In 1864, an estimated 12,000 troops under Major General Sterling Price invaded southeast Missouri and on September 27th surrounded Fort Davidson, a small earthwork at Pilot Knob. The Union garrison, commanded by Brigadier General Thomas J. Ewing, numbered 1262 troops and about 150 civilians. Price's soldiers attacked in three waves, and the final desperate assault reached the dry moat surrounding the fort before fierce fire and hand-thrown Ketcham grenades repelled them, leaving more than 1000 dead and wounded, while Union casualties were 12 dead, 65 wounded, and 129 missing. Shortly after midnight, after muffling horses' hooves and cannon wheels with cloth, the entire Union command marched out of the fort and directly through the Confederate lines without being challenged or drawing a shot, apparently because the southerners mistook them for their own troops. A few hours later a Union demolition team blew up the powder magazine inside the fort, and the massive blast rained debris around the galloping team without harming them. At daylight Price's troops attacked again and found the fort abandoned. For the next two days, Ewing led his small command on a grueling retreat north across the Ozarks, covering 66 miles in 39 hours, while cavalry under Generals Marmaduke and Shelby attacked from the rear but could not flank them because of the rugged terrain. At the crossing of rain-swollen Huzzah Creek, Private John Wynn recalled, "When I crossed the water was so deep that I bowed my head and drank water without stopping, while the bullets were striking the water like large drops of rain."

Photo: Devry Becker Jones

Cuba, Missouri · USA