MO HISTORY

Woman stands on a frozen Mississippi River in St Louis during the “Ice Gorge” in February 1905

Ice storm of January 23, 1897 Kirkville, Missouri

Katie Gore - Photograph by N. Brown, ca. 1860 

On April 12, 1862, Abijah Fisk Gore, a Union soldier, sent a letter to his sister Katie describing the Battle of Shiloh. 

The Missouri History Museum’s Archives contain a letter from Abijah Fisk Gore, a lieutenant in the 2nd Iowa Infantry, to his sister Katie, a teacher in Webster Groves, MO. Written from Shiloh on April 12, 1862, it describes the battle in detail as well as Gore’s weariness with the war.

The numbers of men killed, wounded, or missing for both sides reached an astounding 23,746. Gore wrote, “Oh Katie it is fearful to walk over such a battle field, even after the human bodies are removed, and with them remaining it’s awful. Language is inadequate to express my feelings upon the occasion, and I could not help but wonder, why God would permit such things to be, upon this beautiful Earth of his….” Gore continued, in words that resound in any age, during any war: “I am heartily sick of war and battle and I look forward to the time with longing when peace will once more be restored to all of the American People so I pray that it will not be long before these things will be amicably adjusted.”

Missouri History Museum-http://www.historyhappenshere.org/node/6842 and http://cdm.sos.mo.gov/cdm/ref/collection/CivilWar/id/8368 

Octave Chanute – Scientist of the Day

Octave Chanute, a French/American engineer and inventor, was born Feb. 18, 1832.

Union Civil War veteran and employee of the Kansas Pacific Railway Company Charles B. Lamborn (center) posing with two friends along the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri, 1867. By Alexander Gardner.

On This Day in History, December 20th, 1820,

We’re ending the semester and this series full circle - with advice by students for students on how to navigate the environment here at Mizzou. Perspectives in Black was published in the 1980s, and like The Black Book, the LBC publication it replaced, it was meant to provide an orientation to the campus and community.  It covered the potential pitfalls and challenges in housing, advising, financial aid, and academic subjects. Each issue also has a list of black faculty and administrators and their contact information.  According to our records, Perspectives in Black ceased as a title in 1986/87.

We started this Tumblr series to accompany the digitization of the Legion of Black Collegians publications housed in Special Collections.  Now that the digital collection is complete, this series is too. Our aim in this series has been to make our institution’s varied histories more visible and accessible.  

As a community, we still have a lot of work to do. We plan to listen, learn, and keep the conversation going. We hope you will too. 

- Kelli

See all our Mizzou Monday posts here: http://muspeccoll.tumblr.com/tagged/mizzou-monday