Hinkel’s Grove Tour Stop 11 (Battle of Westport Driving Tour) (Price's Raid)

Marker Inscription: At about 1:00 P.M., October 23, 1864 Confederate Gen. Shelby was withdrawing slowly from his position near the Wornall House. He had been ordered to pull back by Gen. Price because of the collapse of Marmaduke's Confederate line at Byram's Ford. Union troops under Gen. Pleasonton arrived here at that time. In the lead was Thurber's Battery of Rodman Guns. They opened fire from the edge of the grove that was here. Philips' Union Brigade arrive. Shelby retreated south and east with Union Generals Blunt and Philips in hot pursuit. 

This historical marker commemorates the converging of Union Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt and Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis’ Army of the Border and Union Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton’s Provisional Cavalry Division of the Department of the Missouri, breaking the line of the Confederate delaying action of Confederate Brig. Gen. Joseph Shelby’s “Iron” Brigade, and the other Confederate Forces, causing them to retreat to the South, to link back up with the rest of Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price’s Army of the Missouri. This is part of the three day Battle of Westport

This action is part of the three day Battle of Westport from October 21-23, 1864. The largest Civil War west of the Mississippi River, the Battle of Westport was the final nail in the coffin for Sterling Price’s Raid into Missouri. 

After being pushed back by Union forces from what is now Loose Park, the Confederates retreated to the Wornall House in the afternoon of October 23, 1864. Brig. Gen. Joseph Shelby’s “Iron” Brigade, Col. Archibald Dobbins Brigade, and Brig. Gen Jeff Thompson’s Brigade, were trying to hold off the Union advance as long as possible to allow the rest of the Confederates to retreat. Union Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton’s Cavalry had broken through at Byram’s Ford and arrived at the grove that was here at the time, with Union Cpt. Charles H. Thurber’s Battery in the lead. They began with artillery fire into the Confederates’ right flank. Phillips’ Union Brigade arrived to assist in the fight. Maj. Gen. Blunt’s forces advanced from the north and Union forces flanked them on the right, causing Gen. Shelby and the rest of his Confederate troops to retreat to the south and east. Union forces followed in hot pursuit.

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