|
From The
President of
The Wilderness Road Of The
Ozarks
James F. (Jim)
Barrett
I just finished reading the President's Message for
March 2002, and was sorely tempted to reissue it
for this year's March message. Most of what I said
exactly one year ago is STILL quite applicable to
the Mid-Ozark Region and to all the things you and
I believe in regarding the serious values of
understanding history in order to plan and try to
control the future. I spent a good deal of time in
last year's message telling you how hard it has
always been to interest the general public in
things historical. Then I told you how things were
beginning to change - for the better, as we
historians see it.
The
ladies have always been interested in the romantic
events of history, Ann Bolin, Queen Victoria, the
romances of the French and English courts, King
Arthur's Queen Guinevere and her lover Sir
Lancelot, and so on and so on. Young men with
adventurous minds have always relished the
adventures of King Arthur's Round Table of knights,
of the medieval wars throughout Europe, of the
Crusades and so on. And, are you aware, the
American Civil War is the most universally studied
historical event in all of history? It truly is -
but why not something a little less frightful and
bloody?
But
of recent days and months, Hollywood has once again
taken an interest in the most colorful events of
history. They made award-winning films about
Scottish history and its ongoing battle with the
domineering English Kings. They have made new
movies about the West and about our Civil War,
including the newest, Gods and Generals, which I
really must go and see. Yes, I am also a student of
the Civil War. Not in the Eastern States detail as
some historians might be, but in how it affected,
and was carried out, here in the Midwest,
particularly in the Ozarks area of our nation. Did
you know, for instance, that the first actual "face
to face" armed conflict of that war took place here
in Missouri? Indeed, right here in a portion of the
Ozarks, right over in the Joplin area. Are you
aware, as well, that only two states in the nation
had more armed engagements than did Missouri? That
more Americans were killed in the Civil War, by
other Americans, than have been killed in ALL of
the wars in the world combined? Yes, reader
friends, those are facts, facts that make history
colorful, fascinating, scary, humiliating,
humbling, and wonderful in its lessons for our
future planning.
Did
you dear readers know that the Wild West began here
in Missouri? That St. Louis was the launching pad
for most of the expeditions to the West, for nearly
all of the wagon trains to the gold fields, for
almost all of the famed Mountain Men on their fur
trapping trips to the Rocky Mountains and beyond?
Did you know that a great many of the notorious
criminals between the Civil War and modern times
were launched or made their homes at one time here
in the Midwest, most in Missouri? The most infamous
band of vigilantes the world has ever known existed
in the Ozarks, until martial law and public outrage
finally hung the last of them in Ozark, Missouri.
Yes, the Bald Knobbers, the Bush Whackers, the Red
Legs, Bonnie and Clyde, Jesse James and the James
Gang, the Daltons, Belle Star, and heaven only
knows how many others considered the Ozarks a fine
place to hide out, rest within, or seek support and
succor.
We
had our fair share of bravos riding into saloons
and stores, horsewhipping folks, shooting up the
town and, in general, raising billy hell, in true
Western freehanded style. We had the South riding
up the Wilderness Road to fight the North at
Wilson's Creek, and the North riding down that same
trail to fight the South at the massive battle of
Pea Ridge. And both sides raided, raped, pillaged,
looted, sacked, burned and ravaged the Ozarks as
they passed through. Why? Because Missouri started
out as a slave state, making it game for the North.
Because Missouri was made to remain a Northern
State, making it fair game for the South. Arkansas
was equally ravaged by both sides, for not the
same, but similarly stupid reasons. Hardly a home
or building was left standing in the central Ozarks
area after that terrible war.
We
had the nation's last hanging in Galena, Missouri.
We had the shameful mass lynching of Blacks on the
public square in Springfield, Missouri. We
welcomed, or forcefully moved, all sorts of Native
Americans, Indians, to the Ozarks - and then,
without feeling or shame, moved them on to the West
when Whites desired their so-called
dedicated-forever new lands. The Trail of Tears,
the last of the Delaware, the Ozark, Missouri,
Cherokee and other Indians were here, or only
permitted to stay here shortly before being roughly
moved on to less desirable lands to the
west.
But,
on the other hand, some of the nation's finest
people, some of the most colorful and interesting
people in history, have come from the Ozarks. Great
generals and admirals of all wars, presidents who
have led us through and out of wars, statesmen who
rose above the Washington pressures and squalor to
do true and meaningful things for our nation and
for the world. Amazingly interesting people, such
as Walt Disney, have come from the Ozarks. Other
greats have made the Ozarks their home, or their
resting and inspirational place, such as Harold
Bell Wright and Rose O'Neil, as well as the family
of writers who migrated here and stayed to make us
proud, the Little House on the Prairie family, the
Ingles/Wilder ladies. And many other stellar people
such as he who unlocked the humble peanut and made
monstrous new opportunities for his people, George
Washington Carver.
In
high school and in college I made A's in History -
because I HAD to. My folks weren't intimidated by
social bans in those days and beat the holy hell
out of me if I brought home bad grades. But I hated
history, it was about a bunch of dumb old guys over
in Europe, with beards and swords hacking each
other up - and who cared? My history classes
centered on dry and dull names, dates, places and
brief descriptions of events. There was very little
to interest an adventurous and boisterous young man
in history, in those scholastic days. No one told
me that each day I crossed the very railroad track
place in Muncie, Kansas where Jesse James and his
gang performed one of their most colorful and
notorious train robberies. My dad didn't get around
to telling me about being one of the law officers
at the Depression Days shoot-out at the great train
station in Kansas City, Mo, until I was too old to
be impressed and excited about his story. Why? Why
didn't people take a moment to tell me about the
history all around me then? Why didn't they show me
how those events changed the course of many things
and many people? Why?
Well,
dear reader friends, that's exactly why I speak to
school and mature audiences all over the Midwest.
Why I dress as Joe Philibert, the first permanent
settler in the Ozarks, to tell the story of
adventure, wilderness, the West and pioneering,
here in the Midwest and the Ozarks. It's why Ed
Crabtree, our website guru, has spent nearly two
years of his time and effort creating The Message
Tree e-magazine - to help tell you people about
history, why it's interesting, why you should be
fascinated by it, why it is important to us today,
why it's vital to know what we once did - right or
wrong - so we know what to do next!
So,
thank you for supporting our effort, for supporting
Ed and Ann so that their efforts were not to be
totally in vain for ever. Gosh! You readers have
increased and shown interest so dramatically that
we are greatly impressed - as well as totally
thankful and certainly appreciative! Tell your
friends and relatives that we are here and what we
have to offer - we need all the help we can get!
And stay tuned, folks, you ain't seen nothing
yet.
|
Stone
Creek Crossing
