Battle of Carthage State Historic Site
Who Fought Here and Why
The Battle of Carthage pitted Missouri State Guard, a pro-southern force, against Union volunteer regiments. The hastily assembled state guard army of 4000 armed and 2000 unarmed volunteers had been called to duty three weeks before the battle by Clayborne Fox Jackson, Missouri's secessionist governor. At Carthage, this army faced the forces of Colonel Franz Sigel, which consisted of 1100 well drilled, fully armed St. Louis German-Americans.
Their meeting on the morning of what would be a hot July day was occasioned by the desperate need of Governor Jackson and his company of volunteers to reach safe haven to be found at Cowskin Prairie in the southwestern corner of the state. There, bolstered by the proximity of Confederate troops in nearby Arkansas, he could turn his volunteers over to General Sterling Price, who had preceded him to Southwest Missouri, to be forged into an army with which to return to the Missouri River valley and redeemed Missouri for the Stars and Bars.
But first, Colonel Franz Sigel had to be reckoned with. He had been dispatched to southwest Missouri by General Nathaniel Lyon to make sure that Jackson and Price did not link up with the Arkansas Confederates whose forces, if joined with those of Price and Jackson, would create an army over ten thousand men capable of invading and possibly reconquering Missouri. Sigel missed Price, who had passed through a few days earlier, but he arrived in time to attempt to halt Jackson's movement.
Had events gone as planned, Lyon should have fallen on Jackson's army from the rear with 3900 men while Sigel attacked from the front. Lyon, however, had been delayed by rain swollen rivers and supply problems; Sigel's force alone would have to reckon Jackson's army at odds of four to one. Sigel's gamble in attacking was made more desperate by the fact that General Ben McCulloch and his Arkansas force might come up and crush Sigel's small column between his army and Jackson's. In fact, combined armies of McCulloch and Price were moving to Jackson's aid and were only a day's march away.
The Opening of the Battle
The Battle of Carthage commenced between 8:00 and 9:00 a. m., When the armies of Sigel and Jackson confronted one another on a plain nine miles northwest of town and ended at nightfall two and a half miles southeast of this location when Sigel's rear-guard fired a final volley at their southern pursuers and then escaped into the darkness. The battle opened with an artillery duel as each side cannonaded the other from a distance of 760 yards. Neither side was able to inflict significant damage. After about an hour of this cannonading Jackson decided to send his cavalry around the flanks of Sigel in order to capture his supply train and cut off his escape route. Seeing this, Sigel abandoned his own plans to attack ordered a retreat.
Confrontation at Dry Fork Creek: Fighting in Deadly Earnest
As Sigel's force recrossed Dry Fork Creek, an artillery battery and five companies of infantry were concealed behind the trees on the elevated ground of the creeks south side. Jackson's infantry advanced to within 400 yards of this position before receiving fire of Sigel's rear guard. Sigel's artillerists and riflemen stalled the attack of Jackson's infantry for two hours and inflicted the heaviest casualties of the entire battle. Finally, the rear guard gave ground under the pressure of the superior numbers of the State Guard infantry.
The Bayonet Attack at Buck Branch
In the meantime, two State Guard cavalry regiments managed to circle around Sigel's column and form a blockade at Buck Branch Creek. They were positioned between Sigel's column and his baggage train which still lagged to the rear. The tables were now turned and Sigel became the attacker. His infantry scattered the enemy horseman with a bayonet charge, crossed Buck Branch, and regained his baggage train. Sigel then skillfully positioned his troops and artillery on all sides of the baggage train and continued the retreat towards Carthage, all the while successfully fending off attempts by the State Guard forces to attack his flanks.
The Battle Shifts to Carthage
At the Spring River crossing he again used his artillery to discourage Jackson's forces who were close on his heels. As Sigel's exhausted column marched into Carthage, the State Guard infantry launched an aggressive attack and the two forces fought one another house to house. While this fighting was taking place, Sigel positioned his artillery on the bluffs at this site in order to cover his retreat towards Sarcoxie in the gathering dusk. One final stand in near complete darkness two and a half miles miles further on ended the day's conflict.
The Final Tally
The Battle of Carthage resulted in 244 total casualties. Sigel lost 13 killed and 31 wounded while Jackson sustained 30 killed, and 125 wounded. While this "butcher's bill" was modest when compared with casualty lists of the terrible battles to follow, the Battle of Carthage was, nevertheless, one of the bloodiest confrontations of this early stage in the Civil War, and was widely reported in eastern newspapers, North and South.
Although Sigel was the loser by virtue of abandoning the field to his enemy and failing to block his southward movement, he made his escape with relatively few losses and all but one of his thirty-two wagon train intact. Jackson's untrained force had allowed a numerically inferior enemy to escape virtually unscathed. Still, his victory at Carthage revived the morale of Missouri's Southern state guard forces.
The Significance of the Battle of Carthage: Southern Fortunes Rise Then Wane
Previous to this success, the Southern cause in Missouri had suffered setbacks at Camp Jackson in St. Louis, Jefferson City, and Boonville. The secessionist element in the state government had been deposed and sent into flight, and the Missouri River valley had come under Union control. The victory at Carthage reverse this trend and provided breathing space to transform raw but enthusiastic Missouri volunteers into some of the hardest fighters who ever took up arms for the cause of the Confederacy.
The balance of 1861 would bring a string of important Southern victories. On August 10, at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Price's and McCulloch's combined forces would kill General Lyon and send Sigel into headlong retreat. Then, at the Battle of Lexington, September 18-21, Sterling Price and his Missourians would gain another major triumph for the Southern cause. With the start of the new year, however, Southern fortunes waned. At the Battle of Pea Ridge, March 6-8, 1862, in Arkansas forces under General Samuel Curtis with Sigel and his German-Americans playing a prominent role, won a forming point victory that ensured Union control of Missouri for the duration of the war.
A Guide to the Scenes of Action
The Battle of Carthage was a mobile engagement spread over a distance of some ten miles. To help you understand the battle, four interpretive markers have been placed at the actual locations where the fighting took place. This map indicates the locations of these markers. Directional signs have also been placed on the highways leading to these markers.