Civil War group makes donation of Cape documents to Kent

In the spring of 1863, Brig. Gen. John McNeil and others issued many orders from the 56th Regiment, Enrolled Missouri Militia, headquartered in Cape Girardeau. Among them was an order for women and children to be escorted from the fort to steamers before the beginning of the battle.

That occurred before the Battle of Cape Girardeau was fought 140 years ago on April 26, 1863.

The St. Louis Civil War Roundtable, a group of about 100 Civil War historians and aficionados, has donated to Southeast Missouri State University's Kent Library more than 50 documents dating primarily from those spring months in Cape Girardeau. The group found the papers on eBay, the Internet auction house, and bought them from an Indiana man for $1,200.

"We thought they should stay in Cape Girardeau," said Walter Busch, vice president of the St. Louis Civil War Roundtable. "... There are so many local names, it's crazy not to have it in the Cape area."

One letter to the post is an inquiry about whiskey. Busch, the site director of Fort Davidson State Historic Site near Elephant Rock State Park, said no one was allowed to take whiskey across Union lines without a license.

The papers also include pay vouchers, accounts of the amount of corn being bought for the troops, and a statement from a captured prisoner stating the names of families who took him in. Another document is an order from McNeil, who was nicknamed "The Butcher," to burn all boats within 10 miles Cape Girardeau.

Besides the 56th Enrolled Missouri Militia, also stationed at Cape Girardeau at the time of the battle was Battery B of the 1st Missouri Light Artillery, the 2nd Missouri Light Artillery and the 2nd Missouri State Militia Cavalry. McNeil also commanded the 32nd Iowa Infantry, the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry, Company G of the 37th Illinois Infantry and the 23rd Missouri Infantry.

The documents are now available to be seen by the public. By the fall they can be viewed on a Web site being constructed, said Lisa Speer, who is in charge of the library's special collections and archives.

The papers are a much-wanted addition to the library, Speer said. "We have a strong regional history collection, but one of our weaker collections is from the Civil War era."

Many of the inquiries that come to the special collections and archives section concern the Civil War, Speer said.

She said Bill Baehr, who works in special collections, is a Civil War re-enactor who advocated on behalf of the library in acquiring the papers.

Busch said the Indiana owner of the papers bought them from an antique dealer in Cape Girardeau about eight years ago. According to the eBay description, the documents were bought from the descendants of Capt. J.H. Burrough, provost marshal of the Enrolled Missouri Militia.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182