THE RAY HOUSE

The Ray House was a silent witness to the bloody battle that took place at Wilson's Creek. It was the home of John Ray and his family.

Most of the credit for the preservation of the home belongs to Bessie McElhaney. Mrs. McElhaney lived in the home for years without making modern improvements. In 1956 she wondered if the battlefield would ever be preserved and was tempted to renovate the house but held off.  On August 10, 1961, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield became part of the National Park Service. 

The 4 room frame structure, built about 1850 on the Old Wire Road and the Butterfield Trail, overlooked the Wilson’s Creek Battlefield.  It is the only building standing today that went through the battle.

The old house was built by W.F. Steele.  He became ill while campaigning for governor and died shortly afterwards. His widow, Rosanna Steele, married John Ray and the family was living in the house when "all hell broke loose" at Wilson’s Creek.

After General Nathaniel Lyon was killed, his body was taken to the Ray House where the surgeon examined it and prepared it for transfer to Springfield.

As many as 100 people lived in the area by August 1861. The Gibsons owned and operated a grist mill, the Manleys, the Sharps, the Shorts, all had homes in the area.  The Edwards' home was the site of the Southern headquarters during the battle. (An 1860's era cabin has been moved to the site of the Edwards home.)

Roxanna Gizzard, a Georgian, married William Steele in 1837; the couple came to Missouri in 1840. William Steele died in 1848, leaving Roxanna with 4 children. In the late 1840s, John Ray, a widower, came from Tennessee with his daughter, Elizabeth. He began courting the Widow Steele; they were married in 1849. By the time of the 1861 battle, Roxanna had given birth to 6 more children and John Ray had purchased the 120 acres of the Steele estate along with Steele's 2 slaves.  He later pruchased the 40 adjacent acres. 

Rhoda, a 14-year old slave, and Wiley, age 19, were wedding gifts to Roxanna for her marriage to William Steele. In 1856, John Ray sold Wiley for $827 stating he had "become difficult to manage." In the 1860 Federal census, Rhoda was listed as having 4 daughters. 

Construction of a new home began after purchasing the additional land; it was finished by 1852.  Ray was appointed postmaster of the Wilson Creek Post Office, Jan 18, 1856, a position he held for 10 years. Because his house served as the Post Office, the Ray home was the hub of the community. 

His position as postmaster is indicative of his politics during the Civil War.  Although a slave owner and a Southerner by birth, Ray would not have been able to hold a federal position during and after the Civil War if he had displayed support for the Confederacy. John, like many of his fellow Missourians, while owning slaves to help with their farms, saw no reason to secede from the Union or be disloyal to the US government. Although he did not fight in the war, 2 of his stepsons enlisted in Union regiments and 1 of his daughters married a Union officer.

The Ray house sat right along the Telegraph or Wire Road, the major route for all traffic, military and civilian, in the 1850s and 1860s. It ran from Jefferson City, MO to Fort Smith, AR, passing through Springfield and Fayetteville. The Butterfield Overland stage began using the Wire Road in 1859 as its route from Tipton, MO to San Francisco, CA.  The house was a "flag stop" for stagecoaches until the route was discontinued in 1861 due to the Civil War. 

By 1861 the Rays had a prosperous 420-acre farm valued at $6,000. The farm produced corn, wheat, oats, Irish potatoes and hay. In addition, Ray kept bees for honey, had an orchard with a variety of fruit, and bred and raised horses, cows, sheep and hogs. 

Up-keep on the Ray Orchard

The spring from the hillside that flowed into the spring house was a source of drinking water for the family and animals.  It was used to preserve and cool milk, cream and butter, as well as store fruits and vegetables. 

According to some, the Civil War had begun in Missouri and Kansas in 1854 with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Missouri was already in the Union as a slave state and Kansas wanted to come into the Union as a free state; the border area between the two was ripe for conflict. Raiders from both states traveled back and forth pillaging, plundering, and killing. When the Civil War officially began, the Jayhawkers and the Bushwackers had a legal excuse to continue the rampage they started in 1854. 

The Rays were aware of the impending military activity in August, 1861. By August 9th a Southern army of over 10,000 troops had camped along Wilson Creek. 

On the morning of August 10th, 3 of the Ray children, herding horses in the valley near the springhouse, were warned by a soldier on horseback that "there's going to be fighting like hell in less than ten minutes," and told to take shelter. 

Roxanna took her children, Rhoda and her 4 children, and Julius Short, a hired hand, to the cellar for the duration of the 6 hour battle. John Ray sat on his front porch and watched the action between US Regulars and Arkansas and Louisiana troops in his cornfield. The Confederates attempted to pursue but Union artillery fired from Bloody Hill and drove the Confederates back past the Ray House. The Union battery continued to fire on the retreating enemy, and in the process struck the Ray chicken house. Southern surgeons raised a yellow flag, (a symbol of a field hospital), and the gunners ceased fire. The Ray House itself was not struck during the battle.

Injured and dying men were brought to the Ray House. As soon as the battle ended, the family came from the cellar to find their farm house was now a hospital, and immediately began to assist medical personnel in treating the wounded and dying. The children hauled water from the spring house.   

The body of the Union commander, Gen Nathaniel Lyon, escorted by Dr S.H. Melcher of the 5th Missouri (Union), was brought to the house and placed on a bed. After noting the wounds and cleaning the body, the general was covered with a bedspread (counterpane), then escorted to Springfield under a flag of truce. Soon ambulances began to arrive to evacuate the wounded. One soldier remained with the Rays for several weeks before he could be moved.

Doctor Samuel H. Melcher, assistant surgeon, 5th Missouri Infantry (US), recalled “After arranging the body as well as circumstances permitted, it was carried to the wagon and covered with a spread or sheet furnished me by Mrs. Ray.”

The Southern dead were buried immediately but some of the Union bodies remained on the field for as long as 6 days. The soldiers made off with practically everything the Ray family had prepared to get them through the winter. Horses, hogs, chickens, and grain were all gone; the winter of 1861 would be a rough one for not only the Ray family but the rest of those in the area. 

John Ray died in 1875 and Roxanna in 1876. The home was sold several times before it ended up in the hands of John McConnell. His daughter, Bessie McElhaney remained in the house until it became part of the Wilson's Creek Battlefield.  To come full circle,  Mrs. McElhaney’s son, Glen, married Dorothy Stewart, the great-granddaughter of John Ray, in 1937. Glen and Dorothy lived in the Ray House for a time with Bessie McElhaney.

When Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield was established in 1960, Bessie McElhaney was allowed to continue to live in the house while her new home was being built. The National Park Service was also able to acquire from Mrs. McElhaney, not only the bed that Gen Lyon’s body had been placed upon,  but also the counterpane Roxanna Ray placed over the body before it was transported to Springfield.