Westport Union order of battle

The following Union Army units and commanders fought in the Battle of Westport of the American Civil War. The Confederate order of battle is listed separately.

Command disputes

By order of MG Blunt (General Field Orders No. 2) the militia regiments of William H. M. Fishbeck, Brigadier General of Militia, were placed under the command of Charles W. Blair, Colonel of Volunteers; Fishbeck was infuriated that his command had been subordinated to a volunteer officer. Because Kansas law stated that militia should be kept under the command of militia officers, Fishbeck disregarded Blunt's order. Blunt had Fishbeck arrested and held until released by order of MG Curtis. Upon his release, Fishbeck resumed command of the Kansas Militia regiments, with orders to obey directives that came from MG Blunt. This rather cumbersome arrangement had BG Fishbeck in direct command of the militia units attached to the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, and Col Charles Blair in overall command of the brigade. Howard N. Monnett describes the arrangement as a "brigade within a brigade". Blair and Fishbeck led the militia into action at Westport (accompanied onto the field by MG George W. Dietzler), and then in the subsequent pursuit of Price until MG Curtis ordered the militia to return home.[1]

Abbreviations used

Military rank

Other

Army of the Border

MG Samuel R. Curtis
Escort:

  • 11th Kansas Cavalry, Company G (with 2-gun battery): Lt Edward Gill
Division Brigade Regiments and others

Provisional Cavalry Division
     MG James G. Blunt

1st Brigade

   Col Charles R. Jennison

  • Foster's Missouri Cavalry Battalion: Cpt George S. Grover
  • 15th Kansas Cavalry: Ltc George H. Hoyt
  • 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry (detachment): Cpt Robert Carpenter
  • Battery (5 guns) [manned by 15th Kansas Cavalry]: 2Lt Henry L. Barker
2nd Brigade

   Col Thomas Moonlight

  • 5th Kansas Cavalry, Companies L and M: Cpt James H. Young
  • 11th Kansas Cavalry: Ltc Preston B. Plumb
  • 16th Kansas Cavalry, Companies A and D: Ltc Samuel Walker
  • Battery (4 guns) [manned by Company E, 11th Kansas Cavalry]
3rd Brigade

   Col Charles W. Blair

  • 4th Kansas Militia: Col W. D. McCain
  • 5th Kansas Militia: Col G. A. Colton
  • 6th Kansas Militia: Col James D. Snoddy (arrested Oct. 16); Col James Montgomery
  • 10th Kansas Militia: Col William Pennock
  • 19th Kansas Militia: Col A. C. Hogan
  • 24th Kansas Militia Battalion: Ltc George Eaves
  • 14th Kansas Cavalry, Company E: Lt William B. Clark
  • 2nd Kansas State Artillery (2 guns): Lt Daniel C. Knowles
  • 9th Wisconsin Battery (6 guns): Cpt James H. Dodge
4th Brigade

   Col James Hobart Ford

  • 2nd Colorado Cavalry: Maj Jesse L. Pritchard
  • 16th Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry (detachment): Maj James Ketner
  • McLain's Independent Colorado Battery (6 guns): Cpt William D. McLain

Kansas State Militia Division[2][3][4]
     MG George W. Deitzler, Kansas State Adjutant General
  

Brigade field commanders

   BG Melvin S. Grant[5]
   BG William H. M. Fishback[6]

(not brigaded)
  • 1st Kansas Militia: Col Charles H. Robinson
  • 2nd Kansas Militia: Col George W. Veale
  • 2nd Kansas Colored Militia: Cpt James L. Rafferty, Cpt Richard J. Hinton
  • 7th Kansas Militia: Col Peter McFarland
  • 9th Kansas Militia: Col Frank M. Tracy
  • 12th Kansas Militia: Col L. S. Treat
  • 13th Kansas Militia: Col Alexander S. Johnson
  • 14th Kansas Militia: Col William Gordon
  • 18th Kansas Militia: Col Matthew Quigg
  • 20th Kansas Militia: Col J. B. Hubbell
  • 21st Kansas Militia: Col Sandy Lowe
  • 22nd Kansas Militia: Col William Weer

Artillery

  • Independent Colored Battery (6 guns): Cpt H. Ford Douglas
  • Topeka Battery of 2nd Kansas Militia (1 gun): Cpt Ross Burnes

Unattached unit

Department of the Missouri

MG William S. Rosecrans

Division Brigade Regiments and others

Provisional Cavalry Division
     MG Alfred Pleasonton

1st Brigade

   BG Egbert B. Brown (arrested Oct. 23)
   Col John F. Philips

  • 1st Missouri Militia Cavalry: Col James McFerran (arrested Oct. 23), Ltc Bazel Lazear
  • 4th Missouri Militia Cavalry: Maj George W. Kelly
  • 7th Missouri Militia Cavalry: Col John F. Philips, Ltc Thomas Theodore Crittenden
  • Detachment
    • 1st Iowa Cavalry: Maj John McDermott
2nd Brigade

   BG John McNeil

  • 17th Illinois Cavalry: Col John Lourie Beveridge
  • 13th Missouri Cavalry: Col Edwin C. Catherwood
  • 5th Missouri Militia Cavalry: Ltc Joseph Eppstein
  • Detachments from:
    • 7th Kansas Cavalry: Maj Francis Malone
    • 2nd Missouri Cavalry: Cpt George M. Houston
    • 3rd Missouri Militia Cavalry: Ltc Henry M. Matthews
    • 9th Missouri Militia Cavalry: Ltc Daniel M. Draper
3rd Brigade

   BG John B. Sanborn

  • 2nd Arkansas Cavalry: Col John E. Phelps
  • 8th Missouri Militia Cavalry: Col Joseph J. Gravely
  • Detachments
    • 6th Enrolled Missouri Militia Cavalry: Ltc John F. McMahan
    • 7th Enrolled Missouri Militia Cavalry: Maj W. B. Mitchell
    • 6th Missouri Militia Cavalry: Maj William Plumb
4th Brigade

   Col Edward F. Winslow (w Oct. 23)
   Ltc Frederick W. Benteen

  • 3rd Iowa Cavalry: Maj Benjamin S. Jones
  • 4th Iowa Cavalry: Maj Abial R. Pierce
  • 10th Missouri Cavalry: Ltc Frederic W. Benteen, Maj William H. Lusk
  • Detachments
    • 7th Indiana Cavalry: Maj Samuel E. W.
    • 4th Missouri Cavalry: Cpt George D. Knispel

Simonson

Artillery

   Col Nelson D. Cole

Unassigned
  • 2nd New Jersey Cavalry (detachment): Cpt Michael Gallagher
  • 19th Pennsylvania Cavalry (1 company)

XVI Corps

(detachment of First and Third Divisions; in pursuit, not present at the battle)
MG Andrew Jackson Smith

Division Brigade Regiments and others

First Division
     Col Joseph J. Woods

2nd Brigade

Col Lucius Frederick Hubbard   

  • 47th Illinois
  • 12th Iowa
  • 5th Minnesota
  • 7th Minnesota
  • 9th Minnesota
  • 10th Minnesota
  • 8th Wisconsin
  • Battery G, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery
3rd Brigade

Col Sylvester G. Hill   

Third Division
     Col David Moore

1st Brigade

Col T. J. Kinney   

  • 58th Illinois
  • 119th Illinois
  • 89th Indiana
2nd Brigade

Col James Isham Gilbert   

3rd Brigade

Col Edward H. Wolfe   

Notes

  1. Monnett p.44-45
  2. Deitzler's Official Report
  3. Monnett p.47, 143
  4. Eicher p. 205
  5. Formed a brigade of the 2nd, 3rd, 13th and 23rd Kansas State Militia regiments to fight at Byram's Ford on October 22 (Monett p.77). On October 23 Grant was in command of another provisional brigade guarding Russell's Ford on the Big Blue River
  6. attached to Blair's brigade in command of the 5th, 6th and 10th Kansas Militia regiments

References

  • Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3
  • Jenkins, Paul B. The Battle of Westport (Kansas City, MO: Franklin Hudson Publishing Co.), 1906.
  • Monnett, Howard N. Action Before Westport: 1864 (Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado), 1995. [revised edition]
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