Lyon, Nathaniel, 1818–61, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Eastford, Conn. After serving against the Seminole and in the Mexican War, he was stationed in California and Kansas until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he was put in command of the St. Louis arsenal. He immediately broke up Camp Jackson, where the secessionist governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, had quartered the state militia. By the spring of 1861, Lyon had subdued all the hostile sections of the state. When a Confederate force from Arkansas advanced into Missouri and was joined by Missouri's secessionist militia, Lyon attacked them at Wilson's creek, Aug. 10. He was killed in the battle.
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