Tour: The Battle of Carthage (1861)
Note: This annotated tour has been inspired by one of the best auto tours that I have ever come across. David C. Hinze and Karen Farnham's book, The Battle of Carthage, describes an auto tour on pages 227-243. They give you directions to key spots on the battle field, but they also describe what you are looking at for each stop along the way
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Although this is a battlefield tour, only the last stop of the tour is located on public property. This tour begins about 10 miles north of Carthage, Missouri, 64386.
| Waypoints | Google Earth Placemarks (kmz) |
On July 5, 1861 ten miles north of Carthage, Missouri, a Union Infantry Brigade (1,100 men) under the command of Colonel Franz Sigel fought the Missouri State Guard (4,000 armed, 2,000 unarmed) under the command of Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson. Recognizing that he was outnumbered and in danger of being flanked and captured, Sigel began an organized withdrawal from the field of battle. A running battle raged for the rest of the day and Sigel was able to escape to Sarcoxie, Missouri.
One note of interest is that this fight took place 16 days prior to the The First Battle of Bull Run (First Battle of Manassas) which occurred on July 21, 1861.