by Westport and met the enemy at the State line, checked his advance into Kansas, and by the setting of the sun drove him back into Missouri. The fight continued until dark, after which the pursuit was abandoned and my command moved up to Shawnee Mission, for the purpose of procuring forage and rations. * * * In this fight Company G, of the Eleventh Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, escort for Major-General Curtis, joined my command on the occasion and participated in the fight, as also the howitzers under Major Hunt, chief of artillery.

Colonel Blair, who was first ordered to take position on the Big Blue, gives more detailed and correct intelligence of the militia forces which he arranged in line. He reports as follows concerning his position on the Big Blue:

Before I had the brigade equipped i received (on the morning of the 18th) an order from General Curtis to move toward Independence and to come by Westport to complete my supplies. At 8 a. m. I was on the march, and, passing through Westport, camped on the west side of the Big Blue, on the road from Kansas [City] to Independence. I spent the whole of the night and part of the next day in procuring subsistence, arms, blankets, and tents for the command. Whilst engaged in this duty I was instructed by General Curtis not to move camp till further orders from him. On the morning of the 20th Lieutenant Robinson, chief engineer on the staff of the commanding general, arrived from the front with orders to fortify the line of the Big Blue, as General Curtis intended making his stand on that line. The 20th and 21st were spent in examining the country, felling trees, forming abatis, obstructing fords, and strengthening the defenses as much as possible. During the 21st the Fourth Regiment Kansas State Militia, Colonel McCain, and the Nineteenth, Colonel Hogan, reported to me, by order of Major-General Deitzler, Kansas State Militia, and were assigned to duty in my brigade. Captain Dodge's (Ninth Wisconsin) battery had also been assigned to my command in place of McLain's, taken to the front. In the evening of the 21st, all the troops having fallen back on this line, I established my command in its position of battle, where they supped, slept, and breakfasted the next morning, their horses, together with all of the transportation, having been sent back to Kansas City to avoid unnecessary incumbrances. My line of battle occupied a front of six miles, with one regiment (McCain's) still higher up at Byram's Ford, where the crossing was finally effected. Two hundred and fifty of Hogan's regiment held the cavalry ford at the mouth of the Blue, three miles from the main body of the regiment which formed my left. Next came the colored militia, and the Sixth Regiment Kansas State Militia, Colonel Montgomery. Dodge's (Ninth Wisconsin) battery and the colored battery occupied a fine artillery position in the center, cut out expressly for the occasion, supported on the right by Colonel Colton, Fifth Regiment Kansas State Militia, and Eves' Bourbon County battalion. At the ford two miles above was stationed Lieutenant Knowles' (Second Kansas) battery, supported by the Tenth Regiment Kansas State Militia, while still above at Byram's Ford was stationed Colonel McCain, Fourth Regiment Kansas State Militia. To this point Jennison's brigade was ordered, and at 11 a. m. the sound of the guns showed that the battle had commenced on our right. The Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry and McLain's battery, which up to this time had been in my rear, were ordered off to the right to support Colonel Jennison. I remained in position until 4 p. m., when I received orders to fall back to Kansas City. As Colonel Hogan's regiment was leaving the line to bring up the rear of the brigade a rush was made upon him by a party of the enemy, who had been concealed in the brush to his front across the creek. They waded the creek, pushed through and over the abatis of fallen trees clear up to Hogan's line, where after a short, sharp little skirmish, some twenty of them were taken prisoners and the rest driven off.

Major T. I. McKenny, additional aide-de-camp and inspecting officer of my staff, reports his active efforts in the action, from which I present the following extracts:

October 22.- On this day was fought the battle of Big Blue. The general commanding being fearful that a sufficient force had not been stationed at Byram's Ford, directed me of order Major-General Deitzler to send the greater part of his force to Colonel Jennison, holding that ford. General Deitzler said that he could not see the necessity as there were already the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Kansas, besides 150 infantry, also some other troops, with four guns, at that point, but that he would send more. I designated an independent company, numbering about 100, which I had that day armed on my own responsibility with arms taken from wagons going to Kansas City, as a proper force to be sent. It was understood these would be a part of the force sent. * * * The general commanding being desirous of information from the front, particularly Hickman Mills, dispatched me