The only confrontation between Union and Confederate regulars in Howell County occurred at this site on February 19, 1862. Combined forces of Colonel Wood’s Sixth Missouri and Major Drake’s Third Iowa cavalries, seeking to locate and engage Confederate Colonel Coleman, surrounded the town at 3:00 P.M. and opened fire with small arms and a mountain howitzer. Coleman and his cavalry were absent, and Confederate resistance was only brief. The Union forces suffered no casualties, six Confederate infantry were killed, eight were wounded, and forty were taken prisoner; sixty stands of arms, forty horses, and several wagons were captured in the skirmish. West Plains was completely burned by guerillas in 1863.