5 o'clock received an order from General Sigel to return to camp and guard the prisoners and baggage train.

At 3 a.m. on the 8th was ordered to report to General Sigel, and was assigned a position on the left wing of our division, near where the Benton and Fremont Hussars were in line, where we remained until a short time before the firing ceased, when we were ordered to a position farther to the left, in a plowed field, where we remained in line until 11 a.m., when we received orders to move forward on the Telegraph road in pursuit of the enemy. We camped with our regiment that night.

March 9 moved forward to Keetsville with the advance, when I received an order from General Sigel to proceed to Cassville, but after advancing 3 miles on the road met Colonel Wright, with troops and train from that place, and returned with him, the object of my orders being accomplished. Reached our camp at Rose Hill at 7 p.m.

All which is respectfully submitted.

Yours, to command,

H. A. SMITH,

Captain, Commanding Co. B (Cav.), Thirty-sixth Regiment Ill. Vols.

Colonel NICHOLAS GREUSEL,

Commanding Second Brigade, First Division.

Numbers 12. Report of Colonel Cyrus Bussey, Third Iowa Cavalry.

HEADQUARTERS THIRD IOWA CAVALRY,
Pea Ridge, Ark., March 14, 1862.

SIR: I have to report that, in compliance with orders received from you, I, on the morning of the 7th instant, proceeded with Companies A, B, C, D, and M, of the Third Iowa Cavalry, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Trimble, numbering 235 men and officers; the Benton Hussars, under command of Colonel Nemett; four companies of the First Missouri Cavalry under command of Colonel Ellis; two companies of the Fremont Hussars, under command of Lieutenant Howe, and three guns of Captain Elbert's battery, from your camp, towards Leetown, to attack the advancing column of the enemy, myself and the force under my command acting in connection with the infantry and artillery of General Osterhaus' brigade, and subject to his command. My column left camp in advance of the other force of General Osterhaus at about 9.30 o'clock a.m., and proceeded cautiously west about a mile and a half to a large open field beyond Leetown, and which was about a quarter of a mile wide from east to west and running south about 2 miles, but which was intersected by fences, dividing it into smaller fields. The field first entered by my force was surrounded on the east, north, and west by a thick wood of small oaks and underbrush. Here I sent two companies of the First Missouri Cavalry to reconnoiter the woods surrounding this field. At the same time, about 2 miles to the south, the wagon train of the enemy could be seen moving in the direction of Bentonville. As my immediate command was proceeding across this field in a westerly course General Osterhaus in person overtook us, and immediately ordered the three guns to the front, they having up to this time been in rear of the First Missouri and Third Iowa Cavalry.