- 1864: MILITARY OPERATION IN MISSOURI
Civil War Trivia
The last public auction of slaves in St. Louis took place on
Jan.1 1861. A rowdy crowd of Republican "Wide Awakes" forced the
sale to close. Slaves continued to be sold in the city
discreetly with traders sending slaves to auctions in Kentucky.
On March 1, 1864 General William Rosecrans ordered the sale
practice stopped.
- On October 29, 1864 at Fort No. 4 (near present day
Lafayette Square) in St. Louis, six Confederate POWs, innocent
of war crimes, were picked at random and ordered executed by
firing squad by Gen. William Rosecrans. This was done in
retaliation for six Union soldiers executed by Confederates at
nearby Union, Missouri. These six soldiers were then taken to
Jefferson Barracks where they are now interred side by side.
- While Gen. William T. Sherman and Missouri
Union forces were participating in the "march to the sea" in
late 1864, Gen. Sterling Price was marching his forces on a
"Missouri raid" that came to within the outskirts of St. Louis
(Gen. Sherman's hometown). The Price expedition covered 1,434
miles, included 43 battles/skirmishes; captured/paroled 3,000
Federal soldiers; captured 16 colors (flags); 18 pieces of
artillery; and inflicted $10,000,000 worth of destruction. It
was primarily a cavalry operation, considered by some to be the
longest raid of the Civil War, although slower than a typical
raid. Price's forces met disaster at Westport and Newtonia,
Missouri and Mine Creek, Kansas.
- The largest cavalry battle west of the
Mississippi occurred at Westport, Missouri. The battle,
sometimes referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West," took
place on October 26-27, 1864.
- Missouri Union forces lost 3,317
killed/mortally wounded; 9,243 died of disease; 225 died as
POW's; 487 deaths from accidents; 613 other non-battle deaths;
total: 13,885 source: Dyer's Compendium.
- 27,000 total Missouri citizens (Confederate
and Union loyalties) are estimated to having been killed in the
Civil War.
- Approximately one out of every 10 people in
Missouri during the Civil War was a slave.
- When Missouri slaves were emancipated in 1865
before the Civil War was over, it amounted to a $40,000,000
investment loss to Missouri slaveholders.
- In the fall elections of 1864, the Republican
Party won control of the Missouri state government. A new state
constitution was drafted and a test oath administered. Those not
taking the oath were to vacate all state offices, not allowed to
vote, preach, or to teach school. Missouri Supreme Court
justices that objected to the unconstitutionality were evicted
by force on May 1st, 1865. One of those barred from voting was
Union Gen. Frank P. Blair, founder of the Missouri Republican
party who refused to take the oath on grounds of principle. In
1866, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the test oath was
unconstitutional and by 1870 it was completely removed by voters
of the state.
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