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Posted on 10/27/2004 10:36:40 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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The Civil War's Western Theater experienced several forays by Confederates into sparsely-populated territories of the Union-held American West. One such region was the Kansas-Missouri border. Missouri was officially Union but was a slave state that contained significant numbers of Southern sympathizers. Some residents raided neighboring Kansas. Missouri was the base for William Quantrill, who had launched his infamous raid of Lawrence in 1863.  Southern military leaders also acknowledged this strong element of Southern sympathizers in Missouri. In 1864, Major General Kirby Smith, commander of the South's Trans-Mississippi Department met with Major General Sterling Price, commander of the District of Arkansas to plan an invasion of Missouri. The hope was that such actions would be enough to rally pro-Southern elements in that state. Even if that part did not succeed, the raid would hopefully disrupt the 1864 presidential elections and obtain needed animals, supplies, and soldiers for the Confederate cause. A Missourian himself, Price would lead the raid. Should Price fail to take Missouri, he was to retreat along the Kansas-Missouri border, striking a glancing blow to the symbol of Free-soil sentiments in the region: Kansas.  General James Fagan In September of 1864, Price's Army of the Missouri set out with 12,000 cavalry troops and supporting artillery. The Army was organized into three divisions, commanded by Generals John Marmaduke (like Price a Missourian), Joseph Shelby, and James Fagan. Fagan's division consisted of troops from Arkansas organized into four brigades. Marmaduke and Shelby had divisions with two brigades each that consisted mostly of pro-Southern Missourians. Each brigade consisted of a number of state-based regiments, the primary unit during the Civil War.  General Sterling Price The speed, mobility, and power of mounted units made cavalry a valuable tool in a number of situations. Cavalry units were useful in pursuing a fleeing enemy. Mounted troops were utilized in anti-guerrilla campaigns, such as those of Ewing's Order Number 11 policy. During the Civil War military leaders on both sides also used cavalry to outflank and surprise enemy positions as well as for scouting and reconnaissance patrols. In addition, cavalry troops were effective in conducting quick raids on specific targets. Price's forces were mostly cavalry units, suggesting a need for a lightning fast action. These units were designed to capture and surround, not invade or lay siege. Price and Smith wagered that there would not be enough resistance among the locals to require large numbers of infantry.  General Alfred Pleasonton Price crossed into Missouri near Doniphan on September 19. He moved towards St. Louis, hoping to take the city. However a defeat at Pilot Knob on September 27 allowed Union forces enough time to group and secure the city's position. Price redirected his forces to take the Missouri capital of Jefferson City. By the time Price reached the outskirts of Jefferson City, he found that Federal troops were well entrenched there as well. Turning to the northwest again, Price headed toward Kansas City capturing supplies and rallying some soldiers along the way. By now, Price oversaw more than a group of cavalry units. There was an immense baggage train filled with supplies and arms headed for the Confederacy. In pursuit were 7,000 Union Cavalry from the Department of Missouri under the command of General Alfred Pleasonton. Pleasonton had commanded cavalry forces for the Army of the Potomac and had engaged General J.E.B Stuart at Brandy Station, the largest cavalry engagement of the war. By 1864, however, Pleasonton had fallen out of favor with the leaders back east and was transferred to the Department of Missouri just in time to face Price's raid.  Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis Meanwhile, Major General Samuel Curtis, commander of the Department of Kansas, started to rally his forces to meet Price. At the time, the Department of Kansas covered a vast territory from Nebraska in the north to Colorado in the west and Indian Territory to the south. The Department contained 4,000 troops, many of whom were engaged in pacifying the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Curtis hastily formed the "Army of the Border" consisting of cavalry units from Colorado, Kansas, and Wisconsin. Curtis also mobilized the 10,000 troops of the Kansas State Militia into the effort as well as units of African American troops. Curtis organized his forces into two divisions, one consisting of the state units under General James G. Blunt. The other division, under Major General George Deitzler, oversaw the militia. Even so, Curtis was not sure he would be able to defend Kansas from Price. He had reason to be worried. By late October, Price was advancing fast on Kansas City. Price forced back Blunt's forces at the battles of the Little Blue, Independence, and the Big Blue.  A turning point took place on October 23. Price directed General Shelby's division to attack Curtis outside of Kansas City. At this engagement, now called the Battle of Westport, the Kansas Militia checked Shelby's advance. Meanwhile, Pleasonton's forces were catching up to Price's army. Failing to capture a third major city or penetrate deep into Kansas, Price retreated along the Kansas Missouri border. By now, nearly 9,000 Union men were in pursuit. Northern and Southern forces tried to outflank each other along the border. Each time, Price escaped but left in his wake a trail of burned homes and looted farms. Union troops hurriedly raced to reinforce Mound City, Price's next objective. When Price received news of the city's defense, he decided to avoid that community and instead continue down the Old Military Road towards Fort Scott.
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Mornin' alfa6.
Good morning, PE, nice Flag-o-gram today.
HUGS, duckie/sw
LOL. Good morning Colonel. I'm sure it's going to get ugly. Unless W pulls out a win with a landslide the dems aren't going to go quietly. It will be 2000 revisited.
Getting ready for the OU-OSU game on Saturday. Also getting ready for halloween night.
Daylight Savings Time ends this Sunday at 2 AM. Be sure to set your clocks back an hour. We get an extra hour sleep to get our batteries rechraged for the next day.:-D
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on October 28:
1017 Henry III Holy Roman emperor (1046-56)
1585 Cornelius Otto Jansen France, Roman Catholic reform leader
1793 Eliphalet Remington US gun maker
1810 Brig Gen Adley H Gladden La, killed at Shiloh
1818 Ivan Turgenev Russia, novelist/poet/playwright (Fathers & Sons)
1834 Dudley McIver DuBose Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1883
1842 Anna Elizabeth Dickinson orator (Joan of Arc of the Civil War)
1846 Auguste Escoffier king of chefs & chef of kings
1902 Elsa Lanchester Lewisham London, actress (Bride of Frankenstien)
1903 Evelyn Waugh London, author (Brideshead Revisited)
1907 Edith Head fashion designer (MGM)
1910 Marie Dollinger Germany, dropped baton in 1936 Olympic sprint
1914 Dr Jonas Salk NYC, medical researcher, made polio a fear of the past
1926 Bowie Kuhn baseball commissioner (1969-1984)
1927 Cleo Laine Middlesex England, singer (Flesh to a Tiger)
1929 Dody Goodman Columbus Ohio, actress (Mary Hartman!, Max Duggan)
1934 Jim Beatty track runner (1st sub 4 minute indoor mile)
1936 Charlie Daniels country music star (Devil Went Down to Georgia)
1939 Jane Alexander Mass, actress (The Betsy, Kramer vs Kramer)
1940 Gennadi M Strekalov cosmonaut (Soyuz T-3, T-8, T-11)
1944 Dennis Franz Maywood Ill, actor (Norman Buntz-Hill Street Blues)
1945 Wayne Fontana Manchester England, rocker (Groovy Kind of Love)
1948 Telma Hopkins Louisville, singer (Tony Orlando, Family Matters)
1949 Bruce Jenner US, decathalete (Olympic-gold-1976)
1952 Annie Potts Nashville TN, actress (Mary Jo-Designing Women)
1955 William Gates billionaire CEO (Microsoft)/secret ruler of the world
1962 Daphne Zuniga actress (Gross Anatomy, Fly II, Spaceballs)
Morning Sam & Snippy! Thanks for the thread on Mine Creek. The re-enactment last weekend was marvelous! The weather was excellent and we had about two thousand re-enactors from all over. There was a group of Arkansas fellows that I swear looked as though they had walked out of a tin type. We had two full batteries of cannon and over a thousand cavalry. We put on a really good show for the estimated 2000 observers that came on Saturday and Sunday. Several of the men found minie balls while digging firepits at the encampment. Actually the battlefield is fairly untouched by modern day relic hunters and things turn up all the time. Last Spring several skulls and bones were found washed out of the creek bank. They had a rolicking tent dance on Saturday night and the ladies turned out in considerable numbers to have a turn with the soldiers. They had a dance master who led us through many of the period social dances of the day and so we learned how to do the Virginia Reel and such. It's not like square dance. Much more proper and elegant with white gloves and much bowing and curtseying. There were plenty of Union re-enactors so we didn't have to do any galvanizing to make things look right. There is always a surplus of Rebs but in this battle that was appropriate. Thankfully neither men or horses got hurt accidentally and since I was a Yank this time I didn't have to play dead or get trucked of to the field hospital. I just stayed in my number four position and primed and yanked the lanyard throughout. I believe we got about twenty eight shots off in each senario. Great fun! I just love to hear our old six pounder bark!
As a kid growing up not more than seven or eight miles away from Mound City I was often visiting my relatives in the area and the raid was often discussed by the old timers. My uncle who was married to my grandfathers youngest sister was always telling us kids about the 'great skedaddle' of General Price and that the Rebs had lost or hidden much of their loot down along the river. We just ate that stuff up. He had a way of spinning a good story. One time he told about a cache of Confederate gold that he was pretty sure was buried at a certain spot down in a pasture near the river. My two older cousins who were pretty worthless when it came to doing real work had him point it out and those two spent the entire Summer digging in that hard prairie clay looking for the treasure just positive that they were going to get rich any day. What they didn't know was that my uncle was going down to where they were working at night and he would toss an old piece of harness or a horse shoe into the hole. When the boys found that the next day the dirt really flew! Finally they gave up in disgust but my uncle got the two stock ponds he was needing.
Sam, I forgot to mention that on Nov 19, 20, & 21 the Battle of Cassvill will be my next event. In 1861, Cassville was where the Confederate soldiers gathered in preparation for the Battle of Wilson Creek. The town was later destroyed in the war by the Union soldiers after the Battle of Pea Ridge. There wasn't a real battle there but skirmishes and other violent encounters were all around the area. BTW, Wilsons Creek was a Confederate victory and if it had been properly taken advantage of the state of Missouri would have become much more of a southern bastion of strength west of the Mississippi and the course of the war would have been different. My only other event until Spring will be performing in the living history tableaus at Fort Scott around Christmas time as part of their 'ghost tour'.
Today's classic warship, USS General Price (ex CSS General Sterling Price)
Sidewheel Cottonclad Ram
Tonnage. 633 t.
Lenght. 182'
Beam. 30'
Displacement. 9'3"
GENERAL STERLING PRICE often referred to as GENERAL PRICE or PRICE was built as LAURENT MILLAUDON, L. MILLANDON or MILLEDON at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856. She was acquired for Confederate service and fitted out at New Orleans, La., for the River Defense Fleet under Capt. J. E. Montgomery. On 25 January 1862 Captain Montgomery began to convert her into a cottonclad ram by placing a 4-inch oak sheath with a 1-inch iron covering on her bow, and by installing double pine bulkheads filled with compressed cotton bales. On March 25 GENERAL PRICE, Capt. J. H. Townsend, sailed from New Orleans to Memphis, Tenn., where she stayed until 10 April having her ironwork completed. She was then sent to Fort Pillow, Tenn., where she operated in defense of the river approaches to Memphis.
On 10 May 1862, off Fort Pillow, GENERAL PRICE under First Officer J. E. Henthorne (or Harthorne), in company with seven other vessels under Captain Montgomery attacked the ironclad gunboats of the Federal Mississippi Flotilla. In the action of Plum Point Bend, which followed, the Confederate ram GENERAL BRAGG struck USS CINCINNATI halting her retreat. This allowed GENERAL PRICE to violently ram the Federal gunboat, taking away her rudder, stern post, and a large piece of her stern, decisively disabling her. At the same time GENERAL PRICE’s well directed fire silenced FEDERAL MORTAR BOAT NO. 16, which was being guarded by CINCINNATI. GENERAL PRICE was heavily hit in this action. Her upper works were severely damaged, and she was struck by a 128-pound shell which cut off her supply pipes and caused a dangerous leak.
The Confederates quickly repaired GENERAL PRICE and later she participated with Montgomery’s force in holding off Federal vessels until Fort Pillow was successfully evacuated on 1 June. The Confederate vessels then fell back on Memphis to take coal.
Following the Federal capture of Fort Pillow Flag Officer C. H. Davis, USN. commanding the Mississippi Flotilla, pressed on without delay and appeared off Memphis with a superior force on 6 June. Montgomery, unable to retreat to Vicksburg, Miss., because of his shortage of fuel, and unwilling to destroy his boats, determined to fight against heavy odds. In the ensuing Battle of Memphis, GENERAL STERLING PRICE charged the Federal ram MONARCH but instead collided with the Confederate ram GENERAL BEAUREGARD, also attacking MONARCH. GENERAL PRICE lost her wheel and was disabled. While the two Confederate vessels were entangled Federal rams attacked them mercilessly. GENERAL PRICE collided with the Federal ram QUEEN OF THE WEST under Col. C. Ellet, Jr., USA, commander of the two rams of the Davis Flotilla. As QUEEN OF THE WEST captured her crew, GENERAL STERLING PRICE sank slowly onto a sand bar. She was later raised by Union forces and taken into Federal service.
She was commissioned for U.S. Navy service in March 1863 as USS GENERAL PRICE, though her old name also continued to be used.
GENERAL PRICE was involved in the Vicksburg campaign in March and April 1863, and took part in the Mississippi Squadron's run past the Confederate fortress city on 17 April. During the rest of the Civil War, she operated against Grand Gulf and Vicksburg, in the Red and Black Rivers and elsewhere in the lower Mississippi River area. On 8 March 1864, GENERAL PRICE accidently rammed and sank USS CONESTOGA. She took part in the Red River Expedition during the next month. Decommissioned in July 1865, USS General Price was sold the following October.
Looks to me like a trend to Bush with all the red states locked up but N.H. and Ohio and Kerry fighting rear guard actions all over blue territory. But I'm gonna hold my breath till election night. If it's close, it'll be the mother of all legal and pr battles.
LOL. What a great story about your uncle and the tale of gold.
You learned the Virginia Reel. Cool!
It sounds like you had a facsinating time. Thanks for sharing it with us Lee.
Thanks for the timely history of the General Price. Good to see you.
You bet. I'm hoping all the polls are wrong and it's a landslide for Bush.
I really like the trends I'm seeing now. But I wonder what last minute hit the MSM and Dims have saved up for this weekend.
Oh No! Halloween snuck up on me again. Time to get my scary costume ready.
Too bad we don't execute spys anymore.
Sounds like a great time was had by all at the reenactment. I've only been to smaller ones, maybe 100 peaple invovled in the battle re-enactment was my largest and they do a "typical battle" rather than any specific battle. I've always enjoyed them, plus visiting the encampments during the day. Maybe someday I'll get to see a larger one. :-)
Finally they gave up in disgust but my uncle got the two stock ponds he was needing.
LOL! I saw that one coming. Thanks for sharing your story about your uncle and your experiences over the weekend.
My only other event until Spring will be performing in the living history tableaus at Fort Scott around Christmas time as part of their 'ghost tour'.
That sounds interesting, what's that all about, although I think I may have an idea.
Afternoon aomagrat.
Interesting history. I wonder if any other ships served in both Navies with the same name.
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