Late on October 22, 1864, Union Major General Alfred Pleasonton's cavalry drove the Confederate rear guard from Independence and pursued the withdrawing enemy down Byram's Ford Road until fighting stopped at 10:30 p.m. Major General Marmaduke placed Brigadier General John B. Clark's Brigade on the high ground overlooking Byram's Ford and Colonel Thomas R. Freeman's Brigade, with Colonel Edward T. Fristoe in a skirmish line, at the ford. On the next morning, Colonel John F. Philips's Brigade attacked toward Byram's Ford, led by the 7th MSM Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Thomas T. Crittendem, followed by the 1st MSM Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Bazel F. Lazear and the 4th MSM Cavalry under Major George W. Kelly, but became pinned down by rifle fire from the Confederate skirmish line and artillery shelling. From 7 to 9:30 a.m., Colonel Edward F. Winslow sent Captain Edward W. Dee's Battalion of the 4th Iowa Cavalry down a ravine and across the river against the enemy's left flank, surprising the Confederates and forcing them back to their main defense line atop Bloody Hill. Philips's Brigade then crossed the river, followed by the rest of Winslow's Brigade, and over the next hours the Federals slowly advanced toward Bloody Hill until by 9:30 a.m. they had reached the base of a rock outcrop near the present-day railroad tracks, where they were pinned down by heavy Confederate artillery and small arms fire from above, though the high rocky precipice sheltered the Union advance from the full force of that fire. Shortly after 9:30 a.m., Brigadier General John B. Sanborn's Brigade mounted and charged up Bloody Hill but was repulsed and quickly withdrew. Sharpshooters from the 2d New Jersey Cavalry then moved forward to capture a log house about halfway up the hill in support of a new assault. Colonel Winslow attacked with the 4th Iowa Cavalry under Major Abial R. Pierce in the lead, followed by the 3d Iowa Cavalry under Major Benjamin S. Jones and then the 10th Missouri Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel Frederick W. Benteen, while Colonel Philips supported the attack on the left of the road by advancing through a ravine up Bloody Hill. Winslow was severely wounded leading the attack, and Benteen assumed command of the brigade. Running low on ammunition, strained by lengthening supply lines, and threatened with being flanked by the federal assault on Bloody Hill, Marmaduke's Confederates withdrew west and south down the Harrisonville Road, present-day Prospect Avenue, toward Russell's Ford. The collapse of the Confederate line on the Big Blue exposed the right flank of the rest of Price's army fighting south of Brush Creek.