James Henry Lane led a small group of survivors of the massacre in pursuit of Quantrill's men, and were joined by a force of about 200 Union Army cavalrymen, commanded by Major Preston B. Plumb.

[5] Later that day, after the massacre, some of Quantrill's men detected Union soldiers approaching, and the guerrillas left the town, moving the roads towards Baldwin, until they reached the Santa Fe Trail at Brooklyn, Kansas.

Quantrill expected Union forces to already be blocking the route he had taken into Kansas, so he decided to withdraw in a southeasterly direction towards some woods around the Marais des Cygnes River.

Historian Katie Armitage suggests that the burning of the town was possibly fueled by adrenaline and alcohol consumption, while a research paper published with Baker University proposes that Quantrill's men may have been targeting local members of a pacifist sect who had earlier been forced out of Missouri by pro-slavery advocates.

[6] Lane, who had survived the massacre by hiding in a cornfield, gathered about a dozen men after the bushwhackers left, and followed after Quantrill, armed with pepperbox revolvers, knives, and shotguns.

[8] Lane's men kicked up a cloud of dust, which alerted Quantrill's guerrillas of their approach; the bushwhackers began a retreat.

[11] Guerrilla leader George M. Todd rallied 20 bushwhackers and charged the Federal cavalry, driving them back with losses on both sides.