Neosho

Neosho. . , Neosho is named from the Osage Indian word, Ni-u-zhu (Main River). Settled about 1833 near 3 large springs, Neosho became the seat of Newton County, 1839. Upon the Ozark tableland prairies of the area, an "Eden of Fertility," settlers from many states and countries made their homes., In this well-favored county, rich also in minerals, is Granby (8 miles east), south Missouri's oldest lead and zinc mining town. Discovery of lead in early 1950's brought thousands of minders and speculators here in a “Granby Stampede.” Granby lead was used for Confederate bullets before the furnaces were wrecked in 1862., Newtonia, 12 miles to the east on Oliver’s Prairie, is the county’s first settled area, 1829. This town was devastated by Civil War engagements of 1862 and 1864. Nearby is the Hugh Shannon Homestead, 1829, a restoration of one of first pioneer homes in southwest Missouri. Near Diamond, 12 miles north on Diamond Grove Prairie, is the birthplace of Negro scientist George Washington Carver (ca 1861-1943). The site is a national monument., Neosho became the Confederate capital of Missouri when deposed Gov. Claiborne F. Jackson and the “rebel legislature” met here Oct. 1861. Although an act of ratifying the Constitution of the Confederate States and an Ordinance of Secession were passed, the State Convention, which had deposed Gov. C.. Jackson, kept Missouri in the Inion. Approach of the Federals brought removal of the legislature to nearby Cassville, Barry Co., and adjournment, Nov. 1861. Later Marshall, Texas, served as Confederate capital of Missouri., Throughout the war, skirmishes, raids and guerilla warfare swept the area inflicting a reign of terror upon the people. Union troops were driven from Neosho by General Joseph O. Shelby’s Confederates, 1863., Near Neosho, an area where fruit crops predominate, lived the Swiss Herman Jaeger (1844-1896) who developed a grape resistant to “grape louse” from the wild Ozark vines. Neosho is the birthplace of artist Thomas Hart Benton. In town are a county museum collection and a Federal fish hatchery. Nearby is Camp Crowder, and 15 miles west is Seneca, center of a Tripoli mining area.