The Battle of Little Blue River was fought on October 21, 1864, as part of Price's Raid during the American Civil War. Major General Sterling Price of the Confederate States Army led an army into Missouri in September 1864 with hopes of challenging Union control of the state. During the early stages of the campaign, Price abandoned his plan to capture St. Louis and later his secondary target of Jefferson City. The Confederates then began moving westwards, brushing aside Major General James G. Blunt's Union force in the Second Battle of Lexington on October 19. Two days later, Blunt left part of his command under the authority of Colonel Thomas Moonlight to hold the crossing of the Little Blue River, while the rest of his force fell back to Independence. On the morning of October 21, Confederate troops attacked Moonlight's line, and parts of Brigadier General John B. Clark Jr.'s brigade forced their way across the river. A series of attacks and counterattacks ensued, neither side gaining a significant advantage.
Meanwhile, Blunt had received permission from Major General Samuel R. Curtis to make a stand at the Little Blue River, and he and Curtis returned to the field with reinforcements that brought total Union strength up to about 2,800 men. More Confederate soldiers from the divisions of Brigadier Generals Joseph O. Shelby and John S. Marmaduke arrived on the field, bringing Confederate strength to about 5,500 men. One regiment of Confederate cavalry threatened the Union flank, and Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson's Confederate brigade pressed the Union center. The Union line fell back and the fighting largely ended around 16:00, when the Union troops reached Independence. The Union soldiers later fell back to the Big Blue River, abandoning Independence.
The next day Union soldiers commanded by Major General Alfred Pleasonton forced their way across the Little Blue River and retook Independence from the Confederates during the Second Battle of Independence. On October 23, the Confederates were defeated by Curtis and Pleasonton at the Battle of Westport, forcing Price's men to retreat from Missouri.
A study published by the American Battlefield Protection Program in 2011 determined that the Little Blue River battlefield was in fragmented condition and was threatened by highway development. It found that part of the site was potentially eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Background
At the start of the American Civil War in 1861, the state of Missouri was a slave state, but did not secede. However, the state was politically divided: Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Missouri State Guard (MSG) supported secession and the Confederate States of America, while Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon led Union Army forces in Missouri that remained loyal to the United States and opposed secession. Under Major General Sterling Price, the MSG defeated Union armies at the battles of Wilson's Creek and Lexington in 1861, but by the end of the year, the secessionist forces were restricted to the southwestern portion of the state by Union reinforcements. Meanwhile, Jackson and a portion of the state legislature voted to secede and join the Confederate States of America, while another element of the legislature voted to reject secession, essentially giving the state two governments. In March 1862, a Confederate defeat at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas gave the Union control of Missouri, and Confederate activity in the state was largely restricted to guerrilla warfare and raids throughout 1862 and 1863.
By the beginning of September 1864, events in the eastern United States, especially the Confederate defeat in the Atlanta campaign, gave incumbent president Abraham Lincoln, who supported continuing the war, an edge in the 1864 United States presidential election over George B. McClellan, who favored ending the war. At this point, the Confederacy had very little chance of winning the war. Meanwhile, in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, the Confederates had defeated Union attackers during the Red River campaign in Louisiana, which took place from March through May. As events east of the Mississippi River turned against the Confederates, General Edmund Kirby Smith, Confederate commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department, was ordered to transfer the infantry under his command to the fighting in the Eastern and Western Theaters. This proved to be impossible, as the Union Navy controlled the Mississippi River, preventing a large-scale crossing. Despite having limited resources for an offensive, Smith decided that an attack designed to divert Union troops from the principal theaters of combat would have an effect equivalent to the proposed transfer of troops, by decreasing the Confederates' numerical disparity east of the Mississippi. Price and the new Confederate Governor of Missouri, Thomas Caute Reynolds, suggested that an invasion of Missouri would be an effective offensive; Smith approved the plan and appointed Price to command the offensive. Price expected that the offensive would create a popular uprising against Union control of Missouri, divert Union troops away from principal theaters of combat (many of the Union troops previously defending Missouri had been transferred out of the state, leaving the Missouri State Militia as the state's primary defensive force), and aid McClellan's chance of defeating Lincoln in the election.
On September 19, Price's column, named the Army of Missouri, entered the state. The army was divided into three divisions, commanded by Major General James F. Fagan and Brigadier Generals John S. Marmaduke and Joseph O. Shelby. Marmaduke's division contained two brigades, commanded by Brigadier General John B. Clark Jr. and Colonel Thomas R. Freeman; Shelby's division had three brigades under Colonels David Shanks (replaced by Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson after Shanks was killed in action), Sidney D. Jackman, and Charles H. Tyler; and Fagan's division contained four brigades commanded by Brigadier General William L. Cabell and Colonels William F. Slemons, Archibald S. Dobbins, and Thomas H. McCray.
Prelude
When the campaign began, Price's force was composed of about 13,000 cavalrymen, but several thousand of these men were poorly armed, and all 14 of the army's cannons were of light caliber for artillery of the war. Countering Price was the Union Department of Missouri, under the command of Major General William S. Rosecrans, who had fewer than 10,000 men on hand. These soldiers, many of whom were militiamen, were dispersed throughout the state. The Department of Missouri was composed of a series of districts and subdistricts charged with guarding specific local areas. While some of the militia organizations were well-trained, others were poorly armed and trained. While some had fought against guerrillas, experience in more traditional warfare was lacking. In late September, the Confederates encountered a small Union force holding Fort Davidson near the town of Pilot Knob. Attacks against the post in the Battle of Pilot Knob on September 27 failed, but the Union garrison abandoned the fort that night. Price had suffered hundreds of casualties in the battle, and decided to change his objective from St. Louis to Jefferson City. Price's army was accompanied by a sizable wagon train, which significantly slowed its movement. The slow progress of the Confederates enabled Union forces to reinforce Jefferson City, whose garrison was increased from 1,000 men to 7,000 between October 1 and October 6. In turn, Price determined that Jefferson City was too strong to attack, and began moving westwards along the course of the Missouri River. The Confederates gathered recruits and supplies during the movement; a side raid against the town of Glasgow on October 15 was successful, as was another raid against Sedalia.
Meanwhile, Union troops commanded by Major General Samuel R. Curtis were withdrawn from their role in suppressing the Cheyenne; the Kansas State Militia was mobilized. Major General James G. Blunt was also transferred from the Cheyenne conflict and began gathering a combination of Union Army troops and state militiamen at Paola, Kansas, near the Missouri-Kansas state border. George W. Dietzler, a major general in the Kansas State Militia, was appointed as its general-in-chief, although the troops were under Curtis's authority. The Kansas State Militia used a brigade organization, but little detail about the exact breakdown is provided in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion. While some of the militia were technically commanded by Blunt, the militia officers serving under Blunt still considered themselves to be part of the militia organization and attempted to adhere to their former command structure. The total strength of the mobilized militia amounted to about 15,000 men.
Dietzler's militia and Blunt's division were grouped under Curtis's command as a new formation known as the Army of the Border. This army was split into two wings: one commanded by Dietzler and composed of the militia retained under his command, and other being Blunt's force. On October 14, or 15, Blunt moved his command to Hickman Mills, Missouri, where he formed it into a three-brigade division; one of the brigades was composed of Kansas militia and was led by Colonel Charles W. Blair. The two brigades composed of the Union Army troops were commanded by Colonels Charles R. "Doc" Jennison and Thomas Moonlight. Blair's command was hampered by his militia units still viewing militia officer William Fishback as their proper commander. Jennison's brigade contained one cavalry regiment and part of another, Moonlight's was composed of one cavalry regiment and parts of two others, and Blair's contained one Union cavalry regiment and three militia units. Each brigade was assigned an artillery battery; Blair's brigade was given an extra artillery section as well. This allotment resulted in Jennison's brigade having five cannons, Moonlight's four, and Blair's eight.
Price halted at Marshall on October 15, east of Blunt's column. The next day, Curtis moved most of the Kansas militiamen not assigned to Blunt to Kansas City, Missouri, but was prohibited by Thomas Carney, the governor of Kansas, from taking them east of the Big Blue River. Curtis had previously promised Carney that the militia would only travel as far as was necessary to protect Kansas. On the 17th, Blunt detached his militia brigade to Kansas City, and then sent his other two brigades to Holden.
On October 18, Blunt's advance guard, commanded by Moonlight, occupied the town of Lexington, hoping to cooperate with a force commanded by Brigadier General John B. Sanborn to catch and trap Price. However, Sanborn's force was too far south of Lexington to move in concert with Blunt. Additionally, Blunt learned that Price was only away at Waverly; he also received word from Curtis that the political authorities in Kansas would not allow the latter to send more militiamen to Blunt. Blunt then made the decision to reinforce his outer positions and resist the anticipated Confederate advance. Shelby's division attacked the Union line at Lexington on October 19, beginning the Second Battle of Lexington, but Blunt's troops held. The Union troops retreated once Price deployed men of Fagan's and Marmaduke's divisions into the fray.
Battle Moonlight's stand