Adjutant General's report, Kansas Colored Volunteers correspondence
Creator: United States. Adjutant General's Office
Date: 1863-1864
This bound letter book contains copies of letters sent and received by the Adjutant General's Office in Fort Scott, Kansas. They were assigned to recruit a regiment of colored soldiers. Letters were received from the War Department in Washington, D.C. and from the Office of the Governor in Kansas. The letters focus on the recruitment and commissioning of troops and officers for the Kansas Colored Volunteer's regiments. Many of the letters were written by or sent to General James G. Blunt. It appears the book was kept by Major T. J. Anderson, Assistant Adjutant General. Names of many individuals appear in the volume.

B. W. Lewis Bros. To Governor Thomas Carney
Creator: B. W. Lewis Bros.
Date: August 24, 1863
B. W. Lewis Bros. of Glasgow, Missouri, writes Governor Thomas Carney of Topeka, Kansas, concerning its plan to send emancipated slaves to Kansas. The letter claims a high number of slaves are escaping their masters and are only recovered at considerable expense. The firm outlines a plan to free its slaves by November 1, 1863 and send them to Kansas by boat. The letter asks Governor Carney if he is aware of any objections to this plan. The letter claims that most of the slaves near Glasgow will have escaped to Kansas by year's end. President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in areas controlled by Confederate forces, became effective January 1, 1863. As a Union slave state, Missouri was not legally affected by the proclamation.

Benjamin Talbot Babbitt to Governor Thomas Carney
Creator: Benjamin Talbot Babbitt
Date: December 30, 1863
In this letter, prominent New York soap manufacturer B.T. Babbitt writes to Kansas governor Thomas Carney to offer 100 packages of his soap to the victims of Quantrill's raid on Lawrence.

Charles Keeler to Governor Thomas Carney
Creator: Keeler, Charles G.
Date: May 08, 1863
This letter was written to Governor Thomas Carney from Captain Charles G. Keeler. Keeler advises Carney about the location of a Kansas bridge that is about to be built. He believes the location should be at the Chouteau ferry site in Johnson County, thereby securing trade from the southern portion of the state as well the Santa Fe trail trade. A searchable, full-text version of this letter is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Governor Thomas Carney's table
Creator: Mitchell & Rammelsberg
Date: between 1850 and 1859
This Rococo-style oak table once belonged to Thomas Carney, the second governor of Kansas. The table features a vinyl writing surface (not original) and cabriole legs with carved dragons. Born in Ohio, Carney came to Leavenworth, Kansas, in the 1850s and established a successful business. He was elected Governor in 1863 and served until 1865. Effie Hiatt Van Tuyl, another Leavenworth resident, later acquired the table and gave it to the Shawnee Mission State Historic Site in Fairway, Kansas. Mitchell & Rammelsberg, a furniture company in Cincinnati, Ohio, manufactured the table.

Governor Thomas Carney college and university lands, 1863, correspondence
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1863-1865 : Carney)
Date: 1863
Thomas Carney compiled this series of correspondence on college and university lands in 1863 from letters he received while governor of Kansas. A searchable, full-text version of this correspondence is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Governor Thomas Carney criminal matters correspondence
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1863-1865 : Carney)
Date: 1863-1864
Thomas Carney compiled this series of correspondence on criminal matters for 1863 and 1864, from letters he received while governor of Kansas. A complete transcription is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Governor Thomas Carney military affairs correspondence
Creator: Kansas. Governor (1863-1865 : Carney)
Date: 1863-1864
Thomas Carney compiled this series of correspondence on military matters for 1863 and 1864, from letters he received while governor of Kansas. Included are letters about "raids of bushwackers and thieves" and one relating to the sick and wounded Kansas soldiers that are in St. Louis hospitals. A complete transcription is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Inaugural Address of Governor Thomas Carney
Date: January 14, 1863
Governor Thomas Carney's 1863 inaugural address deals with a number of issues including the Civil War and the sacrifices of Kansas soldiers, the financial condition of the state, war bonds, the importance of agriculture to the state's future development, education, public institutions, establishment of a state university, establishment of a penitentiary, internal improvements such as roads, the extinction of Indian titles to land, railroads, the importance of land surveys, out-of-state insurance, building a state capitol, among other issues.

James L. McDowell correspondence
Date: 1860-1892
This item contains letters to James L. McDowell. Correspondents include Edmund G. Ross, Alexander Caldwell, Thomas Carney, Senator Preston Plumb, General Thomas Ewing, members and staff of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, individuals working for the Kansas State Fair Association, staff of the Department of the Interior - General Land Office, and others. The letters from Thomas Carney focus on topics such as the Fugitive Slave Law, the Kansas militia, and Missouri border trouble. McDowell held a number of public positions in his lifetime, from notary public to city mayor to U.S. Marshal and major-general of the Kansas militia (including organizing to defend the state during Price's Raid in 1864) to postmaster for Leavenworth. He was also actively interested in agriculture, helping to organize the first and later state fairs for Kansas.

Kansas Adjutant General general correspondence
Creator: Kansas. Adjutant General's Office
Date: 1863
This item is correspondence of the Kansas Adjutant General's Office under Charles Chadwick (1862-1863) and Guilford Dudley (1863-1864), including special orders issued by Governor Thomas Carney to Samuel N. Wood of the Morris County Rangers to detain any organized bands of guerillas near Council Grove and William P. Dutton to equip his company in Miami County. Several letters were received from John B. Gray, Missouri Adjutant General, inquiring about Missouri men that had enlisted in the Kansas militia. Most of the correspondence consists of requests for muster rolls, arms, resignations, and commissions. Other notable correspondents include Stephen A. Cobb and Sidney Clarke. A searchable, full-text version of this correspondence is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Kansas Adjutant General general correspondence
Creator: Kansas. Adjutant General's Office
Date: 1864
This is correspondence sent and received by the Kansas Adjutant General's Office. Cyrus K. Holliday succeeded Guilford Dudley as Adjutant General in May 1864. Topics of this correspondence include hospital reports from Fort Scott, requests for more appointments of medical officers, transmittal of muster rolls, a list of volunteers from Wisconsin who enlisted in Kansas, and letters from Elizabeth Pearsons Clouse inquiring about her son, Benjamin Franklin Pearsons. Correspondence was frequently exchanged with Lieutenant J.R. Kemble, General John B. Gray, Assistant Provost Marshal Sidney Clarke, Provost Marshal James McCahon, and Provost Marshal A.J. Shannon. Also included are letters from newspaper publishers requesting payment for printing General and Special Orders, including a young Marshall M. Murdock from the Burlingame Chronicle. A letter dated January 31, 1864 from President Abraham Lincoln orders the draft of 500,000 men. A searchable, full-text version of this correspondence is available by clicking "Text Version" below.

Kansas State Militia miscellaneous papers by county
Date: 1861-1865
These papers are primarily made up of signed military oaths and muster rolls, arranged alphabetically by county. They chronicle the organization of small, township militias across the state, including the Humboldt Rangers, Little Osage Cavalry, Huron Home Guards, Barnesville Home Guards, Padonia Frontier Guards, LeRoy Scouts, Greenwood Township Rifle Company, Circleville Riflemen, Bainter Rangers of Jefferson County, Twin Springs Union Guards, Cavalry Company at Neosho Falls, among many others. Also included is correspondence between the citizens volunteering for the Kansas State Militia and government officials, including Adjutant General Guilford Dudley, Adjutant General Cyrus K. Holliday, Governor Charles L. Robinson, and Governor Thomas Carney.

Kansas State Militia miscellaneous papers by unit
Date: 1861-1865
These images are correspondence, commission documents, muster rolls and other items, arranged by militia unit (Regiments 1 through 23) as well several other units. State government correspondents include Governor Charles L. Robinson, Governor Thomas Carney, Adjutant General Charles Chadwick, Adjutant General Guilford Dudley, and Adjutant General Cyrus K. Holliday. State militia correspondents include Maj. Gen. J. C. Stone, Maj. Gen. John A. Halderman, Maj. Gen. J. S. McDowell, Brig. Gen. Samuel N. Wood, Col. Thomas Moonlight, Col. John T. Snoddy, and Major Watson Stuart of the 4th Ballalion, Colored Detachment. Examples of specific materials include a petition from citizens in Doniphan County to have Capt. A. W. Williams stationed in northern Kansas, an enrollment list for a Lawrence volunteer militia under Capt. Francis B. Swift, and a letter written by William Meairs to Gov. Carney suggesting an independent cavalry be organized in Wakarusa township to protect against raids from Missouri.

Proclamation! The state is in peril!
Creator: Kansas. Militia
Date: October 08, 1864
This broadside conveys the urgency the State of Kansas felt with regard to Confederate General Sterling Price's invasion of Missouri, and the possible threat that it posed to Kansas. The body of the broadside contains portions of one letter, and two telegraphs, sent to Governor Carney from Major General Samuel. R. Curtis. In addition, Gov. Carney issues a call for Kansas men to rally to defend the state against invasion. Finally, the broadside ends with a General Order issued by Major General George W. Deitzler, Kansas State Militia, directing all Kansas militias to muster at various locations throughout the state in anticipation of Price's invasion.

R. M. Jacks to Thomas Carney
Creator: Jacks, R.M.
Date: June 8, 1864
Bourbon County sheriff R.M. Jacks of Fort Scott writes to Governor Thomas Carney of Topeka requesting the raising of one or two companies of One Hundred Day Men--men who served for a period of roughly 100 days in time of need. Specifically, Jacks is requesting the formation of the companies in order to deal with increased violence along the border between Kansas and Missouri.

The state to be placed upon a war footing!
Creator: Kansas. Militia
Date: September 1863
This broadside appeared shortly after William Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas. It contains Kansas governor Thomas Carney's orders directing the Kansas State Militia to muster on September 12, 1863. The text includes details such as where and when militias will muster, how they will elect their officers and non-commissioned officers, the reason for the call-up, and the terms of service related to the call-up.

Thomas C. Stevens correspondence
Date: 1861-1864
These letters, telegrams, and other business and political/military correspondence involve Thomas C. Stevens or Governor Thomas Carney. Carney and Stevens had opened the first wholesale house in Leavenworth together in the spring of 1858. This collection contains many of Governor Carney's personal papers, not found in his administration records collection. In two letters, dated September 3, 1863, Major General John McAllister Schofield, commander of the Department of the Missouri for the Union Army, writes to Governor Carney accepting the services of the Kansas militia to help protect border towns. He also announces his intentions to "publish an order prohibiting all armed men, not in the service of the United States from passing the Missouri line." This correspondence also includes a number of telegrams that Governor Carney received from various individuals. Thomas Ewing Jr., commander of the District of the Border, wrote to Carney on August 27, 1863 asking him to use his influence to prevent a raid into Missouri in retaliation for Quantrill's Raid. Samuel R. Curtis, commander of the Army of the Border, wrote to Carney on June 7, 1864 reporting on bushwhackers and hostile Indians.

Thomas Carney, Kansas Governor
Creator: Henry, E. E.
Date: 1888
Portrait of Thomas Carney, a Republican from Leavenworth, Kansas, served as Governor of Kansas from January 12, 1863 to January 9, 1865. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1864 but declined to serve.