Driving The Confederates Out

The Battle of Mount Zion Church on December 28th 1861 in Boone County Missouri pushed the Confederates out of the area until the fall of 1864.

Leading a Union force of five mounted companies Brigadier General Benjamin M Prentiss along with two companies of sharpshooters entered Boone County Missouri to protect the North Missouri Railroad from secessionist. They arrived in Sturgeon Missouri on December 26th 1861, where Prentiss learned of Confederates near the town of Hallsville. The next day Prentiss sent a company to Hallsville, where they engaged Confederates commanded by Colonel Caleb Dorsey. The Union troops lost many men before retreating to Sturgeon.

On December 28th 1861 Prentiss took his entire force to engage the Confederates. They routed one company of Rebel on the road. Here Prentiss learned the rest of the Confederate force was at the Mount Zion Church. After the Union soldiers made three charges, the Confederates having used up their ammunition left the field, leaving behind supplies, weapons, killed and wounded. This action did in most of the Confederate recruiting in the Central Missouri area.