On July 5, 1861, 1,100 Union soldiers ran into approximately 6,000 volunteers of the Missouri State Guard under Governor Claiborne Jackson who was attempting to take Missouri into the Confederacy.

Union Soldiers Encounter Foes

     The Union commander, Colonel Franz Sigel, and his men who where mainly German American volunteers from St. Louis, first encountered the overwhelming numbers of their foes about nine miles north of Carthage. They soon began an orderly, stubborn retreat towards the town. 

     This day-long battle covered over nine miles and lasted from 8:30 am till nightfall. Both sides claimed victory: the Union force successfully escaped with minimal casualties, but the Missouri State Guard chased the Union troops from the region and held the town of Carthage at the end of the day. This was the first time in the American Civil War that an armed action on land had lasted an entire day. 

     The Battle at Carthage was over two weeks before the Battle of Bull Run at Mannassas, Virginia. After the surrender of Ft. Sumter, there were several brief skirmishes across America, such as a 20 minute clash at Boonville, MO and others, the longest before Carthage being a 2 hour action at Big Bethel, VA. 

     Of course, casualties at Carthage were not tremendous like Bull Run or Shiloh and other huge battles of the war. However, if you accept the official report of the Union commander, the clash of arms on July 5, 1861 included approximately 50 killed and 150 wounded. This makes Carthage comparable in size to the Battle of Trenton in the Revolutionary War. 

     As a matter of fact, newspapers across divided America reported on the small, fierce battle. The battle was described in a front page article in the New York Times as ” The first serious conflict between the United States troops and the rebels…” As a result of the Battle of Carthage, the morale of the Missouri State Guard was raised to a level of confidence that allowed the troops to fight well with their allies at the bigger Battle of Wilson’s Creek a little more than a month later near Springfield, MO, contributing to a major Confederate victory there on August 10, 1861.