The Battle of Lexington State Historic Site

The following information on the Battle of Lexington is from the Lexington Battlefield Guide by Douglas L. Gifford, and is reproduced here with the author's permission. See copyright information at the bottom of the page.

     The visitor center at The Battle of Lexington State Historic Site is the ideal location to begin your tour of the Battle of Lexington. A museum inside the visitor center contains exhibits and a video presentation about the battle. There is no admission fee to tour the museum or to walk the grounds. However, there is a small fee for a guided tour of the Anderson house.

     On September 13, 1861, six companies of the 13th Missouri Infantry (USA) and two companies of the 1st Illinois Cavalry battled the advance elements of the Missouri State Guard among the tombstones in MacPhelah Cemetery. Colonel Mulligan was hoping to buy time so his soldiers could complete work on the new earthworks they were building around the Masonic College.

    General Price hoped to overwhelm the Union Garrison in one quick rush. It took several hours to drive the pesky Federals from MacPhelah Cemetery, and in the process Price’s troops exhausted much of their ammunition. The State Guard finally drove the 13th Missouri from the cemetery, and the Federals retreated inside the earthworks surrounding the Masonic College. Price’s men then moved to capture the Lexington garrison, but the now formidable earthworks were too strong, and their ammunition was nearly exhausted.

    After skirmishing for a couple of hours and shelling the Federal earthworks, Price moved the State Guard back to the county fairgrounds to await the arrival of his ammunition train.

     When Colonel James Mulligan arrived in Lexington on September 10, he ordered the existing field fortifications around the college expanded and strengthened to accommodate the 3.500 Union Soldiers then in Lexington plus additional troops that he assumed were on the way to reinforce the Lexington garrisons. The State Guard arrived in Lexington on September 11, but did not attack the Union fortifications until the afternoon of September 12. By that time, the earthworks were too strong for Price’s soldiers to capture in one quick rush.

  The State Guard attacked the Federal position again on September 18, and completely surrounded the Union garrison. After three days of siege Mulligan surrendered to Price’s Missourians on September 20, 1861.

     The Masonic College, Union headquarters during the Battle of Lexington, was located 700 yards north of Captain Churchill Clark's position, which was at the present day intersection of South Street and 16th Street. (A 113-scale replica of the college now sets on the Masonic College site, visible by looking north on 16th Street.) On September 18, 1861, a 6-pounder gun from Captain Churchill Clark’s Battery began firing heated shot from this position in an attempt to burn the Masonic College. Clark’s gunners succeeded in hitting the college several times, but a boy stationed in the attic was able to remove the rounds before the building caught fire.

     General Sterling Price established his headquarters in a building at 926 Main Street on September 18, 1861. During the Battle of Lexington, Price directed State Guard operations from room on the second floor. The Lafayette County Courthouse is located across the street. On the second day of the siege a cannon ball, probably fired from Captain Hiram Bledsoe’s State Guard Battery, struck the courthouse only about one hundred yards from General Price’s headquarters.

     On the evening of September 19, 1861, soldiers of Brigadier General Thomas A. Harris’ 2nd Division began using hemp bales to construct a moveable breastwork facing the Union entrenchments. The bales were soaked with water to make them impervious to hot shot fired from the Federal artillery. Harris’ men pushed the bales up a hill, providing cover for the State Guard soldiers as they advanced. The hemp bale line started in the vicinity of the Anderson house and extended north along the hillside for about 200 yards. In many places the hemp bales were stacked two high to provide additional protection. As the fighting progressed, State Guardsmen from other divisions joined Harris’ men behind the hemp bales, increasing the amount of fire directed toward the Union garrison.

     Major John Taylor, one of Colonel Mulligan’s staff officers, describes the Missouri State Guard’s initial attack on the Lexington garrison. “The enemy advanced driving before them the Federal pickets, and placed a battery in the street and the fight was 'on' with both artillery and small arms but for the latter the distance too great.

    Our battery of five 6-pounders, stationed about 50 yards in front of the college, immediately replied with vigor, and the scene became one of the wildest description. Our gunners were inexperienced and the firing was bad, and the musketry were firing at every angle. Those who were not shooting at the moon were shooting above it.

    When the first whizzing of grape shot & six pounders came crashing through the trees and against the sides of the College and Boarding House … it was somewhat alarming to raw recruits. Soon however the men were arranged kneeling in ranks along the earth works. The artillery was more deliberately aimed and in an hour a shot from one of our guns dismantled one of their pieces and seemed to explode a powder caisson. This achievement was received with a great shout by our men and ended the conflict that evening.”

    At the start of the Battle of Lexington, over a hundred sick or wounded Union soldiers occupied the Anderson House hospital. Medical care was entrusted to a surgeon named Dr. Cooley, while Father Butler, Chaplin of the 23rd Illinois, provided for the spiritual needs of the soldiers.

     Before the siege of Lexington began, the Union garrison established a field hospital in the Anderson house. Because of it's strategic significance, General Thomas Harris ordered soldiers from his 2nd Division Missouri State Guard to capture the house. Shocked at what he considered a violation of the Laws of War, Colonel Mulligan ordered the house retaken. Company B, 23rd Illinois, Company B, 13th Missouri, and volunteers from the 1st Illinois Cavalry charged from the Union lines and recaptured the house, suffering heavy casualties in the process. Harris’s soldiers recaptured the house later in the day and it remained in State Guard hands thoughout the remainder of the siege.

     The most controversial incident of the battle occurred during the Federal assault on the Anderson house when Union soldiers shot several State Guard soldiers. Union soldiers claimed the Missourian’s were shot because they resisted surrender. The Southerners claimed the men had surrendered and should have been treated as prisoners of war. The debate continued in publications during the post-war years.

     For more information on the Battle of Lexington State Historic Site and Anderson House such as hours of operation and tour times, please visit the Missouri Department of Natural Resources web site at MoStateParks.com. For more history of the Battle of Lexington, the Lafayette County Courthouse, and many other historic landmarks, see the Attractions page or visit the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce web site at HistoricLexington.com