Mark Twain Boyhood Home, Hannibal, Missouri

Today, myself and my mother and father in-law visited historic Hannibal, Missouri. Mainly, to see the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens, aka "Mark Twain". Samuel Clemens was born in the year 1835 in Florida, Missouri. Mark Twain was four when his family moved to Hannibal, which is a port town on the Mississippi River. This town served as inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersburg in his books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

When Mark Twain was 18, he left Hannibal to work as a printer in New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. At age 22, he returned to Hannibal and studied to be a steamboat pilot. In 1859, Samuel Clemens received his steamboat liscense. When the American Civil War broke out, his career as a steamboat pilot was curtailed. In 1861, Twain traveled to Nevada where he becam a miner; he failed, and moved to Virgina City in 1863 to work with the newspaper. In 1864, he moved to San Francisco where he continued as a journalist. In 1866, Mark Twain traveled to the "Sandwich Islands", now known as Hawaii. In 1867, a local newspaper funded a trip to the Mediteranean.

Twain met his wife in 1868, and were engaged a year later, and were married in Elmira, New York in 1870. The couple lived in Buffalo, New York from 1869 to 1871. In 1871, the family moved to Hartford, Connecticut. During his 17 years in Connecticut, Clemens wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn(1884). Other books he wrote while in Hartford, included: The Prince and the Popper, Life on the Mississippi, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court.

Mark Twain returned to Hannibal several times during his life. Samuel Clemens died in 1910; Mark Twain is buried in Elmira, New York next to his Wife.

How Samuel Clemens came up with his pen name, while working on the Mississippi River, a fathom is a maritime depth which is equivalent to 2 yards or six feet. "Twain" is an archiac for two. When the riverboats men cry was "mark twain", it ment according to the mark (on the line), (the depth is) two (fathoms), that is, "there are 12 feet of water under the boat. Other noms de plume or pseudonyms were "Josh" and "Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass".

Scott Joplin House, Saint Louis, Missouri

The Scott Joplin House is located on Delmar Boulevard in downtown Saint Louis. Scott Joplin was famous for "Ragtime" music. He was dubed the "King of Ragtime". Scotts famous pieces include Maple Leaf Rag, whick became ragtimes first and most influential hit.

Joplin was born in Texarkana, Texas, and as an adult moved to Sedalia, Missouri to attend an all black college, the George R. Smith College. While in Sedalia, Joplin played piano in various clubs, such as the infamous Maple Leaf Club. In 1899, Joplin sold his most influrantial piece the "Maple Leaf Rag" inspired from playing at the Maple Leaf Club. Scott Joplin moved to Saint Louis in 1900, and lived at this home until 1907 with his wife Belle. They had a baby, but died several months later. His relationship with his wife was difficult as she had no interst in music. So, they seperated and finally divorced. In 1904, Scott was remarried to Freddie Alexandre, but due to complications from a cold she died 10 weeks after their marriage. At this home, he wrote and produced some of his best known work, such as: The Entertainer, and The Ragtime Dance. In 1907, Scott Joplin moved to New York City, and at age 48 he died of syphilis in 1917.

The Battle of Wilsons Creek, Springfield, Missouri

On August 10, 1861 the Missouri State Guard, along with Confederate forces collided with Union forces at Wilsons Creek (Oak Hills) 10 miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri. The Missouri State Guard was led by Major General Sterling Price, and the accompanying confederate forces were led by Brigadier General Ben McCulloch and Brigadier General Nicholas Bartlett Pearce.
Union forces were led by Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon and General Franz Sigel.

Events leading upto this battle, and the American Civil War were about slavery in the south and in territorial expansion. These included the ruling about the Amistad Schooner in 1841, the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, "Bleeding Kansas" between 1854 and 1858, the Dred Scott ruling of 1857, the John Brown raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, Abraham Lincolns election in 1860, and the Seccesion of the Southern States starting with South Carolina in December of 1860, and finally the Battle at Fort Sumter on April 12-13 of 1861.

Seven states origanally secceded from the union, and when Lincoln called upon 75, 000 volunteers to crush the rebellion, four other states secceded including Arkansas. With union states of Iowa and Indiana to the north and east, and the confederate state of Arkansas to the south, this left the western part of missouri open. Missouri was concidered a slave state, but did not secceed from the union. Only 10% of the population were slave owners and supported the confederates. The Missouri State Guard was formed by Governor Claiborne Jackson, a pro confederate, to resist a feared invasion of union troops due to the "Camp Jackson Affair". Most supporturs were in the middle of the state, such battles in the state of Missouri include: Lexington, Boonville, Liberty, Carthage and Independance where all small skirmishes. Now, with Kansas into the union, Missouri was a pennisula surrounded by three pro-union states, and a confederate state to the south.

In June 1861, Lyon begins his campaign to trap Price's Missouri State Guard. Lyon leaves St. Louis, and captures Jefferson City, and defeats the State Guard forces at Boonesville on June 17.
Siegel arrives in Springfield on June 24. After State Guardsmen under Governer Claiborne Jackson and General Rains leave Booneville and Lexington and unite, Siegal faces Carthage on July 5. The federals are forced to withdraw, and the State Guardsmen reach Cowskin Prairie.
Lyon marched from Booneville to Clinton and joints a column led by Major Samuel Sturgis. Lyon, Sturgis and Siegal meet in Springfield on July 13. By the end of July, Price moves his force to Cassville and combines with General McCullochs Confederates and General Pearces Arkansas troops. The southern army moves towards Springfield, Lyon collides with them at Dug Springs on August 2; then, retires back into town. The southerners go into camp along Wilsons Creek and prepare to attack Springfield, while Lyons plans a strike on the enemy encampment.

The Battle of Wilsons Creek began at 5am and ended around 11:30am. General Lyons was the first General to be killed in battle during the American Civil War, and this battle was the first battle fought west of the Mississippi, some consider the Battle of Wilsons Creek, the "Bull Run" of the west. Lyons army casualties estimated around 1,317 men, and McCullochs casualties estimated around 1,222. The Battle of Wilsons Creek was a Confederate victory. The confederacy occupied the Southwestern part of Missouri for some time. Lincoln became aware of the tension in Missouri, and sent thousands of union troops to keep Missouri in the Union. On March 7 and 8 of 1862, Union forces pursued the confederacy and crushed the Confederate forces at the Battle of Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern)in Northwestern part of Arkansas, driving he confederate government out of Missouri, thus securing Missouri in Union control.

However, the confederacy still had some sympathizers, and supportors of the cause called "Pro-Confederacy Bushwackers", mostly led by William Quantrill and "Bloody"Bill Anderson. These men were known as Quantrills Raiders, and fought for the cause using guerilla warfare. His most notable operation was the raid on Lawrence, Kansas, known as the "Lawrence Massacre" in 1863. Lawrence, Kansas was known as base of operations for Union "Jayhawkers" before and after the war.

Ulysses S. Grant Historical Homes, West County, St. Louis, Missouri

Ulysses S. Grant, our 18th President of the United States of America, and the victorious Civil War General, lived here in St. Louis between 1854-1860. U.S. Grant first met his bride Julia Dent at her family home known as "White Haven" in 1848 (pictured). Grant and Julia lived at White Haven home from 1854 to the summer of 1856. They received 80 acres of land, just southwest of St. Louis as a wedding present, close to the Dent family home.

Ulysses started sawing and notching the logs that would be used to build his four room, two story cabin on the property. The cabin was completed in just three days with the help of freinds.

Grant established his farm, and called it "Hardscrabble"(pictured). The Grant family out of the Dent estate, and moved into hardscrabble in 1856. Grant did most of the work on the cabin himself. He layed the floors, built the staircase and layered the shingles on the roof. The Grant family lived at Hardscrabble for a short period of time, from September to the following January 1858 when Ulysses and Julia moved back to the Dent family home following the death of Julias mother. Ulysses rented out hardscrabble while he worked in St. Louis, as a real estate business man, and as a clerk in the US Customs House.

Ulysses ran both his farm and his father in-laws farm for some time; he grew potatoes, wheat and other vegetables, gathered fruit from the orchards, too. In 1860, the Grant family moved to Illinois, and following that move Grant entered the Civil War years 1861-1865. In 1885, the home passed out of the hands of the Grant family. Sold through various hands, and finally purchased by August Busch Sr. in 1907. In intervening years, the cabin was displayed during the 1904 worlds fair. August Busch had the cabin moved and reassembled one mile from its original location. In 1977, Anheuser-Busch restored the cabin to its present condition.

Woods Fort, Troy, Missouri

The land that Troy occupies was once an old Sac and Fox campsite. The Sac and the Fox were independent tribes of the Algonquin who became allied as they were forced by the French to migrate south from the Great Lakes. A large band settled along the Missouri River and became known as the "Sac and Fox of the Missouri." European settlers began arriving in the area as early as the 1790s attracted by the Spanish land grants in the county's fertile Cuivre (French for copper) River Valley.

In 1801 Deacon Joseph Cottle erected a log cabin a short distance south of the public spring and Zadock Woods erected a double log house north of the spring. Cottle began operating a horse powered corn mill while Woods operated a tavern. In 1804 in St. Louis, Sac and Fox chiefs were persuaded to sign a treaty ceding to the U.S. Government all Sac and Fox lands east of the Mississippi River, as well as some to the west. Government efforts to enforce the land surrender raised tensions, particularly among the bands that were not party to and were unaware of the 1804 Treaty.

To defend their homes, pioneers in the area, aided by Captain Nathan (the youngest son of Daniel) Boone's Company of U.S. Mounted Rangers, built a series of forts (Woods, Howard, Stout, Clark, and Cap au Gris forts) as a first line of defense. Woods' Fort was built at the Cottle/Woods settlement and consisted of an almost square stockade made of strong oak timbers, set perpendicularly in the ground and extending to a height sufficient to afford protection from attack. Woods' Fort was the most extensive fort in the region and enclosed the spring, cabins, Woods Tavern and Inn, and Deacon Cottle's Universalist Church. Hostilities escalated when the War of 1812 began as the Sac and Fox sided with the British. During the war Woods' Fort served as headquarters for Lt. Zachary Taylor who later became the twelfth President of the United States. Hostilities ended when the Sac-Fox Treaty of 1815-1816 was signed.

The settlement that grew up around Woods' Fort became Troy when it was surveyed and laid out on September 19, 1819, by Deacon Cottle and others. The town was named by merchant Joshua N. Robbins after Troy, NY, which itself was named after the classical Troy, site of the Trojan War in Homer's "Iliad." Troy was selected in 1828 as county seat of Lincoln County, replacing Monroe and Alexandria. The town grew as a political and agricultural center using the river town of Cap Au Gris as a shipping point until the arrival of the St. Louis, Hannibal, & Keokuk Railroad in 1884. Lincoln County was sympathetic to the South during the Civil War but the almost continuous presence of Union troops in Troy kept the county free of any fighting.

At Fort Cap au Gris, Maj. (later U.S.Pres.) Zachary Taylor's command rendezvoused, Sept., 1814, and five months after the war, at Fort Howard, May 24, 1815, Black Hawk's band skirmished with settlers and Rangers in the Battle of Sink Hole. In 1824 the Sac and Fox finally gave up all claim to the region.

The Arch, and Old Courthouse, Saint Louis, Missouri

While in Saint Louis we had to visit "The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial" better known as The Gateway Arch, and the Old Courthouse. My brother, Tyler and I visited the arch, and went up to the top. What a sight of the city, and the Mississippi River. The Arch began as an idea in 1947, and built between 1963 and 1968. This memorial is to commemorate several historical events: the first government west of the Mississippi, the Louisiana Purchase, the subsequent movement west, and the debate over slavery raised by Dred Scott. Saint Louis was the starting point for Lewis and Clark's westward exploration.

Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemetery, Saint Louis, Missouri

While surfing the internet, I had an interest on what history happened in Saint Louis. Dred Scott and William T. Sherman caught my eye. What interested me about this is why do locals place Lincoln pennies on Dred Scotts head stone. Dred Scott fought for his freedom right here in Saint Louis, in the "Old Courthouse". He was finally freed nine months before he died of tuberculosis in 1858. Because of Dred Scott, Abraham Lincoln would be elected president, the south secedes from the union, and all those in bondage would be freed in 1865. William Tecumsah Sherman or "Uncle Billy" was a Union Civil War General in the western theater, known for his "March to the Sea", while burning and destroying everything in his path. General Sherman lived in Saint Louis for a short time during the secession crisis, and was the president of the St. Louis Railroad, a streetcar company.

Notable people layed to rest here at Bellefontaine: General Sterling Price of the Missouri State Guard, Union General Don Carlos Buell, Adolphus Busch of Amhueser-Busch, William Clark of Lewis and Clark, Union General General John McNeil, and Irma S.Rombauer author of The Joy of Cooking.

Other notable people layed to rest here at Calvary: Confederate General Daniel M. Frost, and Thomas Caute Reynolds, second Confederate Govenor of Missouri. Govenor Claiborne Jackson was the first. Pictured above is Union General William Techumsah Sherman and Dred Scott, both layed to rest in Calvary, also.