Investigation Changes Understanding of Civil War Battle

JASPER COUNTY, MISSOURI—On May 18, 1863, 25 black soldiers from the 1^st Kansas Colored, and about 20 white soldiers from the 2^nd Kansas Volunteer Artillery Battery, who were on horseback, arrived at the Rader farmhouse to look for food when they were surprised by 70 Confederate men. It had been thought that most of the white soldiers on horseback took off quickly while the black soldiers were loading wagons, since 15 black soldiers and three white soldiers were killed in what is known as the Battle of Sherwood and the Battle of Rader’s Farm. Christopher Dukes of Missouri State University investigated the site, which has been acquired by Jasper County. He found 57 artifacts, including Union buttons, fired rounds, and rounds dropped during reloading, which suggest that the troops on horseback did not abandon their comrades. “They ran to a rallying point and stood and fired back,” Dukes told The Jopling Globe. “It was one of the first battles to involve black and white soldiers together, and many of the black soldiers may have been slaves now fighting their former masters,” he said. To read more in-depth about slaves during the Civil War, go to "Letter From Virginia: Free Before Emancipation."