Civil War History in St. Louis
The Gateway to the West played a pivotal role in the clash between the North and the South, and St. Louis was bitterly divided throughout the war, 1861-1865. The majority served in the Union Army, but it’s estimated that 5,000 sided with the Confederates with many families harboring split allegiances. According to the 1860 census, Missouri ranked eighth in population, which made it an ideal resource for manpower. Its rich agricultural production provided fuel to feed that manpower, and the state’s abundance of raw materials like lead and iron was ideal for making bullets and cannonballs.
The nation’s major lines of western communication were anchored in Missouri, along with the Pony Express. Three major trails – the California, Oregon and Santa Fe – originate from Missouri, and the Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio rivers pass through or run alongside the state. As a result of its ideal location, there are a number of Civil war historic sites, exhibits and activities in the region. For more information about Missouri’s role in the Civil War, visit www.mocivilwar.org.
Day One
1. Jefferson Barracks Historical Park and National Cemetery
Plan to stay: 1-2 hours
For more information: www.stlouisco.com/parks/j-b.html
Home to restored military buildings, museums and a national cemetery. Established in 1863, the cemetery is the final resting place of approximately 16,000 Union and Confederate soldiers and officers. Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant and most of the war’s major generals were posted at Jefferson Barracks, which was established in 1826. During the war, the Barracks had one of the largest Federal hospitals in the country with more than 3,000 beds and accommodated patients from battles as far away as Vicksburg, Mississippi. At one point, it was the largest military base in the nation and played a major role in all the nation’s wars from the Civil War to World War II.
2. Missouri Civil War Museum
Plan to stay: 1-1.5 hours
For more information: www.mcwm.org
This educational learning center is dedicated to the preservation and study of Missouri’s involvement in the Civil War in the Jefferson Barracks Post Exchange & Gymnasium Building. Opening Summer 2011!
3. White Haven
Plan to stay: 30 mins.
For more information: www.nps.gov/ulsg
Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War hero and the 18th U.S. President, was introduced to his future wife Julia Dent at her St. Louis area plantation home White Haven, which later became the Grant family residence. White Haven is part of the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site and free interpretive tours are available of the main house. Special activities available year-round.
4. Grant’s Farm
Plan to stay: 1-2 hours
For more information: www.grantsfarm.com
Hardscrabble, a log cabin hand-built by Grant, is on display at Grant’s Farm. The Busch family estate was once owned by Grant, and today serves as a wildlife preserve. Visitors can enjoy animal shows, visit a petting zoo, take a tram ride through the preserve, and view a collection of antique carriages.
5. Historic Old Courthouse
Plan to stay: 30 mins
For more information: www.nps.gov/jeff/planyourvisit/och.htm
Built from 1839-1862, the courthouse was the site of the Dred Scott slavery trials that were considered the flashpoint for the start of the Civil War. Begun in 1847, the case focused national attention on the slavery issue. Copies of court records, period newspaper articles and other artifacts of the case are on display in the second floor rotunda gallery, and groups can participate in trial re-enactments in one of the restored courtrooms. The building’s five museum galleries depict St. Louis’ role in the famous trial and in America’s westward expansion.
6. Missouri History Museum
Plan to stay: 1 hour
For more information: www.mohistory.org
The Missouri History Museum’s collections tell the history of the region from its earliest times to the present. The visitor will find plenty of engaging material in the Missouri History Museum’s Currents gallery that explores how slavery and secession affected St. Louis and its citizens. Items on view include uniforms, weapons, Thomas Noble’s painting “The Last Sale of Slaves” and a portrait of Dred Scott, whose famous trial foreshadowed the Civil War.
7. The Civil War in Missouri an exhibit at the Missouri History Museum
Plan to stay: 30 mins
For more information: http://www.mohistory.org/node/4591
To commemorate the Civil War sesquicentennial, the Missouri History Museum’s comprehensive exhibit will feature compelling imagery and diverse artifacts.
Day Two
8. Museum of Westward Expansion
Plan to stay: 1 hour
For more information:www.nps.gov/jeff/planyourvisit/museum-of-westward-expansion.htm
The free museum showcases a decade-by-decade look at the nation’s expansion west, features a Lewis & Clark trail photographic mural, and shows how mountain men lived in the 1800s. Listen to history as it unfolds through the voices of life-like “animatronic” figures.
9. Bellefontaine Cemetery
Plan to stay: 15-30 mins.
For more information: www.bellefontainecemetery.org
Features the final resting place of some of the city’s most historic individuals, including: Edward Bates, Abraham Lincoln’s U.S. Attorney General; Major General Don Carlos Buell, who led Federal troops in the battle of Shiloh; Major General Sterling Price, U.S. Congressman from Missouri and President of the Missouri Secession Convention; explorer William Clark; and brew master Adolphus Busch. Maps and self-guided tours are available at the cemetery office.
10. Calvary Cemetery
Plan to stay: 15-30 mins.
For more information: www.stlcathcem.org
Includes the graves of Dred and Harriet Scott; Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman; Daniel Frost, Brigadier General, Confederate Army; and James McLean Thomson, Civil War Union Brevet Brigadier General. Also features architecturally significant memorials such as the Nez Perce tribe monument.
11. Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing
Plan to stay: 10-15 mins.
For more information: www.confluencegreenway.org
The historical marker is the first nationally-designated Underground Railroad site in Missouri. Named for an African American abolitionist from St. Louis, the site was used by fugitive slaves escaping to the free state of Illinois prior to the Civil War.
12. Fairgrounds Park
Plan to stay: 1-2 hours
For more information: http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov//parks/parks_div/fairground.html
The park was the former site of Camp Benton, an encampment for Union troops located about five miles north of the city. The facility could accommodate 30,000 soldiers and contained a mile of barracks, warehouses, cavalry stables, parade grounds, and a 3,000-patient military hospital. Establishing operations in 1861, it served as a troop cantonment (replacing Jefferson Barracks after its conversion to a hospital), parole encampment, and a camp for contraband, refugee slaves and white refugee Unionists. There is also some evidence that Confederate guerilla POWs were briefly housed at the camp guardhouse.
13. Saint Louis University
Plan to stay: 30 mins.
For more information: www.slu.edu/index.xml
Former home of Camp Jackson, also known as Lindell’s Grove, the site of the first major Civil War-related action in Missouri and the only military action to take place within the city limits. The campus was named for Gen. Daniel M. Frost, Commander of the Missouri Volunteer Militia. The militia was captured by federal forces on May 10, 1861.
14. Museum of Transportation
Plan to stay: 1-1.5 hours
For more information: www.museumoftransport.org
Features dozens of locomotives, freight and passenger cars from almost every era of American history, including the Daniel Nason steam locomotive. Built by Boston and Providence Railroad master mechanic G.S. Grigg, sometime between 1833 and 1858, it is the country’s sole surviving inside-connected steam locomotive and represents the pre-Civil War practice of placing the steam cylinders inside the frame.
