Battle of Carthage ( 1861 ) The Battle of Carthage , also known as the Battle of Dry Fork , took place at the beginning of the American Civil War on July 5 , 1861 , in Jasper County , Missouri . The experienced Colonel Franz Sigel commanded 1 , 100 Federal soldiers intent on keeping Missouri within the Union . The Missouri State Guard was commanded by Governor Claiborne F . Jackson himself and numbered over 4 , 000 soldiers led by a hero of Mexico , Sterling Price , along with 2 , 000 unarmed troops who did not participate in the battle . The battle was a strategic victory by the Missouri State Guard in large part owing to new tactics introduced on the battlefield by independent partisan rangers serving with Capt . Jo Shelby . Carthage played a part in determining Missouri ' s course during the war , as it helped spark recruitment for the Southern regiments . Background . Political views in Missouri were divided before the Civil War . St . Louis and its surrounding counties generally sympathized with the Northern states because that region was connected economically with North . The area also had few slaves and contained a large German immigrant population , most of whom opposed slavery . Missouri Governor Claiborne F . Jackson was pro - Southern , and the rest of the state was very heavily divided . Publicly Jackson tried to stay neutral , but he was suspected by the Union men of secretly preparing the state militia to seize the Federal Arsenal in St . Louis . In April 1861 , after the firing on Fort Sumter , President Abraham Lincoln called for troops from all of the states to defeat the Confederacy . Missouri was asked to send four regiments . Governor Jackson refused the request . Instead , he called up the Missouri State Militia , possibly to seize the St . Louis Arsenal . If this was his intention , it was thwarted by the newly appointed commander of the arsenal , Captain Nathaniel Lyon of the 2nd U . S . Infantry . Lyon was had previously been stationed in Kansas Territory and had developed well known abolitionist views . Arriving in February 1861 , Lyon quickly became associated with the " Unconditional Unionist " faction in St . Louis . Lyon , like many St . Louis Unionists feared that Governor Jackson would employ the city ' s secessionist Minutemen paramilitary organization and the local Missouri Volunteer Militia to capture the Arsenal . Beginning on April 22 , 1861 , on the orders of President Abraham Lincoln , Lyon mustered in four regiments of Federal Missouri Volunteers ( mostly former members of Republican Party Wide Awake marching clubs ) , issuing them weapons drawn form the Arsenal stocks . Lincoln followed up with orders to remove the majority of the Arsenal ' s remaining weapons to Illinois , a transfer which was made secretly on the night of 25 – 25 April 1861 . The crisis grew worse when a shipment of Confederate siege artillery arrived at the state Militia encampment , Camp Jackson , on May 8 – 9 , 1861 . Confronted with ( what he considered ) clear proof of treasonous plotting at Camp Jackson , Lyon marched a force of Federal regulars and his new Missouri Volunteers to the camp to arrest the militia . He then surrounded the state militia ' s camp , forced them to surrender , and unwisely started from there and marched them as prisoners through St . Louis , inadvertently inciting a deadly riot ( the Camp Jackson Affair . ) The action drew great protests from Missourians , and even representatives of the City of St . Louis petitioned Lincoln for Lyon ' s dismissal . However , Lyon ' s action was supported by most of St . Louis ' Unconditional Unionists , including Congressman Francis P . Blair , Jr . , brother to Lincoln ' s Postmaster General Montgomery Blair . The Blair brothers arranged for Lyon ' s promotion to brigadier general . Continued Unconditional Unionist concerns over the accommodation of state authorities by Gen . William S . Harney , commander of the Department of the West lead to Harney ' s removal on May 31 , 1861 . On June 10 , 1861 , Lyon personally met Governor Jackson at St . Louis ' Planter ' s House hotel with Governor Jackson and Missouri State Guard Major General Sterling Price for a last attempt to solve conflicting claims for state and Federal sovereignty . The conference proved futile , with both parties making mutually unacceptable demands . After four hours , Lyon abruptly ended the meeting , and Jackson and Price retreated to Jefferson City , ordering railroad bridges burned behind them . Lyon moved elements of his St . Louis garrison up the Missouri River by steamer to capture the state capital at Jefferson City . Col . Franz Sigel took command of a second element of Federal troops moving from St . Louis into southwest Missouri to cut off Missouri State Guard forces which might retreat south in the face of Lyon ' s advance . On June 12 he started to move his First and Second Battalions , along with 5 infantry companies , 2 rifle companies , and an artillery battery towards Springfield . The Missouri State Guard in Jefferson City retreated to Boonville , where a pivotal skirmish took place on June 17 . Lyon quickly took the town and chased the Missouri State Guard south . Due to logistical difficulties , Lyon could not keep up with the retreating Guardsmen . Another group of State Guardsmen in Lexington also moved south under Sterling Price , after learning of the defeat at Boonsville . Sigel ’ s troops arrived in Springfield and quickly took the town . They prepared to march to Carthage , hoping to catch up with the retreating State Guardsmen . Jackson ’ s and Prices ’ s units met in Lamar on July 3 and started to organize . Jackson ’ s army grew to 6 , 000 men , a large number of whom joined along the march south . However , the force in Lamar was for the most part armed only with hunting rifles , shotguns , knives , or nothing at all . The next day , July 4 , Sigel arrived at Carthage with his 1 , 100 men . Learning that Sigel had encamped at Carthage , Governor Jackson took command and made plans to attack the smaller but better armed Union force . On the morning of July 5 , Jackson marched his green soldiers south . The rival armies met 10 miles north of Carthage , and the State Guard raised two Confederate stars and bars flags on either side of their line , which stretched over half a mile . Sigel ’ s men provided an impressive display as they formed a line of battle and moved within 800 yards of the State Guard troops . Battle . Opposing forces . Opening the action with his artillery , Sigel closed to the attack . Jackson replied with his own artillery . Jackson and the State Guard then chased after Sigel ' s brigade , engaging them in battle as they pushed them 10 miles southward until they reached the outskirts of Carthage . Jackson had his men divide up and attempted to surround Sigel ' s force , the battle went on steadily throughout the day until both forces faced off in the Carthage town square . Both sides then engaged in some skirmishing . At this point , Sigel learned of a large body of Guardsmen — actually all unarmed recruits — moving into the woods on his left outside of town . Fearing this force would turn his flank , he ordered a retreat . The State Guard pursued , but Sigel conducted a successful rearguard action . By evening , Sigel was back in Carthage . Under the cover of darkness , he retreated further to Sarcoxie . Significance . The first chronological major battle after Lincoln invoked " the war power " in lieu of a Declaration of War in his Message to Congress on July 4 , 1861 , the Battle of Carthage was strategically and tactically significant . The battle marks the only time a sitting U . S . State governor has led troops in the field , and then , against the Union to which his state belonged . Serving at the vanguard of Governor Jackson ' s army a band of 150 independent partisan rangers under the command of Capt . Jo Shelby , a Missouri farmer . From tactical battlefield maneuvers under fire by Sigel ' s batteries to pressing his retreat to Sarcoxie , Shelby ' s rangers " snatched the victory at Carthage from Sigel ' s grasp " and pro - Southern elements in Missouri celebrated their first victory . The depopulation of mineral - rich Jasper County and the destruction of Carthage by sustained hostilities throughout the war paved the way for Victorian era resettlement and , with it , environmentally destructive lead and zinc mining .