Battle of Poplar Bluff — Union soldiers fire cannonball on card players

In case you didn’t know, there is a museum here in Poplar Bluff. It has tales of us, our family, and our history. I want to tell you some of those tales found within the museum walls.

As the Civil War raged across our country, Poplar Bluff wasn’t left untouched. The “Battle of Poplar Bluff” will never make it in the history books, but it is worth telling.

The tiny town of Poplar Bluff had only existed for 12 years when the war broke out.

It was a crossroads for the Union Army, guerilla bands, foragers and deserters. Between 1862 and 1864, fighting broke out in Pilot Knob, Piedmont, Bloomfield and Doniphan.

Union forces always stopped in Poplar Bluff while chasing Confederate troops through Missouri and Arkansas, according to accounts of this incident that are on display at the Poplar Bluff Museum.

On one such trip in 1863, a Union force commanded by Captain Poole occupied the town. He was told it was filled with Confederates. His search turned up only eight people.

Four of them were in the new courthouse playing cards. When Capt. Poole ordered them to come out, they refused. A cannon was brought up and fired into the courthouse. One card player pulled the fuse out of the cannonball, disarming the explosive, and the other three jumped out the window. The card game, as well as the Battle of Poplar Bluff, was over. By nightfall, Capt. Poole arrested all 8 citizens of Poplar Bluff. He left the next day.

Several Civil War cannonballs are on display in the Kanell Hall Veterans Museum, located in the Poplar Bluff Museum. The Museum is open every Sunday free of charge from 1pm to 3pm at 1010 Main Street, Poplar Bluff (Formerly the Old Mark Twain School). Tell them Mike sent you!

Mike Shane is a veteran, Poplar Bluff resident and board member for the Poplar Bluff Museum.