USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 10
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 10
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In the latter part of August, orders were received for the removal of the headquarters of the regi- ment to Fort Lyon, and, on the 22d, they were ent route, reaching the fort in seven days, a distance of 240 miles.
From this time forward until October, Lieut. Brownell's journal is full of memoranda relating to orders and the movements of the regiment in detachments, showing much escort and scouting
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service, while all the time the enlistment of men was going forward.
Orders came, under date of October 11, from the War Department, ordering either the First or Second Regiment to be mounted, the selection to be left with the Governor, who chose the First Colorados. This selection did not weigh so heavily upon the men of the regiment as the news that their regiment was to be crippled by the taking- away of the company formed for cavalry service, and for doing which Col. Leavenworth seemed likely to suffer.
The regiment remained at Fort Lyon until April 6, 1863, when Lieut. Col. Dodd, with six companies, marched to Fort Leavenworth, where they were shortly afterward joined by the Colonel and his staff. June 8, Col. Leavenworth, under orders from Gen. Blunt, assumed command of all the troops on the Santa Fe road, with headquarters at Fort Larned.
About this time, military affairs on the frontier between New Mexico, Colorado and Texas, were becoming decidedly interesting. Texan troops with disloyal Indians were again concentrating to push their successes. if possible, through into Col- orado.
Companies A, B, E, G, H and I, in connection with other troops, under command of Lieut. Col. Dodd, were detached and ordered out to meet the enemy, and, on the 2d of July, 1863, occurred the battle of Cabin Creek, in which some forty of the enemy were killed and wounded, with the loss of but one killed and twenty wounded on the side of the Colorado troops.
Shortly after, the command went on duty at Fort Gibson until the arrival of Gen. Blunt from the north, when preparations were at once made for an advance movement. On the 16th, the little army, numbering about one thousand four hundred, rank and file, crossed the Arkansas near the mouth of Grand River, and, on the following day, met at Honey Springs the Confederate forces, numbering about six thousand men, under command of Gen. Cooper. Gen. Blunt attacked him at once, and,
after a hard-fought battle (lasting some two hours), succeeded in routing him, with a loss of 400 killed, wounded and missing, according to his own accounts, he having been so closely pressed as to compel him to abandon his dead and wounded and to burn all his stores to prevent them from falling into Gen. Blunt's hands. Total loss on the Union side 14 killed, and 30 wounded. The gallant Colorado Second bore a prominent part in this engage- ment, being opposed by a rebel battery that was pouring its deadly missiles into its ranks, when they charged and succeeded in capturing one of the guns, and dispersing the Texans after a hard fight, in which four men were killed, and the same number wounded.
Gen. Blunt, considering his force insufficient for pursuit, fell back to Fort Gibson. In August, having been re-enforced, he started south to drive the rebels from the country, and retake Fort Smith, which he succeeded in doing, with but little loss on his side.
Returning to Col. Leavenworth's record, we find him in command at Fort Larned, in July, 1863, protecting, under Gen. Blunt's orders, the Santa Fe road and its approaches from the enemy, fre- quently sending out scouting parties to reconnoiter, sometimes leading the scouts himself, and endeavor- ing to keep the various tribes of Indians in that section from joining the rebels.
Thus, we find him and the troops under him engaged, when, on the 19th of October, Special Order No. 431 of the Adjutant General's Office, of September 26, 1863, by which his connection with the service was terminated, reached him at Fort Larned. He immediately resigned his com- mand of the post to Capt. James W. Parmeter, and retired from service. Subsequently, on a re- view of the facts on which his dismissal from the service were based, by Judge Advocate Holt, this unjust order was recalled, and he was honorably discharged from the service of the United States, "such recall," using the words of Judge Advocate General Holt, " of the previous order, and honor- able discharge, will operate to clear his record as
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an officer, and will remove any impediment which may otherwise have existed to his receiving a new appointment in the military and civil service." This recall was formally approved by President Lincoln, he also adding the wish that, as soon as consistent, Col. Leavenworth be restored to mili- tary service.
Lieut. Col. Dodd succeeded to the command of the regiment.
The succeeding history of the regiment we now give in the language of Capt. E. L. Berthoud, as prepared by him for a reunion of the regiment that occurred iu Golden in 1877 :
"October 11, 1863, a special order, No. 278, from the headquarters of the Department of the Missouri, Gen. J. M. Schofield commanding, or- dered the consolidation of the Second and Third Regiments of Colorado Infantry into one cavalry regimeut, to be known as the Second Colorado Volunteer Cavalry.
" That portion of the Second Colorado Infantry now in the District of the Frontier, the Indian Na- tion, etc., was ordered to Springfield, Mo., from that point they proceeded to Rolla, and thence to Benton Barracks, at St. Louis.
" All detachments of men, officers and recruits, in the District of Colorado, were ordered to Kansas City, Mo., and there receive further orders.
" In November and December, 1863, these orders were executed, and, excepting the headquar- ters of the regiment, 150 recruits from Colorado, and Company F, with Capt. Rouell-already mounted and stationed at Hickman's Mill, Mo .- were rendezvoused at Benton Barracks. Col. James H. Ford, the Major of the Second Colorado Volun- teer Infantry, having been promoted in November, 1863, to the command of the Second Colorado Cavalry, with Theo. H. Dodd for Lieutenant Col- onel, Smith, Pritchard and Curtis, Majors of the First, Second and Third Battalions respectively, Lieut. Baldy, Adjutant, Lieut. Burrell, Commis- sary, Lieut. J. S. Cook, Quartermaster, Pollock, Surgeon, and Hamilton, Chaplain.
" After remaining a certain time at Benton Bar- racks to recruit, re-organize and rest, the Second Colorado Cavalry from Benton Barracks proceeded to Dresden, Mo., and finally, in January, 1864, reached Kansas City, there to be mounted and equipped, and thoroughly broken in the new drill.
" In February, 1864, Col. J. H. Ford was ap- pointed to take command of Subdistrict No. 4, District of Central Missouri, with the Second Colo- rado Volunteer Cavalry, its enrolled Missouri Militia and a regiment of infantry in his command, to garrison all the smaller posts in his district. In March, 1834, the Ninth Minnesota was forwarded to the district, and formed the effective infantry of his command.
"In January, 1834, 150 recruits having ar- rived from Colorado, they were distributed among the twelve companies of the regiment, which then mustered 1,240 effective men.
" In taking command of the Fourth Subdistrict, embracing the most unmanageable and most ex- posed counties of Missouri, Col. Ford appointed his District Staff, consisting of Acting Assistant Adjutant General, Lieut. Berthoud ; Provost Mar- shal, Capt. S. C. W. Hall; Commissary, Lieut. James Burrell ; with Capt. Theodore Case, District Quartermaster, headquarters at Kansas City, and Company B, Provost Guard, at Kansas City.
" By March, 1864, several squadrons were de- tailed to occupy the Fourth Subdistrict, in detach- ments varying from a half-squadron to two squad- rons each, and a thorough system of scouting inau- gurated over the whole district, to prevent the pas- sage and the devastation of the border counties by predatory bands of Todd's, Quantrell's and Hick- man's guerrillas. Capt. Green was stationed at Westport, Capt. West at Independence; Maj. Smith, with one company, the Ninth Minnesota, was stationed also at Independence, while Maj. Pritchard, at Harrisonville, and Lieut. Col. Dodd, at Pleasant Hill, with Capt Moses in the wooded portion of Jackson County, kept vigilant watch over the Sny Hills. Capt. Rouell, at Hickman's
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Mill, patrolling the Kansas boundary, with Capt. Norton at Pleasant Gap, and Lieut. Rizer near the Osage River. Thus arranged, our forces could watch and patrol the whole region thoroughly from the Osage to the Missouri River, as Widow Bar- row's or Papinsville Crossing was a favorite point for crossing for guerrilla bands from Arkansas to the Indian Nation.
" Notification of the progress northward of a small band of guerrillas was received in March. This band was first struck near Pleasant Hill and one or two were killed. The rest were dispersed, our loss being two men wounded, one slightly, and the other, Freestone, was dangerously shot. This opened the spring campaign, and when, in April and May, the foliage covered the trees and the rich grass clothed the prairie, hardly a day passed but that, from Pleasant Hill to Independence, skir- mishes and conflicts raged between the guerrillas, who continually pushed northward from Arkansas, and our scouting parties of cavalry.
" Iu April, May and June, the system of patrols on horseback was also aided in the wooded por- tions of Jackson and Cass Counties by a system of foot-scouts, who, taking with them a little sugar, salt, coffee and bread, would disappear in the brush and laboriously following up the trail of any scout- ing detachment of guerrillas, would actually bush- whack the bushwhackers themselves. This system was a terror to them, and contributed more to com- pel the guerrillas to remain in larger bodies, but helped very materially to rid the roads of all indi- vidual and isolated efforts at marauding and mur- der
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" With this system of detachments, who had each their allotted districts to patrol, and police, with their permanent headquarters in the different towns and villages of the border counties, was also a system of mounted military expresses, who every two days reported to headquarters by daily reports from every post under control of the district com- mander. These reports not only gave the force of every post in efficient men, horses and guns, but also information of all scouts performed, the result,
the number of enemy killed and captured, and our losses. These reports, with also the telegraph, gave full opportunity to keep the whole force of the dis- triet well in hand, but also facilitated concentration at any point with certainty and celerity.
"Casualties were numerous also, and we lost several valuable men, such as Sergt. Russel, Corp. Harrington, Private Ford, and others who died fighting gallantly.
" In July, 1864, Lieut. Berthoud, Capts. Boyd and Holloway, with Privates Higley, Whittall, King, Kellogg and Williams, were ordered on duty at headquarters of the district at Warrensburg, Mo.
" Soon thereafter Capt. Wagoner, then at Inde- pendence, went out from that town eastward on a scout with forty picked men of his company. Crossing the Blue, they ascended a hollow graded road in the timber and scrub of the hills near the Blue River, were ambushed and surrounded by a largely superior force of Todd's and Quantrell's guerrillas. Gallant Capt. Wagoner and nine good men were killed, the rest, after superhuman efforts and undoubted courage, succeeded in escaping, but almost dismounted and in a wretched plight. The survivors related afterward that one of the wounded men in the retreat, while closely pressed hy the guerrillas, was concealed in a hole and covered with flat stones. From this situation, when the enemy left, he was rescued and brought to Independence. Todd's guerrillas had over twenty men killed and several wagon loads of wounded.
" Capt. Wagoner, who so gallantly defended him- self while life remained, was an early resident of Colorado. He was appointed Probate Judge of Arapahoe County when it then formed a part of Kansas. He said to me, some three weeks previ- ous to his death, that he would be shot from the brush yet, and he expected he would be buried in some out-of-the-way corner, and a tombstone marked "Wagoner" would be placed over him, and such was glory. Poor fellow, he met his fate manfully. Did not his coming fate throw its shadow on him then? Nor must we forget gallant
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Corp. Baer and eight privates who died, selling their lives dearly; not one surrendering or asking for quarter, as none was given or received in the guerrilla warfare of the border counties.
" The death of Capt. Wagoner and his men oeeurred on the 4th of July. Shortly after, defi- nite information was received of a large number of recruits for the Confederate service that were being gathered in Platte, Clay and Ray Counties, under Col. Coon Thornton, preparatory to making their way south to the Confederate lines. A dash upon them was determined upon by Col. Ford, although the rendezvous was outside of his district, and with his available companies the Colonel embarked upon boats at Kansas City on the 13th of July, and proceeded up the river to Weston, where he was joined by Col. Jennison, of the Fifteenth Kansas. Our scouts had brought the information that Thornton was at Camden Point, and the command moved forward rapidly. About half a mile west of town, Thornton had posted a strong mounted picket, while his main command-comprising some two hundred and fifty men-were making their final preparations for departure, having on that day been presented with a handsome flag by their lady sympathizers of Platte City, and were having a general good time.
" The picket was struck by our advance, under Capt. Moses and Lieut. Wise, with M and D squadrons. As the Confederate pieket separated to the right and left upon diverging roads, and were followed by the two squadrons of the Second Colorado; Capt. West with his squadron, F, was sent forward on the direct road to town, and pounced upon Thornton just as his command had mounted, and were moving out, entirely uncon- scious of the proximity of the Federals. The fight was ' short, sharp and decisive,' and all over be- fore the main command came up. Thornton's total loss was twenty-three killed, while Capt. West lost but one man killed-private Charles K. Flannagan-and one wounded-Sergt. Luther K. Crane-but had six or eight horses killed or so badly wounded as to cause them to be shot by his
order. The flag that had just been presented to Thornton's boys was captured, and now graces the office of Adjt. Gen. Roe.
"Col. Ford's command camped at Camden Point for the night, and, on the following day, proceeded to Liberty, from which point scouting was contin- ued for several days.
"Thornton's command was pursued and com- pletely broken up, while another detachment under Capts. Moses and Rouell, scouting near Liberty, were surrounded and attacked by a greatly supe- rior force of Anderson's guerrillas, under Ander- son himself. Being surrounded and overpowered, Capts. Moses and Rouell, with their men, took refuge in the brush, and, with the loss of only three or four men killed and wounded, were again re-assembled, and, after scouting over the rest of the district, returned to Kansas City, while Ander- son's band returned eastward to other scenes of rapine and murder.
" In this manner passed the months of July, August and September-continued skirmishes, pursuits, captures, deaths and losses. The aggre- gate for the summer was large. The individual acts of gallantry, fortitude and desperate bravery were so numerous and so continued that it is im- possible to individualize acts, as all fought to the death, surrender to guerrillas meaning death after capture. Words cannot do justice to the horrors of such warfare; nor can the tragedies which cruelty, violence, rapine and the worst passions of civil war evoked in partisan warfare ever be fully known. The worst passions had their full un- licensed range, and in the lawless career of the leaders of guerrilla bands, such as Todd, Quantrell, Anderson and Vaughan, pity and humanity were unknown ; slaughter, plunder, arson and murder followed ever in their van.
"In the end of September, 1864, news reached the border counties of Missouri that Gen. Price, with a formidable force from Arkansas, had reached the borders of Southeast Missouri, and, with renewed energy, was marching to capture St. Louis, overrun the State of Missouri, and, by such
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Y a diversion, help the failing fortunes of the Confed- eracy. At this time, the twelve squadrons of the regiment were in the District of the Border, under the command of Cols. Ford and Dodd and Majs. Smith and Pritchard, while seventeen officers and some forty picked men were on staff duty in the Division of the Mississippi, scattered over from Santa Fe to New Orleans in the Department of the Gulf.
" In October, 1864, Price, frustrated in his attempt toward St. Louis by his disastrous victory at Pilot Knob, struck off across the country to capture Jefferson City, which he besieged and attacked October 8 and 9. Thirteen officers and men of the Second Colorado were present at this attack, which being repulsed, and Gen. Price fear- ing the approach of the overwhelming forces of Roseeranz and Pleasanton, took the roads leading west, and hurried on to capture and destroy the forces in Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas, reach St. Joseph, recruit his ranks, and, getting the military stores of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas City, Glasgow and St. Joseph, retreat again south with his booty.
" His forces numbered cavalry, light artillery and mounted infantry. With these he overran the river counties, capturing Booneville, Glasgow and Sedalia, and drove Gen. Blunt out of Lexington. Gen. Blunt, under whose orders Col. Ford, with the Second Colorado Cavalry and First Colorado Battery, was placed, had been absent some time toward Lexington. Capt. West was sent to him from Independence with dispatches from Gen. Curtis, who had meanwhile reached Independence from Leavenworth, and assumed command of the forces in the field. Capt. West, with his squad- ron, reached the environs of Lexington, on the river road, about dusk, and was pushing rapidly forward in order to reach the town and deliver his dispatches to Gen. Blunt before dark. He was, of course, entirely ignorant of the state of affairs at Lexington, but would doubtless have found out in a few moments but for a fortuitous circumstance. When within a quarter of a mile of the outskirts
of the town, he was met by Capt. Jack Curtis, of the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry, who, with two squadrons, had been cut off from his regiment during the battle that had been raging all the afternoon, and had gallantly cut his way out of the enemy's lines, and was now rather anxiously look- ing for his friends. Recognizing the commander of the approaching squadron, he challenged him with ' Hello, West, where are you going?' 'I'm going to Lexington !. ' was the confident reply, but his confidence was somewhat shaken by seeing Jack go down into his pocket in a business sort of way, remarking, as he pulled out his wallet, 'I've got a hundred-dollar note that says you ain't!' Curtis' explanation of the situation probably saved West from being taken in by Price bodily, although he always claimed that Price was the one to be thankful for the circumstance of his being turned back! Most of his old comrades, however, still persist in the belief that his 52 men would not have been able to cope with Gen. Price and his 16,000 veterans successfully.
" Be that as it may, West didn't try it, but, fol- lowing Curtis' directions, struck Gen. Blunt's retreating column about 9 o'clock, and delivered his dispatches. The mght was rainy and extreme- ly dark, but as soon as a house could be reached on the line of retreat, Gen. Blunt read the dis- patch of Gen. Curtis, prepared a hasty reply, and ordered Capt. West to make all possible haste to Gen. Curtis at Independence, which point he reached at about 2 o'clock next morning, having ridden eighty miles with his squadron since 10 o'clock the day before, without getting out of the saddle.
" The dispatch from Gen. Blunt informed Gen. Curtis that the rebels, in strong force, were swarm- ing westward. Preparations to resist and impede their march westward were immediately begun. The Fifteenth and Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, and the Second Colorado Cavalry, with the First Color- rado Battery, were marched to a point near Little Blue River, six miles east of Independence, and took, under the command of Col. Ford, a position
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on the brow of the wooded hills west of Blue Mills bridge.
"This position, defective, intersected by rail fences, and flanked on the north, east and west by thick woods, was immediately occupied by the cavalry brigade. Though Col. Ford obeyed the order to do so from his superior officer with zeal and alacrity, we have the testimony of field aid- de-camp, Lieut. Wise, of Col. Ford's staff, that this position had in it no feature to recom- mend itself, and from the first appearance of Gen. Price's steady veterans, who on foot rushed through the woods on both their flanks, and, by their superiority of fire and numbers, the point became untenable, and all that could be done was to retreat slowly and re-form to oppose the massed columns of Price's men, who knew every inch of the ground familiarly, and steadily forced the small brigade of 2,500 men to the outskirts of Independence. The opening of the conflict was fierce, sanguinary and desperate, Todd leading the Confederate cavalry, and Smith leading the battalion of the Second Colo- rado. Almost at the first fire, Maj. Smith fell, shot through the heart, while Todd' at the same time also fell, killed outright. The firing, at short range, was murderous and destructive, and, joined to the shells of a battery that Price had planted near the edge of the woods, caused a heavy loss to Ford's command. Here some men, with Maj. Smith, left their bodies on the field, while the woods on the east were strewn with dead Confederates. Well seconded by the First Colorado Battery, the brigade disputed the ground, making a last desperate stand near Independence. After a short contest, our men were overpowered, retreated through Inde- pendence, and fell back to the main body near Big Blue River, leaving their wounded in Independ- ence.
" Lively skirmishing was kept up all the following day, with Price's advance, at and near Big Blue, until, on the second day, the advance of Gen. Pleasanton with a heavy cavalry force, drove the Confederates from Independence, by which several hundred prisoners, with two pieces of cannon, were
captured by Col. Catherwood, of the Thirteenth Mis- souri Cavalry, the main force under Price having that day given up going to Kansas City to give battle to Gens. Curtis and Blunt, near Westport. The Second Colorado, with the regular Kansas Cavalry and the First Colorado Battery, were placed near the Westport and Brush Creek road, the important key of the whole position by which the easy approach to Kansas City was disputed to Gen. Price's advance. The main brunt of the whole battle was here during the hotly contested day ; the whole of Brush Creek prairie was covered with dense masses of cavalry, while close on the rear of Price Gen. Pleasanton was driving them from Bry- am's Ford.
" The road at Brush Creek, west of Col. Magee's house, runs between parallel solid walls of stone. Capt. Green's battalion, of the Second Colorado, held the road, the men dismounted, the Confeder- ates resolutely charged in the lane en masse; Green charged them fiercely, broke their ranks, and though losing very heavily, routed the collected mass densely crowded between the walls. Here Col. Magee, of the Confederate forces, was killed almost in sight of his home. The contest continued with varying fortune until late on Sun- day afternoon, when a final charge of the Second Colorado and the rapid work of the First Colorado Battery compelled the retreat of Price's men in a southerly direction toward Little Santa Fe. The Second Cavalry camped that night on Brush Creek, wearied out, but the Confederates had been thwarted in their attempt to enter Kansas. Noth- ing remained to do but to pursue the demoralized army of Price, now almost surrounded and rapidly retreating toward Arkansas.
The following day was spent in rearguard skirmishes, which culminated with the rout of Price at the Osage, Mine Creek and Mound City. At Fort Scott the troops rested a few hours, then the Fifteenth and Tenth Kansas Cavalry, with the Second Colorado Cavalry and First Colorado Bat- tery kept on the pursuit. Mile after mile the race continued, when finally, at Newtonia, Price made
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