Looking east from the Boonslick Bridge, just north of Boonsville, Mo. (Google Street View image)[/caption] Posted on 09/24/2018 8:49:33 AM PDT by fugazi
[This is part five in a series of articles documenting my virtual bike ride across America, following the route of the Lewis and Clark expedition. For previous posts, click here.]
In this post, I pick up the trail west of Jefferson City, Mo. and continue along the Missouri River until reaching the Chariton River.
Along the way is the town of Boonville, Mo., which was the site of a tiny battle that had a huge impact on the Civil War.
On May 10, 1861, just days after the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter (S.C.), several hundred Missouri militiamen were drilling at Camp Jackson, just outside the city limits of St. Louis. A pro-confederate force had recently overrun the federal arsenal at Liberty, Mo., and Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon suspected the force amassed at Camp Jackson was going to seize his large arsenal in St. Louis and he ordered his federal troops to capture the Missouri Volunteer Militia members.
As the Union troops marched their prisoners through town, they were harassed and pelted with rocks and other objects by a secessionist mob. Lyon's men eventually opened fire on the crowd, killing 28 civilians and wounding dozens more. Missouri's pro-confederate governor Claiborne Jackson and Missouri State Guard commander Maj. Gen. Sterling Price (a former brigadier general of volunteers and veteran of the Mexican-American War who opposed secession until the Camp Jackson incident) met with Lyon and told him that his federal troops were not to travel beyond St. Louis. Lyon responded by saying their demand "meant war" and declared his men would have free passage throughout the state. He allowed Jackson and Price safe passage out of St. Louis and the pair fled west to Jefferson City. However, Lyon and his force of U.S. Army regulars and Missouri militia were hot on their tail.
[caption id="attachment_7403" align="alignnone" width="1535"] Looking east from the Boonslick Bridge, just north of Boonsville, Mo. (Google Street View image)[/caption]
Realizing they could not defend the state capital, Jackson and Price kept moving west until they reached Boonville. There, they hoped to hold off the federal troops until enough volunteers could be mustered in nearby Lexington to defeat Lyon's force and ultimately bring Missouri into the Confederacy. Lyon captures Jefferson City on June 13 without a fight. Four days later the two armies meet up at Boonville for a small but strategically significant engagement, with a dozen Union casualties and around 100 for Price's State Guard. With Jackson on the run, Missouri declares his seat vacant and a pro-Union state government takes over. The entire Missouri River is now under federal control, and the border state would no longer be in danger of joining the Confederacy.
"Insignificant as was this engagement in a military aspect, it was in fact a stunning blow," wrote Thomas L. Snead, who served as Jackson's aide-de-camp and Price's chief of staff, "and one which did incalculable and unending injury to the Confederates."
[caption id="attachment_7409" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
A lithograph by Ehrgott & Forbriger depicting Jackson (the donkey) and Price (apparently caught with his pants down) being routed by Lyon. (Library of Congress image)[/caption]
Lyon continues to chase Price's State Guard southwest until his troops are defeated in the Battle of Wilson's Creek and Lyon becomes the first general killed in the Civil War.
Price would return to Boonville in 1864, capturing the town from Unionist forces during his failed Missouri Expedition, but withdraws the following day .
Across the Missouri River from Boonville is where famous frontiersman Daniel Boone's sons Nathan and Daniel Morgan established a business distilling salt from the area's saltwater springs, at the site of Boone's Lick State Historic Site. 200 years later, U.S. Highway 40 traces it's roots to the route Boone's sons used to ship salt back to St. Charles, known as Boone's Lick - or Booneslick - Road.
[caption id="attachment_7404" align="alignnone" width="1375"]
Looking south at the Missouri River from the Glasgow Bridge, adjacent to the site of the first all-steel railroad bridge in the world. (Google Street View image)[/caption]
In 1816, the town of Franklin (named after founding father Benjamin Franklin) sprung up next door to the Boone's springs. A man named William Becknell set out from Franklin in 1821, loaded with goods he hoped to trade in the town of Santa Fe (modern-day New Mexico), which was then part of the brand-new country of Mexico - having just secured their independence from Spain. Upon his return, Becknell had pioneered a trail that would become a lucrative trade route, and later an important highway and railroad route. Prior to becoming the "Father of the Santa Fe Trail," Becknell had served under Capt. Daniel Morgan Boone (mentioned above) during the War of 1812 in the United States Mounted Rangers.
Also hailing from Franklin was ousted governor Jackson, who raised a company of volunteers for service in the Black Hawk War of 1832. The outfit elected Jackson as their captain.
Roughly following in Price's footsteps, I come across the one-horse town of Glasgow. Back in 1864, elements of Gen. Price's army laid siege to the town and attacked the Union garrison of 800 men from several sides. The Confederates seized over 1,000 guns, supplies, and 150 horses and permitted the defeated Union soldiers to return to friendly lines back at Boonville.
[caption id="attachment_7408" align="alignnone" width="1425"]
South of the Chariton River. (Google Street View image)[/caption]
[Excerpt, CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post]
“which uses Google Earth data and scenery to simulate real-world elevation changes”
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Wouldn’t it be easier just to look around (esp ahead)?
now, this sounds cool...would even think of adapting my bike to stationary for something like this. Thx.
I would like the flight simulator version.
I considered that too. http://www.realindoor.com/
At that site you can plug in a route and how many watts you would generate on the bike and you can watch the scenery roll by, going slower up hills and faster downhill. Pretty cool considering its free.
LOL
Flight over the Oregon and Lewis and Clark Trails
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D43_WF3Ci0g
Lewis & Clark 1804-1806 Animated Map
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZGZX8I6_qE
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Lewis+and+Clark+flight
bkmrk
Thanks. I’ve been to the End of the Trail and the wagon at the museum in E. Oregon
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