Today in History:

197 Series I Volume XLVIII-I Serial 101 - Powder River Expedition Part I

Page 197 Chapter LX. SKIRMISH NEAR BIG GRAVOIS, MO.

APRIL 22, 1865. -Skirmish near the mouth of the Big Gravois, Mo.

REPORTS.


Numbers 1. -Brigadier General John B. Sanborn, U. S. Army commanding District of Southwest Missouri.


Numbers 2. -Major John Small, Sixteenth Missouri Cavalry.


Numbers 1. Report of Brigadier General John B. Sanborn, U. S. Army, commanding District of Southwest Missouri. HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURI, Springfield, Mo., April 23, 1865.

Major Small, commanding detachment of the Sixteenth Cavalry Volunteers, came up with a party of fifty guerrillas near the Osage, opposite the mouth of the Big Gravois, and killed ten of them, including Captains Rountree and Martin. I have not received any further particulars of the fight yet.

JOHN B. SANBORN,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

Major BARNES,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Saint Louis.


Numbers 2. Report of Major John Small, Sixteenth Missouri Cavalry. HEADQUARTERS, Lebanon, Mo., April 25, 1865.

CAPTAIN: I started from this place on the [20th instant] after a band of rebels reported to be in eight miles of this place. They were reported to number 100, robbing houses and taking horses. I started with detachments of Companies H, B, I, and L, numbering in all about twenty-five men, with two commissioned officers, Captain Sallee, of Company B, and R. D. Mayes, of Company L, all of the sixteenth Cavalry Missouri Volunteers. I started at 9 p. m. We traveled about eight miles before we struck their trial, and followed their trail all that night over very rough ground. They traveled in most all directions. The waters being up made it very difficult to gain much on them. We had to swim the West Glass. Near the mouth it was about fifty yards wide, and the banks being steep we were some time in getting across. We were in hearing when Captain Bollinger, from Linn Creek, attacked them, and we could not get to him for the high waters. The rebels held the ground, killing Captain Jeffrey and three soldiers, one discharged from Wood's Battalion, Sixth Cavalry Missouri Volunteers, and the other two of captain Bollinger's company. Captain Bollinger was wounded in the shoulder. Captain Bollinger had twenty-four men; Captain Jeffery had six or eight citizens with him. The rebels did not tarry long after the fight. We traveled until about 10 o'clock that night, when it got so dark and the hills so rough I was compelled to stop for the night. On the morning of the 22nd we came on the rebels a little before sunrise-they were crossing the Osage River-just as the skiff left the


Page 197 Chapter LX. SKIRMISH NEAR BIG GRAVOIS, MO.