Second Battle of Lexington
Second Battle of Lexington | |||||||
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Part of the American Civil War | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Confederate States | United States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Sterling Price | James G. Blunt | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Army of Missouri | Two brigades of Blunt's division | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
c. 13,000 | 2,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
light | c. 40 |
The Second Battle of Lexington was a minor battle fought during
Additional Union troops were recalled from a campaign against the
Context
At the start of the
By the beginning of September 1864, events in the eastern United States, especially the Confederate defeat in the
Prelude
When it entered the state, Price's force was composed of about 13,000 cavalrymen. However, several thousand of these men were poorly armed, and all 14 of the army's cannons were underpowered.
Meanwhile, Union troops commanded by Major Generals
Battle
Price's army was split into three columns: Brigadier General
Aftermath
Union casualties numbered about 40; Price gave no official total, but stated that his losses were "very light".[24] The Confederates spent the night near Fire Prairie Creek, while Blunt retreated to the Little Blue River. Price continued moving westward, fighting several smaller actions along the way, before being decisively defeated by Curtis at the Battle of Westport on October 23, near Kansas City.[25] The Army of Missouri fell back through Kansas, suffering two defeats at the battles of Marais des Cygnes and Mine Creek on October 25; the latter defeat was particularly devastating, as Marmaduke and many other soldiers were captured. Returning to Missouri, Price was further defeated at the Battle of Marmiton River on October 25 and again at the Second Battle of Newtonia on October 28. Curtis pursued the Confederates all the way to the Arkansas River; the Confederates did not stop retreating until they reached Texas. By December, only 3,500 men remained of the Army of Missouri.[26]
A 2011 study by the American Battlefield Protection Program found that while the site of the battle is threatened by the development of Missouri Route 13, and is otherwise fragmented by development, opportunities for preservation remain at the site.[27] The same report noted that while none of the battlefield is on the National Register of Historic Places, 3,543.31 acres (1,433.93 ha) of the site are likely eligible for listing.[28] Battle of Lexington State Historic Site is concerned with the preservation of the 1861 First Battle of Lexington.[29]
See also
References
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 19–20.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 20–25.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 34–37.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 377–379.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, p. 343.
- ^ Collins 2016, pp. 27–28.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 37.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 39.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 41.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 380–382.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 53.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 54.
- ^ a b c d e Kennedy 1998, p. 382.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 65.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 61.
- ^ Collins 2016, p. 66.
- ^ a b c Collins 2016, p. 67.
- ^ a b c d e Langsdorf 2014, p. 86.
- ^ Tucker et al. 2013, p. 2279.
- ^ a b Jenkins 1906, p. 55.
- ^ a b c "Lexington II". National Park Service. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
- ^ Monnett 1995, p. 52.
- ^ a b Official Records 1893, p. 574.
- ^ Sinisi 2020, pp. 178–179.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 382–384.
- ^ Kennedy 1998, pp. 384–386.
- ^ American Battlefield Protection Program 2011, p. 9.
- ^ American Battlefield Protection Program 2011, p. 21.
- ^ "Battle of Lexington State Historic Site". Missouri Department of Tourism. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
Sources
- Collins, Charles D. Jr. (2016). Battlefield Atlas of Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864 (PDF). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: ISBN 978-1-940804-27-9.
- Jenkins, Paul Burrill (1906). The Battle of Westport (PDF). Kansas City, Missouri: Franklin Hudson Publishing Company. OCLC 711047091.
- Kennedy, Frances H., ed. (1998). The Civil War Battlefield Guide (2nd ed.). Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-395-74012-5.
- Langsdorf, Edgar (June 2014). "Price's Raid and the Battle of Mine Creek". Kansas History. 37 (2). Kansas State Historical Society. ISSN 0149-9114.
- Monnett, Howard N. (1995) [1964]. Action Before Westport 1864 (Revised ed.). Boulder, Colorado: University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-0-87081-413-6.
- Sinisi, Kyle S. (2020) [2015]. The Last Hurrah: Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864 (paperback ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-4151-9.
- The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Vol. 41. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1893. OCLC 262466842.
- Tucker, Spencer; Arnold, James R.; Wiener, Roberta; Coffey, John T.; Pierpaoli, Paul G., eds. (2013). American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781851096770.
- "Update to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields: State of Missouri" (PDF). Washington, D. C.: American Battlefield Protection Program. March 2011. Retrieved October 14, 2020.