The Eye of the Storm
Wilson's Creek
On August 6, 1861, the Southern army entered this valley from your left on the Wire Road, the restored historic road in front of you. The soldiers camped on both sides of the creek for a mile or more upstream and downstream from this point. Here, beside the log home of William Edwards, Confederate General Sterling Price set up his headquarters.
Shortly after 5 A.M. on August 10, while Generals Price and Ben McCulloch were eating breakfast, the Union Army attacked. Looking up to "Bloody Hill" in front of you, the Confederate generals saw their own soldiers running for their lives, and then the flash of Union cannon.
Immediately orders were shouted, and the Southerners organized into line of battle to attack the Federals on the hill. The Battle of Wilson's Creek had begun. For the next six hours shells exploded overhead, troops raced up and down the road, and gunfire and shouts filled the air.
The cabin that stood here during the battle no longer exists. The cabin you see today was built about three miles from here in the 1869 by William Edwards - the same man who built the first cabin here. The National Park Service moved the second Edwards Cabin to this site in 1985 to help recreate the historic setting of Price's Headquarters.
Marker can be reached from Tour Road, on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
