Skirmishes at Shanghai

Shanghai was a small, pre-Civil War community located near the Vernon-Barton county line in southwest Missouri, about four miles east and a mile or so south of present-day Bronaugh. It was the site of two skirmishes during the Civil War. Neither one amounted to much, and the location was certainly insignificant. Yet, both skirmishes are mentioned in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, and the second one even has a brief write-up in the Official Records.
The first Shanghai skirmish occurred on September 27, 1861, between the advance guard of General Ben McCulloch's Confederate army and some Missouri State Guardsmen under Judge John Chenault on the Southern side and jayhawkers from Jim Lane's Kansas brigade under James Montgomery and Charles "Doc" Jennison on the Union side. Montgomery reportedly put the Southerners to flight and pursued them forty miles to the east before calling off the chase and falling back to Greenfield. When news of the action reached Springfield, it supposedly threw the small detachment of the Missouri State Guard commanding that place into a state of alarm, and pickets were placed west of Springfield guarding the town round the clock for several days. Even though this was a pretty insignificant action, it was reported to the St. Louis Missouri Democrat and relayed to other newspapers across the country, including the New York Times. In fact, the New York Times covered the war in Missouri in minute detail during the early stage of the Civil War and is a surprisingly good source for Missouri Civil War researchers.
The second Shanghai skirmish occurred on May 27, 1864, when Confederate bushwhackers chased off the home guards stationed at Shanghai, captured the place, and reportedly burned it. A very short account of this episode appears in the Official Records.
During the war, the founder and leading citizen of Shanghai moved away and did not return. After the war, the town, which apparently had been pretty well destroyed during the war, was never rebuilt, and the property was converted to farm land.