These shallow ditches on Pigeon Hill were once formidable earthen and log defenses built and defended by the 3rd and 5th Consolidated Missouri Regiment, CSA. Confederate soldiers also felled trees and installed other barriers in front of the trenches to slow Union attackers. On June 27, the 6th Missouri Regiment, USA, took part in the Union assault on Pigeon Hill. Confederate Missourians battled Union Missourians as Federal forces fought uphill to within 25 yards of the earthworks and took cover behind the boulders just ahead. By the time they retreated from the hill, 154 Federals of Brig. Gen. Giles Smith's brigade lay dead, 10 of those from Missouri; the Confederate Missourians suffered 9 killed and 27 wounded.