Battle of Boonville - Casualties and Impact

Casualties and Impact

Federal casualties were light, with five men killed or mortally wounded and about seven less seriously injured. There are no reliable figures of casualties for the Missouri State Guard: only a few are known to have been killed, and probably a dozen or so were wounded, while about 80 were captured. Lyon seized the State Guard's supplies and equipment, which included two iron 6-pounder cannon without ammunition, 500 obsolete flintlock muskets, 1200 pair of shoes, a few tents, and food.

The real impact of the Battle of Boonville was strategic, far out of proportion to the minimal loss of life. The Battle of Boonville effectively ejected the secessionist forces from the center of Missouri, and secured the state for the Union. Price realized he could not hold Lexington and retreated, though he would return three months later to re-take the city. Secessionist communications to the strongly pro-Confederate Missouri River valley were effectively cut, and would-be recruits from slave-owning regions north of the Missouri River found it difficult to join the Southern army. Provisions and supplies also could no longer be obtained from this section of the state.

A second result of the battle was demoralization. While the Missouri State Guard would fight and win on other days (most notably at Wilson's Creek and Lexington just two and three months later, respectively), it was badly dispirited by this early defeat. Lyon's victory gave the Union forces time to consolidate their hold on the state, while Marmaduke's disappointment led him to resign from the Missouri State Guard and seek a regular commission in the Confederate Army. Marmaduke and Price would team up again during Price's great Missouri Raid of 1864, culminating in their defeat at the Battle of Westport on October 23 of that year, which in turn put an end to significant Confederate operations in the state.