Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site

We visited the Battle of the Island Mound State Historic Site on August 8, 2025. It is located in Bates County, Missouri, and I was thankful for a state-maintained place to visit in such a rural county as we are trying to visit something in every county. I learned a lot at this site, but mostly before I came by watching the below video that is very well done.

Here is the Missouri Department of Conservation video that I watched before I visited the historic site which I recommend in my video that you watch.

I absolutely loved the view that was framed in the window!

The first colored volunteer infantry group to fight in the civil war fought here against the gorilla fighters, the bushwhackers, that were in this area. They opened the path for folks to trust the colored soldiers skills allowing more to join in the war.

The group was from Kansas, but this location is western Missouri is very close to the border of Kansas.

The history here is rich. I encourage you to take time to learn about it. I had no idea there were civil war battles on the west side of Missouri. We looked it up and there were some in Texas, but there were not many more, if any, west of Missouri.

I loved this sentence, "Here, their bravery and determination helped our nation better understand the founding fathers' words, "all men are created equal."

The trail was nice and not too far to walk. The day was really getting late and the sun was beginning to set while we were here. We had pushed ourselves to reach a lot of places in one day and needed to find a campsite yet.

I loved the prairie grass and the flowers and paused for a while from time to time.

This kiosk tells about the Toothman Farm which is a big part of the history here at this batter as it was a rebel family, but the Kansas infantry took over the home as its base.

This kiosk told about the first at this location that was used as a weapon. There is a lot of information online to read and YouTube videos, and I encourage you to take time to learn and read about this battle. It is more interesting than I thought it would be.

I loved the flag blowing in the wind at the entrance as it was graced with the prairie flowers beneath it.