THE SPIRIT OF GIVING WAS ACTIVE WITH NINA SWAN
BY CAROLYN GRAY THORNTON Special to the Daily Mail

The Christmas season is here and most of us are think­ing of what we will give to our family members. However there have always been gener­ous people such as Nina Swan who did not limit her giving to her loved ones. Nina Swan gave abundantly to the soldiers in World War II.
She was born in 1895 and lived to be over 100 years old. Her husband, Oscar Swan, a farmer who later became an engineer at the State Hospital, preceded her in death in 1963. Together    they    raised   two daughters    and    four    sons. Lawrence (deceased), Kenneth and Neale, both of Nevada and Gordon,      who lives  in Independence. The daughters are  Fern  Pratt,   of  College Station, Texas,  and Eleanor Olson of Nevada. These daugh­ters  have  given  the Bushwhacker Museum a heart­warming   story   about   their mother's  giving  spirit.  Fern Pratt has written a story about her mother's activities during World War n. I will quote from her letter.
"While our Armed Forces defended our country both at home and overseas, other folk made their contributions as well. Many local ladies volun­teered to assist the Red Cross by knitting their yarn into sweaters, socks and gloves for our soldiers. One of those was Nina A. (Mrs. Oscar) Swan. "The Swans lived at 1120 N. Cedar and had reared their six children. Although at this time they had with them a grandson who's father had recently died. Their daughter, the boy's moth­er, worked in Kansas City.
"This 8 year old lad would walk with his grandmother, pulling his red wagon filled with yarn from the library. Then theywould do the return trip with completed sweaters.
"The pattern was always the same, worked from directions from leaflet No. 172 (cost 10 cents) and plastic needles size three and five. The plastic replaced steel needles, which were unobtainable, and were not very durable. Nevertheless Nina produced over 50 sweaters and no one knows how many socks and gloves.
"During this time she also wrote many letters to her own G.I.s: T Sgt. Kenneth Swan, who was in England from 1943 to 1946; Cpl. W. Neale Swan who served from 1943 to 1946 in the European Theater of Operations; and Cpl. Gordon W. Swan would later serve with the Army of Occupation in Germany, 1952 to 1954.
"Little Joe Lee Kirk, who pulled his little red wagon for his beloved Grandma grew up to serve in Korea. Another grandson, Ronald Swan, did his duty in VietNam."
The sister have donated an olive drab sleeveless sweater their mother knitted along with a parr of the plastic knitting needles and the instruction book for the sweaters to the Bushwhacker Museum as a tribute to their mother and her dedication to the soldiers. An interesting note is that the author of the quoted article, Fern Pratt, became the husband of the Adjutant of Camp Clark when it was the camp for the Prisoners of War from Italy and Germany.
Another item in the dona­tions was an advertisement from the Chadwick's Red Heart Knitting Worsted Company. The ad has pictures of fighter airplanes above the words, "Knit for Defense." It explains that the National Defense Program isn't all tanks, airplanes and battle­ships. It's people, too. "You, too, can play a leading role in this greatest defense program of all history by anticipating the needs of our boys in train­ing." It continues by telling how the soldiers will appreciate the warmth of woolens knitted especially for him.
I'm sure that was true for those that received Nina Swan's beautifully knitted sweaters.

Charline  Sweet  retires from Bushwhacker Museum
by Carolyn Gray Thornton    
Special to the Daily Mail

The Bushwhacker Museum honored Charline Sweet, an Experience Works employee, at a recent farewell dinner hi the museum's meeting room. The Experience Works Program is the name for the former Green Thumb Program which employs older workers in a not-for-profit agency to provide training for the worker and to assist the agency's programs.
Charline Sweet, who lives in Rich Hill, Missouri, became such an employee after her hus­band died. She said it was a blessing to her because she had been reluctant to get out of the house and do things after losing her husband who was a retired Assembly of God Minister. They had lived in various places during his ministry and had retired to Rich Hill in 2003. He had served as a pastor from 1972 to the year 2000 when he retired.
Charline is a native of Springfield, Mo., and her chil­dren and grandchildren live there now. She has decided that she will move from Rich Hill to Springfield to be closer to her family.
The position at the Bushwhacker Museum gave her a reason to get out of the house each day and to be out among the public. She said she is over the hump now and cred­its her work at the museum with helping her through this period of her life.
The benefits were not all psychological, however. There is a salary involved in this Title V Program and her responsibil­ities at the museum gave hertraining in control and invento­ry on the computer. This will help her in future jobs if she chooses to find a job in the Springfield area.
She has not decided if she will ask to be assigned to a sim­ilar job through Experience Works after she gets settled in Springfield. Working at the museum was a great experience for Sweet. She said that it was a wonderful place to work and the staff and volunteers were all very helpful to her. She appre­ciated that the 20 hours of work her contract called for was arranged around her schedule and she praised the atmosphere of the work place.
Other not-for-profit agen­cies in Nevada also have Experience Works staff mem­bers. Among those places are Loretta's Attic, Community Outreach, and the Missouri Career Center.
A recent worker at the library was hired to work full-time after receiving training in the Experience Work program.
The museum appreciated the work that Sweet did and is already in the process of inter­viewing a replacement for her from the Experience Work Program.
There is much behind the scenes work at the museum as they keep records of their archives, receive and inventory donations, and box and file materials so that they are pre­served for the future. This is in addition to meeting the public, conducting tours, arranging displays, and generally keeping everything in top-notch shape for the public and to preserve the past history for our county.
Therefore the staff and board of the Vernon County Historical Society are happy that they can have additional help through Title V to supple­ment their staff.
They all join in expressing regret at Charline Sweet's departure but wish her well in her new location.

First Cemetery Walk scheduled in Deepwood Cemetery
By Nancy Malcom

More than a year ago, Terry Ramsey, coordinator of the Bushwhacker Museum, and Lois Pendrak, teacher of Nevada High School’s Advanced History Classes first heard about an event called a Cemetery Walk.

With Deepwood Cemetery chosen as the place for the cemetery walk, students have researched notable persons selected from a list provided by Terry Ramsey and Patrick Brophy, curator of the Bushwhacker Museum. Ramsey and Brophy also made students aware of research materials available from the museum’s books and other primary source research materials.
The students were responsible for gathering information and transforming it into an encapsulated written and an oral report of that person’s life and achievements.
Pendrak said, “My class is a dual enrollment class. We have quarterly projects and this seemed like a viable option for a project. We divided it into two quarters, with the first dealing with the research and the second the oral presentations.”
With 43 students participating, teams of two partners were formed. Both partners researched and will do the presentations on the same notable person.
Three other students are serving as narrators prior to each presentation and are also responsible for producing a brochure each visitor will receive listing the students and a few lines about the notable persons represented.
Pendrak explained that each pair will be responsible for researching one person and will turn in a three-to-four page background report, develop a five minute talk in the first-person and obtain an appropriate costume depicting their person & time period. 

The narrators will be responsible for devising a map for patrons and developing a speech giving an overview of the project to be presented before each performance. 

The first partner of each team will perform their speech twice one weekend, and the second partner will perform twice the next weekend.

Four students were available for comments.
Ariel Rhoads is doing the life of John Birdseye, depicted through his wife’s viewpoint. “I put in three to four hours every day for about three weeks,” Rhoads said. Her research included genealogy and Vernon County history. Rhoads said, “He built the first brick house in Nevada following the Civil War. They were very rich people and involved with the society. He was a lawyer and she was from Vernon County. They had paid servants, they didn’t believe in slavery.”
The research opened her eyes to a broader playing field. “It makes me want to live a better life, because if someone does something like this in the future about me, I want it to be reflected as a good one.”

Travis Pitts will do a presentation about William Lowe. “I picked him because he was a Texas Ranger and that was pretty cool,” Pitts said. “I’ve done six hours of research. There was a lot of material available about him. He was hard working, a Texas Ranger and sheriff and he was a businessman -- he ran a sawmill.”
The research brought out something Pitts had never considered. “He was in the Gold Rush. I didn’t think people from here or Texas went to the Gold Rush. He didn’t make much there though and came back. I’d never heard of him before. It makes me wonder how many other interesting people lived around here.”

Josh Palmer researched Sheldon Amos Wight. “He was one of first lawyers in Vernon County,” Palmer said. “Also he became president of Thornton Bank. He named the town of Sheldon. He owned the land where it was built.”
He and his partner spent several hours on research. “We started off with Vernon County History and my partner went to the Bushwhacker Museum and got some information there.”
Palmer said doing the research affected him in that “It shows there were some important people in this small town of Nevada.”

Rebeccah Sitz researched William Franklin Norman. “He was in the first graduating class in Nevada and he married one of his classmates,” Sitz said. “He had a place on the square named after him. I had heard about him a lot before, but didn’t know much about him. He was a spontaneous person and made fun decisions. He went to California in the Gold Rush and had a gold mine but it didn’t have any gold in it.”
Sitz conducted several hours of research each week reading about him in books and looking through several files about him at the Bushwhacker Museum. “I didn’t know anything about Vernon County before, but now I do.”

Students and who they will represent are: Jordan Bell and George Brauer as Harry C. Moore & Glessner Moore Few; Trey Miller and Chris Bray as William Henry Taylor; Sabrina Jones and Bailee Claypool as Maria Douglass Cogswell; Taylor Edmonds and Devin Chapman as D.C. Hunter;
Andi Corneel and Marisa Doane as Dr. Albert Churchell; Colby shepherd and Tyler Gast as Senator William Joel Stone; Serena Rawlings and Veronica Fairchild as Rebecca Gabbert; Stephanie Mosbrucker and Ashton McVay as A.B. Cockerill; Rebecca Prewitt and Jessica Davis as W.W. Prewitt; and Felicia Keller and Whitley del Rosari as Dr. Albert Badger. Kaleob Norbury, Kyla Thomas and Brittany Jenkins will be the Narrators.

Pendrak said, I think this has the makings of an extremely profitable experience in the areas of education, community involvement, and in simply being able to make local history come alive.”

Visitors will be free to move from tombstone to tombstone to hear the students give their presentations about the person buried there. There is no charge, but donations to the Bushwhacker Museum will be accepted. The first presentation will begin at 3:30 p.m. on October 27 at Deepwood Cemetery in Nevada. Each show will last about an hour and will be repeated at 4:30 p.m. on October 27 and twice again starting at 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on November 3. Each student’s presentation will run about five minutes.

Patrons are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs. For more information contact the Bushwhacker Museum at (417) 667-9602.
###
Nevada Hearld/Tribune October 21, 2007

JEAN EDWARDS, PROUD OWNER OF A BY-LO BABY
By Carolyn Gray Thornton
Nevada Daily Mail
05/04/2007

Visitors to the new displays in the Bushwhacker Museum will notice an unusual baby doll in the Dry Goods store window.  This doll was given to Jean Eddleman (now Edwards) in 1930 or 31.  The By-Lo Baby was a special doll created by Grace Putnam.  The dolls are now collector’s items and are especially valuable if they have Grace Putnam’s name on the back of the doll.  Jean’s doll does have this authentic name, as does the small version of the same doll that is cradled with the larger doll in the display.

Jean said she received the doll for Christmas but never played with it very much as she preferred climbing trees to playing dolls.  Her older sister, Sue Beeson, had one earlier which she says Jean broke.  Since Jean did not play with the doll very much, it still is dressed in the original gown that it wore when she received it.

After Jean no longer climbed trees or ignored her dolls she graduated from Nevada High School and went on to graduate from Missouri University in 1946.

She returned to Nevada to work for the Nevada Daily Mail when Warren Edwards was the editor.  They were married in 1947 and she did not think it was right to continue working there so she helped in her parents’ store on the south side of the Square.  When her husband went to Texas in 1948 to be editor of a paper there, Jean worked for Humble Oil Company for seven years.  While they were in Texas their oldest son, Marc, was born.

Warren’s next job was with the Detroit News.  Their younger son, Clayton was born there.  After the boys were both in school Jean also returned to school and got her Master’s Degree in Library Science from Wayne State in Detroit.

They had been in Detroit for 10 years when Warren died.  Jean and the boys returned to Nevada where both boys graduated from Nevada High School.

Jean used her new degree and worked in the Nevada library for 18 years.

Since her mother had been involved in the museum for several years, Jean also became very active.  Franklin Norman talked her into becoming president of the Vernon County Historical Society for four years.  She is no longer on the board but is a valued volunteer in all the activities of the Bushwhacker Museum and the Historical Society.

She also has served on the Bank Board for the Charter Bank for 12 years, volunteers for Meals on Wheels and is very active in the work of the Presbyterian Church.

She said she likes to volunteer at the museum because she liked to meet different types of people and likes to help them research information that they need.  She said that Nevada has strong ties for her and she thinks her sons feel the same way.

Marc is a lawyer in Oklahoma City and Clayton is an engineer in water management in Tulsa.  He has four children, so Jean may still learn to enjoy playing dolls.

The two By-Lo babies will remain comfortably in the display at the museum and enjoy seeing visitors that will come to see the new displays.

The museum is now open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.  Jean says that the local people will be very pleased with all the new displays that are arranged for their enjoyment and education.

WHY WE RETIRED IN NEVADA;
THE DAVID AND JUDY MAUPIN STORY
By Carolyn Gray Thornton
Nevada Daily Mail
05/04/2007

When David and Judy Maupin lived in their new home in Fort Collins, Colo., they were each very busy in their professions.  Judy was a Registered Nurse who was Director of a Home Health Company and David was a Project Manager for a large plumbing company.  They were spending so much time on their jobs that they began to feel that they were not spending enough time together.  They decided to change that way of life so they put their home on the market.  It sold in two and a half weeks.

They put their antique furniture in storage and spent two months traveling around Missouri to find a place to retire.  They chose this state since David was raised in northern Missouri (Orrick) and had attended college in Warrensburg.

Both David and Judy were antiques buffs and they had a dream of restoring a Victorian house someday.  It was this search for such a home that brought them to Nevada.  When they entered the house at 812 N. Washington, which was built in 1886, they felt they had found the home they wanted.  They bought the home and moved here in 2001.

Since they arrived in our city they have been very busy.  David, who had been in the plumbing business all of his life, has called his work here in Nevada a labor of love.  All but three rooms of the large home on N. Washington have been restored.  David plans to work on those rooms now.  He had postponed that last restoration to be a volunteer in the Bushwhacker Museum where he was helping create the new displays in time for the recent seasonal opening.

In the meantime Judy has been equally involved.  She is using her RN training as coordinator of Home Health at Wilkinson Pharmacy.  She joined the Garden Club and served as their president for three years.  She also is a Master Gardener, a member of Soroptomist International of Nevada and is continuing her collection of German pink pigs.

In addition to the house remodeling and helping with the displays at the museum, David enjoys playing golf at the Country Club course.

His hobby is collection string holders.  Part of his vast collection is on loan at the museum.  He began collecting string holders when he accompanied his nephew, who lives in Lexington, MO., as he was searching for additions to his string holder collection.  David thought he would also get involved to match his wife’s collection of pink pigs.

The part of his collection that is on display at the museum fills a large glass enclosed case.  Some of David’s favorite pieces are too fragile to move around for display and await a permanent spot in the Maupin’s home.

The string holders were essential in the days when string was always used to tie up a package.  Now different types of tape secure wrapped packages such as meat in a butcher shop.  The string holders were used to keep the string handy and untangled.  The commercial ones were heavy so they would not be pulled off the counter.  The ones used in the home were first designed for functional use, but in the 1930s they began to be decorative.  In the museum display the holders vary from beautiful ones to comical or personalized holders.

David and Judy both agree that their choice of a house has turned out great for them.  Judy says that Nevada is very welcoming, and David adds that he likes the small town atmosphere where they have made many friends.

BUSHWHACKER MUSEUM PREPARES FOR NEW SEASON
By. Lynn A. Wade
Herald-Tribune
04/29/2007

NEVADA, Mo – It’s only fitting that one of the new exhibits in the Bushwhacker Museum this year is a collection of string holders – because, like a never-ending ball of twine, the never-ending story of Vernon County is continually and fluidly depicted in a special exhibit of local events, landmarks and lifestyles.

An ever-evolving exhibit, Vernon County, the Never-Ending Story, first dramatically but humbly appeared in 2005, then gradually grew and evolved as the concept became reality.  The exhibit area is entered through a replica of a Victorian store front, made of pressed metal panels from the W.F. Norman Corporation.

“It’s really growing. They (the volunteers) have really put a lot into it.” Said Peggy Pyle, of the Vernon County Historical Society.

Touted as one of the best and most unique parts of the exhibit there’s a space set aside for special, temporary displays such as the string holder collection.  Pyle said that long before masking, Scotch and filament tapes assumed their position of prominence as the sealing material of choice, string was king.  It was a household staple, and holders in many creative shapes and sizes, designed to tame the tangles of loose string.  In industry and at home, string was a staple, and such holders became commonplace.  They are now a valued and much sought-after collectible, Pyle said.

“We do a temporary exhibit each year.  In this one, the variety is amazing – cats, animals and a lot of faces – Betty Boop for example – and they-re quite valuable.  They are extremely collectible,” said Museum director Terry Ramsey.

The owners, David and Judy Maupin, didn’t bring the entire collection, but several of the unique pieces are on display.  Many of the string holders are made of porcelain or other less-than-durable materials and are easily chipped, so it’s difficult to transport them.

“They’re really fun to look at.  People forget there was a time when tape wasn’t available.  I think of the song (“My Favorite Things’) that says ‘Brown paper packages tied up with strings…’  That’s how everything was packaged including things in the grocery store,” Ramsey said.

The museum’s 42nd season started on Tuesday, May 1, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday.  Group tours should be arranged in advance by calling the museum.  Special events planned for the upcoming season include a storytelling presentation by Mollie Postlewaite, who will share ghost stories with listeners at the Museum during Bushwhacker Days.
Summers at the Bushwhacker Museum also offer a unique volunteer opportunity as well, Ramsey said.

Volunteer docents are needed to spend a few hours each week greeting the public and sharing local history with visitors.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for someone who likes to meet interesting people,” Ramsey said. 
For more information, call the museum at (417)667-9602.

Deerfield, Mo -- Local historians Terry Ramsey and Patrick Brophy braved the elements on Wednesday morning -- the wind whipped with a chill that no fleece or cardigan could protect against.

On a day when most people were staying inside, Brophy and Ramsey were outside, watching with anticipation as Jim Denney, a historian with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Prairie State Park employees were breaking ground.

Organizers and workers were gathered together to commemorate the placement of a commemorative roadside plaque placed in Vernon County, in honor of the Battle of Drywood.
"This is the 18th plaque placed (out of many to be placed) over all in the state." stated Denney.
The first plaque that the state of Missouri placed was located in Belmont, Mo. It's a ghost town now, but it wasn't in 1864. According to Denney, it was where a young Ulysses S. Grant fought his first Civil War battle.

These plaques are "just a way of telling the Civil War story of Missouri, getting it out." explained Denney.

Eldon Steward had relatives who participated in the Civil War battle, and it was he who first "got the ball rolling" toward commemorating the battle in some way.

Steward was so interested in this battle not only because it is located in his home town county, but his great-great-grandfather fought with the Confederates in the battle.

Brophy and Ramsey explained that this marker is part of a statewide initiative to mark and commemorate Missouri's role in the Civil War on the western borders for the sake of informing and entertaining visitors.

The project is slated to be completed just in time for the Civil War sesquicentennial in 2011.
The cold drove most of the historians inside, while Prairie State Park employees stayed outside, drilling holes to accept the poles that would support the plaque.

The plaque is located alongside U.S. 54 Highway, at what some know as Leon Emery's truck stop in Deerfield.

"If it wasn't for these folks we couldn't have gotten it done. Leon Emery donated his property that borders the highway, thereby making the sign visible for passers-by." Ramsey said.
The historians sat around a warm table in the truck stop, each with a coffee in hand, discussing the hurdles that they have overcome, on this project.

Many Nevadans and Vernon Countians have ancestors who fought in this Battle, with names like Thomas.

"This one sign adds to the whole of the tour, this historical marker shows a little of what has happened. So, it's a taste, and hopefully after visitors stop and read the sign they will say 'let's go to the Bushwhacker Museum and get the rest of the story.' It's another piece of the pie." said Ramsey.

"Nevada is not a tourism destination, but it is part of a story, and if we give visitors enough information to stay a few more hours, then they might get a meal, fill up on some gas and so on."
Ramsey believes that this one sign will add to the small tourism business that the area has; however, there are more battles in the area that locals want to see marked.

The marker enables visitors to visualize the site of the battle, two miles south of the marker's new home. It reads, "A state divided: The Civil War in Missouri."

It holds numerous media enhancements including a map of the battle, a visage of Lt. Col. Frederick W. Beneen and Col. James Montgomery.
Additional markers at other sites are slated to be in place by 2011.

Patrick Brophy, the director of the Bushwhacker Museum has written much on the Osage in Vernon County. That is why he was chosen to be interviewed on Tuesday afternoon.

But, this wasn't just any interview, Brophy, his constituent Terry Ramsey and two educators met on M Highway, and caravaned out to Halley's Bluff which is on property owned by the Church of Israel, located near Schell City. Tim Gore is the education director for the Round Trips Interactive video video learning project, he is joined by his partner Jim Sturm.

Gore was a teacher in Nevada, Mo., from 1981 to 1993, where he then moved to the St. Louis area and taught speech and debate for the Clayton County school district. Sturm and Gore are both middle school teachers, Sturm was a teacher of science and mathematics. Ramsey, introduced the crew to the Rev. Dan Gayman and laid out her itinerary. The first area that the group hit were the bluffs. Strum stopped, turning on his camera, getting a panoramic shot of the Osage River below the peaked bluffs.

The November day was bright, sunny and autumnal. Ramsey, led the group to the cache pits below what was Fort Carondelet in the late 18th century. There Gore began to interview Brophy, about the pits themselves, their purpose and even the gradations of the limestone rock. The caches have changed a bit since they were in use -- they are now carved and eroded away.
Historians estimate that at one time there were more than 23 cache or storage pits at Halley's Bluff, but now there are less than 10. Brophy explained that these pits might have been developed to store furs for the trappers who moved up and down the Osage River during that time. Fort Carondelet was built in 1794 by Auguste Choteau who proposed to the Spanish officer Baron Carondelet that he would build a fort as protection from the Osage in return for a great amount of monopoly of the fur trade. Since the proposition required no expenditure of money on the part of the Spanish, Carondelet agreed.

Brophy then took the group past a break in the boulders that served as an quick access to the caches from the fort above, now long since shifted, with the rocks having moved in closer to the crack. Ramsey took the group to the top of the bluffs where Brophy began to explain to the crew about archeological excavations that had taken place on the site of what was Fort Carondelet.
"All they found were post hole evidence, so then they gathered that the stockade lay about here." explained Brophy as his arms swept across the front of the view. Brophy explained that deterioration from the original oak fortifications was found by Dr. Chapman's archeological crew in the 1960's. Gore and Strum took some last shots of the area and then it was off to Blue Mound the traditional burial place of the great Osage chief Pawhuska or "white hair." He is so named, it is told, that during a battle in the Ohio river valley a young warrior went to scalp his victim, and without need of a knife the victim's hair came off. It was a powdered wig, but forevermore, the young warrior donned the wig and as tradition holds he was formally called Pawhuska. The grave is gone and long since forgotten by the Osage people.

Brophy remembers that his father had told him that as a child, on the way to blue mound, Osage Indians would camp by the roadsides, on a pilgrimage of sorts to the traditional grave of Pawhuska. According to Brophy, there isn't any evidence on the mound, only tradition.
After visiting the site, the group moved on to Truman Elementary School in Nevada, where Strum and Gore checked in with the fourth grade class.

The educational program is geared towards fourth graders, "the children from one area share their county with other fourth graders in the rest of Missouri." explained Gore.
Nevada's fourth graders are presenting famous Missourians, which include the Hornbacks, Jessie James, Virginia Alice Cottey, Harry S. Truman, and William Joel Stone. This isn't the first project for Gore and Strum, the pair worked with the National Park service to generate educational footage for the Lewis and Clark Centennial. "This project if focused on Missouri's regions, it's time tell their story. It is designed so that they can share targeting topics." explained Gore.
Ramsey and the two visitors are excited about the upcoming program. Students from area schools will be able to view and participate in the program via the Web and video teleconferencing. According to Gore, the schools jumped on board as soon as they caught wind of the opportunity. And, as Gore states, "it's a way to show the kids the applications of subjects and the history of the state."

For more information, visit Roundtrips interactive Video Web site at www.ali-apple.com/lewisandclark.

Monument Dedication An Upbeat Occasion
By Patrick Brophy

            Cooperation between the Vernon County Historical Society and the Sons of Confederate Veterans should come as a surprise to no one familiar with local history.   According to record, 19 out of 20 Vernon Countians were Confederate sympathizers, and proportionate to population the county sent more men to the Confederate army than any other in Missouri .

            As an organization devoted to the truth of local history, the VCHS logically finds itself enjoying common interests and objectives with the SCV.   The latter’s whole purpose is the preservation and commemoration of the Confederate heritage:  the valor and sacrifices of the men who fought on the southern side in the War Between The States.  The SCV tries to stay out of politics, though it sometimes finds itself compelled to defend the heritage against mindless politically-motivated attacks.

            The most recent occasion of cooperation between the Society and the Sons might well have served as a refutation of some of those attacks leveled against the latter in the political sphere.  A happier, more positive public event could hardly be imagined.

            November 1 saw the dedication of a monument to the Missouri Confederate Brigades, in the roadside park overlooking the scenic Sac-Osage river junction, just west of Osceola , Mo. , on Missouri Highway 82.  Monuments to the Missouri Confederate Brigades stand on battlefields where they fought in other states, but till now no monument has commemorated them in their home state.

            The new Missouri Red granite monument is the latest project of the Col. John T. Coffee Camp #1934 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a west central Missouri group organized only a couple of years ago.  Several of the Camp’s officers are VCHS members, and the largest number of the Camp’s activities have taken place in Vernon County .  One Society member helped compose the inscription for the new monument.  Society board member Terry Ramsey, as a board member of the Missouri Travel Council and member of the Missouri Division of Tourism’s Civil War committee, was one of the speakers at the dedication.  Frank Carlton, another Society board member, as chaplain of the Coffee Camp gave the invocation and benediction.  His wife Linda sang “Missouri Brigade,” a song written by her.

            The Missouri Brigades were the some 12,000 men, originally of the Missouri State Guard, who mustered in the “Sauk River Camp,” as it was called, in the fall of 1861, after their victory in the Battle of Lexington.  Commanded by Gen. Sterling Price, they drilled and learned the art of war, and were enlisted in the regular Confederate army.

            After defeat at Pea Ridge, the following spring, most of them were sent east, and fought out the war far from home.  Of the 12,000, only a few hundred survived to return to Missouri at the war’s end.   Contemporaries called them “the South’s finest” and “the elite corps of the Confederate service.”

            Moreover, of the men gathered in the Osceola camp, some dozen would go on to become Confederate generals.

            Osceola was a major town, with a population of 3000, before it was burned by marauding Kansans, only a month before the Missouri troops began moving into their encampment.  A distinguished Osceolan was U.S. Senator Waldo P. Johnson, whose stately home was burned during the raid.

            Among the speakers on Nov. 1 was Johnson’s great-grandson, Bill Farmer

            Other speakers included William G. Piston, professor of history at Southwest Missouri State University , Springfield , who co-authored the monument inscription, along with Jay Jackson, school principal at Missouri City , who also spoke.  The featured speaker was David C. Reif, author and lecturer.  Wreaths were laid by the Springfield chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy, and the monument was unveiled by Geraldine Ayres, granddaughter of a Confederate soldier, and Pauline Fast, of the Roscoe Historical Society.

            The ceremony concluded with a salute by three cannons, manned by costumed reenactors.  Some 40 other reenactors, participating in a nearby weekend encampment, were also on hand.  Many of the estimated 200 spectators showed up in period costume.

      One couldn’t help being struck by the traditional, mainstream nature of the occasion.  It was a happy moment of peace and good will in a day and age pervaded by discord, debunkings, cynicism, and animosity.  The participants were as unapologetic in their religious as their Confederate piety.

The chaplain unashamedly asked God’s blessing “in Jesus’s name.”  The onlookers went away thinking that perhaps God was in his heaven, and all, if not quite right with the world, at least was not hopelessly wrong with it, after all.