FIRST - Union General Killed in the Civil War - Ashford, CT - First of its Kind on Waymarking.com

A sign at the entrance to his birthplace inside of Natchaug State Forest is inscribed:

Nathaniel Lyon was born in Ashford, CT on July 14, 1818. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1841 and fought in the Second Seminole War and in the Mexican-American War. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was a general in command of the Union arsenal in St. Louis, Missouri.

The secessionist governor of Missouri, Claiborne Jackson had the state militia muster outside St. Louis to begin training to join Confederate forces. On May 10, 1861, Nathaniel Lyon and his troops surrounded the pro-Confederate Missouri militia and forced its surrender. Thereafter Lyon was promoted to brigadier general and put in charge of Union troops in Missouri. General Lyon was killed on August 10, 1861 while rallying his outnumbered troops at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek near Springfield, MO. Lyon was instrumental in preventing the State of Missouri from joining the Confederacy.

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