Anniversary of Mo.'s first big Civil War battle this week

Monday, August 8, 2011

WILSON'S CREEK -- Wednesday marks 150 years since Nathaniel Lyon was killed by a bullet through the heart in a battle in southwest Missouri, becoming the first Union general to die in the Civil War.

Before the day of fighting was over, he was joined in death by 258 Union soldiers and 277 Confederate and pro-Southern Missouri State Guard soldiers.

Named for a stream that cuts through the Ozark hills and valleys where the blood was shed, the Battle of Wilson's Creek in 1861 was the first major Civil War engagement in Missouri.

Today, it is one of the country's national battlefields that commemorate milestones in the Civil War.

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