Prelude
On December 31, 1862, three columns of cavalry under the command of Confederate Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke left Lewisburg, Arkansas, and trotted north on separate roads toward Missouri and the Union supply line. Marmaduke’s immediate objective was the destruction of the Union Army of the Frontier’s major winter supply depot, housed in and around Springfield, Missouri’s Public Square. If successful, Marmaduke would cause severe hardship for the Army of the Frontier and almost certainly would force the Union army’s withdrawal from Arkansas.
Marmaduke's main column proceeded north through Forsyth, Missouri to Ozark, Missouri. A Union garrison stationed at Ozark withdrew and the Confederates burned its abandoned fort. A second column, commanded by Colonel Emmett MacDonald, destroyed the Union fort ("Fort Lawrence") at Lawrence Mill on Beaver Creek, about ten miles (16 km) southwest of Ava. The third column, under Colonel Joseph C. Porter passed north through Hartville. All three commands were to converge on Springfield in an attempt to capture the city's lightly defended warehouses of military supplies.
Read more about this topic: Second Battle Of Springfield
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