 This was the first combat against Confederates by African Americans fighting for the Union.During the Battle of Island Mound (aka "Battle of Fort Toothman") on October 28–29, 1862, the Union 1st Kansas Colored Volunteers—composed of former slaves who had escaped from Arkansas and Missouri—and a scouting element from the 5th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry engaged a numerically superior force of Confederate guerrillas and recent Missouri State Guard recruits led by Vard Cockrell and Bill Truman (a relative of future President Harry S. Truman).The Union forces crossed into Missouri on a mission to clear Confederate guerrillas from an area known as "Hog Island".