Major-General Sterling Price, a former Missouri governor, had won approval from General Edmund Kirby Smith, commanding the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, to raise a force to reclaim Price’s home state for the Confederacy. Price’s new “Army of Missouri” consisted of three cavalry divisions led by Major-General James F. Fagan, and Brigadier-Generals John S. Marmaduke and Joseph O. “Jo” Shelby. Price joined Fagan and Marmaduke at Princeton, Arkansas, in late August, and then moved to join forces with Shelby early this month.
Price was backed by the “Order of American Knights,” a pro-Confederate group connected to various partisan bands in Missouri. The O.A.K. leaders planned to coordinate partisan and civilian uprisings in support of the advancing Confederates. Federal authorities seized many O.A.K. leaders before they could stir up civilian unrest, but the guerrillas continued raiding throughout the state.
Of Price’s 12,000 men, no more than 8,000 carried arms, but Price hoped to capture Federal weapons along the way. The Army of Missouri also had 14 guns. On September 6, Price’s army reached Dardanelle, where they crossed the Arkansas River. According to Private John C. Farr in Fagan’s division, “It was a grand sight to see the road full of men and horses, mules, artillery, and wagons.”
The Confederates were continuously harassed by bushwhackers, and Farr noted that “No savage Indian ever committed such outrages as these Federal murderers, robbers, and house burners.” The Confederates “put a stop to this uncivilized warfare” by killing any Federals that were captured.
In mid-September, Price’s troopers crossed the White River and joined Shelby’s troopers at Pocahontas, near the Missouri border. The Confederates entered Missouri from northeastern Arkansas. The Federal high command, busy guarding the Santa Fe Trail from Indians, was unaware of Price’s movements, which were “unmolested and conducted in the most leisurely manner.”
The Missouri incursion began with skirmishing at Doniphan. Price’s force then pushed north toward Ironton, terminus of the southern railroad out of St. Louis, and captured Keytesville the next day. Price’s continuing advance included fighting at Fayetteville, Jackson, and Farmington. They reached Fredericktown on the 25th, one day’s ride east of Pilot Knob, Price’s objective.
By this time, Major-General William S. Rosecrans, commanding the Federal Department of Missouri, had been notified of Price’s advance into the state. Price soon learned that Rosecrans had dispatched cavalry under Major-General Alfred Pleasonton and infantry under Major-General Andrew J. Smith to stop the Confederates. Smith’s 8,000 Federals defended St. Louis against a potential attack. Kansas Governor Thomas Carney ordered the mobilization of his state militia.
Price dispatched Fagan and Marmaduke to attack Ironton while Shelby’s men destroyed railroad track between that town and St. Louis. Confederates reached Fort Davidson outside Pilot Knob on the night of the 26th. Brigadier-General Thomas Ewing, Jr., commanding the Federal District of Southeast Missouri, happened to be at the fort for an inspection. Ewing was heavily outnumbered, but he refused demands to surrender.
While Confederates skirmished at Arcadia, Ironton, and Mineral Point, Price ordered his main body of about 8,000 men to attack Fort Davidson on the 27th. Price did not call up his artillery train and instead committed his men to a series of uncoordinated assaults over open ground. Private Farr said this was “one of the most unreasonable blunders ever made… a useless sacrifice of a large number of brave and true officers and men.” After six hours, the Federals lost about 200 of their 1,200 men, but they inflicted 1,500 enemy casualties and held the fort.
That night, Ewing held a council of war to decide whether to abandon the fort. The Federals were still greatly outnumbered, and Ewing knew that if captured, the Confederates would execute him for authoring last year’s infamous General Order Number 11, which herded Missourians into concentration camps in response to guerrilla attacks. Ewing and his officers agreed to evacuate; the Federals destroyed all their guns and munitions, and slipped away in the darkness at 2:30 a.m. They covered 66 miles in less than two days, preventing Price from giving chase. According to Ewing’s report:
“The refugees, men, women, and children, white and black, who clung to the command, nearly sacrificed it by their panics. I had to throw out the available fighting force, infantry and cavalry, as advance and rear guards and flankers, leaving in the body of the column the affrighted non-combatants and two sections of artillery, not often brought into action on the retreat. Repeated and stubborn efforts were made to bring us to a stand, and could they have forced a halt of an hour they would had enveloped and taken us; but our halts, though frequent, were brief, and were only to unlimber the artillery, stagger the pursuers with a few rounds, and move on.”
Despite their repulse, the Confederates continued north on the 28th. They skirmished at Leasburg and Cuba the next day, “consuming all supplies, and conscripting all the semi-secessionists, and as many Union men as they could lay their hands on.” Panic in St. Louis intensified as the Confederates closed in. But Price opted not to attack Smith’s Federals guarding the city; instead his men turned northwest and moved along the Missouri River. Price hoped to capture the state capital of Jefferson City and install a pro-Confederate governor. However, Federals throughout Missouri began joining forces to stop him.
Bibliography
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