Qualla: Second Battle of Lexington

Second Battle of Lexington: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Kansas politics almost handed Sterling Price a victory without a fight. By October 1864, the Confederate general was marching 17,000 men westward along the Missouri River, yet Kansas Governor Thomas Carney delayed calling up the state militia for weeks -- not because the threat was unclear, but because he suspected the mobilization was a political ploy to keep his supporters away from the polls on election day. By the time Union Major General James G. Blunt reached Lexington, Missouri, on October 18 with just 2,000 men and eight mountain howitzers, he was operating without the reinforcements that partisan bickering had held back.

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Second Battle of Lexington: Price's Desperate Gamble

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain. Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition was born of desperation. By September 1864, the Confederacy was losing on every front. The Atlanta campaign had tilted the presidential election toward Lincoln, and Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith could not transfer his Trans-Mississipp...

Image: American Battlefield Protection Program | Public domain

Second Battle of Lexington: Two Guns Against Eight

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain. Blunt arrived at Lexington on October 18 and found it nearly indefensible -- open terrain, roads running in from every direction, and the only high ground near the Missouri River at the old Masonic College site where Price had won the first siege of Lexington in 1861. Blunt was s...

Image: American Battlefield Protection Program | Public domain

Second Battle of Lexington: A Fighting Withdrawal Into Darkness

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain. Despite being massively outnumbered, Blunt's men put up fierce resistance. Jennison's skirmish line held with troops from the 3rd Wisconsin and 15th Kansas Cavalry Regiments. Moonlight's brigade fell back from a cornfield to a ravine near the fairgrounds. Captain Palmer's battali...

Image: American Battlefield Protection Program | Public domain

Second Battle of Lexington: The Beginning of the End for Price

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit American Battlefield Protection Program, Public domain. Casualties at Lexington were light -- Union losses estimated at about 40, Confederate losses roughly double that. Both commanders wildly overestimated the opposing force: Blunt thought he had faced 20,000 Confederates, while Price believed he had engaged 3,000 to 4,000 Union troo...

Image: American Battlefield Protection Program | Public domain