By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
NEWTONIA, Mo. — When it comes to Civil War history, Jeffrey Stark says the best way to learn is to visit the battlefields.
“You can read about it in books and you can look at maps,” said Stark, a retired computer programmer from Grapevine, Texas. “But you can’t really appreciate what’s going on until you get on the ground.”
Stark and about 30 other members of the Civil War Preservation Trust toured the Newtonia and Carthage battlefields Saturday as part of the group’s annual meeting in Springfield. About 500 Civil War enthusiasts attended the meeting — the first ever held west of the Mississippi River.
The Trust is the nation’s leading private preservation group and has purchased more than 25,000 acres of historic battlefields.
“Newtonia is neat because you’ve got two battlefields in one and they’re both important parts of what happened out here in Southwest Missouri,” said trust member Harry Thaete, a retired airline pilot from Coronado, Calif. “(Union troops) were being kept back here to keep an eye on the Confederate troops coming up through Arkansas.”
After touring the 1862 and 1864 Newtonia battlefields and visiting the nearby Ritchey mansion, which served as a headquarters and field hospital during both engagements, the group had lunch before heading to the Carthage Civil War Museum and touring the 1861 battlefield, considered by some to be the opening fight of the war.
Stark said conflicts in the Trans-Mississippi get overlooked compared to the bloodier battles back East.
Members of the Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association led the group on a tour of the old cemetery, and along a creek where some of the heaviest fighting occurred.
“I can see the potential in this battlefield,” said Blair Tarr, a historian for the Kansas Historical Society and a trust member. “The interpretive signage is very good. They have such a good opportunity to present the battlefield.”
Tarr and Thaete both said they hope to see the CWPT take a more active role in preserving the Newtonia sites, a notion that has members of the local preservation group excited.
“We’re ecstatic,” said Rick Langum, one of the Newtonia group members. “With these people coming here and realizing the significant things that happened here, they’re going to want to be more involved.”
According to tour guide Dave Hinze, that first battle at Newtonia, a decisive Confederate victory, led to the Union redoubling its campaign efforts in the region. The subsequent campaign by Union troops through Southwest Missouri and into Arkansas also gives Newtonia important regional significance.
“Battles don’t happen in vacuums, they happen as part of campaigns,” said Hinze, a historian from Rolla. He wrote a book on Carthage’s Civil War battle. “This becomes a turf war for control of lead mines, grain fields, the grist mill, which could feed troops. This is very valuable land to control through here.”
The 1864 Newtonia battle was one of the last ones fought west of the Mississippi. About 350 soldiers were killed or wounded in 1862, and 650 casualties were reported in the 1864 battle. Total casualties for the July 5, 1861, engagement at Carthage are listed at 244.
In Congress
A bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that aims to determine the best way to preserve the Newtonia battlefield sites was approved last week by the U.S. Senate. It awaits final approval in the House. The bill authorizes the National Park Service to conduct a study to determine if the Newtonia sites could be made a separate unit of the National Park Service or brought under the management of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield near Springfield.
