From Border War to On-Field Rivalry
Part I: Mort’s Cases
The Violence of the Border War and Its Political Imagery
The first-floor display begins with the nineteenth-century conflict along the Missouri–Kansas border. After the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854, the question of slavery was left to local decision, triggering widespread violence. Retaliatory actions between pro-slavery “Border Ruffians” and anti-slavery “Jayhawkers” plunged Kansas into a turbulent period known as “Bleeding Kansas.”
Interactive digital map (screenshot)
Kansas City Public Library — Digital History (Civil War on the Western Border)
In 1861, pro-Union Kansas Jayhawkers attacked and burned the town of Osceola, Missouri. Dozens of male residents were executed, and much of the town was destroyed. Some viewed the raid as justified retaliation against pro-slavery forces, while others condemned it as indiscriminate violence. Osceola became one of the early flashpoints in a cycle of border retaliation. Two years later, in August 1863, Missouri guerrilla leader William Quantrill led armed forces in an attack on Lawrence, Kansas. Approximately 150 male residents were killed, and much of the town was set on fire. The Lawrence Massacre remains one of the most symbolically charged events of the border conflict.
Osceola and Lawrence were not isolated incidents but part of a broader chain of retaliation. In Mort’s Cases, these documents are displayed side by side to show that “Bleeding Kansas” was not simply a North–South divide, but an ongoing pattern of cross-border and community-based violence. Yet war is carried out not only through weapons, but also through images. Three political works in the display reveal how the “Border War” was visualized and emotionally framed in the nineteenth century.
This 1856 political lithograph personifies “Liberty” as a woman, depicted as being restrained and humiliated by “Border Ruffians.” The female body becomes a political allegory, reducing a complex regional conflict into a dramatic struggle between good and evil. The image is not a neutral record, but a clear political statement.
George Caleb Bingham, General Order No. 11, 1868–70
Bingham’s General Order No. 11 portrays the forced evacuation of four Missouri border counties in 1863 under a Union military order. The policy aimed to disrupt guerrilla support networks but resulted in widespread civilian displacement. Over time, the painting has been interpreted in different ways—some emphasizing the harshness of federal authority, others the complexity of wartime conditions. The image itself became part of the ongoing debate over how the Border War should be remembered.
General Order No. 11 has been influential to modern artists. One was the late James J. Froese, who in 1968 became director of MU Art Extension and was an MU art professor until his retirement in 1992. Froese created Variation on Order No. 11 around 1970, transforming the nineteenth-century scene into an abstracted, emotionally charged image.
As the border conflicts moved into the twentieth century, they did not disappear from public memory. Instead, they were gradually translated into the language of campus sports rivalry. What once referred to real violence and political division became condensed into athletic competition—expressed through identity, emotional intensity, and collective belonging. A key object that illustrates this transformation comes from the University of Missouri’s Missouri Historic Costume and Textile Collection: a handmade felted wool vest from the 1960s. The vest was created and later donated by Jean Griffin. In her donation statement, she recalled that during the 1960s, under head coach Dan Devine, Missouri football was thriving. “Football fever” was high on campus, and the rivalry with the Kansas Jayhawks felt especially intense. To commemorate a trip she and three other couples made to Lawrence to watch the Tigers play, she sewed matching vests for the men in their group. The vests were worn proudly for several years, becoming a wearable expression of victory, identity, and shared memory.
Part II: Tradition Cases
When the Border War Became a Sporting Tradition
Upon moving to the second floor of the Student Center and entering the Tradition Cases, the narrative context shifts. Here, “Border War” no longer refers to nineteenth-century armed conflict, but to intercollegiate athletic rivalry.
From 1967 to 1999, Stewart coached Missouri men’s basketball for 32 seasons, leading the team to eight Big Eight Conference championships. Known for his fiery sideline presence, he earned the nickname “Stormin’ Norman.” His intense emotional displays—especially during games against Kansas—made him a sporting embodiment of the Border War spirit. Under Stewart, “Border War” moved from historical memory into something visible, audible, and tangible on the court. The hostility of war was transformed into competitive passion.
If basketball emphasized emotion and personality, football emphasized ritual and material symbolism. The most iconic object associated with the rivalry is the War Drum. The tradition began in 1935, when alumni from both universities living in Kansas City purchased a Native American–style bass drum from a pawn shop to heighten the symbolic intensity of the historic rivalry. From that point on, the drum became the possession of the winning team. The original War Drum deteriorated in the 1980s and now resides in the College Football Hall of Fame. A newly commissioned drum made in Taos, New Mexico, continues the tradition today.
The message of this exhibition is simple. The intense matchups we witness today on the basketball court and football field are not only about scoring points or winning championships—they are rooted in a real historical past. The nineteenth-century border conflict between Missouri and Kansas, over time, entered campus sports culture and became part of rivalry, tradition, and collective identity. Understanding this background is not about returning to the conflict itself, but about recognizing that behind athletic competition lies a long-standing regional history and shared memory.
Exhibition Location:
MU Student Center, First Level Mort's Cases and Second-Floor Tradition Cases
Curated by: Hanxue Zhang
Comments
Post a Comment