page_title: Battle of Kirksville
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Kirksville / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of battlefield core and study areas. The ABPP revised the 1993 Study Area to include the retreat route of Confederate forces from Kirksville down towards New Cambria to incorporate fighting that took place on August 8 and 9. The Federal approaches to New Cambria along the railroad were also added. These troops stumbled into Porter’s scouts east of New Cambria and initiated the two-day running engagement back up the Chariton River. The Core Areas were revised to represent the initial expulsion of Porter’s Confederates from Kirksville by a smaller but better trained and well-equipped Federal force on August 6, the rearguard ambush at Painter's Creek on August 8, a second rearguard action at Walnut Creek in the early morning hours of August 9, and the final skirmish which took place later that day at Seesford as Confederate forces retreated across the Chariton River.
context_page_description: The Battle of Kirksville was a battle in the American Civil War, fought in the town of Kirksville, Missouri, on August 6, 1862. The Union victory helped consolidate Federal control over northeastern Missouri.
context_section_description: Confederate Col. Joseph C. Porter had been recruiting in the Macon area, to the south of Kirksville. He had assembled a brigade of between 1,500 and 2,500 ill-trained and poorly equipped troops, but his irregulars had harried and recruited as far north as Memphis, Missouri. Confederate sympathies in the Kirksville area were high (though Union sentiment was stronger than in surrounding counties), due to the Southern heritage of most of the residents. Porter had been urged to come to Kirksville by Confederate Captain Tice Cain, an Adair County farmer who claimed to be holding Kirksville with 500 fresh recruits (in one of the battle's mysteries, Cain disappeared and was never heard from again, according to a descendant).
  Union Colonel John McNeil of the 2nd Missouri Cavalry Regiment and his troops, totalling about 1,000, had been pursuing Porter for more than a week. Before noon on August 6, McNeil attacked Porter in the town of Kirksville, where the Confederates had concealed themselves in homes and stores and among the crops in the nearby fields, especially in the county courthouse and the commercial buildings on the square. Their presence was discovered by a Union detachment that volunteered to ride around the square in order to draw fire and cause the Confederates to reveal themselves — an act of courage which cost two Union soldiers their lives. McNeil deployed his artillery before moving in a broad line towards the town square. The subsequent cannon fire demoralized the defenders, some of whom retreated behind a rail fence, west of the square.
  The Union troops then advanced in two wings, with Lt. Col. William F. Shaffer of the 2nd Missouri in command of the Union right wing and Major Henry Clay Caldwell of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry Regiment in charge of the left. As the two wings met, they succeeded in driving the Confederates from the courthouse. Porter's remaining forces yielded ground and joined the others behind the rail fence. From this position, the Confederates poured heavy fire into McNeil's men, but were ultimately overwhelmed. The battle began at 11 a.m. and was over by 2 p.m.
  The Federals then secured the town, capturing numerous prisoners, and driving away the remaining Confederates. Three days later, another Union force arrived and finished the work begun at Kirksville, virtually destroying Porter's command.
caption: Map of Kirksville Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)"}