First Engagement, October 22
On October 22, Maj. Gen. James G. Blunt's division held a defensive position on the west bank of the Big Blue River. Around 10 a.m., part of Brig. Gen. Joseph O. Shelby's Confederate division conducted a frontal attack on Blunt's men. This attack was a ruse, because the rest of Shelby's men flanked Blunt's hasty defenses, forcing the Federals to retire to Westport. Price's wagon train then crossed the Big Blue River at Byram's Ford and headed south to the village of Little Santa Fe and safety.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Byram's Ford
Famous quotes containing the word october:
“The autumnal change of our woods has not yet made a deep impression on our own literature yet. October has hardly tinged our poetry.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)