Major-General Sterling Price, called lovingly by his soldiers 
"Old Pap," was born in Prince Edward county, Va., on the 14th 
of September, 1809.  His early education was acquired in the 
schools of his native county, where he was prepared for 
Hampden-Sidney college.

After completing the usual course in that institution he 
returned to his home and became a deputy in the clerk's office.  
At the age of 21 he emigrated to Missouri, when the city of St. 
Louis was little more than a depot for the Indian trade, and 
when the population of the State was very scattering.  He made 
his home in Chariton county and soon after received an 
appointment as brigadier-general in the State militia.

From his earliest manhood, General Price was a Democrat and in 
1836 was elected as such to the general assembly of Missouri.  
He was again elected a representative in 1840 and 1842 and at 
each session was chosen speaker of the house.  In 1844 he was 
elected to Congress and served until the opening of the war 
with Mexico, when he raised a regiment and had an independent 
command in New Mexico and Chihuahua.

He gained victories over greatly superior forces at Cancada, 
Lambonda and Taos.  In this latter battle with 300 men he 
captured 1,500 prisoners.  For these services President Polk 
appointed him a brigadier general.

Moving next against Chihuahua, at Santa Cruz de Rosales, he 
captured the army of General Trias, double his own.  This was 
really the last battle of the war; for a treaty of peace 
between the United States and Mexico had been signed a short 
time before.

At the next State election General Price was elected governor 
of Missouri by a majority of 15,000 votes.  Upon the election 
of Abraham Lincoln as president, Missouri called a convention 
of which Price was elected president.  He was at the time an 
ardent Union man, and at the first there was not a secessionist 
in that body.  But when it was evident that President Lincoln 
intended to pursue a coercive policy, the Missouri State Guard 
was formed, with Sterling Price as major-general.

General Price still attempted to preserve the peace of 
Missouri, but when General Lyon captured Camp Jackson and shed 
the blood of the Missourians unnecessarily, as Price and many 
other of the best people of the State thought, the Missouri 
State Guard and their leader prepared for resistance.

The battle of Elkhorn Tavern or Pea Ridge, in North Arkansas, 
was really won by Price and his Missourians, but Van Dorn, 
discouraged by the death of McCulloch and McIntosh and the 
consequent confusion in the wing commanded by them, and 
mistakenly thinking the enemy's force greatly superior to his 
own, gave up the victory in his grasp and retreated.

General Van Dorn in his report says: "During the whole of this 
engagement I was with the Missourians under Price, and I have 
never seen better fighters than these Missouri troops, or more 
gallant leaders than Price and his officers.  From the first to 
the last shot they continually rushed on, and never yielded an 
inch they had won; and when at last they received orders to 
fall back, they retired steadily and with cheers.  General 
Price received a severe wound in the action, but would neither 
retire from the field nor cease to expose his life to danger."

After the battle of Elkhorn, Price received his commission as 
major-general in the Confederate army, dated the day before 
that battle.  Shortly after the battle of Shiloh, General Price 
with his Missourians accompanied Van Dorn to the east of the 
Mississippi, and after Bragg had departed for Kentucky they 
were left to face greatly superior numbers under Grant and 
Rosecrans.

At Iuka and Corinth he and his men fought with great valor.  
The year 1863 found Price again in the Trans-Mississippi.  But 
he was always under the orders of others, some of whom were 
inferior to himself in ability.

At Helena, on July 4, 1863, Price's men were the only part of 
the army that carried the enemy's works.  He co-operated with 
Kirby Smith in the campaign against Banks and Steele in 1864.  
General Price made his last desperate effort to recover 
Missouri in the latter part of 1864.

His campaign was marked by brilliant achievements, but at last, 
when within a short distance of Kansas City, he was confronted 
by overwhelming numbers of the enemy and forced to retreat.

At the close of the war he was included in Kirby Smith's 
surrender, but preferring exile to submission he left the 
country and found refuge in Mexico.  There he engaged in a 
scheme of colonization under the imperial government, but it 
proved a very unsatisfactory enterprise.

He returned to the United States and died at St. Louis, Mo, on 
the 29th of September, 1867.