The Marshall Civil War Heritage Trail committee is hoping members of the community will help with its research, but helpers need not worry about having to brave icy or slushy conditions -- this research best takes place in cozy confines of attics and closets.

At the committee's meeting Thursday, Feb. 15, project leader Tim Baumann, professor of archaeology and anthropology at Missouri Valley College, gave an overview of the project and explained what role community members can play.

The project, funded in part by a Marshall tourism grant, involves developing a heritage trail through town with markers located at key Civil War sites. The trail will connect with a statewide Civil War trail system being developed by Missouri's Civil War Heritage Foundation.

The first marker may be installed early this summer, Baumann said, and will probably be the one slated for Murrell Library on the MVC campus.

The committee already has most of the research and artifacts needed for that site, he said, and perhaps as important, it has permission from the college to place the marker there.

Two other key sites will be developed later and permission is still pending. Baumann said the committee hopes to place one marker at Ridge Park Cemetery near an existing Civil War memorial and another at the northeast corner of the Saline County Courthouse square.

The courthouse was burned down in 1864 by Confederate sympathizers, he said.

And that episode illustrates the kind of information the committee is hoping member of the community can provide.

As the trail is developed the committee hopes to tell the stories of individual people who played some part in the war.

He said several women apparently were involved in the courthouse arson case and committee members are gathering information about them. One was sent to jail in St. Louis, he said.

The burning of the courthouse becomes more interesting if the stories of the people involved can be told. The case offers a chance for researchers to explore guerrilla tactics used and the role of women in the war, Baumann said.

If community members whose ancestors lived in the county during the war find artifacts or records or photographs -- any of those things would help the heritage trail markers come alive, according to Baumann.

The committee would take great care with any materials people are willing to share, he said, and only photograph or copy things people prefer not to part with.

Paul and Pam Jensen were two community members who attended the meeting. Their antebellum home, the Oliver Homestead Bed and Breakfast at the corner of Brunswick and Arrow, is one of the oldest in the city.

The Jensens have heard stories suggesting their home may have been used as a field hospital during the war.

Baumann said more research would have to be done to verify the story, but the Jensens' willingness to get involved is just the kind of thing the committee needs.

On the Net:

http://www.mocivilwar.org

http://mmcwrt.missouri.org/2001/default0...

Contact Eric Crump at

marshallfaith@socket.net