May 08, 2008 10:34 pm
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By Greg Grisolano
ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com
NEWTONIA, Mo. — A bill calling for a study of Newtonia’s two Civil War battlefields as possible candidates for the National Park Service became federal law Thursday.
For Connie Langum and other members of the Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association, phase one of the group’s mission to preserve the battlefields is complete.
“It’s a good first step, a big one,” said Langum, who also is the historian for Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield near Republic. “But we’ll have to wait until there’s money and go from there.”
The bill, introduced by Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., aims to determine the best way to preserve the sites. It authorizes the National Park Service to conduct a study to determine if the battlefields could be made a separate unit of the National Park Service or brought under the management of Wilson’s Creek.
For more than a decade, the Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association has led efforts to preserve the area, including purchasing 11 acres of land and the historic two-story Ritchey Mansion, which served as a headquarters and a field hospital during both engagements.
The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, in a 1993 survey by leading Civil War historians, ranked protecting the 1864 battle site as Priority I and the neighboring 1862 battlefield as Priority II.
Langum said a feasibility study typically costs around $300,000.
The first battle at Newtonia in 1862 saw American Indian units fight on both sides. The 1864 battle was one of the last fought west of the Mississippi River. About 350 soldiers were killed or wounded in 1862, and 650 casualties were reported in the 1864 battle.
Small odds
In a statement issued Thursday, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., praised the signing of Public Law 110-229, authorizing a feasibility study on the Newtonia battlefields.
“More than 10,000 bills have been introduced in this Congress alone — and very few have had the chance to be studied by committee, debated on the floor, passed by both chambers and signed into law by the president,” Blunt said.
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