Battle of Marais des Cygnes

As the American Civil War began in 1861, the state of Missouri was a slave state, but did not secede. However, the state was politically divided: Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Missouri State Guard (MSG) supported secession and the Confederate States of America, while Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon and the Union Army supported the United States and opposed secession.[2] Under Major General Sterling Price, the MSG defeated Union armies at the battles of Wilson's Creek and Lexington in 1861, but by the end of the year, Price and the MSG were restricted to the southwestern portion of the state due to the arrival of Union reinforcements. Meanwhile, Jackson and a portion of the state legislature voted to secede and join the Confederate States of America, while another element of the legislature voted to reject secession, essentially giving the state two governments.[3] In March 1862, a Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas gave the Union control of Missouri.[4] For the rest of the year, and through 1863, Confederate activity in the state was largely restricted to guerrilla warfare and raids.[5]

By the beginning of September 1864, events in the eastern United States, especially the Confederate defeat in the Atlanta campaign, gave incumbent president Abraham Lincoln, who supported continuing the war, an edge in the 1864 United States presidential election over George B. McClellan, who promoted ending the war. At this point, the Confederacy had very little chance of winning the war.[6] Meanwhile, in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, the Confederates had defeated Union attackers in the Red River campaign in Louisiana in March through May. As events east of the Mississippi River turned against the Confederates, General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, was ordered to transfer the infantry under his command to the fighting in the Eastern and Western Theaters. However, this proved to be impossible, as the Union Navy controlled the Mississippi River, preventing a large scale crossing. Despite having limited resources for an offensive, Smith decided that an attack designed to divert Union troops from the principal theaters of combat would have the same effect as the proposed transfer of troops. Price and the new Confederate Governor of Missouri Thomas Caute Reynolds[lower-alpha 1] suggested that an invasion of Missouri would be an effective offensive; Smith approved the plan and appointed Price to command the campaign. Price expected that the offensive would create a popular uprising against Union control of Missouri, divert Union troops away from principal theaters of combat (many of the Union troops previously defending Missouri had been transferred out of the state, leaving the Missouri State Militia as the state's primary defensive force), and aid McClellan's chance of defeating Lincoln;[9] on September 19, Price's column entered the state.[10] This force was formally known as the Army of Missouri and contained three divisions, which were commanded by Major Generals James F. Fagan and John S. Marmaduke and Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby. All in all, the Confederates had 13,000 cavalrymen and 14 small-bore cannons.[11]

Map of Price's Raid

By September 24, Price's column had reached Fredericktown, where he learned that the town of Pilot Knob and the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railroad were held by Union forces under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr. Price had no interest in allowing an enemy force to operate in his rear while he advanced to St. Louis, so he sent Marmaduke and Fagan's divisions to Pilot Knob; Shelby and his men operated north of the town. On September 26, Ewing's command fought off Fagan's division at Arcadia before withdrawing to the defenses of Fort Davidson. The next day, Price moved against the fort and offered Ewing surrender terms; the latter refused, as he was afraid of being executed for his unpopular issuance of General Order No. 11 the previous year.[lower-alpha 2] Holding out, the Union defenders repulsed multiple assaults, before slipping out of the fort at 03:00 on September 28. The Confederates suffered at least 800 casualties during the engagement and their morale suffered, leading Price to abandon the attempt against St. Louis.[13]

After abandoning the St. Louis thrust, Price's army headed for Jefferson City, although the Confederates were slowed by bringing along a large supply train.[14] On October 7, the Confederates approached Jefferson City, which was held by about 7,000 men, mostly inexperienced militia, commanded by Brigadier General Egbert Brown. Faulty Confederate intelligence placed the Union strength at 15,000, and Price, fearing another defeat like Pilot Knob, decided not to attack the city, and began moving his army toward Boonville the next day.[15] Boonville was in the pro-Confederate region of Little Dixie, and Price was able to recruit between 1,200[16] and 2,000 men.[17] Price, needing weapons,[17] then authorized two raids away from his main body of troops: Brigadier General John B. Clark Jr. and 1,800 men were sent to Glasgow, and Brigadier General[lower-alpha 3] M. Jeff Thompson led Shelby's Iron Brigade to Sedalia.[19] Both raids were successful.[20][21] Price's army then fought a series of engagements as it moved westwards towards Kansas City, Missouri, culminating in the Battle of Westport on October 23. At Westport, the Confederates were soundly defeated by the commands of Major Generals James G. Blunt and Alfred Pleasonton. Shelby's men provided the Confederates with a rear guard, and the Army of Missouri retreated southwards.[22]

The Confederates still had a large supply train with them, slowing the retreat. By the evening of October 24, the Army of Missouri had entered Kansas; Confederate soldiers looted and burned as they went. That night, Price camped near Trading Post[23] in Linn County,[1] with the camp split into two segments by the Marais des Cygnes River.[23] Meanwhile, the Union pursuers were at West Point, Missouri. Blunt suggested an ambitious flanking movement, but was overruled by Major General Samuel R. Curtis,[24] commander of the Department of Kansas,[21] who did not want to divide the Union forces. Instead, Curtis ordered Pleasonton to make a frontal attack against Price. Pleasonton, who was heavily fatigued, then gave temporary control of his division to Brigadier General John B. Sanborn.[24]

Sanborn moved against Price with a cavalry force at Trading Post late on the night of the 24th. His line, which consisted of the 4th Iowa Cavalry Regiment[25] and three companies[26] of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry Regiment on the right and the 6th and 8th Missouri State Militia Cavalry Regiments on the left, made contact with Fagan's Confederates, who were now serving as the Confederate rear guard. A brief friendly fire incident involving the 4th Iowa Cavalry and the 2nd Colorado Cavalry ensued, as well as some light skirmishing with Fagan's forces. Sanborn was unsure of the Confederates' strength, and with his men fatigued and operating in a thunderstorm, he withdrew most of his line, except for the 6th Missouri State Militia Cavalry, which continued skirmishing throughout the night. Fagan informed Price of the action, and the Confederates began retreating about midnight.[25]

Map of Marais des Cygnes battlefield by the American Battlefield Protection Program

At around 01:00 the next morning, Curtis was informed that Sanborn had disengaged. Wishing to continue to press Price, he ordered Sanborn to attack at daybreak.[27] Around 02:00, Fagan and Shelby withdrew their troops, and Marmaduke aligned his division to serve as a rear guard;[28] it was over 2,000-strong.[29] Marmaduke withdrew his main force south of the river, but left a skirmish line on a row of formations described as either two mounds[30] or a "steep and rocky ridge".[31] During the night, part of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry broke through the Confederate skirmish line before withdrawing again. During the night, Sanborn was reinforced by elements of Lieutenant Colonel Frederick W. Benteen's cavalry brigade. At 04:00, Sanborn's artillery, six 3-inch ordnance rifles, opened fire on the Confederate line.[32]

At daybreak, the 4th Iowa Cavalry on the Union right attacked, using the broken ground as cover. Confederate marksmanship at that portion of the line was very poor, and the Iowans easily took the right of the position.[31] Union artillery fired on the mounds, but despite firing at a 15° angle, overshot the elevated Confederate positions. Some of the misses did strike the Confederate camp, accelerating its evacuation.[33] The 6th and 8th Missouri State Militia Cavalry Regiments attacked on the other end of the line. Again, the fire from the Confederate defenders was ineffective. Both sides were hampered by the rough terrain.[30][34] The Confederate commander facing the two militia cavalry regiments feared being isolated from Marmaduke's main body on the other side of the river, so the mound was abandoned. The retreat was not detected until after the position had been completely abandoned.[34] With Confederate resistance north of the river broken, Sanborn deployed the 3rd Iowa Cavalry Regiment and the 10th Missouri Cavalry Regiment,[35] as well as the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry Regiment, to exploit the breakthrough.[30][36]

The 2nd Arkansas Cavalry, operating in a mounted role, spearheaded the pursuit.[37] Union forces captured 100 Confederate soldiers, as well as two cannons and some wagons, north of the river.[35] Large quantities of equipment, personal effects, and partially cooked food were also found left in the camp,[38] including the partially-butchered carcasses of livestock.[39] Marmaduke had positioned men just south of the river crossing, and the Union troops were temporarily halted,[37] as there were not enough Union soldiers on the field to challenge the Confederate line directly.[38] Sanborn then ordered the 7th Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia to cross the river upstream from the Confederate position, successfully outflanking the Confederate line and opening a path across the river.[37] Another stream, known as Big Sugar Creek, had to be crossed during the retreat, and Marmaduke's men posted sharpshooters and felled trees at the crossing to slow the pursuit.[40] An alternate crossing of the Marais des Cynges bypassed this roadblock, but Sanborn was not aware of its existence.[41] Clark then aligned his brigade in the path of the Union advance. Colonel John E. Phelps, commanding the 2nd Arkansas Cavalry, assaulted Clark's line with 200 men, but was repulsed. Curtis and Pleasonton had joined Sanborn on the field by this point, and observed the 2nd Arkansas' repulse. They attempted to bring additional troops to Phelps' support, but Price's wagons had cut up the roads during their retreat, making maneuvers difficult.[42]

By 09:00, Pleasonton, who had by now regained command of his division from Sanborn, formed a line from the cavalry brigades commanded by Sanborn, Benteen, and Colonel John F. Philips. Sanborn's command outflanked the right of Clark's line and forced the Confederates to withdraw; another Confederate cannon was captured when Hynson's Texas Battery abandoned it during the retreat. Clark's brigade formed a new line containing around 1,200 men, but the weight of the 3,500 Union troopers now on the field was too much for the Confederates. After Phillips's troops threatened his left, Clark ordered a retreat from the field around 10:00.[43] Colonel Colton Greene and his 3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment provided a rear guard for the Confederates.[44] The action is also known as the Battle of Trading Post.[45]

Later that morning, Philips and Benteen's troops encountered some of Price's men at the crossing of Mine Creek. The Union troops quickly attacked, and the ensuing Battle of Mine Creek became one of the largest battles between mounted cavalry during the war. The Confederates suffered a serious defeat, as several cannons and about 600 men, including Marmaduke, were captured. Shelby's division served as a rear guard, fighting the Battle of Marmiton River that evening.[46] By the end of October 25, Price's army was so shattered and demoralized that the historian Albert E. Castel described it as essentially an armed mob.[47] That night, Price burned most of his wagon train near Deerfield, Missouri so that it was no longer an encumbrance. By October 28, the Confederates had reached Newtonia, Missouri, where they were defeated by the commands of Blunt and Sanborn in the Second Battle of Newtonia. Price's army began to disintegrate, and the Confederates retreated first into Arkansas and then into the Indian Territory and Texas. Price's Raid, the last major offensive in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, was a failure. By December, Price only had 3,500 men left in an army that had begun the campaign with 12,000 men.[48]

Over 937 acres (379 ha) of the battlefield are preserved by government agencies: 150 acres (61 ha) by the Kansas Department of Fish and Wildlife, and 787.25 acres (318.59 ha) by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; the land under the control of the latter agency is within Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge.[49] Only 92 percent of the battlefield retains historical integrity; of this, only 19 percent is included in the wildlife refuge. However, since the land is preserved as a wildlife site instead of a historic site, the only public interpretation of the battle is some signage and trails present at a rest stop maintained by the Kansas Department of Transportation.[50] U.S. Route 69 and Kansas State Highway 52 run through the northern portion of the battlefield, although the landscape is generally free from major development.[51] While the site of the battle is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a 2010 survey performed by the American Battlefield Protection Program determined that it is likely eligible for listing.[52]

• List of battles fought in Kansas
• Kansas in the American Civil War

• Buresh, Lumir F. (1977). October 25 and the Battle of Mine Creek. Kansas City, Missouri: The Lowell Press. ISBN 0-913504-40-8.
• Castel, Albert (1993) [1968]. General Sterling Price and the Civil War in the West (Louisiana Paperback ed.). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-1854-0.
• Collins, Charles D., Jr. (2016). Battlefield Atlas of Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864 (PDF). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-940804-27-9.
• Jenkins, Paul Burrill (1906). The Battle of Westport (PDF). Kansas City, Missouri: Franklin Hudson Publishing Company. OCLC 711047091.

• Kennedy, Frances H., ed. (1998). The Civil War Battlefield Guide (2nd ed.). Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-74012-5.
• National Park Service (2010). "Update to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields: State of Kansas" (PDF). Washington, D. C.: American Battlefield Protection Program.
• Parrish, William Earl (2001) [1973]. A History of Missouri: 1860–1875. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1376-6.
• Scott, William F. (1893). The Story of a Cavalry Regiment: The Career of the Fourth Iowa Veteran Volunteers from Kansas to Georgia, 1861–1865. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. OCLC 936067358.
• Stalnaker, Jeffrey D. (2011). Bostick, Doug (ed.). The Battle of Mine Creek: The Crushing End of the Missouri Campaign. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. ISBN 978-1-60949-332-5.
• Warner, Ezra J. (1987) [1959]. Generals in Gray (Louisiana Paperback ed.). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3150-3.