New Madrid

A Mississippi River Town in History and Legend

Mary Sue Anton

Narrated by Patte Shaughnessy

Available from Audible

Book published by Southeast Missouri State University Press

New Madrid: A Mississippi River Town in History and Legend focuses on the hearts and minds of a restless population as it moved west into the Mississippi River Valley in the 1800s. The river-port town of New Madrid, Missouri, strategically located just below the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and destined to be the capital of “New Spain,” was en route for thousands of early Americans.

New Madrid’s pioneers reveal their past and their stories through letters, newspapers, official records, and other sources. The author takes the reader through the town’s history, recounting tales of legendary people whose lives crossed with those of area residents. The book is a treasure for anyone whose ancestors experienced the westward movement, participated in the Civil War, were slave-owners, slaves, or American Indians, or for those who are curious about American life in earlier times.

Mary Sue Anton is the author of Pioneers of New Madrid, Missouri, and Their Descendants.

REVIEWS:

“Mary Sue Anton’s research underlines the considerable care she employs in searching for the truth. Her research, which appears beyond reproach, explores the known possibilities of historical events in a singularly unbiased format and provides the reader with the latitude to judge on a very personal level what actually occurred. Refreshingly honest and delightfully readable, clearly, this is history as it needs to be revealed.”

—Allan W. Eckert, author of The Frontiersmen and That Dark and Bloody River

“Mary Sue Anton draws from a wide-ranging assortment of primary and secondary sources and a storehouse of local lore to fashion this lively and comprehensive portrait of her native New Madrid and its environs.”

—William E. Foley, author of The Genesis of Missouri

“Mary Sue Anton shows us in her superb New Madrid that New Madrid was and is a special town, sustained under five different flags over two difficult centuries by a very special people.”

—Dr. Arch C. Johnston, Director, Center for Earthquake Research and Information, University of Memphis