Background
Major General Sterling Price had led an expedition into Missouri seeking to capture that state for the Confederacy, or at least to negatively affect Abraham Lincoln's chances for reelection in 1864. After a series of several battles across that state, Union forces under Major Generals Samuel R. Curtis and Alfred Pleasonton finally defeated Price decisively at the Battle of Westport, in modern Kansas City, Missouri. Price withdrew south toward his base in Arkansas while Pleasonton, commanding a Union cavalry division, pursued him into Kansas hoping to capture or destroy his army before he could reach Confederate territory.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Marais Des Cygnes
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