Numbers 2. Report of Lieutenant Thomas Flanagan, Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry, commanding detachment of artillery.

FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANS., November -, 1864.

SIR: In compliance with your communication of October 31, 1864, I herewith transmit my report of expedition after hostile Indians:

I left Fort Leavenworth, Kans., on the 11th of August, 1864, with two pieces of artillery and thirty-five men for Omaha, Nebr. ter. At Plattsmouth I was ordered to disembark on account of the low stage of water and proceed by land to Fort Kearny, Nebr. Ter. I left Plattsmouth August 17, traveling on what is called the ridge road, but water is so scarce the animals had to be watered with buckets; wood is also scarce, but grass is good. About forty miles west of Plattsmouth I saw the first indications of alarm amongst the settlers an account of the Indian troubles. I met about 200 men, women, and children leaving their houses and their all behind them for fear of their hostilities. I advised them to return, but their terror was too great to allow them to do so. I found the houses on the road all deserted and the fences carried away by passing trains. Those people were, in my opinion, very foolish for leaving, as there was not an Indian to be seen in that section of the country. If they had stopped, collected together, and built a fort on some stream and placed their families there, there would have been no occasion for their leaving and having their property destroyed. I arrived at Junction Branch, on the Platte River, August 22, 1864. Here to three roads from Plattsmouth join-the river road, the ridge road, and the lower road. Here I would note and recommend the lower road as much preferable for traveling to either of the other two. At this point, forty miles east of Kearny, there is an abundance of wood and a plentiful supply of good water and grass. August 24, arrived at Fort Kearny, having traveled the distance of 212 miles in seven days. Here I found Major-General Curtis and Brigadier-General Mitchell organizing and making arrangements for an expedition against hostile Indians.

I left Fort Kearny September 1 with the command for Plum Creek, thirty-five miles west of Kearny; arrived there at sundown that evening. The road is level along the Platte Bottom, with good grass and water. About half a mile east of Plum Creek are the graves of eleven men, murdered by the Indians on the 8th of August, and the remains of a train they had burned. The number of guns having been increased to five pieces, by one from Saint Joseph, and two at Kearny, two pieces were ordered to report to Captain Gove, commanding General Curtis' escort. One piece was ordered to report to Colonel Livingston, commanding First Nebraska Veteran Volunteer Cavalry, and I was ordered to report to Colonel Summers, commanding Seventh Iowa Cavalry, with two pieces and a detachment of sixteen men. September 3, left Plum Creek and marched in a southwest direction about forty miles, and camped on the Republican River. no wood on the line of this day's march, but good grass and water when we reached the Republican. Crossed the river next morning; crossing bad in consequence of quicksands. Saw where a party of Sioux Indians had camped about ten days previous. Scouts were immediately sent out, but failed to discover in what direction they had gone. We then marched up a canyon for about two miles in length, in some places so narrow that a wagon had scarcely room to go through. The hills around here are barren of everything but buffalo grass, which is of a whitish color.