On leaving Fort Scott I sent orders to the commanding officers of stations on the road between that post and this to thoroughly scout the country in their vicinity and notify me if the enemy be there and their movements, and also to re- enforce me with as many troops as they could spare, being fully convinced that the enemy intended an attack on the train at some point on the route between Scott and Gibson. The escort under my command numbered 260 men, composed of the following troops: Fifty men mounted and thirty dismounted of the Second Kansas Cavalry; sixty mounted and seventy dismounted men of the Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry, under command of Captain Stevenson, and ten mounted men and forty dismounted of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, under command of Captain Ledger. The entire train numbered 300 wagons- 205 Government wagons, four Government ambulances, and ninety sutler wagons, &c. On arriving at Baxter Springs, this force was increased to 360 men by the arrival of 100 Cherokee Indians, under command of one white officer, First Lieutenant Waterhouse, Second Indian Regiment, and one Indian officer, Captain Ta- la- lah, Third Indian Regiment. At this place I received a dispatch from Colonel C. W. Blair, commanding at Fort Scott, to the effect that General Price had crossed the Arkansas River at Dardanelle and was moving north. I forwarded this to Colonel Wattles at Fort Gibson and urgently requested him to forward without delay all the troops he could spare to re- enforce men, as I anticipated an attack from a heavier force than my present force could contend with successfully.

Arriving at Hudson's Crossing of the Neosho River I ordered Lieutenant Waterhouse with his command to remain at that station, and moved with the rest of my command and train to Horse Creek, fifteen miles south. On the night of the 18th [17th], at 12 o'clock, while camped at this place, fifteen miles north of Cabin Creek, I received a dispatch from the commanding officer at Gibson stating that the enemy were in force, numbering 1,200 or 1,500, with infantry, and moving in the direction of Cabin Creek, and embodied in the dispatch was an order for me to move with all possible dispatch to Cabin Creek, and there await further orders to move the train. I immediately moved the train in double column and arrived at Cabin Creek at 9 a. m. on the 18th instant. Lieutenant B. H. Whitlow, Third Indian, with 140 Cherokees, re- enforced me at this point, together with 170 Cherokees stationed at that point under command of Lieutenant Palmer, Second Indian Regiment. My entire force at this point numbered 120 mounted cavalry (white), 140 dismounted cavalry (white), and thirty mounted Cherokees and 330 dismounted; the entire force under my command numbering 610 whit men and Indians.

On arriving at Cabin Creek, in the afternoon of the same day, I moved out to the south of that point with twenty- five men of the Second Kansas Cavalry, under command of Captain Cosgrove, Second Kansas Cavalry,for the purpose of ascertaining the position and force of the enemy. Moving south from the station at Cabin Creek there miles, I found the enemy strongly posted in a hollow on the prairie. Pickets were re- enforced and the train formed in a quarter circle,preparatory to an attack. At 12 o'clock on the night of the 19th [18th] my pickets were driven in and the enemy reported advancing in force. My lines were formed and the train was ordered to be parked in close order in rear of the stockade. At 1 o'clock [19th] the enemy opened with artillery and small- arms and moved upon my lines with a yell. At that time information was received that the enemy numbered from 600 to 800 men, and was not informed that they had any artillery until