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The Ray County Museum
Photos
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2008 Christmas Open House [8 Images]
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2011 Bus Tour of Ray County [16 Images]
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The Ray County Historical Society had over 30 riders on their first historical bus tour of Ray County this past Saturday.
Hal Middleton, David Blyth, and Charles McCorkendale served as tour guides for the ride that stopped at Bob Ford's Gravesite in the Richmond Cemetery; Bloody Bill Anderson's Gravesite in the Pioneer Cemetery; LDS leaders buried in the Pioneer Cemetery; the Ray County Courthouse for the Alexander Doniphan monument, the World War I Memorial and Monument Doughboy, the World War II Memorial / Monument, the World War II and Korean Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial.
The tour went by the Historic Farris Theatre, then stopped at the Trail Of Death Historic Marker at Richmond High School.
Leaving the school, the bus followed the Lewis and Clark Highway (Route T) to Front Street in Camden near the old riverboat landings.
They also visited the Bluffton Historic Marker on Route T and the Battle of Albany monument north of Orrick.
That afternoon, the Historical Society hosted their 4th Annual Ice Cream Social on the museum grounds with over 50 people attending that event.
David Knopf provided the music as volunteers served hot dogs, cakes and Uncle Bill's ice cream to those who came.
The Ray County Museum is housed in the old Ray County Poor Farm building.
The "Y" shaped structure was built in 1910 at a cost of $19,491. That cost included wiring, plumbing, & heating. It has 14,424 square feet of floor space, and three floors with 54 rooms.
Its unique design earned the County Home a place on the National Register of Historical Places.
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Bloody Bill Anderson Program [6 Images]
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Jay Jackson provided some Ray Countians with a peek at the past when he presented a program on William "Bloody Bill" Anderson at the quarterly meeting of the Ray County Historical Society last week.
Anderson, Confederate Guerrilla, was killed near the little burg of Albany, just north of Orrick in October 1864.
Jackson, the superintendent at the Missouri City School has loved history and especially Civil War history since he was young.
Jackson's great-grandfather served in both the Confederate and Union armies. He served in the Confederate Army in the Battle of Pea Ridge, but at age 52, he became too old to serve in the Confederate Army and he returned home.
He was then conscripted into the Union Army "Paw-Paw" militia and served the north.
When the War Between the States began in the east, the majority of Missourians wanted to remain neutral as conditional unionists.
However, Federal troops occupied Missouri and many Missourians had to choose sides. Thirty thousand served in the Confederate Army and 50,000 served in the Union Army.
William T. Anderson chose the south as a partisan ranger or guerrilla.
Federal forces began rounding up and imprisoning family members of suspected guerrillas.
Anderson's sisters were being held in a Kansas City jail when it collapsed and killed several women including his oldest sister.
After the jail collapse, Anderson joined Quantrill's Raiders under the leadership of William Clarke Quantrill for the famous raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
The guerrilla's spent the winter in Texas and there was a power struggle among the leaders. When they returned to Missouri, Anderson was the head.
Jackson said the Battle of Centralia is the most interesting and effective guerrilla warfare battle in civil war history. The battle showed how a small group of ill-equipped guerrillas could overcome and conquer a larger, better equipped and better organized army.
Ironically, the techniques Anderson used in the Battle of Centralia were the same techniques used against in him the Battle of Albany.
When Anderson led his company of guerrillas into the Centralia rail station on September 27, 1864, he was already the most feared Confederate guerrilla in Missouri.
The guerrillas concentrated on 'stirring things up' -- tearing up railroad lines, and disrupting communications and supplies to the Union Army.
Anderson led his men into Centralia to collect supplies and they waited at the train station to rob the train.
There were over 20 union soldiers on the train and Anderson's men captured them, stripped of their uniforms, and executed them all. The guerrillas would often wear union uniforms in order to ambush federal patrols.
Anderson knew the slaughter would attract Union troops and he left a decoy patrol for the Union Army to chase.
Over 100 union troops with Enfield rifles were soon on Anderson's trail. Anderson's men lured the federal patrol into a field surrounded by trees on three sides. When the Union soldiers came into the field, they dismounted and lined up in formation to shoot the guerrillas.
Enfield rifles were single shot long-range weapons.
The guerrillas primarily used six-shot pistols, carrying many guns at a time.
After the Union Army fired their first round at the guerrillas, Anderson's men mounted their horses and charged the stationary Union troops, slaughtering them all and scalping and mutilating many of the corpses.
Jackson said he had gone to the battlefield and said it was basically a perfect site for an ambush.
After the battle the guerrillas separated to elude their pursuers.
A month later, Anderson's band camped at a farm just north Orrick. When they rode out in the morning, Federal troops were waiting and Anderson was killed.
After his death, William Anderson gained the now familiar nickname, "Bloody Bill."
He is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Richmond. His headstone reads simply, "Captain, Confederate States Army."
Jackson said they are currently using Anderson's techniques in training Army men who are being sent to Iraq to give them a better understanding of guerrilla warfare.
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Coal Mine Room [17 Images]
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Don Rogers formerly of Camden, Missouri graciously donated a huge amount of coal mining artifacts to the museum.
"It's dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew,
Where the danger is double and pleasures are few,
Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines,
It's dark as a dungeon way down in the mine."
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Coloring Book [20 Images]
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Color Pages from Ray County's Past
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Doniphan Day [2 Images]
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Doniphan Returns [1 Image]
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Museum Tour [46 Images]
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Various Rooms in the Museum
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Ray County Plat Book Pages [4 Images]
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Ray County Coal Mines [13 Images]
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Don Rogers formerly of Camden, Missouri graciously donated a huge amount of coal mining artifacts to the museum.
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Ray County Driving Tour [22 Images]
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Sites on the Ray County Historical Society Driving Tour
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Ray County Historic Photos [10 Images]
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Misc. historic photos of attractions in Ray County
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Treasure Hunt [2 Images]
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Take A Treasure Hunt To the Ray County Museum
The Ray County Museum houses all kinds of treasures.
When you visit the museum, see if you can locate the following items.
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Veteran's Picnic 2011 [15 Images]
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Watkins Mill Program [3 Images]
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Ray County Historical Society
views historic film of Watkins Woolen Mill
Matt Carletti, historic site administrator at the Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site presented a short film of the mill and mill grounds that was taken in 1939 to members of the Ray County Historical Society last week.
Carletti explained the importance of the rare film to the historic site and how it would be used in research.
Gene Hills, an amateur film maker, shot the film while traveling with the Cameron Hunting and Fishing Club during the 1930Ős.
Hills was an avid outdoorsman who participated in the foxhunts at the mill and filmed several hunting and recreation spots throughout Missouri.
Although the film lasts only a few minutes, it covers the outside of the woolen mill, many of the millŐs outbuildings, and much of the grounds.
Dr. Larry Graham is the current owner of the film and he made arrangements to have the film transferred to digital.
Stan and Sandy Hendrix of the Patch Cord Audio and Video Production Company volunteered their time and services to transfer the film to a digital format.
Howard Hatchett, president of the Cameron Historical Society, provided the film to the Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site.
Carletti also provided a history of the state historic site and fielded questions from the audience.
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Word Search Puzzle [2 Images]
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Find these words connected with Ray County History
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