Ten Missouri Folk Heroes are Thoroughly Discussed in this
Famous and infamous Missourians include: Mark Twain, William Clark, George
Caleb Bingham, Frank James, George Washington Carver, David Whitmer,
Sterling Price, Alexander W. Doniphan, David Rice Atchison and Carl
William Clark earned lasting fame as co-leader of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition and spent the remaining years of his life as an
administrator of Indian affairs.
David Whitmer was one of the
original witnesses to the Book of Mormon but after his excommunication from
the Mormon Church he established a solid reputation as citizen, lawyer, and
Alexander W. Doniphan might have become one of
America's best-known leaders had he come from Virginia rather than Missouri
due to his successful law practice, political career, and fame as a military
leader in the Mexican War.
David Rice Atchison faced hostile mobs
in defending Mormon clients and later built a solid political reputation as
a pro-South supporter in a state that almost but didn't quite secede.
Sterling Price was a central figure in Missouri's turbulent history
leading up to the Civil War as a prominent businessman, governor, and
finally, Confederate general.
George Caleb Bingham became a public
hero because of unique careers as artist and politician through the middle
decades of the nineteenth century.
Frank James, Jesse's older
brother, is less well known as a lover of English literature than for his
notoriety as guerilla fighter and bank robber.
Carl Schurz adopted
St. Louis as his home after emigrating from Germany, and from there he rose
to prominence as a German-American journalist, U.S. Senator, and member of
the Presidential Cabinet.
George Washington Carver received his
earliest education in his native Missouri--a moral upbringing that
profoundly influenced the rest of his remarkable life as scientist and
Mark Twain, a.k.a. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, probably
will always be Missouri's best-known native son. His insightful writings
should continue to influence people far beyond his boyhood haunts in
Hannibal for many generations yet to come.