Battle of Westport, October 21-23, 1864: A Driving Tour
Battle of Westport Driving Tour
This is an abridged version of the tour from my new book, The Battle of Westport, October 21–23, 1864: A Driving Tour of Battle Sites in Kansas City, Independence, and Northeastern Jackson County, Missouri. I will also maintain a list of updates to the tour on this page.
The three-day Battle of Westport took place over an area encompassing 35 square miles. This guide contains a comprehensive driving tour of sites tied to the key events during the largest battle that took place west of the Mississippi during the American Civil War.
The Battle of Westport began on October 21, 1864 along the Little Blue River about seven miles northeast of Independence, Missouri. Over the next three days the fighting shifted west to the Big Blue River and Westport before ending about 14 miles south of Kansas City near a small town called New Santa Fe.
There are 65 tour stops in the tour. You can complete this tour with only an automobile. But to become more immersed in the events of October 1864, I have included a number of optional tour stops you can only reach by walking. To help understand the events for each tour stop, there are battlefield maps depicting the general positions of Union and Confederate forces throughout the day on October 21–23.