Battle of Mount Zion Church

Other Names: None

Location: Boone County, Missouri

Campaign: Operations in Northeast Missouri

Date: December 28, 1861

Principal Commanders: Brig. Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss [US]; Colonel Caleb W. Dorsey [CS]

Forces Engaged: 3rd Missouri Cavalry, Birge's Western Sharpshooters 440 [US]; Missouri State Guard 900 [CS]

Casualties and losses: 66 [US]; 175 [CS]

Result(s): Union victory

Brief Description:

On December 28 at about 2 a.m., Prentiss set out with his entire force to meet Dorsey's force. While the State Guardsmen numbered around 900, most appear to have been local volunteers, many of whom were not armed with military weapons. A detachment of Prentiss's force routed one company of Guardsmen on the road from Hallsville around 100 yards east of Mount Zion Church and learned that the rest of the force was in the churchyard, situated on a high hill. The Missouri State Guard was effectively routed from northern Boone county to Columbia. While guerrilla warfare reappeared to the south and west of Columbia, Confederates did not thereafter face Union forces in conventional battle in the area until Price's Raid in the autumn of 1864.