By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
SARCOXIE, Mo. — A project in the works will create a memorial for more than 40 area residents who were Union soldiers and defenders of the Cave Spring and Bowers Mill area during the Civil War.
Stone has been donated for a monument to bear the names of those who died. The memorial will be erected between the Cave Spring school and cemetery, according to Helen Hunter, a member of the Eastern Jasper County Historic Sites Association.
The association two years ago completed a project to restore the Cave Spring school. The one-room, brick schoolhouse was built in the early 1840s to educate children of the Cave Spring community near Sarcoxie. During the Civil War, it served as a federal militia garrison. After the war, it was the seat of county government after the Jasper County Courthouse burned down.
The memorial will honor members of the 76th Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia who served out of Cave Spring and Bowers Mill, and civilians from that area who were killed during the war.
Getting recognition
Research to gather the names for the monument was done by Hunter, who also does research as a volunteer at the Jasper County Records Center, which preserves county records and archives.
“It’s really exciting to work on,” she said. “Maybe they can get some recognition. They’ve gone unremembered all these years. It’s like some of them have ceased to exist, and if we can change that with a monument, we want to.”
Hunter said the idea grew from research she did after hearing stories about Stephen and Jasper Crawford, two brothers from the area who were killed by guerrillas during the war.
“I knew from the headstones at the cemetery that they didn’t have marked graves, so I started working on getting headstones for them,” she said. “And the more I worked, the more I discovered how many were killed serving out of that school and Bowers Mill.”
She counted 44 from that area who died between 1881 and 1865, as a result of the war.
More than 40 deaths “from such a rural, sparsely populated area — that needs to be recognized,” Hunter said. “Some died of wounds. Some died of disease due to being stationed there. Their military records say the majority were killed by guerrillas.”
That means Confederate partisans, said Steve Weldon, county archivist, since the Cave Spring and Bowers Mill area was a Union stronghold.
Hunter said the group has done its “very best” to verify the information that will go on the monument. Some mistaken lore also has been cleared up along the way.
A suggestion that the Crawford brothers were very young was discounted, she said. They were in their 20s, and Stephen Crawford served out of the Cave Spring school with their father, J.R. Crawford. The association has arranged for headstones from the Department of Veterans Affairs for the Crawford brothers to be placed in the Cave Spring cemetery.
The monument “will be for more than those people who died,” Weldon said. “It will be a memorial to the Cave Spring and Bowers Mill families and the Union militia stationed there.”
There was a strong Union presence in that area, so other people from the outside would move there for protection.
Horrors of war
Hunter said she learned that one soldier, Levy Sly, had come home to the Cave Spring area to recuperate from the measles. She said Southern guerrillas dragged him from his bed and shot him, and his brother managed to sneak his body away so it could be buried.
“They never knew when guerrilla attacks would come,” she said.
Weldon said the Civil War “was particularly horrible in Missouri.”
“There were acts of beheading,” he said. “Black soldiers were clubbed to death. And one method of killing was to pour gunpowder in the ear canal and light it to explode.”
Conditions also were terrible for civilians at home, Hunter said.
“They fought for what they believed in and paid the ultimate sacrifice,” she said. “That’s why we want to recognize them.”
Stone for the monument was donated by Locarni Marble of Carthage. Association members are working to raise the approximately $2,500 it will take to carve the 44 names into the stone.
Hunter said the association will accept donations, and residents also may “adopt” the name of a soldier whose name will appear on the monument.
“We’ll have a book out there with their name behind that of the soldier, so they will have some ownership of the site,” she said. “And a family or more than one person could adopt a name.”
She said some residents may sponsor the names of their ancestors who moved to the area just after Jasper County became a county.
The association will have a dedication ceremony to set the stone. That probably will be in the fall, after the carving is complete.
Want to help?
Donations will be accepted, and names on the monument may be “adopted” for $60 each. Information is available by contacting Helen Hunter or Marjorie Bull at the Jasper County Records Center, (417) 359-1100.
Carthage, Jasper County
Related Photos
Related Links
Discussion
<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border="0">Monument proposed to honor Civil War soldiers, residents<font color="#ff0000"> w/ replica of monument and copies of war records
- Carthage, Jasper County
-
-
Carthage attorney, reformer of revenue department, dies
James R. Spradling, a Carthage attorney who was noted for his reform of the Missouri Department of Revenue in the 1970s, died at 5:50 a.m. Monday at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital.
-
Bondswoman charged with false imprisonment
A bail bondswoman from Carthage is facing a charge of false imprisonment for allegedly attempting to put a man in jail without a judge’s order, then taking him home and handcuffing him to the banister of a staircase until a friend of the man paid her his bond money.
-
Man’s last statement to be given to defendant
A judge ruled Monday that the Jasper County prosecutor must provide attorneys for Darren J. Winans with a videotaped statement co-defendant Matthew D. Laurin made about the Sheldon murders shortly before killing himself.
-
Carthage proposes 1.6-cent rise in city property tax
A drop in the assessed value of Carthage real estate will translate to an increase of about 1.6 cents in the city’s proposed property tax rate.
-
Open house to celebrate projects at courthouse
Projects completed last year at the Jasper County Courthouse will be celebrated in ceremonies Thursday in the courthouse lobby.
County officials will join representatives of local chambers of commerce and others for a ribbon-cutting and open house to mark the opening of a Route 66 display in the lobby and a new “peace star” atop the building. -
State budget cuts reduce county funds
County officials are bracing for more state budget cuts to translate into a loss of county revenues.
In an effort to balance Missouri’s budget, the state earlier this year cut the amount it reimburses county assessors for work to determine property values. The budget approved by lawmakers for fiscal 2011 calls for cutting the amount the state reimburses counties to house prisoners bound for state lockup. -
Jo Ellis: County home to rare yellowwood tree
In late spring, drifts as white as snow fill the gutters and curbs on the east side of the Jasper County Courthouse. It isn’t snow, of course; it’s the fallen petals of the yellowwood tree that grows squarely in front of the door to the Jasper County Extension office.
-
Jasper County Commission gets building project update
Plans to close out one building project and start another were reviewed by the Jasper County Commission last week.
Darieus Adams, Western District associate commissioner, met Thursday with officials of the firm who designed a $292,400 project to upgrade the lighting and make other changes to make four county-owned buildings more energy efficient. -
Two men running for associate judge in 39th Circuit take case to court
Two men running for associate judge in Missouri’s 39th Circuit began battling it out in a Jasper County courtroom this week.
Jasper County Circuit Judge Gayle Crane heard arguments Wednesday concerning the disclosure of documents sought by Robert “Bobby” George, Aurora, the current Lawrence County prosecutor. -
Unveiling ceremony celebrates CHS tiger
Kandy Frazier, Carthage High School principal, summed it up once the new addition to the CHS campus was unveiled Thursday.
The bronze tiger sculpture created by Carthage artist and sculptor Bob Tommey, she said, is the kind of work that would be found at a big university. - More Carthage, Jasper County Headlines
-
Former Komen Exec Defends Funding Cut
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Jury Selection for Ex-UVa Athlete Enters 2nd Day
Raw Video: Giants Celebrate Another Super Bowl
Cab Driver Helps Wis. Family Escape House Fire
Greek Leaders Seek Deal As Bankruptcy Looms
Bernanke: Recovery Depends on Consumer Spending
Staff Removed at LA School During Abuse Probe
Eastwood in Super Bowl Ad 'Compassionate'
Stranded Fishermen Rescued From Bay of Green Bay
Analyst: Outside Troops Won't Intervene in Syria
Police: Father Planned Deadly Fire for Some Time
US, UK Pressure on Syria; More Homs Violence
Raw Video: Mass Killer Wants Medal, Freedom
Court Strips Contador of Tour De France Title
Runaway Goat Leads Police on Wild Chase
And the Winner for Best Super Bowl Ad Is...
Romney Latest Poll to Join Let-me-explain Club
