The Wilson's Creek Staff Ride and Battlefield Tour

Armies of the North and South fought the Battle of Wilsons Creek about 10 miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri, on Saturday, 10 August 1861. Like most battles, Wilsons Creek provides fertile ground for studying military art and science. It is particularly useful for examining the dynamics of battle and the effect of personalities on the action. While the action at Wilsons Creek was small compared to that at Gettysburg or Chickamauga, it remains significant and useful to students of military history. Within the context of the military and political campaign within Missouri in the spring and summer of 1861, the battle had the effect of securing the state for the Union. The Union defeat in battle and the death of General Nathaniel Lyon caused the North to adopt a more serious attitude about the war and to realize that victory would come only with detailed planning and proper resourcing. Thus, the Union reinforced Missouri with soldiers and weapons during the fall and winter of 1861-62, while the Confederacy applied its scanty resources elsewhere. Although the exiled pro-Confederate state government voted to secede and sent delegates to Richmond, Virginia, Missouri effectively remained in the Union. Any questions about Missouris fate were settled at the Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862, when Union forces turned back the last significant Confederate threat to Missouri. This book outlines the general usefulness of Wilsons Creek National Battlefield for both battlefield tours and staff rides. A battlefield tour is defined as ...a visit to the site of an actual campaign or battle but with little or no preliminary systematic study. A staff ride goes beyond the scope of a battlefield tour and consists of a ...systematic preliminary study of a selected campaign, and extensive visit to the actual sites associated with that campaign and battle, and an opportunity to integrate the lessons derived from each.