October 23, 1864---"The Gettysburg of The West"

OCTOBER 23, 1864:                   

The Battle of Westport, Missouri (“The Gettysburg of The West”):          

General Sterling Price C.S.A. has fought his way to the town of Westport (now a neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri). Westport was so named because it functioned as the jumping-off point for most pioneers heading for the frontier. It had replaced Independence in that role c. 1850.

Westport, unlike Lexington and Independence, is heavily defended by Union troops, but Price needs to seize and hold the fords over the Big Blue River in order to move his spoils of war (500 wagons of clothes, weapons and food and 5,000 head of cattle) southward where they can be used to replenish Confederate stocks. 

 

Price orders General Jo Shelby to create a diversion along the river bottom. This “diversion” soon escalates into a major battle. Three Union brigades are facing a smaller number of Confederate troops, but among them is Shelby’s own Iron Brigade under Brigadier General Meriwether Jeff Thompson C.S.A.  Thompson’s men flank the Federals and drive them out of Westport, seemingly carrying the day.

 

Unfortunately, Thompson’s Graybacks expend almost all their ammunition driving off the Bluebellies and before they can be resupplied Federal reinforcements take the field. 

Unwilling to risk another frontal assault against the determined Thompson and his men, the Union troops rely on a flanking maneuver through a locally known gully; a farmer named George Thoman, whose only horse had been appropriated by the Confederates, lends his aid to the Union cause. This Union force hits Shelby’s Iron Brigade hard, but Shelby’s Iron Brigade does not break, it turns to fight. A brutal battle erupts on the wide-open flat prairie.  It seems to last a long time, but Thompson’s force is soon compelled to withdraw into Westport for ammunition. 

Buffalo Bill Cody

Wild Bill Hickock

Jeremiah aka "Liver-Eating" Johnson

While this battle on the prairie rages, Union forces attack Price’s men near the river fords. Confederate resistance is heavy, and the Union commanders are unsure of themselves. One is even arrested in the midst of the fight for not pressing the attack.

Regardless of the trepidation of their commanders, the Union men ultimately chase the Confederates from the fords. Missouri and Arkansas Union brigades lead the charge against Missouri and Arkansas Confederate brigades. Once across the river, Union batteries begin to blast at Price’s positions, which withdraw into an ever smaller pocket inside Westport. The Confederates have but one cannon left, which they fire until its barrel is glowing.

An attempted Confederate counterattack is foiled when the entire Union line moves against Shelby’s Iron Brigade. Realizing that his position is untenable (and having saved most of his wagon train) Price decides to break off the battle. Price is left with only 7,000 men after the battle. The Union, having lost the same 1,500 as Price, boasts 20,500.  Among the Union troops on the field at Westport are Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Jeremiah Johnson, all of whom survive the battle.

So goes the largest battle west of the Mississippi. Very unlike Gettysburg however, the “Gettysburg of The West” does not end when Price withdraws. He is badly outnumbered and his troops are exhausted; but they remain full of fight. To stave off any more Confederate offensive actions the Union army pursues Price through the Indian Territory and into north Texas, wearing Price’s army down in an extended series of skirmishes that continue for the rest of the month. 

By November 1864, Price is leading just 5,000 battle weary men, with whom he escapes to Mexico at war’s end.