The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Oak Hills Battle, was the first major battle in the western American Civil War theater. It occurred on August 10, 1861 near Springfield , Missouri , between the Western Army of Nathaniel Lyon and the Missouri State Guard of General Price. This battle is sometimes called the "Western Bull Run ."
| The Battle of Wilsons Creek | |||
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| Main Conflict: US Civil War | |||
 The Battle of Wilsons Creek (Kurtz and Alison chromolithography) | |||
| date | August 10, 1861 | ||
| A place | Green and Christian counties, Missouri | ||
| Total | Confederation Victory | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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| Losses | |||
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A few days before the battle, General McCallough’s Confederate Western Army discovered General Prior’s federal Western Army camped in Springfield. On August 9, both sides made an attack plan. At approximately 05:00 on August 10, General Lyon attacked the enemy with three columns: he himself commanded two, and Franz Siegel commanded the third. The Confederate cavalry was the first to hit, standing on a hill near the Wilsons Creek River, 19 kilometers southwest of Springfield. The cavalry left the hill and then the infantry tried to regain their position. On that day, the southerners conducted three hill attacks, but were not able to push the enemy back. When General Lyon died and General Sweeney was wounded, Samuel Sturgis took command of the federal forces. Meanwhile, the Southerners managed to discard Siegel’s convoy in the southern part of the battlefield. After the third attack, at about 11:00, the southerners retreated to their original positions. Sturgis realized that his people were exhausted and almost used up ammunition, so he ordered to retreat to Springfield . Southerners were too disorganized to haunt him.
Content
Background
On July 13, 1861, Lyon's army numbered about 6,000 and camped in Springfield . His forces consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Missouri regiments, the 1st Iowa, two Kansas regiments, several more companies and several artillery batteries.
Towards the end of July, the Missouri militia camped 121 kilometers southwest of Springfield , where it was joined by General McCallough’s Confederate Army and General Pierce’s Arkansas militia, with about 12,000 southerners. Southerners planned to attack Springfield, but Lyon got ahead of them and on August 1 left the camp. On August 2, the vanguards of the armies fired at Doug Springs. Here Lyon realized that the enemy was twice as superior, so he stepped back to Springfield. McCallough organized the persecution. On August 6, units of it camped at Wilsons Creek, 16 kilometers from Springfield. Price offered to attack Springfield right away, but McCallough strongly doubted the fighting qualities of the Missouri militia and decided to stay in place. In response, Price decided to attack alone, and eventually McCallough agreed to attack the enemy on the morning of August 10. However, heavy rain began on the evening of the 9th, and the soldiers ’performance from the camp was postponed.
Realizing the weakness of his unit, Lyon planned to retreat to the northeast, but first decided to conduct a surprise attack by the Missourians to complicate their pursuit. Colonel Franz Siegel proposed a roundabout maneuver and attack the enemy from the rear. This weakened the federal detachment, but Lyon agreed. On the evening of August 9, the federal army left the camp in the rain. 1000 people were left to guard communications. Siegel’s 1,200 people went around.
At midnight, Lyon often went unnoticed to the enemy camp from the left flank. Pickets southerners were removed in the evening, when the offensive was planned, and did not return to the place. Siegel’s detachment (two infantry regiments and two cavalry companies, totaling 1,500) also circumvented the enemy’s right flank and occupied a height of 500 yards from General Pierce's Arkansas camp.
The forces of the parties
The western army of Nathaniel Lyon consisted of 11 regiments and several companies, combined into four brigades. The commander of the staff at Lyon was John Scofield .
- Samuel Sturgis Brigade: 1st Regiment of the US Army General Joseph Plummer, 2nd Missouri Infantry Regiment of Peter Osterhouse and 3 Infantry Companies
- Franz Siegel's brigade: 2 regiments and 2 companies (including the company of Captain Eugene Carr )
- George Andrews Brigade: 2 Infantry Regiments
- George Ditzler Brigade: 5 Infantry Regiments
The western army was a rather chaotic formation. It consisted of two parts, the first of which was called the brigade, and the second - the division. The Missouri militia was reduced to 5 divisions, each of which had two regiments.
Benjamin McCullough’s Western Army
- Benjamin McCallough’s brigade: 3 infantry and 1 cavalry regiment
- Nicholas Pearce Division (Arkansas militia): 3 infantry regiments, 2 cavalry and 2 batteries
Missouri militia under the command of Sterling Price :
- James Raines Division
- Richard Wightman Brigade: 4 Missouri Infantry Regiments
- James Cowthorne Cavalry Brigade: 3 cavalry regiments
- John Clark Division: 1 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Regiment
- William Slack Division: 2 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Regiment
- Mosby Parsons Division: 1 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Regiment
- James McBridge Division: 2 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Regiment
Battle
At midnight on August 10, the federal army reached the enemy camp and stood in positions until dawn. At dawn, Lyon launched an offensive, sending forward a regiment of regulars captain Joseph Plummer. On the northern edge of the southerners' camp was a cavalry brigade from the Reins division. Having been hit by superior enemy forces, she began to retreat south. Around 06:00, the federal 1st Kansas and 1 Missouri regiments rose to the top of the hill, but there the Arkansas battery opened fire on them, and this stopped the advance of the federal forces. Captain Plummer assessed the danger of fire from the Arkansas battery and sent his regiment to it. However, along the way, he stumbled upon two enemy regiments - the 3rd Louisiana and the 2nd Arkansas, about 1,100 people (commanded by James McIntosh), and around 07:00 a skirmish ensued. As a result, Plummer retreated, but McIntosh could not pursue him [1] .
Meanwhile, after hearing the sounds of battle on the Lyon site, Franz Siegel launched an attack on his site and attacked the Arkansas militia camp, which in a panic began to retreat north. Siegel’s column crossed Terell Creek, turned around at Sharpe’s farm field and, with dense fire, threw the enemy cavalry once again. Siegel moved to Sharpe's farm and went to Vir Road. However, McCallough quietly for Siegel prepared for the attack the 3rd Louisiana Regiment and several Missouri and Arkansas detachments. With the support of the fire of two batteries, they attacked Siegel's people, who could not withstand this attack and took to flight.
Around 7:30 a.m., the Missouries of James MacBridge attacked Lyon's right flank, but were driven back.
At about 09:00, when all the Missourians were already in position, Price launched a second attack on Bloody Hill, and he almost managed to break through the center of the federal lines. General Lyon personally took up the relocation of his forces, and at that moment a bullet hit him in the chest, causing him to die almost immediately. He became the first general of the federal army to die during that war, and the first general to die after the 1812 war. Command passed to Major Samuel Sturgis .
The attack of the southerners failed. There was a short pause, during which Price received little reinforcement from the Confederates of McCallough and the Arkansas militia. At 10:00, the third and most powerful attack began. Nearly 3,000 Missourians and Arkansas rushed into Sturgis army positions. But this attack also failed. After their retreat, Sturgis realized that his situation was unreliable. Many people were lost, ammunition running out, no news of Siegel. Sturgis decided to retreat. At 11:30 the federal army withdrew from Bloody Hill and the battle ended. Southerners were also disorganized and used up ammunition, so they refused to pursue. According to Arkansas General Nicholas Pearce, "we watched the enemy retreat with binoculars and were only happy to watch him leave [2] ."
Consequences
The battle was not large by the standards of that war, but very large for 1861. Northerners lost a quarter of their army, southerners - about 12%. The Union lost approximately 1,317 people dead and wounded, the Confederation lost 1230. Inspired by this victory, the Missouri Price began an invasion of northern Missouri and defeated the enemy in the first battle of Lexington on September 20.
After retreating to Springfield, Sturgis transferred command to Siegel. At a military council that evening, it was decided to retreat to Rolla at 03:00 the next day, but Siegel was delayed for several hours. Then, due to his fault, several more delays occurred and, as a result, the officers insisted that Sturgis take command back.
It was not until February 1862 that the federal army resumed its offensive to the southwest, occupied Springfield, and in March Price, McCallough, and Earl van Dorn were defeated at P-Ridge .
In 1892, General John Scofield received the Medal of Honor for Wilsons Creek. As a major of the 1st Missouri Regiment, he "valiantly led the regiment into a successful attack on the enemy [3] ." The historian Benson Bobrick wrote: "He awarded himself the Medal of Honor (awarded in 1892) for undocumented valor at Wilsons Creek [4] ."
Notes
- ↑ The Battle of Wilson's Creek
- ↑ Brooksher, William (1995). Bloody Hill: The Civil War Battle of Wilson's Creek. Brassey's. S. 213-214
- ↑ Medal of Honor website
- ↑ Bobrick, Benson. Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas. New York, 2009 S. 288.
Literature
- Brooksher, William (1995). Bloody Hill: The Civil War Battle of Wilson's Creek. Brassey's. ISBN 9781574880182 . OCLC 32393986.
- Piston, William Garrett; Hatcher, Richard (2000). Wilson's Creek: The Second Battle of the Civil War and the Men Who Fought It. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807825150 . OCLC 41185008.
- Bearss, Edwin (1992). The Battle of Wilson's Creek (2nd ed.). Wilson's Creek National Battlefield Foundation. ISBN 978-0425053829 .