An agenda outlining an ambitious effort to construct a comprehensive historical and educational website about the Civil War in Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas was presented June 30 at the Kansas City Public Library. Approximately 50 invited organizations, including the Daviess County Historical Society, are participants in the project called "The Missouri-Kansas Conflict: Civil War on the Western Border, 1854-1865." Organizers hope to complete the initial phases of work in time for the Sesquicentennial anniversary of the war in April, 2011.
This initiative is being launched with a $43,469 grant to begin the digitization of primary source documents and photographs. Additional grant funding will follow to complete the project.
The goal is to unify sundry and numerous primary source materials from institutions across both sides of the Kansas-Missouri border into a single website.
Many professional organizations are partnering in advisory capacities. These include the National Archives at Kansas City, the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas, the Missouri Valley Special Collections, Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area, LaBudde Special Collections and also the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at UMKC, Kansas State Historical Society and other groups.
"The internet already puts lots of data at your fingertips about the Civil War but there’s not really anything yet developed to focus exclusively on the conflict in our region in social and historical context," says Darryl Wilkinson who represented the local historical society at the meeting.
"The idea is to organize a high quality online resource of authentic letters, diaries, military records, photographs and an array of other documents – and that means individuals and families holding historic items are encouraged to share them."
An inventory process is a necessary first step. Each participating organization like the Daviess County Historical Society will be visited by a research specialist to access relevant materials and assure that the authentic documents are accessible and available for the digital copy process. Items will be prioritized according to a range of criteria.
Care will be taken to assure that no damage occurs to original documents during the copying process. Duplicate copies will be provided for local display in many cases.
"Obviously, an emphasis is placed on primary source documentation rather than hearsay or folklore," says Mr. Wilkinson. "Much of what we have readily available here is from newspaper accounts. But just because something was once published doesn’t necessarily mean it will become a part of this website. Some ‘next day’ accounts published immediately after an incident might be selected, whereas reminiscences on anniversary dates years removed from the actual event become more suspect concerning accuracy.
"But if you or your family possess something that describes life here between 1854 and 1865, we hope you will consider sharing it," Wilkinson says. "The expertise and interest being applied to this project is quite impressive so you may be assured that inclusion of any materials you might share will be prestigious. This is a very good opportunity to make documents from this pivotal era widely accessible to the public."
If you have something to share concerning the Civil War anywhere in Northwest Missouri, please call Mr. Wilkinson at Gallatin Publishing Company, 660-663-2154, or home phone 660-663-3549. You may also email him at darrylw@northwestmissouri.com
Gallatin Publishing Company hosts and maintains a website for the Daviess County Historical Society which attracted the attention of project organizers. The Civil War in Daviess County is already prominent on www.DaviessCountyHistoricalSociety.com.
The most recent addition is an account published in the Gallatin Democrat, presented just last week for consideration by Frosty Meadows of Bethany. This account revealing an incident of murder and courage reads as follows:
During the Civil War, a band of marauders, called bushwhackers, pillaged and terrorized the country. In 1864, this group murdered David Lockwood at his home in the western part of Daviess County. It is believed to have been this same group of murderers who called at the home of John Meadows, three miles north of the present site of Pattonsburg. The courage displayed by John's wife, Nancy, has become a tradition in that family's history.
Mrs. Meadows sat in the doorway of her home holding a butcher knife in one hand and a lighted candle in the other, and held the marauders at bay long enough to allow her husband to get away from the back entrance and seek help. When sufficient time had elapsed, she allowed the band to enter to keep them from setting fire to the house.
She held her lighted candle in their faces, which had been painted black, and announced, "I know every one of the black devils." They searched the house, missing $800, which had been hidden near the fireplace. They left amid curses and threats.
Mr. Meadows and the aid he had secured traced the group to a nearby well where the pillagers had washed the black from their faces. The house in which this incident occurred was destroyed by fire in 1881; the house which was built to replace it now forms the front part of the Charley Meadows home north of Pattonsburg.
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