Battle of the Hemp Bales 150th Anniversary Inspires Missouri Marijuana Supporters
NEWS FROM NORML: The Missouri Affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
BATTLE OF THE HEMP BALES 150TH ANNIVERSAY INSPIRES MARIJUANA LAW REFORMERS
For Immediate Release: Friday, September 16, 2011
Marijuana law reform activists from Columbia and Kansas City will converge on the City of Lexington, Missouri this Sunday to join in the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of the Hemp Bales. In 1995, the Missouri affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) sold to the state of Missouri 800 pounds of cannabis hemp, also known as marijuana, which remains today a centerpiece of the historical display at the Visitors Center on the battlefield in western Missouri, approximately 30 miles east of Kansas City. NORML submitted the winning bid on the contract to provide hemp to the state and imported eight hundred pounds of hemp in the form of four historically-accurate bales. They were imported from China, passed through U.S. Customs in New York City, and trucked across the country to their final resting place in Lexington.
Hemp bales played a critical role in the victory by Missouri troops over federal invaders who had stolen money from the local banks after invading Lexington in September 1861. The federal troops buried the money on a high bluff above the Missouri River and built an earthwork fortification around themselves.
General Sterling Price commanded between 12,000 and 20,000 Missouri State Guard and other volunteers who confronted the federals in Lexington later that month. After a three-day standoff, the Missourians used a line of hemp bales as a moving defense, rolling the bales forward, firing over them at the fort.
The federal troops fired red-hot shrapnel into the bales, but the Missourians had soaked them in water in anticipation of that tactic. However, red-hot metal embedded in wet, green bales of cannabis resulted in large amounts of smoke which provided further cover for the Missouri troops, but forced them to inhale large quantities while fighting. Nonetheless, the Missourians had the courage and presence of mind to carry the day. This battle resulted in relatively few casualties, the federal troops were expelled from the town and the money put back into the banks.
A petition to legalize the use of marijuana in Missouri has been submitted by Show-Me Cannabis Regulation, a coalition which includes several NORML Chapters, to the Missouri Secretary of State and is awaiting approval. Supporters of that reform measure will be in Lexington on Sunday to distribute information about the proposal as well as to further educate Missourians about the major role hemp played in the industry of our state.
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For More Information Call: Dan Viets, 573-819-2669 or Amber Langston, 573-239-8149; Show-Me Cannabis Regulation
