Numbers 72. Report of Colonel William F. Cloud, Second Kansas Cavalry, Acting Aide-de-Camp.

LEAVENWORTH CITY, KANS.,

November 20, 1864.

MAJOR: In obedience to Orders, Numbers --, I have the honor to report as to the duties performed and engagements participated in by myself, as aide-de-camp, and a battalion Second Kansas Cavalry, commanded and Watts, in the campaign of the Army of the Border.

Arriving at General Curtis' headquarters at Kansas City on the 19th of October, I was placed upon for horses, arms, &c., for my detachment, and reported again at army headquarters on the morning of the 22nd, at the request of Major-General Blunt, I reported to him for duty and was sent with a detachment of the Second Kansas Cavalry to watch the extreme right of our lines at Westport and to ascertain the position and movements of the enemy who were engaging our forces. Having performed that duty and reported I was ordered to our extreme left for the same purpose, and there observing that General Pleasonton was engaging the enemy far to our left, I again reported facts to General Curtis and blunt and joined in the advance of our entire lines, then taking place, keeping the road and assisting in bringing up, placing, and working the artillery, and carrying orders to the various parts of the line. When the lines of General Pleasonton joined to ours I engaged in the pursuit of the rebels as far as Little Santa Fe, which was a chase of nine miles, and in which our part of the line was advanced many miles beyond the rebels, who were leisurely falling back before Pleasonton. In fact, the long columns of the rebels were taken by myself, Colonels Crawford and Ritchie (who were with me), for the forces of General Pleasonton as they came so far from our rear and passed within a mile of us upon the prairie. Remaining at Santa Fe with the army until the morning of the 24th I reported to General Curtis and engaged in the pursuit of the enemy during that day and night, and as the general moved upon the enemy at the Trading Post at early daylight of the 25th I was temporarily detained by General Blunt until our forces had crossed the Osage or Marais des Cygnes, and was only able to join the advance of Pleasonton's troops just as they came in sight of the enemy drawn up in line at Mine Creek. Here reporting to General Pleasonton I was sent by that officer to an adjoining farm-house to ascertain the road to Fort Scott, &c., and having obtained the information I returned to our lines just as they were formed and now moving upon the enemy. Accompanied by a small detachment of the Second Kansas Cavalry, commanded by Sergeant Peck, I moved forward in the space between our extreme right and the left, giving such orders and encouragement to our forces as seemed necessary. In this order we came to a rebel battery, the men of which had ceased to fight from fear, at which a rebel colonel