150-Year Anniversary · August 1861
On August 10, 1861, Union and Confederate forces clashed at Wilson's Creek in southwestern Missouri. The Union commander Nathaniel Lyon was killed and his army forced to retreat, leaving much of Missouri contested ground.
On August 6 Congress passed the first Confiscation Act, authorizing the seizure of property—including enslaved people—used in support of the rebellion. It was a cautious first step toward the larger question of emancipation.
Late in the month a joint army-navy expedition captured the Confederate forts at Hatteras Inlet on the North Carolina coast, an early success for the Union blockade and a sign of growing federal naval power.
After Bull Run, August 1861 was a month of reorganization. The campaigns that followed are gathered on the American Civil War site.