Introduction:
We at Texas Spirit Seekers (TSS) have never had the honor or the opportunity to investigate a historic battlefield and are very excited about the prospect of an ongoing investigation of this site. After a little research and meeting with a representative of Wilsons Creek National Battlefield (National Park Service) we were able to get access to the battlefield to conduct a scientific investigation of the site. Our main focus will be Bloody Hill and The Ray House. The Ray House was used as a field hospital during and after the Battle of Oak Hills. We feel that this would be a prime location to begin a serious paranormal investigation of the site. We do know that Colonel Richard Weighman of the Missouri State Guard died in the west bedroom, and General Nathaniel Lyon was killed in battle north of Bloody Hill and his body was autopsied in the home. We spent some time at the site scouting areas of interest and will probably be making a number of repeat investigations at the site. As evidence is collected we will be adding it to the site.

 

 

Photo of General Nathaniel Lyon.

The Battle of Oak Hills:

The Battle of Wilson's Creek (called Oak Hills by the Southerners) was fought ten miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri on August 10, 1861. Named for the stream that crosses the area where the battle took place, it was a bitter struggle between Union and Southern forces for control of Missouri in the first year of the Civil War.
When the Civil War began in 1861, Missouri's allegiance was of vital concern to the federal government. The state's strategic position on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and its abundant manpower and natural resources made it imperative that she remain loyal to the Union. Most Missourians desired neutrality, but many, including the governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, held strong Southern sympathies and planned to cooperate with the Confederacy in its bid for independence.
When President Lincoln called for troops to put down the rebellion, Missouri was asked to supply four regiments. Governor Jackson refused the request and ordered State military units to muster at Camp Jackson outside Saint Louis and prepare to seize the U.S. arsenal in that city. They had not, however, counted on the resourcefulness of the arsenal's commander, Captain Nathaniel Lyon.

Learning of the governor's intentions, Lyon had most of the weapons moved secretly to Illinois. On May 10 he marched 7,000 men out to Camp Jackson and forced its surrender. In June, after a futile meeting with Governor Jackson to resolve their differences, Lyon (now a brigadier general) led an army up the Missouri River and captured the state capital at Jefferson City. After an unsuccessful stand at Boonville a few miles upstream, Governor Jackson retreated to southwest Missouri with elements of the State Guard.

After installing a pro-Union state government and picking up reinforcements, Lyon moved toward southwest Missouri. By July 13, 1861, he was encamped at Springfield with about 6,000 soldiers, consisting of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Missouri Infantry, the 1st Iowa Infantry, the 1st and 2nd Kansas Infantry, several companies of Regular Army infantry and cavalry, and three batteries of artillery.

Meanwhile, 75 miles southwest of Springfield, Major General Sterling Price, commanding the Missouri State Guard, had been busy drilling the 5,200 soldiers in his charge. By the end of July, when troops under Generals Ben McCulloch and N. Bart Pearce rendezvoused with Price, the total Southern "coalition" force (a mixture of Confederate troops and state forces) exceeded 12,000 men. On July 31, after formulating plans to capture Lyon's army and regain control of the state, Price, McCulloch, and Pearce marched northeast to attack the Federals. Lyon, hoping to surprise the Confederates, marched from Springfield on August 1. The next day the Union troops mauled the Southern vanguard at Dug Springs. Lyon, discovering he was outnumbered, ordered a withdrawal to Springfield. The Confederates followed and by August 6 were encamped near Wilson's Creek.
Despite inferior numbers, Lyon decided to attack the enemy encampment. Leaving about 1,000 men behind to guard his supplies, the Federal commander led 5,400 soldiers out of Springfield on the night of August 9. Lyon's plan called for 1,200 men under Colonel Franz Sigel to swing wide to the south, flanking the Southern right, while the main body of troops struck from the north. Success hinged on the element of surprise.

Ironically, the Southern leaders also planned a surprise attack on the Federals, but rain on the night of the 9th caused McCulloch (who was now in overall command) to cancel the operation. On the morning of the 10th, Lyon's attack caught the Southerners off guard, driving them back. Forging rapidly ahead, the Federals occupied the crest of a ridge subsequently called "Bloody Hill." Nearby, the Pulaski Arkansas Battery opened fire, checking the advance. This gave Price's infantry time to form a battle line on the hill's south slope.

For more than five hours the battle raged on Bloody Hill. Fighting was often at close quarters, and the tide turned with each charge and countercharge. Sigel's flanking maneuver, initially successful, collapsed altogether when McCulloch's men counterattacked at the Sharp Farm. Defeated, Sigel and his troops fled.

On Bloody Hill, at about 9:30 a.m., General Lyon, who had been wounded twice already, was killed while positioning his troops. Major Samuel Sturgis assumed command of the Federal forces and by 11 a.m., with ammunition nearly exhausted, ordered a withdrawal to Springfield. The Battle of Wilson's Creek was over. Losses were heavy and about equal on both sides--1,317 for the Federals, 1,222 for the Southerners. Though victorious on the field, the Southerners were not able to pursue the Union forces. Lyon lost the battle and his life, but he achieved his goal: Missouri remained under Union control.
The Battle of Wilson's Creek marked the beginning of the Civil War in Missouri. For the next three and a half years, the state was the scene of savage and fierce fighting, mostly guerrilla warfare, with small bands of mounted raiders destroying anything military or civilian that could aid the enemy. By the time the conflict ended in the spring of 1865, Missouri had witnessed so many battles and skirmishes that it ranks as the third most fought-over state in the nation.

The Confederates made only two large-scale attempts to break the Federal hold on Missouri, both of them directed by Sterling Price. Shortly after Wilson's Creek, Price led his Missouri State Guard north and captured the Union garrison at Lexington. He and his troops remained in the state until early 1862, when a Federal army drove them into Arkansas. The subsequent Union victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March kept large numbers of Confederate military forces out of Missouri for more than two years.

In September 1864 Price returned to Missouri with an army of some 12,000 men. By the time his campaign ended, he had marched nearly 1,500 miles, fought 43 battles or skirmishes, and destroyed an estimated $10 million worth of property. Yet the campaign ended in disaster. At Westport on October 23, Price was soundly defeated in the largest battle fought west of the Mississippi and forced to retreat south. His withdrawal ended organized Confederate military operations in Missouri.

The Ray House:
John Ray emigrated from Tennessee to Missouri in the late 1840s, arriving in Greene County as a widower with a daughter, Elizabeth. In 1849 he met and later married Roxanna Steele, a native of Georgia, who had been married once before to William Steele, a farmer in the Wilson Creek area. William died in 1848, leaving Roxanna and four children. Seven more children were born to John and Roxanna in the years afterwards. While none of the Ray family were injured or killed as a result of the battle, the war's effects would not leave the Rays for the rest of their lives. John died in 1875 and Roxanna followed soon in 1876. Many Ray descendents continue to live in the area today. The house was sold to a number of different owners, the last one being Bessie McElhaney, who sold the house to the National Park Service in the 1960s. The Ray House is the only surviving dwelling from the Battle of Wilson's Creek. The Ray Springhouse is the only other period structure on the battlefield.

In 1851, John Ray purchased the William Steele estate, which included 120 acres of land, two slaves and the Steele House, located across the tour road from the Ray House. That same year he bought the land on which the Ray House sits and began construction. By 1861 the Rays had a prosperous 420-acre farm with a value of $6,000. The farm contained many crops, including corn, wheat, oats, Irish potatoes and hay. In addition, Ray kept bees for honey and an orchard with a variety of fruit, and bred and raised horses, cows, sheep and hogs. The house was built facing north-northwest, exposing it to the prevailing southwest wind and provided the Rays with some comfort in the hot summers of southwest Missouri. It is believed the back room of the house was built first, possibly from remnants of the older Steele home, and then the two front rooms were built while the back room was already being occupied. The springhouse in the valley opposite the house was designed to preserve and cool milk, cream and butter, as well as store fruits and vegetables. The spring that flows from the hillside into the springhouse was a source of drinking water for the family and animals.

Besides being a farmer, John Ray also served as the postmaster for Wilson Township, holding that position with the federal government for ten years, which contributed to his status as a "well-to-do" farmer and citizen in the community. Established in 1858 by the U.S. Postal Service, the Ray House served as the post office for the township. Local residents would have to visit the house to pick up their mail, which was dropped off at the house once a week. John Ray served as postmaster until 1866. His position indicates his politics during the Civil War--although a Southerner by birth, Ray would not have been able to hold a federal government position during and after the Civil War had he displayed support for the Confederacy. His situation was not unique; many of his fellow Missourians, while owning slaves and depending on the South's "peculiar institution" to help with the workings of their farms, saw no reason to secede from the Union or be disloyal to the U.S. government. Although John Ray did not fight in the war, two of his stepsons enlisted in Missouri Union regiments and one of his daughters married a Union officer.

The Ray House was built on the Wire or Telegraph Road, which ran from Jefferson City, Missouri to Fort Smith, Arkansas, passing through the towns of Springfield and Fayetteville. The road received its nickname from telegraph wire that was strung along the road in 1860. In the late 1850s the Butterfield Overland Stage Company used the road as part of their route from Tipton, Missouri to San Francisco, California, a grueling 2-week trip, on which the Ray House served as a "flag stop" for the stagecoaches. During the war, the road became the main artery of transportation for both Confederate and Union military forces in various operations in the Ozarks. After Wilson's Creek, in February 1862, Southern forces retreated down the road on their way to the Battle of Pea Ridge, and in December Union forces under General Francis Herron used it for a forced march of 110 miles in three days to the Battle of Prairie Grove outside Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Rhoda, a 14-year old slave, and Wiley, age 19, were wedding gifts to Roxanna for her marriage to William Steele. In 1851, John Ray purchased Steele's estate, including the slaves. In 1856, John Ray sold Wiley because he had, according to a court document, "become difficult to manage." Wiley was sold for $827. In the 1860 Federal census, Rhoda was listed as having four daughters. "Aunt" Rhoda (as she was called by the Ray family) and her children would have lived in slave quarters located behind the house, although the building's exact location is not known today. Rhoda resided with the Rays until 1876, and then moved to Springfield, where she died in 1897. John Ray was a "typical" slaveholder in Missouri in 1860. According to Michael Fellman's book Inside War, the average number of slaves per slaveholder in the state was 4.66. Greene County, where the Rays resided, had the highest concentration of slaves in southwest Missouri - 1,668. Many slaveholders in southwest Missouri were small farmers--an image that does not fit our stereotype of slave owners with large plantations and many slaves.

Besides the Ray family, at least 100 other people lived in Wilson Township at the time of the battle. Many were directly affected by the fighting on August 10, 1861. One example was Joseph Sharp, who lived at Stop No. 5 on the tour road. Sharp was the most prosperous farmer in the region, with a farm valued at $11,000 in 1860. His large, two story home sat on the Wire Road, and was heavily damaged during the battle. Sgt. William Watson of the 3rd Louisiana Infantry, described the Sharp farm as a "pretty substantial farm-house with extensive barns and out-houses," but "All the buildings were completely riddled by the shot." Watson and other soldiers were sent to search the house, in case any Federal soldiers had taken refuge there after Sigel's rout. In his book Life in the Confederate Army, Watson described how Mrs. Sharp took him to task for the destruction of their property and threatening her family's lives. She calmed down somewhat after Watson said that the soldiers were"Jeff Davis' folk," but she still demanded to know who would pay for the damages and who would remove the dead men and horses from their yard.

Early on the morning of August 10, 1861, the Ray family quickly discovered that what started as a normal day would soon turn into a nightmare. Three of the Ray children, herding horses in the valley near the springhouse, were warned by a soldier on horseback that "there's going to be fighting like hell in less than ten minutes." Alerting their parents to the soldier's warning, Roxanna took her children, "Aunt" Rhoda and her children, and hired-hand Julius Short into the cellar, while John watched the ensuing fighting in his own cornfield between U.S. Regulars and Arkansas and Louisiana troops. Soon the Confederates forced the Regulars from the field, but when they attempted to pursue, Union artillery fire from Bloody Hill drove the Confederates back past the Ray House. The Union battery continued to fire on the retreating enemy, and in the process struck the Ray chicken house. Southern surgeons raised a yellow flag, (recognized on the battlefield as a symbol of a field hospital), and the gunners ceased fire. The Ray House itself was not struck by musket or cannon fire during the battle.

As soon as the battle ended, the family emerged from the cellar to find their farm house was now a hospital, and immediately began to assist medical personnel in treating the wounded and dying. The children made many trips to secure water from the springhouse for the suffering soldiers. Later, the body of General Nathaniel Lyon was brought to the house and examined before it was removed to Springfield under a flag of truce. Roxanna supplied a counterpane, or bedspread, to cover the body. While most of the wounded were quickly removed to Springfield, one soldier would convalesce with the Rays for several weeks before he could be moved. In addition, most of the family's livestock and crops were gone, foraged by hungry soldiers.

History of the Battle and The Ray House were taken from:
The Battle of Wilsons Creek Civil Ware Series by Christopher Phillips (ISBN 1-888213-76-0)
The Ray House by August K. Klapp (ISBN 1-881366-00-6)

More information on Wilsons Creek National Battlefield can be found at www.nps.gov/wicr/

 

Texas Spirit Seekers Investigators:
Lance Brooks

Date: 06/11/2008

Time: 13:00hrs – 16:00hrs

Location: Wilsons Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri

Weather: Partly Cloudy 95°, Feels Like: 100°, Barometer: 29.9 in and falling Humidity: 44%, Visibility: 10 mi, Dewpoint: 69°, Wind: SSE 15 mph, Sunrise: 6:20 am, Sunset: 8:32 pm.

 

 

Instrumentation:
Cameras: Digital: Fujifilm IS-1

Personal Experiences:
Once again personal experiences mean very little if no quantifiable evidence is collected. I was however overwhelmed by the feeling of being surrounded by a number of people as I walked the path to the Gibson’s House and Gibson’s Mill site’s just south of the oatfield. No one was there, in fact there was no one in the park at all, I was the only visitor during the afternoon. The information on the site can be located at www.nps.gov/wicr/. I had a camera with IR capability and started to take a series of triplet photographs to see if I could capture any tangible evidence.

 

Evidence of Interest:

Photographs:

 

Photo #1: There is an anomaly at the bottom of the photo near the cannon.
Three shots were taken and this is the only photo that shows it.

 

Comments:
We at Texas Spirit Seekers are looking forward to investigating Wilsons Creek. This is a beautiful area of Missouri, rich with history. If you ever get a chance to visit this National Battlefield, do it, you will be glad you did.
Lance Brooks (Co-Founder and Lead Investigator)