Ed,
Sorry to be so long in posting on this. Yeah, I agree with your assessment of the situation facing Price in October 1864. Once he realized that there was no possibility of taking St. Louis or establishing a Confederate State Government in Jeff City, his backup plan was the capture of desperately needed military supplies and equipment and disrupting the flow of union troops from Missouri to the east. He was doing it pretty well too, as he let Pleasanton chase him across Missouri. By the time of the Battle of Westport most accounts agree that he had a wagon train consisting of about 1,000 wagons. Most sources also agree that he had his eye on Fort Leavenworth Kansas, hoping to capture the supplies there before he moved south. I think he was again a little greedy.
Having said that, I have to also say that he wasn’t totally crazy. You must remember that most of the union troops, which were involved in the pursuit, and the Battle of Westport, were militia and not regular or veteran troops. Price’s Army of Missouri, on the other hand, while containing a large number of draftees and new volunteers, had a strong veteran base. These men were the survivors of Price’s Missouri State Guard who had followed him into Confederate Service, and Jo Shelby’s famous “Iron Brigade,” at this time under command of M. Jeff Thompson, the “Swamp Fox,” they had been fighting since 1861.
However, by the time Price got to Westport he was outnumbered by more than 2 to 1. I think that his decision to divide his forces in the face of these odds was just flat wrong. He should have concentrated on escape. There are those, including some of Price’s survivors, who complain that too many of those wagons were filled with “loot” as opposed to militarily useful supplies. In any case the end result was utter disaster no supplies and the destruction of Price’s army as an effective fighting force. The only reason he escaped at all was the squabbling of the union commander’s after the battles of Westport and Mine Creek.
Briefly, Gen. Pleasanton’s Provisional Division was from Rosecrans’ Department of Missouri in St. Louis. The other union troops were from Gen. Curtis’ Department of the Border, along the Kansas Missouri border with headquarters at Fort Scott, Kansas. Pleasanton refused to submit to Curtis’ command and Curtis refused to continue the pursuit. He was also under a great deal of pressure from Gov. Robinson of Kansas to get the Kansas boys home in time to vote, there was a nasty fight going on for the governor’s office that year.
I agree that Price’s invasion was an act of desperation. I also agree that he did pretty damned well given the difficulties he faced.
The study of the war in the Trans-Mississippi is fascinating; I hope you continue your interest. If you would like I can recommend a starting bibliography. In any case I would recommend, “They deserved a Better Fate” by Roy Bird. Roy is a Topeka Kansas historian and the book is about the Second Kansas Militia and Price’s invasion.
Doug