Last updated: November 22, 2021
Place
Lyon Marker on Bloody Hill
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
Bloody Hill (Tour Road Stop 7), Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, Republic, Missouri
Significance:
The 1928 marker stands on or near the place where Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon fell in combat. Lyon was the first Union general to die in the Civil War.
Amenities
5 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Information, Parking - Auto, Parking - Bus/RV, Scenic View/Photo Spot
On August 10, 1861, Southern forces repelled a surprise attack by Federal forces at the battle of Wilson’s Creek. Union Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon died during the fight, the first Union general to fall in combat during the Civil War.
Lyon died on Bloody Hill, scene of some of the bitterest fighting in the six-hour battle. Not long after the battle of Wilson’s Creek, veterans and other visitors began placing rocks as an informal memorial to Lyon on Bloody Hill. Many etched their names on the stones before laying them on the growing cairn. A smaller stone cairn also existed in the area, and some have speculated that it marked the presumed spot where Lyon first was wounded, or that is commemorated a fallen Southern officer, Col. Richard H. Weightman, a Missouri State Guard brigade commander.
At some point, the cairns were removed, possibly by souvenir hunters who spirited away the stones. In 1928 – more than 30 years before formal dedication of the battlefield as a national park site – the University Club of Springfield placed an engraved stone marker on Bloody Hill to honor General Lyon. The marker remains the only Civil War commemorative monument within the boundaries of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.
The Lyon Marker reads:
“At or near this spot fell Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon. Born Ashford, Conn. 1818. Graduated U.S. Military Academy, 1841. Commander of the Federal Forces in the Battle of Wilson Creek August 10 1861. The marker is erected by the University Club of Springfield, Mo. in honor of General Lyon and the hundreds of brave men, north and south, who, on this field, died for the right as God gave them to see the right. 1928”