A weary Civil War veteran

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

The Battle of Westport, Mo,, on Oct. 23, 1864, has been called the "Gettysburg of the West" because like the Battle of Gettysburg in July of 1863, in south central Pennsylvania, the Union victory stopped a major Confederate campaign very deep in "Northern" territory. The Union victory at Westport prevented the Confederate capture of Kansas City and probably an attack on Fort Leavenworth and caused Confederate Major General Sterling to turn his army south into Kansas to raise as much havoc and devastation in Kansas on its' return to friendly territory in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas. The following are abbreviated selections from Union after action reports that describe different aspects of the Battle of Westport and are located in Series I, Vol. 41, Part I Reports of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion on Pages 484-491.

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