Battle of Westport Facts

October 23, 1864

Key facts about the Battle of Westport, which was fought on October 23, 1864, during the Civil War.

Portrait of Sterling Price

Pitting Confederate General Sterling Price’s (pictured here) Army of Missouri against Union Major General Samuel R. Curtis’ Army of the Border, the Battle of Westport was the largest engagement fought west of the Mississippi during the Civil War. [Wikimedia Commons]

Date

  • October 23, 1864

Location

  •  Westport, Missouri

Campaign

Principal Union Commanders

Principal Confederate Commanders

  • Major General Sterling Price
  • Major General James F. Fagan
  • Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke
  • Brigadier General Joseph O. Shelby

Union Forces Engaged

Confederate Forces Engaged

Number of Union Soldiers Engaged

  • Roughly 22,000

Number of Confederate Soldiers Engaged

  • Roughly 8,500

Union Casualties

  • Roughly 1,500 (killed, wounded, and captured or missing)

Confederate Casualties

  • Roughly 1,500 (killed, wounded, and captured or missing)

Result

  • Union victory

Significance

  • Because the Battle of Byram’s Ford and the Battle of Westport occurred on consecutive days, over much of the same ground, and involved the same forces, accounts of the two conflicts are often combined.
  • Over 30,000 soldiers took part in the fighting over the two days (22,000 Federals and 8,500 Confederates) making the conflict the largest engagement fought west of the Mississippi during the Civil War.
  • Each side suffered roughly 1,500 casualties. The losses were relatively much more severe for Price’s smaller Confederate army.
  • Some historians refer to the Battle of Westport as the “Gettysburg of the West,” because much like the Battle of Gettysburg ended the Army of Northern Virginia’s final invasion of the North in the Eastern Theater, the Union victory at Westport halted the last major Confederate offensive west of the Mississippi River.