In October 1999, tiny Brooks Chapel A.M.E. Church of Butler, Missouri, located in Bates County, Larry Delano Coleman, Pastor, hosted a community wide celebration to commemorate the 8 men who died near Butler, during the battle, whose occurrence was unknown to the locals, lost to history and lore. At that celebration, attended by over 200 persons, 90% white—only about 70 blacks resided in Bates County—money was raised for the erection of a monument to those heroic, fallen soldiers, which was superintended by the Amen Society, a benevolent corporation created by attorney/pastor Coleman, and which was run by local citizens.
Among the local citizens who rendered indispensable service was Mrs. Elnora Burton, first President of the Amen Society, and church pianist, who predeceased before the statue’s unveiling; Walter Wright, second President of the Amen Society, church member, and member of the Butler City Council, instrumental in securing the site; and Mrs. Mildred Wright, secretary-treasurer of the Amen Society, church treasurer, and wife of Walter Wright, whose spirit was unwavering.
Eventually, in October 2008, the bronze statue of a fully armed black soldier, designed by sculptor, Joel Randall, of Edmund, Oklahoma, was unveiled on the north side of the court house square in Butler to great historic fanfare and political acclaim. Special recognition must be given to State Sen. Harold Caskey of Butler whose financial assistance was key; Bates County Commission Chairman Donna Gregory whose political support was vital, and to Chris Tabor, a former Marine, and cartographer, whose indefatigable research and writing has reclaimed a legacy that endears itself to all Americans.
Finally, in October 2012, the State of Missouri's Department of Natural Resources' Missouri State Park Division dedicated the beautiful 40-acre, Island Mound/"Ft. Africa" historic battle site, specially dedicated to these prototypical, trend-setting troops nationally riveting, now legendary, victory in October 1862 at that very location 150 years earlier.
Monday, November 3, 2014
STILL HERE BY GOD'S GRACE
The book that I purchased at Ft. Scott, Kansas, in 1999 that sparked all of this First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry in Butler, Bates County, Missouri, activity was LIKE MEN OF WAR: Black Troops in the Civil War 1862-1865, by Noah Andre Trudeau (Little, Brown & Co., Boston: 1998).
THE AMEN SOCIETY COMMEMORATION EFFORT:
In October 1999, tiny Brooks Chapel A.M.E. Church of Butler, Missouri, located in Bates County, Larry Delano Coleman, Pastor, hosted a community wide celebration to commemorate the 8 men who died near Butler, during the battle, whose occurrence was unknown to the locals, lost to history and lore. At that celebration, attended by over 200 persons, 90% white—only about 70 blacks resided in Bates County—money was raised for the erection of a monument to those heroic, fallen soldiers, which was superintended by the Amen Society, a benevolent corporation created by attorney/pastor Coleman, and which was run by local citizens.
Among the local citizens who rendered indispensable service was Mrs. Elnora Burton, first President of the Amen Society, and church pianist, who predeceased before the statue’s unveiling; Walter Wright, second President of the Amen Society, church member, and member of the Butler City Council, instrumental in securing the site; and Mrs. Mildred Wright, secretary-treasurer of the Amen Society, church treasurer, and wife of Walter Wright, whose spirit was unwavering.
Eventually, in October 2008, the bronze statue of a fully armed black soldier, designed by sculptor, Joel Randall, of Edmund, Oklahoma, was unveiled on the north side of the court house square in Butler to great historic fanfare and political acclaim. Special recognition must be given to State Sen. Harold Caskey of Butler whose financial assistance was key; Bates County Commission Chairman Donna Gregory whose political support was vital, and to Chris Tabor, a former Marine, and cartographer, whose indefatigable research and writing has reclaimed a legacy that endears itself to all Americans.
Finally, in October 2012, the State of Missouri's Department of Natural Resources' Missouri State Park Division dedicated the beautiful 40-acre, Island Mound/"Ft. Africa" historic battle site, specially dedicated to these prototypical, trend-setting troops nationally riveting, now legendary, victory in October 1862 at that very location 150 years earlier.
In October 1999, tiny Brooks Chapel A.M.E. Church of Butler, Missouri, located in Bates County, Larry Delano Coleman, Pastor, hosted a community wide celebration to commemorate the 8 men who died near Butler, during the battle, whose occurrence was unknown to the locals, lost to history and lore. At that celebration, attended by over 200 persons, 90% white—only about 70 blacks resided in Bates County—money was raised for the erection of a monument to those heroic, fallen soldiers, which was superintended by the Amen Society, a benevolent corporation created by attorney/pastor Coleman, and which was run by local citizens.
Among the local citizens who rendered indispensable service was Mrs. Elnora Burton, first President of the Amen Society, and church pianist, who predeceased before the statue’s unveiling; Walter Wright, second President of the Amen Society, church member, and member of the Butler City Council, instrumental in securing the site; and Mrs. Mildred Wright, secretary-treasurer of the Amen Society, church treasurer, and wife of Walter Wright, whose spirit was unwavering.
Eventually, in October 2008, the bronze statue of a fully armed black soldier, designed by sculptor, Joel Randall, of Edmund, Oklahoma, was unveiled on the north side of the court house square in Butler to great historic fanfare and political acclaim. Special recognition must be given to State Sen. Harold Caskey of Butler whose financial assistance was key; Bates County Commission Chairman Donna Gregory whose political support was vital, and to Chris Tabor, a former Marine, and cartographer, whose indefatigable research and writing has reclaimed a legacy that endears itself to all Americans.
Finally, in October 2012, the State of Missouri's Department of Natural Resources' Missouri State Park Division dedicated the beautiful 40-acre, Island Mound/"Ft. Africa" historic battle site, specially dedicated to these prototypical, trend-setting troops nationally riveting, now legendary, victory in October 1862 at that very location 150 years earlier.