Two new historic marker panels will be dedicated this summer near Calwood along the Civil War Gray Ghosts Trail driving tour in Callaway County.
Dedication of the interpretative panels at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 28, will coincide with the 150th anniversary of Callaway County's bloodiest battle during the Civil War.
The Battle of Moore's Mill was on July 28, 1862. The Moore's Mill area is now known as Calwood, about seven miles northeast of Fulton.
The two interpretative panels will describe the battle in detail. One of the panels to be erected in July will feature maps detailing the progression of the battle. This panel is funded by Bill and Genevieve Conner. It includes brief biographies of two researchers, Mark Douglas and Allen Conner. They researched the battle for reenactments in 1995 and 1997.
The Conners are parents of Allen Conner, who died in 2000. The Conners also funded the panel on behalf of the Elijah Gates Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, of which Douglas and both male Conners were charter members.
The other interpretative panel to be erected in July will describe the Battle of Moore's Mill in narrative form and include a description of the longer campaign that included this battle. It also details the 1862 recruiting drive throughout northeast Missouri by Confederate Col. Joseph C. Porter that included the Battle of Kirksville and the so-called Palmyra Massacre.
This panel is being funded by Bryant Liddle and his family in the name of his late father, Ray Liddle. Liddle is co-chairman of the Kingdom of Callaway Civil War Heritage, which sponsors the Gray Ghosts trail in Callaway County.