Confederate Military History of Missouri - Missouri During the Civil War, 1861-1865 (Paperback)

As a border state, Missouri was coveted by both the Union and the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War. Missourians took sides, with politicians trying to either keep Missouri in the Union or trying to secede and join the ranks of the Confederate States. In the end, the Show Me State remained with the Union but was given an honorary status in the Confederacy, even being represented with a star on the Confederate flag. Fighting soon erupted in the state, causing Missourian to fight Missourian-a sort of civil war within a civil war. The largest battle fought in Missouri was the Battle of Wilson's Creek, August 10, 1861, where Union forces under Nathaniel Lyon and Franz Sigel attacked Confederate forces under Ben McCulloch in the early-morning hours. While Wilson's Creek allowed the Confederates to retain control of the southwestern portion of the state, they soon retreated to Arkansas. While in Arkansas, Confederate forces made forays and raids into Missouri. Missouri troops were brigaded together and fought in both the Trans-Mississippi and Western theaters. Battles included Pea Ridge, Arkansas; Corinth, Iuka, Big Black River, and Vicksburg, Mississippi; Pleasant Hill and Jenkins' Ferry, Arkansas; New Hope Church and Allatoona, Georgia; and Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. Major battles in Missouri during the war include Belmont, Carthage, Independence, Lexington, Little Blue River, Newtonia, Springfield, and Wilson's Creek. The following men from Missouri became generals in the Confederate Army: John S. Bowen, John B. Clark, Jr., Francis Marion Cockrell, Daniel, M. Frost, Martin E. Green, John Sappington Marmaduke, Mosby Monroe Parson, Sterling Price, Joseph O. Shelby, andJohn G. Walker. The end of the war found most of the Missourians in Alabama, where they were surrendered and paroled, eventually making their way home.