Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 7.
Frank Moore, Ed.

[598] these facts, when I saw two men in the centre of company A, Fourteenth Kansas, turn to run, but before they could fairly turn round, Major Curtis and the officers of the company forced them back, and I concluded the fight would be desperate, and was hopeful; but before the officers could get their places, the same two men and about eight more turned and ignominiously fled, which the enemy perceiving, the charge was ordered, and the whole line advanced with a shout, at which the remainder of company A, and despite the efforts of General Blunt, Major Curtis Lieutenants Tappin and Pierce, could not be rellied. At this time a full volley was fired by company I, Third Wisconsin cavalry, which so staggered the right of the enemy, that I began to have hopes again; but as their left continued to advance, their right rallied, but were checked so much that their line, as seen by me, was crooked, their right being behind. The firing then became indiscriminate, and I saw that company I stood firing their revolvers until the enemy were within twenty feet, and then turned; but before any distance could be made the enemy were in their midst, and out of forty of the company, twenty-three were killed and six wounded, and left for dead upon the field. At this time my attention was attracted to my own danger, the enemy having advanced so fast as to cut me off from the rest, and after trying a couple of dodges, I succeeded in getting into camp at Baxter's Springs, all the while closely pursued; and found Lieutenant Pond, who was in command, busily engaged in firing a mountain howitzer outside his breastworks. The garrison at Baxter's Springs consisted of parts of two companies of Third Wisconsin cavalry, and one company of the Second Kansas colored regiment, the whole under the command of Lieutenant James B. Pond, of company C, Third Wisconsin cavalry. The camp had only been established a few days, and in that time Lieutenant Pond caused to be built a breastwork like a log-fence, on three sides of a square, in which were his tents and quarters. The attack on the camp had been a partial surprise, but the troops acted splendidly, and Lieutenant Pond, taking the exposed position outside the breastworks, loaded and fired the howitzer three times without any assistance, and the engagement was so close, that during this time some of the enemy had entered the breastworks; and at the time I entered the defences and got where Lieutenant Pond was, the bullets were pelting against the logs near by and all around him. As the fight with the force of General Blunt had been out of sight of the camp, Lieutenant Pond had been unable to tell what it meant, and very much surprised to see me, and in answer to my order for his cavalry, with which I hoped to be of some use to our scattered troops, told me, that he had that morning started out a forage train of eight wagons, and an escort of sixty men, who had gone in the direction from which the enemy had come, and he supposed they had been “gobbled up,” and in response to his order only seven men reported to me. With these I returned to the brow of the bill, in the direction of the first attack, and plainly saw the enemy engaged in sacking the wagons, and, while there, plainly saw the band brutally murdered. At the time of the attack the band-wagon, containing fourteen members of the brigade Band, James O'Neal, special artist of Frank Leslie's Pictorial Newspaper, one young lad twelve years old, (servant of the leader of the band,) Henry Polloque, of Madison, Wis., and the driver, had undertaken to escape in a direction a little to the south of west, and made about half a mile, when one of the wheels of the wagon run off and the wagon sloped on the brow of the hill, in plain sight of where I stood. As the direction of the wagon was different from that in which most of the troops fled, it had not attracted such speedy attention, and the enemy had just got to it as I returned, giving me an opportunity to see every member of the band, Mr. O'Neal, the boy and the driver, shot, and their bodies thrown in or under the wagon, and it fired, so that when we went to them, all were more or less burned, and almost entirely consumed. The drummer-boy, a very interesting and intelligent lad, was shot and thrown under the wagon, and when the fire reached his clothes, it must have brought returned consciousness, as he had crawled a distance of thirty yards, marking the course by bits of burning clothes and scorched grass, and was found dead with all his clothes burned off except that portion between his back and the ground, as he law on his back. A number of the bodies were brutally mutilated and indecently treated. Being satisfied that Lieutenant Pond could hold the camp against their force, I took two of the men and started out on the prairie in search of General Blunt, Major Curtis, or any other I could find, and in about an hour after, succeeded in hearing of the General's safety, and learned also that Major Curtis was supposed to be a prisoner, as his horse had been shot from under him. I learned this from a wounded soldier who had concealed himself in the grass, while the enemy had passed by him; and just then discovering a deserted horse and buggy, placed him in it with a man to take care of him, and they reached the camp in safety. The enemy were still in plain sight, and remained on the prairie till about four o'clock, when they marched south in a body. General Blunt and Major Curtis had tried to stop the flight of our troops from the start, and had several very narrow escapes in doing so, as the enemy were close upon them, and finally the General succeeded in collecting about ten men, and with these he worried the enemy, attacking them in small parties, and when pursued by too large a force, falling back until they turned, and then in turn, following them, so that at no time was he out of sight of the enemy, and most of the time close enough to worry and harass them. As they withdrew from the field, he searched for and took care of the wounded, and remained upon the ground till