The odd stations

The first leg of the trip is pretty much wrapped up. I spent four and a half hours at Wilson's Creek, and am only half way done with the park. Now, the only other Civil War park I have ever been to is Gettysburg, so there is no real way to compare the two. Gettysburg was so monstrous people-wise compared to Wilson's Creek. There were roughly sixteen thousand regular army and militia at Wilson's Creek, twenty five hundred(ish) of which would die. This battle is important for a few reasons. It was the first battle west of the Mississippi and where the first Union general, Nathaniel Lyon, was killed.

The park is very well preserved. The national park service has constructed paths for hiking and horseback riding. You cannot get out onto the battlefield itself except where the artillery and headquarters are located. But it is great to see. It is basically out in the middle of the woods and fields (like Missouri is). There are eight different sections or stations in which you can get out of your car and walk around and read stuff and get an idea of how the battlefield was laid out. And the battlefield isn't very big. You have Gettysburg which seems to go on forever and ever, damn near into Maryland. There are several areas that you can scale to the top of a hill and look over the east and west sides of the battlefield.

In order not to overload my inner nerd, I decided to just look at four of the stations (the odd numbered ones). The first section was an old house, of which there is nothing left except parts of the foundation. It was a mill and a house that actually survived the battle, but collapsed because of a fire later on.

Station three was the militia headquarters and artillery position. The Missouri militia got support from an artillery battery from Arkansas. So the Union and Militia had an artillery battle, fun times. Station five had a cannon firing demonstration. It was fun because it was the exact same cannon we fire at Fort Mackinac, a six pounder. I will say though, our demonstrations were much better, but they had a six man team that could load and fire it in a short amount of time. That was impressive.

The last station I went to today had the only real marker in the entire park (that I know of so far). It marked where Nathaniel Lyon was killed. There was also a sink hole where he and thirty Union soldiers were buried during the night. That sink hole was really really creepy. I don't get creeped out by many things, but this sink hole is out in the woods, on a trail, far from anywhere. *shiver*

That is a recap of the first day. Tomorrow, will be the remaining stations and, time permiting, a trip into their museum. The drive out here isn't bad, only about four hours, and it went by quickly despite not having anyone to talk to. Which can be a good thing sometimes. It is a thought collecting drive.