Carthage Interpretive Marker
The beautiful city of Carthage was laid out, 1842, as the seat of Jasper County, organized, 1841, and named for Sgt. William Jasper, Revolutionary hero. Centered in a county of great mineral wealth and good farm land, Carthage grew into a marketing, manufacturing, and shipping city. Westward are the famous tri-state lead and zinc fields; northward, livestock and dairy farms; and here, the Carthage Marble quarries. A limestone of magnificent color and hardness, Carthage Marble was first quarried in 1880. Among buildings of this stone is the Missouri State Capitol. In 1861 Carthage was the scene of the second major engagement of the Civil War in Missouri. It was burned to the ground by Southern guerrillas, 1864. In this Battle of Carthage, July 5, 1861, some 4,000 armed and 2,000 unarmed State Guardsmen let by deposed Gov. Claiborne F. Jackson forced Union Col. Franz Sigel's 1,100 troops to fall back and cleared the way for joining with other State Guards and with Confederate troops, thereby gaining time to equip and train the pro-Southern troops of Missouri.

(7-95) Carthage Civil War Museum
 
The 3 projectiles on wooden stands are grape shot. These were fastened together in a cluster and looked like a bunch of grapes. After firing they flew apart. These were found in and around Carthage and were embedded in the walls of the old county jail

(7-95) Bullets and Grape Shot found near Carthage along Spring River

(7-95) State Guard. Confederate troops at Battle of Carthage

(7-95) Guerillas! Bloody Bill Anderson, George Maddox, Frank and Jesse James, Fletch Taylor, Livingston's Guerillas, Younger (James) Gang, Quantrill's Raiders