1864 Civil War raid into Missouri to be commemorated with events around the state

The 160th anniversary of a Civil War raid into Missouri is being remembered with reenactments, tours, seminars and other events around the state this fall, including an event in Southwest Missouri where the raid ended a month after it began.

Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, a former Missouri governor, led 12,000 Confederates on a 1,400-mile loop through his home state, hoping to liberate it for the South and install a Confederate government in Jefferson City. His grand plan failed, but before he was done he had engaged the Union in multiple large battles and numerous smaller fights, involving thousands of casualties on both sides.

"No other mounted operation of the war ... compares in magnitude to Price's attempt to conquer Missouri in the fall of 1864," wrote historian Kyle Sinisi, author of "The Last Hurrah, Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864."

The late Civil War historian Ed Bearrs called the 1864 battle at Newtonia, "the final act of Price's great raid, the largest mounted expedition launched on either side, a deep penetration raid. It is the final major act in the trans-Mississippi."

Price's troops crossed into Missouri in late September 1864 and soon engaged Union Forces at Fort Davidson near Pilot Knob.

• A battle reenactment of Price's attack on Fort Davidson is planned for the weekend of Sept. 28-29 at the Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site, near Pilot Knob.

The event, free and open to the public, runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

There will be Union and Confederate encampments, as well as periodic demonstrations of military tactics and marching throughout the event.

The main battle reenactment will start at 1:30 p.m. each day.

For details, contact Bryan Bethel or Brick Autry at 573-546-3454.

• The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is offering battlefield tours at 10 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 27, in Pilot Knob. For information, call Mark Coplin, senior vice commander, at 314-690-3148. At 11:30 a.m., there will be a ceremony to honor Union soldiers who were killed and fought.

"It's mainly for school groups but the public is welcome," said Walter Busch, past department commander and past superintendent of the state historic site.

Other events this fall to commemorate the raid include:

• Saturday Oct. 12: A daylong symposium on Price's Raid at the Missouri State Archives in Jefferson City, 600 W. Main St., in Jefferson City. It will include a ceremony to honor the Union dead of some of the smaller engagements at Jefferson City, Glasgow and Lexington.

• On Oct. 19-20, the Battle of Westport, considered the largest Civil War battle fought west of the Mississippi, will be remembered with events, including at 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, in Swope Park, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, in Loose Park, in Kansas City. "That is not a reeneacment. Those are ceremonies," Busch said.

• The final fight of the raid, on Oct. 26, 1864, in Newtonia, will be remembered with from noon to 2:30 p.m., at the Mathew Ritchey Mansion in Newtonia, which was used as a hospital during the battle.

Last year, the Ritchey Mansion and 25 acres were added as a satellite National Park Service unit to Wilson's Creek National Battlefield outside Springfield.

The latter event will include tours of the mansion.

Talks will be held at the Newtonia Community Center with a ceremony at the Ritchey Mansion.