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

Page 769 Chapter LIII. OPERATIONS IN THE CHEROKEE NATION, IND. TER.

engagement for their bravery and gallant conduct. Lieutenant G. W. Smith, adjutant Thirteenth Kansas Infantry, rendered throughout the entire engagement very efficient service and prompt action. It is at this time impossible to forward the number of killed, wounded,and prisoners, but will forward as soon as possible the result. Lieutenant Colonel J. B. Wheeler, Thirteenth Kansas Infantry, was on the field with me at the opening of the engagement. Three men of the Second Kansas Cavalry, taken prisoners two days before they attacked me, have just escaped from them, but at different times, and report their forces at from 4,000 to 5,000 and six pieces of artillery, General Gano commanding.

Very respectfully,

HENRY HOPKINS,

Major Second Kansas Cavalry.

FORT GIBSON, C. N., September 28, 1864.

Brigadier General L. THOMAS,

Adjutant- General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to herewith transmit the inclosed report of the engagement at the station on Cabin Creek, a point sixty miles north of Fort Gibson, C. N., on the morning of the 20th [19th] of September, 1864. I would also report that I lost all my official correspondence, copies of my returns of all Government property and commissions, and all muster- rolls.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

HENRY HOPKINS,

Major Second Kansas Cavalry.

FORT GIBSON, C. N., September 25, 1864.

GENERAL: I have the honor to make the following report:

Having charge of a supply train from Fort Smith, Ark., to Fort Scott, Kans., and on arrival at that post having loaded it, I moved from that point for Fort Smith, Ark., via Fort Gibson, C. N. on the morning of September 12, 1864. My escort at the time of leaving Fort Scott, Kans., numbered 260 men, composed of the following troops: fifty mounted and thirty dismounted men of the Second Kansas Cavalry, under Captain P. Cosgrove, Second Kansas Cavalry; ten mounted and forty dismounted men of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, under command of Captain Ledger, Sixth Kansas Cavalry, and sixty mounted and seventy dismounted men of the Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry, under command of Captain Stevenson, Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry. The entire train numbered 300 wagons, as follows: 205 Govrnment wagons; 4 Government ambulances, and 91 sutler wagons, &c. At Baxter Springs,sixty miles south of Fort Scott, Kans; I was re- enforced by Captain Ta- la- lah, Third Indian Regiment, with fifty Cherokee Indian troops from Fort Gibson, C. N. At this point I received a dispatch from Colonel C. W. Blair, commanding post at Fort Scott, Kans., that General Steele,commanding at Little Rock, Ark., had telegraphed him to the effect that the rebel General Price had crossed the Arkansas River at a point midway between Fort Smith and Little Rock with a force of 5,000, and was moving north . I immediately forwarded this dispatch to Colonel S. H. Wattles, commanding at Fort Gibson, C. N., and requested him to reenforce me with all the troops he could spare at the earliest possible moment, as I anticipated an attack from a heavier force of rebels than

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Page 769 Chapter LIII. OPERATIONS IN THE CHEROKEE NATION, IND. TER.