Description: |
Maj. Gen. Sterling Price’s march along the Missouri River was slow, providing the Yankees a chance
to concentrate. Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans, commanding the Department of the Missouri, proposed a pincer
movement to trap Price and his army, but he was unable to communicate with Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis,
commander of the Department of Kansas, to formalize the plan. Curtis was having problems because many of his
troops were Kansas militia and they refused to enter Missouri, but a force of 2,000 men under the command of
Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt did set out for Lexington. On October 19, Price’s army approached Lexington, collided
with Union scouts and pickets about 2:00 pm, drove them back, and engaged in a battle with the main force. The
Yankees resisted at first, but Price’s army eventually pushed them through the town to the western outskirts and
pursued them along the Independence Road until night fall. Without Curtis’s entire force, the Yankees could not
stop Price’s army, but they did further retard their slow march. Blunt gained valuable information about the size and
disposition of Price’s army. |