SharePhotos and story by Jo Schaper
Despite the efforts of reenactment commissions, a modern Civil War encampment can never be anything but an (ironically) more civil replica of the real thing. There are the wives and the children around, for one. Hardly anyone is filthy, tired, out-of-sorts or stinks, not to mention actually injured or dying. [...]

ShareBy Tom Uhlenbrock
Missouri State Parks
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Linda Endersby had a ready answer when asked for the strangest item in the collection of the Missouri State Museum. “Ella Ewing’s shoes,” she said. “They’re size 24s.”
Endersby is the director of the museum, which is in the State Capitol building in Jefferson City, and she knows [...]

ShareThis from long time friend Rich Orr:
Union Pacific’s steam locomotive, No. 844, will be coming through Washington on Tuesday, March 27 at approximately 4PM. The train is traveling from Cheyenne, WY to Marion, AR. pulling a special 150th Anniversay Commemoration Civil War Troop Train with nearly 300 civil war historians from the midwest on their [...]

ShareIf you’ve gotten your November Traveler and noticed something missing at the end of the story on Ft. Benton (page 20) don’t fret.
Here is the entire last paragraph:
“On April 15, 1865, eight days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox and only hours after Abraham Lincoln died, the 7th Kansas Cavalry [...]

Share“Huzzah!” yelled the cannonneer in a clean, dark blue Union uniform. The big gun roard at his side, fire and smoke billowing from the throat. The sting of freshly burned powder smarted in my eyes, from about 40 feet away.
I looked down at the lady in the lawn chair in front of me, [...]

ShareThe reenactment of the Battle of Leasburg is this weekend, Oct. 1-2, at Ozark Outdoors, just south of the Meramec River, 6 miles south of Leasburg, from 9 a.m. on Saturday to about 3 or 4 p.m. on Sunday.
By Jo Schaper
Traveler will be there. No, we won’t be in period costume, but sales [...]

ShareJo note: I haven’t done an “Over the Back Fence” recently: these are a bunch of mini-stories and breaking news snippets from the region. Enjoy.

ShareThe 9th Missouri Confederate Sharpshooters reenactors take their Missouri history seriously.
Traveler Extra by Jo Schaper
Just ask Mrs. Helen Wright, originally of Leasburg, now living in Cuba. I’ve never met Mrs. Wright, (hence, no photographs) but she must be a powerhouse. As the 74-year-old co-chair of the Battle of Leasburg, all roads seemed to lead [...]

ShareRoad Log from Ft. Davidson to Leasburg Battle Site
By Jo and Bill Schaper
If you choose to take this road log, we recommend four maps: Missouri highway map, and Washington and Crawford county highway maps. The US Forest Service Salem/Potosi Ranger District map can substitute for the county maps. The attached illustration [...]

ShareDriving Ft. Davidson to Leasburg – a trip back into time
by Jo Schaper
(Ed. note: this story jumps to two related others: A long version of the road log in the print paper, and a shorter story interview with Mrs. Helen Wright, one of the chairpeople of the Leasburg Reenactment about a group of reenactors who [...]