The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Civil War 150th

Discussion

September 1, 2012

More Civil War events scheduled for this fall

By Kevin McClintock news@joplinglobe.com

The 150th anniversary of the 1862 battle at Newtonia isn’t the only Civil War event slated for the region this fall.

A site dedication and sesquicentennial celebration will take place in late October at the Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site near Butler. A re-enactment also will take place at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park in Northwest Arkansas in December.



Island Mound

Island Mound events begin at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, when Brig. Gen. Donald Scott and retired Missouri State Park historian and author James Denny will share their impressions and interpretations of the Battle of Island Mound, which was the first battle in which black soldiers saw combat during the Civil War.

The battle itself was fought Oct. 29, 1862.

That talk will take place at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Blue Parkway, in Kansas City.

The dedication will be Saturday, Oct. 27, at the historic site west of Butler in Bates County and will include living history activities and military demonstrations. Gates open at 10 a.m. and the dedication ceremony begins at 11 a.m., said Jim Rehard, district supervisor for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which oversees state parks and historic sites.

A Civil War Symposium is scheduled for Saturday evening at the Bates County Museum, 802 Elks Drive, Butler.



Prairie Grove

Alan Thompson, museum registrar with Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, said the 150th anniversary of that battle will be remembered on Saturday, Dec. 1, and Sunday, Dec. 2, with re-enactments taking place at 1 p.m. each day, featuring charges by Union and Confederate infantry and cavalry.

They typically have had about 800 volunteers for past re-enactments, he said.

“We really don’t know what to expect yet. With this being the 150th anniversary, it could be significantly more.”

Unlike battlefields that are managed by the National Park Service, which do not allow re-enactments on federal property, this event will occur on the actual fields where the 1862 fight occurred.

“We do it on site, which I think is one of the big draws for re-enactors,” said Thompson.

The original battle, fought on Dec. 7, 1862, saw about 22,000 soldiers from both sides participating in the fight, with about 2,700 casualties reported on both sides.

The event is free, but there will be a charge for parking, he said.

The park is located in Washington County, Ark., near the community of Prairie Grove.



Historic homes

Visitors to Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park can join a guided tour through the historic Morrow and Latta houses on the site. The Morrow House was a Confederate headquarters prior to the Civil War battles of Pea Ridge and Prairie Grove. The Latta House belonged to John and Jane Latta, who arrived in Arkansas Territory in 1834 and raised 12 children.

 

Text Only
Civil War 150th
  • 082412newtonia.jpg Living history events will commemorate 1862 Newtonia battle

    One of the oldest and most historic homes in Southwest Missouri — the two-story brick mansion built by Matthew Ritchey about 160 years ago — will be the centerpiece for the 150th anniversary of the first Civil War battle at Newtonia.

    September 1, 2012 2 Photos

  • More Civil War events scheduled for this fall

    The 150th anniversary of the 1862 battle at Newtonia isn’t the only Civil War event slated for the region this fall. A site dedication and sesquicentennial celebration will take place in late October at the Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site near Butler.

    September 1, 2012

  • Confederate Gen. Price led 1864 campaign into Missouri to liberate state, disrupt election

    When former Missouri governor and Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price led an invasion of the state in 1864, he hoped to liberate Missouri from what he believed was Union occupation that had been in place since the first year of the war.

    December 17, 2011

  • PrairieGrove BayonetorRetreat.jpg 'Angel of death'

    Maj. Henry Frisbie of the 37th Illinois — a Union veteran of the campaign that culminated near here in December 1862 — wondered after the Civil War why events in the East so often overshadowed events in the West.

    October 18, 2011 12 Photos

  • painting Civil War: Order No. 11 reduced border to a wasteland

    Solomon Young epitomized everything Americans admire in one of their own: self-made, a restless, westering soul hewing a life out of the wilderness with nothing but “a gun and an ax and two babies and a blanket,” according to family tradition.

    September 24, 2011 1 Photo

  • Battle of Baxter Springs William Quantrill’s legacy remains mixed 150 years after Civil War

    In the spring of 1881 — the American Civil War had been over for 16 years — a newspaper editor from Dover, Ohio, wrote an open letter to Joplin residents, asking them to tell their stories about William Clarke Quantrill.

    September 3, 2011 2 Photos

  • Ricky Dodson Battle of Wilson’s Creek played key role in Civil War

    The Battle of Wilson’s Creek, 150 years ago this week, was a victory for the Confederates. It also resulted in the first death of a Union commander, Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon.

    August 11, 2011 1 Photo

  • Ann Raab Battle of Island Mound marked first time blacks fought in Civil War combat

    In October 1862, Rufus Vann’s journey brought him to the farm of imprisoned bushwhacker John Toothman in Bates County.

    July 30, 2011 1 Photo

  • (8)EliWhitney.jpg Part 8. King Cotton 


    Slavery arrived in the New World before the Pilgrims, and it might not have survived to see Southern secession had it not been for Eli Whitney’s cotton gin.

    May 19, 2011 3 Photos

  • (7)Johnston.jpg Part 7. ‘Pavement of Dead Men’

    Having captured Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862, Ulysses Grant and his Army of the Tennessee pushed up the river of the same name as spring came.

    May 19, 2011 2 Photos