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October 3, 2009

Civil War monument dedicated to soldiers, residents

By Debbie Robinson

news@joplinglobe.com

SARCOXIE, Mo. — Members of the Eastern Jasper County Historic Association on Saturday dedicated a 7,500-pound monument bearing the names of residents who were Union soldiers and defenders of the Cave Spring and Bowers Mill area during the Civil War.

About 200 people attended the event on the grounds of the Cave Spring schoolhouse, adjacent to the cemetery just outside of Sarcoxie.

The memorial stone honors members of the 76th Regiment Enrolled Missouri Militia who served out of Cave Spring and Bowers Mill.

“This is an amazing thing,” Steve Weldon said at the ceremony. “This reminds us, unfortunately, that there is no war worse then civil war.”

Weldon said the monument is poignant because of the upcoming 150th anniversary of the Civil War that was fought between 1861 and 1865.

“The inhumanity of the Civil War is something terrible,” he said.

Under a clear, picturesque sky, association members and visitors strolled the grounds dressed in period dress, and a mock trial was held on the porch of the schoolhouse.

The one-room brick school was built in the early 1840s, but during the Civil War it was home to a federal militia garrison.

After the war, the site was temporary home to the Jasper County Courthouse after schools shut down.

The original school, built of logs, was located about a quarter-mile away, said Helen Hunter of Carthage, an association member.

A brick foundry, located across the street, supplied the bricks used in construction, she said.

The school features old desks, a wood stove and blackboards with the alphabet displayed above written in cursive.

Hunter said the association would like to see area schools hold some classes in the schoolhouse.

“This monument is another chapter in the school’s history,” Hunter said.

Howard Beebe of Albany, N.Y., was visiting friends in Carthage, who wanted to show him the old schoolhouse and cemetery.

“It was interesting,” Beebe said. “They’ve certainly put forth the effort into keeping this.”

As visitors toured a display of a canvas tent similar to what was used during the war, the Back Porch Boys, of Nixa, provided Civil War-era music and popular songs, such as “Red River Valley.” Several couples danced to the waltz on the grassy lawn.

The day’s event concluded with a funeral procession to the cemetery with a replica Civil War-era wood casket made by Terry Tackett of Stotts City, association president.

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