Wilson's Creek: A Battlefield's Legacy
- Michael Price
- Aug 7
- 15 min read
Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in Greene County, Missouri, is a premier destination for visitors and researchers seeking to learn about the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War. Visitors can walk in the footsteps of soldiers on Bloody Hill, read first-person accounts of the battle in a spacious library, and view rare artifacts that make tangible the complex story of the Civil War in the vast region west of the Mississippi.
None of this is accidental. Wilson's Creek National Battlefield owes its existence to the tireless work and dedication of volunteers, donors, staff, and National Park Service leadership. This article profiles a handful of the many individuals whose contributions helped transform Wilson's Creek from the mere site of a battle to an invaluable asset of public history and education.
The Road to Bloody Hill
For decades, Ozarkians had worked to preserve the site of the Battle of Wilson's Creek, but despite intense lobbying efforts, bills to officially recognize the battlefield failed to pass in both Jefferson City and Washington, D.C. Locally, poor roads and signage left the battlefield isolated and difficult to visit.
Interest in a proposed park at the site was revived on August 22, 1950, with the creation of the Wilson's Creek Battlefield Foundation. Dr. Lewis Meador, a professor at Drury College and a prolific historian of the battle, was elected president of the new organization. The Foundation announced its goal of raising $1,600 to purchase Bloody Hill, where the battle's heaviest fighting had taken place.
While the fundraising effort received contributions from various sources, Foundation leaders concentrated on area classrooms. After speaking to school children about the Battle of Wilson's Creek and the importance of preserving the site, Foundation representatives collected pocket change from the students in what has come to be known as the "Penny Brigade."
At that time, the land encompassing Bloody Hill was owned by Myrtle McClure, who had inherited it from her father, John McConnell. Mrs. McClure and her husband, Robert, supported the idea of preserving the site. "We were willing to sell the 37 acres cheap," said Mr. McClure, "because we were interested. We want to see the memorial park started."
The purchase was completed on October 30, 1950, when Foundation member John Hulston presented Mrs. McClure with a check for $1,600 during a Chamber of Commerce Luncheon at the Colonial Hotel. The Foundation had raised an additional $1,000, which they used for signage and other improvements to the site. Local farmers Jack Glidewell and Harold Phillips had already granted a right of way through their adjacent properties for a lane leading from Cumberland Presbyterian Church to Bloody
Hill.
Despite the Foundation's local accomplishments, its lobbying efforts in Jefferson City for funds to purchase additional land were unsuccessful. By 1956, no additional land had been purchased, and the momentum gained when Bloody Hill opened to the public had stalled.
Becoming a National Park
After Bloody Hill, the most important historical site on the battlefield is the Ray House. In 1861, the house was the residence of postmaster John Ray and his family. During the battle, the structure was used as a field hospital. The remains of Union General Nathaniel Lyon, the first Union general to die in the Civil War, were brought to the Ray House following his death on Bloody Hill.
Like Bloody Hill, the Ray House had been owned by John McConnell. When McConnell passed away in 1934, one of his daughters, Bessie McElhaney, returned from California with her husband to live in the house. Over the years, Mrs. McElhaney carefully preserved the house, hoping that it would someday be included in a park. That day seemed closer than ever when the Foundation purchased Bloody Hill from her sister, Myrtle McClure, but by 1956, Mrs. McElhaney was beginning to hold doubts. Speaking to journalist Lucile Morris Upton, McElhaney reported: "I am thinking I should go ahead and rebuild the house so I could live more comfortably... I want them to have it if they
want it. If they don't, I feel that I should remodel it."
McElhaney's words, along with pending legislation for a park at the Pea Ridge battlefield in northwest Arkansas, spurred Wilson's Creek boosters into action. On May 7, 1956, Senator Thomas C. Hennings introduced a bill to establish a national park at Wilson's Creek. After a long legislative struggle, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law a bill establishing Wilson's Creek Battlefield National Park on April 22, 1960.
Why was the park's name changed from Wilson's Creek Battlefield National Park to Wilson's Creek National Battlefield?
The name of the park was changed in 1970, following the passage of the National Park Service General Authorities Act. The National Park Service changed the name of the park in order to conform with other battlefields under its jurisdiction, which are referred to as either National Military Parks or National Battlefields. Despite no longer being designated a national park, Wilson's Creek is still administered by the National Park Service.
The deed to Bloody Hill was presented to the National Park Service in 1961, during an elaborate ceremony marking the battle's centennial anniversary. It would be another five years before the National Park Service acquired the nearby Ray House. While there was every reason to believe that the war's centennial events would focus on the large Eastern battlefields, many imagined that, someday, tourists and historians would go to
Wilson's Creek to learn about the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War.
Nobody saw that future more clearly than Senator Stuart Symington, who delivered the keynote address. Standing atop Bloody Hill, Symington told his audience: "In the years to come, Wilson's Creek Battlefield National Park will draw proper recognition to the importance of Civil War sacrifices in the West. In the past, it's been the custom for this phase of the war to be somewhat slighted by historians—and I refer not only to Wilson's Creek, but to those great and decisive battles not so well-known, like this one here, and Pea Ridge, and Belmont, and Henry, and Donelson—but the creation of this park has already inspired much new study of the meaning of Wilson's Creek, and as a result, more names of more battles—Lexington, and Carthage, and so forth—in this state and this area, will be dwelled on in the future by those who write of this long and tragic period in our history."
Excerpt from Stuart Symington's keynote speech at the 1961 dedication ceremony for Wilson's Creek Battlefield National Park. Audio courtesy of Wilson's Creek National Battlefield.
View transcript
"In the years to come, Wilson's Creek Battlefield National Park will draw proper recognition to the importance of Civil War sacrifices in the West. In the past, it's been the custom for this phase of the war to be somewhat slighted by historians—and I refer not only to Wilson's Creek, but to those great and decisive battles not so well-known, like this one here, and Pea Ridge, and Belmont, and Henry, and Donelson—but the creation of this park has already inspired much new study of the meaning of Wilson's Creek, and as a result, more names of more battles—Lexington, and Carthage, and so forth—in this state and this area, will be dwelled on in the future by those who write of this long and tragic period in our history."
The Sweeneys and the Second Penny Brigade
In 1971, Dr. Thomas Sweeney, a radiologist, moved from Columbia, Missouri, to Springfield. Dr. Sweeney has been fascinated by the Civil War since childhood: He began collecting artifacts from the war at 12 years old, and his interest only grew when he learned that he was related to General Thomas Sweeny, who fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.
Dr. Sweeney began volunteering at Wilson's Creek shortly after arriving in Springfield, and in time, he had assembled a Civil War-era medical kit, with instruments that he had found everywhere from Boston to Monett. Dr. Sweeney interpreted the grim story of Civil War field medicine for visitors at Wilson's Creek, with a door placed across two barrels serving as an operating table, as was standard practice for field surgeons during the war. Amputations were frequently employed to save the lives of wounded soldiers, and death rates were high due to infections caused by the use of contaminated instruments. "It was crude," Dr. Sweeney remarked, "but it's unfair to look at it from our standpoint today. The medical care was good for the times."
The battlefield's ad hoc field hospital, the Ray House, was an appropriate backdrop for these programs. The house's two front rooms had largely been preserved in their original condition, thanks to Bessie McElhaney and her father, John McConnell. Despite her earlier misgivings, Mrs. McElhaney never modernized the house, and lived there until it was acquired by the National Park Service in 1966. A chain-link fence was installed around the house until full-restoration work began in 1984.
The need for both appropriate furnishings for the restored Ray House and increased visitation to the battlefield made clear the need for private funding. The Wilson's Creek Battlefield Foundation had been largely inactive since the 1961 centennial event, but it was reconstituted on August 10, 1982, after two decades of dormancy.
One of the Foundation's first initiatives was to launch the Second Penny Brigade. Karen Sweeney, Dr. Sweeney's wife, was among the Foundation's most active members during this period: Along with Jeannette Collins, she worked to raise money to provide historically accurate furnishings for the Ray House. Dressed as an 1860s farm wife, Mrs. Sweeney portrayed Roxanna Ray at the house, describing to visitors the challenges faced by families like the Rays who were caught up in the chaos of the war.
Like its predecessor thirty years before, the Second Penny Brigade was a success. Completion of the first phase of the Ray House furnishing project was marked on February 15, 1990, with a dedication ceremony attended by John Ray's great-great-grandson, Larry Buffington.
The Hulston Library
Springfield Attorney John K. Hulston played a key role in the establishment and growth of Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. He was a charter member of the Wilson's Creek Battlefield Foundation in 1950, and was actively involved in the Bloody Hill fundraising drive. A chapter in Hulston's biography, An Ozarks Lawyer's Story, chronicles the years of work it took to establish a park at Wilson's Creek.
Hulston also expanded historians' understanding of the battle with his article, "West Point and Wilson's Creek," published in the December 1955 issue of Civil War History. In this article, Hulston profiles several West Point graduates who served as junior officers at Wilson's Creek before rising to higher command. The article was later reprinted by the Foundation as a pamphlet and sold in the battlefield's visitor center.
One of Hulston's most important contributions, however, was securing a private collection of books pertaining to the Civil War for the park's library. The volumes came from Gilbert Knipmeyer, who served as an archivist for the state of Missouri for forty years. Born in central Missouri, Knipmeyer took an interest in the war after hearing stories about the conflict from his relatives. Over the years, he amassed a collection of 1,750 books on the war.
Before his death, Knipmeyer initially considered selling his collection to his alma mater, Stanford University. Fortunately, his cousin was Anne Drummond, a former Springfield city councilwoman and president of the Wilson's Creek Battlefield Foundation. Drummond urged Knipmeyer to consider Wilson's Creek, and he was convinced after receiving a visit from Hulston and Leeson Meador, the widow of Dr. Lewis Meador. Hulston reported that Mrs. Meador was very convincing. "I felt after that we were going to get the books," he said.
Hulston purchased the collection from Knipmeyer and donated it to Wilson's Creek in a ceremony on July 24, 1985, that featured remarks from Edwin C. Bearss, Chief Historian of the National Park Service. In honor of his role in securing the collection, the library was named the John K. and Ruth Hulston Civil War Research Library.
The library initially consisted of Hulston's donation as well as the park's existing 500-volume collection, occupying 300 square feet in the visitor center. Even with its bookcases built into the walls, the collection quickly outgrew this space. Under the leadership of Foundation president Rosanne Blunt, $1.45 million was raised for an 8,500-square-foot addition to the visitor center. Along with an expanded Hulston Library, this addition would also include a new multipurpose room as well as administrative space.
Ahead of its 2001 groundbreaking ceremony, coinciding with the battle's 140th anniversary, Chief Park Ranger John Sutton said that the new facility would serve as a regional hub for the study of the Civil War. "The part of the war that took place here is a bit confusing," Sutton said. "The facility can be used to raise people's awareness of the war. It also brings the potential to reach out to people beyond the Springfield area."
At the addition's dedication ceremony on April 5, 2003, park Superintendent Richard Lusardi proclaimed: "Now we have a facility that can properly preserve the volumes of books, manuscripts and other things that talk about the battle here as well as the Civil War in general. So you have the written word and the actual battlefield where it took place." Through a partnership with the Springfield-Greene County Library District, the park's collection became fully searchable through an online catalog, making the items in the research library more accessible than ever.
General Sweeny's Museum of Civil War History
Meanwhile, Dr. Sweeney's artifact collection had continued to grow, swelling to a total of around 5,000 items. He had considered building a museum focused on the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War, but nothing came of those plans until the Sweeneys purchased the home of former congressman O. K. Armstrong in 1990. Located just north of the Wilson's Creek visitor center, Dr. Sweeney's new home was in the perfect location for a museum of Civil War artifacts.
Soon, construction was underway on a 2,500 square foot building behind the Sweeney home. Dr. Sweeney shared credit for the endeavor with his wife, saying that "if it hadn't been for Karen's encouragement I probably wouldn't have followed through with it." Dr. Sweeney was surprised at the size of his own collection, and spent evenings writing descriptive text for each item.
General Sweeny's Museum of Civil War History opened in 1993 and featured forty-eight professionally built display cases, each filled with artifacts that traced the Civil War from its origins along the Missouri-Kansas border in the 1850s to the final defeat of Missouri Confederates at Fort Blakely, Alabama, in 1865. Also included were exhibits devoted to wartime medicine and naval operations on the western rivers, as well as displays covering major battles, such as Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, and Vicksburg. "The museum is a chance to do it justice," said Dr. Sweeney, "to let people know what the men in Missouri fought for." General Sweeny's was not only unique for its focus on the Trans-Mississippi Theater; it was one of only about a dozen private Civil War museums in the country.
When it came time to plan for retirement, the Sweeneys wanted to ensure that the thousands of artifacts in their collection remained together. To that end, they sold their collection and twenty acres of land to the National Park Service on August 10, 2005. The artifacts joined the holdings of Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, while the building for General Sweeny's Museum and the Sweeney's home became administrative offices for the park and for the Foundation. Today, hundreds of items from the Sweeney Collection can be viewed in the park's recently renovated visitor center.
Wilson's Creek Today
Wilson's Creek has also gained a substantial online presence through collaborations with other institutions. Through a partnership between the Springfield-Greene County Library and the National Park Service, portions of the Wilson's Creek Museum Collection can now be viewed online. Visitors from across the globe can learn about the Civil War in the region on the Trans-Mississippi Theater Virtual Museum, view hundreds of rare images on the Trans-Mississippi Theater Photo Archive, or trace the conflict from its origins on the Missouri-Kansas border in the 1850s to its enduring ramifications in the 1870s with the Trans-Mississippi Theater Civil War Timeline.
From its beginnings as thirty-seven acres on Bloody Hill, Wilson's Creek has grown to a 2,000-acre park that preserves about seventy-five percent of the area where fighting took place on August 10, 1861. Visitors to the park can travel along a 4.9-mile tour road, learning about major events in the battle at various points of interest. The park's Museum Collection includes more than 22,000 artifacts, including uniforms, weapons, photographs, and manuscripts, and the Hulston Library now contains approximately 12,000 volumes, in addition to a collection of periodicals, information files, microfilm reels, and maps. None of this would have been possible without the impassioned efforts of countless men and women who sought to honor and preserve the history of Wilson's Creek and of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War.
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