Just four days after being defeated at the Battle of Independence (and suffering casualties and property damage to the actions of area guerillas) some 1,300 Union soldiers under command of General Fitz Henry Warren and Major Emory Foster go on the offensive against the secessionist forces. Foster moves into Lone Jack prematurely, prompting an attack from bushwhackers and new recruits in the Confederate Army, and half of his 800 soldiers are lost in the fighting before they withdraw. The Confederates claim a victory, but the pro-Confederate town of Lone Jack is mostly destroyed, and due to the losses sustained, the secessionists lose their remaining strategic advantages over the Union Army in northwest Missouri.