By Susan Redden
sredden@joplinglobe.com
SARCOXIE, Mo. — There will be Civil War-era music, a mock trial and even a funeral procession on Saturday in a celebration at the Cave Spring school and cemetery northeast of Sarcoxie.
Central to the day’s events will be ceremonies dedicating a monument to recognize residents who were Union soldiers and defenders of the Cave Spring and Bowers Mill area during the Civil War.
A stone monument bearing the names of nearly 50 people was set a week ago between the school and the cemetery. The memorial is the work of the Eastern Jasper County Historic Sites Association, whose members several years ago completed a project to restore the antebellum schoolhouse.
The stone weighs 7,500 pounds, said Terry Tackett, of Stotts City, who is association president.
“It was all I could do with two tractors to get it off the flatbed,” he said.
Work on the monument started earlier this year and began with research by Helen Hunter, of Carthage, an association member. Hunter is a volunteer at the Jasper County Records Center, which preserves county records and archives. She said she was tracking down information on two brothers who were killed in the war, and was surprised to learn how many soldiers and civilians from that area died in the conflict.
From the rural, sparsely populated area, 37 soldiers and 10 civilians died, either killed in battle or from wounds or disease, between 1861 and 1865.
“We felt like that was something that needs to be recognized,” Hunter said.
The one-room, brick Cave Spring School was built in the early 1840s to educate children of the Cave Spring community. During the Civil War, it served as a federal militia garrison. And after the war, it was the seat of county government after the Jasper County Courthouse was 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.
Stone for the monument was donated, and the 40-member association raised $3,500 for the engraving. Area residents donated money to sponsor each of the names; in some cases, names that were sponsored were residents’ ancestors.
Activities on Saturday are to start at 10 a.m., with the monument dedication set for 1:30 p.m.
Association members will be in period dress, a number of Civil War re-enactors will be on hand, and Civil War-era music will be performed throughout the day. There will be a mock trial on the schoolhouse steps based on an actual case tried there. Also planned is a Civil War funeral and procession into Cave Spring cemetery, where more than 20 of those listed as casualties of the war are buried. Some of the graves do not have markers, and association members have arranged for headstones from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We’ll be getting more as we do the research,” Hunter said.
Want to go?
At the Sarcoxie exit off Interstate 44, take the north outer road (Cimarron) about 1.5 miles east to County Road 10, go north for about two miles to Dogwood Road, turn east on Dogwood to County Road 4, then go north on County Road 4 about a half-mile.
