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Discover Mid-America — November 2008
Visitors can relive
Battle of Westport
Historians call the Battle of Westport the largest Civil War battle west of the Mississippi in terms of the numbers of combatants. It has also been called the “Gettysburg of the West.” A new visitor center/museum in Swope Park, within sight of the Byram’s Ford battlefield, helps visitors get a handle on the historic battle.
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On Oct. 21-23, 1864 as many as 30,000 fighting men, ranging from elite officers to green militia recruits fought each other with cannons, howitzers, several types of rifles, pistols and sabers. Fighting that had begun with a skirmish on the Little Blue River not far from Fort Osage culminated with fierce fighting on rolling hills south of present day Country Club Plaza. When the smoke finally cleared, more than 1,500 men from both sides were dead or badly wounded, and Missouri was firmly in the hands of the Union.
The battle was the result of a final effort by the Confederacy to capture Missouri and install a governor sympathetic to its cause.
Gen. Sterling Price’s “Army of Missouri,” consisting of three Confederate divisions, had begun its long march that summer in Arkansas. They entered Missouri on Sept. 19, 1864 in a desperate effort to rehabilitate the failing Confederacy with plundered supplies and new recruits. The army pushed north, fighting Federal forces in Pilot Knob and St. Louis, then moved west toward Kansas City and Fort Leavenworth. On the way, Price’s men destroyed railroads, enlisted new recruits and added wagonloads of plunder.
By the time Price approached western Missouri, his force included nearly 15,000 regulars and 5,000 unarmed recruits, plus a large herd of cattle and more than 500 wagons full of captured supplies. Historians agree it was Price’s desire to preserve this plunder for the Confederate cause that would add to his defeat at Westport.
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Federal forces would slow Price’s advance with battles in Lexington and Independence, buying time for defenses to be organized. A major confrontation took place at Byram’s Ford, a crossing of the Big Blue River near present-day Swope Park. From there, the fighting extended northwest to present-day Loose Park. Union General Samuel R. Curtis set up his headquarters at Westport’s Harris Hotel.
That any of the rebels survived Westport and lived to make their retreat is remarkable. At Price’s rear was Union cavalry under the command of Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, the Federal artillery commander at Gettysburg. On Price’s left flank were 9,000 seasoned Union infantry soldiers under Maj. Gen. A.J. Smith, all veterans of Vicksburg. Waiting for him in Kansas was the Army of the Border, 12,000 Federals led by Maj. Gen. Samuel Ryan Curtis. Fresh from his victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, Curtis would make his headquarters at the Harris House in Westport.
The Federals finally forced Price and his “Army of Missouri” to retreat south, fighting as they went. Gen. Pleasonton and his Federals caught up with the battered rebels near Trading Post, KS, and what later became known as the Battle of Mine Creek further decimated Price’s retreating forces. Another battle near the small Missouri village of Newtonia wiped out still more rebels before the Federals gave up the chase.
Price crossed the Arkansas River west of Fort Smith, AR, on Nov. 7. Angry at having to risk their lives guarding the wagon train of plunder, many of his men scattered along the route and went their separate ways. The remaining troops finally reached Bonham, TX, on Nov. 23, then staggered east to Laynesport, AR, on Dec. 2. According to a later account by P. I Bonebrake, a sergeant in the Kansas State Militia, there were “hardly enough (men) to constitute a good body-guard.”
Over the years, several groups have attempted to chronicle the battle and preserve the battlefield sites and artifacts. The Monnett Battle of Westport Fund and the Civil War Roundtable of Kansas City, in cooperation with the Westport Historical Society, have developed informational markers and driving tours of the Byram’s Ford and Westport battlegrounds..
Alana Smith, president of the Westport Historical Society, said the new Battle of Westport Visitors’ Center and Museum, which formally opened Oct. 18, will help give visitors a feel for the battle sites and house artifacts that are disappearing.
“A lot of what we had was stolen, and some was put in storage,” Alana said. “If we don’t make an effort to preserve the past, much of it will be lost.”
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The new visitors’ center is located on the first floor of the Swope Park Interpretive Center, the original clubhouse for the golf course, considered to be the first public course in the country. “The stone building was built in 1903,” Alana said. “It was used as a restaurant in the 1930s and a shelter house. At one time it was used by Starlight Theater as a ticket office.
“The Visitor Center is being developed and operated by the Monnett Battle of Westport Fund, which is associated with the Civil War Round Table of Kansas City.”
The building is owned by the Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department, which began leasing sections of it to nonprofit organizations a year ago. “Marci Jones, the south area director of the parks department, has really been our guardian angel in helping us work out the lease,” Alana said.
Paintings, battlefield maps, drawings, copies of documents and old photographs make up the majority of the artifacts on display. “We’re hoping the museum will be a gathering center for reenactors,” Alana said.
The Visitors’ Center and Museum is at the entrance to Swope Park at 6601 Swope Parkway, Kansas City, MO. Admission is free. The Center will be open 11 to 3 Wednesday through Thursday, and 10 to 4 Friday and Saturday. For more details call 816-561-1821. A new website, www.battleofwestport.org, is under construction.
Ken Weyand can be reached at kweyand1@kc.rr.com
> Traveling with Ken Archive — past columns
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