Volume 6, Part 1 covers the first half of August 1861, a period marked by escalating military activity across Missouri. Several engagements occurred during these weeks, including skirmishes at Edina and Potosi, the fight at Dug Springs, and most significantly the Battle of Wilson’s Creek near Springfield on August 10. Much of the material in this volume focuses on the movements of Union and Confederate forces leading up to these encounters and the reports that followed them. At Wilson’s Creek, Union General Nathaniel Lyon led an outnumbered force against Confederate and Missouri State Guard troops and was killed in the fighting, becoming the first Union general killed in the Civil War.
At the same time, Missouri’s political landscape continued to shift. Following the removal of secessionist officials by the Missouri State Convention, Hamilton R. Gamble assumed office as provisional governor on August 1 and pledged to restore peace while protecting the rights of loyal citizens. Meanwhile, Governor Claiborne F. Jackson and Confederate allies continued to issue proclamations calling for resistance against federal authority. As the fighting intensified, martial law was declared in St. Louis, Union forces reorganized under new leadership, and federal authorities worked to stabilize the state amid growing violence and uncertainty.