The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was the first major battle of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. It was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri. Missouri was officially a neutral state, but its governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, supported the South and secretly collaborated with Confederate troops.
Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War. He is noted for his actions in Missouri in 1861, at the beginning of the conflict, to forestall secret secessionist plans of the governor Claiborne Jackson.
Claiborne Fox Jackson was an American politician of the Democratic Party in Missouri. He was elected as the 15th Governor of Missouri, serving from January 3, 1861, until July 31, 1861, when he was forced out by the Unionist majority in the legislature, after planning to force secession of the state.
During the American Civil War, the secession of Missouri from the Union was controversial because of the state's disputed status. Missouri was claimed by both the Union and the Confederacy, had two rival state governments, and sent representatives to both the United States Congress and the Confederate Congress.
The Battle of Carthage, also known as the Engagement near Carthage, took place at the beginning of the American Civil War on July 5, 1861, near Carthage, Missouri. The experienced Colonel Franz Sigel commanded 1,100 Federal soldiers intent on keeping Missouri within the Union. The Missouri State Guard was commanded by Governor Claiborne F. Jackson himself and numbered over 4,000 soldiers led by a hero of Mexico, Sterling Price, along with 2,000 unarmed troops who did not participate in the battle.
The First Battle of Boonville was a minor skirmish of the American Civil War, occurring on June 17, 1861, near Boonville in Cooper County, Missouri. Although casualties were extremely light, the battle's strategic impact was far greater than one might assume from its limited nature. The Union victory established what would become an unbroken Federal control of the Missouri River, and helped to thwart efforts to bring Missouri into the Confederacy.
The Missouri State Guard (MSG) was a military force established by the Missouri General Assembly on May 11, 1861. While not a formation of the Confederate States Army, the Missouri State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at various times, served under Confederate officers.
California's involvement in the American Civil War included sending gold east to support the war effort, recruiting volunteer combat units to replace regular U.S. Army units sent east, in the area west of the Rocky Mountains, maintaining and building numerous camps and fortifications, suppressing secessionist activity and securing the New Mexico Territory against the Confederacy. The State of California did not send its units east, but many citizens traveled east and joined the Union Army there, some of whom became famous.
During the American Civil War, Missouri was a hotly contested border state populated by both Union and Confederate sympathizers. It sent armies, generals, and supplies to both sides, maintained dual governments, and endured a bloody neighbor-against-neighbor intrastate war within the larger national war.
The Battle of Athens was an American Civil War skirmish that took place in northeast Missouri in 1861 near present Revere and southeast Iowa along the Des Moines River across from Croton. The Union victory has the distinction of being the most northerly of Civil War Battles fought west of the Mississippi, and also of being the only such battle fought along the Iowa border.
Franklin Archibald Dick was an American lawyer, politician and military officer during the American Civil War. He served as a Republican member of the Missouri state legislature and worked with Francis P. Blair Jr. to oppose slavery in Missouri. He served as volunteer assistant adjutant general to Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon in the struggle to prevent Missouri secession to the Confederacy that resulted in the Camp Jackson Affair. He also served as Missouri provost marshal general and lieutenant colonel under Major General Samuel Curtis. After the war, he worked as a law partner with Montgomery Blair at the Blair House in Washington, D.C.
The Skirmish at Blackwater Creek, also known as the Skirmish at Milford, was an American Civil War skirmish that took place in central Missouri on December 19, 1861 near present-day Valley City. It was a victory for the North.
In the American Civil War the Home Guard or Home Guards were local militia raised from Union loyalists.
The Missouri Volunteer Militia (MVM) was the state militia organization of Missouri, before the formation of the Missouri State Guard in the American Civil War.
The 2nd Kansas Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Recruited in May 1861, it formally organized on June 20. Sent into Missouri, it participated in several small actions in the Springfield area before fighting in the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, where it suffered 70 casualties out of about 600 men present excluded a detached cavalry company. Ordered back to Kansas after the battle, it fought in several small actions in Missouri and later mobilized in Kansas after enemy forces captured Lexington, Missouri, as Kansas was believed to be threatened by the Lexington movement. The unit was disbanded on October 31, with some of its men, including its commander, joining the 2nd Kansas Cavalry Regiment. Colonel Robert B. Mitchell commanded the regiment until he was wounded at Wilson's Creek and Lieutenant Colonel Charles W. Blair took command.
The 2nd Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment, formed from a voluntary regiment using the same name, that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
The 1st Missouri Infantry Regiment evolved from one of several unofficial pro-Unionist Home Guards militia formed in St. Louis in the early months of 1861 by Congressman Francis Preston Blair, Jr. and other Unionist activists. The militia that would become the First Missouri was largely composed of ethnic Germans, although Companies K and I had significant numbers of native born American citizens and Irish-Americans. Although initially without any official standing, beginning on April 22, 1861, the four "underground" militia regiments Blair helped organize were sworn into Federal service at the St. Louis Arsenal by Captain John Schofield acting on the authority of President Lincoln.
The Minutemen was a secessionist paramilitary organization in St. Louis, Missouri in the early months of 1861. Many members joined the 2nd Regiment of the Missouri Volunteer Militia, and after May 10, 1861 the Missouri State Guard or the Confederate States Army.
United States 
Missouri (Confederate) 
