Visiting Mark Twain in Hannibal Missouri

“Mark Twain, whose given name was Samuel Clemens, grew up in Missouri in a slave-holding family. He enlisted 158 years ago this month -- June -- in a Confederate militia, serving as a second lieutenant for two weeks. His desertion led many to describe his loyalty to the Confederate cause as halfhearted. However, Fulton noted the desertion may have been prompted by fear of hanging or confiscation of family property — a threat made to militia members by the Union, which controlled part of Missouri.  While Twain “mustered in and blustered out of the war early,” he used that experience to champion southern culture and values in writings in the 1850s and 1860s. Even in a 1901 speech he said, “We believed in those days we were fighting for the right — and it was a noble fight, for we were fighting for our sweethearts, our homes, and our lives.”  (https://www.newswise.com/articles/mark-twain-staunch-confederate-once-upon-a-time-150-years-ago-baylor-professor-says)  

During our summer travels recently we had the occasion to stay in Hannibal Missouri, the boyhood home of Mark Twain.  There along the banks of the Mississippi we did a short walking tour of the downtown area which has preserved many of the historical structures from Clemens’ 19^th century childhood as well as 20^th century memorials for this iconic American author.  We ate at the Mark Twain Dinette where we enjoyed Maid Rites and house made mugs of root beer.  There in the diner was a model of the steamboat General Lee.  Next door was the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum.   There stands the white fence which inspired Twain to write of Tom Sawyer tricking his friends into painting it for him.  Twain’s home is on the National Register of Historic Places and across the street from the clapboard house was the law offices of his father.   After his death in the 20^th century, a memorial bridge across the Mississippi was dedicated by President Roosevelt with senators and future President Truman in attendance.  The original bridge was closed in 2000 and demolished in 2001, replaced by a new Mark Twain Memorial Bridge.  Close by on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi, the Mark Twain Memorial lighthouse was originally built in 1935 and rebuilt in 1963.  President Roosevelt again dedicated the lighthouse, lighting it thru telegraph from Washington DC in 1935 and, President Kennedy rededicated it in 1963.  Gardens overlooking Hannibal line the walkway and stairs leading up from Main Street to the lighthouse.