Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border
The western front was the scene of some of that conflict's bloodiest and most barbaric encounters as Union raiders and Confederate guerrillas pursued each other from farm to farm with equal disregard for civilian casualties

Newtonia
Civil War Missouri

American Civil War
September 30, 1862


Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy: Guerrilla Warfare in the West, 1861-1865
The establishment of a police state in Missouri and the subsequent backlash and ensuing war of sabotage by local guerrillas. Missouri and Kansas had shared much animosity in the years leading up to the Civil War

Following the Battle of Pea Ridge, in March 1862, most Confederate and Union troops left northwestern Arkansas and southwestern Missouri.By late summer, Confederates returned to the area, which caused much apprehension in nearby Federally-occupied Springfield, Missouri, and Fort Scott, Kansas.Confederate Colonel Douglas Cooper reached the area on the 27th and assigned two of his units to Newtonia where there was a mill for making breadstuffs.

In mid-September, two brigades of Brigadier General James G. Blunt's Union Army of Kansas left Fort Scott for Southwest Missouri. On the 29th, Union scouts approached Newtonia but were chased away. Other Union troops appeared in nearby Granby where there were lead mines, and Cooper sent some reinforcements there. The next morning, Union troops appeared before Newtonia and fighting ensued by 7:00 am.

The Federals began driving the enemy, but Confederate reinforcements arrived, swelling the numbers. The Federals gave way and retreated in haste. As they did so, some of their reinforcements appeared and helped to stem their retreat. The Union forces then renewed the attack, threatening the enemy right flank. But newly arrived Confederates stopped that attack and eventually forced the Federals to retire again.

Pursuit of the Federals continued after dark. Union gunners posted artillery in the roadway to halt the pursuit. As Confederate gunners observed the Union artillery fire for location, they fired back, creating panic. The Union retreat turned into a rout as some ran all the way to Sarcoxie, more than ten miles away.

Although the Confederates won the battle, they were unable to maintain themselves in the area given the great numbers of Union troops. Most Confederates retreated into northwest Arkansas. The 1862 Confederate victories in southwestern Missouri at Newtonia and Clark's Mill were the South's apogee in the area; afterwards, the only Confederates in the area belonged to raiding columns.

Result(s): Confederate victory

Location: Newton County

Campaign: Operations North of Boston Mountains (1862)

Date(s): September 30, 1862

Principal Commanders: Brigadier General Friedrich Salomon [US]; Colonel Douglas H. Cooper [CS]

Forces Engaged: Two brigades, Army of Kansas (1,500) [US]; Cooper's Division [CS]

Estimated Casualties: 345 total (US 245; CS 100)


Charles W. Quantrell
A True History Of His Guerilla Warfare On The Missouri And Kansas Border During The Civil War Of 1861-1865
This book was written just as Captain Harrison Trow told it to John P. Burch, giving accounts of fights that he participated in, narrow escapes experienced, dilemmas it seemed almost impossible to get out of, and also other battles

Ride With The Devil
The bloody feud among neighbors in the border state of Missouri. In this war zone the destinies of several young Southern bushwhackers as they experience the violence and the seasons DVD

Missouri State Battle Map
State Battle Maps
American Civil War Exhibits
Civil War Timeline
Women in the War
Civil War Picture Album
Kids Zone Causes of the War
Confederate President Jefferson Davis
Civil War Submarines
Civil War Store
The Longest Raid of the Civil War: Little-Known & Untold Stories of Morgan's Raid into Kentucky, Indiana & Ohio
Kentucky, a slave state, did not secede. Many were pro Confederate however. Jefferson Davis was from Kentucky, Lincoln was also born there.

American Civil War Book Titles

General Jo Shelby
Undefeated Rebel
When the Confederacy fell, Shelby refused to surrender and instead took his command to Mexico, where they fought in support of the emperor Maximilian. Upon his return to Missouri, Shelby became an immensely popular figure in the state
Galvanized Yankees on the Upper Missouri: The Face of Loyalty
Confederate prisoners of war were permitted to enlist in the Union army. Detailed studies of individual regiments. One such unit, the First United States Volunteers and their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Dimon.
Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri During the American Civil War
The state of Missouri witnessed the most widespread, prolonged, and destructive guerrilla fighting in American history. A horrific combination of robbery, arson, torture, murder, and swift and bloody raids on farms and settlements.
Wilson's Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It
In 1861, Americans were preoccupied by the question of which states would join the secession movement and which would remain loyal to the Union. In Missouri, it was largely settled at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861, in a contest that is rightly considered the second major battle of the Civil War

The Civil War's First Blood: Missouri, 1854-1861
Instead of compromise, Missouri hosted some of the most violent conflicts of the Civil War and came to epitomize the tragedy of the nation s internecine struggle
Civil War St. Louis
Rough-and-tumble St. Louis played a key role as a strategic staging ground for the Union army. A citadel of free labor in a slave state, it also harbored deeply divided loyalties that mirrored those of its troubled nation
Three Years With Quantrill: A True Story Told by His Scout John McCorkle
Quantrill is often maligned as a psychopathic killer and a despot. McCorkle refutes this common claim by the writers of the winner's history, shows that Quantrill was a compassionate and honorable man. He shows a side to the War of Northern Aggression that is rarely told
Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War
This places James within a specific political context, showing why it was possible for this murderous bandit to emerge as a folk hero among Southern sympathizers following the Civil War in which he fought as a teenager

American Civil War DVD Movie Titles

Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields
Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union
Civil War Combat: America's Bloodiest Battles
The violent mayhem of the hornet's nest at Shiloh, the valiant charge on the sunken road at Antietam, the carnage in the wheat field at Gettysburg, and the brutal fighting at Cold Harbor
Civil War Journal - The Conflict Begins
These four programs from the History Channel series Civil War Journal cover critical aspects of the early days of the war.
The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one

Ride With The Devil
The bloody feud among neighbors in the border state of Missouri. In this war zone the destinies of several young Southern bushwhackers as they experience the violence and the seasons
Brother Against Brother: The American Civil War
Fort Sumter, to the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Features battle reconstructions and depictions of army life, eyewitness accounts, period photographs and engravings, plus commentary and analyses.
In Search Of History - Quantrill's Raiders
The Blue and the Gray
The Complete Miniseries
The Civil War proved a backdrop for this 1982 miniseries. Complete and uncut three disc set. Two families divided by the War Between the States. A Southerner caught when he becomes a war correspondent for the Northern newspaper. He finds himself  where history's in the making from the Battle of Bull Run to Abraham Lincoln's assassination

Current Weather conditions and City History for Saint Louis Missouri

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress.

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