The start of 1862 witnessed the federals in their most precarious position of the war in Missouri. Sterling Price’s Missouri State Guard (MSG) controlled the interior of the state – including large sections of the strategically vital Missouri River Valley. Guerrillas ran rampant through the interior as well. It was up to the newly-installed commander of the Department of the Missouri, Major General Henry W. Halleck to restore the Union’s fortunes in the states. Halleck was not idle over the holiday season of 1861, as he instructed Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis, commander of the recently-formed Federal Army of the Southwest, on his plans for the upcoming campaign season.
Although the conflict in Virginia has commanded the lion’s share of attention and scholarship, Missouri and Kansas witnessed a tremendous amount of fighting during the American Civil War. Only two states, Virginia and Tennessee, had more actions fought on their soil during the Civil War than Missouri. Missouri was a strategically vital state for President Abraham Lincoln and the federal government’s war effort, and a case can be made that the Civil War started on the Missouri-Kansas border in the 1850s, during “Bleeding Kansas.” Missouri was split in its sentiments, and many Missourians fought on both sides of the war. By contrast, Kansans overwhelmingly fought for the Union.
Very few leaders in the American Civil War experienced the conflict on more levels than M. Jeff Thompson. Between 1861 and 1865 he was a guerrilla leader and a regular commander of Confederate forces, a combatant and a prisoner of war, a cavalryman and a sailor; Thompson was an actor in the military struggle for Missouri and a shrewd writer in the political fight to win the support of its people. For this, he was revered by the pro-secession citizens of Missouri, and reviled by those standing with the Union.
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.
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.
During his retreat from the loss to Confederate Major General Sterling Price at Lexington, Major General James Gillpatrick Blunt stops on October 20 and 21 to make a stand on the west banks of the Little Blue River.
During his retreat from a loss to Confederate General Sterling Price at Lexington, Missouri the day before, Union General James G. Blunt stopped and made a stand on the west banks of the Little Blue River.
Seeking to clear secessionist forces out of Missouri, Union General Samuel R. Curtis pursued General Sterling Price into northwest Arkansas, only to be attacked by the combined Confederate forces of Price and General Ben McCulloch.
Fresh off a victory at Wilson's Creek, the Missouri State Guard under command of Major General Sterling "Pap" Price advanced toward Fort Scott, in southeastern Kansas.
Today the town of Newtonia, Missouri counts only about 200 residents in its population, but during the Civil War, it was the site of two notable battles.
