The Battle of Byram's Ford was a minor engagement of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, comprising two separate skirmishes on October 22–23, 1864, in Jackson County, Missouri

Jackson County, Missouri

Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. With a population of 674,158 in the 2010 census, Jackson County is the second most populous of Missouri's counties, after St. Louis County. Kansas City, the state's most populous city and focus city of the Kansas City Metropolitan...

. It formed a part of the larger Battle of Westport

Battle of Westport

The Battle of Westport, sometimes referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West," was fought on October 23, 1864, in modern Kansas City, Missouri, during the American Civil War. Union forces under Major General Samuel R. Curtis decisively defeated an outnumbered Confederate force under Major General...

, which ultimately resulted in a Union victory and the end of all major Confederate operations in Missouri.

This battle is also sometimes referred to as the "Battle of the Big Blue River".

Background

Maj. Gen. Sterling Price

Sterling Price

Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...

's Confederate

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 Army of Missouri

Army of Missouri

The Army of Missouri was an independent military formation during the American Civil War within the Confederate States Army, created in the fall of 1864 under the command of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price to invade Missouri. Price's Raid was unsuccessful, and his army retreated to Arkansas, where it was...

 was headed westward towards Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 and Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...

, hoping to capture Missouri for the South and negatively influence Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

's chances for reelection in 1864. Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis's Army of the Border

Army of the Border

The Army of the Border was a Union army during the American Civil War. It was created from units in the Department of Kansas to oppose Sterling Price's Raid in 1864. Samuel R. Curtis was in command of the army throughout its duration.Major General James G...

, in and around Westport, was blocking the Confederates' way west, while Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton

Alfred Pleasonton

Alfred Pleasonton was a United States Army officer and General of Union cavalry during the American Civil War. He commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac during the Gettysburg Campaign, including the largest predominantly cavalry battle of the war, Brandy Station...

's provisional cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 division was pressing Price's rear. Price had nearly 500 wagons with him, and required a good ford over the Blue River

Blue River (Missouri)

The Blue River is a stream that flows through Johnson County, Kansas and Jackson County, Missouri in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The river rises in Johnson County near the border of the states of Kansas and Missouri...

 to facilitate passage of his supplies. Byram's Ford was the best crossing in the area, and would clearly be a point of great strategic significance during the impending Battle of Westport.

First engagement, October 22

On October 22, Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt

James G. Blunt

James Gillpatrick Blunt was a physician and abolitionist who rose to Union major general during the American Civil War.-Early life & career:...

's division held a defensive position on the west bank of the Big Blue River. Around 10 a.m., part of Brig. Gen. Joseph O. Shelby

Joseph O. Shelby

Joseph Orville Shelby was a noted Confederate cavalry general in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War.-Early life and education:...

's Confederate division conducted a frontal attack on Blunt's men. This attack was a ruse, because the rest of Shelby's men flanked Blunt's hasty defenses, forcing the Federals to retire to Westport. Price's wagon train then crossed the Big Blue River at Byram's Ford and headed south to the village of Little Santa Fe and safety.

Second engagement, October 23

The Battle of Westport began in earnest on the morning of the October 23. Pleasonton's cavalry was hot on the tail of Price's army, having engaged his rear guard in nearby Independence

Second Battle of Independence

The Second Battle of Independence was a minor engagement of the American Civil War October 21–22, 1864 centered in Independence, Missouri, with some of the fiercest fighting taking place at the present-day United Nations Peace Plaza; the "Harry Truman" Railroad Depot; George Caleb Bingham's...

 the previous day. Brig. Gen. John S. Marmaduke

John S. Marmaduke

John Sappington Marmaduke was a career military man and a West Point graduate. He is known for his service as a Confederate Major general during the American Civil War...

's Confederate division had stopped Pleasanton just west of Independence, and now held the west bank of the Big Blue at Byram's Ford to protect Price's rear from an expected Union attack.

Pleasonton began his assault on Byram's Ford around 8 a.m. Initially the Confederates held their own. One of the Union brigade commanders, Brig. Gen. Egbert B. Brown

Egbert B. Brown

Egbert Benson Brown was a Union general in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War.-Early life and education:...

, stalled his attack and was placed under arrest by Pleasonton for disobeying orders. Another of Pleasonton's brigade commanders, Col. Edward F. Winslow, was wounded and succeeded by Lt. Col. Frederick Benteen

Frederick Benteen

Frederick William Benteen was a military officer during the American Civil War and then during the Black Hills War against the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. He is notable for being in command of a battalion of the 7th U. S...

, who later rode to fame at the Little Bighorn

Battle of the Little Bighorn

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...

. Despite these setbacks, Federal troopers gained the west bank by 11 a.m. and Marmaduke retired. As Brown's brigade (now led by Col. John F. Philips) forded the river, they came under heavy fire from Confederate artillery. Once they had crossed, they charged Marmaduke across an open field; during this charge, Union troops from Missouri and Arkansas battled Confederates from these same two states. As Marmaduke rejoined Shelby and Fagan, Blunt pounded the consolidated Confederate forces with his own cannon, completing Pleasanton's victory at Byram's Ford and contributing significantly to Curtis's larger triumph at Westport.

Aftermath

With Pleasonton now across the river he was now an additional threat to Price, who was heavily engaged with Curtis's main force at Westport. Defeated by Curtis there and menaced by Pleasanton and an additional Federal brigade under John McNeil

John McNeil

John McNeil was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was most noted for his role in the Palmyra Massacre and other acts of alleged brutality.-Early life and career:...

, Price had to abandon his Missouri campaign and retreat southward. This brought to a close the last major Confederate military operation west of the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

, and ended the last major Southern threat to any Northern state.