Camp Bacon
Tour Stop
Directions: Because the site of Camp Bacon is on private property, this tour stop [ Waypoint = N38 57.878 W92 41.022 ] is located on the Rocheport Road just south of the area where the Missouri State Guard had established Camp Bacon.
- From the previous tour stop (Marmaduke's Defensive Line), continue to drive east on Rocheport Road.
- As you are driving, if you look carefully to the right (north), you should be able to see some of the ground over which the Missouri State Guard was retreating and the Federals were advancing.
- After traveling about 1.3 miles, find a safe place to pull to the side of the road.
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Description: Although it is difficult to see because of the trees and the “sunken” road, Camp Bacon (also referred to as Camp Vest) was located to the north of where you are standing. It was here that the Missouri State Guard had established an encampment to hold the men gathering at Boonville. Colonel John S. Marmaduke's First Missouri Rifles Regiment was staying at Camp Bacon when Governor Jackson ordered them out to meet the advancing Federals. [45]
When Totten's Battery began shelling his initial line of defense near the Adams House, Colonel Marmaduke quickly realized he would need to fall back. The State Guardsmen withdrew about a mile west to their encampment at Camp Bacon where they tried to make another stand against the advancing Federals. But the A. McDowell steamboat had come abreast of Camp Bacon and began to shell the camp with the 8-inch howitzer. The shelling increased the degree of panic in the State Guardsmen and they continued their retreat back towards Boonville. [46]
Shortly after the State Guard abandoned Camp Bacon, Company E, First Missouri Infantry Volunteer Regiment under the command of Captain Cole moved in and took possession of the encampment. Union Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon had sent Cole out to the right at the beginning of the fighting to extend his lines. The Federals discovered that the retreating State Guardsmen had had no time to collect their equipment and belongings before continuing west. One eyewitness reported that the Federals found the following items left behind at Camp Bacon: [47]
“One thousand two hundred shoes, twenty or thirty tents, quantities of ammunition, some fifty guns of various patterns, blankets, coats, carpet sacks, and two secession flags were included in the sum total.”