Gen. Price's Raid 1864--Ignored--Why?

[mobile_96]

Are there any good books available on the Missouri Raid? The only thing I could find on Amazon was Action Before Westport.

I have "Rebel Invasion of Missouri and Kansas and the Campaign of The Army of the Border against General Sterling Price in October and November 1864" by Richard J. Hinton.
The 1865 original printing reflects the title.
You might try abebooks.com
I got my copy thru http://www.camppope.com but its pricy now at $40.
You might check with Camp Pope to see if they can recommend anything newer. If they do, let me know.
Chuck in IL.

 

[5fish]

Hey, Fish. Was the drop in numbers casualties or deserters?

Well you don't have to answer that let me put it a different way.

Looks like there might have been quite a few deserters.

I would say desertion was the cause that reduces Gen. Prices army..along with a 1400 mile march...

There a Tyler's brigade and most of the men were unarmed...amazing going into battle with an unarmed brigade. I admit they hung around the 600 strong wagon train..

 

[5fish]

No book recommendations?

What about "Action before Westport, 1864" by H. Monnett

 

[5fish]

One take on this raid of Price's into MO. is that it degraded into a Heracles type effort to protect the 600 wagons and 3000 head of cattle form the Union cavalry.

I also want to note that those 600 wagons were not just carrying supplies but plunder and loot collected along the way into MO.

If you look at the big picture Price's raid into MO. had some of the elements of Lee's raid into PA. a year earlier. They both march into their opponents backyard had some early success then got clobbered in one big battle. Their defeats effectively limited the fighting ability of their armies for the rest of the war. In defeat, they spent weeks retreating, avoiding the capture of their wagons, and complete destruction of their armies.

I like to note the Lee get all kind of kudo's for his amazing retreat form Gettysburg, while Price get's no kudo's for his amazing retreat from Westport. Poor Price had to travel much further before reaching safety then Lee and Price's pursuers were not being cautious like Meade was.

One can argue Meade was more like escort then a pursuer during Lee's retreat but Price had true pursers on him.

I can not find out how many wagons or cattle made it back safely to the Confederate lines with Price. I know Lee lost a few wagons during his retreat if I remember right.

Like always, whatever Lee achieves its, WOW! but if someone does something similar its, Okay...

A muse...

 

[5fish]

Remember, Price's and those wagons, well near Deerfield, MO., he burned all except those with army supplies. All that effort to save the wagons and he ends up burning most of them.

 

[5fish]

The History Channel had a decent program about the Battle of Mine Creek. I believe it is part of their "Secrets of the Civil War" DVD set.

I am curious what was the Secrets at the Battle of Mine Creek. It was part of Price's raid...

 

[34 NC Co. H]

The turning point of Price's Missouri Expedition was most certainly the Battle of Mine Creek in eastern Kansas. For more info on the battle and its location, here's a link: http://www.kshs.org/places/minecreek/index.htm

 

[5fish]

The turning point of Price's Missouri Expedition was most certainly the Battle of Mine Creek in eastern Kansas. For more info on the battle and its location, here's a link: http://www.kshs.org/places/minecreek/index.htm

I never saw the show mention above but it was the battle of Westport that was the beginning of the end of Prices raid.

 

[Severon]

This is an interesting thread. I never even knew of General Price before this.

 

[TerryB]

History Channel ran a program on this raid a few years back. Old Pap definitely got clobbered. One of the things I like about the Trans-Mississippi is that anything can happen. The vast prairies allow for some very long range campaigning. As a result, Arkansas and Texas were very hard to conquer. You don't hear much about the fairly big battles for Helena and Arkansas Post, either. Like a mini-Vicksburg.

 

[Union_Buff]

I am just guessing that the Eastern Theatre was seen as more important, with Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Stuart, Mosby, etc, plus the Siege of Petersburg and the Battle of The Crater, and they didn't care to think about Price's Raid and the Western Theatre.

 

[TerryB]

I am just guessing that the Eastern Theatre was seen as more important, with Lee, Longstreet, Pickett, Stuart, Mosby, etc, plus the Siege of Petersburg and the Battle of The Crater, and they didn't care to think about Price's Raid and the Western Theatre.

Absolutely right. Lesser talents like Price don't help, either. Still, there were people worth studying.

 

[Borderruffian]

Can't say I agree that Mine Creek was the end although plenty of Kansans like to think it is.

Pilot Knob ended the actual objective of the raid with Price fighting an extended and costly action and insured that St Louis was out of his reach, although it was never in his reach. The rest was just a series of forward withdrawal fights to get back into CS territory.