Subsequently, Coffee and Shelby joined forces and continued north from the Osage to the Grand River. Coffee then turned his column west and headed for Independence. Shelby started in the opposite direction for Lexington. Both recruited men for their ranks along the way.
On the night of August 15, Coffee's cavalry variously estimated at 800 to 1,500 mostly ill-clad, unarmed Missouri State Guard members, prepared to camp a mile south of the Lone Jack in Jackson County. Other Confederate troops were in the are of Lone Jack including the commands of Upton Hays and Vard Cockrell who planned to attack Lexington. The latter had camped about six miles northwest of Lone Jack. (45) Union troops, however, also were nearby. Some 800 troops, under Major Emory S. Foster, had marched from Lexington and arrived at the northern edge of Lone Jack at about nine o'clock, the evening of the fifteenth. Shooting between Coffee's pickets and the Federal troops occured immediately. Discovering that Coffee's main force had camped south of the town, Foster prepared to attack them. The Union detachment, including artillery, had advanced some three-quarters of a mile when Coffee's poorly equipped cavalry charged. A volley from Union muskets dispersed the Confederates. At the same time, the Union artillery fired into Coffee's main camp. Coffee's troops withdrew hastily, and the Union force returned to Lone Jack. (46)
Union cannon fire alerted the other Confederate officers in the area, who did not realize that enemy troops were nearby. Foster, however, knew about the Confederates. His troops had captured a sergeant from Coffee's command who informed Foster that he was greatly outnumbered. Foster expected reinforcements and therefore, the news did not disturb him.
Now aware of the Union occupation of Lone Jack, Hays, Cockrell, Hunter and Jackman decided to attack the town early the morning of the nineteenth. As the Confederates approached from their positions toward the town, a musket discharged and the element of suprise vanished. Even so the Union forces virtually were surrounded. The Confederates attempted to capture the Union artillery more than once. They set fire to the Cave Hotel a rallying point for the Federal troops. Noah Hunt, a Lone Jack resident, counted over 110 dead horses laying around the square. Vicious hand-to-hand combat accounted for piles of dead and wounded. The reinforcements, Foster expected, never materialized.
As the battle raged, Coffee busily rallied his troops that had been dispersed by the previous evening's engagement. Around 11 A.M., he was prepared to reinforce Cockrell. Foster had been shot, and Captain Milton Brawner had assumed command of the beleaguered Federals. As Coffee's troops entered the fray, Brawner, short on ammunition and vastly outnumbered, decided to withdraw his force and returned to Lexington. (47)
The Confederates finally occupied Lone Jack around noon. The fighting had lasted less that five hours. One of the captured Federals, Lieutenant Levi Copeland, was placed under the charge of Coffee. Guerrilla leader William Quantrill arrived at Lone Jack late in the day and, finding that Copeland had been captured, demanded he be turned over to Quantrill's men. Coffee refused. Quantrill incensed by this rebuff, ordered his men to mount and prepare to charge Coffee and his troops. He sent a note to Coffee explaining that Copeland "had dragged the father of two of Quantrill's men from his home and in front of the man's family hung him and burned the house." Learning this, Coffee turned over Copeland, who was immediately shot by the two sons. (48)
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