The Lake Today

On Oct. 30, 2010, Lake Area Historian John Wilson’s three-year effort in getting the Civil War fight, the Battle at Monday’s Hollow, proper dedication and recognition came to fruition.

Known as Dutch Hollow, Wet Glaize or Monday’s Hollow, this historic ground lies among area surrounding the Beulah Baptist Church in Richland. It is on this land where the Union Forces led by Col. John B. Wyman squelched an advance by the Confederate forces of Colonel William W. Summers on Oct. 13, 1861. The conflict culminated in the loss of 62 Confederate soldiers and one Union soldier and was the only Civil War battle fought in Camden County.

That dedication, co-sponsored by the Camden County Historical Society and Missouri Civil War Heritage Foundation, was held at the church and included a formal burial ceremony to honor the confederate soldiers of the Battle of Monday Hollow.

For the last two years, members of the Camden County Historical Society, including Wilson, and Camden County Museum, and many other history enthusiasts in the area continue to organize another momentous event taking place this fall - the 2012 Monday’s Hollow Battle Civil War Re-enactment.

On Sept. 15-16, the Camden County Museum and the Fourth Missouri Cavalry Re-enactors will co-host a maximum effort re-enactment of the Battle of Monday’s hollow, which was the only Civil War battle fought in Camden County. The Monday’s Hollow Battle Civil War Re-enactment event is free and open to the public, with a $10 per car parking donation. The event will open at 9 a.m. each day with the battle re-enactment taking place at 1 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

Taking place at the Missouri Trapshooters Association grounds on Route A in Linn Creek, visitors will not only witness living history as the Civil War battle is re-enacted before their eyes, they will also be able to relive those days by walking through a Sutler village, tour military camps, view period fashions, listen to Civil War music, listen to period speakers, worship service and singers, and experience a period ladies’ tea and demonstrations of the era, among many other activities.

“The bottom line for this event is education, entertainment and historical depiction; it is to keep the history alive,” Wilson said during a recent Re-enactment committee meeting Wednesday at the Camden County Museum.

For the last two years, Lake Area residents and visitors to the Camden County Museum have received a taste of life from the time Native Americans inhabited Lake of the Ozarks to the early 1900’s during the annual Living History Weekend. Re-enactors in full costume set up camps on the grounds, demonstrating every day jobs from soap making, woodworking and crafting cloth on a 100-year-old loom to keeping camp at a Union or Confederate camp.

In 2010, the Camden County Historical Society and museum put on a Living History Weekend for the first time, and it turned out to be a huge success. Valerie Thomas, the event’s lead coordinator and museum archivist, said the event drew more than 750 guests, local and people from out-of-state. She said the event drew many visitors back to the museum to spend more time browsing through all of the exhibits.

“(In 2010), you wouldn’t believe the amount of people that came in to the museum, it was wonderful,” she stated in a previous article. “Once they realized it was here, they came back later when they had more time.”

Last year, Thomas and her fellow organizers and volunteers saw another large turnout for the event, which leads them to see a major local and regional interest in putting on a maximum re-enactment like the one planned for this fall at Lake of the Ozarks.

“People will be able to visit the camps, talk to the soldiers and see how they lived. It’s going to be huge,” she previously stated. “We’ve never tried anything quite this big before. If anybody would like to help volunteer for just about anything, we are expecting close to 10,000 people. It will be the first time anything like this in the county has occurred.”

According to Thomas, a maximum re-enactment of this magnitude will typically bring in 500-600 re-enactors from Missouri and surrounding states.

“We are expecting thousands of spectators,” she said. “We are seeking modest financial support from area businesses to help defray the expenses of the re-enactors.”

Thomas and fellow event committee members and organizers have and continue to ask for financial support and donations in keeping with historical reference – a “bounty.”

According to Thomas, in Civil War times, villages and towns gave financial “bounties” to their militias, usually in the form of salt peter and shot for ammunition. She said they are hoping that local businesses and individuals in the Lake Area and mid-Missouri region will put up a bounty to help one of the participating calry, artillery or infantry units. With a minimum of four Confederate infantry units in Missouri committed to the re-enactment and many more Union and Confederate units expected to attend, any bounties need to be donated.

“Your donation of $10, together with bounties from other businesses, will be recognized by public notices at the event showing the businesses that sponsor each unit,” Thomas explained. “Re-enactors donate their travel expenses and their time in order to bring to the public authentic re-enactments of Civil War battles. However, one expense they need help with is the cost of ammunition.”

Thomas added the $10 bounty will give the business not only public notice of a particular military unit during the event, but also on a poster delivered to hundreds of locations from May-June as a sponsor and the business thanked in all advertising following the event.

Thomas also noted that since the event is being orchestrated by a not-for-profit organization with a limited budget, they are also looking for businesses or individuals who might be able to donate or give affordable aid with needed items and equipment to put on this event.

Items that have already been donated include: rocks for fire pits; eight cords of wood; trash removal/dumpsters; coffee and bread for soldiers; emergency medical team assistance; horse troughs, tarps; metal barrier stakes; $150 toward food products and 40 cases of water. In addition, various state and regional agencies have offered help in assisting with direction or other needs for the event such as the Missouri Department of Transportation and Camden County government.

Thomas said the following is still needed: hay for horses (50 bales); straw for soldier’s bedding (200 bales); toilet paper (indoor toilets, 100 rolls); 300 bags of ice; printing of maps/programs (5,000 total); plastic forks, knives and spoons (2,000 each); 2,000 paper plates; 3,000 napkins; 3,000 8-ounce coffee cups; 2,000, 10-ounce plastic glasses for root beer floats; 60 canisters of coffee creamer; 60 canisters of sugar; 3,000 stir sticks; 40 gallons of vanilla ice cream; 2000 cases of 24-ounce soft drinks; 160 cases of 24-ounce bottled water; 1,500 hamburger buns; 1,500 hot dog buns; condiments such as mustard, catsup, relish (75 bottles each); and 30 pounds of onions, as well as emergency vet services.

Thomas said they are also putting feelers out to help build a volunteer force with volunteer coordinators in place for the upcoming event. With leads such as the local Boy Scouts inquiring, they hope to have and will need plenty of volunteers to assist with a variety of tasks during the weekend long event.

In addition, the event committee is also looking to hold a special school day on Friday preceding the weekend activities open to the entire community.

Thomas said if anyone is interested in volunteering, making a bounty toward the event, becoming a sponsor or donating needed items, they are more than welcome to contact her or museum, or attend an upcoming event steering committee meeting. The meetings are currently scheduled at 5 p.m., the fourth Wednesday of each month through August at the Camden County Museum in Linn Creek. The next meeting will be on Feb. 22.

The Camden County Historical Society is made up of nearly 200 members and they are always looking for more. Individual memberships cost $12 and couples or family membership cost $15. They meet the third Monday of the month, March through October.

The Camden County Museum is located at the corner of U.S. 54 and Route V in Linn Creek.

For more information, an event schedule or to get involved, call the museum at 573-346-7191, Thomas at 573-692-3350, or visit www.camdencountymuseum.com. The museum’s website also has registration forms for arts, crafts and food booths, re-enactors and Sutler village vendors.

Dianne Steingrubey contributed to this article.