Qualla: Second Battle of Newtonia

Second Battle of Newtonia: Introduction

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Samuel J. Reader, Public domain. Union troops pursuing Sterling Price's retreating army found Confederate stragglers dying of starvation along the road. By October 28, 1864, Price's Missouri Raid had collapsed into catastrophe. He had entered the state six weeks earlier with dreams of sparking a popular uprising and influencing the presidential election. Instead, defeats at Pilot Knob, Westport, and Mine Creek had shattered his Army of Missouri. More than two-thirds of his men would be lost before the campaign ended. On this late October afternoon, Price halted his disintegrating force near Newtonia, the same small Missouri town where Confederates had won a battle two years before. He needed grain for his starving men before the retreat carried them into the barren stretches of Arkansas. What he got was one last fight.

Image: Samuel J. Reader | Public domain

Second Battle of Newtonia: A Dying Campaign

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hog Farm, CC BY-SA 4.0. Price's Missouri expedition had been born of desperation. By September 1864, the Confederacy was losing on every front. The Atlanta campaign had turned in Lincoln's favor, and the Trans-Mississippi Department could not transfer troops east because the Union Navy controlled the Mi...

Image: Hog Farm | CC BY-SA 4.0

Second Battle of Newtonia: Corn and Cavalry at Two O'Clock

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hog Farm, CC BY-SA 4.0. Price's men encamped south of Newtonia near the McClain Farm. Some soldiers went into town to operate a flour mill. Confederate soldiers who were Newtonia locals knew about a small Union outpost in town and drove its defenders out. One captured Union lieutenant, Robert H. Christi...

Image: Hog Farm | CC BY-SA 4.0

Second Battle of Newtonia: Sunset Rescue

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hog Farm, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shelby fielded between 1,500 and 2,000 men against Blunt's roughly 1,000. The Confederates outflanked the shorter Union line, and Shelby ordered an attack that drove the Federals back to the Ritchey Farm. McLain's Battery retreated, demoralizing parts of the 15th and 16th Kansas ...

Image: Hog Farm | CC BY-SA 4.0

Second Battle of Newtonia: The Long Road to Texas

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hal Jespersen. Verification of details can be found in Kyle Sinisi's The Last Hurrah: Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864, CC BY 4.0. Both armies initially claimed victory. Curtis reported the Confederates "conquered." Price claimed to have driven Blunt back and inflicted heavy casualties. Shelby's chief of staff, John Newman Edwards, declared "another beautiful victory had crowned the Confederate arms." Modern...

Image: Hal Jespersen. Verification of details can be found in Kyle Sinisi's The Last Hurrah: Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition of 1864 | CC BY 4.0