First Battle of Lexington, Missouri

Buckeye Bill

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The First Battle of Lexington (Battle of the Hemp Bales) was fought between September 18-20, 1861 during the American Civil War. Union Army forces battled pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard in Lafayette County, Missouri. The State Guard's victory in this battle bolstered the already-considerable Southern sentiment in the area, and briefly consolidated Missouri State Guard control of the Missouri River Valley in western Missouri.

The Anderson House

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* Photo courtesy of William Bechmann (2012)
 
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* Today is the anniversary of the First Battle of Lexington, Missouri. I visited this battlefield in 2011. The state of Missouri did an outstanding job interrupting this American Civil War conflict.

Bill
 
I had several kinsmen and at least two direct ancestors in that battle. All Missouri Rebels ! The Missouri Yankee ancestor didn't enlist until 1862.
Can't agree that your ancestors were ''Rebels'', at least not yet. Price's MSG, comprised of Missourians were responding to invasion of the State by an outside force. The Union force was an Illinois brigade comprised primarily of Irishmen from Chicago. One of the details of the battle I find interesting is the fact that the Union brigade upon entering/capturing Lexington promptly robbed the local Bank of Lexington. The Bank's customer accounts and capital deposits, somewhere just short of $1 million were confiscated, as was the custom of invading Union units in Missouri. With the surrender of the Federal force Gen. Price recovered most of the Bank's funds, minus some $20,000 or so likely secreted in the clothing of sticky fingered Union soldiers and he returned the money to Bank officials. Does this sound like the actions of lawless rebels?
 
Poor Mulligan was ordered to build fortifications to hold 10,000...The problem was with the strategy is those valiant Kansas troops who were supposed to coming to reinforce them, had filled their wagons with plunder form innocent civilians, so had to return to Kansas to unload after plundering and burning Osceola, they heard about Osceola again one day in 1863 if I recall.
 
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I love Lexington. I got to run around there August last year, and was given a tour by an elderly gentleman, (a WW2 & Korea vet. who lived there all his life), and loved what I got to see. He even pointed out a house from the 1860's that a skeleton with a bullet hole in the skull was found when he was a kid. He just said of it "Was it from the battle or War? Or was it someone put down by his wife? I don't know..."

Beautiful town with a neat history, and great historic sites. The battlefield is great with a good museum.

The whole of the famous courthouse:
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The battlefield park in Union lines:
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In the Museum:
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MSG farm boys vs. Chicago, Illinois VIR. The Missouri farm boys won the battle and went on to record a storied battle history in Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. The 23rd Il. was paroled by Price, mustered out of the theater by Fremont and within a couple of months were reconstituted as prison guards at Camp Douglas near Chicago.
 
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