Medium: Text
Date: September 18, 1857
Henry J. Raymond, editor of the “New York Times,” denies William Hutchinson’s accusation that the Times did not actively support the Free State cause in Kansas Territory because of Raymond’s…
Medium: Text
Date: Between November 28, 1856 and December 3, 1856
This printed document includes three reports, written by Samuel Cabot of the Massachusetts State Kansas Committee, concerning the distribution of clothes and packages sent to Kansas Territory. The first report…
Medium: Text
Date: 1860
This pamphlet, written by Daniel Foster, general agent of the New England Kansas Relief Committee, attempts to dispel any doubts about the severity of the nine-month drought in Kansas Territory.…
Medium: Text
Date: Between 1855 and 1857
This circular is written by Clarina Nichols to the women of New York. In her eloquent letter, she attempts to persuade them to send support to the people of Kansas,…
Medium: Text
Date: July 1, 1856
From a “camp near Lecompton,” George W. Smith and the other Free State captives, including Charles Robinson and John Brown, Jr., write to state their views on issues facing the…
Medium: Text
Date: 1854
Dandridge E. Kelsey’s diary for the year 1854 is the first in a series that covers consistently the years 1853-1876. This 1854 volume begins with some personal and family history…
Medium: Text
Date: May 13, 1856
George Washington Brown, editor of the “Herald of Freedom” newspaper, was one of seven free-state leaders arrested on May 14, 1856, on charges of high treason and held prisoner by…
Medium: Text
Date: December 26, 1857
In this brief letter from Topeka, Kansas Territory, signed by Cyrus K. Holiday, M. C. Dickey, F. L. Crane, Loring Farnsworth, and F. W. Giles, “Governor” Robinson is “respecfully and…
Medium: Text
Date: December 18, 1859
James Montgomery, writing from Mound City, Kansas Territory, responds to Leander Martin’s suggestion that he (Montgomery) contest the results of the November 8, 1859 election for representatives to the territorial…
Medium: Text
Date: April 1, 1855
Born and raised in Rhode Island, twenty-three-year-old Thomas C. Wells apparently was a reluctant Kansas immigrant. His initial ambivalence is reflected in his first letter from Providence, Rhode Island, on…
Medium: Text
Date: March 6, 1858
This letter from Samuel C. Pomeroy to Thaddeus Hyatt was written from the Planters House hotel in Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, on March 6, 1858 (not 1859, as marked), and deals…
Medium: Text
Date: January 17, 1859
In this letter from Atchison, Kansas Territory, Pomeroy updates his business partner on the progress of Missouri’s railroads, which were about completed to St. Joseph. Pomeroy proposes that they “put…
Medium: Text
Date: August 6, 1857
Samuel C. Pomeroy again reports to Thaddeus Hyatt from Atchison, Kansas Territory, regarding various issues having to do with their investments in that town. “The Rail Road matter,” which went…
Medium: Text
Date: April 4, 1860
Findley Patterson, the land office receiver at Junction City, Kansas Territory from May, 1858, to April, 1861, writes John Halderman with regard to problems within the Kansas Democratic Party. Recent…
Medium: Text
Date: November 1, 1859
George W. Brown, the editor of the Herald of Freedom, writes John Halderman from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, concerning the next issue of the paper which was to be “an awful…
Medium: Text
Date: March 14, 1859
In a letter marked “Confidential” and dated March 14, 1859, Andrew J. Mead of Manhattan, Kansas Territory, writes to enlist John Halderman’s help to get Russell, Majors, and Waddell to…
Medium: Text
Date: January 12, 1858
Shortly after John Halderman left Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, for a trip east (Washington, D. C., it is nearly certain), William Stanley writes him from Leavenworth regarding some “excitement” that had…
Medium: Text
Date: January, 1860
According to this document, signed by the speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives, the assembly owes $68 (“mileage and per diem”) to Mark W. Delahay for “services rendered” as…
Medium: Text
Date: March 24, 1856
Addressed from the “Senate Chamber” in Washington, D.C., this brief note is a letter of introduction for Mark W. Delahay from Charles Sumner, the famed Republican abolitionist senator from Massachusetts.…
Medium: Text
Date: December 1, 1860
In response to an inquiry about a presidential appointment, Delahay writes from Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, that it was too soon to bother the president elect with such matters. When the…
Medium: Text
Date: December 14, 1860
U.S. Senator Lyman Trumbull, an Illinois supporter of Abraham Lincoln’s and long-time acquaintance of Delahay, writes from Washington, D.C., to thank Delahay for his efforts in the recent campaign. The…
Medium: Text
Date: May 15, 1856
Napolean B. Blanton prepared this itemized list. Blanton of Douglas County operated a toll bridge over the Wakarusa River in Douglas County south of Lawrence, Kansas Territory. The total bill…
Medium: Text
Date: October 10, 1856
Thaddeus Hyatt, president of the National Kansas Committee,writes this published “appeal” to the New York Tribune editor. It is subtitled “with practical suggestions for its relief.” This committee, also known…
Medium: Text
Date: 1856
Lawrence merchants appeal to the St. Louis business community to take steps to prevent Missourians from invading Kansas Territory. They base their request on the negative impact that the invasions…
Medium: Text
Date: December 21, 1856
Curtis reports on the conflict between the Kansas Central Committee and W. F. M. Arny, general agent for the National Kansas Committee, over the distribution of supplies. Curtis claims that…
