Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield – Missouri
As I gather my photos from years of National Park exploration, there are many Civil War battlefields among them. These are sacred landscapes that once witnessed unimaginable bloodshed on our own U.S. soil. Missouri’s Wilson’s Creek is one of those places, marking a fiercely divisive battle during the earliest months of the Civil War.
Preserved as Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield near Springfield, Missouri, is the scene of the Battle of Wilson’s Creek that took place on August 10, 1861. This was one of the major engagements west of the Mississippi River where 30,000 Union and Confederate soldiers clashed in a brutal fight that signaled that war in the West would be just as consequential as the battles in Virginia. Here at Wilson’s Creek, the Confederate forces held the field which helped keep Missouri a bitterly contested border state. Among the fallen was Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, the first Union general killed in combat during the war.
Recognizing the site’s national importance, Congress authorized the preservation of Wilson’s Creek in 1960 and signed it by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Like so many National Historic battlefields across the country, Wilson’s Creek invites us to reflect on a time when our nation was at war with itself.
Read More From Nancy
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument – Arizona
Driving through Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument at dusk, the landscape does not feel empty, it feels inhabited. As the sun lowers behind the Ojo Mountains, long shadows stretch across the sand. The silhouette of organ pipe and saguaro cacti rise with arms lifted toward a sky painted in amber color. This is the Sonoran Desert, one […]
Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality Monument – Washington DC
In 2018, I visited the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington D.C., one of the newer additions to the National Park System at the time. In my pursuit to visit as many National Park historic sites as possible, I often made a point of seeing them soon after they were designated. When Belmont-Paul came […]
Timpanogos Cave National Monument – Utah
On a solo trip, I flew into Salt Lake City and made my way into the mountains towards Timpanogos Cave National Monument. The drive led me away from the city and into the Wasatch Range. The caves are hidden within the mountains and inside holds features that seem to ignore the rules: these delicate formations that […]
