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. 7 OF PART TAKEN BY THE SECOND KANSAS CAVALRY IN THE ENGAGEMENT AT CANE HILL, ARKANSAS, NOVEMBER 28, 1862.

      The Second Kansas Cavalry left camp Babcock and marched in column formed by the Third Brigade in the place assigned, which was in the immediate rear of the Eleventh Kansas Infantry. The second consisted of nine companies of cavalry--A company, commanded by Lieutenant Johnston; C company, Captain Whittenhall; D company, Lieutenant Moore; E company, Captain Gardner; F company, Captain Cameron; G company, Captain Matthews, H company, Captain Gunther; I Company, 1st Sergeant Morris Enright, and K company, Captain Russell, numbering three hundred and thirty- seven (337) enlisted men, one battery of light artillery, (4 pieces), the same captured by this regiment on the 22d of October, 1862, under command of Captain Hopkins, known as B company, Second Kansas Cavalry, and one section of mountain howitzers, under command of Lieutenant Stover, Second Kansas Cavalry. On the evening of the twenty- seventh, the regiment went into camp ten miles north of Cane Hill, and was ordered to march next morning at five o'clock. A portion of the Second was ordered in advance. Accordingly companies I and G were sent to the head of the column, under command of Major Fisk, the balance of the regiment took the same position assigned it on the day previous . Captain Gunther was detailed as field officer of the day, leaving H company in command of Lieutenant Ballard.
      About 10 o'clock A.M. Captain Whittenhall, at the head of the column as advance guard, surprised and captured three of the enemy's pickets and killed one. Major Fisk hurried forward, and at the foot of the hill, about one half mile north of Boonsboro, came upon a party of the enemy's cavalry drawn up in line leading to the village. He formed line, and Lieutenant Stover coming up with his howitzers, opened on them with good effect. The enemy was drawn up in force on a hill to the right front of Major Fisk's line, and with three pieces of artillery opened fire. Lieutenant Stover immediately turned his howitzers on them; Rabb's Second Indiana battery came up, and Major Fisk moved a portion of his force to the rear over the brow of the hill, dismounted it, and ordered the men to lie down and hold themselves in support to Rabb's battery; the remainder he sent to reconnoitre the enemy's position. Just after making this disposition, the Major received a severe wound on the top of his head by a piece of shell, which tore away the hat crown and knocked him down; he recovered in a few moments and remained in command a full hour afterwards.
      When the first shot was fired by the enemy, the regiment was in the rear of the Eleventh Kansas Infantry, (which had halted), at a halt four miles back, but immediately passed that regiment by file on their right and left flanks through timber and underbrush. The regiment arriving at the brow of the hill, Captain Crawford, with A and D companies, was sent to occupy a hill to the right and front of Major Fisk's line, Captain Cameron, with F company, to a hill still further to the right, and Captain Gardner, with E company, to the right of Captain Cameron. Lieutenant Ballard and Captain Russell, with their companies, remained on the hill in support of Rabb's battery.
      It was discovered that the enemy was retreating from the timber on the hill when they had made a stand. Companies A, C, D, F, G and I, were ordered to move forward to the front and right, and soon afterwards skirmished through the timber the enemy had lately occupied, and passed out on their trail to the top of the hill over which they had been seen retreating. Here the regiment waited for Hopkins' battery to come up, which soon after arrived and opened fire on the enemy's retreating column about three-fourths of a mile distant, and upon a section of their battery on a hill about one mile distant, and with such precision was the round shot thrown from the gun handled by Corporal Sayer, that the enemy immediately withdrew their pieces and retreated. Companies H and K, under command of Major Fisk, left in support of Rabb's battery, having been relieved by the Eleventh Kansas Infantry, came up to the support of Captain Hopkins' battery. Major Fisk was relieved from command and directed to report to the surgeon and have his wound dressed. The other companies moved forward to the right front over the chain of hills northwest of town, where for half an hour they had remained inactive. General Blunt came up and ordered the Second forward to the town of Newburg, one mile south of Boonsboro, and from there pushed down the road across the valley to the heights opposite and pressed the enemy's rear closely to the foot of the mountains, five miles from where the fight first commenced. Companies G, F and I had, by some means, become separated from the regiment in the woods. The enemy had made a stand, placing their artillery upon a high point, at the food of which their cavalry was situated. Companies A, C and D were ordered through the brush as skirmishers to drive back the cavalry, which, after a few moments they succeeded in doing. The skirmishers were then withdrawn, ordered to mount, and remain under cover. Lieutenant Stover then came up with his howitzers and replied to the enemy's artillery, which was soon afterwards withdrawn. The regiment immediately charged up the hill, and having gained the enemy's last position, the advance companies dismounted and were ordered forward as skirmishers. At this moment, Captain Russell came up and took position on the right. Companies A, C, D and K moved forward to the second bench, when C company returned to their horses and mounted. Captain Russell, with K company, pressed forward in advance of everything else, and around the base of the rock ledge, just below the summit, along which runs the road; and companies A and D passed on up and over the summit, returning into the road about one mile from the foot of the hill, where they halted to let the Eleventh and Thirteenth regiments Kansas Infantry and Sixth Kansas Cavalry pass. The men of the Second regiment were then ordered to mount, and again moved forward about two miles into an open field, and there bivouacked for the night.

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