was evident that here the battle was to be fought and the desperate issue joined on which the fate of the south tier of Kansas, at least, depended. Advancing alone to see if possible how far their right extended behind the cover of the hill, the bursting in the air and the tearing up of the earth soon satisfied me that they were firing canister at an enemy they supposed were advancing on their right and hidden from view by the acclivity immediately in their front. This conviction on their part, I am satisfied, saved the brigade on our right, as a rapid and vigorous advance at that time would either have overwhelmed or utterly put it to rout. I moved to the right to get out of the sweep of the canister and then advanced till their extreme right was developed to view, and then rode rapidly to the rear with a tolerably full understanding of the situation. Meeting Colonel Crawford but a short distance back I explained matters to him very hastily, told him they had commenced canister firing, and urged him to go back and hurry up the troops, as he was acquainted with most of the brigade officers of General Pleasonton's division and I had no acquaintance whatever with any of them. He agreed to do so and again started to the rear. I then moved off to the brigade on our right, and when I arrived there found it engaged at long range and halted for our other troops to come up on line. The enemy's artillery was playing on this line with fearful effect and we had nothing but musketry to reply, but the men were steady and self-possessed and perfectly easy under the fire. I don't know how long it was before the other brigade came up. To me it seemed a long time, and I had ridden from this brigade back toward the enemy's right once or twice before it came up. When it did come on line the whole command advanced to short range, and for a time the fire was incessant and terrific. Both lines seemed like walls of adamant-one could not advance; the other would not recede. The crash of musketry, the scream of shell, the hissing sound of canister and balls, mingled with the shouts of the soldiers and the cries of the wounded, set off, too, by the walls of fire in front and girdles of steel behind, which marked both lines, formed a scene more easily remembered than described. During this terrible conflict I passed along the whole line and met your gallant staff officers everywhere, counseling, encouraging, exhorting, and commanding, and the tenor of the whole was "charge!" It was evident that our only safety was in a successful charge by which we might capture the guns. At length the movement commenced, slowly at first but increasing in velocity until it swept on resistless as an avalanche. A rush, a scramble, and all was over. The guns were captured, the enemy broken and flying to the rear, while our victorious squadrons were in almost breathless pursuit. So rapidly was this accomplished that when our left pushed forward into a field on the south side of the ravine the shell from our own artillery was crashing right into their midst. I was to the right of this, but so close that I could see this result, and also see Captain Hinton, of General Blunt's staff, in the midst of our victorious line. Pushing rapidly forward, I witnessed the capture of Major-General Marmaduke by Corpl, James Dunlavy, of Company D, Third Iowa Cavalry. Marmaduke was endeavoring to rally his men and Dunlavy was galloping toward him, occasionally firing at him. Marmaduke evidently mistook him for one of his own men and started toward him, reproving him for firing on his friends. At least I so judge from what I could see and hear, and so the boy afterward told me. The boy stopped and coolly waited till Marmaduke got within twenty or thirty yards of him, then covered him with his carbine and ordered him to dismount and surrender or he would fire. Marmaduke dismounted and his horse galloped off. Seeing that I was an officer the boy offered to turn him over to me, but I declined being burdened with a prisoner. General Marmaduke then said, "Sir, you are an officer. I claim protection at your hands. I am a general officer-General Marmaduke," I then took charge of him and informed him that I would protect him until delivered to you as a prisoner of war, at which he seemed very much relieved. The boy then spoke up and said, "Colonel, remember I took him prisoner. I am James Dunlavy, corporal of Company D, Third Iowa Cavalry." I told the boy (who was severely wounded in the right forearm, but who still grasped his pistol with vigor and energy) to come along also, and he should have the honor of being introduced to you as the captor of Marmaduke. On the way General Marmaduke complained of being dismounted, and Dunlavy promptly apologized. saying, "If I had known you were a general officer I should have allowed you to remain on horseback." Marmaduke then informed me that he was very faint and weak and could not walk much farther. Meeting a soldier with a led horse I took charge of him and mounted the prisoner. Soon after this I met Major McKenny, of your staff, and proffered to turn the prisoner over to him, but he was too intent on get ting to the front to be troubled with him. On my way back I saw one or two general officers, but preferred delivering my prisoner to the commanding general of the Army of the Border, and you will remember that I accordingly placed him in your own hands, at the same time introducing his captor and giving his full name, company, and regiment. This is the true, unvarnished story of the capture of General Marmaduke, about which there has been so much misrepresentation in the newspapers. Having rid myself of this responsibility, I agai again hurried to the front. When I overtook the advance I found it halted at the foot of the precipitous mounds descending into the Osage Valley. Leaving Colonel Cloud, of your staff, here, Captain Hinton and myself pushed forward on to the skirmish line, away in the advance, almost as far as we could see over the smooth prairie, and on arriving there we could plainly see the rebel column moving straight in the direction of Fort Scott. At the same time a smaller column was effecting a junction with it which came from a point to our right higher up the Osage, and which was most probably the force engaged by Colonel Moonlight near Fort Lincoln. The column in our front moved off and disappeared from sight, while our own line still remained stationary in our rear. I picked up an orderly from the skirmish line, who belonged to the Second cond Kansas Cavalry, and sent him back to Colonel Cloud with a message request ing him to try to get General Pleasonton to move forward, as I feared for Fort Scott, and at the same time got a citizen who had come for ward with us to make a detour to the right and try to reach Fort Scott with a verbal message to the commanding officer to hold out to the last if the enemy struck him, as we were immediately upon his rear. Minutes passed and still our line did not move. I grew impatient and sent another man of the Second Kansas with a second message to Colonel Cloud, re questing him to see you and tell you that the enemy was moving in a direct line toward Fort Scott, and that to save it somethingmust be done imme diately. I feared that some one unacquainted with the topography of the country had led you to believe that the enemy was diverging to the east, as I knew at that time he was not. At length my suspense was ended, and the line began to move, and from this on there was no unnecessary lelay. Simultaneously the skirmish line also advanced. I waited until General Pleasonton came up (he being then with the advance), explained to him briefly the topography of the country, the direction the enemy nad taken, my fears for Fort Scott, its situation, amount of stores, &c., and then hurried forward again to the skirmish line. The movement vas then rapid and continuous till the skirmish line was checked near the verge of the Osage timber. The woods seemed alive with rebel soldiers but in rapid motion. The skirmishers kept up occasional firng at them until the advance brigade came up and we all charged rapidly down into the timber, but the enemy disappeared before our arrival. Colonel Cloud was in this charge, with about sixty veterans of The Second Kansas Cavalry. He halted in the timber to rest his horses for a few minutes and I pushed on with the advance brigade, which I Think was Brigadier-General McNeil's. At all events it was commanded by a general officer. We followed down the stream some distance, crossed at the ford, and just as we were emerging from the timber on the south side the head of the column was fired on by the enemy's skirmishers. We soon dislodged them, however, and pushed on toward acorn-field to the left of the road. The head of the column was here checked by a heavy fire from the field, and it was evident that another battle was to be fought. Accordingly the general formed his brigade in close column of companies, and made them a little speech while forming to the effect that it made no difference whether there were 1,000 ог 10,000 men on that field, he wanted them to ride right over them and saber them down as fast as they came to them. The men responded with a yell, the dismounted skirmishers tore down the fence in the face of a galling fire, and the column swept through it like a tornado. In the rear of the corn-field another line was formed on the prairie, the right resting on a skirt of timber fringing a small stream, which the advance of the brigade, rapidly deploying into line, charged and broke at the first onset. A third line of battle was formed still farther to the rear, in a low basin, where there had been an evident intention to encamp, and which was surrounded by a semi-circle of hills, where they held us at bay under a severe fire for about twenty minutes or more, and until the whole brigade formed in line and charged. Before this impetuous charge they were again broken, and as I passed through their temporary halting place there was abundant evidence of the haste they were in, in the broken wagons, dismantled forges, fragmentary mess chests, and smashed crockery with which the ground was strewn. The chase this time lasted about a mile to the top of the hill south of the valley of the Osage, and on getting view of the enemy again from the summit of this hill, I was gratified to observe that he was bearing very palpably to the east, thus giving me my first reasonable hope that Fort Scott might be spared. I noticed, too, with increased satisfaction, that we were at least a mile east or the wire road and that for the first time the enemy's direction was turned from this place. Satisfied that I could render no further service, I determined to come directly here to see to a certainty whether the post, which was my especial care, was safe or not, and to satisfy those cravings of hunger which, though persistently ignored for three days and nights, would still, despite of resolutions, occasionally become clamorous. As I had been a sharer in all the fighting, and a participant in every charge heretofore during the day, I determined to get a good position and look at one from a safe distance, as I saw the enemy had formed two lines of battle a mile or more to our front. Accordingly, I secured the highest spot of ground in the vicinity, took out my field-glass, unused in all the previous events of the day, and deliberately watched the operations. Major-General Pleasonton directed this attack in person, assisted by Major McKenny, who, as usual, was in the front. Of the perils or particulars I cannot speak, but of the results I can say that both lines broke and fled before our forces got even within respectable distance. I then turned the head of my "gallant gray" homeward, and never drew rein till I struck our picket post three miles from town, where some forty of our citizens, with Col. Perry Fuller at their head, were impatiently expecting news from the triumphant Army of the Border. I cannot close this report without saying that I met the gallant offi cers of your staff everywhere during the stirring events of the day, and found them always active, energetic, and devoted. Major McKenny, in especial, seemed to be almost ubiquitous; wherever I went and which ever way I turned I was sure to meet him, and he was always to be found where the fire was the deadliest and the battle raged the fiercest. I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Maj. Gen. S. R. CURTIS, CHAS. W. BLAIR, Colonel Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry. Comdg. Department of Kansas, Fort Leavenworth, Kans. No. 84. Report of Col. James H. Ford, Second Colorado Cavalry, commanding Fourth Brigade. FORT RILEY, KANS., December —, 1864. CAPTAIN: I have the honor to make to the major-general commanding First Division, Army of the Border, the following report of my regiment and the Fourth Brigade, First Division, Army of the Border: While serving in the District of Central Missouri, Department of the Missouri, on the 29th September, I was ordered to report to Major-General Curtis, commanding Department of Kansas. He ordered me to concentrate my regiment at Pleasant Hill, but leave some troops to protect Kansas City and Independence temporarily until General Brown, commanding District of Central Missouri, could send other troops. I accordingly left Major Pritchard with two companies at Kansas City and two at Independence, while with eight companies 1 took position at Pleasant Hill as an advance of the Army of the Border; I daily sent out large scouts east, north, and southeast. Fearing that the enemy might pass between Independence and Pleasant Hill toward Hickman Mills (which was altogether the best route for him to take on account of water and forage), and thus get into Kansas without my being able to keep in his front to check him and give prompt information, on the 11th instant [October] I proceeded to Hickman Mills, sending Captain Elmer and fifty men, to make a circuit by the way of Lone Jack, Snibar, and Little Blue, to the same place. I also sent Captain Evens up the Independence road to come in by Raytown. They both reported the next day nothing of importance. On the 15th Major Smith, with thirty men, went to Independence, distance eighteen miles, and found the town evacuated by the troops, and the rebels, reported 1,200 strong, a short distance away. He immediately returned, and with 200 men started out after dark to reconnoiter. On the 14th the major-general commanding First Division ordered me to establish my headquarters at Independence and scout well from there. On the 15th Major Smith returned; after passing through Independence he proceeded about twenty-nine miles on the Lexington road, and making a circuit toward Snibar and Lone Jack, returned by Hickman Mills, but saw no enemy. Lieutenant-Colonel Walker with his regiment (Sixteenth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry) reported for duty to me per instructions received from lepartment headquarters on the same day. At 2 a. m. of the 17th instant Major Smith, with 200 Second Colorado Cavalry and 100 Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry, started toward Lexington to go, if possible, to the town and learn what he could. During the day I received a telegram from Major-General Curtis that Major-General Deitzler, Kansas State Militia, was sending three regiments Kansas State Militia to report to ne, and directing me to report to General Deitzler by letter, and also to him (General Curtis) direct. On the 17th the Fourth, Twelfth, and Nineteenth Regiments Kansas State Militia arrived at Independence and reported to me for duty. On the 18th Major Smith returned from Lexington. He reported The chased a few straggling bushwhackers out of that town, killing 2; The remained some hours in the town, and learned that several hundred rebels and guerrillas had been in the place but a short time before and that Shelby was camped with 2,000 or 3,000 men about six miles east. I regret exceedingly to have to state that the brigade books and papers were lost in the evacuation of Independence on the 21st instant, so that the able report of Major Smith cannot be forwarded with this. On the 19th the Fourth and Nineteenth Regiments Kansas State Militia were relieved from duty in my brigade and ordered to report to Col. C. W. Blair at the crossing of the Big Blue, and McLain's Independent Colorado Battery was ordered to report to me, it arriving about 6 o'clock on the evening of the 20th. On the morning of the 21st I received orders to march with the Second Colorado Cavalry, Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry, and First Colorado Battery, to the support of Colonel Moonlight, commanding Second Brigade, First Division, who was reported as engaging the enemy at the crossing of the Little Blue on the Lexington road, leaving the Twelfth Kansas State Militia at Independence. The strength of my brigade was as follows: Second Colorado Cavalry, 384 men; Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry, 400 men; Independent Colorado Battery, 116 men; five 3-inch rifled guns, and one mountain howitzer; total, 900 men and six guns. Left Independence at 10 a. m. and reached Colonel Moonlight's rear, near the Little Blue (distance eight miles), in about one hour. I then received orders to place the Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry on the left of Colonel Moonlight's brigade, the battery near the center of the line, and the Second Colorado Cavalry on the right. We immediately dismounted and advanced into the bluff's and became at once engaged, the enemy having crossed the stream before our arrival. We held our ground, advancing slightly for some time, and at one time drove the enemy in great confusion, but his force being too overwhelmingly large he threw a large body to our right, which compelled the right to give slowly back. The brigade was then ordered to fall back slowly to their horses, the battery receiving orders from division headquarters direct. After mounting I received orders to cover the retreat of the army to Independence with the Second Colorado Cavalry and Sixteenth Kansas, assisted by a portion of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, which I did by forming half of my command in line across the road on some favorable spot, and while |