The Battle of Marais des Cygnes took place on October 25, 1864, in Linn County, Kansas, during Price's Missouri Raid in the American Civil War. A large Confederate cavalry incursion into Missouri in late 1864 attempted to draw Union troops away from the fighting further east. After several victories the Confederates were defeated at the Battle of Westport and withdrew into Kansas. They camped along the banks of the Marais des Cygnes River on the night of October 24 while Union cavalry pursuers skirmished with their rear guard. The battle began early the next morning as 3,500 Union troops drove this force from its position, capturing cannons, prisoners, and wagons. An attempted stand at the river crossing was outflanked by a Union cavalry regiment, forcing the Confederates to abandon it. A rear guard action by a 1,200-man Confederate brigade bought time to disengage and retreat. After two further defeats on the same day and another on October 28, the Confederates retreated to Texas.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marais_des_Cygnes

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1854:

Crimean War: Lord Cardigan led his cavalry on a disastrous assault in the Battle of Balaclava. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Balaclava

1927:

The Italian cruise liner SS Principessa Mafalda sank when a propeller shaft broke and fractured the hull, resulting in 314 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Principessa_Mafalda

1944:

Heinrich Himmler ordered a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a nonconformist youth group that assisted army deserters and others hiding from the Nazis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edelweiss_Pirates

2001:

Windows XP, one of the most popular and widely used versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system, was released for retail sale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

croft: An enclosed piece of land, usually small and arable and used for small- scale food production, and often with a dwelling next to it; in particular, such a piece of land rented to a farmer (a crofter), especially in Scotland, together with a right to use separate pastureland shared by other crofters. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/croft

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Neither is there figurative and non-figurative art. All things appear to us in the shape of forms. Even in metaphysics ideas are expressed by forms, well then think how absurd it would be to think of painting without the imagery of forms. A figure, an object, a circle, are forms; they affect us more or less intensely.   --Pablo Picasso https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso