Recently, I have given thought again to the importance of newspapers in researching the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi. This jogged my memory about a person that I met last year. In May 2008 I had the great pleasure of bicycling the entire length of the Katy Trail State Park in Missouri—all 225 miles of it from Clinton to St. Charles, Missouri. Much of the ride was along the Missouri River. On the eve of the war this part of Missouri had a high concentration of slaves and the secession movement was quite popular. On my bike ride I met a number of interesting people including Augusta’s town historian, Dr. Anita M. Mallinckrodt. Augusta, a German community just a few miles from St. Charles, was a river town during the war and Unionist in its sympathies. In a labor of love, Dr. Mallinckrodt has read the German language newspaper, the St. Charles Democrat, and translated excerpts into English that deal with Augusta, the surrounding area, and important events of the time period. She has assembled approximately three volumes (each one covering a different time period) of excerpts from the St. Charles Democrat. The volume covering the Civil War era features newspaper articles about the St. Charles County Union Guard, military events in the area, elections, agriculture, emancipation, prices, runaway slaves, and Reconstruction. There are certainly many local historians in the Trans-Mississippi; it seems as though every community, no matter its size, has a town historian. Unfortunately it can be a bit difficult sometimes to even know about their work. Still the wealth of data collected and often published by local historians is remarkable—as a professional historian I admire their dedication to their labors of love.
