress admits Kansas Territory to the Union. Reeder believes the "state movement" was on solid constitutional ground if this is its official position in the meantime, and cautions Robinson that they must take care not to usurp the power and authority of the territorial government.

Andrew H. Reeder to John A. Haldeman
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: October 06, 1855
In this letter to John A. Haldeman, Andrew H. Reeder informs Haldeman that he has been told that "a new assessment of $5 per share to pay for a Wyandot float of 640 acres has been laid on the town of Tecumseh."

Andrew H. Reeder to John A. Haldeman
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: August 11, 1856
In this letter to John A. Haldeman, Andrew H. Reeder discusses the "sacking of Lawrence," the loss of papers related to the sale on lands that once belonged to Indians, and the use of Haldeman as his agent for his lots in Leavenworth, Kansas. As Reeder's letter indicates, the transition of Indian lands into the hands of white settlers was often quite difficult and added to tension levels in Kansas in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

Andrew H. Reeder to John A. Halderman
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: January 9, 1857
From the National Hotel in Washington, Andrew Reeder advises John Halderman on the disposition of some business matters, especially those related to his Leavenworth lots. He comments on a variety of subjects including his desire "to return to Kansas in the spring," and to have some long-term impact on the growth and development of Leavenworth. Reeder also mentions his influence with "some of the men who will probably control the Pacific [Rail] Road when it is built," his desire to help Leavenworth secure the eastern Kansas terminus, and his activity with the National Kansas Committee. Although he had no interest in the rival town of Quindaro, he intends to "help build up" that city if he is not "fairly dealt with" in Leavenworth.

Andrew H. Reeder to John A. Halderman
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: August 11, 1856
The former governor writes this letter from Easton, Pennsylvania, to his former secretary and attorney, John A. Halderman, in order to secure Halderman's services to retrieve some personal papers and settle some matters of business pertaining to town lots and shares. According to Reeder, "the Sheriff posse at the sacking of Lawrence broke open my trunk and stole the contents. The clothing is probably by this time worn out," and he is not concerned about other contents, with the exception of "some private papers" that someone had informed him could be retrieved. He asks Halderman to get the papers, which included "certificates of stock in Leavenworth, Tecumseh, Lecompton, Lawrence, Easton, Pawnee" etc., and then take care of business matters that are reflected therein. Reeder also asks Halderman "to attend to my Leavenworth lots" and explains in considerable detail about these matters.

Andrew H. Reeder to John A. Halderman
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: January 14, 1857
In this letter from Washington, D.C., dated January 14, 1857, Reeder writes at length of a visit with W. H. Russell of Leavenworth (William H. Russell of Russell, Majors & Waddell), who believed the business climate was improving and that Reeder's lots were safe. Russell advises Reeder not to sell anything until value increases and volunteers to help Reeder reclaim the personal papers he lost during the sack of Lawrence.

Andrew H. Reeder to John A. Halderman
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: October 6, 1855
This 1855 letter to John A. Halderman from former territorial governor Andrew H. Reeder of Westport, Kansas Territory, describes a new assessment of $5 per share for the town of Tecumseh's 640 acre Wyandot Float. Reeder also discusses the erection of a court house with bricks that had been intended for a hotel.

Andrew H. Reeder to John A. Halderman
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: October 22, 1856
Former Kansas Territory Governor Andrew H. Reeder writes to John Halderman from Easton, Pennsylvania, regarding his business affairs and his desire to have Halderman act as his attorney and agent. Reeder also gives brief attention to the political situation in Kansas Territory and the nation, mentioning the congressional committee investigating the Kansas affairs, the "horrible state of things . . .in our unfortunate Territory," and his belief that, although James Buchanan would win the presidential contest in 1856, "the Republican party is bound to sweep the North within the next four years."

Andrew H. Reeder to William Hutchinson
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: August 25, 1856
This letter from Andrew H. Reeder to William Hutchinson describes Reeder's efforts to raise money for the Free State cause in his travels through the northern states.

Andrew Reeder's dagger
Creator: G. Wostenholm & Son
Date: 1855
Many free-state leaders were charged with treason by the pro-slavery legislature in May 1856. Former territorial governor Andrew Reeder escaped arrest by leaving Kansas disguised as a woodcutter. Reeder carried this dagger for defense when he fled the territory.

Annals of Kansas, April, 1856
Creator: Wilder, Daniel Webster, 1832-1911
Date: April, 1856
D. W. Wilder's "Annals of Kansas," published in 1886, provides a day-by-day chronicle of significant events in Kansas. These are digital images of Annals of Kansas entries for the territorial period of 1854-1861.

Annals of Kansas, April - May, 1855
Creator: Wilder, Daniel Webster, 1832-1911
Date: April, 1855 through May, 1855
D. W. Wilder's "Annals of Kansas," published in 1886, provides a day-by-day chronicle of significant events in Kansas. These are digital images of Annals of Kansas entries for the territorial period of 1854-1861.

Annals of Kansas, January - February, 1855
Creator: Wilder, Daniel Webster, 1832-1911
Date: January, 1855 through February, 1855
D. W. Wilder's "Annals of Kansas," published in 1886, provides a day-by-day chronicle of significant events in Kansas. These are digital images of Annals of Kansas entries for the territorial period of 1854-1861.