IA to MO / Battle of Lexington SHS
Winter Migration 2024 | Iowa to Missouri | Visiting Battle of Lexington State Historic Site | Camping in Missouri Conservation Areas | December 2024
The week before Christmas, we packed up the van and said our goodbyes to family for the next few months, and officially began our winter migration. On our first day of driving, we left right after lunch and drove about 4 hours to our first campsite of the trip: Lake Paho in Northern Missouri. This is one of Missouri’s conservation areas where you are allowed to camp for free for up to 14 days, and honestly if it wasn’t winter this would be a nice place to stay for that long. The campground had designated campsites and clean outhouses, and was right on the lake. We arrived just before sunset, so we hurried to set up the van and let Charlotte have some outdoors time before hunkering down for the night.
It only dropped into the 30s that night, and somehow I wasn’t cold despite having been in a house for the last two weeks. In the morning, Charlotte took Curtis for a long walk while I made breakfast and took pictures of the sunrise. Once we had all eaten, we packed up and continued heading South.
Thanks to our efficiency in county collecting during our November trip to Missouri, we only had a few more holes in Northern Missouri that were easy to fill in during today’s drive. We made our way South/Southwest for a few hours, then stopped for lunch and gas in Lexington, MO. We found our way to the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site and got out for a walk to stretch our legs on their trails.
Curtis: Lexington is a minor battle in the early Missouri battlefields of the Civil War, and took place between Wilson’s Creek and Pea Ridge and was part of what we’ll call the ‘Confederate Victory Tour’ immediately following Wilson’s Creek. High on their victory well to the South, the Southern sympathizing Missouri State Guard returned to the Missouri River and put to siege the force of Union soldiers in Lexington.
The siege lasted for about a week and only concluded after the Missouri State Guard used hemp bales as rolling breastworks to overwhelm the Union position. Often called the ‘Battle of the Hemp Bales’ the Confederate victory saw a surge in opportunistic volunteers to the Missouri State Guard. But the victory was short lived as General John C. Fremont (the Pathfinder) soon launched an overwhelming campaign that reclaimed all but the far South-East of Missouri without a single pitched battle. Soon, the Missouri State Guard was maneuvered out of Missouri altogether and forced to make a stand during the Union victory at Pea Ridge – effectively ending the Confederacy’s hold of Missouri for the remainder of the war.
We started our visit at the top of the hill where the Union forces were under siege. After a cold, windy, and pokey Charlie walk around the perimeter, Jess opted to drive down to the visitor center and set up lunch, while Charlotte and I took three times as long to walk down.
After lunch, I went into the visitor center to get some State Park stamps, but ended up talking with the park ranger extensively about the park, Missouri, Civil War, and history.
Once we were finished here, we piled back into the van for a few more hours of driving. Now that we’d filled in our remaining holes in Northern Missouri, it was time to start working more on Southern Missouri. Since we had driven down I-49 multiple times before, we focused on the next row of counties to the East. The route wasn’t as straightforward, but it was scenic and not too busy.
Tonight’s chosen campsite was an Army Corps of Engineer campground on Stockton Lake. While normally ACoE sites have camping fees and usually shut down in the off season, this one remains open and free during the winter! Our site was very scenic, and we enjoyed watching the sun set and the sky over the lake change colors. With each night, the lows were a little higher, and we were more and more excited to continue making progress in our search for warmer weather!
