The Battle of Westport was fought on this site and nearby and was the biggest Civil War battle west of the Mississippi in terms of numbers involved. From October 21st to 23rd, 1864, 30,000 soldiers were assembled in 7 separate encampments under the leadership of Major General Sterling Price of the Confederate Army of Missouri and Major General Samuel Curtis of the Union Army of the Border. The actual battle began at dawn on October 23rd. Called “the Gettysburg of the West,” it ended in a Union victory that substantially finished the Civil War in the West and brought the first peace in a decade to the Missouri-Kansas border.
