Byram's Ford and the Battle of Westport

Byram's Ford and the Battle of Westport. Battle of Westport . Byram's Ford . Big Blue Battlefield . 22-23 October 1864. , History of Byram's Ford , Freighter Augustine Byram from Kentucky settled here in 1839. Overlooking the Byram's Ford crossing of the Big Blue River, his log cabin stood 900 yards west of here on the rise dubbed by the soldiers in 1864 as "Bloody Hill." The 1895 photograph of the battlefield taken from Bloody Hill shows Byram's cabin and in the distance the Ford at this location., Two miles east of this ford, the Byram's Ford Road branched off the Santa Fe Trail. The road led west to the fields near the state line used by freighting companies to graze oxen., Byram's sons Augustus (top) and Peter Byram occupied the cabin in the 1850s while working for Russell Majors and Waddell in the Santa Fe Trail trade. Numerous teamsters in the Santa Fe freighting trade lived in this area. Later, many of these teamsters were part of Price's Confederate army and provided valuable knowledge for guiding the army and its lengthy wagon train through this area., This site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The land containing Byram's Ford and the adjacent Byram's Ford Road sites were purchased by the Monnett Battle of Westport Fund and the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites in 1992. In 1995 this ground was donated to the City of Kansas City and its Parks Department to establish the Big Blue Battlefield Park., The Battle of Westport , The Battle of Westport was the largest engagement of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River. Byram's Ford was the pivotal point for two successive days during the battle as the Federal and Confederate armies fought over this ground., Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price decided to cross the Blue River at Byram's Ford, instead of the Main Ford located three miles north of here, because this location least exposed the Confederate army to the combined Federal forces who were converging on Price's front and rear. Hundreds of Confederate wagons lumbered across Byram's ford during the night after the battle on October 22.