⚔️ Battle of Wilsons Creek, Missouri,
10 August 1861
The Battle of Wilson’s Creek, Missouri, on 10 August 1861, was the second major battle of the American Civil War (after 1st Bull Run) and the first major battle west of the Mississippi. After a decade of conflict between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions along the Kansas-Missouri border, there was already a long history of enmity, conflict and atrocity in this theater.
In August 1861, a small Union army of about 5,400 troops under Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon was actively campaigning to keep Missouri from going over to the Confederacy. A mixed Confederate force of about 12,500 troops under Major General Sterling Price was looking for him. They met at Wilson’s Creek, near Springfield Missouri, on 10 August 1861.