BGuthrie Photos: MO -- Wilson's Creek Natl Battlefield

MO -- Wilson's Creek Natl Battlefield:

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. WILSON_080418_010.JPG: Ray House
2. WILSON_080418_027.JPG: View from Ray House down to the springhouse. The hill beyond is Bloody Hill. Ray's cornfield is located midway -- the Union troops would have been coming from that direction.
3. WILSON_080418_033.JPG: Ray Springhouse Wilson's Creek 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 perishables. During and after the battle, the Rays' house served as a field hospital for the Confederates. Soldiers, and the Ray children, carried cool water from the springhouse for the wounded to drink. Surgeons also used the water to wash wounds and cleanse their surgical instruments.
4. WILSON_080418_038.JPG: The Ray Family: 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 old Wire Road that connected Springfield, Missouri, with Fort Smith, Arkansas. In 1861, twelve people were living here: John and Roxanna Ray, their nine children, and a mail carrier. Their slave, "Aunt Rhoda," and her four children occupied a small cabin to the rear of the house. On August 10, 1861, they found themselves in the path of war. During the battle, the Ray family took refuge in their cellar. The Ray House served as a hospital during and after the battle.
5. WILSON_080418_050.JPG: They said there were a number of original pieces in the house including (I believe) the bed frame and the spinning wheel.
6. WILSON_080418_128.JPG: Fight in Ray's Cornfield: 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. From the right came Captain Joseph B. Plummer's 300-man regular army battalion. Sent by General Lyon to secure the Federal left flank, Plummer had observed the Pulaski Arkansas artillery mauling the main Union line on Bloody Hill, and was moving to silence the battery. But to the left, about 900 Louisiana infantry and Arkansas dismounted riflemen stood in their way. The clash was short and decisive. Confederate Colonel James McIntosh inspired a daring charge through the corn that sent the United States Regulars running back to the creek. Only the Union artillery on Bloody Hill kept the Southerners from annihilating Plummer's battalion.
7. WILSON_080418_177.JPG: Ray's springhouse
8. WILSON_080418_228.JPG: Up in Ray's cornfield where Lyon's troops would have come
9. WILSON_080418_249.JPG: I hadn't expected to see the cactus
10. WILSON_080418_260.JPG: Ice storms had knocked a number of branches off some months before
11. WILSON_080418_306.JPG: Sigel's Attack: 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 the morning of the battle, Sigel's men occupied the ridge across the creek to your left. When Gen. Lyon's cannon opened fire to the north, Sigel began shelling the 2,300 Confederate cavalrymen camped here in Sharp's Cornfield. Exploding shells rained on the camps, and the startled Rebels retreated to the north, behind you. By 7:30am, Sigel had crossed the creek and entered the far end of the field in front of you. Behind you, drawn up in line of battle, stood Col. Elkanah Greer's Texas Cavalry Regiment, ready to stop the Union advance. But shelling from Sigel's artillery forced the Texans back, allowing Sigel to advance to your right and rear to a position blocking the Wire Road. In his official report to Major-General John C. Freemont, Commander of the Union Army's Department of the West, Col. Sigel described the attack: Sigel's Orders: "According to orders, it was the duty of this brigade to attack the enemy in the rear, and to cut off his retreat, which order I tried to execute, whatever the consequences might be." Sigel's 1st Position: "In sight of the enemy's tents, which spread out in our front and right, I planted four pieces of artillery on a little hill..." "I ordered the artillery to begin their fire against the camp of the enemy (Missourians), which was of so much effect, that the troops were seen leaving their tents and retiring in haste towards the northeast of the valley." Sigel's 2nd Position: "As the enemy made his rally in large numbers before us, about 3,000 strong, consisting of infantry and cavalry, I ordered to artillery to be brought forward from the hill, and formed them in a battery across the valley, with the Third and Fifth Regiments to the left and the cavalry to the right. After an effective fire of half an hour, the enemy retired in some confusion into the woods and up the adjoining hills."
12. WILSON_080418_322.JPG: Sigel's attack came the hills in the distance. Wilson's Creek runs along the middle tree line.
13. WILSON_080418_327.JPG: I have no clue why this was here but I thought it was kind of cool for some reason.
14. WILSON_080418_336.JPG: Wilson's Creek
15. WILSON_080418_409.JPG: Sharp Cornfield (1861)
16. WILSON_080418_414.JPG: Rout of Sigel's Column: The Union strategy at Wilson's Creek called for a two-prong surprise attack. General Lyon's main column with about 4,000 men would strike the Confederate camps from the north, while Col. Franz Sigel's brigade of about 1,200 men would attack from the south. The Confederate army would be crushed between the converging columns. The plan seemed effective at first, but the Union forces were outnumbered, and poor communications between Lyon and Sigel made it difficult to coordinate the attack. Moving up the hill behind you, a line of advancing Rebels that the Federals mistook for reinforcements (the gray-clad 1st Iowa) charged and overran Sigel's position.
17. WILSON_080418_432.JPG: Sigel's artillery would have been here. They had approached from their starting point toward the left. Toward us came a Confederate column that Sigel's men mistook for a Union group. The old Wire Road runs in the background.
18. WILSON_080418_452.JPG: Price's headquarters. The old Wire Road runs in front of it.
19. WILSON_080418_459.JPG: Pulaski Arkansas Battery: In the opening moments of the battle, Union infantry swept back Southern cavalry, overrunning 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 camps, virtually defenseless. Then, from the top of the small ridge to your right, Captain William E. Woodruff's Pulaski Arkansas Battery opened fire, enfilading the entire length of the Union line. These four cannon forced a halt in the Federal advance. As a result, the Southern infantry was able to organize a line of battle and attack the Union line. The trail beginning here leads to the site where the Pulaski Arkansas Battery was positioned, and also to the site of General Sterling Price's Confederate headquarters on the opposite side of Wilson Creek. The round-trip walk to both sites is about one mile. An Ironic Footnote: Before the Civil war, the bronze guns of the Pulaski Battery were under the command of Captain James Totten at the U.S. Arsenal in Little Rock. When war threatened, Arkansas secessionists took control of the arsenal, but Captain Totten remained loyal to the Union. Here at Wilson's Creek, Totten commanded a Union battery across the creek on Bloody Hill, and found himself opposing his old guns manned by his old friends.
20. WILSON_080418_465.JPG: Price's Headquarters: 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. Pickets were called in, and the army began to advance. But when it began to rain, the Confederates postponed their attack, fearing their black gunpowder would become wet. The army returned to camp, but the pickets were not ordered to resume their posts. As a result, the Confederates had no warning of the Union advance. On the morning of August 10, the Confederate officers at Price's headquarters did not know that Union columns were closing in on their camps from two directions. Shortly after dawn, the Federals gave the Rebels a rude awakening. The trail beginning here leads down to the historic Wire Road, then across the creek to the site of Price's headquarters. The leisurely round-trip walk is less than one mile.
21. WILSON_080418_471.JPG: Pulaski Arkansas Battery: (Second sign) 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 casualties, Captain William E. Woodruff believed his battery had a very successful day of gunning. Woodruff wrote, "Our fire was... directed where it could be advantageously used without injury to our own troops, sometimes at the opposing battery, at others against the assaults of the enemy on the hill to the northwest..." The guns in place here today are aimed toward the site of the opposing Union batteries on "Bloody Hill."
22. WILSON_080418_473.JPG: Bloody Hill in the distance. We're standing where the Pulaski Arkansas Battery would have been.
23. WILSON_080418_501.JPG: Wilson's Creek
24. WILSON_080418_587.JPG: The Eye of the Storm: 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, beside the log home of William Edwards, Confederate General Sterling Price set up his headquarters. Shortly after 5am on August 10, while Generals Price and Ben McCulloch were eating breakfast, the Union Army attacked. Looking up to "Bloody Hill" in front of you, the Confederate generals saw their own soldiers running for their lives, and then the flash of Union cannon. Immediately, orders were shouted, and the Southerners organized into line of battle to attack the Federals on this hill. The Battle of Wilson's Creek had begun. For the next six hours, shells exploded overhead, troops raced up and down the road, and gunfire and shouts filled the air. The cabin that stood here during the battle no longer exists. The cabin you see today was built about three miles from here in the 1850s by William Edwards -- the same man who built the first cabin here. The National Park Service moved the second Edwards Cabin to this site in 1985 to help recreate the historic setting of Price's Headquarters.
25. WILSON_080418_601.JPG: Bloody Hill view of Price's headquarters cabin
26. WILSON_080418_647.JPG: 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 Club of Springfield, MO in honor of General Lyon and the hundreds of brave men, north and south, who, on this field, died for the right as god gave them to see the right. 1928 University Club Historical Marker No. XIV
27. WILSON_080418_667.JPG: I wasn't sure if the damage had been caused by vandalism as shooting guns or people throwing rocks.
28. WILSON_080418_693.JPG: Sinkhole where bodies were dumped
29. WILSON_080418_775.JPG: Bloody Hill: Fierce charges 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.
30. WILSON_080418_782.JPG: Union artillery on this hill dueled with opposing batteries in the valley and across the creek. A musket ball in the chest struck down General Lyon not far from here. His death dampened Union hopes.
31. WILSON_080418_789.JPG: The Union soldiers were outnumbered two-to-one, and by 11:00am their ammunition was nearly exhausted. After six hours of attacks and counterattacks, both sides were weary. During a lull in the fighting, the Union forces withdrew to Springfield.
32. WILSON_080418_824.JPG: Judas Tree. Cercis siliquastrum From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cercis siliquastrum, commonly known as Judas Tree, is a small deciduous tree from Southern Europe and Western Asia which is noted for its prolific display of deep-pink flowers in spring. Description: This species forms a small tree up to 12 metres in height and 10 metres in width. The deep pink flowers are produced on year-old or older growth, including the trunk in late spring. The leaves appear shortly after the first flowers emerge. These are heart-shaped with a blunt apex, which occasionally has a shallow notch at the tip. The tree produces long flat pods that hang vertically. ... History: There is a longstanding myth that Judas Iscariot hanged himself from a tree of this species. This belief is related to the common name "Judas Tree" which is possibly a corrupted derivation from the French common name, Arbre de Jud�e meaning tree of Judea, referring to a region where the tree occurs.
Wikipedia Description: Battle of Wilson's Creek
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, early in the American Civil War. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes called the "Bull Run of the West."

Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon's Army of the West was camped at Springfield, Missouri, with Confederate troops under the commands of Brig. Gen. Benjamin McCulloch approaching. On August 9, both sides formulated plans to attack the other. About 5:00 a.m. on August 10, Lyon, in two columns commanded by himself and Col. Franz Sigel, attacked the Confederates on Wilson's Creek about 12 miles southwest of Springfield. Rebel cavalry received the first blow and fell back away from Bloody Hill. Confederate forces soon rushed up and stabilized their positions.

The Confederates attacked the Union forces three times that day but failed to break through the Union line. Lyon was killed during the battle and Major Samuel D. Sturgis replaced him. Meanwhile, the Confederates had routed Sigel's column, south of Skegg's Branch. Following the third Confederate attack, which ended at 11:00 a.m., the Confederates withdrew. Sturgis realized, however, that his men were exhausted and his ammunition was low, so he ordered a retreat to Springfield. The Confederates were too disorganized and ill-equipped to pursue. This Confederate victory buoyed southern sympathizers in Missouri and served as a springboard for a bold thrust north that carried Price and his Missouri State Guard as far as Lexington. In late October, a rump convention, convened by Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, met in Neosho and passed out an ordinance of secession. Wilson's Creek, the most significant 1861 battle in Missouri, gave the Confederates control of southwestern Missouri.

Background:

At the beginning of the war, Missouri declared that it would be an "armed neutral" in the conflict and not send materials or men to either side. On April 20 a secessionist mob seized the Liberty Arsenal increasing unionist concern in the state. The neutrality was put to a major test on May 10, 1861 in what became known as the Camp Jackson Affair. Governor Claiborne F. Jackson had called out the state militia to drill on the edge of St. Louis in Lindell Grove. The governor had clandestinely obtained artillery from the Confederacy and smuggled it into the militia encampment--referred to as "Camp Jackson." Capt. Nathaniel Lyon was aware of this shipment and was concerned the militia would move on the St. Louis Arsenal. He surrounded the camp with Union troops and home guards, forcing the surrender of the militia. He then blundered by marching the militia men through the streets to the arsenal. A crowd gathered, some angry and pressing against the procession. Taunts and jostling eventually led to gunfire and many deaths, mostly civilians but also including several militia and soldiers. A day later, the Missouri General Assembly created the Missouri State Guard to defend the state from attacks from perceived enemies, either from the North or South. The governor appointed Sterling Price to be its general.

Fearing Missouri's tilt to the South, William S. Harney, the Federal commander in Missouri, struck the Price-Harney Truce on May 12, 1861, which affirmed Missouri's neutrality in the conflict. Governor Jackson declared his support for the Union. However, Harney was replaced by Lyon (who was promoted to general), and Abraham Lincoln made a specific request for Missouri troops to enter Federal service. Jackson withdrew his support. On June 12, 1861, Lyon and Jackson met in St. Louis to resolve the matter. The meeting ended with Lyon saying:
“ This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines." ”

Lyon quickly captured the capital and pursued Jackson, Price, and the now exiled state government across Missouri in skirmishes such as Battle of Boonville on June 17 followed by the Battle of Carthage on July 5, 1861. In light of the crisis, the elected delegates of the Missouri Constitutional Convention that had rejected secession in February reconvened. On July 27, the convention declared the governor's office vacant and then selected Hamilton Rowan Gamble to be the new provisional governor.

By July 13, 1861, Lyon's army was encamped at the city of Springfield, Missouri, and consisted of approximately 6,000 men. His force was composed of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Missouri Infantry, the 1st Iowa Infantry, the 1st and 2nd Kansas Infantry, several companies of Regular Army infantry and cavalry, and three batteries of artillery.

By the end of July 1861, the Missouri State Guard was camped about 75 miles (120 km) southwest of Springfield and had been reinforced by Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch and Arkansas state militia Brigadier General N. Bart Pearce, making the mixed Missouri/Arkansas/Confederate force over 12,000 strong. They developed plans to attack Springfield, but General Lyon marched out of the city on August 1 in an attempt to surprise the Southern forces. The armies' vanguards skirmished at Dug Springs on August 2. The Union force emerged as the victor, but Lyon learned he was outnumbered more than 2 to 1 and retreated back to Springfield. McCulloch, now in command of the Missourian army, gave chase. By August 6, his force was encamped at Wilson's Creek, ten miles (16 km) southwest of the city.

Outnumbered, Lyon planned to withdraw to Rolla in the north to reinforce and resupply, but not before launching a surprise attack on the Missourian camp to delay pursuit. Colonel Franz Sigel, Lyon's second-in-command, developed an aggressive strategy to split the Union force and strike McCullough in a pincer movement. He proposed to lead 1,200 men in a flanking maneuver while the main body under Lyon struck from the north. Lyon approved, and the Union army marched out of Springfield on the rainy night of August 9, leaving about 1,000 men to protect supplies and cover the retreat. The success of the stratagem was dependent on the element of surprise. McCulloch was also planning a surprise attack on the city, but the rain caused him to cancel his plan.

According to the United States Census, 1860, Christian County had a total population of 5,491 with 229 slaves in 1860 and Greene County had 13,186 with 1,668 slaves.

Battle:

At about 5:00 a.m., at first light on the morning of August 10, the Union force attacked. The Missourians were caught by surprise. Lyon's force overran the enemy camps and took the high ground at the crest of a ridge which would become known as "Bloody Hill." Early Union hopes for a rout were dashed, however, when the artillery of the Pulaski Arkansas Battery unlimbered and checked the advance, which gave Price's infantry time and cover to organize lines on the south slope of the hill.

Sigel's plan was initially successful: his flank routed the Missouri cavalry but collapsed when McCulloch's force counterattacked at the Sharp farm. Uniforms had not yet been standardized so early in the war, and McCulloch's men were wearing uniforms similar to Sigel's. The Union soldiers believed McCulloch's approaching lines were Union reinforcements and did not recognize them as the enemy until it was too late. The flank was utterly devastated by the counterattack, and Sigel and his men fled the field.

With the rout of Sigel's flank, the momentum of the battle shifted in the Missourians' favor. Lyon, already shot twice, became the first Union general to be killed in the war; he was shot in the heart on Bloody Hill, at about 9:30 a.m., while rallying his men for a countercharge. Major Samuel D. Sturgis assumed command of the Union army. While still in a defensible position atop the hill, Union supplies were low and morale was worsening. By 11:00 a.m., the Union forces had already repulsed three separate Confederate charges. Ammunition and men were nearly exhausted, and Sturgis retreated rather than risk a fourth Confederate attack.

Aftermath:

The casualties were about equal on both sides—1,317 Union and 1,230 Confederate/Missourian/Arkansan. Though the Confederate allied force won the field, they were unable to pursue the retreating Union forces to Rolla. With the victory, Price's Missouri Guard began an invasion of northern Missouri that culminated in the First Battle of Lexington on September 20, 1861 while the Confederate and Arkansas forces withdrew from the state.

On October 30, 1861, the Missourians under Price and Jackson formally joined the Confederate cause in Neosho, Missouri. Officials passed the resolutions for Missouri secession and Jackson was named the Governor of Confederate Missouri. However, the new government never earned the favor of most of the population of Missouri, and the state remained in the Union throughout the war. What little control Price and Jackson did have was diminished in the Battle of Fredericktown on October 21 and the Battle of Springfield I on October 25 and the Confederate state government was soon forced to leave the state.

Although Price enjoyed Missouri victories, he did not have the popular support to hold the field. After 1861, he was a Confederate general and led his forces in battles in Arkansas and Mississippi. There were smaller skirmishes in Missouri until the fall of 1864 when Price returned to Missouri. However, Missouri suffered the guerrilla warfare of bushwhackers such as Quantrill's Raiders and Bloody Bill Anderson throughout the war.

National battlefield:

The site of the battle has been protected as Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. The National Park Service operates a visitor center featuring a museum, a thirteen-minute film, a six-minute fiber optic battle map presentation, and a Civil War research library open to the public. Living history programs depicting soldier life, cavalry drills, musket firing, artillery demonstrations, period medicine, and period clothing are generally held on Sunday afternoons Memorial Day through Labor Day.

With the exception of the vegetation and the addition of interpretive hiking trails and a self-guided auto tour route, the 1,750 acre (7 km�) battlefield has changed little from its historic setting, allowing visitors to experience the battlefield in nearly pristine condition. The home of the Ray family, which served as a Confederate field hospital during the battle, has been preserved and restored and is open periodically throughout the summer, with Park Service interpreters dressed in period clothing.
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