Group ends efforts to buy Civil War battlefield

CARTHAGE, Mo. -- A group that wanted to buy the land on which the Battle of Carthage was fought was not able to raise enough money and has abandoned the effort.

More than a year ago, an organization called the Battle of Carthage Inc. proposed a plan to buy a 260-acre tract north of Carthage to preserve it for Civil War re-enactments and other living history programs.

The group hoped to raise $800,000 to pay for the land, and the landowner had offered to donate another 60 acres based on the initial purchase.

However, Gordon Billheimer of Carthage, who was president of group, said it was not able to raise the $800,000.

"We had some interest, but not enough," he said. "We tried to interest the state, but we didn't get anywhere there, either."

The Battle of Carthage occurred not long after Union forces chased pro-Confederate Gov. Claiborne Jackson and members of the Missouri State Guard from the state Capitol.

When Jackson retreated to southwest Missouri, about 1,100 Union soldiers marched into the region to try to prevent Jackson's army of about 4,000 armed and 2,000 unarmed men from linking up with Confederate troops in Arkansas.

The troops clashed July 5, 1861, on land about 10 miles north of Carthage. Facing overwhelming odds, the Union troops retreated.

A committee working to plan for the 150th anniversary of the battle still wants to leave a permanent legacy of the event.

The 150th anniversary of the battle will be July 5, 2011, and committee members have already met once to discuss what types of observances and activities there should be, said Tom Short, Carthage city administrator and an ex-officio member.

"We've agreed there should be something left as a memorial to the event, an on-going legacy, but we haven't decided on anything specific," he said.

He said the Carthage group wants to tie its events into Civil War observances that will be held throughout the state. And committee members have agreed there should be several events leading up to the sesquicentennial "rather than just a single thing on one day," he said.