page_title: First Battle of Newtonia Historic District
section_title: Historic district
hierarchical_section_title: First Battle of Newtonia Historic District / Historic district
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of battlefield core and study areas. The ABPP expanded the 1993 Study Area to include the town of Granby, from which Union forces marched to Newtonia, and the Confederate approach from Camp Coffee (based on the findings of a 1995 archeological survey funded by the ABPP). The Federal approach from a campsite approximately three miles north of Newtonia was also added (Union reenforcements from Sarcoxie retreated to these camps, but their exact route is not known and therefore not included on the map). The ABPP expanded the Core Area to include the Confederate flanking attack along the Granby Road, and the area bombarded by the Federal artillery on the heights north and northwest of Newtonia.
context_page_description: The First Battle of Newtonia Historic District, near Newtonia, Missouri, is a National Register of Historic Places site that preserves the location of the First Battle of Newtonia, an 1862 battle during the American Civil War. The battle saw Confederate troops under Colonels Douglas H. Cooper and Joseph O. Shelby defeat a Union force commanded by Brigadier General Frederick C. Salomon. The historic district contains some Civil War-period structures, as well as the Mathew H. Ritchey House, which is listed separately on the NRHP.
context_section_description: The First Battle of Newtonia Historic District was created in 2004 to preserve the site of the battle and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  The central areas of the site are five contributing resources, as well as the Mathew H. Ritchey House, which is listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places.  The five contributing resources are the battlefield itself, a stream named Newtonia branch, the Newtonia road, a barnyard associated with the Ritchey House, and a cemetery from the American Civil War period.  The district covers 152.3 acres (61.6 ha).  While most of the buildings on the battlefield postdate the battle and several stone walls present during the fighting have since been removed, the nature of the battlefield has undergone no major changes since 1862.  Besides the five contributing resources, 29 post-battle structures are contained within the historic district.  These structures are mostly residential buildings and mobile homes dating to the 20th century.
  The cemetery within the district contains more than 600 burials, dating back to at least 1858. Nine of the burials can be directly connected to the American Civil War.  While the Ritchey barn was destroyed in the late 1800s, the site of the barnyard is preserved within the historic district.  Archaeology has confirmed that fighting took place in the barnyard area.  While no longer extant, several fences on the barnyard site were used as makeshift breastworks during the battle.  A portion of Newtonia Branch, a historic stream, is preserved within the district, as is a stretch of roadway known historically as the Neosho Road (now named Mill Street).  Additionally, the Mathew H. Ritchey House, a home built in the 1840s by the founder of Newtonia, is within the district.  The Ritchey House, as well as an associated family cemetery, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places separately in 1978.
  A special resource study conducted by the National Park Service in 2013 determined that the First Battle of Newtonia Historic District did not meet the criteria for becoming a unit of the National Park Service as the historical and cultural features of the site were deemed too similar to those preserved at already-existing National Park Service units.
caption: Map of the First Newtonia Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program
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