Battle of Westport - A Long Road Home - Kansas City, Missouri
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iconions
N 39° 01.704 W 094° 35.672
15S E 361978 N 4321137
This is the marker for Tour Stop 8 of the Battle of Westport Auto Tour. This is the last of 9 separate markers here. This stop is near the intersection of 55th & Pennsylvania Avenue.
Waymark Code: WM8BDQ
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 03/06/2010
Views: 4
Text of the marker:
(picture of Union and Confederate cavalry clash)
The wagon train miraculously survived the day. General Smith's 6,000 infantry men veered north and missed intercepting it. The Union brigade dispatched by General Pleasonton to destroy it, was repulsed then later fooled by a "battle line" of unarmed recruits and finally turned back by a grass fire set by the Southerners.
(map of the Confederate retreat & Union pursuit through Kansas & Missouri)
No Time to Bury the Dead
Dead and wounded were left on the fields to be gathered up by local farmers. (One mass grave was near 55th St. and Ward parkway) John Wornall's Home (61st St. Terrace and Wornall) served as field hospital for both sides.
Disaster at Mine Creek
On October 25, Union cavalry caught the Confederates crossing Mine Creek in Kansas, 65 miles south and killed and captured many. General Price burned one third of the wagon train the next day to speed retreat. On October 28, the Union attacked again at Newton Missouri. They ended pursuit at Fayetteville, Arkansas, November 4.
After enduring cold, starvation and smallpox during their march across the Choctaw Nation, the raiders finally disbanded at Laynesport, Arkansas, December 2, 1864.
Southern Resistance in the West was broken. The Battle of Westport was the last major Civil War battle west of the Mississippi. More than 30,000 men fought approximately 10,000 Confederates and 20,000 Federals. Some estimate that 3,500 were killed or wounded though no one knows exactly.
Web link: [Web Link]
History of Mark:
The above link is for the Civil War Muse that describes this Tour Stop 8.
Additional point: N 39° 01.688 W 094° 35.828
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