[5] The bushwhackers assaulted the fort but were repulsed, eventually retreating to the prairie, where they attacked a separate Union column, leaving only a few survivors.

Quantrill decided to attack Fort Baxter and divided his force into two columns, one under him and the other commanded by a subordinate, David Poole.

The citation for his Medal of Honor reads: The American flag remained standing over the fort thanks to the bravery of the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry, who helped rally the federal soldiers.

Union supporters called the killings a massacre; the conflict at Baxter Springs was characteristic of the vicious Kansas–Missouri border warfare.

Baxter Springs later developed as the first "cow town" in Kansas, a way station for cattle drives to markets and railroads further north.