Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Partisan Cartographers During the Kansas-Missouri Border War, 1854–1861

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
History of Military Cartography

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography ((ICA))

  • 1031 Accesses

Abstract

A precursor to the American Civil War erupted in Kansas in 1854 after the U.S. Congress gave homesteaders in the Kansas Territory, newly opened for settlement, the right to vote whether Kansas would be a free or slave-holding state. Conflict between settlers from adjoining slave-holding Missouri and anti-slavery settlers from New England resulted in the guerrilla-style Kansas-Missouri Border War, 1854–1861. At the same time, the Territory was being surveyed and mapped for settlement according to the Public Land Survey System. Surviving documents reveal how political views and cartographic activities mingled in the lives of three surveyors active in Douglas County, the site of both Lecompton, the early pro-slavery capital of Kansas, and Lawrence, the Free-State headquarters. While surveying and mapping the Kansas Territory, Albert Dwight Searl, Isaac Cooper Stuck, and John Brown not only promoted its settlement but also put their lives on the line in opposition to slavery.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 229.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 299.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abels, J (1971) Man on fire. John Brown and the cause of liberty. Macmillan, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreas AT (1883) History of the State of Kansas. AT Andreas, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (27 January 1855a) Chart of Lawrence. Kans Herald of Freedom 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (13 October 1855b) Map of Osawatomie. Kans Herald of Freedom 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (12 March 1856a) Report of Kansas legislature. Kans Herald of Freedom 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (190 April 1856b) A new and reliable map of eastern Kansas. Kans Herald of Freedom 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (1858) View of Lawrence Kansas looking southward. Middleton Strobridge & Co., Cincinnati

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (1860–1869) Edmund Burke Whitman photograph http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/228950. Accessed 15 Nov 2014

  • Anon (30 April 1864) Personal. Olathe Mirror 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (10 August 1865a) R.R. meeting at Olathe. Olathe Mirror 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (17 August 1865b) Railroad meeting! Olathe Mirror 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (17 October 1865c) Pleasant Hill railroad. Dly Kans Tribune 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (16 November 1866) Council proceedings. Dly Kans Tribune 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (27 June 1868a) A new map of Lawrence. Dly Kans Tribune 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (25 June 1868b) Personal. Olathe mirror 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (15 December 1869) An old settler returned. Dly Kans Tribune 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (12 February 1870a) Register of Deeds about the city map. Dly Kans Tribune 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (16 February 1870b) The city map. Dly Kans Tribune 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (25 March 1871a) Need for a correct map. Dly Kans Tribune 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (24 August 1871b) The Pleasant Hill road. Lawrence Dly J 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (30 July 1875) Former Searl & Winchell billiard room. Lawrence Dly J 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (11 August 1876) Searl back from Ohio. Dly Commonwealth 4

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (1879) The United States Biographical Dictionary. Kansas Volume. S. Lewis & Co., Chicago and Kansas City

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (2 May 1880) Searle’s [sic] good luck. Lawrence Dly J 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (12 January 1881a) News of Whitman and Searl. Kans Dly Tribune 4

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (8 July 1881b) Birthday surprise party. Kans Dly Tribune 4

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (13 April 1883) Judge Foote issued marriage licenses. Lawrence Daily J 4

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (30 December 1886) Mr. and Mrs. Mackey’s Reception. Olathe Mirror 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (20 September 1888a) A sudden death. Olathe Mirror 7

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (27 September 1888b) Obituary. Olathe Mirror 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (13 November 1902a) AD Searl funeral. Jeffersonian Gaz 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (12 December 1902b) No fear of death. Farmers’ Vindicator 6

    Google Scholar 

  • Anon (3 June 1914) Death of Mrs. Searl. Jeffersonian Gaz 4

    Google Scholar 

  • Brougham (3 January 1855) Messrs. Editors. Kans Free State 1

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J (1838) Chauncy Newberry surv[e]y-bill. Part of lot no. 12 Franklin, [OH]. John Brown Business Papers, Kansas Historical Society

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J (13 October 1855a) Letter, John Brown to Dear wife (Mary Brown) & children all. http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/4247 Accessed 3 March 2015

  • Brown J Jr (22 June 1855b) Letter, John Brown, Jr to his father, John Brown. http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/5499. Accessed 3 March 2015

  • Caldwell MB (1937) The Stubbs. Kans Hist Q 6(2):124–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Connelley WE (1971) John Brown. Books for Libraries Press, Freeport

    Google Scholar 

  • Du Bois WEB (2007) John Brown. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Fruehauf E (1982) Early surveys in Kansas. Kans Hist 5(2):121–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Genealogy Trails contributors (2007–2015) Linn County Kansas genealogy trails, Biographies, Simon McGrew. http://genealogytrails.com/kan/linn/bios/mcgre.html. Accessed 4 March 2015

  • Goodrich T (1998) War to the knife. Bleeding Kansas, 1854–1861. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregg O (1874) History of Johnson County, Kansas. In: Heisler EF, Smith DM (Hrsg) Atlas map of Johnson County, Kansas. EF Heisler & Co., Wyandott

    Google Scholar 

  • Grim RE (1985) Mapping Kansas and Nebraska: the role of the General Land Office. Gt Plains Q 5(3):177–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Grim RE (1990) Maps of the township and range system. In: Buisseret D (ed) From sea charts to satellite images. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanway J (1856) Five-page account of May 24, 1856 killings. http://www.territorialkansasonline.org. Accessed 28 Feb 2015

  • Harwell RB (1959) A check list of an exhibition of John Brown 1800–1859. University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson FE (5 October 1865) Statement of scrip cancelled and accounts allowed by County Board. Olathe Mirror 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson FE (8 August 1867) Total amount of accounts allowed by the county board. Olathe Mirror 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill H (28 March 1856) Letter to Edmund Burke Whitman. http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/3064. Accessed 28 Feb 2014

  • Kansas Historical Society (2014) Cool things–John Brown surveying compass. Kansas Historical Society. http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/cool-things-john-brown-surveying-compass/10189. Accessed 3 March 2015

  • Kansas State Census (1865) IC Stuck entry. In: Roll ks1865_4, line 38. Monticello Township, Johnson County, Kansas

    Google Scholar 

  • Learned H (16 July 1878) Letter from Capt. Learned. Trip from Lawrence to Eureka, Col. Lawrence Dly J 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris R Jr (1995) Ambrose Bierce, alone in bad company. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Norris HJ (1958) Field notes of a dependent resurvey of lines in T’s. 1 & 2 N., R. 14 E. of the 6th P.M., in Richardson County, Nebraska. Nebraska State Surveyor’s Office

    Google Scholar 

  • Quastler IE (1995) Charting a course. Lawrence, Kansas, and its railroad strategy, 1854–1872. Kans Hist 18(1):18–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanborn FB (ed) (1891) The life and letters of John Brown, liberator of Kansas, and martyr of Virginia. Roberts Brothers, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Savage J (17 July 1870) Recollections of 1854—No. 5. Lawrence Dly J 1

    Google Scholar 

  • Searl AD (1857a) Palmyra, Kansas. JH Bufford’s Lith, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Searl AD (1857b) Prairie City, Kansas. JH Bufford’s Lith, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Searl AD (28 May 1890) From Mr. and Mrs. Searl. Lawrence Dly J 4

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparr RM (4 August 1877) Trip to Ouray. Lawrence Dly J 2

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuck – Family History & Genealogy Message Board (2013–2014) http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.stuck/299/mb.ashx. Accessed 14 June 2014

  • Stuck IC (1857) Shawnee Indian reservation plat maps. US General Land Office, Kansas

    Google Scholar 

  • Stuck IC (1864) Petition for appointment to colored regiment, Union Army. In: US Union Provost Marshal Papers, 1861–1866, archive roll 260. http://kansasmemory.org/item/225963. Accessed 28 February 2015

  • US Census of Population (1860) J.C. Stuck entry. In: Series M653, roll 350, p 530. Monticello Township, Johnson County, Kansas

    Google Scholar 

  • US Census of Agriculture (1870a) Isaac C. Stuck entry. In: Schedule 3. Production of agriculture in Olathe Township, in the County of Johnson, Kansas, p 3

    Google Scholar 

  • US Census of Population (1870b) Isaac C Stuck entry. In: Series M593, roll 435, p 605. Olathe Township, Johnson County, Kansas

    Google Scholar 

  • US Congress, House, Committee on Claims (1861) Reports of committees of the House of Representatives, made during the second session of the thirty-sixth Congress, 1860-‘61. Gov Print Off, Washington, (DC)

    Google Scholar 

  • US General Land Office (1867) Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, for the year 1867. GPO, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • US Secretary of State (1857) Register of Officers and agents, civil, military, and naval, in the service of the United States, on the thirtieth September, 1857. AOP Nicholson, Washington, (DC)

    Google Scholar 

  • US Secretary of the Interior (1860) Report. In: The Executive Documents, printed by order of the Senate of the United States, first session of the thirty-sixth Congress, 1859–1860, vol 1. George W. Bowman, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • US Secretary of the Interior (1868) Message of the President of the United States and accompanying documents to the two houses of Congress at the commencement of the third session of the fortieth Congress. GPO, Washington, (DC)

    Google Scholar 

  • US Secretary of the Treasury (1861) Receipts and expenditures. 37th Congress, House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 36. Washington, (DC)

    Google Scholar 

  • Villard OG (1910) John Brown 1800–1859, a biography fifty years after. Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitman, Searl (10 May 1856a) New advertisements. Emigrants’ Intelligence Office Kans. Herald of Freedom 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitman, Searl (1856b) Letter with Interrogatories. [n p, Lawrence]. http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/90791. Accessed 9 November 2014

  • Whitman, Searl (15 June 1856c) Untitled advertisement. [n p, Lawrence]

    Google Scholar 

  • Williston Northampton School (2013–2014) About us. http://www.williston.com/page.cfm?p=497. Accessed 28 February 2015

  • Wines JL (28 June 1866) Fourth of July Meeting. Olathe Mirror 3

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA

    Karen Severud Cook

Authors
  1. Karen Severud Cook
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen Severud Cook .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography Menlo Park, University of South Africa, Pretoria, Northern Cape, South Africa

    Elri Liebenberg

  2. Department of History, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, USA

    Imre Josef Demhardt

  3. Dept of Geography, Bldg S8, Ghent Univ, Ghent, Belgium

    Soetkin Vervust

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Cook, K. (2016). Partisan Cartographers During the Kansas-Missouri Border War, 1854–1861. In: Liebenberg, E., Demhardt, I., Vervust, S. (eds) History of Military Cartography. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25244-5_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation