Today in History:

523 Series I Volume XLI-I Serial 83 - Price's Missouri Expedition Part I

Page 523 Chapter LIII. PRICE'S MISSOURI EXPEDITION.

Nov. 1. To Pea Ridge................................... 10

3. To Cross Hollows............................... 15

4. To Fayetteville................................ 20

5. To Prairie Grove............................... 11

6. To Cane Hill................................... 25

7................................................. 30

8................................................. 12

Back again....................................... 320

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Total................................................. 847

I have the honor to be, general, your obedient servant,

S. R. CURTIS,

Major-General.


Numbers 65. Report of Major Chapman S. Charlot, U. S. Army, Assistant Adjutant-General.


HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KANSAS,
Fort Leavenworth, December 13, 1864.

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report of the history and operations of the Army of the Border and the share it took in the pursuit of Price in 1864:

As early as September 13 the commander of the Department of the Missouri received information of the crossing of the Arkansas by Price and his army and of their march in the direction of Kansas and Missouri. You were then encamped on the Solomon River with a small force of volunteers and militia hastily collected for a campaign against the Indians who had lately been committing depredations in the western part of your command. Immediately on your return, September 17, measures were taken to secure the safety of the threatened border as far as was possible with the very limited force in the department, and on the 20th you telegraphed to the Governor of Kansas to notify the militia to be ready to co-operate in the defense of the State, proposing to the Governor, as far as possible, to use the militia only in garrisoning posts and to send forward the volunteers thus relieved. Notice same day was also telegraphed to General Rosecrans of the farther advance his movements and progress, however, our chief source of information was through Major-General Rosecrans, and they seem to have been so mysteriously conducted as to leave that distinguished officer in considerable doubt as to whether there was any enemy advancing on us from the south or not; e. g.: On the 24th of September General Rosecrans telegraphed you that he "does not credit" General Steele's dispatches that "Price, with 5,000 to 10,000 mounted infantry and seventeen pieces of artillery" was at Pocahontas on the 22nd; on the 24th, that "there is reason to believe that Price is north of the Arkansas line in Southern Missouri, &c.;" on the 26th, "my present impression is that he (Price) will come toward Jefferson City between Rolla and Lebanon and pass out toward Kansas," at the same time advising against any movement "too far south," rather to wait until "his (Price's) strength and intentions in Missouri are developed," and especially urging the


Page 523 Chapter LIII. PRICE'S MISSOURI EXPEDITION.