In the video below, Diance Eckoff and Aaron Barnhart discuss the background of the Civil War in Missouri while focusing on the raid led by Confederate General Sterling Price in the fall of 1864.
At the time the raid began the 49th was just beginning to organize and they were quickly rushed to Jefferson City where they were set to building fortifications for an expected Confederate attack on the town. A full-scale attack never happened, but the 49th lost its first man killed in battle when Private Henry Lafeth, a 17 year-old German farmer from St. Charles that was a member of Company G, died on October 9, 1864 three days after being shot in the right leg while skirmishing with the rebels. Private Lafeth was buried in what later became Jefferson City National Cemetery.