Battles of Mine Creek & Newtonia

Tuesday, October 25, 1864 to Friday, October 28, 1864

The Newtonia and Mine Creek battlefields. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

As Confederate Major General Sterling Price retreats into Kansas following his loss at the Battle of Westport, two cavalry brigades from the division of Union Major General Alfred Pleasonton overtake the Confederates as they cross the Mine Creek in Kansas. The swiftness of the attack, along with federals' superior firepower, forces Price to retreat. Confederate Generals John S. Marmaduke and William L. Cabell are captured along with 600 men. Later in the same day, Price is again overtaken at a river crossing in the Battle of Marmiton River, in Vernon County, Missouri. Three days later, on October 28, Price is again defeated at the Second Battle of Newtonia in southwestern Missouri, and the remnants of his devastated army retreat into Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). The end of Price's Missouri Expedition marks the effective end of Confederate resistance in Missouri.