Benton Barracks - St. Louis MO - U.S. Civil War Sites on Waymarking.com

Fairground Park became Benton Barracks during the Civil War. Sadly we did not see a single historical marker in the park mentioning this. The landmark you see at this location isn't part of Benton Barracks but it is the old bear pit from the first St. Louis Zoo.


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benton Barracks
St. Louis, Missouri
Benton Barracks, Parade March Poster, 1862
Type U.S. Military Post
Site information
Controlled by Union Army
Site history
Built August 1861
In use 1861-1865
Garrison information
Past
commanders Major-General John C. Fremont (1861)
Brigadier-General William T. Sherman (1861-1862)
Colonel Benjamin Bonneville (1862-1865)
Garrison Union Cavalry, Union Army

Benton Barracks was a Union Army military encampment, established during the American Civil War, in St. Louis, Missouri, at the present site of the St. Louis Fairground Park. Before the Civil War, the site was owned and used by the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association, which at the time was located on the outskirts of St. Louis. The barracks was used primarily as a training facility for Union soldiers attached to the Western Division of the Union Army.

After the Battle of Lexington, the Post and Convalescent Hospitals were added to the training barracks, in order to assist in treating hundreds of incoming wounded troops. Once the war ended, the barracks was dismantled, returning to its pre-war, civilian use as a fairground and race track. Nothing of the original barracks remains at this site today.

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