Battle of Fort Davidson The Battle of Fort Davidson , also known as the Battle of Pilot Knob , was the opening engagement of Price ' s Missouri Raid during the American Civil War . This engagement occurred on September 27 , 1864 , just outside of Pilot Knob in Iron County , Missouri . Although outnumbered by more than ten - to - one , the Union defenders managed to repulse repeated Confederate assaults on their works , and were able to slip away during the night by exploiting a gap in the Southern siege lines . The attacking Rebels took possession of the fort the next day , but Price ' s useless waste of men and ammunition ended his goal of seizing St . Louis for the Confederacy . Background . In April 1864 , the Confederacy found itself in an increasingly desperate military situation . Unable to win any decisive victories or to obtain foreign recognition , its main strategy by this point was merely to hold on and hope that enormous Union casualties might result in a war - weary Northern public voting Abraham Lincoln out of office in November . The Democratic nominee , General George B . McClellan , had seen his party adopt a plank to make peace with the South if the party were successful — a plank McClellan was forced to repudiate after the Union met with military successes that summer . However , despite the many recent Union triumphs , just one significant military disaster in that shaky autumn of 1864 could still politically embarrass Lincoln and potentially doom his reelection . As the election approached , things began to look even bleaker for the South . General Ulysses S . Grant had pinned down Robert E . Lee in Virginia , while Gen . William Sherman was locked in combat with Gen . Joseph Johnston north of Atlanta . Gen . George Crook ' s army held the Shenandoah Valley . The only realm that seemed to offer possibilities for a Confederate army embarrassing the Union was in the West . Accordingly , Major General Sterling Price was chosen for this task . He raised a mixed force of 12 , 000 cavalry and mounted infantry plus fourteen cannon , which he named the Army of Missouri , and set out to " liberate " his home state . Price ' s Raid begins . In September 1864 , Price left Camden , Arkansas and marched north into Missouri . His initial objective was St . Louis , the state ' s largest city . Though Sherman had captured Atlanta , which provided a tremendous boost to Lincoln ' s reelection campaign , the seizure of St . Louis by Price – together with the huge quantities of arms in the St . Louis arsenal – could still prove catastrophic for the Republicans . As they moved north toward Ironton , near the terminus of the Iron Mountain Railroad from St . Louis , Price ' s army came upon Fort Davidson with a garrison of 1 , 500 men and seven guns , a tempting target . Price had a total of 12 , 000 mounted infantry under his command , 3 , 000 of whom were unarmed . Capturing the fort and its garrison would certainly prove beneficial to Southern morale . As Price prepared to seize the garrison , he received word that Federal troops were moving south to intercept him . Ordering detachments to destroy the railroad to the north at once , he slowly moved his three main brigades into the Arcadia valley , where he invested the fort with his three divisions on the evening of September 26 . Union Brig . General Thomas Ewing , deputy commander of the District of St . Louis and a brother - in - law to William T . Sherman , had arrived at Fort Davidson with 200 Iowa infantry to augment the small Federal force already there . He was scouting the route Price might take towards St . Louis when he got word that the Ironton - St . Louis railroad behind him had been cut by Confederate cavalry . Despite being outnumbered ten - to - one , he decided to stand and fight . The fort occupied a strong defensive position , with hexagonal walls nine feet high and ten feet thick , surrounded by a dry moat nine feet deep . Two long rifle pits ran out from the walls , while a reinforced board fence topped the earthworks . Access could only be had through a drawbridge on the structure ' s southeastern corner . A cleared field of fire extended in every direction beyond the walls ; any enemy approach would prove extremely hazardous . The battle . The Battle of Fort Davidson began on September 26 , when the leading elements of Price ' s army encountered Union pickets south of Ironton , south of Fort Davidson . The Federal troops were driven back into the town , and the two sides exchanged fire on the Iron County Courthouse lawn . That building still stands , and damage from stray bullets can still be seen in the structure ' s bricks . As more Rebels arrived , the diminutive Union forces withdrew to the fort . On September 27 , Ewing rejected several demands by Confederate leaders for the fort ' s surrender . Ewing later wrote that he considered capitulating , except that he had African American civilians in his camp and the slaughter of black soldiers earlier that year at Fort Pillow , Tennessee concerned him . Furthermore , Ewing was uncertain of his own fate if captured . He had issued General Order № 11 after William C . Quantrill ' s raid on Lawrence , Kansas in 1863 , and had used Union cavalry to force thousands of Missouri civilians into Arkansas for alleged collaboration with Confederate bushwacker s . Thus , Ewing decided to fight on , and Price determined to take his fort that same day . Price ' s attack came as one massive assault from several directions : one brigade went over the top of Pilot Knob , engulfing a small Union force there , while another attacked over the summit of Shepherd Mountain . A third brigade skirted Shepherd Mountain to attack the northwestern sides of the fort , and the fourth attacked through a valley between the two mountains . As Union troops were driven back by superior numbers , the Rebels took control of Shepherd Mountain , southwest of the fort . A two - gun Confederate battery was subsequently deployed there , and its murderous fire caused the smaller of the two rifle pits within the fort to be abandoned . Unfortunately these assaults were not made simultaneously , allowing the guns of Fort Davidson to be directed at each Confederate unit in turn . Just one brigade actually reached the fort itself , under a withering hail of cannon and musket fire , only to find the earthworks too steep to climb . During the assault , Union defenders were given hand grenade s from the fort ' s magazines ; these wood - finned impact devices were tossed over the walls , forcing the Rebels to break off their attack . The disorganized Southerners fell back and prepared to assault the fort again the following day . As Price now set his troops to building scaling ladders for a new assault the next morning , Ewing held a Council of War inside the fort . Ewing had received belated orders from St . Louis to abandon the post ; he now agreed that his position was untenable and planned to escape . Union soldiers put all equipment they could not take with them inside their powder magazine , draped the drawbridge in canvas to muffle the sounds of their movement , and began stealthily to exit the fort after midnight . Though the Confederates had lit a large charcoal pile to illuminate the valley , Union survivors withdrew undetected to the northwest directly between exhausted Confederates in two encampments . They left a slow - burning fuse to their powder magazine , which detonated with a huge blast well after the Union troops had gone . Despite the enormous explosion , Price did not have his men investigate the fort ' s condition until daybreak . Aftermath . Price ' s subordinates were furious at this deception , and demanded that their commander pursue the escaping Union troops . But Price demurred . He had lost over ten percent of his army and three precious days in this fruitless exercise , and his dreams of taking St . Louis were now clearly dashed . Ewing ' s daring defense of the fort and escape through Price ' s lines made headlines throughout the western theater , and eventually Ewing received the personal thanks of a grateful President , Abraham Lincoln . Although the exact number of Confederate casualties are unknown , historians estimate that total Southern losses at the Battle of Fort Davidson were approximately 1 , 000 . Earlier accounts included a higher number . This compares to 200 Union casualties , 28 of which were killed . Price ' s troopers mounted up and resumed their advance northward , eventually turning west toward Jefferson City , the state capital . Finding that city too heavily fortified , they continued even further westward , fighting their way toward Kansas City and Fort Leavenworth . Ultimately , at Westport , Price would suffer a crushing defeat , and was forced to end his Missouri campaign . At the subsequent Battle of Mine Creek , the largest cavalry action of the Civil War and the only pitched battle between Union and Confederate armies fought in Kansas , Price ' s army was virtually destroyed as an effective unit . It limped back into Arkansas , having lost over 50 % of the men who began the campaign in September . Fort Davidson State Historic Site . Today , the battle area and a museum is operated by the Missouri State Parks system as " Fort Davidson State Historic Site " . The earthworks of the fort are still generally intact , surrounding the huge hole that was caused by the powder explosion . Following the battle , the Confederates retained the field and were therefore responsible for burying the dead . One of the rifle pits was accordingly selected for use as a mass grave . Although the exact number of Confederate casualties are unknown , park historians estimate that total Southern casualties were approximately 1 , 000 . This compares to 200 Union casualties , 28 of whom were killed . The mass grave is now marked by a granite monument . The site is listed on the U . S . National Register of Historic Places .