page_title: Bledsoe's Missouri Battery
section_title: 1861
hierarchical_section_title: Bledsoe's Missouri Battery / Service history / 1861
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Battle of Wilson's Creek
context_page_description: Hiram Bledsoe's Missouri Battery was an artillery battery that served in the Missouri State Guard and the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The battery was formed when the Missouri State Guard was formed as a pro-secession state militia unit in response to the Camp Jackson affair. As part of the Missouri State Guard, the unit was engaged in the Engagement near Carthage and the Battle of Wilson's Creek during mid-1861, before fighting at the Battle of Dry Wood Creek and the Siege of Lexington later that year when Major General Sterling Price led the Guard northwards towards the Missouri River. After the Missouri State Guard retreated into Arkansas in early 1862, Bledsoe's Battery served during the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March. The battery, as part of the Army of the West, transferred across the Mississippi River into Tennessee in April, where it left the Guard to enter Confederate service on April 21.
  The battery served in Mississippi during much of the rest of 1862, serving as part of the Confederate rear guard after the Battle of Iuka in September and seeing action at the Second Battle of Corinth.
context_section_description: The battery was one of the first Missouri State Guard units to occupy a key ridge at the Engagement near Carthage on July 5.  As part of Richard Weightman's brigade, Bledsoe's Battery was positioned between two infantry regiments commanded by Colonel John R. Graves and Lieutenant Colonel William O'Kane; the battery's three cannons were manned by 46 men.  The fight began when Guibor's Missouri Battery fired at the Union line, drawing return fire.  Bledsoe's Battery then joined in the artillery duel.  During the firefight, the men of the battery simply aimed at where the enemy was the thickest.  After ammunition began to run low, Bledsoe's and Guibor's batteries were forced to fire rocks, bits of scrap iron, and fragments of chains instead of actual projectiles.  Around 1:00 pm, Bledsoe's Battery moved forward to prepare for a Confederate attack; it was then exposed to heavy Union return fire.  As the Union force retreated later in the fight, the battery advanced across a ford to provide artillery support for the Confederate pursuit.  It followed the Confederate infantry as far as the vicinity of Carthage itself.  After the victory at Carthage, the Missouri State Guard was joined by a Confederate States Army force commanded by Brigadier General Ben McCulloch.  The combined Missouri and Confederate force camped southeast of Springfield along the banks of Wilsons' Creek.
  On August 10, Lyon attacked the encampment.  As part of the Battle of Wilson's Creek, a Union column commanded by Colonel Franz Sigel attacked the Confederate position from the rear.  Some of Sigel's skirmishers mistook McCulloch's Confederates as part of the main Union force, giving McCulloch time to prepare the 3rd Louisiana Infantry Regiment for battle.  Separately, Bledsoe's Battery and two Missouri State Guard infantry regiments commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas H. Rosser and O'Kane formed a line to McCulloch's right to counter the threat posed by Sigel.  Reid's Arkansas Battery arrived to support McCulloch, opening fire on Sigel's line, although the position of the 3rd Louisiana Infantry presented a threat of accidental friendly fire.  Independently, Bledsoe's Battery also began firing at Sigel with its three cannons, drawing the return fire of Backof's Missouri Battery.  After the artillery duel, the 3rd Louisiana Infantry and the Missouri State Guard infantry attacked Sigel's position, driving the Union column from the field.  After Sigel's retreat, Confederate and Missouri State Guard forces were able to concentrate against Lyon's main attacking column. Lyon formed a defensive line on an elevation named Bloody Hill, repulsing multiple attacks.  However, Lyon was killed during the fighting, and the Union troops retreated to Rolla in defeat. Bledsoe's Battery's Wilson's Creek casualties are unknown.
  After Wilson's Creek, Price moved the Missouri State Guard northward.  A fourth cannon, a 6-pounder smoothbore captured from Sigel at Wilson's Creek, was added to Bledsoe's Battery's complement.  On September 2, the Missouri State Guard encountered Union troops commanded by Brigadier General James H. Lane near Dry Wood Creek.  The ensuing Battle of Dry Wood Creek lasted an hour before Lane retreated from the field.  Bledsoe's Battery participated in the fighting.  Price advanced as far as the Missouri River town of Lexington, which was defended by a Union garrison.  When the Siege of Lexington began on September 12, Bledsoe's Battery, along with Guibor's Battery, provided artillery support as the Union soldiers were driven back from an outer position.  At this point, Bledsoe was temporarily out of action with a wound from Dry Wood Creek, and the battery was commanded by Captain Emmett MacDonald.  That afternoon, the two batteries bombarded the Union fortifications from a range of 600 yards (550 m).  By September 18, the city was under siege in earnest, and Bledsoe's Battery, along with Guibor's Battery and Clark's Missouri Battery, kept the Union position under artillery fire.  Bledsoe returned to the unit; he ordered the battery to fire hot shot at t
caption: Map of the Battle of Wilson's Creek
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