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In early August 1861, two armies prepared to fight the second major battle of the Civil War, a battle that would largely determine the fate of Missouri.

Union General Nathaniel Lyon had concentrated 7,000 troops in and around Springfield, about ten miles from Wilson’s Creek. To oppose Lyon, troops from the Confederate states west of the Mississippi, along with Arkansas State forces, had come to Missouri to reinforce General Sterling Price’s pro-secessionist Missouri State Guard. They outnumbered Lyon’s army two-to-one. Approaching Springfield, the Southerners halted and went into camp on both sides of Wilson’s Creek.

Confederate General Benjamin McCulloch, the overall Southern commander, planned an attack on Springfield, while General Lyon planned a surprise attack on the Southerners. Lyon’s strategy was to cripple his enemy, allowing him to retreat safely to the railhead at Rolla.

On August 9, an early evening shower cancelled McCulloch’s march on Springfield. In the meantime, Lyon’s army left Springfield in two columns, one under his command, the other led by Colonel Franz Sigel, to attack the enemy camp from two directions.

The battle began at 5 a.m. on August 10. Lyon’s troops encountered a small force of Missouri State Guard cavalrymen and forced them to retreat. At the same time, Colonel Sigel positioned his guns overlooking Southern cavalry encamped in farmer Joseph Sharp’s fields.

Lyon soon divided his forces again, ordering Captain Joseph Plummer and his battalion of U.S. Regulars to ford Wilson’s Creek and secure the Federal left flank. The remainder of Lyon’s force continued to drive south toward a height later christened “Bloody Hill.”

When the sounds of battle reached Sigel, he opened a bombardment that drove the Southerners at the Sharp Farm away in a panic. Sigel began a triumphant advance.

At 6 a.m., as Lyon’s troops crested Bloody Hill, they were slowed by fire from the Pulaski Arkansas Battery. Alerted to the danger, McCulloch ordered Price’s State Guard to meet Lyon’s onslaught. The Missourians began moving from their camps and pressed cautiously up Bloody Hill. The Southerners seized the initiative from Lyon, who went on the defensive thereafter.

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