The Civil War in Cape Girardeau
When the United States was engaged in Civil War, the nation was divided by political views and torn apart by bloody battles. Cape Girardeau was no exception. During the war, Cape Girardeau was a divided community. While Confederate in sympathy, the city was held for the duration of the war by Union forces. General John C. Fremont, the Union commander in the Mississippi Valley, ordered the fortification of Cape Girardeau to resist assault by land and water. Four forts were constructed in a semicircle across the city, leading to the belief that Cape Girardeau was one of the most fortified cites in the United States during the war.
On April 26, 1863, the calm of an early spring morning was shattered as the Union and Confederate Armies collided in a fierce, four-hour artillery battle that would come to be known as the Battle of Cape Girardeau. On that day, 23 Union and 30 Confederate soldiers were killed.
Today, Cape Girardeau is the home to numerous Civil War sites and memorials, allowing visitors to step back in time and walk on the same earth as those brave soldiers from the North and South.
— Fort D
— Old Lorimier Cemetery
— Port Cape Girardeau
— Union Monument & Fountain
— Common Pleas Courthouse
— Confederate War Memorial
— Minton House
— Location of "Battle of Cape
Girardeau"
