New Website to Track Civil War Events Throughout St. Louis Area

Upcoming St. Louis events that will commemorate the Civil War should both entertain and give people pause, Bob Archibald, the president of the Missouri History Museum said Monday.

"I think there's a big tension in how we understand this war," Archibald said. Class divisions remain in the U.S. in part because people haven't come to grips with the war. By the late 1870s, Americans had tired of the slavery issue and Jim Crow laws kept freedmen in circumstances that were not much better than they had been during slavery, he said.

He spoke following a news conference at which organizers announced the launch of a new website, freedomsgateway.com, which will allow people to find out when commemorative events are happening throughout the region. The announcement took place at the museum in Forest Park.

Cities throughout the St. Louis metro area will mark the 150th anniversary of the war between this year and 2015. A kickoff event in Mehlville will run April 29 to May 1 and feature a recreation of 1861 St. Louis depicting a camp of soldiers and a battle with re-enactors.

Clayton will host its own event from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday at . Male re-enactors will perform military drills outside, while re-enactments will also be inside showing how Civil War-era women supported the troops. More information about the event is available on the city's website.

"You actually get to see living history at the Hanley House," said Sarah Umlauf, the city's community resource coordinator. She donned a hoop skirt and other period attire for Monday's announcement.

Umlauf said the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission and the museum reached out to Clayton to get involved in the new website. The city recognizes the importance of cross-promoting events throughout the region. Because Missouri was a divided state during the war, it's possible for visitors to learn about the Confederate perspective, as at the Hanley House, and the Union perspective.

President Kitty Ratcliffe of the convention and visitors commission said the Jefferson Barracks reenactment should serve as an interesting event that's also educational.

"We've forgotten," Ratcliffe said, describing how soldiers had to sleep on the ground in tents. "We take so much for granted."

Her office will continue to reach out to cities throughout St. Louis metro area to get its events placed on the new website. There's still plenty of time for them to develop their own commemorations in the coming years.

"It was about slavery," Archibald said, and although no plans have been announced yet for the City of Hazelwood to participate in the commemorations, it along with the rest of North County very well could. The area dates back to early French and Spanish settlements in the 1700's and according to Old St. Ferdinand Shrine, Official Site there were 40 people and seven plantations in the North County area at the time of the 1787 census.

Archibald said it made sense to locate an upcoming Civil War exhibit in St. Louis. Organizers had considered putting it in another Missouri city such as Springfield, but thought some people in those locations might not like the exhibit's conclusions about the war.