John Smith Phelps - Phelps Homesite - Springfield, Missouri
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 37° 11.321 W 093° 16.927
15S E 474960 N 4115840
Marker with southwest Missouri statesman who served and congress and became governor of Missouri. Located at Phelps Grove Park in Springfield, Missouri.
Waymark Code: WMD646
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 11/24/2011
Views: 7
Text of marker:
John Smith Phelps
-1814-1886-
This statesman, as a representative in Congress (1844-1862), helped establish the first Overland Mail. During the Civil War he organized and commanded the "Phelps Regiment", a Home Guard unit,and served as military governor of Arkansas. As a Springfield lawyer, he defended Wild Bill Hickok. He was governor of Missouri (1877-1881).
Phelps Homesite
Phelps Grove Park is part of the 1050 acre farm of John Smith Phelps. The log and frame house stood southwest, the bar west and the spring south of this marker. During the Civil War troops camped on the farm. Mrs. Phelps had the body of General Nathaniel Lyon temporarily buried here, and she sheltered children orphaned by the war.