Missouri Civil War Battles — Part 11 First Battle of Springfield — October 25, 1861: Maj. Charles Zagonyi’s cavalry captured Springfield in a bold Union charge. Springfield wasn’t just a place on the map in 1861 — it was a prize that kept pulling both sides back into the same ground. On October 25, 1861,…

Missouri Civil War Battles — Part 8 Battle of Blue Mills Landing — September 17, 1861: Missouri State Guard ambushes Union troops near Liberty, opening the way to reinforce Price at Lexington. Blue Mills Landing is the kind of Missouri fight people don’t expect — not a grand battlefield, but a river-bottom trap where the…

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…