To Cross The Big Blue

Sterling Price

The Battle of Byram’s Ford [sometimes called the Battle of the Big Blue River] was really a small skirmish fought October 22^nd 1864 in Jackson County, Missouri.

Confederate Major General Sterling Price was moving his Army of Missouri toward Fort Leavenworth and Kansas City, planning to enter Missouri.  In response Union Major General Samuel R Curtis’ Army of the Border blocked his way, while Union Major General Alfred Pleasonton’ cavalry pushed from the rear.  Price was traveling with about 500 supply wagons and so needed a good crossing on the Big Blue River.  Byram’s Ford was the best crossing in the area.

Union Major General James G Blunt’s division was holding the west bank of the Big Blue River on October 22^nd 1864.  At about 10 am a part of Confederate Brigadier General Joseph O Shelby’s division made a frontal attack on the Union men, while the rest of the force flanked them.  Blunt’s troops were forced to pull back to Westport.  Price moved his wagons over Byram’s Ford, safely crossing the Big Blue River, and moving on to the south.

Preventing A Raid Into Kansas

The Battle of Old Fort Wayne [Battle of Maysville] was fought in Delaware County, Oklahoma; then part of the Indian Territory, on October 22^nd 1862.

The Confederates started building a force for a raid into Kansas in July 1862.  Colonel Douglas Hancock Cooper built a force made up of Chickasaws, Choctaws and Creeks, which he led through the Indian Territory to Old Fort Wayne.  Old Fort Wayne was an abandoned Union garrison on the edge of the Betties Prairie.  Cooper was within supporting distance of Confederate General John Sappington Marmaduke’s Texans near Lowell, Arkansas.   He placed pickets in Maysville a small town on the Arkansas and Indian Territory border.

Union Brigadier General James G Blunt had a Division of about 3,500 men.  He received information about the Confederates located at Maysville, and was told the force there would be around 7,000 men, including General Stand Watie’s Cherokees.  Blunt’s men made a night march leaving on October 20^th 1862 southward, arriving in Bentonville, Arkansas shortly after sunrise.  They made a second forced; 25 mile march, moving west on October 21^st 1862.

At 5 am on October 22^nd 1862 the Union 2^nd Kansas Cavalry drove in the Confederate pickets at Maysville.  After following them over three miles the Cavalry ran into Cooper’s battle line with a heavy wood to their back.  Although the Union thought they were going to be facing about 7,000, in reality there was only about 1,500 men in Cooper’s line.  Both sides entered into an artillery duel.  Once Blunt had all his men up, they attacked Cooper’s thin line, opening a whole in the Confederate center.  Within a half hour Cooper’s men were in retreat with Blunt pursuing them for seven miles.  The Union had about 14 casualties.  The Confederates reported 150 losses including 50 dead.

In The Indian Territories

The Battle of Old Fort Wayne was fought October 22^nd 1862 in eastern Oklahoma.

Confederates started concentrating forces in July 1862 at Fayetteville, Arkansas for a raid into Missouri.  After weeks spent recruiting, Colonel Douglas Hancock Cooper took his men through Indian Territory to Old Fort Wayne, located on the edge of Beatties Prairie.  He placed pickets in Maysville about four mile north, near the Arkansas and Indian Territory boarder.  This put Coopers troops in support of Confederate John Sappington Marmaduke’s Texans located at Cross Hollows, near Lowell, Arkansas.

The closest Union troops were at Pea Ridge, Arkansas.  The Union soldiers were part of John Schofield’s Army of the Frontier.  Schofield received information that there was a Confederate force under Cooper at Maysville.  The scouts told Schofield that it included two of Stand Watie’s Cherokee Regiment and numbered about 7,000 men.

About 5am on October 22^nd 1862 Union Brigadier General James G Blunt sent the 2^nd Kansas Cavalry to attack the Confederates at Maysville.  The 2^nd drove in the pickets and followed them three miles into Indian Territory.  At this point they came up against Cooper’s battle line.  Even though the Union report had Cooper’s force at 7,000 in truth they had only about 1,500 men and four guns of Howell’s Texas Battery, in a line about a mile long.  As the rest of the Union force came up they hit the center of the Confederate line hard, opening a wide hole in the line.  Cooper’s men put up a hard fight for about a half hour, before they were overwhelmed and went into retreat, with Union troops pursuing them for seven miles.

The Union lost about 14 men.  The Confederate’s saw about 150 wounded or dead, including 50 who reported to have been buried on the field.  The Confederates pulled back to Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River, leaving the Indian Territory north of the river in Union control.

A Fight In Indian Territory

Fought in the Indian Territory, the Battle of Honey Springs on July 17th 1863, was fought mostly by African and Native Americans.


Confederate General Douglas Hancock Cooper had command of troops made up mostly of the Five Civilized Tribes. Cooper was to meet with soldiers of General William Cabell’s command from Fort Smith, Arkansas. Cooper moved toward Honey Springs a Confederate supply depot in the Indian Territory with plans to rest and link up with Cabell. Union General James G Blunt received information about the Confederate movement and decided to attack them. On the morning of July 17th 1863 the battle opened with light skirmishing, which exposed that the Confederates troops had wet gunpowder. The Union troops began a full scale attack in the afternoon, when a heavy rain increased the Confederate’s gunpowder problems. Blunt ordered his 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, under the command of Colonel James M William to attack. The Confederates held there ground and the 1st Kansas withdrew. Cooper’s men moved back toward the depot at Honey Springs for more ammunition, and the Union troops continued to engage them. Making a stand on the bridge over Elk Creek, Cooper’s men fell back further, allowing Union soldiers to turn his left flank. The Confederate troops fell back another half mile, near the Depot, where the Chickasaw and Choctaw regiments made a strong stand while the rest of Cooper’s men retreated.

Union troops moved into Honey Springs, where they burned all the supplies in the depot. The battle was a Union victory. The Battle of Honey Spring was the largest fought in Indian Territory, and opened the way for Union capture of Fort Smith.

A recommended web site on this subject is HONEY SPRINGS, BATTLE OF

The Guerrillas Were Wearing Union Blue

The Battle of Fort Blair also known as the Baxter Springs Massacre, was fought October 6^th 1863 near the town of Baxter Springs Kansas. About 400 of William Quantrill’s Raiders a Confederate guerrilla band captured and killed two Union teamsters from Fort Blair. Quantrill split his force into two columns one under his command, the other under David Poole to attack the Fort. As Poole’s men advanced on the Fort they ran into Union troops; most of whom were African Americans, and chased them back into the Fort, killing some. Quantrill’s men advancing from another direction encountered Union troops under the command of Major General James G Blunt. Not realizing the blue clad guerrilla troops where the enemy, all but Blunt and a few other mounted men where killed while retreating and trying to surrender. Poole’s advance of Confederates attacked Fort Blair, but the soldiers in the Fort where able to fight them off. After destroying the Union forces Quantrill’s men plundered Blunt’s supply wagons, taking food, weapons and liquor. The skirmish was a Confederate victory, with ninety-one Union men killed and eighteen others wounded, the guerrillas lost about thirty.

Massacre At Baxter Springs

The Baxter Springs Massacre or Battle was fought on October 6th 1863 in Kansas.

Heading to Texas for a winter camp, William Quantrill’s Raiders; numbering about 400, were traveling south along the Texas Road in October 1863. The raiders captured two teamsters form the Union Fort Blair near Baxter Springs, and killed them. Quantrill ordered an attack on the Fort. He split his force in half, with part under his command and the other half under David Poole. Poole’s unit came across some Union soldiers, most of whom were African American. The Raiders gave chase and killed a number of them, before the Union men reached the fort.

The garrison in Fort Blair put up fight against Poole’s men. The other column of men under the command of Quantrill came at the fort from the other direction. They ran into the Union detachment of Major General James G Blunt who was moving his headquarters to Fort Smith. Most of Bunt’s detachment was killed, including members of a military band. Blunt and few men who were mounted managed to make it to Fort Blair.

Blunt had his command stripped for a time, for not staying with his men and protecting the column. Although considered a massacre by many, it was really a typical Battle for the warfare that occurred along the Kansas - Missouri border. The Confederates saw only a loss of three men. The Federal side lost 103.