The Irish Wilderness was so named in 1857. Father Joseph Hogan came to South Missouri to find a settlement for emigrants of his homeland who were subjects of extreme poverty. He was extremely interested in establishing a mission and decided on locating his colony in Ripley and Oregon counties along the tributaries of the Eleven Point and Current Rivers. They settled there on land bought and donated by the Reverend Fox of Old Mines, Missouri. Father Hogan recorded in his travelogue that everyone went to work clearing the land, building log houses, splitting the logs for furnishings and fences, and preparing for their first crops. They built a 20 X 40 foot chapel and were prospering as this was a favorable climate with plenty of pure water. The colony was growing when Civil War broke out. Stationed in the Mammoth Spring area, the Confederates came in from the south, and Union troops from the north and northeast. Neither side had much interest in the Wilderness but it afforded refuge for raiding parties for both armies and for the murderous bands of bushwackers. Thus the Irish Wilderness became a no man's land. The invaders eventually took all the immigrants' food, livestock and crops. The young men were drafted or shot. Those who escaped hid in caves until the conflict subsided, then the bushwackers came and further devastated the land. The Irish Colony disappeared. Father Hogan had been detained in his parish in Chillicothe and unable to visit. When they did come back all the people were gone.