Following the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas and the subsequent Confederate withdrawal from northern Arkansas, Southern forces sought to rebuild their presence in Missouri by dispatching recruiters throughout the state. These recruiters were supported by Southern guerrillas, who not only aided them but often fought alongside them in combat. Guerrilla warfare had plagued Missouri since the beginning of the conflict, but the problem intensified in early 1862 as warmer weather arrived. To address this escalating threat, General Henry W. Halleck issued General Order Number 2 on March 13, which warned Missourians that joining guerrilla bands would result in execution rather than treatment as ordinary prisoners of war if captured. Confederate President Jefferson Davis responded on April 21, 1862, in an attempt to legitimize guerrilla operations.
The Battle of Moore's Mill took place on July 28, 1862, in Central Missouri along Auxvasse Creek near modern-day Calwood. The specific details of the engagement—including commanders, troop movements, and tactical sequences—are not provided in the available source material.
The Battle of Moore's Mill, along with the Battle of Kirksville a week later and the Battle of Compton's Ferry, achieved a significant strategic objective: these engagements drove the main Southern recruiters from northern Missouri. This outcome effectively disrupted Confederate efforts to rebuild their forces in the region through recruitment. The Moore's Mill Battlefield was subsequently recognized for its historical importance and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
This page covers New Madrid Supplemental Skirmish 1862. 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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