NEWTONIA, Mo. — A proposal filed and pushed by former U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt to add the Ritchey Mansion and 25 acres to the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield outside Springfield has been signed by President Joe Biden.

The measure was part of the omnibus bill that the U.S. House and Senate passed just before Christmas and authorizes the U.S. secretary of interior to accept the 25 acres now owned by the Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association as part of the Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.

Sarah Cunningham, superintendent at Wilson’s Creek, said it’s far too early to give a timeline as to when the property will be transferred.

“We will be analyzing and evaluating the legislation as to how to move forward in a way that assures we’re doing the best thing for taxpayers, and the site and the story of Newtonia,” Cunningham said. “It’s still very recent, so we’re still very much looking at that legislation and determining how it will be implemented moving forward.”

Cathy Sheehy, president of the Newtonia Battlefields Protection Association, said she and other members of her group are relieved and overjoyed that the legislation was approved.

“There are members who are active in this now; many, many of us are older and we realize we are not going to live forever,” Sheehy said. “Now we’re getting to watch and see that the Newtonia battlefields are going to be preserved and taken care of. It takes quit a bit of money to support and take care of the mansion house and the utilities, insurance, things like that, so we are seeing that somebody is going to be able to take care of it. It’s in good hands with Wilson’s Creek.”

Sheehy said she’s been involved in the association for about 15 years, but other members have been working on this for almost 30 years.

Sheehy said she became president of the group by default after the death of its longtime president, Larry James.

Tom Higdon, one of the founders of the group in 1994, said it was a shame that James didn’t get to see this happen.

“We bought the house in 2002, and I think that really heightened our desire to get this done, and more than anything for perpetuity purposes,” Higdon said. “It’s a shame because he (James) worked so hard for this. David Weems died in 2021; he was active for a long time. Kay Hiveley passed away, too. She was the one that got us started.”

Higdon said the association owns the brick mansion house built by Matthew Ritchey around 1840 that was at the center of fighting during the two battles of Newtonia, one in September 1862 and one in October 1864.

The group owns 25 acres around the site, including the “Civil War Cemetery,” as locals call it, about a quarter-mile north of the mansion property.

“We’re relieved and overwhelmed with joy to have this happen, not just for recognition but certainly to have an organization such as the park service to continue to preserve this and do it in an even more professional manner,” Higdon said. “They have the means and the know-how to preserve a battlefield like this, and I’m hoping it will even grow because we have very little of the second Newtonia Battlefield.”

Blunt, who retired at the end of his term this month, said he’s been working on this for years and was glad to get it done despite some pushback from the National Park Service.

“I passed the first Newtonia legislation in 2003 requiring the parks service to do an analysis of whether it should be added to the system or not,” Blunt said. “At the end of the day, that study concluded it was not unique enough to be added to the system, but there were plenty of people who disagreed with that, including the American Battlefields Protection Association and the American Civil War Battlefields Protection group. We’ve had a lot of continued encouragement from them to try to move forward and get this done.”

Part of Civil War history

Blunt said the two battles fought there were significant in different ways and are an integral part in the story of Missouri in the Civil War.

The first battle, on Sept. 30, 1862, Blunt said, was unique in that it had units composed of Native Americans fighting on both sides.

“That’s the first time that happened anywhere, and it’s a good place to tell that story about things such as the traditional tribal rivalries that showed up as the tribes wound up on different sides in the war itself,” Blunt said. “Also the fact that this was the first time that Native Americans in the Civil War — it has always been brother against brother, but here you had Native American against Native American, fighting directly.”

The second battle, on Oct. 28, 1864, was the final battle of Confederate Gen. Sterling Price’s raid into Missouri that took him through Pilot Knob to the Missouri River to Lexington and Westport before he retreated through Carthage and Newtonia into Arkansas and then into Texas.

That battle marked the last incursion into Missouri by Confederate forces.

Blunt said he and former U.S. Rep. Billy Long worked together to get the legislation into the omnibus bill. Long mentioned the expansion Jan. 2 in his last report to constituents.

“You know the effort that local people have made to secure the critical 25 acres or so that were an important part of the battle and also buildings, particularly the mansion house that’s still there, is commendable,” Blunt said. “This legislation requires the secretary of the interior to accept the property from the local group that has been trying to protect it for 20 years or so.

“This is an easy drive from Wilson’s Creek, or Wilson’s Creek is an easy drive from Newtonia, whichever way you’re going. I think both sites will be helpful to each other. Clearly Wilson’s Creek is a big, early, incredibly important battle in what will happen in Missouri. I think Newtonia will add an important element to describing the struggle for Missouri from the early days in Wilson’s Creek to the last major battle in the war in Missouri in October 1864.”

Tags

Trending Video