In July of 1864 the Confederacy was in real trouble. The Union had driven deep into the south. So the Confederacy decided to launch a very risky plan.
General Sterling Price had convinced Jefferson Davis that the south should launch a raid into Missouri and capture St. Louis.
From there , the south could cut off Union supplies being shipped down the Mississippi and then cut across Illinois and head south to attack Union forces from behind putting them in a two front war.
It was a great plan, but it all hinged on taking St. Louis.
In the meantime, William Clark Quantrill and his guerillas were to cause as much havoc as they could in the western part of the state to draw Union troops there, opening up the eastern part of the sate for General Price’s invasion.
They now attacked places like Booneville and Rocheport.
Columbia was afraid they would be next and formed their own union militia called the Tigers.
The president of boone County Bank took all the money out of the bank and buried it under fence posts on his farm where it remained until the war ended.
Next, Bloody Bill Anderson and his men wiped out Centralia in the now famous Centralia massacre.
The plan worked. St. Louis dispatched every available soldiers to the western part of the state, opening up the path for Sterling Price and the Confederates to invade Missouri and take St. Louis.
Price now crosses from Arkansas into Missouri with a rag tag force of 12,000 men.
Like I said, this is a last ditch effort. The men have been living on limited rations of hard tack and the reigns of their horses were made of grape vines cut from the surrounding trees.As they headed north from Sikeston and approached Cape Gerardo, They were spotted by 2 Union soldiers on horseback high on the hill just north of town.
Price’s scouts rode back to tell him about the Union soldier and Price immediately stopped the march and called together his Generals to get their thought on how to proceed.
Price’s generals included General James Fagan, an Arkansas politician, Maj. General John S. Marmaduke, West Point Grad and future Governor of Missouri, and Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby a great calvary leader and one of the toughest fighter of the war.
Price told the generals that he feared Union soldiers were part of a scouting party for the main Union force in Missouri and that if the reported back that they saw the confederate forces advancing northward toward St. Louis, the element of surprise was lost and they would never be able to take St. Louis.
It was then agreed that Price was probably correct, so they made the decision to abandon their plan to take St. Louis and instead head for Jeff. City and capture the capitol.
This was a terrible decision that may have changed the entire outcome of the war.
The two Union soldiers were indeed from St. Louis. However, they were bored and missed their girlfriend who lived in Cape. So they decided to sneak out of camp in St. Louis for a few day and go see their girlfriends.
As they approached Cape Gerardo, they came to the top of the hill and there, spread out below them was a line of 12,000 Confederate soldiers!
It looked like the entire Confederate army, so they turned tail and fled back north to St. Louis. Along the way they agreed that neither of them would tell anyone what they saw. If they did, they would be shot for going AWOL, so they returned to camp and told no one.
So, bottom line, the course of history was changed by 2 guys sneaking off to see their dollies! Even worse, St. Louis was only being protected by a Union force of 4000 men.
Things for Price now got even worse. As they were heading toward Jeff City they came to the mining town of Pilot Knob.
The scouts asked Price if he planned on attacking the Union Fort there. Fort Davidson.
Price initially said no, the priority was Jeff City. Then the scouts told him who was in command of Fort Davidson.
It was none other than General Thomas Ewing. Thomas Ewing had previously been in command in Kansas City and had issued the infamous General Order #11 which forced all Missourians, regardless of allegiance, out of their homes. They had 15 days to comply or be shot.
Ewing and his troop came in, took everything, and burned all 4 counties to the ground.
Needless to say. General Ewing was the most hated man in Missouri and Price simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to capture or kill Ewing.
So Price gave the order to attack the fort.
Ewing had a total force of 1000 men at the fort. 400 Missouri Militia and 600 Iowa Union soldiers. Price had a force of 12,000.
Upon comin to the fort the confederates surround it and immediately ayyacked.
Unfortunately. unbeknownst to the rebels, the fort was surrounded by a moat.
Form outside the fort it just looked like a dirt berm, but on the back side of the berm was a six foot deep ditch, half filled with water.
As the Confederates attacked from all sides they climbed up and over the berm then slid into the muddy ditch with no way out.
The union soldiers shot them like rabbits in a trap and in just 20 minutes over 1000 of General Price’s forces were killed.
Seeing what was happening, Price called off the attack.
Being late in the day Price ordered hi men to make camp surrounding the fort. He then told his artillery to take their canons up to the high groundsurround the fort and prepare to blow the fort into oblivion the next morning at first light.
Meanwhile, Union General Ewing gathered his men and regrouped inside the fort. He could see they were still surrounded by 11,000 rebels and he was running low on ammo.
So he came up with a bizarre plan. He issued orders to his men to change into their street clothes. He then stated that as soon as it was dark, his men should pair up and, two at a time slip out of the fort under cover of darkness.
Bear in mind, the confederates were a rag tag army with very few having uniforms. So Ewing told his men, don’t run thru their camp. Just walk from one campfire to the next making idle conversation as you make your way to the perimeter. Then we will all meet on the Rolla to St. Louis Road tomorrow morning.
Unbelievable, the plan worked. Men snuck out all night long two at a time. The last two, lit a long fuse that ran to the powder magazine. At sunrise the powder magazine blew and the rebels, thinking the Union accidentally blew themselves up, charged the fort only to find there was no one there.
Ewing and his men had escaped.
Totally disgusted Price now regrouped and headed to Jeff. City.
General Sterling Price and his force of 11,000 men now arrived on the outskirts of Jefferson city on October 2, 1864. They made camp on Greenberry Road, just southeast of where McClung Park now stands.
Price immediately sent his scouts out to survey Union fortification and troop movements in the city.
After several hours the scouts returned with their report. It was not good.
Jefferson City had been held for the past 3 years by Union forces and was now heavily fortified.
Back in 1861, General John Fremont made the decision to make sure the confederates could never take the capitol of Missouri. He set up his headquarters in the Dulle house (brick house by old St. Mary’s on the hill, Grant stayed there as well when he helped fortify the town.)
He then set up fortifications with canons:
Miners Hill – State Surplus Property Area by the prison (covered river and road to St. Louis)
East Fort – Immaculate Conception Church Area
Millers Hill – Simonson School Area
Dunklin Fort – North side of Dunklin Street
College Hill – By Mo. River Bridge and City Water Works
Southern Hills- Jeff City High School Area
Koch’s Hill – Jefferson Street Helias High
Swifts Hill – Swifts Highway Area
Dulle’s Hill – St. May’s Hospital Area
So, the scout having reported what they saw, now left Price and his generals with a decision to make.
Do we try and take the town? Marmaduke and Shelby both pointed out the fact that all of the fortification were set up to put any invading force into an immediate crossfire, regardless of where they launched their attack
They also estimated that there were roughly 4000 troop station in the town.
Price, having just faced a slaughter of his men at Pilot Knob, running low on supplies and not wanting to destroy his remaining troops, made the correct decision and decided to pull camp the next morning and head for Booneville where they would be welcomed by confederate sympathizers and the Missouri guerilla forces.
Many say he made the decision because, having lived in Jeff as Governor, he knew the people and did not want to subject them to battle and the destruction of their city.
That may well have been part of his decision, but he was a military man, and I think he made the decision based on military tactics.
So why the history lesson?
Last month, the Jefferson City Council voted 8-2 in favor of a resolution to remove a monument donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy on the site where Sterling Price and his men camped in the story I just told you.
In the dark of night, the city council had the monument removed the next evening.
Council members and city commission have recommended it be replaced by something that “more accurately” tells the story of Jefferson City’s role in the Civil War.
So what did this monument say that was so offensive?
Bear in mind, it isn’t even a statue. It is a rock with an inscription on it.
The Sterling Price marker on Moreau Drive was erected on April 6, 1933 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The monument honors General Sterling Price of the Confederate Army.
“Deciding against attack, the Confederate Army under Gen. Sterling Price turned from Jefferson City October 7, 1864,” the plaque reads.
The two dissenting votes in the 8-2 council decision were from Councilmen Mark Schreiber and Ron Fitzwater.
During the discussion Fitzwater presented an amendment to the resolution that would not remove the monument, but add storyboards, explaining its context. That motion failed in a 2-8 vote, Fitzwater and Schreiber voting in favor.
“Again I do not condone what the daughters stood for,” Fitzwater said. “But I think we can use it as an opportunity to educate.”
Council members who voted for the removal said that it lacks historical context and was placed there for the wrong reasons, including Laura Ward.
“I’ve heard it be called a symbol of peace, a maker of peace, a monument of peace. It is not that, it was not put there for that reason,” Ward said.
The monument has been a topic of conversation and debate after the Jefferson City Human Relations Commission and the city’s historic preservation commission sent letters to the city council expressing concerns in late August.
The letter from the Human Relations Commission said the marker leaves out the context of the decision and that it offers a different version of historical events. The chairperson for the commission said in the letter that the panel is not simply calling for removal, but hopes for more context or a replacement.
Some members of the community have said that removing the monument would erase historical events. People on the other side have said the monument’s message is misleading and that Price had no choice but to turn away given the federal strength in the state capital.
Now folks. I just told you why I think Price decided not to attack Jeff City. However, removing this monument is a travesty to both sides. The monument should have remained there, just like all the other monuments being torn down throughout the nation.
I hope that what I have demonstrated today is that a monument cannot tell the whole story. The purpose of any monument is to get people to remember their history.
Think of monuments as bookmarks. They are there so you can go back and review the story. From there, I don’t care what conclusions you draw. That is your business.
But when you remove the bookmark, you find it much harder to go back and find the information. In some cases, you may never find it again.
Is that what we want when it comes to remembering our nation’s history?
I say absolutely not!
Callers, based on the story I provided you today, should the Sterling Price Monument have been removed or should it have stayed?