Hal,

Writing Civil War histories of villages and counties are very similar and the same sort of resources would be appropriate. Since this is local history, you need to consult the Cooper County histories {1883 and 1911, particularly) and get really friendly with the people and holdings of the Boonslick Historical Society of Cooper and Howard Counnties at Boonville. It wouldn't be a bad idea to canvas the older families of the Otterville area for the Civil War family stories that have been passed down (even the "Who Hit John?" type that are hard to verify). I would think the center point for your research would be to consult James F. Thoma's self-published 2003 book "This Cruel Unnatural War: The American Civil War in Cooper County, Missouri." I think Jim monitors this forum and lives in the eastern corner of Tennessee. His book is very well researched and you will like the ingenuous way he laid it out.

Speaking of laying things out, I have seen and used the approach of these general headings for county and village Civil War histories in Missouri:
--what the citizens of ______ did in the war (who joined which units of BOTH SIDES and went off to war, what those left home did, too--don't forget the local Enrolled Missouri Militia--the 52nd EMM Regiment, I think, for Otterville);
--what "regular" military commands were stationed in ____ and what campaigns and large raids of armies passed through or by _____;
--what "irregular" or guerrilla actions took place in and near _______ (my personal favorite).

Since Otterville is very close to the Pacific Railroad that was built through Cooper County during the war, you will find that the Union military stationed some troops in Otterville off and on during the war to guard the precious railroad infrastructure. This was an obsession to the northern side in Missouri during the war.

August is very close, so get moving! Some towns (ie. Concordia in Lafayette County for 1960) published their findings in booklet or pamphlet form for just such an anniversary, which have been valuable to later history researchers. I hope you do this, too. I would love to read it.

Bruce Nichols