Indian Foothills Park – Battle of Marshall

Haunted Lineage note: At approximately 8:00 AM on the morning of October 13, 1863, the climax of Confederate Colonel Joseph O. “Jo” Shelby’s Great Raid erupted just outside Marshall, Missouri. Advancing westward along the Arrow Rock road in a drenching rain, Shelby’s 1,200 cavalrymen collided directly with Union pickets under Lieutenant Colonel Bazel F. Lazear, who had slipped into Marshall before dawn to block the Confederate line of retreat. With Brigadier General Egbert B. Brown’s 1,800 Federal troops and Missouri State Militia closing in fast from the rear, Shelby realized his column was caught in a converging vise. The opening morning salvos sparked hours of intense, swirling combat across the dense brush and rolling fields, forcing Shelby to launch desperate counter-charges to prevent total encirclement before his command was split in two, bringing the Confederate raid across Missouri to a definitive halt.