Missouri Civil War Battles — Part 7 Battle of Wilson’s Creek — August 10, 1861: A major Confederate and Missouri State Guard victory near Springfield that claimed Gen. Nathaniel Lyon. Wilson’s Creek is the moment Missouri’s war stops feeling like scattered clashes and starts feeling like a full-scale collision. On August 10, 1861, just outside…

Missouri Civil War Battles — Part 6 Battle of Athens — August 5, 1861: David Moore’s Home Guards repelled Martin Green’s pro-Southern force in northeast Missouri. Most people think Missouri’s Civil War story starts and ends in the southwest — but Athens proved the border counties were just as combustible. On August 5, 1861, a…

Missouri Civil War Battles — Part 5 Battle of Dug Springs — August 2, 1861: A sharp skirmish near Clever, MO tested Lyon’s army before Wilson’s Creek. Eight days before Wilson’s Creek, the war around Springfield got tested — not in a grand set-piece battle, but in a sharp collision on the Old Wire Road.…