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.

This collection of letters was apparently written by two sisters living in Lawrence from 1859 to sometime after 1863. The letters are written to their mother and brother who lived in Westinfield, Connecticut, and concern events in Lawrence prior to and during the Civil War.