Aiken J. Sexton correspondence
Creator: Sexton, A.J.
Date: 1862
Letters from Aiken J. Sexton to his wife, Catherine. Aiken was a private from Company E of the 12th Wisconsin Volunteers and wrote these letters as he traveled through Kansas during the Civil War.

A. J. Arnold to Joseph Hebbard
Creator: Arnold, A. J.
Date: August 11, 1892
In this brief but informative letter A. J. Arnold, a Topeka, Kansas, druggist, informs Joseph Hebbard, treasurer of the Farmer's Alliance, of his decision to switch his allegiance from the Democratic Party to the People's (Populist) Party. He is eager to "release the state of Kansas from the misrule of the Republican Party." While Arnold is confident that he has made the right decision, he also notes that many other Democrats are wavering. Consequently, Arnold has prepared a letter to the Democrats that expresses the benefits of supporting Populism; he asks Hebbard to read through the draft of this letter and provide comments. This enclosure is not with the original letter and has not been located.

Alex E. Case collection
Date: 1866 - 1917
In this small collection, Alex E. Case, a state representative from Marion, Kansas, describes his experiences in Kansas in the 1860s. He recounts a conversation with an Irish immigrant named Sallie Young, who told Case about her encounter with Quantrill's raiders as they rode towards Lawrence. Case also relates his memories of the Cheyenne Indian raids on Marion in 1868 and shares stories about his neighbors A. A. Moore and William Henry Roberts. A searchable transcription is available by clicking "Text Version" below. Funds for digitization provided by Mr. Steve Peckel in memory of William Chalfant.

Arickaree history collection
Date: [Not given]
This collection contains originals and copies of correspondences, articles, notes and related materials regarding the Battle of Beechers Island, also known as the Battle of Arickaree Fork, on September 19, 1868.

A. W. Johnson and Isabella Johnson to Robert S. Wickizer
Creator: Johnson, A. W.
Date: March 24, 1875
In this letter to his cousin, A. W. Johnson relates news from his homestead near Osage Mission, Neosho County. Johnson describes the grasshopper plague in vivid terms, and also mentions how the recent hard times in Kansas should not discourage emigration into the state. In fact, he goes so far as to state that now is the time to come, since land is cheap and the spring weather is "deliteful[sic]." Johnson also states, however, that the price of corn is high, and that high prices on goods make it difficult for him to support his family.

Certificate of Incorporation for the Singleton colony
Creator: Singleton Town Company
Date: June 24, 1879
This certificate of incorporation laid out the details of the Singleton Colony's town company, including its purpose, term of duration, and number of directors. The document was signed by Benjamin Singleton, William Sizemore, A. D. DeFrantz, Fuel Williamson, George Wade, George Moon, John Elliott, Austin Dozier, John Davis, William Shrout, and John Wade. It was also notarized by Thomas Archer and certified by James Smith, Kansas Secretary of State.

Cyrus Leland, Jr. to Mother and other family members
Creator: Leland, Cyrus, 1841-1917
Date: August 3, 1862-January 24, 1864
These letters were selected from a larger group of Civil War letters written by Cyrus Leland, Jr. primarily to his mother but to other family members also. Leland served in the 4th Kansas and later the10th Kansas Infantry, after the 3rd and 4th Kansas were consolidated to form the 10th. Many of the letters concern his efforts to be appointed as an aide-de-camp to General Thomas Ewing, Jr. Leland writes letters from Kansas City, Leavenworth, St. Louis, Rolla, and other places the regiment went. In a letter from Kansas City, Missouri, dated June 29, 1863, he asks his mother to send him $25 and to make him two white shirts. He also writes that he is staying at the Union House, along with some female prisoners. On stationery printed with "Headquarters District of the Border," he writes that General Schofield "has issued an order preventing the military of either Missouri or Kansas from crossing the state line without permission." A short letter written in pencil on October 12, 1863, about a military engagement near Boonville, MO, presents a contrast of letters written in the field to those written at Headquarters. Another letter written October 18, 1863, from "Camp near Carthage, MO, describes the capture of thirty Confederate troops. The letter written November 14th, 1863, describes an incident at a dance near Neosho, MO, that end with shooting. Leland ejected a soldier from "Blunts scouts" that was "a little more noisy than the rest" but when the soldier returned to Fort Scott, he told people he had been bushwhacked. Leland was from Troy, Doniphan County, KS. After the war, he served several terms in the Kansas House of Representatives. A complete transcript of the letters is available by clicking on Text Version below.

Cyrus Leland letters
Creator: Leland, Cyrus, 1841-1917
Date: 1862-1864
These letters were written by Cyrus Leland, primarily, during his time in the Civil War. Leland served in the 4th Kansas and later the10th Kansas Infantry, after the 3rd and 4th Kansas were consolidated to form the 10th. Many of the letters concern his efforts to be appointed as an aide-de-camp to General Thomas Ewing, Jr, and another mentions Preston Plumb and his actions during a charge by William Quantrill. Leland writes letters from Kansas City, Leavenworth, St. Louis, Rolla, and other places the regiment went. In a letter from Kansas City, MO, dated June 29, 1863, he asks his mother to send him $25 and to make him two white shirts. He also writes that he is staying at the Union House, along with some female prisoners. On stationery printed with "Headquarters District of the Border," he writes that General Schofield "has issued an order preventing the military of either Missouri or Kansas from crossing the state line without permission." A short letter written in pencil on October 12, 1863, about a military engagement near Booneville, Missouri, presents a contrast of letters written in the field to those written at Headquarters. Another letter written October 18, 1863, from "Camp near Carthage, MO, describes the capture of thirty Confederate troops. The letter written November 14th, 1863, describes an incident at a dance near Neosho, MO, that end with shooting. Leland ejected a soldier from "Blunts scouts" that was "a little more noisy than the rest" but when the soldier returned to Fort Scott, he told people he had been bushwhacked. Leland was from Troy, Doniphan County, KS. After the war, he served several terms in the Kansas House of Representatives.

Daniel Mulford Valentine's diary
Creator: Valentine, Daniel Mulford, 1830-1907
Date: 1859
Daniel Mulford Valentine, 1830-1907, moved to Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, from Fontanelle, Iowa, in 1859. Valentine was 28 years old at the time, and was a lawyer and surveyor. Many of the diary entries record the weather and short phrases such as "loafing" or "reading." Other entries record information about the elections in Kansas and local politics, and include his assessments of many of the territory's leaders. Valentine records information about Abraham Lincoln's 1859 visit to Leavenworth. Lincoln made two speeches in Kansas, and Valentine attended and wrote about both. Valentine served as an associate justice on the Kansas Supreme Court from 1868 to 1893.

David Burge to Thomas Johnson, Slave Bill of Sale
Creator: Burge, David
Date: May 24, 1856
This bill of sale was issued by David Burge to Thomas Johnson as a receipt for Johnson's purchase of an African American slave named Martha for $800. Thomas Johnson was a Methodist minister and the founder of the Shawnee Methodist Mission. Johnson County, Kansas Territory, was named for Thomas Johnson.

Deposition of J.N.N. Schooler
Creator: Schooler, J.N.N.
Date: June 16, 1867
This item contains the deposition of J.N.N. Schooler following an attack by Indians. In his deposition, Schooler explains that he and his companions were on the "Smoky Hill Overland Route Sixteen or Seventeen miles east of Fort Wallace" when 200 or more Cheyenne and Sioux attacked them. According to Schooler, four men were killed immediately and three were taken prisoner. Other details include the monetary value of items lost during the attack.

Eldridge Hotel floor plans
These handdrawn floor plans for the Eldridge Hotel in Lawrence, Kansas Territory, show the room layout and approximate size of the rooms on the first and second floors. The Eldridge Hotel was the site of numerous Free State meetings and the target of attacks by proslavery forces.

Executive circular to metropolitan police commissioners
Creator: Lewelling, Lorenzo Dow, 1846-1900
Date: December 4, 1893
With this circular, Governor Lorenzo Dow Lewelling of Topeka, Kansas, appeals to police commissioners of Kansas cities to show restraint in the prosecution of the unemployed. The governor argues that high rates of unemployment are a product of the industrial system of production and not the fault of individuals. Since jobs are not available to all employable persons, he argues, unemployed persons should not be treated as criminals. The governor denounces the vagrancy law for first class cities included in the General Statutes of 1889, and similar city ordinances, which allowed for the arrest, imprisonment, or fine of "all vagrants, tramps, and confidence men and persons found in said city without visible means of support, or some legitimate business." The Kansas Legislature originally enacted the law in 1881. Governor Lewelling was the first People's Party (Populist) candidate to become governor. Republican opponents of the Populist governor dubbed this letter the "Tramp Circular."

First letter of the war
Creator: Lane, James Henry, 1814-1866
Date: December 1, 1855
A facsimile of a letter written by General James H. Lane, labeled as the first letter of the "Wakarusa War." This skirmish was between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces near and at Lawrence, Kansas. There was only one casualty before a treaty was signed to end the war.

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 Federation of Women's Clubs of Kansas publications
Creator: Walker, Ida M.
Date: October 15, 1902-April 30, 1937
This collection of General Federation of Women's Clubs of Kansas represents publications by the Club collected by Ida M. Walker from 1902-1937. The Club was established in 1880, publishing the Clubwoman Magazine bi-monthly to inform members of news and events. Represented in this collection is clippings from this magazine as well as Club programs and pamphlets for Club events.

General order number 15, issued by Major General Samuel Curtis and others
Creator: Curtis, Samuel Ryan, 1805-1866
Date: October 23, 1864
This order states that General Order No. 54, which established martial law north of the Kaw River, has since been revoked now that the enemy has been driven south and the danger has been removed from the area.

Gottlieb F. Oehler to Eli K. Price
Creator: Oehler, Gottlieb
Date: July 11, 1859
Gottlieb F. Oehler, a Moravian missionary working with the Chippewa and Munsee Indians in Kansas Territory, wrote this letter to Eli Price regarding the mistreatment of Indians and whites' disrespectful attitudes toward Indian lands. Oehler was appalled that white squatters frequently settled on Indian land with no response from the federal government, who should have protected Indian land claims. While most white Americans agreed with the government's approach to removal, Oehler hoped that Price would speak out against federal policies and educate the public in the eastern United States about the treatment of Indians out west. Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the views of most Americans did not change fast enough to save them from being placed on reservations.

Harry Fine correspondence
Creator: Fine, Harry
Date: October 1915-June 1916
These postcards and letters were written by Harry B. Fine to his parents, Mr. And Mrs. John B. Fine, Princeton, New Jersey, while he was working on the W. J. Tod Ranch, Maple Hill, Kansas. Harry worked on the ranch from October of 1915 to June of 1916. While working on the farm, Harry wrote letters describing his experiences on the ranch. He had just graduated from Andover High School in New Jersey at the age of 15. His father, John, felt that he was too young to start college and thought that a little work experience would do the boy good. The letters describe the year in the life of a teenager who is away from home and in unfamiliar surroundings for the first time. He provides detail about his chores and the people with whom he works.

Henry Leavenworth to E.G.W. Butler
Creator: Leavenworth, Henry, 1783-1834
Date: May 8, 1827
In this letter Henry Leavenworth, founder of Cantonment Leavenworth (later Ft. Leavenworth) described the location he had chosen as the site of this military outpost. Leavenworth also mentioned that, because various tribes of Indians would certainly be coming to visit the new fort, it would be best for John Dougherty, the Indian agent in Council Bluffs, Iowa, to move his office into the fort.

H.J. Alvord, departmental claim agent, Washington, D.C.
Creator: Alvord, H.J.
Date: 1870
This business card from attorney H.J. Alvord indicates that he was well-versed in dealing with Indian depredation claims. These were predominantly claims filed by Euro-Americans living in the West against Native Americans for crimes they allegedly committed in the years following the American Civil War.

Homestead deed, Kaw Indian roll no. 138
Date: May 13, 1903-May 15, 1903
A homestead deed for Charles Curtis, a member of the Kaw tribe of Indians, signed by Wah-shun-gah, head chief of Kansas or Kaw tribe. Photostat copy made from original lent by Doctor Berlin B. Chapman, Oklahoma, A. & M., August 1946. Curtis served in the U.S. Senate for Kansas from March 4, 1907 - March 3, 1913 and was vice-president to Herbert Hoover from March 4, 1929 - March 3, 1933.