BOONVILLE, Mo. • The First Battle of Boonville, a Civil War engagement that historians credit with securing Missouri as a Union state, lasted about 20 minutes. Planning its re-enactment took organizers more than seven years.

On June 18, about 600 men will square off on the exact spot where 150 years before, the first engagement of forces west of the Allegheny Mountains took place in what was then a wheat field.

This time, there will be food vendors, an entertainment stage, portable toilets and, organizers hope, thousands of spectators.

"I'm a little anxious," said Boonville Daily News publisher Deborah Marshall, who has spent the last few weeks fretting the tiniest of details. She was among the first to push for commemorating the battle that ensured that both the state and the Missouri River would remain under Union control and denied rebel forces the area's rich agricultural, mineral and human resources.

"Missouri and Boonville have never owned their history," Marshall said. "They've just never promoted it, never talked about it. Lots of people don't really understand there was a battle here and how significant it was to the Union and history."

Boonville is one of hundreds of planned commemorations, re-enactments and other events scheduled over the next four years in Missouri, which ranks third behind Virginia and Tennessee in the number of battles fought during the war.

In 1861, 45 percent of all battles took place in Missouri. The skirmish at Boonville took place a month before the First Battle at Bull Run, near Manassas, Va., generally recognized as the first major land battle of the war.

Some organizations say that despite the millions of dollars in potential tourist revenue, Missouri has done little to aggressively market the anniversary events or Civil War sites.

Other states have created maps, developed driving trails, installed interpretive sites and conducted marketing campaigns directly tied to the anniversary.

"We started 10 years ago trying to shake people up to get people ready for this thing," said Greg Wolk, president of Missouri's Civil War Heritage Foundation. "It's a potential for an economic spark in these times. We have a tremendous resource if we simply take advantage of it."

As early as 2005, the state's tourism division identified the need for a Civil War-oriented marketing campaign, but the idea went nowhere.

In 2007, then-Gov. Matt Blunt appointed a commission to plan for the sesquicentennial but left office without naming a chairperson. It was a year into Gov. Jay Nixon's term before planning started anew. But even then, the state contributed no money.

"I think they're really sort of doing the best they can with what they've got," said Stuart Symington Jr., a St. Louis attorney appointed by Nixon to the state's sesquicentennial commission. "They simply don't have the resources."

Of the 36 million leisure travelers who stay overnight in Missouri each year, about 13 percent are drawn by the state's Civil War sites, tourism officials said. Those visitors also tend to linger longer in the state and spend more money than the typical tourist.

State tourism officials had no exact figures on how much spending all the anniversary activities are expected to generate. But visitors to just four Civil War-related events this year — in Springfield, Athens, Lexington and Pilot Knob — are expected to spend $20.2 million, state tourism officials said.

Missouri Tourism Director Katie Steele Danner said the state long has marketed its Civil War heritage as part of the $300,000 annual marketing plan directed at cultural and heritage tourism. That includes on its website, at state welcome centers and through local convention and visitors bureaus. But it has fallen mostly to volunteers like Marshall to spearhead local efforts in places like Boonville.

She and a small group of dedicated volunteers secured $20,000 from the city. They raised $9,000 in donations. To build community interest, they held monthly events, such as school presentations, cemetery and house tours and a heritage quilt show. The newspaper ran frequent stories on the city's Civil War past. Marshall said she'd like to see the city develop an economy around its Civil War attractions.

The city's tourism director, Lisa McClary, said she had been receiving telephone calls about the re-enactment for months. Still, she said business owners weren't getting overly excited. The city's location along Interstate 70 already means most hotel rooms fill on a summer weekend, she said.

"I wouldn't say it's caught the community on fire, but I do think people are anticipating that event," McClary said.

Marshall said organizers initially expected about 5,000 spectators but now believe as many as 20,000 may descend on the town of 9,000 over the four days.

On a recent day, about four miles east of Boonville, a four-wheel drive pickup turned off Rocheport Road into an 80-acre pasture with grass as high as the truck's fenders. The pristine property slopes gently from hedgerows at both the east and west ends toward a ridge near the center. It's here that the battle took place.

"This is not Disneyland. This is the real McCoy, like it really was," said Maryellen McVicker, another organizer.

About 1,700 U.S. troops and Missouri volunteers ran up against about 400 to 500 rebels, who quickly fell back under cannon fire. Reported death tolls vary widely, from a few to dozens on both sides.

John Holtzclaw is in charge of preparing the site. He detailed for a visitor where various activities would take place.

He pointed to large piles of wood he's been chopping for the last three months to feed the re-enactors' campfires.

"I'm 20 pounds lighter," he said.

The land is owned by Dr. Willard Avery, 86, who has lived in Boonville since 1958. He said residents always suspected that the battle took place on the property. Then, in 2007, an archaeologist recovered lead bullets, grapeshot and pieces of cannonball from the site.

He said he was happy to see the land used for the re-enactment. "It's a part of history and we thought it would be good for the area and community," Avery said.

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(An earlier version of this story incorrectly had June 18 as the date of the battle re-enactment. This story has been updated to reflect the correct date.)