Bates County is a county located in the west central part of the U.S. state of Missouri, two counties south of the Missouri River and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,042. Its county seat is Butler. The county was organized in 1841 and named after Frederick Bates, the second Governor of Missouri.
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.
The Battle of Marais des Cygnes took place on October 25, 1864, in Linn County, Kansas, during Price's Missouri Raid in the American Civil War. It is also known as the Battle of Trading Post. In late 1864, Confederate Major General Sterling Price invaded the state of Missouri with a cavalry force, attempting to draw Union troops away from the primary theaters of fighting further east. After several victories early in the campaign, Price's Confederate troops were defeated at the Battle of Westport on October 23 near Kansas City, Missouri. The Confederates then withdrew into Kansas, camping along the banks of the Marais des Cygnes River on the night of October 24. Union cavalry pursuers under Brigadier General John B. Sanborn skirmished with Price's rearguard that night, but disengaged without participating in heavy combat.
The Battle of Mine Creek, also known as the Battle of the Osage, was fought on October 25, 1864, in Linn County, Kansas, as part of Price's Missouri Expedition during the American Civil War. Major General Sterling Price of the Confederate States Army had begun an expedition in September 1864 to restore Confederate control of Missouri. After being defeated at the Battle of Westport near Kansas City, Missouri, on October 23, Price's army began to retreat south through Kansas. Early on October 25, Price's army was defeated at the Battle of Marais des Cygnes. After Marais des Cygnes, the Confederates fell back, but were stalled at the crossing of Mine Creek while a wagon train attempted to cross.
The Battle of Westport, sometimes referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West", was fought on October 23, 1864, in modern Kansas City, Missouri, during the American Civil War. Union forces under Major General Samuel R. Curtis decisively defeated an outnumbered Confederate force under Major General Sterling Price. This engagement was the turning point of Price's Missouri Expedition, forcing his army to retreat. The battle ended the last major Confederate offensive west of the Mississippi River, and for the remainder of the war the United States Army maintained solid control over most of Missouri. This battle was one of the largest to be fought west of the Mississippi River, with over 30,000 men engaged.
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. Franz Sigel, a colonel with military experience from Baden, commanded 1,100 Federal soldiers intent on keeping Missouri within the Union. Claiborne Fox Jackson, governor of Missouri, personally commanded and Sterling Price, a hero of Mexican–American War, led the pro-secessionist Missouri State Guard, which numbered more than four thousand soldiers alongside two thousand unarmed troops, who did not participate in the battle.
The Battle of Mount Zion Church was fought on December 28, 1861, in Boone County, near Mount Zion Church, during the American Civil War. The resulting Union victory here and elsewhere in central Missouri ended Confederate recruiting activities in the region and pushed conventional Confederate forces out of the area until the desperate fall 1864 invasion by General Sterling Price and his Missouri State Guard.
The Battle of Byram's Ford was fought on October 22 and 23, 1864, in Missouri during Price's Raid, a campaign of the American Civil War. With the Confederate States of America collapsing, Major General Sterling Price of the Confederate States Army conducted an invasion of the state of Missouri in late 1864. Union forces led Price to abandon goals of capturing the cities of St. Louis and Jefferson City, and he turned west with his army towards Kansas City.
The First Battle of Newtonia was fought on September 30, 1862, between Confederate soldiers commanded by Colonel Douglas H. Cooper and a Union column commanded by Brigadier General Frederick Salomon near Newtonia, Missouri, during the American Civil War. Cooper's force had moved into southwestern Missouri, and encamped near the town of Newtonia. The Confederate column was composed mostly of cavalry led by Colonel Joseph O. Shelby and a brigade of Native Americans. A Union force commanded by Brigadier General James G. Blunt moved to intercept Cooper's force. Blunt's advance force, led by Salomon, reached the vicinity of Newtonia on September 29, and attacked Cooper's position on September 30. A Union probing force commanded by Colonel Edward Lynde was driven out of Newtonia by Cooper's forces on the morning of the 30th.
The Battle of Champion Hill of May 16, 1863, was the pivotal battle in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War (1861–1865). Union Army commander Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Tennessee pursued the retreating Confederate States Army under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton and defeated it twenty miles to the east of Vicksburg, Mississippi, leading inevitably to the siege of Vicksburg and surrender. The battle is also known as Baker's Creek.
Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, located near Republic, Missouri, preserves the site of the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Fought on August 10, 1861, the battle was the first major American Civil War engagement west of the Mississippi River. In the battle, a Confederate army commanded by Benjamin McCulloch and Sterling Price defeated a smaller Union army commanded by Nathaniel Lyon. However, the Confederates were unable to hold much of Missouri, and a Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge effectively solidified Union control of the state. Major features include a five-mile automobile tour loop, the restored 1852 Ray House, and "Bloody Hill", the site of the final stage of the battle. The site is located near Republic in southwestern Missouri just southwest of the city of Springfield. It has been a unit of the National Park Service since 1960, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
The Palmyra massacre is an incident that took place in Palmyra, Missouri on October 18, 1862, during the American Civil War, when ten Confederate prisoners of war were executed in reprisal for the abduction of a local Union supporter, Andrew Alsman. The officer who ordered the execution, Colonel John McNeil, was later known as the "Butcher of Palmyra". He left the army in 1865, after receiving the customary promotion to brevet rank of Major General of Volunteers in recognition of his faithful service to the Union.
Fort Hill is a promontory overlooking downtown Frankfort, Kentucky. It is the site of two earthwork forts from the American Civil War. Fort Hill is on the National Register of Historic Places and is now a public park.
In the American Civil War the Home Guard or Home Guards were local militia raised from Union loyalists.
Odon Guitar was a general in the Union Missouri State Militia during the American Civil War. He was noted for his successful campaign against Joseph C. Porter and John A. Poindexter's recruiting commands in northern Missouri.
The Battle of Moore's Mill was an American Civil War battle that took place in Central Missouri on July 28, 1862 along Auxvasse Creek near modern-day Calwood. This engagement, the Battle of Kirksville a week later, and the Battle of Compton's Ferry would drive the main Southern recruiters from northern Missouri. The Moore's Mill Battlefield was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
The David Gordon House and Collins Log Cabin were two historic homes located at Columbia, Missouri. The David Gordon House is a two-story, frame I-house. The 13-room structure incorporated original construction from about 1823 and several additions from the 1830s, 1890s and 1930s. The Collins Log Cabin was built in 1818, and is a single pen log house of the story and a loft design. They represent some of the first permanent dwellings in Columbia. The house, located in what is now Stephens Lake Park burned after arson in the early 1990s. The log cabin survived has been relocated from Stephens Lake Park to the campus of the Boone County Historical Society.
Sycamore Dale is a 19th-century Greek Revival plantation house overlooking the South Branch Potomac River southwest of Romney, West Virginia. Sycamore Dale is one of several historic estates along South Branch River Road. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 1980.
The Dorrance Inn, also known as the Samuel Dorrance House, is a historic former inn at 748 Plainfield Pike in Sterling, Connecticut. Built about 1722, it is notable as a place that hosted officers of the French Army in 1781 and 1782, as it was along the march route taken by French commander Rochambeau's troops en route to Yorktown, Virginia. Dorrance's Inn is one of a few places mentioned by name in multiple accounts written by French officers. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. and is a contributing building in the Sterling Hill Historic District.
The First Battle of Newtonia Historic District, near Newtonia, Missouri, is a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) site that preserves the location of the First Battle of Newtonia, an 1862 battle during the American Civil War. The battle saw Confederate troops under Colonels Douglas H. Cooper and Joseph O. Shelby defeat a Union force commanded by Brigadier General Frederick Salomon. The historic district contains some Civil War-period structures, as well as the Mathew H. Ritchey House, which is listed separately on the NRHP.
