The territory known as Missouri was included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Soon after, the Delaware Native Americans received treaty land where Springfield’s Sequiota Park and the antique stores of its Galloway Village stand today. To the west, 500 Kickapoo Native Americans built wickiups on the prairie that still bears their name.
Missouri became a state on August 10, 1821, and in 1833 the legislature designated most of the southern portion a single county. It was named for Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene, largely through a campaign by Springfield's founder, John Polk Campbell, to honor a man he admired. A Tennessee homesteader, Campbell announced his claim in 1829.
1838 incorporation
Springfield was incorporated in 1838. That same year, Cherokee Native Americans were forcibly removed by the U.S. government from their homelands in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia to the “Indian Territory.” Their route became known as the Trail of Tears due to the thousands of Cherokee deaths on the journey and as a result of the relocation. The Trail of Tears passed through the Springfield area via what is known today as the Old Wire Road. The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail auto tour route is along Interstate 44 westward to U.S. 160 (West By-pass in Springfield) and westward along U.S. 60.
The Old Wire Road, then known as the Military Road, served until the mid-1840s as a connection between Springfield and the garrison at Fort Smith, Arkansas. By 1858, the Butterfield Overland Stage began utilizing the road offering passage to California. Two years later, the region’s first telegraph line was strung along the road, and it was dubbed the Telegraph or Wire Road. The road proved vital during the Civil War, and its most historic connection is to the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas. While portions of the road exist today, the most easily accessible is within Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.
1848 The railroad arrives
The Missouri Pacific (then the Pacific Railroad) was the first railroad to cross the Mississippi River and thence into Springfield and other locations. Later on the St. Louis San Francisco Railroad (Frisco Railroad) established its headquarters in Springfield, Missouri. Although some in the area thought of it as large,[citation needed] it was one of the smaller railroads (the Missouri Pacific was in 12 states and the Frisco was in about three to six states). Commercial and industrial diversification came with the railroads and strengthened the City of Springfield and North Springfield when the two towns merged 17 years later in 1887. Today visitors can enjoy the view from the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge, peering below to the locomotive path which is still in use.
1861–65 Civil War
With the Civil War imminent and Missouri a border state, Springfield was divided in its sentiments. On August 10, 1861, army units clashed in the Battle of Wilson's Creek, the site of the first major conflict west of the Mississippi River, involving about 5,400 Union troops and 12,000 Confederates. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon was killed, the first Union general to die in combat, and the Confederates were victorious. Union troops fell back to Lebanon, then Rolla, and regrouped. When they returned to Springfield, the Confederates had withdrawn.
The First Battle of Springfield, or Zagonyi's Charge, occurred on October 25, 1861. It was the only Union victory that year in southwestern Missouri. The fighting led to increased military activity in Missouri and set the stage for the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, which essentially cemented Union control of the state.
For the next year, possession of the city seesawed. Then on January 8, 1863, Confederate forces under Gen. John S. Marmaduke advanced toward the town square and the Second Battle of Springfield ensued. As evening approached, the Confederates withdrew. The next morning, Gen. Marmaduke sent a message to Union forces asking for proper burials for Confederate casualties. The city would stay under Union control until the end of the war.
Two years after the war ended, Springfield National Cemetery was created. The dead of both the North and the South were interred there, though separated by a low stone wall (later removed). In 1960, the National Park Service, recognizing the significance of the 1861 battle, designated Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. The 1,750-acre (7.1 km2) battlefield near Republic remains greatly unchanged and stands as one of the most historically pristine battle sites in the country.
1865 Wild Bill Hickok shootout
On July 21, 1865, Springfield helped give birth to the Wild West era when the town square was the site of the nation’s first and only recorded duel shootout, a “quick draw” duel between Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt Jr.
Following a poker game in the Lyon House Hotel on South Street, Tutt claimed Hickok owed him money and took his pocket watch as collateral. Tutt claimed he would wear it in public to show that Hickok didn’t pay his debts. The next day Tutt fired a shot at Hickok from 75 yards (69 m) away, barely missing his head. Hickok fired back and killed Tutt with a bullet through the heart. The event made nationwide news, and the incredible marksmanship exhibited by Hickok made him known worldwide.
Two small brass plaques inlaid into the pavement on Park Central Square mark the locations of both Hickok and Tutt during the famous shootout.
1906 Lynching
On April 14, 1906, a mob broke into the town jail, then lynched three African-American men: Will Allen; and Horace Duncan and Fred Coker, for sexually assaulting Mina Edwards. They were hanged and burned by a mob more than 2,000 strong without trial in the town square. The men were hanged on the town square from the Gottfried Tower which held a replica of the Statue of Liberty. In the immediate aftermath, two commemorative coins were reportedly issued. The lynching sparked a mass exodus of African-Americans from the area, who still remain a small minority demographic in Springfield. A small plaque on the southeast corner of the square is the city's only reminder.
