Ewing intended to reach the railroad at Leasburg and take his group by train to safety in St. Louis, but Confederates quickly sent detachments east and west of Leasburg to destroy track. In Cuba they burned the depot, several boxcars, and Sweetin's and Upshaw's stores. Price's troops, chronically short of supplies, raided nearby farms for food, weapons, and clothing. The exhausted Federals reached Leasburg near dusk on the 29th and sheltered in a railroad cut, stacking cordwood and ties for protection. A continual fire was exchanged through the night and the following day. On the morning of October 1st, a lookout saw a column of cavalry approaching, and as it drew near the stars and stripes appeared: reinforcements from the Union garrison at Rolla. The Rebels then gave up and moved on, and General Ewing's command celebrated the end of their ordeal.