Ride With the Devil Week: Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield

Judging by Sunday’s NFL highlights, most of the east coast was pummeled by snow storms. Not us here in Harrisburg. We got ice. It really wasn’t as bad as it sounds. Nevertheless this week we are continuing with our weather themes and highlighting National Park sites that relate to Ang Lee’s film Ride With the Devil. Yes, that was his first film after The Ice Storm, it’s at the top of our netflix queue, and it’s about American history!

You see, long ago in our Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield review we lamented that in 1862 “Missouri became a void filled with guerrilla warfare, raiding vigilantes, marauding cavalry forces and years more of bushwhacking havoc. Somebody should really make a movie about this period of American history.” Turns out someone did: Ang Lee

Problem was no one went to see the film. Perhaps if he’d gotten Springfield, Missouri’s (home of Wilson’s Creek NB) most famous son to star things would have been different. That’s Brad Pitt if you’re wondering. We’re patiently waiting for his The Assassination of Jesse James…’ release on DVD. Why is that relevant? Because Ride With the Devil’s revolves around Missouri bushwhacker Paul Quantrill’s riders one of whom was Jesse James.

Quantrill was a Missourian and so were his riders. That’s where things get complicated. Missouri. Oh, Missouri. During the Civil War, from 1861-65, no state was more compelling, more vexing, more fascinating or more insane. Pro-Union (as in the Army), pro-Confederacy, pro-union (small u, as in the country’s unity), anti-union, pro-slavery and anti-slavery interests mixed and matched and varied from county to county, person to person.

Will the movie’s characters be tortured by these complex contradictions? How can a supposed summer blockbuster movie portray this angst? And how can a movie make heroes out of Quantrill’s band and their shocking and murderous 1863 raid of the men and boys of Lawrence, Kansas. An even better question is how did the University of Kansas get a BSC football bid over the University of Missouri when the Tigers beat the Jayhawks during the regular season! Just goes to show that history’s geographic grudges never subside, now we just settle our differences with less killing.

Click Here to Read More about Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.

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Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield

Springfield, Mo.
Visited: September 1, 2005
NPS Site Visited: 244 of 353
NPS Website; Local Website

WHAT IS IT?

Site of an August 10, 1861 battle, the first major Civil War fight west of the Mississippi River.

BEAUTY (3/10)
The Battlefield is located on an anonymous southwestern Missouri field, about 10 miles from downtown Springfield. A shallow, slow-moving creek meanders its way though the overgrown fields, hillsides and orchards. The Park’s 5-mile auto tour-loop road is self-contained and inaccessible to through traffic. There are no stone monuments marking fallen officers and fierce fighting. The Battlefield has changed little since 1861. The grounds are preserved and protected, but are they beautiful? Not one bit.

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE (6/10)
Missouri. Oh, Missouri. During the Civil War, from 1861-65, no state was more compelling, more vexing, more fascinating or more insane. To historians and Civil War buffs, Missouri was almost like the United States in miniature, except it does not have that helpful Mason-Dixon Line. Pro-Union (as in the Army), pro-Confederacy, pro-union (small u, as in the country’s unity), anti-union, pro-slavery and anti-slavery interests mixed and matched and varied from county to county, person to person. Missouri is always the exception rather than the rule.

Missouri’s proximity to our country’s largest river system, the Mississippi-Missouri, gave it strategic importance. Lincoln needed the State, which had legal slavery, to join the Union. Luckily for Abe, the most strategic and populous city, St. Louis, was largely pro-Union. The governor, Claiborne Jackson, however was pro-Confederacy and defiant to Lincoln. In April 1861 he seized the Kansas City arsenal, took control of the St. Louis police and sent a Missouri State Guard to seize the St. Louis arsenal.

Secretly, wily U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon had moved the arsenal to Illinois. Lyon was not satisfied despite his logistical victory (he had protected the muskets). On May 9, he surrounded the State Guard’s encampment and captured 700 men. Not the subtle type, Lyon marched the prisoners through the St. Louis streets. Mobs threw rocks at Lyon’s men, they shot back, 28 civilians died, riots started and panic enveloped Missouri.

Lyon declared Civil War within Missouri’s boundaries. Interestingly, Lyon and Jackson attempted to close the borders to Federal and Confederacy troops; they wanted the fight to themselves. Within four days, Lyon captured the capital, Jefferson City, and forced the governor to retreat to Springfield with his State Guard, now led by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price an experienced soldier whose allegiances changed after the St. Louis mayhem.

By the time of Wilson’s Creek in August, Price received 5,000 Confederate soldiers but lost control of his Army to a Confederate general. Lyon’s marauding army too was made an adjunct of larger forces, when Lincoln named famed pioneer John C. Fremont head of the western Federal forces.

Price’s forces won a decisive victory at Wilson’s Creek and Lyon died in battle. Nevertheless, Price could not follow the retreating Federal force and finish the job because the Confederate hierarchy did not care much about Missouri. For that matter, neither did the Federals. The last major battle of the Missouri theater came in March 1862 at Pea Ridge, Ark. After that fight, all soldiers were sent eastward.

Missouri became a void filled with guerrilla warfare, raiding vigilantes, marauding cavalry forces and years more of bushwhacking havoc. Somebody should really make a movie about this period of American history.

CROWDS (6/10)
A North Carolina Civil War buff joined in on our hour-long Wilson’s Creek discussion with a Ranger and then retreated with his wife into the Park’s excellent on-site Civil War library. We did not see many other people during our visit.

EASE OF USE/ACCESS (3/5)
In the Springfield News-Leader, the day of our visit, we read that friends of the Park recently purchased a few tracts of surrounding land in order to prevent a planned housing development from bordering the Battlefield. The News-Leader suggested that Wilson’s Creek was an “endangered battlefield” soon to be caught in Springfield’s unending sprawl. Our journey, later that day, to the Park proved this notion incorrect.

The Battlefield is ten miles from town and feels like the middle of nowhere. The quickest path towards it follows country roads without signs pointing towards Wilson’s Creek NB; it is a wonder we even found the place. From Interstate 44, take Exit 70. Go South down Missouri Route MM. Soon after you cross U.S. Route 60, the road becomes Missouri Route ZZ. The VC is at the corner of ZZ and Elm Street.

If you are coming from Branson, Mo. and U.S. Route 65, take the James River Expressway Exit and go west. Continue west along Missouri Route M. Turn south (left) onto Missouri Route FF. FF become Elm Street a/k/a Missouri Route 182. The VC is at the corner of ZZ and Elm Street.

CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (5/5)
Wilson’s Creek NB’s book collection is slight compared to most Civil War Site bookstores. The Site focuses on local Civil War history books instead of the normal overwhelming barrage of titles. There are ten books about the Wilson’s Creek battle alone.

The Site’s narrow selection is buoyed by the adjacent Hulston Library, which boasts 5,500 Civil War books, microfilmed soldier lists and maps galore. If you are looking for any fact related the War’s western fighting, you will find it here. You must do all your research in house, meaning you cannot check out books, many of which are rare and/or signed volumes. You can search the library at www.coolcat.org.

COSTS (3/5)
Entry is $3 per person, $5 per vehicle or free with the National Parks Pass.

RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (5/5)
It took a wonderful hour-long give and take discussion with a super Park Ranger for us to achieve just a slight grip on the Missouri hornet’s nest. Our Ranger talk was equivalent to a full semester’s graduate course due to the sheer amount of information parlayed and understanding achieved. It was a lot cheaper, too.

TOURS/CLASSES (8/10)
Michael loves electric maps and gets really excited whenever we get to see one. Wilson’s Creek’s map is very good. The intro film is so old that the Ranger lamented that we should have skipped it. He was right; it added confusion to an already confusing topic.

There is a fascinating display of battle artifacts located near the Library that includes: a rifle used in battle and unearthed during an archaeological dig; an original tattered Union flag and Sterling Price’s personal engraved pistol!

FUN (7/10)
Tombstone-like historical markers have been sunk in the pathway to the Visitor Center. They remind the visitor of the topsy-turvy history of compromises and elections that led to the Civil War and the Missouri skirmishes that led to Wilson’s Creek. It is always nice to have your visit contextualized before you step into a new period of history.

These markers are clear evidence of Wilson’s Creek NB’s stellar attention to detail and its dedication to thorough education. We had a great time learning about Missouri and are eager to know more.

WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (4/10)
If you got through our entire seven-paragraph HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE section than the rating shoots up to about a 7. If you just skimmed the brief 1860’s Missouri history lesson than you should probably just breeze through Springfield, Mo. along Old Route 66 without stopping here.

TOTAL 50/80

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George Washington Carver National Monument

Diamond, Mo.
Visited: September 1, 2005
NPS Site Visited: 245 of 353
NPS Website; Local Website

WHAT IS IT?
The birthplace and boyhood home of George Washington Carver, one of America’s greatest inventors and one of her most remarkable men.

BEAUTY (6/10)
The George Washington Carver National Monument landscape is calming, quiet and lends towards introspection. From the VC, the Carver Trail passes George’s birthplace, the ruins of a tiny cabin, and descends into the forest until reaching the remarkable Boy Carver statue. The statue portrays a young George deep in thought, his head tilted slightly towards the sky caught in a daydream, an idea and with a relaxing peace of mind.

The statue hurtles you into the Carver’s natural world, a world of necessary escape but a world of opportunity. Carver saw it as God’s world; he believed that the Creator spoke to him “through flowers, rocks, animals, plants and all other aspects of His creations”. While walking in Carver’s common, but extraordinary woodland oasis you might become one with his understanding and experience a flash of his genius.

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE (5/10)
How can you quantify the life of George Washington Carver? His story, his life and his absolute loving, humble Christian demeanor are so unbelievable.

Carver was born a slave in 1864 in Missouri, perhaps America’s most volatile and violent state. Shortly after his birth, Missouri bushwhackers kidnapped both him and his mother. His slave owners recovered George, at the time nearly dead from whooping cough, but never found his mother.

Carver spent his youth painting, learning about the plants and animals that surrounded him and teaching himself to read. The Carvers, formerly his owners, were illiterate and unable to assist George’s learning. He left home at eleven, moving from school to school, through sickness, extreme prejudice, violence and difficult jobs. In 1890, he found his way into Iowa State University’s agriculture program, where he would become their first African American graduate in 1894.

Carver then moved to Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute where his remarkable scientific career blossomed. Carver invented hundreds of food products, including peanut butter, and transformed the Southern farmers’ agricultural methods. By the 1920’s he had become friends with Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.

Carver died in 1943. Later that same year, FDR honored him with a National Park Site. This honor is especially remarkable when you consider that the nearby Arkansas schools did not begin desegregation until 1957 and in much of the South denied voting rights to African Americans until 1965.

CROWDS (6/10)
Just us. The Site should see waves of school group visitors any day now.

EASE OF USE/ACCESS (3/5)
The Carver birthplace is located in southwestern Missouri, about 20 miles from the town of Joplin. Take Interstate 44, Exit 11 and travel south down U.S. Route 71 for 5 miles. Turn east (left) and go down Missouri Route V for about 5 miles until you reach Carver Road. Turn south (right) and signs will point you to the Park.

The NPS has resurfaced the part of the Carver Trail from the Visitor Center to the Carver Statue with an environmentally friendly material made from recycled tires. This portion of the trail is fully accessible.

CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (3/5)
The store carries ten Carver biographies, five Carver children’s books and reprints of five separate Carver agricultural pamphlets. The bookstore also vends posters and Booker T. Washington biographies but the shelf entitled African American history is conspicuously bare.

African American history scholarship has flourished over the past 25 years. We should have run across a definitive collection of texts at one of the 15+ African American history-related sites we have visited. Instead, we run into bare shelves and self-help books. It does not make sense why there are more black history books at Civil War sites than at sites honoring Martin Luther King, the Brown v. Board of Education decision and George Washington Carver.

COSTS (5/5)
From the Park’s website: George Washington Carver once said, “The Lord charges nothing for knowledge and I will charge you the same.” Entry, as Mr. Carver wanted, is free. Free Ranger-led tours of the Site leave twice a day.

RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (3/5)
We had a personal Ranger tour albeit a rushed tour since she needed to get back to the Museum in order to give another Ranger a lunch break. The Carver Discovery Center was closed.

TOURS/CLASSES (5/10)
None of the Site’s educational offerings, the 40-year old film, the Mission ’66-era Museum and the rushed Ranger tour, was particularly compelling. The interactive Carver Discovery Center was closed during our visit and, although aimed at children, could have been fun.

In retrospect, we should have wandered both the Carver Trail and the Contemplative Loop Trail on our own, sans Ranger. Rocks bearing meditative GW Carver quotes appear during the entire journey giving an insight into his tremendous life. The Park’s trees, insects, animals, birds, ponds and pathways were Carver’s education. Nature was his personal teacher; we must learn to make it ours.

FUN (5/10)
Carver NM is Part One of the saga. George’s boyhood, while amazing, is the least interesting part of his story. The agricultural discoveries at Tuskegee, his aristocratic friendships and even his determined post-Missouri educational path are all more appealing than his boyhood. George left here at eleven and never again called it his home.

Touring the Carvers’ house also elicits odd emotions which we cannot come to grips with. The fact remains that they owned George in 1864 Missouri, two years after the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Missouri remained a slave state until the War’s end because it was pro-Union. How is that for irony? George never wrote about the situation with any animosity or mixed feelings, only thanks and appreciation, so why should we feel differently?

It is no wonder that rural Missouri life 150 years ago spawned the complicated race-probing writings of the greatest American author: Mark Twain.

WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (4/10)
We enjoyed the George Washington Carver Museum at the Tuskegee Institute much more. Nonetheless, if you are driving westward down I-44, the path of the classic American road, Route 66, then a quick stop to Carver’s birthplace is in order. It could be the last eastern woodland-forested landscape your cross-country trip will see.

TOTAL 45/80

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