The siege of Lexington, also known as the first battle of Lexington or the battle of the Hemp Bales, was a minor conflict of the American Civil War. The siege took place from September 13 to 20, 1861, between the Union Army and the pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard in Lexington, county seat of Lafayette County, Missouri. The victory won by the Missouri Guard bolstered the considerable Southern sentiment in the area, and briefly consolidated Missouri State Guard control of the Missouri River Valley in the western part of the state.
Prior to the American Civil War, Lexington was an agricultural town of over 4,000 residents that served as the county seat of Lafayette County and enjoyed a position of considerable local importance on the Missouri River in west-central Missouri. Hemp (used for rope production), tobacco, coal and cattle all contributed to the town's wealth, as did the river trade. Though Missouri remained in the Union during the war, many of Lexington's residents were slaveowners, and several openly sympathized with the Southern aim of preserving slavery. Lafayette County had a high ratio of slaves to free persons, with slaves comprising 32% of its population.
Following the Battle of Boonville in June 1861, Federal Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon ordered the 5th Regiment of the United States Reserve Corps to occupy Lexington. This regiment was composed primarily of Germans from St. Louis, and it had participated in the Camp Jackson Affair. Arriving on the steamer White Cloud on July 9, the Northerners were commanded by Colonel Charles G. Stifel. Stifel's second in command was Lieutenant Colonel Robert White, who became a primary point of contact with the local civilians. Stifel selected the defunct Masonic College in Lexington as his headquarters, and the soldiers began entrenching and fortifying that position.
Stifel's scouts began securing or destroying boats that could be used to cross the river, and also confiscated about 200 kegs of gunpowder, 33 muskets, and two 6-pounder cannons from the area. The cannons were placed under the command of Charles M. Pirner. Several local pro-Union home guard companies were raised and placed under the command of Major Frederick W. Becker.
In mid-August the 90-day enlistments of Stifel's regiment were expiring, and they were ordered to return to St. Louis. White had been organizing a new regiment locally, but he suddenly left for several weeks during which time Major Becker had command of the post. Meanwhile, on the Southern side, self-styled Colonel Henry L. Routt of Clay County had collected around a thousand men for a regiment that he was raising. Routt had led the force that had seized the Liberty Arsenal in April.
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.
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