The historic Ray House was an integral part of the Civil War
Battle of Wilson's Creek in southwestern Missouri and served as
the Confederate field hospital during the conflict. In order to
facilitate the restoration of the structure for service as an
interpretative facility for the battle, archeological
excavations were undertaken during December, 1983. Deposition of
refuse, principally under the piered portions of the House,
appears to have been random. Furthermore, archeological
investigation revealed that vertical displacement of cultural
materials, due in part to annual freeze-thaw weather cycles, had
bluffed temporal relationships within the strata. Despite these
problems, the collection does offer a brief look at some of the
facets of life at the Ray House, obtainable through no other
medium.