Missouri 4th Volunteer Cavalry (Union)

Pea Ridge

By the spring of 1862, Union forces had pushed Confederates south and west through Missouri into northwestern Arkansas. On the night of March 6, 1862, Confederate Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn and his 16,000-man Army of the West set out to counterattack the Union position near Pea Ridge. Hoping to move quickly, in a fateful decision, Van Dorn ordered the supply trains far to the rear. Learning of Van Dorn's approach, some 10,000 Federals in Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis's Army of the Southwest marched to meet the…READ MORE

CaptainJohn S. Foster

Brigadier GeneralMarcellus M. Crocker

Raymond

On May 12th, 1863, after days of hard marching towards Jackson, Mississippi, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant fought to secure the crossings of Fourteenmile Creek southwest of Raymond, which would provide a vital water source for his men and animals and serve as a staging area for a strike on the Confederate rail supply line between Clinton and Edwards, Mississippi. Cutting the railroad here would cut off supplies to Grant's ultimate goal, the Mississippi River city of Vicksburg 30 miles to the west. At around…READ MORE

Brigadier GeneralEgbert B. Brown

ColonelJohn F. Philips

Major GeneralAlfred Pleasonton

Brigadier GeneralEgbert B. Brown

Westport

The Battle of Westport, fought October 21-23, was the largest battle west of the Mississippi River and the decisive battle of Confederate Gen. Stirling Price's 1864 Missouri campaign. Directions guide the visitor to the first of twenty-five narrative markers on a 32-mile, self-guided automobile tour and a self-guided walking tour of Byram's Ford and the Big Blue Battlefield. Each marker provides directions to the next stop on the tour. A written brochure is available from the Battle of Westport Visitor Cen…READ MORE