Significance
The first chronological major battle after Lincoln invoked "the war power" in lieu of a Declaration of War in his Message to Congress on July 4, 1861, the Battle of Carthage was strategically and tactically significant.
The battle marks the only time a sitting U.S. State governor has led troops in the field, and then, against the Union to which his state belonged.
Serving at the vanguard of Governor Jackson's army a band of 150 independent partisan rangers (Missourian's fighting for self-determination) under the command of Capt. Jo Shelby, a Missouri farmer. From tactical battlefield maneuvers under fire by Sigel's batteries to pressing his retreat to Sarcoxie, Shelby's rangers "snatched the victory at Carthage from Sigel's grasp" and pro-Southern elements in Missouri celebrated their first victory.
The depopulation of mineral-rich Jasper County and the destruction of Carthage by sustained hostilities throughout the war paved the way for Victorian era resettlement and, with it, environmentally destructive lead and zinc mining.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Carthage (1861)
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