Transcribed from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Chicago : Lewis, 1918. 5 v. (lvi, 2731 p., [228] leaves of plates) : ill., maps (some fold.), ports. ; 27 cm.

1918 KANSAS AND KANSANS Chapter 46 Part 1

CHAPTER XLVI

THE PRICE RAID

Gen. Sterling Price

GEN. STERLING PRICE

[Copy by Willard of Portrait in Library of Kansas State Historical Society]

The Price raid started from Southern Arkansas. In General Kirby Smith's letter of directions to General Price, St. Louis was made the objective point, the enlistment of recruits the chief end, and the devastation of Kansas a special injunction.1

The expedition entered Missouri from Pocahontas, Arkansas, and was met at Pilot Knob, Missouri, by General Thomas Ewing, Jr., of Kansas, and with an inferior force there detained until the attack on St. Louis became impracticable. At Franklin, Missouri, the raid turned in the direction of Kansas.

Major-General Samuel R. Curtis was in command of the Department of Kansas, with headquarters at Fort Leavenworth. In September, 1864, the frontier was threatened by Indians. In order to subdue them General Curtis had taken to the Plains every soldier the border could spare, and, leaving General Blunt to continue the campaign there, he returned. He reached his headquarters on the 17th of September, when he first learned of the approach of General Price. He saw the danger to Kansas. General Blunt was called in, and Governor Carney was induced to order out the Kansas militia. The campaigns for State and national elections were in active progress, and, seeing that the call for the militia was likely to produce little help because of that fact, General Curtis, on the 10th of October, placed Kansas under martial law; and on the same day he appointed as a member of his staff General James H. Lane, then United States Senator. On the 11th General Blunt arrived at Olathe and assumed command of the army, designated the Army of the Border. He found Kansas militia assembled to the number of twelve thousand (afterward increased to sixteen thousand) patriotic men anxious to battle to save the State from invasion. But political intrigue neutralized the support the militia stood ready to render and even made its presence a menace. Governor Carney owed his election to General Lane, but had fallen under the influence of Lane's political enemies, who were bitterly opposed to the re-election of President Lincoln. They exerted themselves to the utmost to embarrass and render futile every movement of the Union forces. In this crisis they came forward and denounced the demand for militia as a scheme originated by General Lane to take the citizens of Kansas out of the State and keep them beyond its borders until after the election. They pretended to believe these citizens were opposed to President Lincoln, that Lane knew it, and their absence in the field would enable him to carry the State for the President. Governor Carney controlled a newspaper, as did ex-Governor Robinson, and these papers ridiculed the possibility of the presence of General Price in Missouri.2

When it could no longer be denied that General Price was moving toward the Kansas border General Carney and his adherents insisted that the militia should not cross the State-line into Missouri, and that it should not be, subject to the orders of General Curtis, but should remain in Kansas and take orders only from Governor Carney and his officers.3

The appointment of General Blunt to the command of the Army of the Border was an incident favorable to Colonel Moonlight. He had been Blunt's chief-of-staff in 1862 and had great influence with him. On the 12th of October Moonlight sent Plumb the following dispatch:

PAOLA, KANS., OCTOBER 12, 1864.

Colonel Plumb:

Concentrate your entire command (cavalry) on Blue, a little north of Aubry. I will be there to-night. Strike all the tents and send them with camp equipage to Olathe, leaving one wagon with each company, with rations, such cooking utensils as are necessary, and all the ammunition on hand and blankets. Concentrate rapidly. General Blunt desires that you remain at Olathe in command, with your staff, etc., until we are ready for the fight. I will send for you. You shall have your share, certain.

T. MOONLIGHT, Colonel.4

Plumb, then Lieutenant-Colonel, did not escape the fate of the officer popular with his men, and jealousy of him was sometimes shown. He believed he saw in this dispatch an intention to ignore him as far as possible in the coining campaign. He sent General Blunt the following:

OLATHE, OCTOBER 12, 1864.

Major-General Blunt:

My command is all concentrated on the Blue near the line. Fortifications here all completed; guns mounted and manned; muskets and ammunition all issued. There seems to be nothing further for me to do here. I would respectfully ask permission to join my command this evening or early in the morning. About 600 Douglas County militia in and many more coming.

P. B. PLUMB, Lieutenant-Colonel.5

Blunt referred the matter to General Curtis; and Plumb was permitted to join his regiment, at the front, and was frequently in command of it during the campaign.

The brigades of the Army of the Border were formed at Hickman's Mills on the 15th of October. The Second Brigade was composed of the Eleventh Kansas, two companies of the Fifth Kansas, two companies of the Sixteenth Kansas, and four mountain howitzers. Colonel Moonlight was put in command of the brigade, and on the 16th marched to meet General Price and develop his position. Lexington was occupied on the 18th. All the forces of Price were rapidly concentrating in that region. As the Union officers were sitting down to dinner on the 19th Captain L. F. Green, Company B, Eleventh Kansas, entered and reported that he had just been driven in, and that Price's army was at hand. General Blunt, instantly ordered every officer to horse. It was not expected that the Confederate advance could long be checked at Lexington. Colonel Moonlight was given command of the rear. At midnight, after twelve hours of constant battle, the last stand was made at the crossing of the Sni, east of Wellington.6 At nine o'clock on the 20th General Blunt's forces took position on the west bank of the Little Blue River, eight miles northeast of Independence.

General Blunt wished to fight a decisive battle at the Little Blue, General Pleasanton was pressing Price's rear, and if Blunt could have had his way, the Confederate army might have been destroyed at the Little Blue. The plans of General Blunt could not be met, for Governor Carney and his politicians still insisted that General Price was not in Missouri at all, and that all the military movements of General Curtis were the result of Lane's scheming for political advantage. In fact, Governor Carney prepared a proclamation disbanding the militia the very day General Blunt formed his line along the Little Blue.7

Map of Battles of Little Blue, Big Blue & Westport

LITTLE BLUE

General Price did not reach the Little Blue until the morning of the 21st of October. Because of the attitude of Governor Carney, General Curtis did not intend that any general engagement should be fought there. The Eleventh Kansas had been left at the crossing with orders to detain the enemy as long as it could do so with safety, then burn the bridge and retire in the direction of Independence. Colonel Moonlight's resistance was much more stubborn than had been expected of him. He held the line as long as possible, setting the bridge on fire and falling back slowly only when Price's cavalry had appeared in force on both his flanks. At this juncture General Blunt came on the field with reinforcements and made an effort to halt the advance of General Price. A part of the field taken from Moonlight was regained. General Curtis and General Lane both went to the front, but Curtis was induced to return to Independence.

All that day Price was slowly pushing Blunt back, and it required almost his entire army to do it. General Blunt had but thirty-five hundred men of all arms - perhaps not so many. They hugged fences, sought skirts of timber, utilized ditches and highways, and stood behind stone walls. For some time the Eleventh Kansas was out of ammunition and held its position by defiant cheers.8 Two miles back from the Little Blue a stand was made at the Massey farm. There the Eleventh was fiercely attacked, lost a number of men, and Major Ross had a horse killed. While supplying the Major with another horse, Captain B. F. Simpson saw Plumb with a company of skirmishers far out in advance of the battle-line. A strong position was taken at the Saunders farm, three miles west of Massey's and this was held until night. From this point General Blunt sent Lane to Independence to tell Curtis that the Big Blue would have to be the line on the 22d.9 Late at night the Union forces crossed the Big Blue and took position in such defensive works as had been constructed there. The line extended south from the Missouri River to Hickman's Mills along the west bank of the Big Blue River, although the main body of the army covered a space of some six miles only.

THE BIG BLUE

BATTLE OF BIG BLUE

[Copy by Willard of Painting in Library of Kansas State Historical Society]

In 1864 Byram's Ford, on what is now Sixty-first Street, Kansas City, was the principal crossing on the Big Blue. It was the most important point held by the Union army, and it should have been guarded by a good soldier. By the intrigues then distracting the councils of the Army of the Border, Colonel C. R. Jennison, Fifteenth Kansas, had secured command of the First Brigade, and he was put in command of the troops defending Byram's Ford on the morning of the 22d of October.10 About noon he was attacked by a heavy force, and before three o'clock he was driven back. and lost the key to the Union position. His failure to hold Byram's Ford lost the day to General Curtis, as its capture turned the right flank of his army, crushed the right wing and caused it to take a now position just outside of Kansas City. General Price camped on the south side of Brush Creek, a small stream running east a mile south of Westport.

The Eleventh Kansas was holding a ford above that guarded by Colonel Jennison. Seeing the Confederate army pouring through the gap made in the line by his defeat, and, knowing there was nothing to prevent its entering Kansas, Colonel Moonlight marched by double-quick to the State-line, south of Westport. There he formed to check the Confederate advance. Colonel Plumb, with four companies of the Eleventh Kansas, drove back Jackman's brigade, and did it in a manner that called forth compliments from all who saw it. It was dusk. In speaking of it many years later Colonel Moonlight said:

This charge was under the immediate command of Lieutenant-Colonel Plumb, of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, with one wing of the regiment, and it was one of the neatest and prettiest movements of the campaign. The charge was made with a line almost as straight as on dress parade, and with a dash and vim, the boys cheering as they flew along the prairie into the ranks of the enemy.11

This charge was considered an event in the annals of the Eleventh Kansas, and is thus described by a Comrade of Colonel Plumb.12

Jackman's brigade was marching through the gap and had to be stopped else the Confederate army would pour over the State-line into Kansas. To check this advance was now the work of the Eleventh Kansas. The Confederates marched steadily northwest until they came in view of the Eleventh. At that instant Colonel Plumb with four companies was beginning his advance towards the rebels. Seeing this the Confederates stopped short and formed a line of battle facing Plumb, who took his men across the State-line to a little valley, and when his men were directly opposite the enemy, he halted them, faced about, formed his line and charged up the hill, his men cheering and firing at will after the first volley. The flashes of Plumb's guns were like fireflies on a damp night in summer. Jackman's brigade was swept from the field, and no further attempt was made by the enemy in that quarter.

COLONEL VEALE'S REGIMENT

The disaster to Colonel Veale's Regiment is best described in his official report:

HEADQUARTERS SECOND REGIMENT, K. S. M.,

TOPEKA, OCTOBER 30, 1864.

To Maj. Gen. George W. Deitzler, Commanding Kansas State Militia.

Sir- On the morning of the 21st October, I received orders from Gen. Grant to move with my command to the crossing of the "Blue" on the Kansas City & Hickman's Mills road, about four miles from the Kansas State line, which order I complied with-camping on the Blue that night.

The next morning, the 22d, at sunrise, I received an order from Gen. Grant, informing me that he could not reach me very early in the day with the remainder of his command, on account of necessary delay in issuing arms; and directing me to fall back and join the forces at Byram's Ford. I accordingly withdrew from the crossing to the prairie, some two miles distant, where I left Lieut. Col. Green in command, and took twelve men and went down through the timber to Byram's Ford. I went myself, because I knew the country well. I found Col. Jennison with his regiment - the Fifteenth Volunteers - and also the Jefferson County Regiment, K. S. M., and several pieces of artillery. This was about three miles from where I left my command.

I went immediately back to move my command down, but on my arrival, I found Gen. Grant with his other forces had come up. I told him what I knew of the country, and where our troops were. He said we should remain there for the present.

Very soon a messenger arrived from Gen. Curtis with a dispatch, stating that the enemy was moving in strong column up the "Blue," and directing him (Gen. Grant) to send scouts to Hickman's Mills to see if the enemy was moving south on the Pleasant Hill road, and report to him every thirty minutes.

I was asked by Gen. Grant to take the battalion of my own regiment, the Second, and make the reconnoissance. I moved off immediately and met some troops coming from there as I went over, but saw nothing of the enemy.

About one mile south of the "Blue," at a point where I could overlook the whole country, I ordered a halt and fed my horses. In a few minutes the General and his staff rode up. Here we were immediately joined by Col. Lowe of our brigade and then by Maj. Laing of the Fifteenth Volunteers with four companies.

A few moments were spent in consultation, when Col. Lowe and Maj. Laing moved south and east on the road to look for the enemy.

Gen. Grant directed me to move back to the north side of the "Blue," which I did - the General and staff riding in advance.

Soon after crossing the stream, we met a messenger who told us that fighting was going on up the prairie. The General pushed forward rapidly for about a mile, to where he found my artillery in the lane unsupported, with the enemy in his front. The battalion of the Douglas County Third, under command of Capt. Hindman, had fled. The Wyandotte County Battalion, and the battalion of the Thirteenth K. S. M. had been driven from the field.

Gen. Grant ordered me to form a line of battle, which I did, and as soon as this was done, commenced the fight. Capt. Burnes opened on the enemy at the same time with the battery, and, after obtaining the proper range, did fearful execution - opening the enemy's ranks and hurling them from their horses in great numbers.

Capt. Burnes is deserving of special praises for coolness and gallantry - standing as he did by his gun until taken prisoner himself, and every man in his command either wounded, killed or taken prisoner.

My first line of cavalry broke when fired on, and some of the men fled in confusion, but with the aid of my brave and gallant officers, it was soon restored, and maintained its ground with stubborn and unfaltering courage.

We fought Jackman's brigade of Shelby's division - six times our number - for three-quarters of an hour, actually driving at one time his whole center in confusion from our front. But it was soon doubly strengthened and charged upon us in double colunm,[sic] flanking us at the same time both on the light and on the left, forcing us back in disorder to the south side of the Blue, where we found Col. Lowe and Maj. Laing, with their commands, who should have supported us in the fight, as should the commands of Johnson, Guilford and Hindman. Had they done so the result would have been different. As it was, my command was sacrificed, being ordered to fight six times my numbers of Price's veterans and bushwhackers with raw militia.

It is not for me to say upon whom rests the responsibility of scattering our forces in such a manner as to preclude the possibility of concert of unity of action. I can only say that I acted under orders, and by so doing lost twenty-four brave Kansans killed, about the same number wounded, and sixty-eight taken prisoners, among them four officers; also one twenty-four pounder howitzer and 100 horses.

The enemy's loss in killed and wounded in this engagement was very heavy, as our prisoners passing over a portion of the field a few moments after the battle, counted forty-three dead rebels.

While my loss is very severe, I have to thank God that the bold stand taken by my brave men gave the enemy an afternoon job which detained them from marching into Kansas; and the next morning they were confronted by an army that neither yielded them ground nor spared their ammunition, but put them on a hasty retreat southward; and thus Kansas was saved.

On the morning of the 24th, we gathered together our dead (our wounded having been already cared for) and took them to Kansas City, where we obtained coffins for them, and on the morning of the 25th we buried them in Wyandotte - on Kansas soil. From there we marched home to meet our mourning friends and tell the sad story of the fallen.

WESTPORT

General Curtis was greatly discouraged by the result of the battle of the Big Blue; it proved that little of the Kansas militia would be permitted by Governor Carney and his advisers to fight under Federal officers.

In the hope that he might secure better results by fighting on Kansas soil Curtis decided in the afternoon of the 22d to retire across the Kansas River at night; and he then sent his ammunition and supply trains to Wyandotte, now Kansas City, Kansas. Later he crossed the line himself 13 and was found in camp six miles west of Wyandotte. From this point he was prevailed on to return late at night to Kansas City for a council of war with his officers. This council opposed the retreat into Kansas, as it meant for one thing that Kansas City would be looted if not sacked; but General Curtis held out long for that action. He was not so much to blame. He had about four thousand volunteer troops and some sixteen thousand Kansas militia, the latter so hampered that it had been able to render little service. The fighting had been done principally by the volunteers. He had no hope of better results in future fighting with the militia officers acting independently of his orders, each regiment for itself. That afternoon Colonel Sandy Lowe, Twenty-first Militia, had stood by and seen Colonel Veale's regiment cut to pieces, not daring to aid his fellow-officer in the absence of express orders. The politicians about Governor Carney were urging General Curtis to fall back into Kansas, promising active support if he would do so. Curtis was an old man. He was loyal and patriotic, but the incessant intrigue of Carney and his associates had told on him. He did not believe his little force of volunteer troops could hold Price in check, and he counted very little on the militia outside of Kansas. If he had asserted himself, suppressed the Kansas politicians, and assumed vigorous command of the militia he could have defeated Price. He knew this, and also knew that he had a perfect right to do it, martial law being in effect and the laws of Kansas suspended. But he could not bring himself to the point of resisting Governor Carney.

The first decision of the council of war was to retreat, but General Curtis was finally prevailed on to stand his ground and have his trains return from Wyandotte. This result was not reached, however, until it had been decided by the officers to arrest General Curtis and put General Blunt in command of the army.

When the movements of the following day had been determined by the council it was dissolved. Then Carney and his advisers fell on General Curtis with such vigor that he promised them he would retreat into Kansas early Sunday morning; and he actually went to Westport to order the retreat. He found the battle in progress. General Blunt would not order a retreat with the troops under fire, and General Curtis did not do so. The co-operation of the greater part of the militia was lost, though it was anxious to a man to go into battle, those who secured the opportunity doing good service, demonstrating that victories rather than defeats could have been won had Governor Carney and his politicians been suppressed early in the campaign.

The attack on Price on Sunday was without much order and unity of action. About noon General Pleasanton arrived on the field in the rear of the Confederate army, and had General Curtis made the proper effort General Price's army could have been destroyed. When Price turned to retreat and the day was won Governor Carney and his militia officers became very enthusiastic and displayed great anxiety for the battle.

The Eleventh Kansas had been issued rations and ammunition early Sunday morning; for late Saturday night Captain B. F. Simpson had placed a cocked pistol at the ear of a disloyal pilot and forced him to take a boat to Wyandotte and bring a cargo of supplies for that purpose, before the return of the trains to the Missouri side. The position of the Eleventh on Sunday was on the extreme right of the Army of the Border, South of Westport, where it pushed a rebel force rapidly down the Stateline road; but it was not properly supported. Colonel Moonlight sounded the recall for Colonel Plumb, who was far in the advance with his men. If the Eleventh had been supported it would have been exactly opposite General Pleasanton when he came on the field, and the Confederate army would have been within the Union lines with escape very difficult, if not impossible.

With the appearance of Pleasanton the spell of stupidity was broken. Relieved of the incubus of Governor Carney and his advisers, General Curtis showed some of his old-time spirit. The Eleventh was thrown forward to keep abreast of Price's army to prevent the entrance into Kansas of any part of it on the retreat. This it accomplished as to the towns. It saved Mound City after a severe engagement and it reached Fort Scott only a few minutes ahead of a Confederate force sent to destroy it. As the Eleventh entered the town it was met by the people and received with cheers. "The Star Spangled Banner" was sung as the Old Flag was borne into the public square.

The Eleventh was in pursuit of Price to the Arkansas River. From Fort Smith it returned to Kansas through the Ozark Mountains of Northwest Arkansas. At Fort Smith the horses had broken into a cane-brake; eating the hard stalks of cane caused the death of some two hundred and fifty of them; and this number of men were compelled to march on foot. There was much rain and wet snow to march through. The country had been stripped by the Confederates on their retreat and supplied little for man or beast. Horses died on the road, thus constantly augmenting the column marching on foot. Colonel Plumb fared no better than his men, but he cheered and encouraged them. The first service of the Eleventh had been in this rugged region in 1862, and this march was a repetition of the hard experience of those days.

The regiment arrived at Paola, December 12, after a campaign of exactly two months.


1 See Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XLI, Part I, pp. 728-9. None of these things was attained. The need of more men west of the Mississippi was made most emphatic, but before he had reached Jefferson City General Price had decided not to issue a proclamation calling for more recruits. - Id., p. 633.

General Blunt believed the invasion of Kansas to be the real purpose of the raid. See Id., pp. 580-1. While General Price was enjoined in explicit terms from pillage, this seems to have been the main achievement of the expedition. No other such train of plunder was ever gathered in Missouri as General Price collected and did his utmost to preserve and carry out with him. It was taken from friend and foe alike. This is said on the authority of Shelby and His Men, by Major John N. Edwards, General Shelby's Chief-of-Staff and historian of the Shelby brigade. In that work appears a long arraignment of General Price by Thomas C. Reynolds, then Confederate Governor of Missouri.

2 On the 20th of October, after the battle of Lexington, an editorial appeared in the Leavenworth Conservative, a loyal daily paper, which said:

"The Times appears to have discovered the astounding fact that Price and his forces are south of the Arkansas River, and that Jim Lane is perpetrating a great humbug upon the volunteers of Kansas. . . . The effort upon the part of the Copperheads of Leavenworth and upon the Governor's staff, to induce him to order the militia home, even without consultation with General Curtis, is one of the boldest steps that has yet been put forth by the opposers of the administration. . . . The howl of petty politicians that the General of a Department is intriguing with Lane for political purposes is absurd."

3 See Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XLI, part I, official report of General Curtis; also pp. 572-3. General Blunt, on the 16th of October arrested Brigadier-General Fishback and Colonel Snoddy, of the militia. In his official report General Blunt says he did not inflict on them the death penalty because he knew "that they were the instruments selected by the Executive of Kansas, and others, their superiors in the military organization, to carry out their mischievous and disgraceful designs." General Curtis, in an effort to avoid the appearance of harshness, restored Fishback to his command. Snoddy's regiment elected James Montgomery Colonel and did good service.

Governor Samuel J. Crawford, then a volunteer on the staff of General Curtis, in his Kansas in the Sixties, published in 1911, has much to say on this subject. Governor Crawford participated in the councils of the officers and in the operations in the field, and speaks from personal knowledge. He says:

"If, at the proper time, General Curtis had arrested a half dozen politicians in the militia-camp and sent them to Fort Leavenworth in irons, and at the same time shot one or two militia brigadiers from the cannon's mouth, he could have had an invincible army of 15,000 men - infantry, cavalry and artillery - in line confronting Price when he crossed the Blue on the 22d. But instead most of them were away at a distance where they could be of no assistance. . . . I say that such mutineers should have been put in irons and shot before breakfast."

4 See Rebellion Records, Series I, Vol. XLI, Part III, p. 824.

5 Id., p. 824.

6 Of the actions of Plumb in the retreat from Lexington, Captain B. F. Simpson gives the best account yet found:

"The rear-guard, under Moonlight, formed in the timber on the hill immediately west of Lexington. The Confederates were now in range, and fire was opened on them. Many saddles were emptied; but it was not the intention of Moonlight to try to hold the hill. He did not retreat until the enemy was almost on him, when he took his command down the north slope of the hill in good order. Plumb and I were among the last to leave the field. The road down the hill was worn or cut down into a limestone ledge, and was sunk three or four feet into the ledge in some places, and there were perpendicular banks or walls on the sides. About half-way down there was a square turn to the west, where the walls on either side were about six feet high solid rock. As Plumb and I reached this turn a caisson came upon us and tried to make the turn and pass us. It cramped and almost turned over, pressing us against the wall at the outer corner, and we were unable to extricate ourselves. We were pinned and pressed against the wall.

"The Confederates were following us down the hill, and when in revolver range opened fire on us. Every minute they came closer, and the bullets were striking on the iron tires of the caisson wheels. We though we were lost, but Moonlight in some way learned of our plight and charged up the hill. He drove the rebels back and held them until the caisson was taken out and Plumb and I released from our perilous position.

"We rode on after our command and were about the last of our force. At the crossing of Sni-a-bar Creek, three or four miles east of Wellington, there was a bridge. It was an old-fashioned wooden structure, boarded up the sides and roofed over with shingles. Just east of this bridge we came up with a soldier-boy, mounted and leading a horse. Plumb said the bridge ought to be burned, to which I agreed. We had matches and we cut shavings from the timbers and tried to start a fire. We had dismounted and given our bridle-reins to the boy. The rebels came up and opened fire on us, and the horses reared so that the boy could not hold them. Plumb told me to take our horses on through the bridge and wait for him until he got the fire going. I took the horses to the west of the bridge and led them into a depression out of the way of the rebel firing, which was beginning to be hot. The boy followed me, but I told him to go on and not wait for us. The firing was soon so heavy that Plumb could not remain on the bridge. The rebels were up to the entrance. It was run or be captured, and Plumb came running out at the west end, inquiring where the boy was. I told him the boy was safe and away ahead. Then we mounted our horses and escaped. The small fire Plumb had been able to start was put out by the rebels, and the bridge was not burned."

7 See the Leavenworth Daily Conservative, October 26, 1864; it says:

"The deliberate labored attempt of the Governor, his subalterns, his satellites, his paid scribblers, and his unscrupulous adherents, to create sedition in the camp, distrust for our Generals, and political capital for himself and his motley crew has not failed to attract the attention and provoke the unmeasured condemnation of every true and honest man.

"The General commanding the Department calls for reinforcements; the Governor and his bolting Copperhead crew, while apparently complying with his request, take pains to tell our soldiers there is no enemy at the front, and while our soldiers were facing death on the field on Thursday, the Governor actually prepared his proclamation to disband the militia."

8 See Rebellion, Records, Series 1, Vol. XLI, Part 1, p. 592, official report, of Colonel Moonlight.

9 These details were furnished by Captain B. F. Simpson, Paola, Kansas. He was first directed to carry the dispatch to General Curtis, but General Lane believed that some other man should be sent, Simpson being then boyish in appearance. Lane was sent to confer with Curtis.

10 Jennison had been commissioned Colonel of the Seventh Kansas by Governor Robinson in the fall of 1861. His murderous forays and plundering proclivities coming to the attention of the authorities, he was forced to resign in March, 1862. So proficient was he in lifting livestock that the pedigree of many a horse found in Kansas in that day was tersely expressed in "out of Missouri by Jennison." After the Lawrence Massacre Governor Carney, then under the influence of those opposed to General Lane and to the re-election of President Lincoln, commissioned Jennison Colonel of the Fifteenth Kansas. This same influence pushed him to the front in the campaign against General Price. He was a Federal guerrilla.

11 Letter in the Leavenworth Standard, December 3, 1881.

12 Walter Wellhouse , Company A, Eleventh Kansas, late Secretary Kansas State Horticultural Society.

13 "Among other proof on this point, of which there is much, is the statement of Charles Waring, of Manhattan, Kansas, June 21, 1910. Waring was in Company G, Eleventh Kansas. At the time of the Price raid he was serving in the band of General Curtis. This band furnished the music at the funeral of Major J. Nelson Smith, Second Colorado, who was killed in the battle at Little Blue, and buried Saturday afternoon, October 22d, in a cemetery between Westport and Kansas City. General Curtis attended the funeral, but left before the ceremonies were ended, ordering the band to follow him to Wyandotte. At Wyandotte he could not be found, and the band followed him out to the "Six-mile House," on the Leavenworth road, where he was found in camp. Waring says that from that time the men had little confidence in General Curtis.

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A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans , written and compiled by William E. Connelley, transcribed by Carolyn Ward, 1998.