Cannons pounding, rifle smoke dissipating and the smell of campfires in the background. It will be a rare opportunity for Civil War enthusiasts, as more than 700 Civil War re-enactors have been invited to a farm near Boonville today through Sunday.
Dressed in their authentic best for 150 years ago, artillery, infantry and cavalry will be able to stand where Union troops caught up with the Missouri State Guard for the first major battle of the Civil War in Missouri.
"We don't get to fight on the real battlegrounds often," re-enactment supervisor Dick Peerson said.
At the state and National Park Service properties, like Wilson's Creek or Lexington, the sites are considered "hallowed" ground, Peerson said.
"This is a guy's pasture; but an archaeological dig gave supporting evidence," Peerson said.
When the re-enactors take the field, Peerson expects "the hair to stand up on the back of your neck."
Amidst the cannons and gunfire - albeit not live ammunition - he said participants and spectators alike should get the same feeling of awe, a reflection of what fellow Missourians might have experienced in that very place.
"It's exciting to know you're right there, the place where history did happen," Peerson said.