Brigadier General William S. Harney, commander of the Department of the West, agrees to a truce with Sterling Price, commander of the Missouri State Guard, to preserve peace in Missouri during the secession crisis.
The First Battle of Lexington, also known as the Battle of the Hemp Bales because of the hemp bales that Missouri State Guard troops use as a rolling shield during their attack on Union barricades, is the second major defeat of Union forces in the region.
Fresh off a victory at Wilson's Creek, the Missouri State Guard under command of Major General Sterling "Pap" Price advances toward Fort Scott, in southeastern Kansas.
After Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and former Governor Sterling Price confiscate state records and relocate from Jefferson City to Boonville, they are soon forced by federal troops to move to southwest Missouri.
