Approximately 15,000 mounted troops of Confederate General Sterling Price's Army of Missouri, including guerilla leader George Todd, engaged 3,500 Union soldiers under Major General James G. Blunt on the western bluffs of the Little Blue River. With Blunt were Senator James H. Lane and Kansas “Red Legs” under Colonel Charles R. Jennison. The six-hour engagement ended between four and five in the afternoon, with Union forces forced to retreat eight miles west to Independence, where a final attempt was made by the Kansas Eleventh Cavalry to hold the town. Price's Confederate Army of Missouri occupied Independence on the evening of October 21st.
