Action Before Westport Historical Marker

This historical marker shares this area's connection to the three-day Battle of Westport, which lasted from October 21 to October 23, 1864, and featured several skirmishes and pitched battles throughout the modern-day Kansas City metro. The Battle of Westport was the largest battle west of the Mississippi River. This was once the location of the Harris Hotel, which Major General Samuel R. Curtis used as his headquarters on October 22nd. Union troops, under Curtis's command, made camp for the evening throughout present-day Westport and prepared to defend Kansas City. The following day, Union forces defeated the outnumbered Confederate forces. This battle was the turning point in Price’s Raid on Missouri, causing the retreat of Price’s Army into Arkansas and allowing the Union to maintain control over Missouri for the rest of the war. Some historians refer to the Battle of Westport as the “Gettysburg of the West.”

The main goal of Price’s raid was to retake Missouri for the Confederacy. The hope was that a successful raid would help turn Northern sentiments against Lincoln in the upcoming election of 1864. Price also planned to install a Confederate government in Jefferson City, add Confederate sympathizers to his ranks on the way, and resupply his army by capturing Union army assets and confiscating Missouri’s agricultural bounty at harvest time. 

Price’s initial target was St. Louis, and the arsenal there. If an attack on St. Louis was not possible, he planned to turn his sights on the state capital at Jefferson City. Price moved toward St. Louis but found it too heavily defended by Union forces. The same was true of the defenses at Jefferson City. Price then turned toward Kansas City and Fort Leavenworth. On the way, Price’s forces raided the central and western Missouri River counties collecting recruits and supplies along the way. They were pursued by Union forces out of St. Louis, and fought several small battles enroute to Kansas City, including at Lexington, the Little Blue River, and Independence. This action culminated in a fight at the Big Blue River and Byram’s Ford on the first day of the battle on October 22. While Maj. Gen. Sterling Price was dealing with Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis and Maj. Gen. James Blunt and the Army of the Border guarding Kansas City and trying to slow Price’s advance in the front, Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton’s Provisional Cavalry Division of the Department of the Missouri was pursuing Price from the rear. Pleasonton's division caught up to Price in Independence and started engaging his rearguard, managing to hold Pleasonton’s forces back till the morning of the 23. The rest of Price’s army had moved on to Byram’s Ford, and then eventually to Brush Creek. 

Sterling Price, the Confederate commander at the Battle of Westport, was a farmer, lawyer, state legislator, and US Congressman, as well as former governor of Missouri. He also served during the Mexican-American War. As governor, he opposed separation but changed his views as the secession crisis loomed. In the first year of the war, he commanded the Pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard, but he was given many other appointments within the Confederate military during the war, eventually ending his military career as a Major General. He fought at several other notable battles, including Wilson’s Creek and Pea Ridge, and helped defend Corinth, Mississippi. He made other raids into Missouri, but his 1864 raid, which was known as Price’s Missouri Expedition or Price’s Raid of Missouri, was the most dramatic. The Battle of Westport was the culmination of this raid. After the Confederacy’s defeat, Price moved to Mexico, where he remained until the fall of Emperor Maximilian in 1867. He spent his final year in St. Louis, dying there in 1867.

Samuel Ryan Curtis, the Union commander at the Battle of Westport, also had many pre-Civil War roles: civil engineer, studied law, mayor, three terms in the US Congress, and served during the Mexican-American War. Curtis was appointed Brigadier General in the Union Army in 1862. After he won the Battle of Pea Ridge, Curtis was appointed Major General. He commanded the Department of the Missouri and was then transferred to the Department of Kansas. He won the Battle of Westport along with Blunt. After the Civil War, he helped negotiate treaties with several Native American nations. He was appointed by President Andrew Johnson on November 25, 1865, as a U.S. Commissioner to examine and report on the new Union Pacific Railroad. He died rather unexpectedly from a stroke in 1866 while still working as a railroad commissioner.

This is the first marker on the 32-mile Battle of Westport Driving Tour on Clio, a walking tour of Loose Park on Clio, and on the Civil War Muse Website curated by Dick Titterton. The Clio entries include more context and information than the regular historical markers can provide, thus allowing for more in-depth learning. The Battle of Westport Tour was created in 1979, by the Howard Monnett Battle of Westport Fund. “Dr. Howard N. Monnett of the Civil War Round Table of Kansas City in 1964 wrote the book Action Before Westport which recounted the story of the Battle of Westport of 21-23 October 1864,... Dr. Monnett’s enthusiasm for the subject within the Round Table led to the discussion of creating an automobile tour of the widely dispersed battle sites. In 1975, members of the Kansas City Round Table formed the Howard N. Monnett Battle of Westport Fund, Inc. as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization to mark and interpret the sites associated with the Battle of Westport. By 1979, the founders of the Fund had raised $25,000, erected permanent monument markers at 25 sites and created a self-guided 32-mile automobile tour.” (History of Fund 2014)

Marker Inscription: Confederate General Sterling Price brought three mounted divisions from Arkansas into Missouri, September 19, 1864. Fighting several small battles, he marched slowly north toward St. Louis, then struck westward to Jefferson City. Failing to capture either armed city he fought on west toward his secondary objectives: Kansas City and Fort Leavenworth. He reached the Little Blue on October 21 with 15,000 armed men, 5,000 recruits and a huge wagon train. 

Pleasonton's Union Cavalry and a Corps of Infantry were in pursuit. General Samuel Curtis with 10,000 militia was on the Big Blue River. Blunt's Division guarded the Little Blue. Union troops numbered 27,500. Blunt's Division was driven from the Little Blue by Shelby and Marmaduke on the 21st, and Curtis from the Big Blue on the 22nd. Pleasonton pushed Fagan's Confederates from the Little Blue through Independence on the 22nd.

After Curtis' troops were driven west by Price on the 22nd, they camped near here and at Kansas City. Curtis made his headquarters in the Harris Hotel on this spot and prepared to defend Kansas City and the State of Kansas from the invader.

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