By: Shirley Jefferis Essary

Ted Hillmer, Superintendent of Wilson’s Creek Battlefield, shared the stage with Bertram Hayes-Davis, a descendent of Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, and a distant cousin to President, Rutherford B. Hayes. Both spoke at the Cherry Blossom Festival on Friday.

Hillmer, who has worked for the National Park Service for 31 years and has a background in Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, has both Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the University of Oklahoma. He became superintendent of Wilson’s Creek in 2003.

Hillmer discussed the profiles of the Generals who led the troops that fought at Ft. Sand Springs, an old Indian Fort northeast of Marshfield on January 9, 1863. This fort which sat on the Old Wire Road was the first of three forts to fall to Confederate troops in just a few days’ time. The Fort at Marshfield fell shortly after Sand Springs and the Fort at Hartville, although able to mount a stronger defense, fell after Marshfield. Confederate General, John Sappington Marmaduke, was wounded in the Hartville Battle as he and his troops were making their way back to Arkansas.  Marmaduke was the Confederate Commander of the troops raiding Missouri in 1863. He grew up on a plantation in Saline County, Missouri. His father was the 8^th Governor of Missouri and his great-grandfather was Governor of Kentucky from 1832-1834.  

Marmaduke’s father was an avid Unionist but his uncle, Claiborne F. Jackson was a “pro-secessionist” and the current Governor of Missouri when he appointed his nephew a Colonel in the State Guard. When his uncle insisted that he attack Union General Nathaniel Lyon at Boonville on June 17, 1861, Marmaduke realized his troops were ill-prepared to make a stand. Lyon’s 1700 troops made quick work of Marmaduke’s forces. The Unionists called the battle “the Boonville Races” since the Confederate Troops broke and ran after just 20 minutes of battle. After the civil war, Marmaduke was elected as Governor of Missouri but died in office like his great-grandfather (Governor of Kentucky). He is buried in Jefferson City.

Union General, Benson Brown, moved to St. Louis in 1852 from Ohio. He was active in the movement that held Missouri to the Union. He was the Acting General on the defense of Springfield in 1863 where he was wounded and lost the use of one arm. Brown’s primary command duties involved suppressing Confederate guerrillas and opposing Confederate raids out of Arkansas and the Indian Territory. He died in West Plains on February 11, 1902 and was buried in Cuba, Missouri next to his wife who died four years earlier.

The Battle of Fort Sand Springs was a small battle, in historical terms. The end result was the burning of the Fort by Southern Troops. Local Oral History says that Union soldiers killed during the battle were buried at Timber Ridge Cemetery just to the west of the Fort.

After Hillmer’s talk, Sally Bueno with the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War told the group that her group would be placing a marker at the corner of west 38 Highway and Timber Ridge Road next year marking the battle that took place at Fort Sand Springs. Bueno’s Hartley and Jackson relatives both fought for the North in the battle. She asks that anyone who comes across any Civil War Markers contact her group as they are trying to document all markers in Missouri. The great-great-grandson of Jefferson Davis, Bertram Hayes-Davis, grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado where his grandparents (Jefferson Davis’ daughter and son-in-law) settled after the Civil War. Currently living in Dallas, Texas, where he is a banker, Hayes-Davis talked about his famous relative from Mississippi and noted that Jefferson Davis descendents travel from all over the country each year to “mingle beneath the cedars and oaks of Rosemont Plantation “near Woodville, Mississippi to tell tales, and to reminisce. Their purpose is to celebrate the birthday of a relative who helped shape the destiny of the South--Jefferson Davis, who was the president of the Confederacy.

Jefferson Davis’ first wife was Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor, the 12^th President of the United States. She died at age 21 and Davis later married Varina Banks Howell who lived to be 80 years-old and died in 1906 in New York City.

With no surviving sons, Varina Banks Howell Davis and other relatives asked her 8 year-old grandson, Jefferson Addison Hayes, if he would be willing to change his surname to “Hayes-Davis” so the Davis name would continue. Hayes-Davis told the audience that the Davis’ being, well Davis’, did not merely file a petition to change little Jefferson Addison’s name but, instead, went to the Mississippi State Legislature and had them issue a proclamation changing the child’s name. He says that his grandfather carried around the proclamation for years in his wallet as did his father.

Hayes-Davis said that he was told that Hurricane Katrina had destroyed Jefferson Davis’ last home in Biloxi, Mississippi four years ago but found out later that while the Museum was totally destroyed the home named Beauvoir was still standing. Extensive repairs were made to the structure, which has been used as a memorial to Jefferson Davis and the Confederate Soldiers since 1903. It was re-opened to the public on June 3, 2008 (The 200^th birthday of Jefferson Davis).