Support for the Southern cause was great immediately following secession. Many towns sent enthusiastic men with hunting rifles to Little Rock prepared to fight. Citizens across the state thought victory over the lazy Northerners would come swiftly. Some anti-war organizations formed in northwest Arkansas such as the Arkansas Peace Society, but members of these groups were usually arrested and charged with treason or forced to join Confederate ranks. Geographically Arkansas was a very important state during the war, giving the Rebels control of the Mississippi River and tenuous holds on Missouri, Louisiana and Indian Territory to the west. Benjamin McCulloch was ordered to defend north Arkansas and Indian Territory; however he elected to lead his troops in to Missouri in support of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Missouri State Guard, leading to the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield, Missouri. This bloody battle shocked many Arkansans who thought the war would be a quick and painless victory for the South.