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the prairie for several miles, and finally about 3.30 brought their entire force to bay near Shiloh Creek. Here I was joined by the Fourth Brigade, under Lieutenant-Colonel Benteen, and by order of commanding general I formed both brigades into a double line of battle. Price's entire army formed and resolved themselves into a quadruple line, about 800 yards in front, and notwithstanding their line was made four deep, they outflanked me both to the right and to the left. I endeavored to charge and was gallantly supported in the effort by Colonel Benteen, but the utmost exertions of officers and men could not move the horses to a trot or a gallop. I steadily advanced in line at a walk toward the enemy, who continued to retire, gradually massing his flanks upon his center, when their flight became more rapid, and in pursuance of orders from commanding general I bivouacked my command on the battle-field, passing another night without either forage or rations. In the morning moved to a corn-field and fed, receiving orders to march via Lamar. About 10 a. m. I renewed the pursuit of Price, and found his trail well defined with the debris of burning wagons-artillery ammunition scattered along the road for miles, camp equipage, mess kits, plunder, and arms thrown away, all evinced the demoralization consequent upon the vigorous attacks of the preceding day. I secured a large flock of sheep, which I dispatched under guard to the quartermaster at Fort Scott. At his camp over 200 wagons were destroyed by him. At least forty wagons were uninjured, among them several wagons loaded with small-arm ammunition, most emphatically telling the condition the flying rebels were reduced to. I was delayed here several hours, Price having destroyed the ford and obstructed the roads, felling heavy timber across them. Finally cleared the track and pushed on to Shanghai, arriving at 11 p. m., where, in accordance with the orders of the commanding general Cavalry Divis ion, I reported to Major-General Curtis.

The officers and men of the brigade are entitled to the highest praise for their gallantry in attacking the enemy and for the cheerfulness with which they endured the privations and fatigues of this most exhausting campaign. The regimental commanders, each and every one, did their whole duty, and were well supported by their line officers. To my staff-Capt. H. N. Cook, Ninth Missouri State Militia, ordnance officer and inspector; Capt. C. G. Laurant, assistant adjutant-general; Lieutenant Acker, Seventeenth Illinois, aide-de-camp-I am under obligations for their gallant support, and I would particularly mention Lieut. E. G. Manning, Eighty-first U. S. Colored Troops, for his assiduous attention to duty, and his conduct in the face of the enemy. To Lieut. J. S. Taylor, Second Missouri Cavalry Volunteers (Merrill's Horse), acting assistant quartermaster, and Lieut. L. Whitney, acting commissary of subsistence, I would here make grateful acknowledgments for the patient and thorough manner which they each discharged their duties.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

Lieut. CLIFFORD THOMSON,

JOHN MCNEIL, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.

SAINT LOUIS, November 25, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to report to you that in accordance with orders received October 26, from Major-General Pleasonton, commander

of Cavalry Division, I reported with the two brigades of that division to Major-General Curtis, at Shanghai, Barton County, Mo., at 11 p. m. October 26, 1864. The next day continued the pursuit of Price's retreating army, arriving at Newtonia 9 p. m. October 28, where General Blunt had succeeded in forcing the enemy to action, which the Second Brigade arrived too late to participate in. Received orders to attack the enemy at daylight. At 4 a. m. October 29 my men were in sad dle to move on toward the enemy, when I received orders from general commanding department to move with the brigade to the District of Rolla. Marched for Rolla, via Springfield, and October 30 camped nineteen miles from Springfield, when I received orders from MajorGeneral Curtis to continue anew the pursuit of Price and to report to him at Cassville. My horses requiring shoeing, I went via Springfield and found 1,500 horses in the brigade to be shod; spent two days' and nights' constant work, and on 2d of November left Springfield for Cassville, leaving a part of brigade to continue shoeing, and join me at Cassville. I arrived at Cassville 6th of November, joined by balance of command on the 7th, when, learning that the country before us was entirely destitute of forage, and believing that from the thoroughly jaded condition of my horses that an advance would insure their de struction, without the remotest prospect of ever catching up again with Price, I requested of the commanding general Department of the Missouri instructions, and received authority to return to Rolla. Leaving Cassville I proceeded through the southern tier of counties via Hartville by easy marches, finding forage, and arrived at Rolla November 15, 1864.

The officers and men are entitled to the highest praise, not only for the gallantry with which they were always ready to attack the superior force of the enemy, but for the invariable cheerfulness with which they endured the privations and fatigues of this most exhausting campaign. Where all have behaved equally well it were invidious to make any distinctions. My regimental commanders, each and every one, did their whole duty, and were well supported by their line officers. To my staff-Capt. H. N. Cook, Ninth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, ordnance officer and inspector; Capt. C. G. Laurant, assistant adju tant-general; Lieutenant Acker, Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, aide-decamp-I am under obligations for their gallant support, and I would particularly mention Lieut. E. G. Manning, Eighty-first U. S. Colored Infantry, for his assiduous attention to duty, and his conduct in the face of the enemy. To Lieut. J. S. Taylor, Second Missouri Cavalry, U. S. Volunteers (Merrill's Horse), acting assistant quartermaster, and Lieut. L. Whitney, acting commissary of subsistence, I would here make grateful acknowledgments for the patient and thorough manner in which they each discharged their duties. For the number of horses absolutely destroyed by the extraordinary marching I was compelled to do, and the absence of forage, I would respectfully refer you to the report of Captain Cook, my inspector, already submitted to the chief of cavalry.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

Capt. J. F. BENNETT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

JOHN MCNEIL, Brigadier-General, Commanding.

SAINT LOUIS, November 26, 1864. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of my efforts to secure the safety of Rolla, and following that my march to Jefferson City:

Having learned from my Arkansas scouts, as well as from information from headquarters of the department, that Rolla would probably be one of the objective points of the rebel army under Sterling Price, in his recent invasion of Missouri, I issued General Orders, No. 35, District of Rolla, in which I declared Rolla a military camp. All male citizens of Rolla and adjacent country, including aliens and strangers temporarily present, were organized and placed under proper officers and set to work on the defenses of the place. This work was carried on day and night. On the 30th of October [September] General Sanborn reported to me with between 1,500 and 1,600 mounted men. The same day I dispatched Colonel Beverfdge with two battalions of the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry as a reconnaissance party to Saint James and Steelville. That night, learning that General Ewing had arrived at Leasburg and was closely beleaguered by the enemy, I sent orders to Colonel Beveridge by special messenger to march immediately to General Ewing's relief. This order was most successfully executed by Colonel Beveridge and resulted in the safety of the toil-worn force that had so far successfully retreated from Pilot Knob and their arrival at Rolla, some 700 men and six pieces of artillery being thus rescued from the very grasp of the enemy. For the details of this movement I would respectfully refer you to the report of Colonel Beveridge, inclosed herewith. By the 3d of October, so assiduously and faithfully had the working parties performed the tasks allotted, for which too much praise cannot be given to Col. Albert Sigel, Fifth Missouri State Militia Cavalry, commanding the post; Maj. C. Biehle, First Missouri State Militia Infantry, commanding Fort Wyman, and to Captain Dette, First Missouri State Militia Infantry, commander of Star Fort, that I felt assured of the safety of the post, no matter by what force of the enemy it might be assailed. On the evening of the 3d I became convinced that General Price was pushing for Jefferson City. All communication with Saint Louis being cut off, I was compelled to act in the premises without consultation with headquarters. It also became known to me that one prominent object of the raid on the part of the enemy was the capture of the political capital of the State and the installation of Thomas C. Reynolds as the constitutional Governor of Missouri, and the inauguration of a civil government, that, with the assistance of this rebel army of occupation, would be enabled to arouse the latent spirit of rebellion which still unfortunately existed in the minds of many citizens of Missouri. Determined if in my power to foil this rebel scheme, I marched from Rolla for Jefferson City on the morning of the 4th of October, 1864, taking with me every effective man that a due regard for the safety of Rolla would permit. The force was composed of Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, U. S. Volunteers, Colonel Beveridge commanding; Fifth Cavalry Missouri State Militia, Lieutenant-Colonel Eppstein commanding; one section Battery B, Second Missouri Artillery, Captain Sutter commanding; two sections Battery H, Second Missouri Artillery, Captain Montgomery commanding; one section 12-pounder mountain howitzers, Fifth Missouri State Militia, Lieutenant Hillerich.

I had previously directed General Sanborn, then in camp at Cuba, to join me at Vienna and proceed with me to the rescue of Jefferson City. Arrived about dark at Vienna and found General Sanborn. It having

rained all day, and having in addition to my artillery a supply train, heavily loaded, of forty-six mule wagons, I became fearful lest General Price might anticipate me in reaching the fords of the Osage. I ordered the column to commence moving at daylight, giving General Sanborn's brigade the advance, and succeeded in crossing the Osage with artillery and train the same day, nearly twenty-four hours in advance of General Price, making Jefferson City from Rolla in two days, a distance of seventy miles. I reported to General Brown, in command of the Central District, Department of the Missouri, and by his orders moved my brigade on the 6th of October into the works then in active state of preparation for defense of the city, where they cheerfully labored for thirty-six consecutive hours in completing the defenses of the line. Upon the assumption of command by General Fisk I was appointed to the command of the right wing of the defenses of the place, and the fol lowing troops assigned me as my brigade: Third Regiment Cavalry Missouri State Militia, Lieutenant-Colonel Matthews; Fifth Regiment Cavalry Missouri State Militia, Lieutenant-Colonel Eppstein; Ninth Regiment Cavalry Missouri State Militia, Lieutenant-Colonel Draper; Seventeenth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, Col. John L. Beveridge; one regiment of infantry (Gasconade County Militia), Colonel Poser; one section of Battery B, Second Missouri Light Artillery; two sections of Battery H, Second Missouri Light Artillery; one section of 12-pounder mountain howitzers. General Sanborn having the strongest position on the south side of the town, I sent him Captain Sutter with his section of Napoleon guns. The enemy having crossed Moreau demonstrated on this position, and this section opened upon the main column of the enemy. For particulars I would refer to the reports of General Sanborn. Toward evening the Fifth Regiment Missouri State Militia, posted on my left wing, had some skirmishing, but elicited nothing of importance; my whole force labored industriously the entire night in strengthening the defenses of the line; and learning from scouts that the rebels were massing their whole force in my front, I had all hands ready for the fight at early dawn, but with the appearance of day came the disappearance of Price's army. During the night a rebel emissary of his from Jefferson City informed him of my arrival the day before with 2,800 men and eight pieces of artillery, whereupon, after consultation with his chief of engineers, General Shelby, and others, it was decided to abandon the attack and immediately move west. This news I obtained early in the morning, it coming from the gentleman at whose house Generals Price and Shelby quartered that night, and who was in the room during the consultation. The enemy no longer threatening an attack, I was ordered to turn over the cavalry force under my command to General Sanborn for service in the field, and subsequently in the day I was ordered back to Rolla, via Saint Louis, by Major-General Pleasonton, commanding troops in the field. I immediately started on horseback, accompanied by an escort of twenty men, and the consciousness that by the promptness of my movements from Rolla, although without orders from headquarters, I had saved the capital of the State from the pollution of rebel occupation, and thwarted the enemy in his fondest scheme of establishing a Confederate government and issuing from the capital an order for the election of a Confederate legislature.

I cannot sufficiently commend the promptness of my officers and men on this expedition and the zealous industry displayed by them in working on the fortifications at Jefferson City. To Brigadier-General Brown, commanding the Central District, and to Captain Case, assistant quar

termaster, I am under obligations for many acts of kindness and attention to my officers and men. I reached Saint Louis October 12, at midnight, where I received orders to return to the front. I started from Saint Louis the morning of the 14th of October, and reported to MajorGeneral Rosecrans, at Jefferson City, the evening of the 16th of October, and by General Field Orders, No. 1, was assigned to the command of the Second Brigade, Cavalry Division, Major-General Pleasonton commanding. For details of the operations of the Second Brigade I would respectfully refer to my official report made to Major-General Pleasonton, commanding Cavalry Division.*

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
JOHN MCNEIL,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Capt. J. F. BENNETT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

No. 28.

Report of Surg. William H. H. Cundiff, Thirteenth Missouri Cavalry, Acting Medical Director.

ROLLA. MO., December 1, 1864. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit in obedience to your request the further subjoined report of the casualties which occurred in the Second Brigade, First Cavalry Division, of troops in the field during the late expedition in this State and Kansas against the rebels, commanded by General Sterling Price, and in so doing I will confine myself to such reports as are in my possession, made to me by the surgeons and assistant surgeons of the respective regiments composing said brigade, having lost all my personal notes which I had made during the campaign for the purpose of enabling me to make a full and complete report of all the casualties occurring in my brigade in different engagements, of Independence (October 22), Big Blue (October 23), and Osage (October 25, 1864). From all the reports, together with my per sonal knowledge, the following report will approximate if not entirely cover our losses in the above-named battles.t

I would add the remark that all the cases that fell under my personal observation were skillfully and successfully treated by surgeons and assistant surgeons under my charge upon the most approved plan of army surgery. In conclusion, I desire to say that the highest praise is due the surgeons and assistant surgeons of the brigade for their hearty and efficient co-operation in caring for the sick and wounded during the arduous campaign.

I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. H. H. CUNDIFF, Surg., 13th Mo. Cav. Vols. (Vet.), and Actg. Med. Director 2d Brig. Brigadier-General MCNEIL,

Comdg. Second Brig., First Div. Cav., Troops in the Feld.

See p. 371.

Nominal list (omitted) shows the losses as follows: Independence, Mo., October 22, 1864, 2 men killed, 4 officers and 8 men wounded. Big Blue, Mo., October 23, 1864, 4 men wounded. Osage, Mo., October 25, 1864, 1 man killed, 11 men wounded.

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