Battle of Mine Creek

Pleasonton, Alfred

By William D. Hickox, University of Kansas

Alfred Pleasonton was a Union cavalry general during the Civil War. While he is best known for leading the Army of the Potomac’s Cavalry Corps in the Gettysburg Campaign, Pleasonton also played a crucial role on the Western Border. After being transferred to the Department of the Missouri, Pleasonton helped to defeat Sterling Price’s epic cavalry raid in October 1864.

Battle of Mine Creek

As Confederate Major General Sterling Price retreated into Kansas following his loss at the Battle of Westport, two cavalry brigades from the division of Union Major General Alfred Pleasonton overtook the Confederates as they crossed Mine Creek.

Battle of Mine Creek

By Terry Beckenbaugh, U. S. Air Force Command and Staff College

The Battle of Mine Creek, fought on October 25, 1864, was a devastating defeat for Major General Sterling Price’s Confederate Army of Missouri.

Price, Sterling

By Christopher Phillips, University of Cincinnati

Sterling Price, a U.S. congressman, governor of Missouri, and Confederate major general, was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, to a slave-owning planter family. He eventually became one of the most important Confederate generals operating in Arkansas and Missouri.

Price’s Missouri Expedition (or Price’s Raid)

By Christopher Phillips, University of Cincinnati

Major General Sterling Price’s unsuccessful cavalry raid of September and October 1864, the largest Confederate cavalry raid of the war, sought to capture St. Louis and recover Missouri for the Confederacy. Price believed the expedition would spur recruiting, contribute to Abraham Lincoln’s defeat in the November presidential election, and perhaps end the war.

Jennison, Charles R.

By Christopher Phillips, University of Cincinnati

Charles R. Jennison, abolitionist and federal cavalry colonel, was born on June 6, 1834, in Antwerp, in upstate New York’s famed “Burned-Over District,” so named for its fervid evangelical religious revivals that were foundational to Northern antislavery reform. In 1857 he moved his young family to Osawatomie, Kansas, perhaps not coincidentally the home of John Brown, whose by then notorious radical politics Jennison would soon emulate.

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