Prologue
Maj. Gen. Sterling Price
The confrontation in west central Missouri was the result of a three-year long quest by Missouri Confederates to take their state back from the Federal occupying forces. Maj. Gen. Sterling Price wanted to lead once last attempt to reclaim Missouri for the Confederacy. A Virginia native, Price had moved in 1831 to Chariton County, Missouri and became a prominent tobacco planter and slave owner. By 1864 and Sterling Price was a major general in the Confederate States Army in command of the District of Arkansas. He had been fighting the Federals for three years. In the summer of 1864, Price believed it was time to re-enter the state and rally the disaffected, pro-Southern citizens of Missouri. On August 3, 1864, Price received his orders to invade Missouri. Price named his invasion force the Army of Missouri, consisting of about 12,000 cavalry, although Price reported to headquarters that 4,000 of them were unarmed. The army included 14 pieces of field artillery.
Maj. Gen Sterling Price
The Federal commander in Missouri, Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, kept hearing rumors about an invasion of Missouri by Sterling Price. When Rosecrans finally learned that Price has entered southeastern Missouri, he ordered Brig. Gen. Thomas Ewing, Jr. to proceed with reinforcements down to Fort Davidson in Pilot Knob, Missouri. He also ordered his commanders in Springfield and Rolla to bring as much of their cavalry as possible and head for Jefferson City as quickly as possible.
Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans
The Federal commander in Kansas, Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, had also heard the invasions rumors, but Curtis had even fewer troops to protect Kansas than Rosecrans had in Missouri. By the end of September, Curtis had convinced the Governor of Kansas to call out the state militia. Curtis also ordered his second-in-command, Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt, to bring his veteran cavalry troops east to the Missouri border.
Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis
Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt
The stage was set. Rosecrans was mobilizing troops to defend Missouri, and Curtis was mobilizing his forces to defend Kansas. Price’s army entered the State of Missouri on September 19, 1864.
By the end of October Price is lumbering west across Missouri, heading for Independence and then on to Kansas. Price has added thousands of recruits to his army and is bringin along hundreds of wagons full of plunder and military supplies. Rosecrans has ordered about 5,000 of his cavalry, commanded by Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, to pursue Price's army. Preparing defenses against Price near Independence is a cobbled together Union force of about 4,500 Federal cavalry and 10,000 Kansas State Militia.
