History in Your Own Back Yard
History in Your Own Back Yard – Mine Creek
Nearly a year ago now, I published my novel of the Civil War, Henry’s Pride. Never having lived in an area where the major action took place and not having traveled there during my career as a certified public accountant, I did all of my research in books, contemporaneous magazines and newspapers, and on-line. I was aware of Confederate General Sterling Price’s foray into Missouri and the Battle of Westport that took place near my home. I saw that battle as significant but certainly not on the level of Shiloh, Fredericksburg, or Gettysburg.
In doing research for my current work in progress, In Henry’s Land, I ran across something truly amazing. In this book that takes place immediately after the war, veterans talk about their experiences. I found that, after his defeat at Westport, Price moved south with his force of 7,000 soldiers (largely cavalry) and 700 wagons in an attempt to capture the Federal supplies stored at Fort Scott, Kansas. At Mine Creek, near the present-day site of Pleasanton, Kansas (named for one of the Union generals in the battle), Price encountered a force of 2,500 Federals (again, mostly cavalry). What ensued in October of 1864 was one of the largest cavalry battles of the Civil War and the largest to take place west of the Mississippi River! Though badly outnumbered, the Union forces emerged victorious largely because of having superior equipment that would have also become available to Price’s army had it succeeded in capturing Fort Scott. The Federal troops were equipped with newer breech-loading rifles. Price’s cavalry, on the other hand, was equipped with long-barreled muzzle loading rifles that were still common-place in infantry engagements but totally unsuited to cavalry use.
Using what I learned, I was able to incorporate reminiscences of this historic battle into my current novel.
What particularly amazed me was that my wife and I drive by the site of the Battle of Mine Creek every time we go from the Kansas City suburbs to our lake home near Fort Scott. In the nearly twenty years of our going there, I had never viewed the engagement as anything more than a minor skirmish involving, at most, a few hundred combatants. Moral – pay closer attention to things around you never know what you will uncover
Nearly a year ago now, I published my novel of the Civil War, Henry’s Pride. Never having lived in an area where the major action took place and not having traveled there during my career as a certified public accountant, I did all of my research in books, contemporaneous magazines and newspapers, and on-line. I was aware of Confederate General Sterling Price’s foray into Missouri and the Battle of Westport that took place near my home. I saw that battle as significant but certainly not on the level of Shiloh, Fredericksburg, or Gettysburg.
In doing research for my current work in progress, In Henry’s Land, I ran across something truly amazing. In this book that takes place immediately after the war, veterans talk about their experiences. I found that, after his defeat at Westport, Price moved south with his force of 7,000 soldiers (largely cavalry) and 700 wagons in an attempt to capture the Federal supplies stored at Fort Scott, Kansas. At Mine Creek, near the present-day site of Pleasanton, Kansas (named for one of the Union generals in the battle), Price encountered a force of 2,500 Federals (again, mostly cavalry). What ensued in October of 1864 was one of the largest cavalry battles of the Civil War and the largest to take place west of the Mississippi River! Though badly outnumbered, the Union forces emerged victorious largely because of having superior equipment that would have also become available to Price’s army had it succeeded in capturing Fort Scott. The Federal troops were equipped with newer breech-loading rifles. Price’s cavalry, on the other hand, was equipped with long-barreled muzzle loading rifles that were still common-place in infantry engagements but totally unsuited to cavalry use.
Using what I learned, I was able to incorporate reminiscences of this historic battle into my current novel.
What particularly amazed me was that my wife and I drive by the site of the Battle of Mine Creek every time we go from the Kansas City suburbs to our lake home near Fort Scott. In the nearly twenty years of our going there, I had never viewed the engagement as anything more than a minor skirmish involving, at most, a few hundred combatants. Moral – pay closer attention to things around you never know what you will uncover
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