Little Blue River

Prelude

At the outset of this campaign, Price commanded roughly 13,000 horsemen, though a considerable portion lacked adequate weapons, and the army's entire artillery train, fourteen guns in all, consisted of pieces too light for the standards of that war. Opposing him stood the Union Department of Missouri, led by Major General William S. Rosecrans, whose available manpower fell short of 10,000. A large share of these defenders were militiamen scattered across the state, organized into districts and subdistricts each tasked with protecting particular localities. Some militia units possessed solid training and equipment, while others were deficient in both respects, and even the more capable outfits had mostly fought irregular guerrilla actions rather than conventional battles.

Late in September, Confederate forces stumbled upon a modest Union garrison holding Fort Davidson near Pilot Knob. Their assaults on the position during the Battle of Pilot Knob on September 27 came to nothing, yet the defenders slipped away from the fort under cover of darkness that same night. Having lost hundreds of men in the fighting, Price abandoned his plan to strike St. Louis and turned his sights toward Jefferson City instead. A large supply train trailing behind his army slowed its advance considerably, giving Union commanders precious time to bolster Jefferson City's defenses, which swelled from 1,000 troops to 7,000 in the span between October 1 and October 6. Judging the city too heavily defended to risk an attack, Price instead turned his army westward, tracking the Missouri River. Along this route his men collected supplies and new recruits, and detachments struck successfully at Glasgow on October 15 and later at Sedalia as well.

At the same time, Major General Samuel R. Curtis pulled his Union soldiers away from campaigning against the Cheyenne, and Kansas called up its state militia. Major General James G. Blunt likewise left the Cheyenne front to assemble a mixed force of regular troops and militiamen at Paola, Kansas, close to the border with Missouri. George W. Dietzler, holding the rank of major general within the Kansas militia, took charge as its commanding officer overall, though Curtis retained ultimate authority over the troops. Although the militia operated under a brigade system, the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion offer little clarity on its precise organization. Certain militia units fell nominally under Blunt, yet their officers continued to regard themselves as part of the separate militia hierarchy and tried to preserve their original chain of command. Altogether, the mobilized militia numbered close to 15,000 men.

Curtis combined Dietzler's militia with Blunt's division into a newly formed unit called the Army of the Border, divided into two wings, one under Dietzler retaining his militia forces and the other consisting of Blunt's command. Around October 14 or 15, Blunt relocated his troops to Hickman Mills, Missouri, reorganizing them into a division of three brigades. One of these, made up of Kansas militia, fell under Colonel Charles W. Blair, while Colonels Charles R. "Doc" Jennison and Thomas Moonlight led the two brigades drawn from regular Union forces. Blair struggled with command difficulties since his militiamen continued to regard William Fishback, a militia officer, as their true leader. Jennison's brigade held one full cavalry regiment plus part of a second, Moonlight's contained one complete regiment along with fragments of two others, and Blair's included one Union cavalry regiment together with three militia units. Every brigade received an artillery battery, with Blair's given an additional section on top of that, leaving Jennison with five cannons, Moonlight with four, and Blair with eight.

On October 15, Price paused his advance at Marshall, situated east of Blunt's position. The following day, Curtis shifted the bulk of the unattached Kansas militia to Kansas City, Missouri, though Governor Thomas Carney forbade him from pushing these men past the Big Blue River, honoring an earlier pledge that the militia's movement would extend only as far as Kansas's defense required. On the 17th, Blunt sent his militia brigade off to Kansas City and directed his remaining two brigades toward Holden.

By October 18, Blunt's advance guard under Moonlight had taken up

Aftermath and preservation

Precise casualty totals exist for only a handful of the regiments involved. Together, the 11th and 15th Kansas Cavalries and the 2nd Colorado Cavalry lost 20 men killed. Confederate losses included 31 killed and wounded in the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment, while Davies's battalion and the 10th Missouri Cavalry Regiment together lost three men killed. Major Nelson Smith of the 2nd Colorado Cavalry died fighting for the Union, and guerrilla commander George Todd fell on the Confederate side after leading his men through much of the engagement; a shot to the throat killed him as the battle drew to a close. Confederate surgeon William McPheeters wrote that ten wounded Union soldiers had been left behind in Independence, and local civilians told him roughly a hundred more had been swept along with the retreating Federals. He also described passing the bodies of fallen Union troops scattered along the stretch of road running from the river into Independence. According to historian Mark Lause, Union losses may have approached 300, with Confederate casualties running even higher. Shelby would later recall this fight as the start of serious trouble for his division as the campaign wore on.

The following day, Price directed Shelby to move south along the Big Blue River, past Curtis's main position. As the Battle of Byram's Ford opened, Shelby's troops pushed across the Big Blue, prompting Curtis to pull his forces back toward Brush Creek. At the same time, Major General Alfred Pleasonton's Union cavalry hit Price's rear guard from the east in what became the Second Battle of Independence. After forcing a crossing of the Little Blue River, Pleasonton's men slammed into Cabell's Confederate brigade, seizing prisoners, two cannons, and the town of Independence itself. On October 23, Price's army clashed with Curtis and Pleasonton's combined forces at the Battle of Westport and was defeated. The Confederates then retreated into Kansas before crossing back into Missouri on October 25. Price eventually led his surviving men through Arkansas and the Indian Territory to Texas, absorbing further defeats along the way, and by campaign's end had lost more than two thirds of his command.

In 2011, the American Battlefield Protection Program released a study concluding that the Little Blue River battlefield, though fragmented, still held promise for preservation efforts. The study warned that highway construction posed a threat to the site. Although the battlefield does not appear on the National Register of Historic Places, the ABPP identified 2,493.72 acres (1,009.17 ha) as potentially qualifying for such listing. Currently, only 6.50 acres (2.63 ha) of the site enjoy permanent protective status. Visitors can find interpretive materials on site, though no visitor center exists there. A driving tour featuring interpretive markers now links the Little Blue battlefield with that of Second Independence. The area falls within the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area, and the Civil War Roundtable of Western Missouri serves as the battlefield's friends organization.