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This battle was an
incident of Price's raid in
the Autumn of 1864. The war
of 1861-1865 was a war of
many raids. Witness those
of Lee and Sherman and
Steward and Morgan. Price
had the unique distinction
of raiding his own state;
his generals, Marmaduke and
Shelby, were distinguished
in the same way. These
famous raiders into Missouri
made their final and
greatest raid in 1864.
Price's raid began at
Dardenelles, where the army
in three divisions crossed
the Arkansas River. The
division commanders were
Marmaduke, Shelby and Fagan.
Lee's army was
bleeding to death around
Petersburg. Price was to
threaten St. Louis and so
prevent recruits from
reaching Grant. Instead of
attacking St. Louis, Price
struck the Missouri River at
Jefferson City and then
raided victoriously westward
to his defeat at the battle
of Westport.
The raiders came to
Lexington, where Shelby
drove Blunt westward to the
Little Blue, where Curtis
awaited Price, five miles
east of Independence. Here
began the final battle which
became a Confederate route
beyond Westport.
Every inch of ground
between Little Blue and
Independence was contested
and it took all day for the
Confederates to push back
the Federals, who retreated
on the run through
Independence. Hinton, a
Federal writer, says: "The
citizens of Independence
appeared on the streets to
scoff at our retiring
troops, and welcome their
congenial traitors." The
Confederate army camped in
and around Independence that
night, October 21, 1864.
The Southern women
of Independence had been
busy that day baking and
singing war songs to the
music of the guns, which
hourly came nearer and
nearer. The "boys" were
coming home and they must be
welcomed and fed. Maurice
Langhorne dashed up to the
public square at the head of
his company. Mrs. Gilkey
came eagerly to the head of
the column and inquired for
Sam, her husband. Capt.
Langhorne informed her that
Sam had fallen in battle two
years ago.
The "boys" visited
one night in Independence.
Early the next morning they
rode on toward the Big Blue,
where Curtis, an expert
engineer, had prepared
defenses for fifteen miles
along that stream.
My own father
belonged to "Shelby's Iron
Brigade," but he was not in
the battle of Independence.
He had crossed the river to
visit his family for a few
days in Clay County,
refugees there, under Order
No. 11.
It is a notable fact
that Price's army in this
raid consisted of but a
small contingent of
Missourians, a remnant of
survivors of those who
enlisted in the earlier days
of the war. The larger part
of Price' army on this raid
came from Arkansas and
Texas.
At the time of the
battle many former residents
of Independence had been
expelled from their homes by
orders of banishment or by
the operation of Order No.
11. Among these was Mrs.
Kate Doneghy, who had gone
to Kentucky on account of
Order No. 11. She probably
heard Order No. 11 had been
modified to permit persons
in certain cases to return.
She wrote to her sister,
Mrs. Hill, who had not left
Independence and was living
here at the time of Price's
raid; she answered Mrs.
Doneghy's letter while the
fight was going on. And
here is her letter from the
battlefield, and a rare
specimen it is:
"Independence, Mo.,
October 23, 1864.
"Dear Katie: After
receiving your letter I was
fearful lest you had started
to Missouri. We are all
alive so far as I know. Mr.
Hill and Mr. Campbell went
over to Clay County a few
days ago, or started there,
and I hope arrived safely.
I have braved a storm that
is beyond all description.
For the past two weeks the
Federals have been massing
all the forces they could on
the border to capture Price
and his army. It is
estimated they had some
15,000 or 20,000 men. Ten
thousand Kansas militiamen
have been in camp here since
Monday, also a regiment of
Colorado troops. Three
thousand of the militiamen
were camped about our lot
from Monday until Friday
evening, when they were
ordered out to meet the
Rebels, as they called them.
"The fighting
commenced about 9 o'clock in
the morning, six miles from
town, on the Lexington
Road. The Confederates were
laboring under a great
disadvantage, as the Federal
had picked their ground and
were entrenched behind rock
fences. The Confederates
had to charge all these
fences. It would be
impossible for me to tell
you how many were killed and
wounded, but I understand
that in this engagement the
Federal's loss was greater
than that of the Rebels.
George Todd, the famous
guerilla, was mortally
wounded in one of the
charges, and died in town.
Major Smith, a brave and
courteous Federal officer,
who had command of the post
here for the past eight
months, was killed. A great
many other officers met a
similar fate in the
desperate fighting near
town.
"General Curtis
gradually fell back until
about 5 o'clock in the
evening. Then the
Confederates entered
Independence, and for a time
the fighting ceased. The
Federals retreated to the
Blue, the Confederates
passing out as far as Rock
Creek, where they rested a
while and then took up their
march to meet the enemy. At
midnight we heard sharp
firing right in front of
town. Price's rear guard
was stretched across the
country for six miles.
General Pleasanton attacked
it in the morning with
10,000 cavalry. The
fighting lasted all day, the
roaring of the cannon and
the clash of small arms was
terrific. I am told that
the list of the dead and
wounded was distressingly
large.
"The Confederates
began to retreat about 3
o'clock, fighting
desperately every step of
the way. They passed
through town again, firing
with small arms at the
oncoming Federals. The
latter pushed so closely
that at times they were not
farther than 90 yards behind
the Confederates.
"From the balcony in
front of our house, which is
very high, we had a clear
view of the battle for more
than a mile. We saw the
Federals capture a battery
in Noah Miller's field. It
was magnificently defended
and no less bravely
attacked. We could see a
far-off flash of red fire
coming out of the guns and
pistols, and men fell by the
dozens. It was one of the
most sublimely thrilling
sights that one could
imagine.
"From there on to
the Blue the fighting was
fierce. The opposing forces
were so close together that
they used small arms almost
exclusively, until they got
to the Blue, when the
cannonading commenced
again. The guns would be
wheeled into line with
incredible swiftness and
almost before you could
count, the grape and
canister would be sweeping
into the face of the
charging legions. It seemed
like the fighting extended
all around us. The smoke
rose high and almost
darkened the sky.
"The fighting ended
about dark, and was resumed
again this morning (the
23rd) at about 7 o'clock, in
the neighborhood of
Westport. It seems that
General Price was only
making a raid into Missouri,
but some of the Southerners
were hopeful that he would
succeed. This evening a
report comes that he is
crossing the Kaw River, and
that he has suffered
terribly, but as to this we
do not know for certain.
What happened here about
Independence is all we
know. There is a great deal
of confusion. The dead and
wounded are being carefully
attended to today. The
Jones Hotel is being used as
the Confederate hospital,
while the Federal wounded
are being taken to the
Bank. Twice within the last
ten days the town has been
left almost entirely in
charge of the women and
children. The first
evacuation was cased by a
false rumor that Price was
close at hand with an
overwhelming force. This
rumor came in the night and
it caused a great deal of
excitement. By morning
nearly all the men in town
had disappeared, except my
boarders and Mr. Hill. That
day some bushwhackers came
into town, took some
clothing from the stores and
disappeared without doing
any damage. They behaved
much better than their
reputations warranted.
"The very latest
news of the battle is that
the armies were fighting in
John Wornal's lane, and that
his house is being used as a
hospital. The Confederates
are marching and still
fighting desperately. What
the issue of this tremendous
battle will be God alone
knows.
"Affectionately,
"Your Sister." |
