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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Sherwood, Missouri


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You've probably never heard of it, but had it not been for something that happened in the Civil War, Route 66 might have been routed through this town which no longer exists.

 

A Union force of foragers was surprised while on a foraging expedition from Baxter Springs and massacred by Southern guerrillas. Eighteen (15 from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry) were killed and their bodies mutilated at the Rader farm near Sherwood.

 

The next day, Union troops from Baxter Springs, arrived and had the bodies burned in the Rader farmhouse, then the commander ordered every building within a five mile radius destroyed which included the 250 person town of Sherwood, then the third largest municipality in Jasper County (there was no Joplin at the time).

 

Nothing remains today of the town except the cemetery which contains the body of a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln.

 

Had Sherwood not been destroyed, Route 66 might have been built through Sherwood and Joplin never become the large city that it is.

 

Sherwood was northwest of Joplin and west of Carthage.

 

A county park was dedicated at the site of the Rader farm on November 11th.

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You've probably never heard of it, but had it not been for something that happened in the Civil War, Route 66 might have been routed through this town which no longer exists.

 

A Union force of foragers was surprised while on a foraging expedition from Baxter Springs and massacred by Southern guerrillas. Eighteen (15 from the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry) were killed and their bodies mutilated at the Rader farm near Sherwood.

 

The next day, Union troops from Baxter Springs, arrived and had the bodies burned in the Rader farmhouse, then the commander ordered every building within a five mile radius destroyed which included the 250 person town of Sherwood, then the third largest municipality in Jasper County (there was no Joplin at the time).

 

Nothing remains today of the town except the cemetery which contains the body of a first cousin of Abraham Lincoln.

 

Had Sherwood not been destroyed, Route 66 might have been built through Sherwood and Joplin never become the large city that it is.

 

Sherwood was northwest of Joplin and west of Carthage.

 

A county park was dedicated at the site of the Rader farm on November 11th.

 

 

Very interesting bit of information - thanks for sharing!

 

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