Dry Wood Creek was a Civil War engagement fought in Missouri, 1861. It was a Confederate victory.
Col. J.H. Lane's cavalry, comprising about 600 men, set out from Fort Scott to learn the whereabouts of a rumored Confederate force. They encountered a Confederate force, about 6,000-strong, near Big Dry Wood Creek. The Union cavalry surprised the Confederates, but their numerical superiority soon determined the encounter's outcome. They forced the Union cavalry to retire and captured their mules, and the Confederates continued on towards Lexington. The Confederates were forcing the Federals to abandon southwestern Missouri and to concentrate on holding the Missouri Valley.
On September 2, 1861, fighting broke out in Vernon County, Missouri, in an engagement later remembered as the Battle of Dry Wood Creek, or sometimes the Battle of the Mules, part of the American Civil War. Sterling Price, fresh from his triumph at Wilson's Creek on August 10, pressed the Missouri State Guard farther north through the state
When the American Civil War began in April 1861, Missouri occupied an uneasy position among the border states, permitting slavery yet stopping short of secession. Claiborne F. Jackson, the state's governor, favored the Confederate cause and sought to advance it by directing militia forces toward the federal arsenal in St. Louis. Nathaniel Lyon, the Union brigadier general overseeing St. Louis, responded swiftly, compelling Jackson's militia into surrender during what became known as the Camp Jackson affair.
Undeterred by this setback, Jackson established a new fighting body, the Missouri State Guard, placing Sterling Price at its head. Lyon pursued this force and overcame it at Boonville, sending Price and his guard retreating toward Springfield in the southwestern part of the state. There they linked up with Confederate troops under Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch. On August 10, despite facing a combined enemy more than twice the size of his own army, Lyon chose to strike the joint Confederate and Missouri forces camped near Wilsons Creek. The resulting engagement, the Battle of Wilson's Creek, ended in defeat for the Union side and cost Lyon his life.
Following this loss, Union troops pulled back to Rolla, Missouri, while McCulloch's men withdrew into Arkansas. Price's guard, meanwhile, took possession of Springfield. Command of Union forces in the state then passed to John C. Fremont, and James H. Lane assumed leadership of a handful of Kansas regiments based at Fort Scott. Price soon pushed northward again, leading a force variously estimated at 6,000 to 10,000 men. Faced with this advance, Fremont placed Missouri under martial law.
Lane dispatched a force, its size given variously as 600
Price pressed on toward Lexington, Missouri, once his force cleared Johnson County, and there he found a Union garrison holding the town. His troops encircled the defenders, setting off what became the siege of Lexington. To take the position, the Missouri State Guard pushed uphill against the garrison, at one point relying on hemp bales for protection during the assault. The Union defenders eventually surrendered, and the Missouri State Guard stayed in the Lexington area for a further two weeks before Price directed the unit southward again.
The battlefield itself is now marked by a series of monuments located near Deerfield, Missouri. Nearby, in Nevada, Missouri, a museum offers exhibits on the Battle of Dry Wood Creek as well as the broader story of the Civil War within the state.
This page covers Dry Wood Creek. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
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