Editorial

CIVIL WAR HISTORY IN CAPE GIRARDEAU AND THROUGHOUT MISSOURI DESERVERS SOME ATTENTION

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Tourism officials believe Missouri has overlooked an important part of its history -- its role in the Civil War and are talking about reviving it.

The Missouri Division of Tourism has created a committee to explore the possibilities of promoting the state's Civil War history. Most tourism officials agree the concept has never been promoted effectively on a statewide scale.

Why not? Missouri ranks third in the number of Civil War battles. They weren't big battles but a lot of small ones. And both the North and South were heavily represented in Missouri during the Civil War.

The biggest problem is that many battle sites and Civil War forts have disappeared. In Cape Girardeau, for example, only one of the four Union army forts that existed is historically marked. Fort D at Locust and Fort streets is marked as part of a city park, but the other forts, which combined to make Cape Girardeau one of the most heavily fortified cities during the war, have disappeared. Few people can find them.

They should be found and identified along with any other significant Civil War sites that exist in the city. Cape Girardeau shouldn't forget its role in the war, and recognizing it now will assure that it won't be.