The Civil War and the need for heavy government borrowing put American banks under pressure from the start.  By the end of 1861, a combination of over-extended lending to the U.S. Treasury, poor news from the battlefields, and a possible rift with Britain over the Trent Affair, led to depositor withdrawals so heavy that the New York banks suspended all payment in specie.  Banks in Boston and Philadelphia followed suit the same day. The suspension, and the February 1862 Legal Tender Act, hastened the widespread use of paper money. (By John Osborne) 

At 2 a.m., the U.S.S. De Soto, sent to investigate a strange vessel off the Mississippi Delta, collided with the French warship H.I.M.S. Milan.  Both side-paddle steamers were damaged and the De Soto towed the Milan into Ship Island, Mississippi for repairs.  The French ship had State Department permission to visit New Orleans and arrange evacuation of French citizens and the mishap caused diplomatic embarrassment. (By John Osborne) 

Platte County had been the scene of significant guerrilla activity, led by by a local named Silas Gordon.  Earlier threats has been made on Platte City for sheltering Gordon and seventy-five men of the 18th Missouri Infantry under the erratic Colonel James Morgan made good on these warnings when they occupied Platte City, captured several "bushwackers," shot them without a trial, and burned much of the town to the ground. Union forces also burned the town again in 1864.  (By John Osborne)