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The river town of Glasgow was the site of a battle on Oct. 15, 1864, during Gen. Price’s last raid through Missouri. A marker describing the battle is located at the small river park in the center of town. A few blocks from the riverfront park are the Glasgow Community Museum and Lewis Library.
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Keytesville was the town that Missouri Governor and Confederate General Sterling Price called home. Learn about Price and the area’s Civil War history at the General Sterling Price Museum, which features a parlor setting from the 1860s. Price Park contains the General Sterling Price Monument, which was dedicated in 1915.
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Explore the 100-acre battlefield preserved in Lexington at the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site. A visitor center explains why the “Battle of the Hemp Bales” lifted Southern spirits and further dampened Northern hopes of an easy victory in the struggle for Missouri.
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Once called “the largest and best arranged dwelling house west of St. Louis,” Oliver Anderson’s mansion (the 1853 Anderson House)is best known for the three bloody days in 1861 when it was a fiercely contested prize in a battle between the Union army and the Missouri State Guard.
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The Lexington Historical Museum in downtown Lexington also offers exhibits on the war in the area.
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In Higginsville, visit the Confederate Memorial State Historic Site on the grounds of the old Confederate Soldiers Home. The site contains the former home building, the restored 106-year-old chapel and historic cemetery including the grave of William Quantrill. Interpretive exhibits tell the story of the home and other historic buildings.
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Independence was a hotbed of guerrilla activity during the Civil War. Maps of local Civil War sites can be obtained from the Jackson County Historical Society Archives in the Old Courthouse on Independence Square.
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Also on the square, tour the 1859 Jail and Marshal’s Home, which once housed Frank James. The building is maintained as it was at the time of the Civil War. The Blue and Grey Bookstore, near the square, specializes in books, maps, collectables and period clothing related to the Civil War. Guided tours by Pioneer Trails offer covered wagon rides from the square featuring discussion of Independence’s historic sites and Civil War history.
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In Kearney, tour the Jesse James Farm and Museum, the birthplace and family home of Jesse James. The museum offers displays relating to the famous Missouri outlaw and his brother, Frank, and the role the Civil War played in their lives.
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The most important Civil War battle in the Kansas City area was the Battle of Westport, known as the “Gettysburg of the West.” On Oct. 23, 1864, the ragtag brigades of Gen. Price’s Confederate army met Union armies that outnumbered him two to one. Westport was a Union victory, but Price was spared a total disaster when Brig. Gen. “JO” Shelby’s Iron Brigade made a last stand on the site of present-day Forest Hill Cemetery, where Shelby was buried long after the war. Information about the Battle of Westport and a map of a self-guided auto tour of more than 20 marked and interpreted sites can be obtained at the Harris-Kearney House Museum in Westport.
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Other Kansas City sites include the John Wornall House in Kansas City’s Brookside neighborhood. During the Battle of Westport, both Confederate and Union armies occupied the sturdy brick farmhouse and used it as an emergency field hospital. Forest Hill Cemetery includes the graves of Shelby and many veterans of his famous Missouri Brigade. Kansas City’s Union Cemetery contains an estimated 55,000 graves, including more than 1,000 Civil War soldiers. Find the grave of George Caleb Bingham, as well as some of the victims of the Union Prison Collapse. The building was being used by Gen. Thomas Ewing as a jail to house female relatives of William Quantrill and his men when it collapsed on Aug. 13, 1863, killing four young women. Four days later Quantrill launched his infamous raid on Lawrence, Kan.
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The Pacific House Hotel in Kansas City’s River Market area was the headquarters for Gen. Ewing and the site where, following Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Ewing issued Order Number 11, which led nearly 20,000 people to abandon their homes in the Missouri counties of Jackson, Cass, Bates and parts of Vernon. The order is considered the most drastic military measure against civilians by the Union Army during the Civil War. A marker across the street from the former hotel interprets the events.
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The Civil War Battlefield Museum and Cemetery in Lone Jack recounts the small but brutal Battle of Lone Jack on Aug. 16, 1862, and includes three acres of the battlefield and a cemetery.
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