john c fremont missouri battle cry of freedom

The pro-secessionist force, composed of 8,000 Missourians loyal to their state, not the Union, was poorly outfitted.īut Lyon, pressed by his superiors, needed a victory. His troops had hounded the pro-secessionist Missouri State Guard, (led by Sterling Price, 51-year-old Virginia native and former Missouri governor) across Missouri. Tempestuous General Nathaniel Lyon - Connecticut-native, radical abolitionist, grasping political appointee - had closed the gap, leading his force of 4,300 Federal troops over the rough hills south of Springfield, west of Wilson’s Creek. The morning sky brightened and those Federal troops - under the command of German-born schoolteacher, now brigadier general, Franz Sigel - were positioned to rain artillery fire down on the Confederate cavalry stirring below in farmer Joseph Sharp’s cornfields. A light but steady rain had stopped them.Īs that rain had pattered down the night before, a force of 1,500 Federal troops moved quietly off the old Forsyth Road, stealing through the dense forest east of the creek. Pearce’s men, a part of the Confederate States Army and pro-secessionist Missouri State Guard force numbering 13,000, had prepared to march against Federal troops occupying Springfield the night before. Almost light, and in the distance, a hoot owl calling, the old Elizabethan omen of death.Īlong and near the banks of Wilson’s Creek, 10 miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri, the Battle of Oak Hills was about to commence. Nicholas Bartlett Pearce, 33-year-old Kentucky native and brigadier general in the Confederate States Army, remembered his troops “cheerlessly waiting, many of the troops remaining in position, in line of march, on the road, and others returning, to camp to prepare the morning meal.” The day of August 10, 1861, dawned clear and warm. The Battle of Oak Hills (Wilson’s Creek) by Joshua Heston State of the Ozarks is dedicated to publishing as much regional Civil War history as possible. Not enough has been written about this “Western front,” though a few books do exist. It’s easy to forget the war even occurred west of the Mississippi.

John c fremont missouri battle cry of freedom