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Prior to 1978, I didn't know squat about the Civil War. Growing up in Illinois and Missouri, I naturally heard of the Gettysburg Address and how Lincoln freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation. With the exception of the involvement of Lincoln, the Civil War wasn't discussed in the classroom's of the early '60's. Being ignorant kids we asserted that if anybody had an ancestor who had worn the blue, he had fought to free the "niggers!" Even in high school where such classes as MISSOURI HISTORY were taught, more focus was either on the politics of Missouri or Jesse James. It was a long time before I realized Missouri did indeed have a part in the Civil War.
After high school, I joined the US NAVY and spent some time aboard a cruiser in the Pacific (but that's for another story). Nothing much of note occurred while in the service; however when I got out I was quick to cash in on my option to go to college on the GI BILL. I was hoping to pick up some skills to become an artist, so I enrolled at State Fair Community College in Sedalia,MO. Since it was a junior college, I would have to transfer elsewhere after two years. While at SFCC, I learned some Fine Art skills, plus I was obligated to take the mandatory basic classes: math, english, etc.
I enrolled in SFCC in 1976, and after two years of various art and other classes, I went the college in Warrensburg. Central Missouri State University has a great art department and I became proficient in Screen Printing, Photography, Lithography, Air Brush Technique, Drawing, and Painting. In order for me to receive my full GI BILL allowance per month, I had to be a full time student at CMSU. That meant having a full schedule or x number of "hours" per semester.
That first spring semester of 1978, I was preparing my schedule and found I needed one more class to round out the schedule. Looking through the semester lists, I saw a 3 hour credit class that would fit within my busy school schedule. It was Civil War History, as taught by Dr. Leslie Anders.
Despite what I was taught in grammar and high school, I was quite fond of history. In junior high, I developed a fondness for WWII stories. Later, I found myself reading novels such asLast of the Mohicans, Red Badge of Courage, and Rabble in Arms. Since I had an avid interest in war subjects anyway and American History to a degree, I thought I'd give Dr. Anders' class at try.
The man had the appearance of a typical college professor. A short, middle-aged man, with thick glasses wearing suits possibly twenty years out of style. However, Dr. Anders was extremely intelligent on the subject of history. He had written regimental histories on two units from Missouri that fought in the war. Plus he was the author of many articles in historical quarterlies as well. The entire focus of his class was him
lecturing for the entire hour. Only a couple of tests throughout the semester as was required by the school, otherwise he was content to pass along his love of the civil war to us. His lecture's did touch on the politics of the day; but only briefly. 90% of his lecture's were on the battles themselves.I could tell he was enjoying himself, as he weaved a tapestry of vivid images to our ears. Such battles as Shiloh, Vicksburg, Fredricksburg, and Gettysburg came alive to me as the words of deeds rolled off his tongue. I had never heard of many of the places he described ( as if he had been there), nor knew the importance of them much less. Oh!... how in detail he talked of the individual battles and the men from both sides who fought. I began going to the CMSU library to read more about the civil war. We were asked to do a book report, and mine was on Custer during the war.
One day, I think it was a Friday, Dr. Anders passed out a slip of paper with one question on it to each class member. It proved to be the turning point in my life. With the help of grandparents or other family members, we were to find out if we had had an ancestor who had fought in the civil war. My maternal grandparents came to America from Germany in 1900, so they were no help. The family tree on dad's side has so many branches, but none seemed to indicate a civil war connection. Grandad had been in WWI and great grandad had been in the Philippines in 1898, but that was as far as the family knew.
I was crushed. The following Monday, I could only shake my head at the questioning look from Dr. Anders. Sometime right after that, I became obsessed with a desire to know more about my family's past.
Tracing one's family tree was becoming the fad by 1978. Little old ladies were going thru the libraries of America armed with notepad's, pencils, and a lot of time on their hands. I was a 25 year old college student when I began my own search into the past. I visited not only the CMSU library, but the Warrensburg Public Library as well. I began reading copies of the US CENSUS. Taken every ten years from 1790 to the present, the census had been transferred to microfilm for viewing on projectors. My paternal grandmother had a few family facts available, mostly pertaining to where our family originated from including counties in Kentucky or Maryland. I spent many hours after school slowing giving myself eye strain, as I browsed many rolls of microfilm trying to find names. My wife is a RN who worked nights, so my outside activity wasn't much of a distraction for her.
As I was beginning my journey into genealogy, my first semester at CMSU was drawing to a close. It was about that time that I heard of something that was being planned during the month of June; just 15 miles up the road. I found a flyer posted somewhere in the History Dept.that spoke of a "reenactment" that was going to be held in Lexington, with men dressed in blue and gray uniforms. Up until then, I had always assumed that the civil war was mainly confined out east. Dr. Anders was quick to inform me otherwise. I was astounded when he told me that Missouri was ranked third in most battles fought in a state. Most fights in Missouri were minor scrimmages with only dozens of participants, but bloody none-the-less.
Now according to the flyer I had read at school, the "battle" part of the reenactment wouldn't be held till on a Sunday,so I opted to wait till then. Finally the semester ended and the long anticipated day dawned. With wife and younger brother Mark , we drove the short distance to Lexington. I wasn't sure what to expect as we entered town. There was a "civil war museum" near the center of town, with replica US and CS flags on display on the porch. Plus a replica cannon in the yard. Banners were draped overheard from pole to pole with BATTLE OF LEXINGTON!! in bold lettering. Further down the road, one could see the famous "cannonball stuck in the courthouse pillar!" Vendors were hawking t-shirts and "battle burgers" and passing out schedule of event flyers to inform visitors on the activity that was to occur that weekend. We found a place to park and wandered into the camps.
The State Historic Site for the Battle of Lexington (or the Battle of the Hemp Bales) , is located on the original site of the 1861 battle; on the extreme northern end of town. There are plenty of modern homes surrounding the southern and eastern flanks of the park as you approach it, but the main part of the battlefield (where the siege occurred) is intact. It is set on rolling hills near the Missouri River; and one can glimpse the blue ribbon of it through trees. The eastern end of the park is somewhat flat with the exception of areas where the federal trenches were. The extreme northern end is flat also, but of a higher elevation. Near the center of the park is a sloping bowl shaped gully, probably a hundred yards wide by a hundred yards deep. At this time it is full of trees, but during the battle I believe it was full of confederates who poured out of it to attack the entrenched federals. Finally at the western end of the park is a two story house. Used as a hospital for wounded from both sides, the Anderson House still stands to this day. Bullet holes can be seen here and there in its walls.
Entering the park, we could see that men in blue had their "camp" near the original federal trenches. Twenty years later, I think I can recall seeing one big bearded yank talking with some visitors near a cannon. Nearby a company of blue coated men came marching down the road past us, their rifles at the shoulder. Wall tents were dotted here as well as up on the northern flat area. Many more cannon were up here as well. All seemed to be pointed towards the hollowed area. Someone told me there was to be a battle at one o'clock and I should find a good place to sit.
I don't recall too much of the battle (the spectator's were made to stay behind a roped off area). Cannon and infantry fire seemed to be directed into the gully. Couldn't see any of the enemy for the tree's. Occasionally, a horse soldier galloped by . At some point, however, a few federal soldier's in the area began "dying" and before long a cease fire was ordered. Confederates appeared (as if out of a hat) and began "rounding up the union prisoners". The "battle" was over and we made our way back to the car. I was excited by what I had seen, but at the same time had many questions. My wife had to work that night, I believe, plus Mark had to get back to Sedalia and so we needed to get home.
For some time after that weekend, I continued to think about the reenactment I had seen at Lexington. My initial thinking was that it was put own by the local military school cadets. There was no way an average joe sixpack could become part of it I thought. I imagined myself in one of those blue or gray uniforms ( I used to go to World's of Fun or Six Flag's and go to one of those Old Time Picture Parlor places that dress you up in old clothes and get a sepia toned picture taken).
During the rest of the summer, I continued my genealogical study. With the aid of my Aunt Judy and Aunt Ruth, we were able to uncover a lot of information about our past. Aunt Ruth had access to the Missouri State Historical Society in Columbia and got information about the family going back as far as the 1650. Aunt Judy gathered info about Kentucky and Missouri family members and any "shirt tale relatives" she came across. I continued to pour through the microfilm census files and filling out family tree worksheets. I also went up to the GSA site in Kansas City a time or two to look through their stacks of genealogical information. Before long, summer was over and the demands of a new school year made me pause in my family research.
One saturday afternoon, however, I did return to the city library because a roll of microfilm I had requested some months back had come in. Strangely enough it was a compiled listing of Union veterans from Missouri taken some time near the end of the nineteenth century. I can't recall now why I had requested it, except to satisfy a curiosity I had about who had served in the army from Morgan and Moniteau counties in Missouri ( Dad's family had settled in this area from the mid-1800's to the present). To make a long story short, I ran the film thru the viewer and jotted down several names of veterans from these two counties. I already had a notepad full of many of the"shirt tail" relatives that I knew of. Those who married into or out of the family name. The listings gave the rank of the veteran as well as the regiment he had served in. Comparing notes later on, one name caught my eye and made me nearly fall out of my chair. The name was" JOHN R. HODGES, PVT., 33RD MO VOLS. INF. US, CO. C"
According to my notes, John Hodges had been from Syracuse, Morgan County, Missouri. Twice married and once a widower. One of the children from his first marriage, a daughter named Lorena, had gone on the marry Walter Talbott. Walter was my great grandfather. So after some double checking, I was overjoyed that I did "indeed" have a ancestor who had fought in the civil war. John Hodges was my great-great grandfather. On top of that was the knowledge, that John had had a brother, named Edmund, who also enlisted in the same regiment. From that moment on, my genealogical research was totally confined to finding as much as I could about the 33RD Missouri Vols. Inf.
At the CMSU library I found Frederick Dyer's Compendium, the hundred-some volumes of The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. I began making copies and making notes of all references to be found on the 33rd Mo. I took notes from other civil war related books, when a reference was found that the 33rd had been involved in a particular battle. The Trans-Mississippi area (including Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri ) were the primary areas of operation for the 33rd Mo. Most of the material written on the civil war covers the war out east. I began searching outside library materials for more info on this western regiment. I subscribed to a publication called the CIVIL WAR TIMES ILLUSTRATED in mid 1979. Occasionally they would run a story on the western theater. In the magazine, I came across an advertisement for a publication called the CIVIL WAR BOOK EXCHANGE. I immediately began subscribing to it. Besides books on the civil war, the publication also ran advertisements for people wanting to buy, sell, or trade civil war photos, diaries, old newspaper's, etc. I found a 33rd Mo officer's cdv for sale in one ad: LT. LUKE O'REILLY. Later, I found cdv's of two unidentified privates from the 33rd courtesy of the CWBX.
As I began piecing together the regimental history of the 33rd, I began making my peace with my great-great grandfather. John Hodges is buried at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church cemetery near Versailles, Mo. He had attended this church as a young man and even after the war. Unfortunately the tombstone that had been erected in 1917 was no longer there. Completely gone! However, records were able to pinpoint his burial spot---right next to his first wife. Her stone still stood. So, with the assistance of the Veteran's Administration, a new stone was provided free of charge containing John's name,unit, birth and death dates ( any veteran can get a free stone---it is one of those white ones that are seen in military cemeteries around the world). To actually place the stone into the ground was the only cost to me. It was about $50. After the work was completed, I felt a sense of proud accomplishment. Before, I hadn't a clue about a civil war ancestor. A year later I was honoring him with a personal headstone.
The fall months of 1979 were here. I had only two more semesters at CMSU and then I would graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I was taking additional classes in photography- Portrait, Color and Photo Journalism. Plus studies relative to Television and Radio Production. While these occupied my time, I had completely forgotten about the summer of a year ago when I had witnessed the "reenactment". I had received the latest issue of CWBX dated Nov 19, 1979 ,and I was looking for more on the 33rd Mo or the trans-mississippi west war, when an small ad caught my eye. It was toward the back of the publication. It was a membership ad:"The Civil War Skirmish Association has now established four skirmish teams in the Kansas-Nebraska-Missouri area. An address for a representative in Topeka, KS was given to contact.