Public reaction to the Battle of Wilson's Creek was almost immediate, and the area soon became a well-known sacred spot. Veterans returned at the end of the war, and in the early 1880s the first reunion was held in conjunction with the unveiling of a monument to General Lyon in Springfield. Another reunion followed in 1897, with several thousand visitors camped here the night before. Soon after the Southern army abandoned the battlefield, fieldstones were laid on the spot where Nathaniel Lyon died, and veterans and visitors alike placed stones there, many with their names etched on them, until it grew to a significant size. In 1905 the Wilson's Creek National Monument Park Association began to push for a national park here. In the late 1920s this monument replaced the stone cairn. In 1960 legislation for Wilson's Creek National Battlefield was passed. A poster and ribbon were made for the 1897 reunion, and the ribbon was worn by veterans from both sides.