President's Message
Welcome to the Mary Whitney Phelps Tent No. 22, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 website. Mrs. Phelps and her husband John S. Phelps (later a Governor of Missouri) resided in Springfield, Missouri during the Civil War. She was known for her compassionate care of soldiers during the war and establishing an orphanage for both Union and Confederate orphans post-war. To learn more about Mary's life, click on the link with her name at the top of the homepage.
Based in Springfield, MO, we were chartered on October 3, 1999. Our current membership of 108 includes one Real Daughter (a woman whose father fought in the Civil War), one of the 4th great-granddaughters of John S. and Mary Whitney Phelps, and five duvs (young ladies age 8-19). Tent No. 22 is a working tent. Its members actively participate in the objects of the organization, including genealogical, historical, patriotic, service, and community projects. Some of the ongoing tent projects include patriotic instruction for elementary school children, giving porch flags to residents of new homes for Habitat for Humanity, and the Adopt-a-Veteran program at the Mt. Vernon Veterans' Home to fulfill the veterans' Christmas wish lists. For the past two years, we have packed toiletry gift bags for the homeless at Christmas time. We have published several books and have placed four historical markers, the most recent being Warden's Station Marker placed on November 3, 2019. In 2020, we placed a new headstone for John and Roxanna Ray at Lindsey Cemetery in Republic, MO. The Rays were the owners of the Ray House in Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. In 2021 the dedication of a headstone for Rhoda Ray Jones (a slave girl who helped care for wounded soldiers, took place at Hazelwood Cemetery in Springfield. We have a "Celebration of Life" at each meeting to honor our members' ancestors.
Tent No. 22 is a member of the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Foundation and supports the
National battlefield in various ways, including placing over 2500 luminaries every November to remember the killed, missing, and wounded soldiers who fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.
Missouri celebrated its Bicentennial in 2021. Our Tent is listed on the Missouri Bicentennial
Community Legacy website: https://missouri2021.org/mo-community-legacies/.
We hope you enjoy our website, and, of course, we invite you to visit a tent meeting. Meetings begin at 10:00 a.m. on the 3rd Saturday of every month (except January, June, July, and August) at Trinity Lutheran Church, located at 1415 S. Holland Avenue in Springfield (just west of Phelps Grove Park). We have interesting programs and a friendly group of members who would welcome you.
In Fraternity, Loyalty, and Charity,
M. Dee Dosch, President
