Museum to explore Civil War in Missouri

Missouri State Museum curator Julie Kemper creates a display of a silk day dress, made in a style from the 1860's and likely to be worn by a wealthy woman. The museum staff has been working on the last in a series of research projects on the Civil War in Missouri.
Missouri State Museum curator Julie Kemper creates a display of a silk day dress, made in a style from the 1860's and likely to be worn by a wealthy woman. The museum staff has been working on the last in a series of research projects on the Civil War in Missouri.

Unique holdings, such as Jesse James' handkerchief, Cole Younger's pistol, battle flags and wooden mortars, will be part of a four-year exhibit "Civil War in Missouri: A House Dividing," which opens next week in Jefferson City.

A Family Day of events 1-4 p.m. Saturday will include period music, a discussion on secession, historians in period clothing, and a German Union Infantry drill re-enactment at the Missouri Capitol on the south lawn and in the Rotunda and history hall.

The exhibit's official ribbon-cutting will be at 9 a.m. May 10 - the anniversary of Camp Jackson, the first armed conflict in Missouri after Fort Sumter. On that day 150 years ago, pro-south militia attempted to take ....