Gen. Sterling Price's raid into Missouri had been turned back at the Battle of Westport, and his force was retreating south. But they could not overcome the Union forces led by Maj. Gen. James Blunt, and the rebels fled to safety in Arkansas. It was the last major battle in the fight to control the West. About 650 soldiers were killed or wounded here.
Legend has it that townswomen buried the dead in the woods and at the old cemetery.
Not much seems to have happened since in Newtonia, population about 200. But change is sweeping southwestern Missouri. Small dairy farms are giving way to large-scale commercial operations. Population in the area is increasing rapidly, as is the development that always follows. Citing the region's growth, the Washington, D.C.-based Civil War Preservation Trust recently named Newtonia one of the Civil War's 25 most endangered battlefields.