see:http://gsmall.us/Family/Small/Perry/Perry-CivilWarLetters/index.html
Amos Perry spent several months there and corresponded with his brother. Amos was in the 3rd Light Artillery Regiment Iowa.
John T. Crow, born in 1841 in Franklin County, Missouri, enlisted in the 26th Missouri Infantry on October 3, 1861, at Pacific, Missouri. He was mustered into the Federal service as first sergeant of Company E, 26th Missouri Infantry at Camp Herron, Pacific, Missouri, on December 20, 1861. Crow was promoted to second lieutenant with Company E on June 26, 1862; on December 1, 1862, he was promoted to first lieutenant and assigned to Company I. On June 1, 1863, Crow was promoted to captain and assumed command of the company. Crowe mustered out when his enlistment expired on December 25, 1864, at Nashville, Tennessee. He died on April 16, 1923, in Beaufort, Mo.
This entry leads to the very definitive description of the camp from Wilson Jones of Co F, 26th MO Infantry (http://freepages.military.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~the26thmo/bios/biousher_john.htm)
"John (Usher) formally enlisted on October 2, 1861, at the age of 26. He was 5’ 8 ½” tall, with black hair, blue eyes and a light complexion. He was examined with other men of his company by Dr. Jonathan Prout, a contract surgeon hired by the government to handle the early medical needs of the influx of new recruits. Dr. Prout would eventually become the regimental surgeon for the 26th Missouri. After the men passed their physical, they were sent to a camp near Pacific, Missouri, called Camp Herron, to begin their military training. The camp was poorly situated in damp conditions and coupled with the lack of sanitary conditions, many men would soon become ill. Wilson M. Jones of company F described the camp and its conditions:
In November, 1861, while Co’s. F, I, and E were at Pacific, Mo., we were located in what the boys termed “Devil’s Gulch,” or “Hell’s Half Acre,” a very appropriate title for the gulch running down from the west side of the great white sand hill on the north side of the little town just at the back of the Merrimac bottom, just the spot for malaria to get its grip and it did at one time. Many were taken with chills and fever while I was in the crowded hospital with the same complaint. Almost every man in camp was sick, and 1st corporal Joel Jones, was the only really well man in camp. He had many duties to perform for abut two weeks, and with the help of a few half sick men, had the care of the camp, performed guard duty, and acted as nurse. No pen can describe the affliction of that camp, it was worse than the battle field…. No soldier who understood sanitary laws would stay in such a camp if he could get to a battle field. Our officers were good and kind in all those three companies, or the last man would have died, but the captains were as green as the privates about soldier life."
Reviewing the oldest Topo files this description fits the geography just NE of town (South of I-44) but north west of the current silica mine IMHO. Someone much more familiar with the the actual city than I needs to speak up here.
FWIW
John R