{"id":80321,"date":"2022-04-22T11:39:11","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T16:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=80321"},"modified":"2022-04-22T11:39:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T16:39:11","slug":"80321","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=80321","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

On this day in 1960, President Eisenhower signed the law into effect making Wilson’s Creek a national battlefield monument<\/p>\n

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The Battle for Wilson\u2019s Creek\u2019s recognition<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0In southern Greene County, there is peace.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t hear traffic. The wind howls through the trees, birds chirp, and a creek churns through the hills.<\/p>\n

But as soon as you hear the name of this creek, your opinion of this place will change. This is Wilson\u2019s Creek and in 1861 peace was far from here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Battle of Wilson\u2019s Creek is the second major battle of the Civil War,\u201d superintendent of\u00a0Wilson\u2019s Creek National Battlefield<\/a>\u00a0Sarah Cunningham said. \u201cIt\u2019s also the first major battle west of the Mississippi.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Missouri was a key state to hold thanks to the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. A large Confederate army was camping near Wilson\u2019s Creek with plans of claiming the state for the South. But on August 10, 1861, General Nathaniel Lyon led his Union soldiers from Springfield to surprise the southern encampment on what became known as Bloody Hill.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cIt was a five or six-hour bloody battle that took place,\u201d Cunningham said.<\/p>\n

A few hours into the fight, General Lyon was killed while positioning his troops. He becomes the first Union general killed in action in the Civil War.<\/p>\n

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By afternoon, the North retreats with 1,300 casualties. The South is also critically injured with 1,200 casualties. Three-and-a-half years later, the North would win the Civil War and for many, this Battle of Wilson\u2019s Creek was forgotten.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cFor years, veterans of this battle would come back to remember,\u201d Cunningham said, \u201cand commemorate the battle that occurred here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those veterans would lay rocks at the spot where their leader, General Lyon died. In 1928, the rocks were replaced with a stone marker made by the University Club of Springfield. But to see it, visitors would have to trespass on the private land.<\/p>\n

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Following World War II, there was a reunited pride in America. In 1950, the Wilson\u2019s Creek Foundation was created with the intent of purchasing the Civil War Battlefield as a way to honor those veterans.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cSchoolchildren would go to school and they would bring pennies, nickels, anything that they could save,\u201d Cunningham said, \u201cand contribute to the preservation of the Battle of Wilson\u2019s Creek.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1951, the Foundation purchased the 37-acres of land known as Bloody Hill. Over the next few years, the property would grow in size but not in status.<\/p>\n

With 16 Civil War sites as National Parks, the government didn\u2019t need another. The Pea Ridge National Military Park in Arkansas was added in 1956. One account mentioned the National Parks thought Pea Ridge was enough to tell the story of the war west of the Mississippi.<\/p>\n

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After several failed attempts, the Foundation\u2019s persistence paid off.<\/div>\n
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\u201cOn April 22, 1960, President Eisenhower signs into law the establishment of Wilson\u2019s Creek National Battlefield,\u201d Cunningham said.<\/p>\n

Over the decades, a tour road was built around the site as well as a horse riding trail and walking trails. Signs were placed telling stories about this battle and taking you to the points of interest.<\/p>\n

In 2021, a $3.5 million renovation was made to the Visitor\u2019s Center and Museum.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve got a bunch of new exhibits,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cInteractive videos, some really neat things that help visitors understand the Battle of Wilson\u2019s Creek.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Arts in the Park Music Series is back on Saturday nights in May at Wilson\u2019s Creek. It\u2019s also planning a large event over Memorial Day weekend. And, the National Parks just launched a Wellness Challenge you can do while at Wilson\u2019s Creek. Just visit the\u00a0Wilson\u2019s Creek National Battlefield website<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On this day in 1960, President Eisenhower signed the law into effect making Wilson’s Creek a national battlefield monument The Battle for Wilson\u2019s Creek\u2019s recognition \u00a0In southern Greene County, there is peace. You can\u2019t hear traffic. The wind howls through the trees, birds chirp, and a creek churns through the hills. But as soon as … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80322,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80321\/revisions\/80322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}