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 Confederate Home of Missouri Cemetery - Higginsville, MO Posted by:  YoSam.
N 39° 05.913 W 093° 43.776
15S E 436910 N 4327966
Famous interments, John Graves, William Quantrill, John Fletcher.
Waymark Code: WMNPT5
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/15/2015
Views: 3
County of Monument: Lafayette County
Location of Monument: 1st St., inside Missouri Confederate Memorial State Historic Site, Jct. MO-213, busi. MO-13, & MO-20, 2 miles N. of Higginsville
Marker erected by: Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Division of State Parks
Marker text: CONFEDERATE HOME
OF MISSOURI
CEMETERY
"Step lightly near this sacred spot,
and move with solemn tread,
For this is consecrated soil,
Where sleep our honored dead!
The sunlight shimmers through the boughs
Of shadowy forest trees,
Nature weeps here, her silent tears,
A requiem sighs the breeze,
When the tall grasses gently wave,
the wild flower lifts its head,
As if its tribute sweet,
to bring our Confederate dead,...
Elizabeth Ustick McKinney, 1894.
This marker also contains the names and locations of the 800 Confederate veterans who lie here. The names can be read on the link below for Find-A-Grave
Web link: [Web Link]
History of Mark:
In 1889, an annual reunion of Missouri Confederate veterans was held at Higginsville in Lafayette County. At the encampment, as it was called, a movement began that reflected similar benevolent projects in our other Southern states - to establish a Confederate veterans' home.
Almost 30 years after the Civil War's start, even the youngest of the veterans were moving well into middle age. The more prosperous of these aging men recognized the need to help impoverished veterans who never fully recovered from crippling wounds or diseases contracted during their years of service. Ex-veterans and interested parties joined forces and, with private funding, founded the Confederate Home Association.
Within a year, the association raised enough money to purchase 365 acres of prime farmland just north of Higginsville in West-central Missouri. Newly formed Southern patriotic women's organizations such as the St. Louis-based Daughters of the Confederacy (forerunner to the national United Daughters of the Confederacy) and the local Ladies of Lafayette County also lent their talents and influence to raising funds for the construction and outfitting of dwellings. In April 1891, a Missouri veteran named Julius Bamberg became the first Confederate veteran in the state to receive admission as a resident of the new Confederate Home of Missouri.
By the mid 1890s, the Confederate Home faced serious financial crisis. Insufficient funding, due in part to a nationwide economic depression forced the Home Board to appeal to the state legislature to assume financial control, which it did in 1897. At the time, the state agreed that the home would not be closed until the last veteran or veteran's widow died or left of his or her own accord.
Additional point: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
A clear picture of the Marker or Plaque taken by you.
Also would appreciate you input on the text and location.
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