Student research may rewrite Jasper County Civil War history

JOPLIN, Mo. -- A Missouri State University graduate student's research findings may rewrite the history of the Civil War in Jasper County in Missouri.

The Joplin Globe reported Christopher Dukes outlined two findings based on his research to the Jasper County Commission on Tuesday.

Dukes said land acquired by the county to commemorate an 1863 Civil War fight known as the Battle of Sherwood and the Battle of Rader's Farm was part of the actual skirmish site. The land is about a quarter-mile from Rader Farm.

The graduate student said his research shows white Union soldiers with the 2nd Kansas Volunteer Artillery Battery did not abandon black Union soldiers of the 1st Kansas Colored unit when they were ambushed on the farm May 18, 1863, as previously was believed.

He said his findings are based on the recovery of 57 artifacts, primarily rounds of ammunition, found on the county-owned property.

According to Dukes, the surviving soldiers instead rallied at a point west of the farm and fought together.

Dukes said that the next day, Union reinforcements arrived at the site and found the bodies of the soldiers, which had been mutilated.

"It was one of the first battles to involve black and white soldiers together, and many of the black soldiers may have been slaves now fighting their former masters," Dukes said.

The graduate student's findings, which he will present at a January program at the Joplin Museum Complex, are set to become a book. The museum has formed a committee to design a plan for a memorial at the battle sight.

Information from: The Joplin (Mo.) Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com