57 Facts About Sterling Price

Sterling Price was an American politician and military officer who was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army, fighting in both the Western and Trans-Mississippi theater of the American Civil War.

Sterling Price is remembered today for his service in Arkansas and for his defeat at the Battle of Westport on October 23,1864.

Sterling Price was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, near Farmville, to a family of planters of Welsh origin.

The historian Albert E Castel states that Price was born on September 11,1809, a date with which the State Historical Society of Missouri agrees.

Shalhope attributes the political climate of Prince Edward County at that time to lasting political beliefs of Sterling Price, including support for slavery, a dislike of debt, and tendency to oppose change; the region politically supported John Randolph of Roanoke.

Poor economic conditions persisted through the 1820s, and Pugh Sterling Price decided to move his family to the state of Missouri, where tobacco production competed with Virginia's tobacco and slavery was legal.

The Sterling Price family reached Missouri in either 1830 or 1831 and temporarily settled near Fayette.

On May 14,1833, Sterling Price married Martha Head, the daughter of a local judge; the couple would have five sons, one daughter, and several children who did not survive childhood.

Sterling Price was selected as the area's representative to a Democratic state convention in January 1835, which presented potentially significant political opportunities.

Sterling Price was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives, and was placed on two committees.

Sterling Price, who viewed slavery as a necessary component of Southern aristocracy, viewed this positively and added an amendment requiring governmental compensation for slaves executed by the state to another bill.

The citizens of Chariton County sent a delegation led by Sterling Price to investigate the situation.

Flory and Sterling Price wrote a letter back to Chariton County stating that they believed that the actions of the Mormons had not been as reported, and that the legal action had been started by the Daviess County citizens to stir up trouble.

Boggs ordered the state militia to deal with the situation; Sterling Price commanded the militia from Chariton County.

Sterling Price commanded a force that escorted captured Mormon leaders from Independence to Richmond.

The men under Sterling Price's command treated their prisoners poorly during the movement; Sterling Price did not intervene.

The mercantile business with Chiles had struggled, so Sterling Price dissolved the entity, paid off his share of its debts, and formed a new enterprise with Lisbon Applegate.

Sterling Price was appointed to a position with the Fayette branch of the recently-approved state bank.

In January 1841, Sterling Price was part of a Democratic Party majority that voted against a bill that would have allowed limited partnerships, despite Sterling Price having suffered in business ventures previously due to unlimited liability.

Sterling Price was reelected to the legislature in 1842, but the Democratic Party in Missouri was losing internal solidarity, with splits over hard money and soft money currency policies and a feeling in other parts of the state that central Missouri held too much power.

Sterling Price's role was more to convince legislators to tow the party line and create support for controversial bills.

Shalhope writes that Sterling Price elicited an "almost blind loyalty among many Missourians"; Sterling Price was becoming charismatic in the legislature, although his opponents considered him to be vain.

In 1844, Sterling Price campaigned for Benton's reelection to the United States Senate, and then headed the Missouri Democratic Party's nominating convention for major elected offices.

Sterling Price arrived in Washington, DC, where the United States House met, in November 1845, and the 29th United States Congress convened on December 1, with Sterling Price in attendance.

Sterling Price voted to table a bill that would have banned slavery in the District of Columbia, and was part of the majority that voted to admit Texas into the United States.

In early 1846, Sterling Price voted against a major internal improvements bill, the Rivers and Harbors Bill, despite agreement with some portions of it, as he felt that it unduly benefited special interests.

However, Benton convinced him to support having the boundary at the 49th parallel north, which hurt Sterling Price's standing in Missouri.

On May 11,1846, President James Knox Polk submitted a message Congress suggesting war with Mexico; Sterling Price was part of the majority that voted for it.

Sterling Price had only introduced two bills during his time in Congress: one related to determining the feasibility of establishing a mail route, and the other calling for Missouri soldiers to be compensated for horses they had lost while serving during the Seminole Wars.

Kearny wanted the unit to be raised as infantry, but Sterling Price decided on his own to form it as a cavalry unit, a move Shalhope describes as displaying "a certain vanity".

Sterling Price, who had been ill with cholera during the movement, commanded United States forces in Santa Fe, where, according to Castel, he displayed a quarrelsome attitude, a tendency to make decisions so independently that they bordered on insubordination, and a laxness in keeping his troops disciplined.

Sterling Price suffered intestinal problems for the rest of his life, and Shalhope attributes this to the bout with cholera.

Sterling Price visited his family and made trips to Jefferson City and St Louis before returning to Fort Leavenworth in order to return to Santa Fe.

Sterling Price quickly sent out new orders to try to prevent discipline from cratering again, although these were not entirely successful.

When his supply train ran late, Sterling Price decided to begin the advance anyway, and was met by a delegation from the Mexican governor informing Sterling Price that the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had been signed and that hostilities were over.

Sterling Price did not believe the information, and continued on, pursuing a Mexican force that had abandoned Chihuahua City.

Sterling Price's men were victorious in close-quarters combat that saw the Mexicans suffer heavy losses.

The war had effectively ended well over a month before the battle, but Sterling Price received praise in the press and from President Polk despite having ignored the orders to not make the campaign.

Sterling Price became a slave owner and planter, cultivating tobacco on the Bowling Green prairie.

Sterling Price was appointed as the state's Bank Commissioner, serving from 1857 to 1861.

Sterling Price secured a rail line through his home county, which became part of the Norfolk and Western Railway.

Sterling Price backed Stephen A Douglas for president in 1860.

In private Sterling Price conspired with pro-Confederate Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson to arm the state's militia with Confederate weapons so they could seize the St Louis Arsenal and thereby gain control of the city and the state.

Still operating as a Missouri militia general, Sterling Price was unable to agree on next steps with McCulloch.

Now under Van Dorn's command, Sterling Price was commissioned in the Confederate States Army as a Major-General on March 6,1862.

Sterling Price, now serving under Van Dorn, crossed the Mississippi River to reinforce Gen.

Not waiting to re-unite with Van Dorn's returning forces, Sterling Price seized the Union supply depot at nearby Iuka, but was driven back by Maj.

Sterling Price contested Union control over Arkansas in the summer of 1863, and while he won some of his engagements, he was not able to dislodge Northern forces from the state, abandoning Little Rock for southern Arkansas.

Sterling Price amassed 12,000 horsemen for his army, and fourteen pieces of artillery.

The first major engagement in Sterling Price's Raid occurred at Pilot Knob, where he successfully captured the Union-held Fort Davidson but needlessly subjected his men to high fatalities in the process, for a gain that turned out to be of no real value.

From Pilot Knob, Sterling Price swung west, away from St Louis and toward Kansas City, Missouri, and nearby Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Sterling Price's Raid was his last significant military operation, and the last significant Confederate campaign west of the Mississippi.

Rather than surrender, Sterling Price emigrated to Mexico, where he and several of his former compatriots attempted to start a colony of Southerners.

Sterling Price settled in a Confederate exile colony in Carlota, Veracruz.

Impoverished and in poor health, Sterling Price died of cholera in St Louis, Missouri.

Sterling Price's funeral was held on October 3,1867, in St Louis, at the First Methodist Episcopal Church.

Sterling Price's body was carried by a black hearse drawn by six matching black horses, and his funeral procession was the largest to take place in St Louis up to that point.