Sterling Price’s 1864 Missouri Raid

I’m a cav guy. That’s no secret. In fact, cavalry operations interest me most of all. I find the evolution of tactics fascinating, and I likewise find the changing role of the cavalry in the Civil War to be one of the most interesting studies of the evolution of military doctrine I’ve yet found.

By 1864, as a consequence of changing technology, weaponry, tactics, and the emergence of competent leadership, cavalry doctrine had changed substantially from where it was at the beginning of the war. By late 1864, large mounted forces began acting as independent commands, almost like a mounted army. Each side featured one such force. Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson’s mounted army tore the guts out of the Deep South in the winter and spring of 1865, establishing the prototype for the modern armored force.

The Confederate force was commanded by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price. Price cobbled together a 12,000 man army in the summer and fall of 1864, mounted the entire force, and set off on a raid into Missouri that was intended to threaten St. Louis. His command included the cavalry forces of J.O. Shelby and John Marmaduke, both pretty good horse soldiers. Unfortunately, Price was no Marshal Murat, and he suffered three major defeats during this campaign, at Pilot Knob, Westport, and Mine Creek. During the latter two actions, Westport and Mine Creek, Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, who had been banished to the West in the spring of 1864 after he testified against George Gordon Meade before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, played an integral role in those Union victories.

During this time in the Eastern Theater, Pleasonton was never known as a battlefield commander, and he certainly was never known as a lead from the front kind of guy. However, when he got to the west, he suddenly became a very effective battlefield commander, and in the engagements at both Westport and Mine Creek, he did extremely well, managing significant battlefield victories over Price’s forces. These actions were clearly Alfred Pleasonton’s finest moments in the Civil War. In fact, the town of Pleasanton, Kansas (misspelling and all) was named for him.

J. D., Mike Nugent and I like to have the occasional cav fest, as we like to call them. We go and do some very serious battlefield stomping, focusing pretty much exclusively on cavalry actions/battlefields. We study the terrain and the tactics, and we learn as much as we can while we’re on the ground. We’re looking to do a Price’s Raid cav fest some time during 2008. We can fly into Kansas City from Columbus for next to nothing on Skybus, rent a car, and spend several days stomping these battlefields. We’re also going to try to squeeze in a visit to the U. S. Cavalry Museum at Fort Riley, Kansas, a place none of us has visited but all wish to.

It seems to me that a study of Price’s Missouri Raid with a visit to Fort Riley will make for a truly excellent cav fest.