Potosi's post, in eastern Linn County, Kansas, was established at the small town of Potosi, Kansas, founded in 1857 by those loyal to the southern cause in Kansas. The other side, the free-staters, soon gained control of the town and it was loyal to the Union when the Civil War broke out in 1861. Potosi was located along the north bank of Mine Creek and it was along the military road running from

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

Fort Gibson Fort Gibson is a historic military site next to the modern city of Fort Gibson, in Muskogee County Oklahoma. It guarded the American frontier in Indian Territory from 1824 to 1888. When it was constructed, the fort was farther west than any ot ...

. At its height the town had thirty residents, a store and a post office.

Background

In December 1861 a group of 120 men loyal to the Confederacy raided Potosi, basically pillaging most or all of its buildings. Camp Defiance was established northeast of Potosi soon after. Later, a group of Union soldiers was stationed at Potosi to protect it. The first time they were mentioned was in August 1863. Troops continued to stay at Potosi until October 1864. One report said twenty-five troops were at the post. In October Confederate Maj. Gen.

Sterling Price Sterling Price (September 14, 1809 – September 29, 1867) was an American politician and military officer who was a senior General officers in the Confederate States Army, officer of the Confederate States Army, fighting in both the Weste ...

and about 10,000 troops were in

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

on a

raid RAID (; redundant array of inexpensive disks or redundant array of independent disks) is a data storage virtualization technology that combines multiple physical Computer data storage, data storage components into one or more logical units for th ...

and were moving west toward

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. The troops were removed to join the Union forces meeting Price. On October 25, 1864, the

Battle of Mine Creek The Battle of Mine Creek, also known as the Battle of Little Osage, was fought on October 25, 1864, in Linn County, Kansas, as part of Price's Missouri Campaign during the American Civil War. Major-General Sterling Price had begun an expediti ...

took place about three miles to the west of Potosi. Possibly some Confederate troops camped at Potosi. The town itself did not last much longer, becoming abandoned in 1869. Today all that remains is an overgrown and unused stretch of the military road, which no longer crosses Mine Creek.Cutler, p. 1107.

References

{{reflist Former installations of the United States Army Linn County, Kansas Forts in Kansas 1857 establishments in Kansas Territory