Did you know

While I was out and about yesterday marketing my book I had the pleasure of discussing the history of the Great State of Missouri a little with other folks as interested as I am. Missouri is a very diversified state. Our discussion started with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I was surprised to learn that a lot of folks are under the impression that when those two took off the find the ocean that Missouri was a wilderness. Unoccupied by white men and uncharted. Poppy-cock. The French had lived along the Missouri River and the Spanish before them. Explorers like the Daniel Boone Family had established settlements such as Defiance in St. Charles County and Boonsville in central Missouri. one of the Boone's settled on a place just north of Springfield, Mo. Lewis and Clark didn't run into much wilderness until they got up north a little and ran into the Mandan Indians. A tribe that had members with red hair and blue eyes. Missouri was a pi vital state during the Civil War. one of the largest battles was fought at Wilson's Creek, however there were still almost 200 battles fought inside the sate boundaries. Missouri was a Border State, however most feelings were strongly southern in thinking. The major cites such as St. Louis, Rolla and Springfield were of course Union held. There was a prison for women in St. Louis and Rolla whose husbands, brothers and beaus were fighting or reportedly fighting for the south. It was a time of extremes. Missouri had a lot of positive things going for it as well, it was the starting point for the short lived Pony Express, the Missouri Mule, was bred here and that animal became famous on the Santa Fee Trail. The Santa Fee Trail began here, up near a town called Franklin on the Missouri River. The first cattle drives from Texas ended at Sedalia. The first Bridge, Eads Bridge was completed across the Mississippi River in the 1870's. Outlaws such as Jesse and Frank James called Missouri home. In southwest Missouri a group of vigilantes, known as the Baldknobbers were feared. World War Two ended on the deck of the Battleship Missouri in Tokoyo Harbor. My book, Missouri Beginnings, begins and the next two books will further tell the story of the Holder's. as they settle in the Ozarks. The history I tell about through the story really happened as well as some of the characters like Kit Carson really lived here, where I say they did. Pick up a copy from Amazon or through Barnes and Noble and begin the journey with the Holders.