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 Sterling Price. This engagement was the turning point of Price's Missouri Expedition, forcing his army to retreat. The battle ended the last major Confederate offensive west of the Mississippi River, and for the remainder of the war the United States Army maintained solid control over most of Missouri. This battle was one of the largest to be fought west of the Mississippi River, with over 30,000 men engaged.
Westport had already established its place in history by the time Union and Confederate forces clashed there in 1864. John Calvin McCoy, known as the "Father of Kansas City", had laid out the town, and pioneers traveling along the Oregon, California and Santa Fe Trails all passed through it on their way West. Westport gradually replaced nearby Independence as the "jumping-off point" for the Westward trails, contributing to the growth of the town.

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