Fredericktown

The battle on the plaque began as a raid. On October 15, 1861, M. Jeff Thompson's Missouri State Guard burned the Iron Mountain Railroad bridge over the Big River, and two Union columns under Joseph B. Plummer and William P. Carlin came after him. South of town Thompson laid an ambush, with Col. Aden Lowe's infantry waiting in a cornfield as bait. Lowe was shot dead, the State Guard lost 25 killed and 80 captured, and the Union about seven killed. Afterward, Union soldiers who suspected townspeople of helping Thompson burned at least seven Fredericktown homes.

What the plaque says

Fredericktown Here in the southern extent of Missouri's historic southeast Lead Belt, Fredericktown was laid out on Saline Creek, 1819, by state legislator Nathaniel Cook. Commissioners T. F. Tong, Joseph Bennett, James Dotson, John Burditt, and Henry Whitener chose it as the seat of Madison County, organized, 1818. The town name, according to a tradition, is for pioneer George Frederick Bollinger, and the county name honors the U. S. President. Historical continuity in the area begins with 1715 when La Mothe Cadillac, French Gov. of Louisiana, seeking silver, found lead at nearby Mine La Motte. Philip Renault opened the mine, 1723, and transient miners operated there throughout the 1700's. First permanent settlement began in 1799 when French-Canadians founded St. Michael, now a part of Fredericktown, on a Spanish grant, and Americans took up land in the county. The Battle of Fredericktown, a Civil War engagement, occurred near here, Oct. 21, 1861. Some 2,000 pro-Southern State Guards led by Col. M. Jeff Thompson, attempting to get control of southeast Mo., were defeated by 4,500 Union troops under Col. J. B. Plummer. (See other side) Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1957 Fredericktown (Continued from other side) Fredericktown, in north Madison County, lies near the geologic center of the Ozarks in an area of unique mineralization in the Mississippi Valley. The county, one of the State's prominent lead and cobalt producers, has fertile farm land in wide valleys and fine timber on rugged hills which form a part of Clark National Forest. Fredericktown's development as a banking and trading center was assured with the coming of the St. Louis and Iron Mt. R. R. (Mo. Pac.), 1869. A railroad division point was later set up here. Marvin (Methodist) College was located in Fredericktown, 1894-1925. Nearby Mine La Motte, oldest lead mine in Mo., has been utilized by white men since 1715. Osage Indians, who claimed the area until their 1808 Missouri land cession, killed 7 miners there in 1774. In early days, lead from the mine was moulded into the shape of collars and hung on the necks of horses for the trip over Three Notch Road to Ste. Genevieve. An Indian trail and oldest road in Mo., it was named for trail markings. To the west is Einstein Silver Mine. Worked in the 1880's, it is the only silver mine in Mo. Erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1957

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hawn State Park — 19 mi
  A schoolteacher's bequest of sandstone canyons, shortleaf pine and clear sandy creeks west of Ste. Genevieve, with one of the state's best backpacking trails.
• Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site (Fort Davidson) — 19 mi
  The hexagonal earthwork in the Arcadia Valley where some 1,500 Union defenders broke Sterling Price's assault in September 1864, then slipped out at night and blew the magazine behind them.
• Missouri Mines State Historic Site — 23 mi
  Federal Mill No. 3 at Park Hills, the biggest lead mine and mill complex of the Old Lead Belt under St. Joseph Lead, with its 1906 powerhouse now a museum of mining machines and minerals.
• Elephant Rocks State Park — 23 mi
  A train of rounded granite boulders 1.5 billion years old near Graniteville, weathered in place into a tor, beside the quarry that faced the Eads Bridge piers and paved the St. Louis levee.

More markers nearby

• Fort Davidson — 19 mi
• Marble Hill — 25 mi