Norman,

It's worth mentioning, also, that Quantrill's guerrillas were critically involved with Confederate forces in the Battle of Independence against Col. James T. Buel's Union garrison of some 400-500 men. At the request of Confederate Brig. Gen. John Hughes, Hughes, Col. Upton Hayes with 300 men, and Quantrill with some thirty guerrillas joined up to attack the town of Independence, beginning at 3:50 A.M. on August 11, 1862, when Quantrill's men, acting as the advance guard, shot all the sentinel's on Spring Street (or Spring Branch Road or Big Spring Road), with Hughes men directly behind Quantrill in full support. Capt. W. H. Rodewald's company of the Sixth Regiment of Missouri Enrolled Militia tried to halt the Confederate advance at the corner of Lexington and Liberty Streets until 6:00 A.M., where he repulsed three Confederate charges. As the fire got hotter, Rodewald retreated into the Headquarters building, in windows on the first and second floors, where his men continued firing. It was Quantrill's guerrillas who boxed up Buel and Rodewald on the main street of the town, isolating them from the main Confederate force situated some distance to the south. Meanhwhile, Confederate General Hughes and Col. Gideon Thompson and the men of already- killed Col. Kit Chiles attacked the Union main camp. By 9:15 A.M., Buel, unable to direct the battle, ordered his men to cease firing, and after a parley, he surrendered. By pinning down Buel, Quantrill's guerrillas were instrumental in the successful outcome of the Battle of Independence.

In the Battle of Lone Jack, which followed soon thereafter, some of Quantrill's men fought with the Confederate forces on August 16 against Maj. Emory Foster's Union troops. After receiving 25 percent casualties in the fight, Foster disengaged with Confederate forces and limped back to his base at Lexington, Missouri. More of Quantrill's guerrillas had arrived at the battlefield as reinforcements, late in the fight, but they were too late to be used in the engagement.

At the Battle of Baxter Springs where Brig. Gen. James Blunt's Union force was annihilated and it's commander fled the field of battle, with his chief of scouts, Red Leg Capt. Tough, Quantrill reported his victory to General Sterling Price. The Confederates were always aware of their partisan forces and used them when it was useful to them.

Don Gilmore
Author, Civil War on the Missouri-Kansas Border (Pelican Pub. Co., 2005)