23 oct 1864 año - Lesser known battles: The battle of Westport

Descripción:

In a desperate attempt to turn the tide Major Price and his Confederate army had gone on a raid into Missouri. The Confederates had plans to install Reynolds, a secessionist, as the governor of Jefferson city. The loss of Missouri would definitely result into Lincoln being reelected. The Confederates thought that with Lincoln as president a peaceful end of the war would be out of sight. Keeping control over Missouri was a Confederate must.

The battle of Westport, is know as the largest battle fought west of the Mississippi river. As Price failed to take over Jefferson city due to reinforcements of Union troops he was forced to lead his men towards Westport.

At Westport Federal General Curtis had positioned his men to stay put, at first the Confederates were on the winning side, however Curtis' men were able to hold of the attack long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Price's troops got surrounded from 3 sides but manged to flee. Clearly this was a Union victory which not only boosted moral but also ensued republican voted from the state of Missouri which increased Lincoln's chances of reelection.

Source: (http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/battle-westport)

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