Fiery Finale on Ruddick's Fiel

The first day's fighting ended at sunset on the large open field you see in the distance below. The half of the Confederate army that had circled completely around Big Mountain - where you now stand - had fought hard all day to force their way up the long mountain hollow that leads to Elkhorn Tavern.<br><br>As the late winter sunlight faded, Union troops pulled back from Elkhorn Tavern and prepared for a last-ditch defense along the tree line that bordered Benjamin Ruddick's cornfield below. Federal gunners set their cannon wheel hub to wheel hub and waited for the final massive Confederate assault.<br><br>The white-clad soldiers of the Missouri State Guard who made that last charge were hungry and worn out by the three-day, 60-mile march they had made from the Boston Mountains. Desperate men on both sides knew that what they could in those last 15 minutes of light might determine victory or defeat.