Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site
The preserved ground of one of the Civil War’s largest cavalry engagements, fought during Price’s failed 1864 Missouri raid.
Artwork inspired by Samuel Reader
At Mine Creek on October 25, 1864, Union cavalry struck a much larger Confederate column slowed at a creek crossing. The battle produced a rapid collapse and the capture of senior Confederate officers during Price’s retreat south.
Start in the visitor center, then use the trail and overlooks to understand compression at the crossing. Empty grassland can seem featureless until drainage, road alignment, visibility, and mounted movement are connected.
- Setting
- Pleasanton, Kansas
- Historical lens
- Creek crossing
- Allow
- 1½–3 hours
Quick guide
- Core comparison
- Creek crossing ↔ Cavalry battlefield
- Second-look plan
- 1864 Price’s Raid
Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site: inside first and compression
- Inside first
- Use the visitor-center map to locate the creek crossing, wagon congestion, ridges, and cavalry approaches.
- Compression
- Stand where drainage and road alignment narrowed a large retreating column into vulnerable ground.
- Speed
- Reconstruct why thousands of mounted troops produced a battle lasting less than an hour.
- After battle
- Include captured officers, casualties, Price’s retreat, and civilian consequences rather than stopping at the charge.
Good to know
The battle lasted less than an hour despite involving thousands of mounted troops.
Notice these
- Creek crossing
- Cavalry battlefield
- 1864 Price’s Raid
- Open preserved terrain