Battle of Pea Ridge Secures Missouri for the Union
Missouri was a key state for both sides at the start of the Civil War. Its governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, favored secession. However, like Kentucky, Missouri declared neutrality: meaning it would not leave the Union, yet would not supply men or arms to either side. With a population of 1.2 million, Missouri would have been the most populous state in the Confederacy if it had seceded, with the exception of Virginia. It had a well-developed industrial base in St. Louis, and controlled the Missouri River and an important stretch of the Mississippi River. As a Confederate state it would have blocked off Kansas and threatened southern Illinois. It was a prize the Confederates dearly wanted, but it slipped out of their grasp.
The turning point came when the two-day Battle of Pea Ridge ended on March 8, 1862, with the smaller Union army prevailing. For one of the few times in the war, the South had the larger force in a battle: Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn led the Confederate Army of the West’s 16,000 troops against Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis and the Federal Army of the Southwest’s 10,500 soldiers. However, superior leadership by Curtis won the day, and Missouri was never again in play for the Confederacy. Read more here.
I understand that when writing a blog, it’s necessary to show a picture and say a few words about yourself, so that people don’t think a nameless, faceless committee or advisory board is running the show. Here I am, a real person. My name is Tony Pettinato, and I live in Deerfield, Mass. I did my undergraduate studies in English at Oberlin College, my graduate work in Journalism at UC Berkeley, and have been a reporter for six newspapers. For the past twelve years I have worked at NewsBank, the last six as a managing editor for the U.S. Congressional Serial Set project – NewsBank’s acclaimed effort to digitize and index twelve million pages of primary source documents – that gratified my life-long interest in American history. And that has led me to this blog!