(2006) Battle of Lexington Interpretive Marker
 
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Courtesy of Mike Marshall, KY

Visitor Center: Located in Lexington, Missouri the Visitor Center pictured here commemorates the history of the Civil War siege and battle that took place September 12-20, 1861. It was here that perhaps 10,000 pro-South Missouri State Guard troops under Major General Sterling Price surrounded entrenched Federal forces under Colonel James A. Mulligan who had erected a series of elaborate defensive works around the city’s Masonic College

Price Display: This bust of General Price is displayed in the Visitor Center. Price, a former governor of Missouri, took command of the State Guard in May, 1861. Because of his courteous, dignified and fatherly air, Price became known to many as “Old Pap”

Hemp Bale Display: This display in the Visitors Center demonstrates the tactic which helped lead the State Guard forces to victory at the Battle of Lexington. Crouching behind the water-soaked hemp bales, State Guard troops slowly and deliberately rolled them up the slopes, a sort of mobile breastworks, toward the entrenched Union forces. So important was this tactic in the victory of the Missouri State Guard at Lexington that the conflict became known to many as the “Battle of the Hemp Bales”

Anderson House Front View: On the Western edge of the Federal ramparts stood, and still stands today, the grand, imposing brick home of William Oliver Anderson. The home commanded a panoramic view of the Missouri River valley and prior to the battle was designated as a hospital by Union leaders. But, because of it’s strategic position, the house was the site of fierce fighting and changed hands several times throughout the battle