Extracted from The Official Military History of Kansas Regiments During the War for the Suppression of the Great Rebellion by W. S. Burke. REPORT No. 6. BATTLE OF OLD FORT WAYNE.

      The Second left camp on the evening of the 20th October, 1862, at Pea Ridge, Benton County, Ark., and made a night march toward Bentonville, and reached there the next morning. On the 21st, at four o'clock P.M., the march was resumed on the road leading to Maysville--the Second in advance of the column. Captain Russell, with his company, was detailed as an advance guard, and Lieutanants Johnson and Ballard, with their companies, as rear guard for the Third Brigade. At two o'clock on the morning of the 22d, when about eight miles from Maysville, the column was halted for an hour, when General Blunt came up and ordered the column forward. Half an hour before daylight the advance reached a point two miles east of Maysville--supposed to obe in the neighborhood of the enemy's pickets--where General Blunt ordered a halt, and under his instructions, B company and part of I, under the command of Captain Hopkins, were sent to take position on the road leading from Maysville to the enemy's camp to cut off the retreat of their pickets. At this time it was ascertained that from some cause of no troops had moved forward from the place of halting, six miles back, except the Second and General Blunt's personal escort. A few minutes after daylight the advance proceeded into Maysville, and ascertained that the pickets had been alarmed at our first approach, and fled before Capt. Hopkin's could intercept them. Soon after sunrise the advance started on the gallop on the road leading to the rebel camp, and about three miles out on the prairie met the enemy's advanced picket, and formed a line of battle to the left front in the following order from right to left: Company I, numbering sixty men, commanded by Captain Ayres; F, forty-two men, by Lieutenant Lee; K, forty-nine men, by Captain Russell; G, forty- eight men, by Lieutenant Cosgrove; B, thirty-nine men, by Captain Gardner; D, forty- seven men, by Lieutenant Moore; C, thirty-eight men, by Lieutenant Hook; and Lieutenant Stover's battery of two mountain howitzers was formed in rear of G company. In this order marched forward half a mile over a prairie to a heavy body of timber. This prairie is called Bano Prairie, and the timber projects into it in the shape of an equalateral triangle, the side which we approached running north and south. At this point the men were dismounted and sent into the timber as skirmishers, and proceeded about three-fourths of a mile--Captain S. J. Crawford commanded the left wing, and Captain B. P. Ayres the right wing. The prairie on the northwest side of the timber extends southwest about a mile and a half, gradually declining to the south and the west. The northern side of the prairie is bounded by fields, and the whole by a heavy body of timber, extending back to the right and rear as far back as Maysville. At the lower or south end of the prairie are two uncultivated fields, separated by a fence, the first about two hundred yards wide, the second about one hundred and fifty, each extending across the prairie, which is there about half a mile in width. The fences at the ends of the fields are covered with a thick growth of underbrush. A road runs along the south side of the second field. The north side of the first field is skirted with sassafras bushes from six to ten feet high, like a hedge row, and the field is partially covered with the same, about as high as a man's shoulders. The second, or division line of fence, is skirted in a manner like the first, excepting that the brush is much higher and thicker. The lower, or south line of fence, and the north side of the road, is bounded by a heavy body of timber, extending many miles.
      The enemy was discovered moving in a westerly direction on the road south of the fields. At this moment Lieuts. Johnston and Ballard came up from the rear with their companies--A, numbering fifty-three men, and H, numbering forty-seven men--and formed in line on the prairie, a few hundred yards to the right of the line of skirmishers. The men moved out of the woods by the right flank on double quick, mounted and moved off in column of fours at a fast gallop. (At this time Lieutenant Hook left his company in charge of 1st Sergeant Edgar A. Baker, and was no more seen during the engagement. Lieut. Stover, with his howitzers, having arrived at the field, formed left front into line of battle, and a cannonading position was selected for the howitzers inside the first line of the fence, where they immediately opened fire with good effect. The enemy had formed their first line at the division fence, their skirmish line in the north field, their batter in the south field, and their reserve in the road next to the timber, and opened fire on the advancing column as soon as it came in range. The order was given, "Prepare to fight on foot," when the men dismounted with celerity, passed over the fence and drove the enemy out of the first field and beyond the second line of fence. The advantage thus gained was followed by moving forward to the division fence. The enemy's line was at least half a mile long, and they appeared to be passing troops from their left to their right in the rear of the line, as there was reason to suppose for the purpose of attempting to turn our left flank. The rebel battery in our front consisted of three six pounder smooth bores and one twelve pounder howitzer, which they fired with rapidity, but too high to inflict any serious damage. Lieutenant Johnston, with A company, was on our extreme right; Lieutenant Stover, with his howitzer, next. Some distance to the left of the howitzers were the following companies: H, under Lieutenant Ballard; B, Captain Hopkins; D, Lieutenant Moore; K, Captain Russell; E, Captain Gardner. And some distance to the left of these five companies, and forming the left wing of our line, was company C, Sergeant E.A. Baker; I, Captain Ayers; F, Lieutenant Lee; G, Lieutenant Cosgrove. Our right and left were being annoyed by the enemy's flanking fire, so that company A, on the right, and G, on the left, were directed to fire obliquely. Companies H, B, D, K and E, dismounted, were ordered by Captain S. J. Crawford to charge the enemy battery, and the men went in with cheers, drove the enemy from the field, and captured their battery. The force engaged in the charge numbered one hundred and thirty-six (136) men and officers. By order of Captain Crawford, B company was ordered to man the captured battery, and turn it upon the enemy, whilst the other companies, now joined by the balance of the regiment, pressed beyond the battery to prevent its recapture. Captain Hopkins reported that the guns could not be immediately be used, and part of his company and part of D company, under Lieutenant Moore, took them to the rear. The presence of the Eleventh Infantry at this time, coming down the long slope on double quick, with their bayonets gleaming in the morning sun, tended to increase the confusion into which the enemy had already been thrown by the unexpected and daring charge of the Second cavalry, prevented any attempt on their part to retake their captured battery. Lieutenant Stover and his men deserve great credit for the efficient service rendered with their howitzers. Every officer and man did his whole duty in this bold and seemingly reckless charge made by a few resolute men against more than five times their own numbers.
      If one company or part of a company did more than another, it was only because the opportunity presented, or the position occupied rendered it possible for the accomplishment of more effective service. General Blunt went with the advance to the vicinity of the rebel camp, and in person directed the movements until the Second got so far into the sassafras bushes as to render it impossible to be seen.
      During this time Rabb's Second Indiana battery came into position , and seeing the captured battery being brought out, and supposing it still in rebel hands, prepared to give it other than a friendly reception. Up to this time it was not known, except to those in the immediate front, whether the Second had captured or was captured. A messenger in haste rode up and informed General Blunt of the result of the charge, and that the guns being brought out were the captured battery. Captain Rabb now turned his guns on the retreating rebels, and increased their speed. Our troops were not repulsed at any time at any point, although contending against vastly superior numbers--against an enemy in a strong and well selected position, and well acquaited with the ground on which they were fighting. Our loss was but four (4) killed and three (3) severly wounded.

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