The Battle of Mine Creek, also known as the Battle of Little Osage, was fought on October 25, 1864, in Linn County, Kansas, as part of Price's Missouri Campaign during the American Civil War. Major-General Sterling Price had begun an expedition in September 1864 to restore Confederate control of Missouri. After being defeated at Westport near Kansas City on October 23, Price's army began to retreat south through Kansas. Early on October 25, Price's army was defeated at the Marais des Cygnes. After Marais des Cygnes, the Confederates fell back, but were stalled at the crossing of Mine Creek while a wagon train attempted to cross.
Union cavalry commanded by Colonel John F. Philips and Lieutenant Colonel Frederick W. Benteen caught up to Price's army while it was stalled at the creek crossing. Confederate cavalry commanded by Major General James F. Fagan and Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke attempted to defend against the Union assault, but were soundly defeated. Many Confederate soldiers were captured, including Marmaduke. Later on the 25th, Price was again defeated at the Battle of Marmiton River. After Marmiton River, Price destroyed many of his wagons. On October 28, the Union defeated Price again at the Second Battle of Newtonia, and the shattered Confederate army reached Texas in December. The site of the battle was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as the Battle of Mine Creek Site, and the Kansas Historical Society created the Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site in 1974. Mine Creek is considered to be one of the largest battles between mounted cavalry during the war.
During the American Civil War, in the fall of 1864, Major General Sterling Price led an expedition into Missouri hoping to capture that state for the Confederacy and affect the 1864 United States Presidential Election. Price formed an army consisting of three divisions (commanded by Major General James F. Fagan and Brigadier Generals John S. Marmaduke and Joseph O. Shelby) and left Arkansas for Missouri in September. On September 26, Price's army found and assaulted a Union force near Pilot Knob. Price's army was repulsed in the ensuing Battle of Fort Davidson, although the Union garrison retreated after the battle. The Confederates then moved north towards the Missouri River and captured a small Union force at the Battle of Glasgow on October 15 and began moving towards Kansas City.
Union columns commanded by Major Generals Samuel R. Curtis and Alfred Pleasonton began pursuing Price, who won another victory at the Second Battle of Lexington on October 19. A delaying action at the Battle of Little Blue River (October 21) allowed Union forces to catch up with Price. After smaller clashes at the battles of Second Independence (October 22) and the Big Blue River (October 22 and 23), Curtis and Pleasonton decisively defeated Price's army at the Battle of Westport on October 23.
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
This page covers Battle of Mine Creek – Capture of Generals. A full Aubrey report for the area pulls together this battle alongside historic sites, land records, and everything else the record holds within a few miles:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Content adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Wikipedia source.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the US, drawing on NRHP records, battlefield archives, census history and geological data to tell the full story of a place.