Capture of Sedalia
Capture of Sedalia | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Confederate States | United States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
M. Jeff Thompson[a] | John D. Crawford | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Shelby's Brigade |
Home guards and Enrolled Missouri Militia 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
c. 1,200 men | c. 830 men | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown |
1 dead and 23 wounded Several hundred captured and released or paroled | ||||||
The capture of Sedalia occurred during the
Many recruits in the region joined the Confederates in the region, and Price soon needed supplies and weapons for these men. He sent side raids to
Prelude
At the outset of the American Civil War in 1861, the state of
Price's Raid
By the beginning of September 1864, events east of the
Despite having limited resources for an offensive, Smith decided that an attack designed to divert Union troops from the principal theaters of combat would have the same effect as the proposed transfer of troops.
Price soon learned that a Union force held
Battle
The particular allure of Sedalia for Price was a rumor that the Union army had thousands of mules and cattle in the town, which would be helpful in feeding and
Continuing their movement the next day, the Confederate soldiers captured two Union stragglers near Georgetown who claimed to be former Confederates forced into Union service. The prisoners identified the Union cavalry sighted by Slayback as Brigadier General John B. Sanborn's command, and informed Thompson that Union forces were concentrating at Jefferson City and Kansas City, in addition to a Union infantry force at California that was preparing to head to Georgetown.[23] Thompson, who had established a chain of relay couriers along his path,[22] sent a message to Price to inform him of this development.[24] Thompson initially decided to call off the attack on Sedalia, before changing his mind in the belief that the Union infantry was not heading in his direction and that Sanborn was too far away to interfere.[23]
Sedalia was located in the middle of an expansive prairie with few trees or other features to provide cover to an attacking force.
Thompson believed that surprise gave him the greatest chance of success[25] and attacked before daylight on October 15.[19] Benjamin F. Elliott's regiment, which was largely dressed in captured Union uniforms, led the advance and reached within pistol shot of the Union pickets before being discovered. The Union pickets were scattered and driven back into town. Crawford and many of the Enrolled Missouri Militia soldiers followed them in their flight.[25][28] Queen claimed that Crawford had ordered his men to retreat as soon as Thompson's men were sighted.[27] However, the men of the 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry held, and the Union soldiers were able to form a point of resistance. Elliott's regiment had gotten ahead of the rest of the Confederate force and fell back after meeting the unexpected resistance.[25] Within ten minutes, the rest of Thompson's brigade, including the artillery, arrived. Confederate artillery fire scattered the remaining Enrolled Missouri Militia soldiers, and the men of the 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry surrendered the town.[29] Thompson reported that the Confederates were unaware that the defenders had fled, as they had left their flags flying above the fortifications.[26] Confederate soldiers chased the militiamen as they fled across the prairie, inflicting an unknown number of casualties.[30]
Aftermath
Some degree of plundering occurred after the fighting ended. The historian Paul B. Jenkins, writing in 1906, stated that Thompson's men
The Union suffered one man killed and 23 wounded.[35] Several hundred Union soldiers were captured, but Thompson did not have the ability to keep them as prisoners or issue them standard written paroles.[36][32] Treatment of the prisoners varied between how Thompson classified them: a few hundred were classified as home guard and released, while 75 Enrolled Missouri Militia and 47 Missouri State Militia were given nonstandard verbal paroles,[37] including threats if they reneged on the terms. Several Union officers protested that the practice was illegal, but were ignored.[36] Queen considered the paroles to be "worthless" and returned to Jefferson City for further orders.[38] Knowing that they could be trapped by Union forces if they tarried, the Confederates left Sedalia within hours.[39] Thompson moved north to rejoin Price's main body and rejoined it at the Salt Fork River,[40] near Waverly, on October 18.[41]
Clark's raid on Glasgow was also successful. By October 19, the Confederates had reached Lexington, where they fought against a Union force in the Second Battle of Lexington. Two days later, Union Major General James G. Blunt attempted to stop Price at the crossing of the Little Blue River, but was defeated in the ensuing battle. After fighting several more actions, Price encountered nearly 20,000 Union soldiers near Kansas City on October 23. The Battle of Westport followed, and Price's 9,000 soldiers were soundly defeated.[42] Price then fell back into Kansas but was defeated in the Battle of Mine Creek on October 25. About 600 Confederate soldiers were captured at Mine Creek. Later that day, Price ordered the destruction of almost all of the cumbersome wagon train.[43] The final major action of the campaign occurred on October 28 near Newtonia, Missouri. In the Second Battle of Newtonia Price was defeated by Blunt; by this point, the Confederate army was disintegrating. Union troops continued pursuing Price until the Confederates reached the Arkansas River on November 8; the Confederates did not stop retreating until they reached Texas[44] towards the end of November 1864.[45] The campaign failed to affect the election, and while part of the XVI Corps was diverted to Missouri, the transfer was only temporary and did not have a major impact on campaigns in other theaters.[46]
References
Footnotes
Citations
- ^ a b Warner 1987, p. xviii.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 20–21, 23–25.
- ^ Geise 1962, p. 193.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 34–37.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 377–379.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, p. 343.
- ^ a b c Collins 2016, pp. 27–28.
- ^ "Sterling Price". National Park Service. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
- ^ Collins 2016, pp. 37, 39.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 380–382.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 53.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 57.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 59.
- ^ Sinisi 2020, p. 125.
- ^ Sinisi 2020, p. 127.
- ^ a b Collins 2016, p. 63.
- ^ Sinisi 2020, pp. 134–135.
- ^ a b c Jenkins 1906, p. 52.
- ^ a b Sinisi 2020, p. 135.
- ^ a b Kirkman 2011, p. 79.
- ^ a b Lause 2016, p. 35.
- ^ a b c Sinisi 2020, pp. 135–136.
- ^ Monnett 1995, p. 31.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sinisi 2020, p. 136.
- ^ a b c Lause 2016, p. 36.
- ^ a b Official Records 1893, p. 364.
- ^ McGhee 2008, pp. 84, 86.
- ^ Sinisi 2020, pp. 136–137.
- ^ a b c Sinisi 2020, p. 137.
- ^ a b Jenkins 1906, pp. 52–53.
- ^ a b Lause 2016, p. 37.
- ^ Official Records 1893, p. 665.
- ^ McGhee 2008, p. 132.
- ^ "Missouri Civil War Battles". National Park Service. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- ^ a b Collins 2016, pp. 137–138.
- ^ Lause 2016, p. 38.
- ^ Official Records 1893, p. 365.
- ^ Monnett 1995, pp. 31–32.
- ^ Sinisi 2020, pp. 137–138.
- ^ Monnett 1995, p. 32.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 382–384.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 384–385.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 385–386.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 186.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 187.
Sources
- Collins, Charles D. Jr. (2016). Battlefield Atlas of Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864 (PDF). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-940804-27-9.
- Geise, William R. (October 1962). "Missouri's Confederate Capital in Marshall, Texas". The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 66 (2): 193–207. JSTOR 30236239.
- Jenkins, Paul Burrill (1906). The Battle of Westport (PDF). Kansas City, Missouri: Franklin Hudson Publishing Company. OCLC 475778855.
- Kennedy, Frances H., ed. (1998). The Civil War Battlefield Guide (2nd ed.). Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-74012-5.
- Kirkman, Paul (2011). The Battle of Westport: Missouri's Great Confederate Raid. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. ISBN 978-1-61423-131-8.
- Lause, Mark A. (2016). The Collapse of Price's Raid: The Beginning of the End in Civil War Missouri. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-826-22025-7.
- McGhee, James E. (2008). Guide to Missouri Confederate Regiments, 1861–1865. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 978-1-55728-870-7.
- Monnett, Howard N. (1995) [1964]. Action Before Westport 1864 (Revised ed.). Boulder, Colorado: University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-0-87081-413-6.
- Sinisi, Kyle S. (2020) [2015]. The Last Hurrah: Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864 (paperback ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-4151-9.
- OCLC 262466842 – via Internet Archive.
- Warner, Ezra J. (1987) [1959]. Generals in Gray (Louisiana Paperback ed.). Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-3150-3.