David Moore (military officer)

In response to the action of July 21, MSG Colonel Green broke camp at his Fabius River training base and marched toward Athens, stopping long enough to rout a small Home Guard force at Edina, Knox County, Missouri on July 31, 1861.[4] On August 5, 1861 Green's force of 2,000 MSG—among them two of Moore's sons—with three cannon attacked Athens.[5] Moore had something around 500 troops under his command but they were better armed, with a recently arrived shipment of Springfield rifles. Despite being outnumbered four-to-one, the pro-Union Home Guards were able to withstand the initial attack. Seeing the MSG faltering, Colonel Moore led a bayonet charge that sent the enemy scattering.[5] Soon, reinforcements from Croton, Farmington, Iowa and Keokuk, Iowa across the river to help complete the rout.[3] Green's men suffered losses estimated as anywhere between thirty and fifty dead and an unknown number of wounded, while the Home Guard reported only three dead and twenty wounded. Moore's forces also 450 horses, assorted small arms, and MSG cannons.[6]

Colonel Moore's 1st Missouri Home Guards, along with Colonel Humphrey Woodyard's 2nd Missouri Home Guards continued to pursue Confederate elements in the late summer and fall after the Battle of Athens. On December 31, 1861 the two were combined to form the 21st Missouri Volunteer Infantry Regiment.[2] The following March, after being augmented with further units from Iowa and Illinois, the unit was assigned to the command of General Ulysses S. Grant.[7] On April 6, 1862 Moore was wounded while participating in the early actions of the Battle of Shiloh.[7] While leading his men from the front Moore was struck by three bullets. This caused the loss of his right leg below the knee, but after three months recovery he would return to command in early July, 1862. His return was fortuitous, because the next month disgruntled members of the 21st made a half-hearted attempt at mutiny.[2] Moore responded quickly and forcefully, arresting all and court martialed the six ringleaders. All further thoughts of mutiny or mass desertion were quashed among the 21st soldiers.[2]

The 21st Missouri returned to heavy combat action in Fall, 1862, participating in the Battle of Iuka on September 19 and the Second Battle of Corinth on October 3–4.[2] Moore and his regiment wrapped up their busy 1862 by participating in the first phase of General Grant's Vicksburg Campaign in December. Nearly all of 1863 was spent in garrison duty, protecting Union supply lines and strategic towns like Columbus, Kentucky and the Tennessee towns of Union City, Clinton, and Memphis. The year 1864 would see the men of the 21st once again assigned to hard fighting as they served in the Third Division of the Union XVI Corps participating in the Meridian Expedition, Red River Campaign and, especially, the Battle of Tupelo, where Moore and his men were noted for their fierce stand against the dismounted cavalry of Nathan Bedford Forrest.[2] The regiment would also return home to Missouri briefly in 1864 in response to Price's Raid, pursuing Confederate General Sterling Price across the Show-Me state and neighboring Arkansas.

David Moore and the 21st would begin 1865 with more garrison duty, but their commander would not remain with them for long. Moore left the regiment in early February, almost three years to the day of its organization.[1] On February 21, 1865 Moore was brevetted to the rank of Brigadier General and set about organizing another regiment, the 51st Missouri. In May he assumed command of the 51st along with the First Military District of Missouri, based in St. Louis.[1] The war now over, he remained in command until mustering out the service on August 31, 1865.[7]