Jeffrey D. Stalnaker - The Battle of Mine Creek: The Crushing End of the Missouri Campaign

Published by The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Copyright 2011 by Jeffrey D. Stalnaker

All rights reserved

Cover image: Charge at Mine Creek, by Andy Thomas.

First published 2011

e-book edition 2012

ISBN 978.1.61423.332.9

Stalnaker, Jeffrey D.

The Battle of Mine Creek : the crushing end of the Missouri campaign / Jeffrey D.

Stalnaker.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-332-5

1. Mine Creek, Battle of, Kan., 1864. 2. Prices Missouri Expedition, 1864- 3. Kansas--History--Civil War, 1861-1865. I. Title.

E477.16.S73 2011

978.1031--dc23

2011036868

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the author or The History Press. The author and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is dedicated to my two beautiful girls: my wife, Jen, and my daughter, Emma. With their encouragement and support I have been able to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a writer.

Contents

Acknowledgements

There are so many people, elements, sources and historical figures I would like to thank for this book. The first person I would like to thank with all of my being is my unbelievable editor, Douglas Bostick. He is an accomplished author who took the time to consider a new author to relate the story of the Battle of Mine Creek. Without his patience, knowledge, guidance and good nature, I simply could not have done this. He is a man to whom a thousand thanks are due, and I will be forever in his debt.

U.S. Army senior historian Kendall Gott, at Fort Leavenworth, is another who can never be repaid. He took time out, more than once, to sit and allow me to fire questions his way. His deep understanding of Prices raid is remarkable. To listen to a real military mind talk about the battles, mindsets and aims gives a special perspective to the Missouri Campaign as a whole and actually helped to place me in the saddle with the Union and Confederate troopers.

I also want to acknowledge the late Lumir Buresh. His book October 25th and the Battle of Mine Creek is the standard by which the Battle of Mine Creek is studied. It was a very technical and well-researched book that gives a true framework for the battle and the way it unfolded. His gift to the world of U.S. Civil War scholarship is one that still stands the test of time.

The help I received from the research libraries is also much appreciated. I especially want to thank the University of Kansas Watson Library and the Spencer Research Library. My alma mater proved, once again, to have an immense amount of valuable resources for me. Many people at all of the particular research institutions were willing to step in and lend a hand with any question I had.

I also spent some great time on the telephone with Arnold Schofield, administrator of the Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site. He was willing to field several calls from me and runs a great historic site that is a treasure for the state of Kansas. This hallowed ground is located just south of Pleasanton, Kansas, at 20485 Kansas Highway 52. It is well worth a visit to walk the battlefield and soak up the history in person.

I need to acknowledge Andy Thomas for allowing me to use his wonderful work, The Charge at Mine Creek, for the cover of this book. It is a truly masterful work and helps to set a wonderful tone for it even before you open it.

There are many other people who, even in the smallest of ways, helped me with this book. To them, I say thank you. This work is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

Most of all, however, I have to thank my family and friends for their incredible support. My wife, Jen, my daughter, Emma, and the rest of my amazing family stood beside me and allowed me to spend countless hours in my office trying to find the words to convey the story of the Battle of Mine Creek in some competent manner.

Lastly, to the Union and Confederate troopers who faced the bullets and laid down their lives for the cause they believed in, I owe a priceless debt. Many were left on the battlefield. Let none of us ever forget the sacrifice that you made in the name of freedom.

Introduction

History is most often written by the victors and not the vanquished. The Battle of Mine Creek is no exception. On October 25, 1864, on the gently rolling plains of eastern Kansas, Union forces under the joint commands of Major Generals Samuel Curtis and Alfred Pleasonton caught up with the rear guard of Major General Sterling Prices twelve-thousand-strong army after a two-day rapid pursuit following the massive Union victory at the Battle of Westport in Kansas City. After the first contact at the tiny hamlet of Trading Post, the Confederate troops under direct command of Major Generals John S. Marmaduke and James F. Fagan struggled to maintain a rear guard action that would prevent Curtis and Pleasontons cavalry from reaching and destroying General Prices massive wagon train laden with supplies, prisoners, captured loot, weapons and food.

The climactic battle of the day occurred at Mine Creek, a small tributary to the Little Osage River near modern-day Pleasanton, Kansas. About 2,600 blue-coated cavalry troops, led by Colonel John F. Phillips and Lieutenant Colonel Frederick W. Benteen, stared down the guns of about 8,000 Confederate cavalrymen arrayed in a skirmish line that stretched nearly half a mile across. In a short but fierce battle, these Union troops completely smashed the Confederate forces and sent them scrambling farther south.

In his book October 25th and the Battle of Mine Creek, Lumir Buresh likens this charge to the charge of the British Light Brigade that had occurred exactly ten years before, on October 25, 1854, during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. In terms of audacity in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, this cannot be far from the truth. What a sight this must have been for these Union troopers.

This is the only battle of the entire American Civil War that took place in Kansas. It is largely ignored and nearly completely misunderstood. What makes this remarkable is the fact that it is among the largest cavalry battles of the entire war. When the opposing sides faced each other at Mine Creek, they numbered nearly eleven thousand in total. In terms of magnitude, the Battle of Mine Creek compares with many of the well-known battles in the East. Yet there was little newspaper coverage and few stories that related this mighty charge to the American public despite the fact that this battle effectively ended the Missouri Campaign in the Trans-Mississippi theater of operations. U.S. Army senior historian Kendall Gott said that after this battle none of Sterling Prices forces get back into the warSterling Prices command is gone.

I hope to make this a book for all of the people of Kansas and Missouri, Civil War historians and those who simply want to read about a battle that took place so long ago on the wind-swept plains of Kansas. Can this be considered a great battle? I hope to show that it can be. From the origins of Bleeding Kansas, the goals of Sterling Prices Missouri Campaign, the Battle of Westport and the aftermath, I hope to effectively relate the impact that the Battle of Mine Creek had on Kansas, Missouri, the Trans-Mississippi theater, President Lincolns reelection in 1864 and the American Civil War as a whole.