Union Artillery Tour Stop 6 (Battle of Westport Driving Tour) (Price's Raid)

Marker Inscription: When Gen. Curtis moved up the hill to the west Gen. Blunt moved south from Brush Creek through the woods to Loose Park. He drove the Confederates from a stone fence along 51st St. and formed a line there at 11:00 a.m., Oct. 23, 1864. running east and west from Oak St. to the Bent House and south 500 yds. McLain's Colo. Battery of parrott guns was in Wornall Lane. The 9th Wisc. Battery was 100 ft to the west. Thirty Union guns were in line. Attacks were made until noon when the Confederates were pushed south to the Wornall House.

This Marker notes how effective Union Artillery was in helping the Union forces push back the Confederates. Union Artillery took out three Confederate artillery pieces. Of note is Douglas’s Independent Kansas Colored Battery (a section was attached to the 9th Wisconsin), which at the Battle of Westport is the first time an African-American unit was officially led by an African-American officer, 2nd Lieutenant Patrick H. Minor, in combat. This is part of the three-day Battle of Westport

The Battle of Westport was fought on the 23 of October 1864 and was part of the larger series of battles fought against Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price and his army during his Missouri raid. The battle of Westport was the largest battle west of the Mississippi River, with about 30,000 men taking part in the battle. There were around 22,000 Union soldiers and about 8,500 Confederate soldiers with about 1,500 casualties on both sides. It was the turning point of Price’s Raid, turning it from a mild success to an objective failure, with Price’s Army of the Missouri chased out of the state by Union forces. The Union maintained control of Missouri for the rest of the Civil War. 

The Union artillery batteries were located by what is now roughly 51st Street and Wornall Road. The Union Artillery began dueling with the Confederate Artillery. The fire from the 9th Wisconsin Battery with Curtis outflanking the Confederates was so fierce that Collins’ Confederate battery burst one of its guns. A Union battery, most likely McLain’s Independent Colorado Battery, destroyed one of the guns of the Collins Battery. Douglas’s Independent Kansas Colored Battery also struck a piece of enemy artillery, possibly one of Collins’ other artillery pieces, which left Collins’ Battery with only one intact artillery piece. From the report of Maj. Robert Hunt, who was Chief of Artillery in the 15th Kansas Cavalry: “October 23 McLain’s battery [Independent Colorado battery] made some excellent shots, one of which struck one of the enemy’s guns near the left trunnion [which are the cylindrical pieces on the sides of cannons that allow them to swivel the cannon up and down for different firing angles], breaking it in two. Another gun was struck and broken across the chassis by a rifled piece manned by the colored battery [Douglas’s Independent Kansas Colored Battery], but which was sighted by Captain Dodge, commanding the 9th Wisconsin Volunteer battery. Both Captains used their artillery with skill.” (Hunt 1880, 544) The sources disagree on the number of cannons in Collins’ Battery, but going off the reports that the Union notably broke three cannons, four artillery pieces seem the most likely. The reason these artillery crews could make such accurate shots is due to them being Parrot guns, which are a type of rifled cannon. Parrots are easily identified by the wrought iron band around the breech (the back of the cannon). The reinforcing band was there to strengthen the cannon and keep it from bursting, although it occasionally still burst. The guns can fire shells, shrapnel shells, canister shot, and solid shot (the typical cannonball).

Also of particular note is that of Douglas's Independent Kansas Colored Battery was commanded during this battle by 2nd Lieutenant Patrick H. Minor, who was an African-American officer. This is notable for being the first time that an African-American unit was led by an African-American officer in combat during the Civil War. Minor and his fellow officer William D. Mathews had fought two years earlier with the First Kansas Colored at the Battle of Island Mound on October 29, 1862. Island Mound was the first time an African-American unit saw active combat, as well as the first time African American officers led in combat. The unit was not yet officially part of the Union Army at this time, however, since President Abraham Lincoln had not yet authorized Black men's service in the war. Both officers initially were denied a commission in the Union army until the Independent battery was approved on June 30, 1864 by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. 

“Affairs in the West.; a Negro Regiment in Action--the Battle of Island Mounds--Desperate Bravery of the Negros--Defeat of the Guerrillas--an Attempted Fraud.” The New York Times, November 19, 1862. https://www.nytimes.com/1862/11/19/archives/affairs-in-the-west-a-negro-regiment-in-actionthe-battle-of-island.html. 

“Battle of Westport Old Price Defeated.” Kansas City Journal. October 24, 1864.

“Battle of Westport Signal Rout of Price!” St. Louis Globe- Democrat. October 31, 1864.

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“Civil War: Independent Colored Kansas Battery: Museum of the Kansas National Guard.” Museum of the Kansas National Guard | Preserving and Presenting the History of the Kansas National Guard, November 5, 2015. https://kansasguardmuseum.com/independent-colored-kansas-battery/. 

Collins, Charles D. Battlefield Atlas of Price’s Missouri Expedition of 1864. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute, US Army Combined Arms Center, 2016.

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The Historical Marker Database. Accessed December 7, 2024. https://www.hmdb.org/. 

JENKINS, PAUL. Battle of westport. S.l.: FORGOTTEN BOOKS, 2018.

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“M1863 3-Inch Parrott Rifle.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 6, 2024. https://morrisswett.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15766coll2/id/764/. 

Monnett, Howard N., and John H. Monnett. Action before Westport, 1864. Niwot, Colo: University Press of Colorado, 1995.

“Price’s Disasters Battles in Jackson County.” Daily Missouri Republican. October 29, 1864.

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Ringquist, John Paul. Race, identity and the first Kansas Colored Volunteer ... Accessed December 7, 2024. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/213395078.pdf. 

Roe, Jason. “Gettysburg of the West.” KC History. Accessed December 6, 2024. http://kchistory.org/week-kansas-city-history/gettysburg-west#:~:text=Curtis%20set%20up%20a%20new,to%20more%20than%2020%2C000%20soldiers

Scott, Robert N., H. M. Lazelle, George B. Davis, Leslie J. Perry, Joseph W. Kirkley, Fred C. Ainsworth, John S. Moodey, and Calvin D. Cowles. The War of the Rebellion: A compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1880.

Sinisi, Kyle S. The last hurrah: Sterling Price’s Missouri Expedition of 1864. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.

Spurgeon, Ian Michael. Soldiers in the Army of Freedom: The 1st Kansas colored, the Civil War’s first African american combat unit. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2021.

Titterington, Dick. “The Civil War Muse.” The Civil War Muse - Tour: The Battle of Westport. Accessed December 7, 2024. http://www.thecivilwarmuse.com/index.php?page=the-battle-of-westport. 

“The Rebel Invasion Price Routed and Retreating.” The St. Joseph Herald. October 25, 1864