Civil War in Southwest Missouri

Community and Conflict – Impact of the Civil War in the Ozarks

The Springfield-Greene County Library District and several organizations throughout the Ozarks are working together to digitize Civil War era documents. Funded by a Library Services and Technology Act grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Missouri State Library, Community and Conflict strives to expand and enhance scholarship on the Ozarks by documenting how the Civil War changed life in the region.

The Civil War in many areas of the Trans-Mississippi theater have been relatively unnoticed by scholars, and few digitized materials are available from the region. As a result, the larger community does not fully understand the role the Ozarks played in the War. It is the goal of this project to unify collections scattered throughout the Ozarks by making them available to researchers online. This project focuses on the consequences and effects of the war on community, families, economy, and culture.

This digital collection is designed to eliminate barriers to access by providing historical letters, journals, diaries, court cases and other materials to researchers online. These collections tell the stories and explore the many facets of life during the most turbulent time in the history of the Ozarks.

Counties of the Southwest Region
Barry Greene Phelps
Barton Hickory Polk
Bates Howard Pulaski
Benton Jasper St. Clair
Camden Laclede Stone
Cedar Lawrence Taney
Christian McDonald Texas
Dade Newton Vernon
Dallas Ozark Webster
Douglas   Wright

Manuscript Collections