Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Site

June 11th after George Washington Carver's site, I drove over to my brother's house in Verona, Missouri and visited for a bit before I took my niece, Zetta, with me to see the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Site in Republic, Missouri - a few miles from her house.  The address is 6424 W Farm Road 182.  Wilson's Creek was the first major battle fought west of the Mississippi River and the 2nd major battle of the Civil War.  It was also the site of the death of Nathaniel Lyon, the first Union general killed in action.  It was a costly southern victory on Aug. 10, 1861 and focused attention on the war in Missouri. The official BRIEF account of the battlefield can be found here.

The Visitor's Center was small and many of the exhibit display items had been removed so it only took a few minutes to see this.  It wasn't as informative as other exhibits I've seen, but it still had artifacts to view.

Miss Zetta had seen the Battlefield before with the family so I used her as my personal tour guide as we toured the Visitor's Center and the Battlefield area.  The temperature were hotter than heck so we didn't venture off the peruse the fields except for the Ray Home where we hiked up the the house.  We got in the Laramie and drove around the 5-mile site.

Stop 1 - Gibson House and Oat Field

Stop 2 - Ray Springhouse and Ray House.  The Ray House for some reason was closed so we walked around it and peered into the windows and took photos.

Stop 3 - Pulaski Arkansas Battery

Stop 4 - Sigel's Second Position (Sharp Cornfield and Stubbelfield)

Stop 5 - Sigel's Final Position

Stop 6 - Guibor's Battery - Edwards Cabin / Price's HQ was between this site and Stop 3.

Stop 7 - Bloody Hill - Totten's Battery.  Poor Zetta put her arm on the cannon and it was burning hot.  Poor thing.

Stop 8 - Route of Union Advance and Withdrawal

We had a fun auntie - niece time today and it was fun to spend some one-on-one time with her.  The battlefield was a fairly large area of hill and dale.  We were certainly glad to get into an air-conditioned truck.  How in the world did these soldiers survive in this heat?!?!