The Second Battle of Newtonia was fought on October 28, 1864, in Newton County, Missouri, as part of Major General 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 Missouri Expedition

Price's Raid

Price's Missouri Expedition, also known as Price's Raid, was an 1864 Confederate cavalry raid through the states of Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War. While Confederate Major General Sterling Price enjoyed some successes during this campaign, he was decisively beaten at the Battle...

 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...

.

Price's Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 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...

 force was in full retreat following its expedition into Missouri. On October 28, 1864, it stopped to rest about two miles (3 km) south of Newtonia, Missouri

Newtonia, Missouri

Newtonia is a village in Newton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 199 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. Newtonia was the site of the Battles of Newtonia. Newtonia has some Antebellum houses, such as the Ritchey Mansion, as well...

. About 3:00 p.m., 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 Union

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 cavalrymen spotted the rear of Price’s supply train entering the woods south of town on the Cassville road. McLain's Colorado Light Artillery

McLain's Independent Battery Colorado Light Artillery

McLain's Independent Battery Colorado Light Artillery was an artillery battery that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was sometimes misspelled as "McLane's Battery".-Service:...

, supported by the 15th Kansas Cavalry

15th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry

The 15th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 15th Kansas Cavalry was organized at Leavenworth, Kansas on October 17, 1863. It mustered in for three years under the command of Colonel Charles R...

, opened on the rebels.

Blunt formed the 16th Kansas and 2nd Colorado Cavalry

2nd Colorado Cavalry

The 2nd Regiment Colorado Volunteer Cavalry was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 2nd Colorado Cavalry was organized at St...

 in two lines and personally led a charge behind a screen of skirmishers toward the fleeing supply train. Most of the rebel skirmishers were in no condition (physically or mentally) to resist, and they were soon tumbling backwards. Brig. Gen. Joseph O. (Jo) Shelby's

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:...

 mounted infantry division, including his "Iron Brigade

Shelby's Iron Brigade

Shelby's "Iron Brigade" was a Confederate cavalry brigade in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War.The brigade originally formed under orders from Major General Thomas C. Hindman following a successful recruiting expedition into Missouri by Joseph O. Shelby, John T. Coffee, and...

", rode to the front, dismounted, and engaged the Union force. Shelby's men overlapped the flanks of the smaller Union force and forced it back into a large cornfield near the Matthew H. Ritchey estate. There, fighting raged until Federal cannon fire and reinforcements under Brig. Gen. John B. Sanborn

John B. Sanborn

John Benjamin Sanborn was a lawyer, politician, and soldier from the state of New Hampshire who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War...

 finally caused the Confederates to retreat at nightfall. However, Shelby had accomplished his mission in holding up the Union pursuers. By morning, Price had retreated across the desolate prairie towards the Indian Territory

Indian Territory

The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...

.

Despite the duration and ferocity of the firefight, casualties were rather light (400 for the Federals versus 250 for the Confederates).

Today, most of the battlefield is in private hands. Twenty acres (81,000 m²), plus the Ritchey mansion, are owned by the Newtonia Battlefield Preservation Society.

Further Readings

• Larry Wood, The Two Civil War Battles of Newtonia. Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2010. Part of the History Press' Civil War Sesquicentennial Series. ISBN: 159629857X