Numbers 5. Report of Colonel George L. Shoup, Third Colorado Cavalry.

HEADQUARTERS THIRD COLORADO CAVALRY,
In the Field, December 7, 1864.

DEAR SIR: I have the honor to report the part taken by my regiment, Third Colorado Cavalry, in the engagement with the Indians on Sand Creek, forty miles north of Fort Lyon, Colo. Ter., November 29, 1864:

I brought my regiment into action at sunrise. The first order given was to Captain John McCannon, Company I, to cut off the Indians from their ponies on the south side of the village. This order was obeyed with great celerity and success. Captain McCannon captured about 200 ponies at the first dash, but being closely pressed by hundreds of Indians sent the ponies to the rear and opened a terrible and withering fire on the Indians, completely checking them, killing many and causing them to retreat up Sand Creek. Captain O. H. P. Baxter, with his company (G), was sent to re-enforce Captain McCannon. The two companies then fought the Indians up the south side of the creek for about two miles. At this point many of the Indians took refuge in the banks of the creek, where they had prepared rifle-pits. Captain McCannon, with his company, remained at this place until late in the afternoon and was the last to leave the field of battle. His brave company killed 26 Indians in one pit and must have killed 50 or more during the engagement. Company C, led by Captain Baxter and Lieutenant Templeton, pursued the demoralized and flying savages to the south and west, killing upward of 20 Indians. Lieutenant W. E. Grinnell, with a detachment of twenty-one men of Company K, fought during part of the engagement on the southwest side of the battle-field. This brave little detachment deserve honorable mention for their gallant conduct on the field. They lost one-fifth of their men in killed and wounded. At the opening of the engagement I led about 400 of my men up the north side of the creek and engaged the main body of the Indians, who were retreating to the west. I dismounted my men and fought them for some time on foot. At this point Captain Talbot, of Company M, fell severely wounded while bravely leading his men in a charge on a body of Indians who had taken refuge under the banks on the north side of the creek. Here a terrible hand-to-hand encounter ensued between the Indians and Captain Talbot's men and others who had rushed forward to their aid, the Indians trying to secure the scalp of Captain Talbot. I think the hardest fighting of the day occurred at this point, some of our men fighting with clubbed muskets, the First and Third Colorado Regiments fighting side by side, each trying to excel in bravery and each ambitious to kill at least one Indian. Many valuable lives of officers and men were saved by the bravery of others just as the fatal knife was raised to perform its work of death.

Early in the engagement Captain Nichols, with his company (D), pursued a band of Indians that were trying to escape to the northeast. He overtook and punished them severely, killing 25 or 30 and capturing some ponies. Other companies of my regiment fought with zeal and bravery, but after 10 a. m. the battle became so general and covered so wide a field that it became necessary to divide my command into small detachments, sending them in all directions to pursue the flying Indians. I am told by my officers and men that some of their comrades engaged the Indians in close combat. I am satisfied from my own observation