Union cavalry under Major General Alfred Pleasonton followed Price from the east, working to catch up to the Confederates from the rear.

After forcing the Union soldiers to retreat in the Battle of Little Blue River, the Confederates occupied the city of Independence, which was 7 miles (11 km) away.

The expansion of the town (now city) of Independence into areas that were rural at the time of the battle has resulted in urban development over much of the battlefield, such that meaningful preservation is no longer possible.

When the American Civil War began in April 1861, the state of Missouri did not secede despite allowing slavery, as it was politically divided.

Governor of Missouri Claiborne Fox Jackson supported secession and the Confederate States of America, both of which were opposed by Union Army elements under the command of Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon.

[3] With the dire situation east of the Mississippi River in the Atlanta campaign and Siege of Petersburg, General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, was ordered by Confederate President Jefferson Davis's military advisor General Braxton Bragg to send his infantry across the river to more important areas of the war.

[4] Smith's order tasked Price to "make St. Louis the objective point of your movement" and, if "compelled to withdraw from the State", to retreat through Kansas and the Indian Territory, gathering supplies in the process.

Having suffered hundreds of casualties at Pilot Knob, Price decided not to attack St. Louis, which had been reinforced by 9,000 Union infantrymen of Major General Andrew Jackson Smith's XVI Corps.

[8] Encumbered by a slow-moving wagon train, Price's army took long enough to reach Jefferson City that the Union garrison could be reinforced, growing from 1,000 to 7,000 men.

[12] After giving up on Jefferson City, Price abandoned the idea of an occupation of Missouri and moved west towards Kansas in compliance with Smith's original orders.

[13] Moving west along the Missouri River, the Confederates gathered recruits and supplies, won the Battle of Glasgow[12] and captured Sedalia.

[15][16] Marmaduke's division contained two brigades, commanded by Brigadier General John B. Clark Jr. and Colonel Thomas R. Freeman; Shelby's division had three brigades under Colonels David Shanks (replaced by Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson after Shanks was killed in action), Sidney D. Jackman, and Charles H. Tyler; and Fagan's division contained four brigades commanded by Brigadier General William L. Cabell and Colonels William F. Slemons, Archibald S. Dobbins, and Thomas H.

[19] The four brigades were composed of a mixture of Union Army troops and Missouri militia and were supported by 12 cannons; they were commanded by Brigadier Generals Egbert Brown, McNeil, and Sanborn and Colonel Edward F.

While Blunt's non-militia soldiers moved east towards Price, political forces in Kansas prevented the militiamen from traveling further into Missouri than the Big Blue River.

[24][25] Blunt decided to hold the town and resist Price,[26] who attacked with Shelby's division on October 19, resulting in the Second Battle of Lexington.

Shelby's men were not able to dislodge the Union defenders, but the Confederates captured the town after Marmaduke's and Fagan's divisions were committed to the fray.

Curtis ordered Blunt to fall back to the main Union position at Independence, Missouri; only a single regiment and four cannons were left at the Little Blue as a rear guard.

Seesaw fighting followed while Blunt received permission to return his troops to the Little Blue River line and Price brought up Shelby's division.

Confederate threats to the Union left flank forced troops to be drawn from the center to support the threatened parts of the line.

[31] Late that evening, Blunt ordered Independence abandoned and withdrew his men to the Big Blue, 6 miles (9.7 km) to the west.

The attack forced the Union line back towards the town of Westport, and Price moved much of his army across the Big Blue.

Confederates had attempted to block the path of this attack by stringing a chain across the road, but this obstacle was removed by a Unionist civilian.

[46] The attack of the 13th Missouri Cavalry shattered Confederate resistance at the Temple Lot, a religious site related to the Latter Day Saint movement.

[47] Furthermore, Clark's men resisted at Independence until about 17:00, when they began falling back with the knowledge that Price's supply train was crossing the Big Blue.

[49] Brown and Winslow were to move against the Confederates while McNeil's and Sanborn's brigades remained behind in Independence to manage post-battle cleanup tasks.

Brown finally grasped the situation on the field, located the 4th and 7th Missouri State Militia Cavalry, and sent the two regiments and the artillery unit that had blocked them to the front.

Though night combat was rare during the American Civil War, the 3rd Iowa Cavalry continued the advance overnight, and pushed Clark's regiments back.

[58] Concerned about the safety of his wagon train, Price ordered it to move at daylight for Little Santa Fe, a community near the Missouri/Kansas state line, via Hickman Mills.

The Confederate line initially held, but the arrival of men from the Kansas State Militia turned the tide to the Union.