I ordered Lieutenant Sokalski to move forward with his section saving the Kansas regiments from being overthrown.... James Totten, captain, Second Artillery, Company F
On this high ground the men . . . — — Map (db m255721) HM
...he [Gen. Sterling Price] would gladly have given his life to have taken Totten's battery in that fight and that he had vainly endeavored by three distance charges to capture the said battery ... As recalled by Lucien J. Barnes, . . . — — Map (db m255724) HM
In early August, 1861 the Missouri State Guard under the command of Major General Sterling Price was camped along Wilson's Creek preparing to march into Springfield, Missouri ten miles northeast of their encampment. Shortly after 5:00 A.M. they . . . — — Map (db m35141) HM
This Northern spur of Bloody Hill saw the beginning and end of the battle. In the days proceeding the fight, the field before you was the camp of the 1,200 cavalrymen of Colonel James Cawthorne's Missouri State Guard Brigade. At dawn on August . . . — — Map (db m35241) HM
Fierce changes and countercharges led to heavy casualties on Bloody Hill. Considering the numbers of troops engaged, it was one of the bloodiest fights in the war. Union artillery batteries on this hill dueled with opposing batteries in the . . . — — Map (db m255206) HM
So cried General Lyon as he led Kansas troops into battle to drive back the rebels' second attack. A volley of fire exploded in front of him. A bullet tore through both lungs and his heart. Moments later, Lyon slid from his horse and died.
The . . . — — Map (db m258184) HM
At or near this spot fell Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon. Born Ashford, Conn. 1818. Graduated U.S Military Academy, 1841. Commander of the Federal forces in the Battle of Wilson Creek August 10, 1861. This marker is erected by The University . . . — — Map (db m8113) HM WM
On August 6, 1861, the Southern army entered this valley from your left on the Wire Road, the restored historic road in front of you. The soldiers camped on both sides of the creek for a mile or more upstream and downstream from this point. Here, . . . — — Map (db m35207) HM
John Ray watched the first stage of the Union defeat from the porch behind you. At 6:30 in the morning, August 10, 1861, soldiers appeared in his cornfield. The cornfield is the fenced high ground in front of you, just beyond Ray's springhouse. . . . — — Map (db m35199) HM
After intense fighting, Confederate troops drove Captain Joseph Plummer's Union soldiers from the Ray Cornfield. To save Plummer's men, Union artillerymen on Bloody Hill fired on the Confederates and forced them to retreat. When part of the 3rd . . . — — Map (db m255201) HM
An archaeological study is a lot like a detective story. In 1966 an archeological investigation uncovered many bits of evidence from the area in front of you - the remnants of John and Martha Gibson's home. Bone handled dinner service, pewter . . . — — Map (db m35146) HM
The mill and house of John Gibson once stood in the valley in front of you along Wilson Creek. On August 9, 1861, the day before the battle the Gibson family and their neighbors found themselves surrounded by more than 12,000 Confederate soldiers . . . — — Map (db m35142) HM
In the summer of 1861, the small mill of John Gibson stood here. Although Confederate soldiers camped nearby and Union soldiers forded the stream here, the mill escaped the heavy fighting that raged just downstream. In 1966 archeologists discovered . . . — — Map (db m35147) HM
From this spot one can imagine the challenge which faced the Confederate army. Further up the hill in front of you, over 4,000 Union soldiers and 10 pieces of artillery were positioned to repulse any Southern effort to regain the high ground. On a . . . — — Map (db m35233) HM
Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the Civil War. At the end of the day the outcome of the battle was in favor of the South. But as Missouri remained in the Union the value of Lyon's actions materialized. "He had given the . . . — — Map (db m256852) HM
Commanders from both sides were not prepared to properly bury the 535 soldiers who lost their lives. As the Union troops retreated to Rolla, the Southern soldiers were left to do the grueling work of digging graves for the dead. William Watson of . . . — — Map (db m257109) HM
These words were commanded by John Q. Burbridge, colonel in the Missouri State Guard, as he fell from his horse, wounded from severe minie-ball fire.
Covering this low valley on Bloody Hill, the taking of these guns was key for a Southern . . . — — Map (db m255953) HM
The Civil War was more than a conflict between the North and South, abolitionists and slave owners. It was complicated. John Ray, originally from Tennessee, was pro-Union and a postmaster. He and his wife Roxanna listed an enslaved woman named Rhoda . . . — — Map (db m255557) HM
Within these narrow confines hidden by the foliage of the stunted oaks called black-jack,... dense brush, or thorny thicketsmen fought doggedly against each other...
Hans Christian Adamson, Rebellion in Missouri: 1861 . . . — — Map (db m257164) HM
Battlefield accounts of the Wilson's Creek landscape describe a varied terrainhere ridges of exposed rock and oak savannah were open enough to move artillery through. Nearby ravines were hidden beneath scrub oak and thick undergrowth. Due to large . . . — — Map (db m257520) HM
Public reaction to the Battle of Wilson's Creek was almost immediate. Soon this area became a well-known sacred spot. Veterans returned at the end of the war. In early 1880s the first reunion was held in conjunction with the unveiling of a monument . . . — — Map (db m257335) HM
Since August 6, 1861, thousands of Confederates had been camping in this area surrounding Major General Sterling Price's headquarters, waiting to attack the Union Army in Springfield. On the night of August 9, the long-awaited orders were issued. . . . — — Map (db m35213) HM
From this position the four cannon of the Pulaski Arkansas Battery supported Confederate infantry during the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Two artillerists were killed by opposing cannon shot here, and one was wounded by a minie ball. Despite the . . . — — Map (db m35204) HM
In the opening moments of the battle, Union infantry swept back Southern cavalry, over-running two camps and topping the crest of Bloody Hill. Nothing stood in the Federals' way. At the bottom of Bloody Hill lay the main Southern camp, virtually . . . — — Map (db m35210) HM
The Ray House is the only park structure on its original site that dates back to the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Postmaster and farmer John Ray built it in the 1850s. For ten years it served as the Wilson's Creek Post Office, a stopping place on the . . . — — Map (db m35198) HM
In the valley just below is a stone springhouse, part of the historic property of John Ray, whose house stands on the hill above you. The springhouse provided water, and also a cool place to store milk, eggs, butter, vegetables, and other . . . — — Map (db m35182) HM
Here on the southern end of the battlefield, Union soldiers commanded by Col. Franz Sigel mounted a surprise attack on the Confederate camps. The battle plan called for Sigel to attack from the south, while General Lyon attacked from the north. On . . . — — Map (db m35223) HM
The surrounding young forest can tell us much. Agriculture has long dominated the landscape. Nearby, John Gibson's horsedrawn plow broke ground for an oat field. Later, tractors would shape and alter the countryside. In the course of this evolution . . . — — Map (db m35144) HM
(Left Side): A Union Plan From this spot on August 10, 1861 the complicated fury of the battle of Wilson's Creek would have unfolded before your eyes. The large field in front of you is the south slope of Bloody Hill. Union troops . . . — — Map (db m35215) HM
Lieutenant DuBois's 12 pounder was the biggest cannon on the battlefield. Weighing in at almost 3,800 pounds it could hurl 12 pound shot about a mile. At this range, shot can easily reach targets in the Ray Cornfield and at the Ray House. . . . — — Map (db m256774) HM
Many before you... have traveled the path to the mill. Although our reasons have changed, the way to the mill has always been popular. In the days before supermarkets and, pre-packaged "ready-made" foods, families depended on small mills such as . . . — — Map (db m35143) HM
Upton setting up his four-cannon battery near here, Lieutenant John V. Dubois noticed movement across the creek.
"On our left, four companies of regulars drove the enemy across a cornfield to the timber beyond. The enemy drove us back in turn. . . . — — Map (db m256247) HM
Imagine, in the heat of battle, being told that the general is dead and you're now in charge of what has become a defensive operation.
Because the enemy pulled back their troops, Major Samuel D. Sturgis had time to assess the situation. . . . — — Map (db m257245) HM
