General Order No. 11 (1863)

General Order No. 11 is the name of a Union Army order given on August 25, 1863 during the American Civil War. It forced people from rural areas in four counties in western Missouri to leave. The order, given by Union General Thomas Ewing, Jr., affected all rural people regardless of whether they liked the Union or the Confederacy. Those who could prove their loyalty for the Union were allowed to stay in the affected area. However, they still had to leave their farms and move to towns near military outposts. Those who could not show prove their loyalty had to leave the area.
More than 140 years later, towns affected by General Order No. 11 are still less developed than their neighbors.