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.
[1] In December 1861 a group of 120 men loyal to the Confederacy raided Potosi, basically pillaging most or all of its buildings.
In October Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price and about 10,000 troops were in Missouri on a raid and were moving west toward Kansas.
On October 25, 1864, the Battle of Mine Creek took place about three miles to the west of Potosi.
Today all that remains is an overgrown and unused stretch of the military road, which no longer crosses Mine Creek.