By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
NEWTONIA, Mo. — A study about whether Newtonia’s Civil War battlefield sites will join the National Park Service and a documentary highlighting Native American involvement in the first Newtonia battle are both on tap for next year.
“It’s just bang-bang,” said Kay Hively, a member of the Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association, of the two developments announced this month.
The study will examine whether the Newtonia battlefields could be made a separate unit of the National Park Service or brought under the management of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield near Republic. It was authorized by legislation that was signed into law by President George W. Bush in May 2008.
Connie Langum, a historian at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, said the study will start next year and that she will help write the study’s “statement of significance,” which will show why the Newtonia site is unique among Civil War sites and sites in the National Park Service. Langum said that statement should be complete in the spring, although she could not say how long the entire study would take to complete.
The National Park Service previously told the Globe that the study would take an estimated 18 to 24 months to complete.
Also set to start next year is production of a documentary on the first Battle of Newtonia in 1862. Earlier this month, the Newton County Tourism Council announced that a $40,000 donation from the Quapaw Nation and Downstream Casino would fund the documentary.
“It’s going to be one of those things that puts us over the top,” said Steve Roark, of the Newton County Tourism Council, on the film’s impact when it comes to the National Park Service study.
The documentary is to be complete next year.
In addition to interviews with scholars, the documentary will include an historical re-enactment of the battle, Roark said. Plans call for the historical re-enactment to take place the third weekend in May.
But Roark also said the documentary will touch on general Native American participation in the Civil War.
“There is a story to be told here,” he said.
The documentary is to be shot by Paul Wannenmacher, who produced documentaries on Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Banks Wilson.
Hively said the production will likely look for a total of 250 re-enactors for the Union, Confederate and Native American forces. The re-enactment is to take place at the site.
“It’s a big coordination,” she said.
Battle site
Newtonia was the site of two battles during the Civil War. About 350 men were killed or wounded in a skirmish in 1862, and 650 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded in the second battle in 1864. American Indians fought on both sides during the first battle, according to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission.
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