HEADQUARTERS 15TH REGIMENT CAVALRY, MISSOURI VOLUNTEERS
SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, July 1, 1865.

Colonel Samuel P. Simpson, Adjutant General of Missouri:

I have the honor to submit the following history, in brief, of the 15th Regiment Missouri Cavalry, volunteers, as taken from the records of this office, since it organization:

On the 12th day of March, 1863, General C. B. Holland, then commanding the 4th Military District, E. M. M., issued an order based upon instructions from His Excellency, the Governor of Missouri, to organize two provisional regiments, by detail or otherwise, from the several regiments of the district, for actual and continual service.  In pursuance of which orders, on the 1st day of April, 1863, this regiment was organized, with eight companies of eighty men each, at Mt. Vernon, Missouri, being designated the 2d Provisional Regiment, and was at once placed in the field as regular troops, and were stationed as follows:  Mount Vernon, Bower's Mill, Melville, Gadlfy, Bolivar, Humansville, Stockton and Galena, on the western border of the State; these companies did good service in clearing the country of bushwhackers, and protecting the loyal citizens.  On the 19th of May, 1863, an order was issued giving the regiment the numerical number of 7th Provisional Regiment.

The aggregate strength of the regiment being six hundred and twenty-nine, it was thought necessary by the General Commanding to increase the regiment by adding another batallion, which was done in the months of September and October, 1863.  Said battallion was stationed as follows:  Melville, Newtonia, Bolivar and Stockton, and was kept continually scouting the surrounding country.  The regiment being now fully organized as a cavalry regiment, the men in the mean time having provided themselves with navy and army revolvers, rendered not only efficient service in Southwest Missouri, but also in Northwestern Arkansas, when and wherever a guerrilla or an armed rebel was to be found.

In October, 1863, when the rebel General Joe Shelby entered Missouri, this regiment was the first to fall in on his pursuit, and having followed him as far north as the Osage river, and as far back as the Arkansas line, overtook him in Barry County and completely dispersed his entire force, causing him to leave quite a number of his dead and wounded in the field.

After this the several companies remained at their respective stations constantly watching the movements of the enemy until some time in June, 1864, when a special order was issued by the Secretary of War authorizing the colonel commanding to organize a volunteer regiment out of the 7th Provisional Regiment, their muster in to date back to November 1, 1863, in order to cover back pay then due the men from the State of Missouri, as they had not been paid for a period of over twelve months; the result was that nearly every man volunteered, and by the enlistment of a few others who did not belong to the 7th Provisional Regiment, a regiment of cavalry was rendezvoused and organized at Springfield, Missouri, by Colonel John D. Allen, about the 27th of August, 1864, and afterwards designated as the 15th Regiment Missouri Cavalry, volunteers; soon after this when the State was invaded by the rebel General Price it formed a portion of the 3d Brigade, commanded by General John B. Sanborn, and participated in all the engagements with the enemy from Jefferson City to Newtonia, after which the companies were ordered to occupy their former stations, which was immediately complied with, and, as heretofore, ever true to their country, kept the loyal citizens thoroughly protected until the last rebel foe drew to his hiding place, until the present time, the expiration of the term of service, July 1, 1865.

It is but just to the brave and patriotic men of the 15th Missouri Cavalry, volunteers, that while they have not had the same opportunities as other regiments to win laurels on the fields in open combat, that they are none the less deserving the praise and lasting gratitude of Southwest Missouri, from the fact that they have constantly had to meet not the open enemy but the subtle, wily and intriguing guerrilla and bushwhacker, who make their assaults from the brush thicket and the dense grove, leaving them but little chance for defense, and subjecting them to greater danger than those who have to meet the enemy with something like equal chances.

Respectfully,

JOHN D. ALLEN,
Colonel Commanding 15th Regiment Missouri Cavalry, Volunteers.

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