The Oak Hills

At Wilson's Creek, a varied landscape shaped the fighting: ridges of exposed rock and oak savannah were open enough for artillery to move through, while nearby ravines were hidden beneath scrub oak and thick undergrowth. Because of the large numbers of scrubby oaks here, Southerners called the battle Oak Hills. On Bloody Hill, rocky soils discouraged the growth of trees and shrubs but allowed grasses to reach waist height by August. Third Arkansas Private Ras Stirman recalled that Union troops lay hidden in brush and grass until his side came within a hundred yards, forcing men to fire by guess at soldiers lying in the grass on the hill. Benjamin F. McIntyre wrote that the battle seemed to extend along this barren ridge for perhaps over half a mile and that it was a desolate and lonely-looking place where nature had lavished few beauties. The National Park Service works to restore the landscape to its early 1860s appearance, using prescribed fire to check shrub growth and exotic vegetation, and today this rocky habitat is home to the federally threatened Missouri bladderpod.

Missouri · United States