1861
The 1850s were a turbulent period of political and social struggle in our nation's history, but along the Missouri-Kansas border a bloody struggle ensued over the question of slavery in Kansas. Between 1854 and 1859 pro- and antislavery forces ambushed and raided each other in an attempt to control the future of Kansas. This fighting prepared Missourians for the type of war they would witness in the country's great struggle. By 1860 Missouri was a state in change. In the 10 years before the war the original Southern settlers of the state discovered themselves sharing the land with a large contingent of German immigrants. These newcomers were staunchly antislavery. As the country lurched toward war in 1861, newly elected Gov. Claiborne F. Jackson led the pro-slavery forces in Missouri. Leading the antislavery group were U.S. Rep. Francis P. Blair and Gen. Nathaniel Lyon.

Early in the war the struggle concerned the federal arsenal located at the southern edge of St. Louis. Lyon moved aggressively to control the facility and distributed the weapons to German immigrants who rallied to the antislavery cause. In response, the governor called out the local militia, but they were surprised and captured by Lyon in a raid on Camp Jackson on May 10, 1861. A riot followed the capture of the pro-Southern militia and several civilians were killed.

Lyon launched an attack on the southerners June 17. The fighting was brief and a total Union victory. While retreating from the area the southerners ambushed a German pro-Union Home Guard unit at Cole Camp on June 18. While Lyon steamed upriver to Boonville the second part of his plan unfolded. Regular army Capt. Thomas W. Sweeny was placed in command of a movement to southwest Missouri to block the suspected retreat of Jackson's Missouri State Guard into Arkansas. Sweeny sent a vanguard of 1,100 men led by Col. Franz Sigel to Springfield, Mo. On July 5, 1861, while searching for the enemy eight miles north of Carthage, the two armies collided. During the day-long struggle Sigel's troops were forced from the field, and withdrew back to Springfield. The victorious Southerners went into camp deep in the southwest corner of the state for complete reorganization and training of inexperienced troops.

While both armies regrouped, Capt. Sweeny and the remainder of his troops arrived in Springfield from Rolla. Gen. Lyon's army, slowed by a lack of transportation, arrived in Springfield. Both sides planned for their next tactical maneuver. Price's Missouri State Guard joined the Confederate troops gathered in Arkansas under Gen. Ben McCulloch, and assumed the offensive against Lyon. However, as the combined armies of Price and McCulloch approached the town, Lyon went on the offensive, striking a blow against the southerners at Dug's Spring on July 25 and McCaulla's Store on July 27, after which Lyon retreated back to Springfield. The combined Southern army advanced and camped at Wilsons Creek 12 miles southeast of Springfield.

On Aug. 10, Lyon's federals once again surprised his adversary and launched a surprise attack on the southern camps. Initially routed by assaults at both ends of their encampments, the southerners rallied and blunted Lyon's main column, and then defeated Sigel's flanking column. Late in the morning Lyon was killed, and the remaining federal leadership decided to retreat. The southerners were too disorganized and lacking in material to follow the beleaguered federals to Rolla.

Both sides retrofitted after the fighting. Missouri State Guard Gen. Price decided to raid the central portion of the state in September. The Missouri State Guard was victorious in an action at Drywood Creek (Sept. 2). During his raid, Price surrounded a group of federals at Lexington and launched a series of attacks called the Battle of the Hemp Bales (Sept. 20). Lacking water and reinforcements the Union soldiers surrendered. A Union force led by Gen. John C. Fremont forced Price to withdraw from the region. Fremont's expedition carried the war back into southwest Missouri, and ended with a successful attack by Major Charles Zagoyni's cavalry charge into Springfield on Oct. 25. Maj. Zagoyni liberated the town from the Southerners, but the federals were unwilling to extend their supply line and fell back to Rolla and Sedalia. On the same day 70 miles southwest in Neosho a pro-southern political meeting voted Missouri out of the Union and made it a star on the Confederate flag.

On Nov. 7, a different cast of characters became involved in Missouri's fighting. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant crossed the Mississippi River and attacked Confederate troops stationed at Belmont in southeast Missouri. After initial success General Grant was forced to retreat to Cairo, Ill. Winter weather ended campaigning in the state for the year.