The Battle of Wilson's Creek and the Fight for Missouri

on July 21st 1861 forces of the union and the Confederacy met in the first major battle of the United States Civil War called The Battle of Bull Run in the North and the Battle of manassis in the South the battle dashed early Union hopes of a quick victory over the Confederacy but mostly what the battle did was illustrate to both sides that the war would be long expensive and bloody much less remember remembered as the second major battle of the United States Civil War the Battle of Wilson's Creek was notable for several reasons but like the Battle of Bull Run fought just 20 days before it would illustrate to both sides that the war would be far more costly than anyone had imagined the August 10th 1861 Battle of Wilson's Creek deserves to be remembered receives surprisingly scant attention in the general study of the Civil War it shouldn't Missouri was more than just a divided border state Missouri had been admitted as a slave state under the Missouri compromis in 1821 a decision partly related to the early French Colonial history in the area but also largely to migration following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 the state had become in many ways the epicenter of the debate between abolition and slavery with the murder of abolitionist publisher Elijah Lovejoy in 1837 and the central role of the state played in The Landmark court case Dread Scott versus Sanford which among other important rulings struck down the Missouri Compromise as unconstitutional by the outbreak of the Civil War the demographics of Missouri had changed substantially slavery was still an important part of the state's economy and slaves represented nearly 10% of the state's population but slavery was mostly restricted to The More Southern and Rural parts of the state there was a notable abolitionist sentiment that was growing mostly among the newly arrived Irish and German immigrants but the largest sentiment was one common to Border States to stay out of the war on January 21st 1861 the legislature passed an act calling for a state vention to consider relations between the government of the United States and the government and people of the state of Missouri and to adopt such measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the state and the protection of its institutions as shall appear to them to be demanded the ACT stated that delegates to the convention would be elected by popular vote on February 18th 1861 and were to convene in Jefferson City on February 28th 1861 the purpose of the convention was simply to consider whether to secede from the union but the majority elected supported the union and secession was rejected by an overwhelming vote Missouri was the only state during the US Civil War to call upon a convention to consider secession without actually following through with secession rather the convention preferred a different stance remain in the union retain slavery in the state reject violence from both sides and refuse to provide arms soldiers or material support to either but both the union and the Confederacy understood that the Mississippi River would be important strategically making the large city of St Louis on the Mississippi River for a critical military objective and the people of the state were deeply divided like other Border States during the war Missouri would find out that staying out of the war was impossible Central to the state's position at the time was governor Clairborne Fox Jackson Jackson had run in the fall of 1860 as a Douglas Democrat Steven Arnold Douglas had run in the 1860 presidential election as a Democrat who supported popular sovereignty the idea that each state should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to permit slave within their borders Douglas's position was essentially to prevent secession by the south by guaranteeing that the federal government would not involve itself in the issue of slavery his message failed nationally of the four presidential candidates in 1860 to win electoral votes he earned the least but his message resonated in Missouri the only state he won in 1860 to many the election of Abraham Lincoln essentially guaranteed secession in Civil War but Jackson elected on a ticket scene as one trying to prevent War was sympathetic to the cause of the Confederacy and HED to go the state into secession when the Missouri convention refused secession he began Communications with the president of the Confederacy with a plan to seize St Louis and most importantly the federal Armory there and hand the state to the Confederacy Jackson started raising units of the state militia a right guaranteed under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution ostensibly the purpose of the militia was to protect Missouri's neutrality and protect the state from incursions by both fedal Federal forces and Confederate forces but in reality Jackson had appointed Confederate sympathizers to command in the militia and intended to use the militia to seiz the city of St Louis Jackson had units of the state militia form around St Louis to train secretly had negotiated with the Confederacy to provide the militia with heavy artillery needed to breach the thick walls of the federal Arsenal but the plan was derailed by commander of Union forces in St Louis Captain Nathaniel lion by some accounts lion suspecting the militia's purpose spied on them dressed as a farm woman having discovered the artillery he l a force of pro-union militia and US regulars and captured the camp surrounding them and forcing them to surrender lion marched the captured and disarmed men through the city to the Arsenal where he planned to parole them and order them to disperse but a crowd of pro Confederate citizens became Rowdy and eventually started throwing objects at the union militia eventually the conflict escalated by some accounts a drunk man fired into the Union troops but other accounts say that the militia fired without provocation but in the end 28 civilians were killed and another 75 wounded in the Camp Jackson affair while Lion's action had saved the Arsenal and possibly the state from Confederate capture and also raised the state's ey in May the legislature passed the military bill the bill reorganized the state militia into the Missouri State guard and g governor Jackson white power as commander of the Guard the guard was placed under the field command of former Missouri governor Sterling price and was supposed to defend Missouri territory from incursion by forces of the Union or Confederacy especially an anticipated Invasion by federal forces the law also forbade the creation of other militias within the state to prevent the recruiting of pro-union militia like those that have been involved in the Camp Jackson Affair fearing that Missouri would side to the Confederacy briger General William horney commander of the US Army Department of the West negotiated an agreement that said essentially that the US Army would stay in St Louis and the Missouri State guard would control the rest of the state but the so-called price hary truce could not last Jackson Who theoretically swore allegiance to the union and was governor of a state that had rejected secession openly allowed recruiting for the Confederate Army did not stop abuses against Union supporters Harney was called back to Washington and lion was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of the Department of the West Minor battles were fought between the Missouri State guard and federal troops in June and July well little more than skirmishes the battles of Booneville and Carthage were unique these were not fought between the union and the Confederacy but between the union and the Missouri State guard officially under the authority of a state that had specifically rejected secession Jackson himself commanded the Missouri State guard at Carthage a sitting Governor had not commanded troops in battle in the United States since the War of 1812 these small engagements represented a unique War within a war this was not a fight between the union and the Confederacy but a fight between federal troops and Missouri State guard task with protecting Missouri's neutrality but in reality Jackson and price weren't neutral at all not only were they Confederate sympathizers they were negotiating with the Confederacy to facilitate an invasion of Missouri but the legislator had finally had enough meeting again in July they once again voted against secession but also declared the governor's office vacant in essence exiling Jackson Hamilton gamble who had been Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court during The Dread Scott case was appointed Governor by the end of July Jackson had convinced the Confederate Army to invad Missouri and Missouri State guard camped near the southwestern Missouri Town of Springfield the mixed Missouri Arkansas and Confederate Force numbered some 12,000 nearby lion was camped with some 5,400 federals realizing that he was outnumbered more than 2 to1 lion plant to retreat to the city of rala some 100 miles away to await reinforcements the Confederate Force now in the command of Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin McCulla planned an attack for November 10th but the rain on the night of the 9th compelled them to call off the attack but lion surprised them in the morning with an attack intended to delay any pursuit of his Retreat to Raa the attack came on a Confederate Camp along a small stream called Wilson's Creek it was the first major battle of the US Civil War west of the Mississippi the federal plan was a surprise attack lion would attack the Confederate camp at dawn but he had detached some 1200 men under Colonel France seagull to do a flanking maneuver it was a risky plan as it meant splitting a federal Force already outnumbered by the enemy the the two forces would be separated with no clear line of communication in theory the federal forces although outnumbered were better trained and equipped than the Confederate Force at first the federal plan succeeded in the confusion of their canceled attack the previous night the Confederates had neglected to put out pickets and were caught by surprise Lon quickly overran the camp taking The High Ground of what would be called bloody Hill but a battery of artillery from the Arkansas militia managed to check the federal Advance allowing price to organize the Missouri State guard and prevent a route price attempted to retake the hill in a series of frontal attacks each repulsed with heavy losses seagull's attack also had initial success surprising and routing the Confederate Cavalry in their camp but his force was taken by surprise the Union force included an Iowa Infantry Regiment that were gray uniforms when seagull saw a force approaching he assumed it was the first Iowa but the men were in fact Confederates of the third Louisiana seagull's troops held fire until the force was almost upon them and seagull's flank collapsed seagull's force was forced withdraw in disarray the main Union force on Bloody Hill was now on its own lion who had been wounded twice in the heavy fighting tried to lead a counter attack but was shot through the heart he was the first Union general officer to be killed in combat in the Civil War while they still held a defensible position major Samuel D Sturgis now in command realized that his troops were running short of ammunition and decided to withdraw after a 6 and 1/ half hour battle the Confederates held the field the Battle of Wilson's cre was notable for a couple of reasons it was only the second major battle of the war and the first to be fought west of the Mississippi River like bull Ron the defeat shocked the union and like B Ron the defeat Illustrated to both sides that the war would not be easily won despite holding the field the Confederate Army had taken nearly as many casualties as the Union Army had and short on Supply especially ammunition and not having faith in the training of the Missouri State guard the Confederates were unable to follow up the union Retreat to rala the victory essentially seated Southwest Missouri to the Confederacy and it facilitated a victory as far north as Lexington Missouri but further defeats in October compelled both the Confederate Army and Sterling Price's Missouri State guard to abandon the state and a defeat at the Arkansas Battle of P Ridge the following March essentially dashed any Confederate hopes of retaking Missouri Jackson convinced a small group of pro Confederate delegates to pass an ordinance of secession in October but the group was never recognized by the majority of the state the secession government applied for and on November 28th 1861 was granted admission to the Confederacy as they purported 12th state of The Southern federal republic the government in Exile sent legislators to the Congress of the Confederate states and Missouri was represented by the 12 star on the Confederate flag Jackson himself died of pneumonia in December 1862 but Missouri remained contested throughout the war and not just by armies but the particularly bloody and vicious attacks by and reprisals against The Irregular forces called Missouri Bushwhackers counting small actions there were more than 1,200 separate engagements inside the borders of the state of Missouri during the Civil War I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short Snippets of Forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that Thumbs Up Button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section I will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on Facebook Instagram Twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes unforgotten history all you need to do is [Music] subscribe

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 150,101

Keywords: history, the history guy, history guy, us history, us civil war, military history, missouri, battle of wilson's creek

Id: NaYEqTeMcK0

Length: 12min 44sec (764 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 25 2020