Introduction
The Ray and Steele Family

William Steele and his wife Roxanna met in Georgia and were married on December 26, 1837. William was the son of Robert and Nancy Steele who immigrated to New York in 1800, and was one of twelve children. Roxanna Grizzard was raised by the Neal family in Georgia, until she married William and they moved to Missouri in 1840.1

William and Roxanna settled along Wilson Creek in Greene County, and area of rich farm land and ample water supply. The Steeles owned three plots of land near the creek. In 1840, William and Roxanna’s first child was born, William F. Steele. The couple had three other children Anne E., born in 1842, Andrew McCord, born in 1846, and Mary Cornelia, born in 1849. In the summer of 1848, William became ill and died on July 22 while Roxanna was still pregnant with Mary. The Steele family owned two slaves a boy named Wiley, valued at $400, and a girl named Rhoda, valued at $300. William worked as a blacksmith along the creek and many local residences owed him money including William Gray. At the time of his death Steele’s estate was worth approximately $1,669.76.2

John Ray emigrated from Tennessee to Missouri in the late 1840s. His wife had passed away, and John with his daughter, Elizabeth, settled in Greene County. John met Roxanna and the couple started courting within a year after William’s death. The couple married by September 1849 and the two families merged. Apolinia Ray, John and Rozanna’s first joint child was born around June 1850. John assumed ownership of Wiley and Rhoda, and in 1851 he purchased the 120 acres belonging to the Steele estate. That same year John purchased 40 acres adjacent to the Steele estate, running along the telegraph road to Fayetteville, Arkansas. He then began construction of the family’s new home.3

Lumber for the Ray house was shipped from Arkansas and the structure offered sandstone fireplaces and chimneys. It is likely the Steele home and outhouses were deconstructed and timber salvaged to build parts of the Ray home and newer outhouses, as some of the lumber in the Ray house dates older than others. Construction on the Ray house was finished by 1856, as it was appointed the Wilson Creek Post Office on January 18, 1856, with John Ray as postmaster.4

Between 1850 and 1860 the Ray family greatly grew. John and Roxanna had five additional children, and by 1860 William F. Steele had married Mary Moore and established his own home. In 1861, the Ray’s farm had expanded to 420 acres. The Rays grew corn, wheat, oats, Irish potatoes and hay. They also had beehives, a fruit orchard and plentiful lives stock including, horses, hogs, cattle and sheep. John’s position as postmaster of Wilson Creek was a cash producing occupation and contributed to his status as a well to do farmer and citizen of the community.5 John’s estimated real estate value was $6,800, and his personal estate was valued at $4,000.6

John owned five slaves, Rhoda and her four daughters. Wiley was sold in 1856 for $827, as John cited Wiley had become “difficult to manage.” Rhoda earned the affectionate nickname “Aunt” Rhoda among the Ray family and resided with the Rays until 1876, when she moved to Springfield, Missouri. Both John and Roxanna moved to Missouri from the south, where slavery was prominent and a way of life. In fact, Rhoda and Wiley were wedding gifts to Roxanna for her marriage to William Steele. Though they owned slaves, the Rays were devote Unionists, and like most Missourians used slaves for an extra set of hands around the farm and home. Two of John’s stepsons enlisted in Missouri Union regiments and fought during the war. Due to his loyalty to the Union, John Ray was able to keep his federal government position during and after the Civil War. Had he displayed loyalties to the Confederacy, he would have been removed as postmaster.7

With the outbreak of war in 1861, the Ray family saw a great increase of traffic along the “Wire” Road that bisected their property. The road ran from Jefferson City, Missouri to Fort Smith, Arkansas and received its nickname from the telegraph wire that was strung along side in 1860. The road served as the main artery of transportation for both Union and Confederate troops as they marched crossed the Ozarks. The family watched as Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon marched his men down the wire road to engage Confederate soldiers at Dug Springs on August 1, 1861. The battle took place the following day in Christian County, Missouri, and eight days later the war would rage on the Ray’s door steps.8

On the morning of August 10, 1861, Olivia Ray, John Wesley Ray and Livonia Ray went into the valley near the family springhouse to herd their horses. Shortly after their arrival in the valley, a mounted rider road past them shouting, “Get out of here, children! They’ll be fighting like hell here in less than 10 minutes!” The startled children raced home on horseback to inform their parents. Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch and General Sterling Price’s men had been in camp along Wilson Creek since August 6. Price and McCulloch planned an attack on Lyon in Springfield; however, rain delayed their assault. Undoubtedly, Confederate foraging parties visited the Ray’s springhouse and cornfield. Lyon and Colonel Franz Sigel marched from Springfield through the night of August 9th to engage the sleeping Confederates the following morning.9

John Ray, like McCulloch and Price, disregarded the advanced warning of the Union assault. However, as John sat on the front porch rocking his 13 month old son, Marcellus, he saw the unmistakable black line of armed men taking position along the ridge that would come to be known as “Bloody Hill.” Shortly after, the hills and valleys surrounding Wilson Creek exploded with artillery and rifle fire. Roxanna gathered her children along with Aunt Rhoda and her four daughters and climbed down into the house’s cellar huddling together. Julius Short, a hired hand who lived with the Rays, joined the women and children in the cellar. John Ray remained on his front porch and watched as Union and Confederate forces engage on Bloody Hill and in his cornfield.10

During the course of the Battle, Colonel Louis Hebert’s 3rd Louisiana Infantry gave the order to fall back to the wooded area south of the wire road. Several men panicked and broke rank. Major William F. Tunnard was able to rally the men behind the Ray house, but the open field left them prime targets for Union Lieutenant John V. Du Bois’ artillery positioned on Bloody Hill. Du Bois open fired on the Louisianans, as shells landed in the Ray’s garden and struck their chicken house. The Ray house, however, was unharmed. Not a single bullet or shell hit the building’s exterior. Confederates physicians had established a field hospital inside of the Ray’s house, but forgot to mark the building as such. During the bombardment, the doctors raised a yellow hospital flag at the Ray house, and Du Bois ordered a cease fire on the Ray’s property.11

The Battle of Wilson’s Creek ended by 11:30am. It raged for six and a half hours, leaving dead and wounded soldiers scattered across the land and in the Ray’s Cornfield. As the Rays emerged from the cellar they found wounded soldiers littered across their home and yard. Roxanna and Aunt Rhoda began carrying water from the family’s springhouse to the wounded and dying. Olivia Ray recalled many years later, “Men were lying on the porch and in the yard and every available space inside the house was used to accommodate wounded and dying men.”12

While repositioning his troops on Bloody Hill, Lyon was struck in the chest by a bullet and died almost immediately. He was the first Union general killed in combat during the Civil War. Lyon’s body was placed in a wagon, but as Union forces retreated his body was removed to make room for wounded soldiers. Confederate soldiers found his body and placed it in a covered wagon that was used as an ambulance. Dr. Samuel Melcher, assistant surgeon from the 5th Missouri Infantry who remained on the battlefield to care for the wounded, learned that Lyon had been killed. Melcher set out to locate Lyon’s body, and was ushered to General Price. Price had Lyon’s body brought to Melcher, who then accompanied the body to the Ray House. Lyon’s body was placed on one of the family’s beds in the front room, while he was surrounded by wounded soldiers on the hardwood floors. Dr. Melcher examined the body and it was then covered with one of Roxanna’s counterpanes, or bedspread. Lyon’s body was eventually transported to Springfield and then to Rolla, Missouri by wagon. There it was sent by train to the east coast, where he was buried in Connecticut.13

Eventually the wounded were transferred from the battlefield to Springfield, though the moans of the wounded and dying could be heard across the valleys and hills. Many of the Rebel soldiers were buried shortly after the battle, while the some of the Union dead were left on the field for as many as six days. Rebel soldiers confiscated nearly all of the Ray’s produce and livestock. Most of the wounded stationed at the Ray House were moved from the property to Springfield after the Confederates took possession of the town. One wounded soldier, John Herman, reportedly stayed with the family for several weeks before returning home.14

John Ray’s actions immediately following the battle are unknown, but in the evening he was forced to guide soldiers to Springfield. His horses had been taken, so he had to walk the nine miles to town.15

The gruesome mangling of human bodies, stench of thousands of rotting horses, and noise and clamor of battle would not soon be forgotten. In 1867, the Union dead were disinterred from the Wilson Creek Battlefield and reburied in the newly established National Cemetery.16

John Ray continued as the Wilson Creek postmaster through 1866. The family lived in the house until both John and Roxanna died. John died in July 1875 after becoming gravely ill on May 19. At the time of his death John’s estate was valued at $2,386.45. Roxanna became ill shortly after the New Year, and died on March 26, 1876. The Rays were survived by eight children and step-children. The Ray property left family hands on November 11, 1876, when it was sold to Matthew Alexander, who occupied the house until 1882. The property would be sold several more times before the National Park Service acquired the land for a national battlefield.17

William F. Steele was murdered on May 2, 1913, which had vast public interest in Greene County. William’s son-in-law, John Young, son, William F. Steele Jr., and Steele Jr.’s father-in-law, J C “Bud” Hale were charged with the murder. Hale was tried first and acquitted. Charges were then dropped against Young and Steele Jr.18

Legislation enacted in 1960 authorized the establishment of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield. Under the terms of the legislation, the State of Missouri was obligated to purchase 1,753 acres of land in Greene and Christian County and present the deeds to the National Park Service.19

The Ray House provides visitors with an intimate account of those who lived in Missouri during the Civil War.

Contributed by the Greene County Archives and Records Center

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1. Edwin C. Bearss. The Ray House: Wilson Creek Battlefield National Park (Washington, DC: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Division of History, Office of Archeology and Historical Preservation, 1968) 30.
2. Bearss. The Ray House, 26 – 32
3. Bearss. The Ray House, 34, 35.; National Park Service. “The Ray House” Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield. http://www.nps.gov/wicr/historyculture/the-ray-house.htm
4. Bearss. The Ray House, 38, 39.
5. August K. Klapp, The Ray House, Springfield, MO: Wilson Creek National Battlefield Foundation, pg 8.
6. Bearss. The Ray House, 34 – 36.; National Park Service. “The Ray House,” http://www.nps.gov/wicr/historyculture/the-ray-house.htm.
7. Bearss. The Ray House, 34 – 36.; National Park Service. “The Ray House,” http://www.nps.gov/wicr/historyculture/the-ray-house.htm.
8. National Park Service. “The Ray House,” http://www.nps.gov/wicr/historyculture/the-ray-house.htm.
9. Bearss. The Ray House, 1, 2, 4.
10. Bearss. The Ray House, 4.
11. William Garrett Piston and Richard W. Hatcher III. Wilson’s Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000) 218.; Bearss. The Ray House, 8.
12. Floyd M. Sullivan. “Mrs. Ollie Bruton Recalls Wilson Creek Battle,” Springfield Press, April 5, 1930. page 18.
13. Piston and Hatcher. Wilson’s Creek, 302.; Bearss. The Ray House, 14 – 18.
14. Klapp, pg 16.
15. Piston and Hatcher. Wilson’s Creek, 293.
16. Klapp, pg 17.
17. Klapp,pg 20.
18. Bearss. The Ray House, 64 – 76.
19. Klapp, 21.