Missouri Civil War Timeline

Follow Missouri’s Civil War timeline, from early clashes to Price’s Raid, and see how key battles shaped the war in the West. 

Missouri was a border state divided in loyalty, where battles, raids, and guerrilla warfare left scars that lasted long after the Civil War ended. Below is a streamlined timeline of key events and turning points.

1860

• Nov 6 – Abraham Lincoln elected President; Missouri is deeply divided.
• Dec 20 – South Carolina secedes, sparking the secession crisis.

1861

• Apr 12 – Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter; Civil War begins.
• May 10 – Camp Jackson Affair: Union forces under Nathaniel Lyon clash with Missouri militia in St. Louis; civilians killed in rioting.
• May 21 – Planters House Meeting: Lyon, Gov. Claiborne Jackson, and Sterling Price fail to reach compromise.
• June 13 – Jackson and Price flee Jefferson City as Lyon advances.
• June 17 – Battle of Boonville: Union victory secures Missouri River.
• July 5 – Battle of Carthage: Missouri State Guard under Price pushes back Union forces.
• Aug 10 – Battle of Wilson’s Creek: Union Gen. Lyon killed; Confederates claim victory.
• Sept 12–20 – Battle of Lexington: Price’s men capture Union garrison using hemp bales as shields.
• Nov 7 – Battle of Belmont: Ulysses S. Grant fights his first battle; experience gained despite retreat.

1862

• Mar 7–8 – Battle of Pea Ridge (Arkansas): Union victory secures Missouri for the Union, though guerrilla warfare intensifies.
  

1863

• Guerrilla war escalates – Raids by William C. Quantrill and “Bloody Bill” Anderson terrorize Unionist areas.
• Aug 25 – General Order No. 11: Civilians forced from four western Missouri counties to cut off guerrilla support.

1864

• Sept 27 – Battle of Pilot Knob (Fort Davidson): Confederates attack fortified Union garrison; Union holds, slowing Price’s Raid.
• Sept 27 – Centralia Massacre: Anderson’s guerrillas kill more than 150 Union soldiers and civilians.
• Oct 15 – Battle of Glasgow: Confederates capture supplies but fail to alter campaign momentum.
• Oct 23 – Battle of Westport: “Gettysburg of the West”; decisive Union victory forces Price’s retreat.
• Oct 25 – Battle of Mine Creek (Kansas): Union cavalry routs Price’s army; one of the war’s largest cavalry battles.
• Oct 28 – Second Battle of Newtonia: Confederates defeated in final Missouri engagement of Price’s Raid.

1865

• Spring – Organized Confederate resistance collapses in Missouri; guerrilla bands linger.
• May–June – Confederate armies surrender nationwide; Missouri begins Reconstruction.

Aftermath

• Missouri saw over 1,000 skirmishes and engagements — more than any state except Virginia and Tennessee.
• Guerrilla fighters like Jesse James carried violence into the postwar era.
• Divisions between Unionist and Confederate sympathizers endured for decades.

Sources: Missouri State Archives; American Battlefield Trust; Library of Congress; Civil War on the Western Border (Kansas City Public Library).

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