Battle of Wilson’s Creek

Why a slave state on the border could decide the war, and how Nathaniel Lyon (North) seized Missouri by force and chased the secessionists south.

Lyon splits his tiny army for a dawn double-attack; a confusion of gray uniforms wrecks Sigel’s (North) column, and the killing centers on one low ridge.

Lyon falls leading a charge, the war’s first general killed. The South wins a field it cannot hold, and Missouri’s guerrilla nightmare begins.