he Confederate Battle Flag has thirteen stars, but there were only eleven Confederate States. The extra stars represent Missouri and Kentucky, who formed Confederate governments that attempted to secede but did not succeed. Missouri was held in the Union by the quick and violent actions of the German immigrant community of St. Louis. Pro-Southern Missourians, of whom there were multiple thousands, banded together and followed Generals Sterling Price and Benjamin McCullough against a U.S. Army, led by General Nathaniel Lyon, who set out to defeat the 12,000 Missouri and Arkansas Confederates or drive them from the state.

The two forces met in southwest Missouri at Wilson’s Creek, the second major battle of the Civil War, on August 10, 1861. The pro-Southern forces outnumbered the Union more than two to one, but the impetuous and overconfident Lyon determined to attack anyway. A fierce contest ensued in which the two armies—mostly ununiformed and with but rudimentary training—inflicted more than twelve hundred casualties on each other, killing General Lyon in the process. The Union forces retreated and the exultant pro-Southern forces followed them to the capital at Springfield.

In October, a formal Confederate government was organized and the State Guard commissioned as official Confederate regiments. Under new commanders, the Union forces in Missouri banded together and defeated Price’s Missourians, driving them from the state south into Arkansas, thus instigating a guerrilla war that would characterize most of the violence over the next three years. Price would return in future years but never win again, nor outnumber his enemies.

Most of the 1700+ acre battlefield has been preserved in its original condition and is well interpreted with signage and hiking trails. The Battle of Wilson’s Creek could have secured Missouri’s place in the Confederacy, but quick reaction by Federal leaders and lack of provisions and equipment prevented further major successes for the Confederate cause.