Editing Lexington, Missouri (section)

===Civil War and aftermath===
[[File:Anderson House Lexington Mo.jpg|thumb|Anderson House was used as a field hospital in the Civil War during the Battle of Lexington.]]
[[File:Lexington-courthouse.jpg|thumb|A cannonball from the 1861 Battle of Lexington is lodged in the upper left column of the [[Lafayette County Courthouse (Missouri)|Lafayette County Courthouse]].]]
Lexington had two of the largest battles in the western campaign of the [[American Civil War]]. The better-known [[First Battle of Lexington|Battle of Lexington]] is commonly referred to as the Battle of the Hemp Bales. On September 12, 1861, between 6,000 and 10,000 soldiers of the Missouri State Guard, led by Major General [[Sterling Price]], began a siege against the Federal military post in the old [[Masonic College]] commanded by Colonel [[James A. Mulligan]].

On September 18, Price's army mounted an assault. Some of Price's army used hemp bales as moving [[Breastwork (fortification)|breastworks]] while they moved up the river bluffs and closed in on Mulligan's headquarters. On September 20, 1861, Mulligan's troops surrendered. Combined casualties were 73 dead, 270 wounded. The battlefield on the bluffs of the [[Missouri River]] is now a state park, and the cannonball stuck in one of the upper pillars of the Courthouse has become a symbol for the town.

The Second [[Second Battle of Lexington|Battle of Lexington]] occurred during [[Price's Raid|Price's Missouri Expedition]] on October 19, 1864.

Lexington was known as a center for [[Quantrill's Raiders]] during the war. Two months after the Civil War ended, many of these guerrilla fighters who had refused to honor the cease fire finally decided to take advantage of the special Federal amnesty that was declared for such forces and turn themselves in at Lexington. While riding into town, reportedly under a white flag, they were fired upon by Union soldiers from the [[2nd Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment|2nd Wisconsin Cavalry]], and [[Jesse James]] was severely wounded in the right lung. Some credit this event as a major contributing factor to his post-war career as a legendary bank robber. It is likely not a coincidence that the [[James-Younger Gang]] targeted the Alexander Mitchell bank in Lexington for the second daylight bank robbery in United States history. In December 1866, [[Archie Clement]], an accomplice of the James brothers and perhaps the most notorious of all the guerrilla fighters, terrorized the town and was shot from his horse and killed by a sniper perched in the second floor of the Courthouse.