Benton Barracks | |
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St. Louis, Missouri | |
Type | U.S. Military Post |
Site information | |
Controlled by | Union Army |
Site history | |
Built | August 1861 |
In use | 1861–1865 |
Garrison information | |
Past commanders | Major-General John C. Frémont (1861) Brigadier-General William T. Sherman (1861–1862) Colonel Benjamin Bonneville (1862–1865) |
Garrison | Union Cavalry, Union Army |
Benton Barracks (or Camp Benton) was a Union Army military encampment, established during the American Civil War, in St. Louis, Missouri, at the present site of the St. Louis Fairground Park. Before the Civil War, the site was owned and used by the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association, which at the time was located on the outskirts of St. Louis. The barracks was used primarily as a training facility for Union soldiers attached to the Western Division of the Union Army.
After the Battle of Lexington, the Post and Convalescent Hospitals were added to the training barracks, in order to assist in treating hundreds of incoming wounded troops. Once the war ended, the barracks was dismantled, returning to its pre-war, civilian use as a fairground and race track. Nothing of the original barracks remains at this site today.