Battle of Springfield II

Part of the American Civil War

Date	January 8, 1863 (1863-01-08)
Location	Springfield, Missouri
Result	Union victory

Belligerents

United States (Union)

CSA (Confederacy)

Commanders and leaders

Egbert B. Brown

John S. Marmaduke

Units involved

Southwestern District of Missouri

4th Division, I Corps, Trans-Mississippi Department

Strength

2,099

1,870

Casualties and losses

231 total
30 killed
195 wounded
6 missing

~290 total

The Second Battle of Springfield was a battle in the American Civil War fought January 8, 1863, in Springfield, Missouri. It is sometimes known as The Battle of Springfield. (The First Battle of Springfield was fought on October 25, 1861, and there was also the better-known Battle of Wilson's Creek, fought nearby on August 10, 1861.) Fighting was urban and house-to-house, which was rare in the war.

On December 31, 1862, three columns of cavalry under the command of Confederate Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke left Pocahontas, Arkansas and Lewisburg, Arkansas, and moved north on separate roads toward Missouri and the Union supply line. Marmaduke’s immediate objective was the destruction of the Union Army of the Frontier’s wagon trains and supply line between Rolla and Springfield. If successful, Marmaduke would cause elements of the Army of the Frontier to withdraw from Arkansas and pursue Marmaduke's Division.

Marmaduke's main column proceeded north through Forsyth, Missouri, where Marmaduke learned from scouts that the Union army's major supply depot at Springfield was weakly defended. To clear the way for his Confederates, Marmaduke marched on Ozark, Missouri. The Union garrison stationed at Ozark withdrew and the Confederates burned its abandoned fort. A second column, commanded by Colonel Emmett MacDonald, destroyed the Union fort ("Fort Lawrence") at Lawrence Mill on Beaver Creek, about ten miles (16 km) southwest of Ava. A dispatch to the third column under Colonel Joseph C. Porter directed Porter to join Marmaduke at Springfield rather than at Hartville. If everything went as planned, all three commands would converge on Springfield in an attempt to capture the city's lightly defended warehouses of military supplies.

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