New Trail Opened At SEMO Historic Site

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Celebrate National Trail Day by walking two new trails and experiencing both history and nature in Missouri state parks and historic sites.

On Friday, June 1, Missouri State Parks officials will dedicate the new Brogans’ Trail at Fort Davidson State Historic Site in Pilot Knob. The 1 p.m. ceremony will officially open the historic site’s first hiking trail and kick off National Trail Day activities.

Brogans’ Trail is a relatively flat one-half mile loop that leads visitors from a new parking lot on the east branch of Knob Creek along the east side of the Battle of Pilot Knob battlefield. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will be at the parking lot on Industrial Drive in Pilot Knob and the public is invited to attend.

The trail is named for the shoes worn by most Civil War soldiers on both sides of the conflict. A brogan was a heavy laced, usually ankle-high shoe that had the sole attached to the upper part by wooden pegs. The wooden pegs would swell when wet and shrink when dried, causing Brogans to be repaired quite frequently.

"Missouri state parks and historic sites have more than 230 trails and these two trails illustrate how diverse our trail system is. There’s truly a trail for everyone, whether you’re looking for great recreation, windows into nature or stories about our history,” said Bill Bryan, director of Missouri State Parks, a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

The new trail at Fort Davidson State Historic Site and others throughout the state are only two options for celebrating National Trail Day. ke.

“All trails provide endless opportunities to celebrate National Trail Day on June 2 and kick off the entire month of June as Great Outdoors Month,” Bryan said.

Fort Davidson State Historic Site, the site of the Battle of Pilot Knob in 1864, is located on Highway 221 in Pilot Knob.

In the fall of 1864, Confederate armies east of the Mississippi River suffered an almost endless string of defeats. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac had trapped Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the trenches around Petersburg, Va., and Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta on Sept. 2. However, Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith's army, encamped west of the Mississippi River, faced no immediate threat. In an attempt to relieve the increasing pressure on his fellow armies to the east, Smith sent a massive mounted raiding force far behind Federal lines into the state of Missouri.

Smith appointed Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, Missouri's most famous Confederate, to lead the raid. Price's goals were to divert Union troops from east of the Mississippi River, gather Confederate recruits, capture and destroy Union war materials and, if at all possible, capture St. Louis or Jefferson City. Price entered Missouri on Sept. 19, 1864, with an army of 12,000 men headed for St. Louis. This was the largest Confederate cavalry raid of the war.

While en route to the St. Louis area, Price decided to attack the weakly defended post of Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob. Fort Davidson was a small hexagonal earthwork fort defended by Gen. Thomas Ewing Jr. and his 1,450 Union soldiers. Capturing Fort Davidson would provide arms for Price's 3,000 unarmed soldiers, prevent Ewing's garrison from reinforcing St. Louis or Jefferson City, and provide combat experience for the nearly 6,000 untested Confederate draftees.

The Confederates paid a heavy price during the Battle of Pilot Knob. As many as 1,000 troops were killed or wounded, and more importantly, Gen. Price no longer posed a threat to St. Louis. The Union force suffered 200 casualties, with 28 killed.

Price continued his advance into Missouri following the battle. Eventually, he encountered two Union armies at the battle of Westport, near Kansas City. It was there, in the largest battle fought west of the Mississippi River, where he was defeated and forced to return to Confederate Arkansas.

To reach the Brogans’ Trail lot, turn from Hwy. 221 (South McCune) onto Industrial Drive. Drive about one-half mile and the parking lot is on the left prior to reaching railroad tracks. The trail will be open during normal site hours, sunrise to sunset daily. For more information about the event or the trail, contact Fort Davidson State Historic Site at 573-546-3454.

For more information about Missouri state parks and historic sites, visit mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.