1 (2) | A (4) | B (20) | C (4) | D (2) | E (1) | F (9) | G (3) | H (2) | I (1) | J (4) | K (1) | L (10) | M (6) | N (2) | O (3) | P (9) | Q (3) | R (5) | S (10) | T (3) | U (2) | W (6)

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

The Battle of Black Jack, fought on June 2, 1856, just outside of modern-day Baldwin City, Kansas, proved to be a watershed moment in United States history as the pro- and antislavery forces fought what some historians consider the first unofficial battle of the Civil War during “Bleeding Kansas.” Kansas Free-State forces, led by abolitionists John Brown and Samuel T. Shore, fought and forced the surrender of proslavery forces led by border ruffian, editor, and U. S. Deputy Marshal Henry C. Pate. The Battle of Black Jack highlighted the escalating violence in Kansas as Free-State and proslavery forces became more organized and the levels of violence increased.

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

The Battle of Boonville on June 17, 1861, was one of the earliest battles of the Civil War. With the federal victory, the Union gained control of the Missouri River Valley and forced the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard (MSG) into the southwestern corner of the state, cutting the latter off from recruits north of the Missouri River. The Battle of Boonville persuaded Confederate forces in northwest Arkansas to come to the aid of the MSG at the subsequent Battle of Wilson’s Creek and drove Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and his government closer to secession.

By Russell S. Perkins, University of Saint Mary

The First Battle of Independence, Missouri, was fought on August 11, 1862, between the 350 men of the outnumbered federal garrison of Independence and nearly 800 mounted Confederates who were recruiting in the eastern portions of Jackson County. While the federal defense was fierce throughout the day, their efforts were hampered by poor reconnaissance and battlefield conduct against Confederates engaged in both regular warfare and guerrilla depredations. By the end of the day, federal forces under the command of Lieutenant Colonel James T. Buel conditionally surrendered themselves and the city to Colonel Gideon W. Thompson.

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

The small skirmish that occurred on October 29, 1862, at Island Mound in Bates County, Missouri, was significant because it marked the first time during the American Civil War that a regiment of African American soldiers saw combat. The 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers who fought at Island Mound were in Kansas service prior to the Emancipation Proclamation’s implementation on January 1, 1863, but not in U.S. service because the Lincoln administration was reluctant to enroll black troops and risk tipping Union slave states, including Missouri, toward the Confederacy.

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

The Battle of Lexington, Missouri, fought on September 18-20, 1861, was a victory for the Missouri State Guard (MSG) in the early stages of the Civil War. In the short term, the victory boosted the spirits of Missouri secessionists, but the State Guard failed to leverage any long-term gains from the “Battle of the Hemp Bales,” so called because the MSG used hemp bales to encircle the federal position at Lexington.

By Tony O’ Bryan, University of Missouri—Kansas City

The Battle of Lone Jack occurred in Jackson County, Missouri over the weekend of August 15-17, 1862, as a result of the Union attempting to wrest military control over the border region from the hands of the bushwhackers.

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

The Battle of Mine Creek, fought on October 25, 1864, was a devastating defeat for Major General Sterling Price’s Confederate Army of Missouri.

By Chris Rein, Combat Studies Institute, Army University

By the summer of 1856, the debate over whether or not the territory of Kansas would become a free or slave state erupted into widespread violence, including John Brown’s killing of proslavery settlers in the Pottawatomie Massacre and the sacking of the Free-State stronghold of Lawrence, Kansas. Pro- and antislavery factions gathered men into paramilitary units and sought out their opponents across the territory and in neighboring Missouri. Against this backdrop, proslavery forces targeted known abolitionist strongholds in hopes of driving their residents from the territory.

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

The Battle of the Little Blue, fought just east of Independence in Jackson County, Missouri, on October 21, 1864, was part of Sterling Price’s “Missouri Expedition” and a prelude to the larger and more decisive Battle of Westport two days later. The Battle of the Little Blue was an attempt by the federal Army of the Border’s vanguard (led by Major General James G. Blunt) to delay the Confederate Army of Missouri (commanded by Major General Sterling Price) until the pursuing Union force of the Department of the Missouri, commanded by Major General Alfred Pleasonton, could hit the rebels from behind. Although the outcome of the Battle of the Little Blue was a tactical Confederate victory, Blunt’s delaying action bought valuable time for Pleasonton to catch up with Price’s rearguard two days later at Westport.

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

As the war turned against the Confederacy in late 1864, Confederate Major General Sterling Price led his cavalry forces on an epic raid into Missouri, hoping to install secessionist Thomas Reynolds as state governor in Jefferson City and to establish the Confederate state government’s legitimacy. Presumably, the loss of a border state would impede President Lincoln’s chances for reelection the following month and give the Confederacy an opportunity to negotiate a peaceful settlement. At the Battle of Westport, however, Price’s Raid (or Price’s “Missouri Expedition”) came to an inglorious climax.

By Ian Spurgeon, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Washington, D.C.

The Battle of Wilson’s Creek on August 10, 1861, was the first major engagement of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River. It pitted a smaller but aggressive Union army against a numerically superior force of Confederate soldiers and pro-secessionist Missouri State Guard for the future of Missouri. Despite surprising the Confederates that morning, the federals withdrew by mid-day in the face of repeated Southern counterattacks. The Southern victory bolstered Confederate sentiment in Missouri and set the stage for a bold campaign in September by the Missouri State Guard against federal forces further to the north.

By Deborah Keating, University of Missouri – Kansas City

George Caleb Bingham was a recognized son of Missouri throughout his life: a reputation that was solidified by his paintings portraying life in the state and on its rivers. While Bingham’s reputation as an artist is widely known, his role in Missouri politics and specifically in the border conflicts of the 1860s is less familiar. The brutality visited on the noncombatants along the Missouri-Kansas border before and during the Civil War appalled Bingham, but despite his strong feelings, he used his paintings to support his political philosophy that the Union must be maintained.

By Tony O’ Bryan, University of Missouri—Kansas City

The Battle of Black Jack, fought on June 2, 1856, just outside of modern-day Baldwin, Kansas, proved to be a watershed moment in United States history as the pro- and antislavery forces fought what some historians consider the first unofficial battle of the Civil War during “Bleeding Kansas.” Kansas Free-State forces, led by abolitionists John Brown and Samuel T. Shore, fought and forced the surrender of proslavery forces led by border ruffian, editor, and U. S. Deputy Marshal Henry C. Pate. The Battle of Black Jack highlighted the escalating violence in Kansas as Free-State and proslavery forces became more organized and the levels of violence increased.

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

James Gillpatrick Blunt was a major figure in the Civil War in Kansas and Missouri. Blunt was a jayhawker during the “Bleeding Kansas” period and later rose to become a major general in the U.S. Army, winning several key victories. He is most famous for his roles in the battles of Prairie Grove and Honey Springs, as well as the part he played in repulsing Sterling Price’s 1864 cavalry raid. Blunt was the only major general from Kansas during the Civil War.

By Jeremy Prichard, University of Kansas

The “Bogus Legislature” refers to Kansas Territory’s first governing body, established in 1855. Free-Soil and antislavery supporters in the area provided the moniker after widespread accounts of fraudulent voting in the March 30, 1855, election that selected the assembly’s initial members. The nickname stuck, and the partisan rift surrounding the two-year legislative session played a prominent role in the early years of Bleeding Kansas.

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

The Battle of Boonville on June 17, 1861, was one of the earliest battles of the Civil War. With the federal victory, the Union gained control of the Missouri River Valley and forced the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard (MSG) into the southwestern corner of the state, cutting the latter off from recruits north of the Missouri River. The Battle of Boonville persuaded Confederate forces in northwest Arkansas to come to the aid of the MSG at the subsequent Battle of Wilson’s Creek and drove Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and his government closer to secession.

By Tony O’ Bryan, University Missouri-Kansas City

Amid the contentious and sometimes violent territorial elections, held to determine whether Kansas would elect Free-State or proslavery state politicians and legislatures, many proslavery Missourians living along the border staked claims in Kansas Territory, while others organized secret societies that helped transport and pay proslavery families to migrate and vote in the upcoming Kansas election.

By Matthew E. Stanley, Albany State University

John Brown was an American abolitionist who believed in using violent methods to eradicate slavery in the United States. He is most famous for leading an attack on a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in 1859. Although unsuccessful in his aim of overthrowing slavery in the American South, Brown’s raid and his subsequent execution fueled tensions in the national debate over slavery in the United States. Historians credit Brown, his raid, and the public debates surrounding his trial and legacy with hastening Southern secession and the Civil War.

By Deborah Keating, University of Missouri-Kansas City

Two days after James Buchanan was inaugurated the 15th president of the United States, the Supreme Court issued the Dred Scott decision, opening all American territories to slavery until the time came to seek admission as a state. Buchanan, sympathetic to the Southern cause despite being Northern born, wanted a ruling that supported “popular sovereignty,” a concept introduced in the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) that allowed the settlers of Western territories—rather than the U.S. Congress—decide their status as slave or free states upon admission to the Union.

By Tony O’ Bryan, University of Missouri—Kansas City

The “bushwhackers” were Missourians who fled to the rugged backcountry and forests to live in hiding and resist the Union occupation of the border counties. They fought Union patrols, typically by ambush, in countless small skirmishes, and hit-and-run engagements.