October 22, 1864---The Second Battle of Independence, Missouri

OCTOBER 22, 1864:                   

The Second Battle of Independence, Missouri:

After driving the Federals away from the Little Blue River, General Sterling Price C.S.A. seizes Independence, Missouri. The scattered Union troops from the Little Blue River engage in urban warfare with Price’s men, firing from garrets, from behind fence posts, and up and down the streets of the town. Outnumbered, they cannot dislodge Price, who bivouacs his 8,500 men in an easily defended railroad cut overnight. 

As the Confederates hunker down they can hear the arrival of a large force, some 10,000 Union cavalrymen, who, when dawn breaks, attack Price’s men. The Confederates put up a determined fight. Much of the all-day battle rages through modern downtown Independence in the area of the current-day United Nations Peace Park and near the Harry S Truman Railroad Depot. Price’s men eventually withdraw from Independence, leaving the town a ruin. 

One of the Confederates killed in the battle is George M. Todd, one of Quantrill’s Raiders, who, during the First Battle of Independence (August 11, 1862), summarily executed two Union prisoners.