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Arrow Rock, to strike a Union force at
Glasgow, in Howard County.
After a sharp fight for several hours, he captured the place, with its defenders, under
Colonel Harding, composed of a part of his Forty-third Missouri, and small detachments of the Ninth Missouri militia and Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry.
This temerity would have been punished by a serious, if not fatal, blow upon
Price's main body, had not the pursuing
General Smith been detained at the
Lamine River, on account of the destruction of the railway bridge at the crossing on his route.
There he was overtaken by
General Mower, when, with a few days' provisions, and in light marching order, he pushed on directly westward, toward
Warrensburg, while
Pleasanton, with his cavalry, including those under
Winslow, was sweeping over the country northward to the
Missouri River, in the direction of
Lexington, which
Price's advance reached on the 20th of October.
Blunt, who had come out of
Kansas, had been driven back to Independence, near the western border of
Missouri, by
Price, and the ranks of the latter were being increased by recruits.
And now a single false step of the pursuers deprived them of the solid advantages they had been gaining.
Rosecrans, at
St. Louis, not fully comprehending the importance of cutting off
Price's retreat into
Arkansas, ordered
Pleasanton (by telegraph) to move directly on
Lexington, and directed
Smith to abandon his westward line of march and follow
Pleasanton in the direct pursuit of
Price.
The orders were obeyed, and the game was lost.
The pursued, burning bridges behind him, outstripped his pursuers.
He had left
Lexington when
Pleasanton's advance, under
McNeil and
Sandborn, reached that place on the evening of the 20th,
and was moving rapidly westward.
At
Little Blue Creek he struck
Blunt's
Kansas troops, then under
General Curtis, who had just assumed command of them.
After a sharp contest of a few hours,
Curtis, hard pressed on front and flank by a superior force, fell back to the
Big Blue Creek, where he took a strong position and awaited an attack.
Meanwhile,
Pleasanton, with all his cavalry, had pushed on after
Price with great vigor.
When he reached the Little Blue
he found the bridge destroyed, and the
Confederate rear-guard prepared to resist his passage with strong force.
They were soon driven, and
Pleasanton pressed on to Independence, then held by the enemy.
He captured that place at seven o'clock in the evening by a brilliant charge, by which he drove the
Confederates and seized two of their guns.
From Independence
Pleasanton sent
McNeil with his cavalry toward Little Santa Fe, to intercept
Price's retreat, and at the same time asked
Rosecrans, by telegraph, to order
Smith to the former place.
Rosecrans did so. Meanwhile,
Pleasanton pushed vigorously on after the fugitives, and on the following morning approached the Big Blue, where he found the main body of the
Confederates, who had striven in vain, the day before, to drive
Curtis from his position.
Pleasanton fell upon them at seven o'clock in the morning.
A sharp struggle ensued, which lasted until past noon, when the
Confederates gave way and fled toward Little Santa Fe, closely pursued by
Pleasanton and
Curtis.
On the same afternoon
Smith reached Independence, with nine thousand infantry and five batteries.
His men were very weary, yet they were moved at once
