George R. Crook was a career United States Army officer who served in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. He is best known for commanding U.S. forces in the 1886 campaign that led to the defeat of the Apache leader Geronimo. As a result, the Apache nicknamed Crook Nantan Lupan, which means "Chief Wolf."
Nathaniel Lyon was a United States Army officer who 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.
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 siege of Lexington, also known as the first battle of Lexington or the Battle of the Hemp Bales, was a minor conflict of the American Civil War. The siege took place from September 13 to 20, 1861 between the Union Army and the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard in Lexington, county seat of Lafayette County, Missouri. The victory won by the Missouri Guard bolstered the considerable Southern sentiment in the area, and briefly consolidated Missouri State Guard control of the Missouri River Valley in the western part of the state.
The action at Blue Mills Landing, also known as the Battle of Liberty, was a battle of the American Civil War that took place on September 17, 1861, in Clay County, Missouri. Union forces unsuccessfully attempted to prevent pro-Southern Missouri State Guards from northwestern Missouri from crossing the Missouri River near the confluence with the Blue River to reinforce Sterling Price at Lexington.
The Battle of Hartsville was fought on December 7, 1862, in northern Tennessee at the opening of the Stones River Campaign the American Civil War. Hartsville Battlefield is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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.
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 first Burning of Platte City, Missouri occurred during the American Civil War on December 16, 1861, after Union troops attempted to capture the bushwhacker Silas M. Gordon.
Silas M. Gordon (1835–1888) was an anti-United States Federal government guerrilla who indirectly caused Platte City, Missouri, to be burned twice by forces during the American Civil War. The town of Gordonville, Texas, is named for him. Confederate Silas "Si" Gordon was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky in 1835 and moved with his parents, William and Lucretia (Muir) Gordon, to Platte County, Missouri.
The Platte Bridge Railroad Tragedy was a bushwhacker attack on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad during the American Civil War on September 3, 1861, in which the train derailed on a bridge over the Platte River east of St. Joseph, Missouri, killing between 17 and 20 and injuring 100. The bridge crosses the river in Buchanan County, between Marion Township on the east, and Washington Township on the west.
W. James Morgan was a Union Army recruiter and officer in the American Civil War.
Galvanized Yankees was a term from the American Civil War denoting former Confederate prisoners of war who swore allegiance to the United States and joined the Union Army. Approximately 5,600 former Confederate soldiers enlisted in the United States Volunteers, organized into six regiments of infantry between January 1864 and November 1866. Of those, more than 250 had begun their service as Union soldiers, were captured in battle, then enlisted in prison to join a regiment of the Confederate States Army. They surrendered to Union forces in December 1864 and were held by the United States as deserters, but were saved from prosecution by being enlisted in the 5th and 6th U.S. Volunteers. An additional 800 former Confederates served in volunteer regiments raised by the states, forming ten companies. Four of those companies saw combat in the Western Theater against the Confederate Army, two served on the western frontier, and one became an independent company of U.S. Volunteers, serving in Minnesota.
The Battle of Cole Camp was a skirmish of the American Civil War, occurring on June 19, 1861, in Benton County, Missouri. The Union loss provided an open path for the fleeing governor and Missouri State Guard away from Lyon's force in Boonville.
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.
Gideon W. Thompson was a colonel in the Missouri State Guard and the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He assumed command on the field after the fall of Brigadier General John T. Hughes at the First Battle of Independence.
William Henry Powell was an American soldier who fought for the Union in the American Civil War. He was a leader in the iron and nail business before the war, and his leadership abilities proved useful in the military. Powell began as a captain, and quickly ascended to higher roles in the cavalry, including commanding a regiment, a brigade, and then a division. Powell was awarded his country's highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor, for heroism at Sinking Creek, Virginia, when, as leader of a group of 22 men, he captured an enemy camp and took over 100 prisoners. This was accomplished without the loss of any of his men on November 26, 1862. He was honored with the award on July 22, 1890.
The Sinking Creek Raid took place in Greenbrier County, Virginia during the American Civil War. On November 26, 1862, an entire Confederate army camp was captured by 22 men from a Union cavalry during a winter snow storm. The 22 men were the advance guard for the 2nd Loyal Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, which was several miles behind. This cavalry unit was renamed 2nd West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry in 1863, after West Virginia became a state.
Bee Creek is a stream in Buchanan and Platte counties of the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a tributary of the Missouri River.
The capture of Sedalia occurred during the American Civil War when a Confederate force captured the Union garrison of Sedalia, Missouri, on October 15, 1864. Confederate Major General Sterling Price, who was a former Governor of Missouri and had commanded the Missouri State Guard in the early days of the war, had launched an invasion into the state of Missouri on August 29. He hoped to distract the Union from more important areas and cause a popular uprising against Union control of the state. Price had to abandon his goal of capturing St. Louis after a bloody repulse at the Battle of Fort Davidson and moved into the pro-Confederate region of Little Dixie in central Missouri.
