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This drinking cup made from an animal horn was used by General David Thomson at the October 1813 Battle of the Thames, an American victory against the British and Tecumseh’s Confederacy in the War of 1812. The American troops serving under William Henry Harrison won the battle in which Tecumseh was killed. The victory led …
General David Thomson’s Horn Drinking Cup
1813
Dating back to 1825-1850, this Missouri War axe represents those used by Indigenous tribes in the Missouri River region, such as the Sioux, Shoshones, Mandan, and Osage. Axes like this often possessed inscriptions left by the blacksmith who forged them or designs like the bleeding heart shown on this blade. A common folkloric symbol, the …
Missouri River Fur Trade War Axe
1825-1850
Jefferson Barracks was established in 1826, and it remains America’s oldest military installation west of the Mississippi River. Located 11 miles from St. Louis, it was named in honor of Thomas Jefferson, whose Louisiana Purchase included the site. As a frontier post, troops from Jefferson Barracks played an important role in America’s westward expansion. Many …
Jefferson Barracks
1826–1946
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that church members believe to be authored by the prophet Mormon and later translated by Joseph Smith. The book recounts the prophet’s story of ancient America while also offering context to the Mormon experience and religious philosophy. This …
Book of Mormon
1830
After Missouri became a state in 1821, the U.S. Army began searching for a road to connect St. Louis and Fort Smith, Arkansas. The route they established followed a path used by Osage Indians and was commonly known to Missourians as the “Military Road,” or the “Fayetteville Road.” From 1858 to 1861, the Butterfield Overland Mail Company …
Wire Road
1836 - 1922
John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut in 1800 but raised in Ohio. Although Brown had always opposed slavery, he was not committed to the cause until he attended an abolitionist meeting in Cleveland in 1837. Upon the conclusion of the meeting, Brown swore that he would dedicate his life to the abolition of slavery. …
John Brown’s Telescope
1850s
Prominent St. Louis slave trader Bernard M. Lynch used this oak cash box to secure the earnings from the various activities conducted out of his business, Lynch’s Slave Pen. Located on the northeast corner of Fifth and Myrtle Streets in the city’s commercial and government district, the brick building served as a slave market and …
Bernard M. Lynch’s Cash Box
1850 - 1861
The monument on the left commemorates the Honey War, and the marker on the right signals the start of the Sullivan Line. Together, these structures represent Missouri’s Honey War. The war was a bloodless territorial dispute between Iowa and Missouri over a 9.5-mile strip running the length of their border. This conflict erupted in 1839 …
Honey War Monument
1850
Featuring a man with a devilish cloth mask–complete with black and white striped horns–this photograph depicts an infamous vigilante group that operated in the Ozarks following the Civil War: the Bald Knobbers. The group first organized in 1885 in Taney County, Missouri, gathering atop the grassy, treeless “bald knobs” of the Ozark Mountains. As a …
Bald Knobber Mask
1855 - 1889
USS Essex was an ironclad river gunboat that was converted in stages from the steam ferry New Era. Originally constructed at New Albany, Indiana, in 1856, the ship was purchased by the United States Army in September 1861 for its Western Gunboat Flotilla. Modified into a 355-ton “timberclad” gunboat, USS Essex was heavily damaged by enemy gunfire …
USS Essex Ironclad Gunboat
1856
Located on the northside of St. Louis, Benton Barracks was one of the most important Union Army training camps in Missouri during the Civil War. The 150-acre complex was established in 1861 and contained barracks, warehouses, and numerous other buildings. Several Missouri Union regiments were organized there, including some of the state’s African-American units. Soon …
Benton Barracks
1861 - 1865
Military victories at Wilson’s Creek and Lexington in 1861 provided Missouri’s pro-secession Governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, a great shift in political power. Having vacated Jefferson City, Jackson called the General Assembly back into session, asking them to meet at the Newton County Courthouse in Neosho on October 21, and charged the legislators with the duty …
Journal of the Missouri Senate
1861
This pocket manual is a translation of selections from Hardee’s Rifle and Light Infantry Tactics, the standard drill manual written in 1855 for the U.S. Army. It was published in German in St. Louis for the many Union soldiers of German descent recruited in Missouri in 1861. German-born military officers, such as Franz Sigel, who …
Tactik
1861
Nathaniel Lyon was born on July 14, 1818, in Ashford, Connecticut; he graduated from West Point in 1841. His military service included fighting the Seminoles in Florida and several battles in the Mexican-American War. Promoted to captain in 1851, Lyon’s immediate pre-Civil War career consisted mostly of garrison duty in California and Kansas. During the …
General Nathaniel Lyon’s Sword
1861
In May 1861, Missouri’s pro-secession Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson ordered the Volunteer Militia to train for six days in Lindell Grove on the outskirts of St. Louis. St. Louis was the home of the largest arsenal west of the Mississippi River, housing approximately 36,000 muskets. Captain Nathaniel Lyon had recently been given command of the …
Camp Jackson Musket
1861
The blue silk regimental flag represents the battle honors of the First Kansas Colored Infantry, the first African American regiment recruited from a northern state in the Civil War. Kansas Senator James Lane authorized the recruitment of the regiment in August 1862, and the men were mustered into service at Fort Scott, Kansas. The regiment …
First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment Flag
1862 - 1865
This drum and drumsticks of the 18th Iowa Volunteer Infantry were carried by James Hestler at the Battle of Springfield, January 8, 1863. The 18th Iowa Infantry was assigned to the defense of Springfield, Missouri, from November 1862 through the winter of 1863. On January 8, 1863, a rebel force under Marmaduke launched an attack …
18th Iowa Drum
1863
Archaeologists recovered these mid-19th century artifacts from a dig in Bates County, Missouri. Items include gun parts, plates, melted glass, and the remains of a burned foundation. In 1863, Union General Thomas Ewing Jr. was put in charge of the newly-created District of the Border as part of the effort to end the guerrilla violence …
Order No. 11 Artifacts
1863
Union General Thomas Ewing, who was appointed commander of the newly-created District of the Border, commissioned this 1863 hand-drawn map to show the locations of pro-Confederate guerrilla households that supported bushwhacker activity in eastern Jackson County. The accompanying lists name the residents of these “disloyal” households. There were few military-age Missouri men who remained in …
Thomas Ewing’s Guerrilla Household Map
1863
Samuel Curtis was a graduate of West Point, a civil engineer, veteran of the Mexican-American War, and a three term U.S. congressman. He was formal in his demeanor and closely followed all military uniformregulations. The frock coat was tailor-made, probably in the fall of 1862 when Curtis assumed command of the Department of the Missouri. …
Samuel R. Curtis’ Frock Coat
1864
This metal snuff box contains a .58 caliber Minie ball removed from the shoulder of Confederate Colonel Jeremiah Vardeman Cockrell. Born in May 1832 near Warrensburg, Missouri, Jeremiah Cockrell joined the Missouri State Guard when the Civil War began and served as an officer in the 8th Division at the battles of Carthage, Wilson’s Creek, …
Jeremiah Vard Cockrell Bullet & Snuff Box
1864
This photograph from 1864 displays the corpse of William T. “Bloody Bill” Anderson, one of the most infamous guerrilla leaders of the Missouri-Kansas border conflict. Early in the war, Anderson joined the ranks of the pro-Confederate Bushwhackers to preserve slavery in the state, among other objectives. After his sister died in the collapse of a …
William T. “Bloody Bill” Anderson
1864
In a gaslight-lit pavilion at Twelfth Street between Olive and St. Charles Street in St. Louis, visitors of the Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair enjoyed a daily raffle and other attractions such as stereopticon, fund-raising auctions, and votes for their favorite general. The raffle prizes, ranging from a Singer sewing machine to the Smizer Farm (a …
Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair Raffle Ticket
1864
Although Missouri technically remained in the Union during the Civil War, Missouri was politically divided with men fighting for both the Union and Confederate armies as well as serving in both Missouri-based Union militia and pro-Confederate guerrilla units. The Union army maintained fragile control of the state through military occupation and efforts to control disloyal …
Loyalty Oath of James H. Barnes
1865
This footstone bearing the initials J.W.J. is from the original 1882 gravesite of Jesse James at his family’s farm outside of Kearney, Missouri. Jesse Woodson James was born in Clay County, Missouri, on September 5, 1847, the second of three children of Reverend Robert and Zerelda James. Jesse’s father died in the Gold Rush when …
Footstone of Jesse James
1882
Gas Masks like this one would have been worn by French, American, and British troops during the First World War. Although each nation had variations on gas masks, by 1917, they had become fairly standardized due to the increased frequency of gas attacks on the front lines. The gas mask features a filtration canister connected …
Allied Gas Mask & Helmet
1917
John J. Pershing was born in Laclede, Missouri, on September 13, 1860, and graduated from the United States Academy at West Point in 1886. Pershing served with the 10th Cavalry, an African American regiment, during the Spanish-American War. In 1916, he led an expedition that pursued Francisco “Pancho” Villa in Mexico. President Woodrow Wilson appointed …
John J. Pershing Presentation Sword
1919
More than 156,000 Missourians served in the First World War; more than 11,000 of those became casualties, and five received the Medal of Honor. Some authorities rank Missouri as 8th of men in uniform. Prominent Missourians who fought in the war include Generals John J. Pershing and Enoch Crowder, future President Harry S. Truman, and …
National WWI Museum and Memorial
1923 - Present
Fort Leonard Wood, located in Pulaski County, Missouri, has trained Army infantry and engineers since World War II. As the conflict engulfed European countries, the United States prepared its military to enter the war. In 1940, the War Department approved the construction of a training facility in South Central Missouri. The base, named after General Leonard …
Fort Leonard Wood
1940 - Present
In February 1941, Springfield was chosen as the site of the O’Reilly General Army Hospital, to be located on a 160-acre reservation bounded by Division Street, Fremont Avenue, and Pythian Street and Glenstone Avenue, an area later occupied in large part by Evangel University. The staff of O’Reilly was recognized as being among the best …
O’Reilly General Army Hospital Wheelchair
1941 - 1952
In these photographs, Members of the Missouri Wing Civil Air Patrol drill and practice a simulated air crash in Greene County. The Civil Air Patrol is a congressionally chartered auxiliary of the United States Air Forces. Founded in 1941, the CAP’s first missions were to aid in spotting enemy submarine and aircraft activity near U.S. …
Missouri Wing Civil Air Patrol
1941 - present
In 1942, the US Army established a training site for gilder crews two miles south of Knob Knoster that would eventually become Whiteman Air Force Base. Although the site was deactivated after World War II, improvements were made beginning in 1951 for its return to service. The site became home to the 340th Bombardment Wing …
Whiteman Air Force Base
1942 - Present
In 1970, the country witnessed rising anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in response to increased U.S. military intervention in Southeast Asia. Two tragedies that year–the Kent State and Jackson State University Shootings–ignited protests at the University of Missouri–Columbia opposing the war and condemning the killings of dissenting students. MU students held several rallies, marches, class strikes, tagged …
Anti-War Demonstration
1970
Each year, thousands of Roman Catholic Vietnamese Americans gather in Carthage, Missouri, to worship in a celebration known as Marian Days. The festival’s origin dates back to 1975 when members of the Mother Co-Redemptrix clergy fled Vietnam shortly before the fall of Saigon. They were first sent to a refugee camp in Arkansas, but soon …
Marian Days
1978 - present