NEH Border War Project
Student identification and descriptive writings of individual characters in
George Caleb Bingham’s painting of
Order # 11
Designed for 4th Grade Elementary students in Missouri
By
Warren Soper
Reeds Spring Elementary School
General Order Number 11
Headquarters
District of the Border
Kansas City, Missouri
August 25, 1863
First, ___ All persons living in Jackson, Cass and Bates Counties, Missouri, and in that part of Vernon included in this
district, except those living within one mile of the limits of Harrisonville, Hickman Mills, Independence and Pleasant Hill and
Harrisonville, and except those in the part of Kaw Township, Jackson County, north of Brush Creek and west of the Big
Blue, embracing Kansas City and Westport, are hereby ordered to remove from their present places of residence within
fifteen days from the date hereof. Those who, within that time, establish their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding
officer of the military station nearest their present places of residence will receive from him certificates stating the fact of
their loyalty, and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive such certificates will be permitted
to remove to any military station in the district, or to any part of the State of Kansas except the counties on the eastern
border of the State. All others shall remove out of the district.
Officers commanding companies and detachments serving in the counties named will see that this paragraph is promptly
obeyed.
Second, ___ All hay and grain in the field, or under shelter in the district, from which the inhabitants are required to remove,
within the reach of the military stations, after the 9th of September, next, will be taken to such stations and turned over to
the proper officers there; and reports of the amounts so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the name of
all loyal owners and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay found in such district after the 9th of
September, next, not convenient to such stations, will be destroyed.
Third, ___ The provisions of General Order No. 10 from these headquarters will be at once vigorously executed by officers
commanding in the parts of the district, and at the stations not subject to the operations of paragraph first of this order,
especially in the towns of Independence, Westport and Kansas City.
Fourth, ___ Paragraph 3, General Order No. 10, is revoked as to all who have borne arms against the government in the
district since August 20, 1863.
By order of the Brigadier General Ewing,
H. Hannahs, Adjutant
George Caleb Bingham’s
Order # 11
Class Preparation
• Students will be given a timeline of events leading up to
Ewing’s issuing of Order # 11
• Classroom discussion of these events and how the
different sides might have viewed them differently
• Discussion of the painting by Bingham and what he
might have been trying to depict by the roles of various
subjects in the painting
Border War Timeline
1820
-
Missouri Compromise
1850
-
Kansas / Nebraska Act
March 30, 1855 Missourians cross State line and cast illegal votes
Bogus Legislature elected in Kansas / Black Laws
May 24, 1856 Pottawattamie Massacre
Aug 14,1863
Jail collapses killing & injuring southern women
Aug 21,1863
William Quantrill leads attack on Lawrence, Kansas
Aug 25, 1863
Gen. Thomas Ewing issues Order # 11
Major Participants
John Brown
General Thomas Ewing
William C. Quantrill
Bloody Bill Anderson
George Caleb Bingham
Raid on Lawrence
Class Activities and Assignments
• Students will be broken into small groups
of 3 or 4 students.
• They will be provided a copy of the
painting and be asked to identify specific
characters in the painting, 5 or 6 people.
• Students will then assign names, family
roles, personal data for each of these
people
Sample pictorial data
• Union soldier
• Private George Harrison
• Springfield, Illinois
• Age 19
• Job: destroying or confiscating
household goods of southern
sympathizers
Writing Activity
• Students will then compose letters to distant
family members in another part of the country
describing these events associated with
Order # 11.
• Letters need to include the person’s depicted
role in the painting, their emotions and feelings,
what they feel will happen to them as a result of
these actions.
Sample Letter
September 13, 1863
Dear Mother and Family,
As you know from my letter of the 5th we are now camped on the western border of the state of
Missouri. The war here is much different than I imagined it would be, instead of meeting other armies in
the field we are staging a type of border war against Missouri irregulars and their families. Our
commanding General named Gen. Thomas Ewing has proclaimed that all citizens must remove themselves
from a number of counties in order that aid to these guerilla bands be stopped. Our job is to destroy any
remaining goods that might assist these southerners in waging war against the union. I understand what
Gen. Ewing is trying to do but waging war on these women and children, burning their homes, and
destroying or taking their crops seems somehow wrong. These are God fearing Americans like all of us at
home in Illinois and just want to live their lives the way they always have. This war is not the way I
thought it would be but we all must do what we can to save the Union
I must close for now as I have the duty tonight. Give Anne my most sincere affection and tell
Tom not to be in a hurry to enlist as he can do much for you and the country by following the mule in the
field.
With all my affection, your son G.Harrison
Power Point Presentation
This lesson is designed for use with a Smart Board, which is an
interactive white board which will allow further investigation of the
listed sites.
In addition to the power point presentation by the teacher the
student groups will be provided with a paper copy of the data and
pictures to aid in their small group discussions.
Each group will also be given the sample information and letter
for a person shown in Bingham’s painting in order to assist them in
the written portion of this activity.
Bibliography
Books:
Earle, Jonathan. John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry, A Brief History with Documents. The Bedford Series in
History and Culture,
Boston. 2008.
Etcheson, Nicole. Bleeding Kansas, Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era. University Press of Kansas,
Lawrence, Kansas. 2004.
Photographs:
Anderson, Bloody Bill - http://shs.umsystem.edu
Bingham, George Caleb - http://shs.umsystem.edu
Brown, John - http://www.historycooperative.org
Ewing, General Thomas - http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-thomasewing
Order # 11 by George Caleb Bingham - http://www.treasurer.mo.gov/bingham/images/OrderNo11.jpg
Raid on Lawrence - http://www.kshs.org/publicat/khq/1963/graphics/63_2_quantrill-raid.jpg
Quantrill, William - www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk