Monuments tell of Civil War history in Nevada
It's been a century and a half since the civil war began, but it was such a factor in the history of and further development of this nation that many of the events that occured before the war and during the bloody years of the conflict are commemorated with monuments and markers of some type.
A couple of those memorials to the "great conflict" are right in Nevada. Both of them are in the downtown area and very easy to find. There was a granite monument placed at the corner of Main and Hunter streets in 2001 by the Missouri Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans that is dedicated to the fighting men of the Missouri State Guard. The dedication is on the west side of the stone and the east side gives a brief account of the Battle of Drywood.
The Battle of Drywood was fought on Sept. 2, 1861 and involved 12,000 Confederate troops under the command of Gen. Sterling Price and 1,800 Union soldiers led by colonels James H. Lane and James Montgomery. This short battle saw the vastly outnumbered federal troops retreating back to Kansas and the Missouri force hold the battlefield before moving on to the victory at Lexington, Mo. later in the month. The skirmish, as it is sometimes called, took place about two miles south of present day Deerfield, Mo. west of Nevada.
The other item marking the war in Nevada is on the west lawn of the Vernon County Courthouse. Made possible by local grants and erected by the Missouri Civil War Heritage Foundation Inc., this plexiglass plaque tells the story of the events leading up to the burning of Nevada on May 26, 1863 and gives an account of that fateful day when Nevada lay smoldering and smoking from the fires of war. The marker also has period photographs of some participants, a map, an early photo of the Nevada Square and gives some details of events after that day in late May of 1863.
Both of these items preserve the rich history of the war in Vernon County and are interesting to visit. There is also a plaque on the old Vernon County Jail that was in operation from 1860 to 1960 that states that the jail survived the burning of Nevada in 1863. The jail is now a museum.