Extracted from The Official Military History of Kansas Regiments During the War for the Suppression of the Great Rebellion by W. S. Burke. SUPPLEMENT TO THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND KANSAS CAVALRY

      III.While the Second was at Lawrence, on the 22nd of May, 1862, an order was received from District Headquarters directing the detail of one hundred and fifty (150) non-commissioned officers and privates, to man a battery of six 10-pdr. Parrott guns at Fort Leavenworth, designed for service with the New Mexico brigade, then concentrating at Fort Riley. The detail was made, and on the 23rd started for Fort Leavenworth, reaching that place on the 24th. The battery left Fort Leavenworth May 5th, and proceeded towards Fort Riley, but on reaching Manhattan orders were received to return to Fort Leavenworth, for the purpose of joining a brigade ordered to Tennessee.
      On the 16th of May the following officers were assigned to duty with the battery: Captain Henry Hopkins, B company; First Lieutenant R. H. Hunt, I company; Second Lieutenant John R. Rankin, H company; and Second Lieutenant Joseph Cracklin, Second Battalion Adjutant, and the organization was thereafter known as "Hopkins' Battery."
      On the 26th of May the battery reached Fort Leavenworth, and on the 28th embarked upon a steamer and proceeded down the Missouri river, thence down the Mississippi to Columbus, Kentucky, where it debarked about the 6th of June, and remained there for several days. From Columbus the detachment marched in the direction of Corinth, Mississippi, to Trenton, Tennessee, halting several times from two to three days in a place. While at Trenton an order was received for all the troops in that part of the country to join the Army of the Potomac. The detachment marched two days in the direction of Columbus, when the order was countermanded, and it again returned to Trenton, and thence to Humboldt, Tennessee, where it was mustered for pay June 30th.
      On the 4th of July, after firing a national salute, a march was made to Jackson. It was at this place where Brigadier General John A. Logan, of Illinois, issued an order directing his guards to be doubled to prevent the Kansas troops from stealing negroes. From Jackson the detachment proceeded to Corinth, where it was assigned to Major General Rosecrans' Corps de'Arme, and there it remained until July 31st.
      About the 1st of August, Captain Hopkins, First Lieutenant Hunt, and Second Lieutenant Cracklin, were relieved from duty and ordered to report to General Grant, who ordered them to rejoin their regiment in the Department of Kansas. They proceeded to Fort Leavenworth, where they were temporarily assigned to duty with the Post Battery, where they remained until disposed of as indicated in the history of the Second Kansas Cavalry.
      At the same time, the men were relieved from duty with the battery and mounted, and with Lieutenant Rankin, ordered to report to Brigadier General Gordan Granger, commanding cavalry division of Jacinto, Mississippi, and were assigned to Brigadier General Philip Sheridan's brigade, and placed on provost guard duty, where they remained but three days, and were then sent to Brigadier General Mitchell, and joined him at Iuka, Mississippi, on the 17th of August.
      On the 18th the Detachment marched, with other troops, to reinforce Major General Buel, in northern Alabama, and on the 19th crossed the Tennessee River at Eastport, and on the 21st reached Florence, Alabama, being the first cavalry to enter that place. From Florence the detachment marched northward, and reached Columbia, where it was mustered for pay August 31st. Thence, via Franklin and Triune, to Murfeesboro, where Buel's retreating army was joined, and from the later place to Nashville, September 6th. On the 8th of September the detachment was sent to Edgefield, and from there was sent up the river on the 10th on a scout, and returned without accident.
      Soon afterwards the army marched again north, via Bowling Green, and reached Louisville, Kentucky, September 25th, where a halt was made for three days, when the detachment moved out with the advance of the army through Bardstown to Perryville, to attack the army under rebel General Bragg, and skirmished with then enemy's advance the greater portion of the way, but without loss to the detachment.
      On the 8th of October the battle of Perryville took place, in which the detachment bore a part. First Lieutenant Rankin having been called to assist Brigadier General Mitchell as A.D.C., the command devolved upon Sergeant Hugh Quinn, of company A, who performed his duties well, and received the approbation of his commanding officer.
      After the battle of Perryville, the enemy, under the rebel General Morgan, retreated towards Lancaster, and was pursued by the Union forces, the detachment of the Second Kansas Cavalry in the advance, and at the latter place the retreating force made a stand. In this action a part of the Federal line gave way, and in falling back two pieces of a Wisconsin battery were not brought off, and seeing that the enemy were about to get possession of them, Sergeant Quinn dismounted a portion of his men, and brought them off by hand.
      [The] Next morning the detachment was the first to enter Lancaster where they captured a rebel flag and twenty-four (24) prisoners, and then proceeded to Crab Orchard, where General Buel's army then was, and there remained two days.
      The detachment won the good opinion of the army for their activity and courage; always ready and never faltering when anything was to be done, their execution was prompt and marterly.
      The Secretary of War having issued a general order directing that all men and detachments serving in departments in which their commands were not serving, should be returned to duty with their respective organizations, the detachment was relieved from duty in Tennessee, and ordered to proceed to Fort Leavenworth.
      From Crab Orchard it acted as an escort for some prisoners to Bardstown, and while en route for that place passed right through the rebel General Morgan's column, then making a raid in rear of General Buel's army, during which a large portion of General Buel's transportation baggage, &c., was captured and destroyed. From Bardstown the detachment proceeded to Louisville, and thence by boat and rail to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, reaching the latter place October 26th, and were assigned to duty temporarily with the Post Battery.
      Most of the men returned to duty with the regiment by the 1st of January, 1863, but many never returned. The detail of this one hundred fifty (150) men was a great disaster to the Second. It materially impaired its strength, and created dissatisfaction in the ranks. Those who were not detailed felt that double duty was required of them, and those who were sent always claimed that they were right to serve with the regiment.

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