Missouri State Guard Retreat
Tour Stop
Directions: Now you will return to the Battle of Boonville Historical Marker [ Waypoint = N38 58.655 W92 44.027 ], which is located near where the final few minutes of fighting took place.
- From the previous tour stop (Camp Bacon), continue to drive west on Rocheport Road.
- After about 2.4 miles, turn right (north) onto Al Bersted Drive.
- After about 0.3 miles, turn left (west) onto E. Morgan Street.
- After about 0.4 miles, the historical marker will be ahead on the left.
Description: Take some time to look at the map on the interpretive sign and review your path from the east. You are (once again) standing just south of where the Boonville Fair Grounds were located in 1861. It was at this location that the final few minutes of fighting took place. Because the people of Jefferson City were primarily Unionist, Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson had ordered the State armory relocated to Boonville. They had chosen the fair grounds as the location for the State's powder and military stores. [48]
After pulling back from Camp Bacon, Colonel John S. Marmaduke tried once last time to rally his State Guardsmen at the Fair Grounds to protect the military stores held in the temporarily relocated the State Armory from Jefferson City. Union Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon pressed his forces to continue their advance into Boonville. The A. McDowell steamboat, which had been so effective against Camp Bacon continued up river to Boonville. Below the Fair Grounds, Captain Richardson and his company of First Missouri Infantry Volunteers disembarked and moved against the State Guardsmen protecting the State Armory. The Federals manning the howitzer on the steamboat began to shell the Fair Grounds. Now the withdrawal began to take on the appearance of a rout as the panicked State Guardsmen began retreating quickly to escape the Federals. [49]
Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson had been observing the fight from a nearby hill. After the Federals had quickly routed his Missouri State Guard, Jackson sent word of the defeat to Major General Sterling Price in Lexington, Missouri. After sending the State Guardsmen southwest to join up with Price, Jackson quickly traveled about 15 miles up river to his home in Arrow Rock, Missouri and gathered up his personal papers before meeting up with Price and the State Guard forces gathering near Warsaw, Missouri. [50]
Back: Camp Bacon
Next: Epilogue