Mine Creek

On October 25, 1864, Confederate and Union forces clashed in Linn County, Kansas, in an engagement known as both the Battle of Mine Creek and the Battle of Little Osage, a chapter within Price's Missouri Campaign of the Civil War. Major-General Sterling Price had launched his expedition in September 1864, aiming to bring Missouri back under Confederate control. His campaign su

Battle

Even though a skirmish had flared near the Marais des Cygnes, Price remained confident that his men faced no serious peril, so he pushed Shelby's division toward Fort Scott with orders to seize that post. Meanwhile Marmaduke and Fagan stayed behind guarding part of the wagon train close to where the road crossed Mine Creek, just above the Little Osage River. That crossing proved difficult to manage, and wagons soon jammed together in confusion. To shield the train, the Confederates chose to hold their ground on the north bank. Fagan and Marmaduke arranged their men into a line stretching 800 yards (730 m), Fagan holding the left and Marmaduke the right, while four cannon sat at the center and one more pair guarded each flank. Roughly 7,000 soldiers held this position.

Union horsemen at the front of the pursuit soon caught up to the retreating column, though Blunt's division lagged behind and never reached the fight. Philips' brigade arrived first, opening a long-distance exchange of fire. Confederate artillery answered, but Philips' men, lacking guns of their own, relied on repeating rifles fired from a distance. Cabell considered ordering his brigade forward against Philips but held back, wary of the disorder in the Confederate ranks and the approach of Benteen's Union brigade. Together Philips and Benteen commanded somewhere between 2,500 and 2,600 troops. Even though outnumbered, the Union officers chose to press an assault. Benteen especially believed the Confederates had blundered by placing their cannon so near the front, leaving them able to loose only a round or two before mounted riders could close the distance.

Union cavalrymen launched their charge without dismounting, meeting Confederates who likewise remained on horseback. Partway through the advance, the momentum broke down as both the 10th Missouri Cavalry, part of Benteen's command, and Philips' brigade drew to a halt short of the enemy line. Heavy small arms fire from the Confederates stopped the 10th Missouri, and Philips reined in his own brigade to stay abreast of Benteen. This left Union riders exposed and motionless, ripe for a counterstrike, yet the disorganized Confederates could not mount one. It was the 4th Iowa Cavalry, from Benteen's brigade, that broke the deadlock by pushing the attack forward again. The 3rd Iowa joined the renewed charge, and soon Benteen's entire brigade surged ahead once more, driving toward the middle of Marmaduke's portion of the line, while Philips' brigade turned toward Fagan's left flank as the advance resumed.

Once Benteen and Philips reached the Confederate position, it collapsed quickly. The repeating rifles carried by Union troopers outmatched the mostly single-shot weapons of their opponents. Clark's brigade, drawn into close combat, gave ground almost immediately. Freeman's brigade, filled largely with recent recruits, broke even before the Union charge fully struck it. With Clark and Freeman retreating, Cabell's brigade found its position untenable and pulled back as well. Before long nearly the whole Confederate line was streaming back toward the Mine Creek crossing. Trapped by the water they could not cross, large numbers of Confederate soldiers fell into Union hands, including Marmaduke himself. Private James Dunlavy of the 3rd Iowa captured the general, and as reward received leave from military service for the remainder of his enlistment. Dunlavy would later be awarded the Medal of Honor for what the citation called gallantry in capturing General Marmaduke. Cabell too was taken prisoner, and the Union seized somewhere between eight and ten cannon.

Philips' and Benteen's brigades pushed across the ford to keep chasing the fleeing Confederates. The field grew chaotic, made worse by the fact that many Confederate soldiers wore Union uniforms taken as spoils. Fagan tried to reform his scattered men into a line that might check the pursuit, but the effort collapsed. Pleasonton and Curtis reached the scene only as the fighting was winding down, and the engagement concluded when Pleasonton called off Benteen and Philips, ending the chase.

Aftermath

The Confederacy suffered roughly 1,200 casualties in the engagement, while Union forces lost between 100 and 110 men. Shelby's division arrived back in time to shield the beaten Confederates as a rear guard. Late on the 25th, Price's remaining wagons ran into further delay, this time while attempting to cross the Marmaton River. A brief clash there, known as the Battle of Marmiton River, prompted Price to order the destruction of any wagons not carrying vital military supplies. Two days later, on October 28, the fleeing Confederates suffered another setback at the Second Battle of Newtonia. From that point on, Price's force began disintegrating, with Curtis' troops chasing the remnants all the way to the Arkansas River. Not until December did what was left of Price's battered command finally reach Texas, closing out a campaign that had ended in total failure. This defeat effectively closed the book on major Confederate action in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. As for Mine Creek itself, it earned a lasting place in history as one of the largest cavalry-on-cavalry engagements of the entire war.