Overview Richards and William Connelley corresponded about Kansas territorial history. Richards, who participated in the border wars between Kansas Territory and Missouri (1854-1861), recounted the events for Connelley, a historian. The letters, dated 1902-1909, were written approximately 50 years after the events. Connelley and Richards were specifically interested in detailing the border war involvement of Richards himself as well as James Lane, John Brown, William Quantrill, and Governor...

Overview

The accounts in this collection relate to Reuben Randlett's experiences in the 1856 sacking of Lawrence, Kansas; his activities as a spy among the raiders; the Battle of Black Jack; the dissolution of the Free State legislature in Topeka on July 4, 1856; and Randlett's captivity by William C. Quantrill in 1862. The collection also includes a photograph of Randlett.