The committee planning Carthage’s remembrance of the 150th anniversary of the battle that started the Civil War is thinking of holding a reenactment of the battle in Carthage and around the square instead of out in a rural field where reenactments are normally held.
Carthage City Administrator Tom Short told the City Council’s Public Services Committee about a proposal from the Battle of Carthage Sesquicentennial Committee to possibly hold a reenactment in the city around the square instead of out in the country.
Short said Wendi Douglas, Carthage Convention and Visitors Bureau director, talked to Council Member Bill Welch and Short about the idea just to see if city council members would be open to it.
It would be one of the first times a Civil War reenactment was held in a community instead of in a rural setting.
Council members on the committee expressed some reservations but they didn’t rule out the idea.
“She just wanted to feel the city out on how the city feels about it and I just thought I’d bring it to this committee to see if anyone had any real heartburn about it,” Short said. “We’ll make sure all the I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed about having liability insurance, but if anyone has any problem with having some type of reenactment involving the square they wanted to know.”
The Sesquicentennial committee is in the early stages of planning an event for May of 2011. The committee has searched for rural areas outside the city but has had difficulty finding a property owner that would grant permission for a reenactment on his or her property.
A reenactment would cause significant damage to the bare ground of a rural field, rendering it unusable for several weeks after the event.
Committee member and Jasper County Records Center Director Steve Weldon suggested that holding the reenactment in the city would provide a unique chance to show residents and guests up close what the battle was like as it passed through historic Carthage.
Routes for soldiers to travel through Carthage would be carefully planned and closely monitored.
The Battle of Carthage happened on July 5, 1861 when approximately 1,100 Union soldiers, under the command of Col. Franz Sigel, marched up what is now called Civil War Road north of Carthage and met more than 6,000 Missouri State Guard troops under the command of Gov. Claiborne Jackson about five miles north of Carthage near the spot where Civil War Road ends at Baseline Road.
Sigel’s soldiers fought a running battle with the State Guard forces as they retreated back down the road and through Carthage.
The soldiers continued fighting as they passed through Carthage, including a shootout on the Carthage Square.
As night fell, the Union soldiers fought one last delaying action near the spot where they had camped that morning where the current Battle of Carthage State Historic Site is located, then retreated to Sarcoxie, leaving Carthage in Missouri State Guard hands.
Casualties were light, with 13 Union soldiers being killed along with 12 State Guard troops.
Wounded were 31 Union soldiers and 64 State Guard soldiers.
