Missouri's Civil War - Southeast

In 1864, the Arcadia Valley in Iron County was the scene of one of the largest and most hard-fought battles waged on the state’s soil – the Battle of Pilot Knob. The Fort Davidson State Historic Site in Pilot Knob preserves Fort Davidson and the Pilot Knob battlefield where many Confederate and Union soldiers lost their lives. A visitor center interprets the battle and Maj. Gen. Price’s raid and features exhibits, a research library, an audiovisual presentation and diorama of the battle.

The drive from Ironton to Cape Girardeau will take you on the same route followed by six regiments under the command of Gen. Benjamin Prentiss in 1861. Cape Girardeau was an important military post at the onset of the Civil War due to the fact that is was the first high ground north of the Ohio River. While Confederate in sympathy, Union forces held the city for the duration of the war.

Gen. John C. Fremont, the Union commander in the Mississippi Valley, ordered the fortification of Cape Girardeau in order to resist assault by land and water. Four forts constructed in a semi-circle across the front of the village lead many to believe that Cape Girardeau was one of the most fortified cities in the United States. Only one of the original forts remains standing – Fort D.

The site has been restored, although not to its original configuration, and is now a city park. Several battles and skirmishes were fought in and around Cape Girardeau with the most notable being the Battle of Cape Girardeau on April 26, 1863. Confederate Gen. John S. Marmaduke attacked the Union troops stationed in the city under the command of Gen. John McNeill. A marker near Broadway and Caruthers streets indicates the site of the battle.

The Common Pleas Courthouse, which sits high above Cape Girardeau and the Mississippi River, was important to Union forces during the war. The provost marshal chose this location for his headquarters because of the view, and its dungeon was used to hold Confederate soldiers and Southern sympathizers.

Old Lorimier Cemetery, located on Fountain Street, is one of the oldest cemeteries west of the Mississippi River. Established in 1820, the cemetery contains many unmarked graves from both the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

In Bloomfield, visit the Stars and Stripes Museum, which is dedicated to the “soldier’s newspaper” first published on Nov. 9, 1861, in Bloomfield. Members of Illinois infantry regiments who captured Bloomfield as part of Grant’s Belmont campaign used the abandoned equipment of the Bloomfield Herald to publish their camp paper, Stars and Stripes, still in publication today.

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