Tucked away in the Arcadia Valley of the St. Francois Mountains of Missouri are the earthwork remains of Fort Davidson, the only testament to a long forgotten Civil War skirmish fought in late September of 1864 and known as the Battle of Pilot Knob. Outnumbered ten-to-one, the Union troops under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Ewing held off the superior “Army of Missouri” consisting of cavalry and mounted infantry and cannon that Confederate Major General Sterling Price had marshaled for the purpose of “liberating” his home state. Although Price and the Confederates won the battle, Ewing and his men managed to detonate their supplies with a slow-burning fuse to their powder magazine, escape in the darkness of night, and so severely diminish the size of Price’s advancing army and their available munitions that the Confederate’s ultimate objective, to seize St. Louis and control of Missouri, was lost for good. Why do I tell this...(Read Full Article)