Nearly twenty-seven thousand Missourians died in guerrilla warfare that tore the state apart. This figure represents one of the highest death tolls from internal conflict on American soil during the Civil War.
March 26 through 28 marked three days of intense fighting at Glorieta Pass in 1862. The battle involved relatively few soldiers with only 140 Union and 190 Confederate casualties yet it dissolved any possibility of the Confederacy taking New Mexico or advancing further toward Denver.
Brigadier General Stand Watie became the last Confederate general to surrender when he signed a cease-fire agreement on the 23rd of June 1865. He commanded the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles regiment and raided Union positions well after other Confederate forces abandoned the area.
The region had become almost completely isolated from the rest of the Confederacy following the surrender of Vicksburg in July 1863. Union control of the entire Mississippi River split the Confederate states in two and the department was nicknamed Kirby Smithdom to emphasize the lack of direct control from the Confederate Government.
May 12 through 13 brought the final battle of the war at Palmito Ranch in southern Texas. This engagement ended with a Confederate victory despite all other major armies having surrendered months earlier.