Below is an early regimental organization I've created. At present I'm trying to discover specifically when LT/CPT Mefford created the Co'H' which appears in the regiment's AG report. From the individual's CSR he was initially 2LT of Co'E'(under CPT Greeno), then in Feb 62 2LT of Co'K' and promoted to CPT of company 10 Feb 62. In Mar 62 this company became Co'H'(the one in the AG report). I thank any and everyone for any help they could provide.
The 6th Kansas Cavalry Regiment, sometimes referred to as Fort Scott’s own, was initially organized in the chaotic summer of 1861. It’s first nine months of existence were a convoluted jumble of redesignations and transfers which history has incompletely preserved. The following is the author’s best attempt to accurately detail the regiment’s early organizational history.
By mid-June 1861, the secessionist Missouri Governor Claibourne Jackson had evacuated Missouri’s capitol Jefferson City and had called upon the commanders of the state’s eight military districts to organize men into units and rendezvous at Booneville and Lexington. Newly promoted Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon marched from St Louis to confront Governor Jackson and his fledgling Missouri State Guard. On June 15, 1861, General Lyon occupied the undefended capitol and on June 17, disembarked his troops from steamers near Booneville. In a short skirmish, remembered as the Booneville races, the Missouri State Guard forces were easily routed.
The defeated State Guard retreated southward toward southwest Missouri with General Lyon hot on their heels. While Lyon’s column advanced another column under Colonel Franz Sigel marched for southwest Missouri through Rolla. On July 5, Sigel’s column was enmeshed in a day-long fight around and in Carthage, Missouri, finally conceding defeat as darkness fell and his forces withdrew back toward Springfield. The same day, Confederate troops under Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch, who’d advanced northward from northwest Arkansas at the behest of State Guard commander Sterling Price, captured the small Federal garrison at Neosho, Missouri.
This was the situation by early July 1861. Combined with the recent past experiences of ‘Bleeding Kansas’, southeast Kansas was seriously concerned with the near future. W.C. Ransom and others from Ft Scott, Kansas traveled into Missouri to General Lyon’s headquarters in the field to describe the plight of southeast Kansas. On July 11, 1861, General Lyon issued a memorandum from his headquarters near Osceola authorizing Ransom to raise three companies of Home Guards for the protection of Ft Scott and vicinity.
The Kansans returned immediately to Ft Scott and commenced raising the three authorized companies, to be formed into a small battalion under Major W.R. Judson:
Company A-CPT W.C. Ransom
Company B-CPT W.T. Campbell
Company C-CPT Zacherius Gower.
From this point forward a conflict in organization occurs. W.S. Burke’s Official History of Kansas Regiments during the War for the Suppression of the Great Rebellion, relates the following. The initial three companies were deemed insufficient and authority was granted by Major Prince, commanding Ft Leavenworth, for further companies to be raised:
Company ’D’-CPT L.R. Jewell
Company ’E’-CPT H.S. Greeno
Company ‘F’-CPT J.W. Orahood
Company ‘G’-CPT H.M. Dobyns
Company ‘H’-CPT A.W.J. Brown
A regimental organization was then formed with officer elections held September 9, 1861:
Colonel-W.R. Judson
Lieutenant-Colonel L.R. Jewell
Major W.T. Campbell
Adjutant-Charles O. Judson
Quartermaster-George C. Clarke
Surgeon-John S. Redfield
Two further companies were subsequently raised:
Company ‘H’-CPT David Mefford
Company ‘I’-CPT Charles F. Clarke
[Note: Burke supposedly took the information for his book from the original records which became the Adjutant Generals report on Kansas units.]
On the other hand, amongst original documents housed at the Kansas Historical Society in Topeka, Kansas, exists regimental returns for October, November and December 1861. From the October return the following organization is listed:
Company ‘A’-CPT W.C. Ransom
Company ‘B’-CPT Simon B. Gordon
Company ‘C’-CPT Zacherious Gower
Company ‘D’-CPT John Rodgers
Company ‘E’-CPT H.S. Greeno
Company ‘F’-CPT J.W. Orahood
Company ‘G’-CPT A.W.J. Brown
Company ‘H’-CPT H.M. Dobyns
Company ‘I’-CPT Charles Clarke
The differences in commanding officers in companies ‘B’ & ‘D’ represent only a change in commanders as the originals were elected to the regimental field and staff. The big difference is companies ‘G’ & ‘H’ are flip-flopped from Burke’s version.
Nevertheless, the regiment basically continued this organization until the major reorganization of all Kansas regiments in late February/early March 1862. Two changes occurred within the regimental structure in the intern. In late December 1861/early January 1862, Captain A.W.J. Brown, Company ‘H’, and 46 men were transferred to the 8th Kansas Regiment, eventually becoming that unit’s Company ‘K’. Per General Order#3 dated December 31, 1861, Captain Gower’s Company ‘C’ was transferred to the 4th Kansas Regiment as that unit’s Company ‘A’.
In early 1862, the powers that be deemed the Kansas units had been haphazardly and often improperly raised and organized. The US War Department in Washington decreed that the state reorganize its units in the proper manner. The original companies ‘A’ & ‘B’ were mustered out of service, along with company ‘D’. One company each was transferred into the 6th from the 3rd, 4th and 5th Kansas Regiments, while the remaining companies of the 6th were relettered:
Company ‘A’-CPT George W. Veale-from 4th Ks Rgt
Company ‘B’-CPT E.E. Harvey-from the 5th Ks Rgt
Company ‘C’-CPT H.S. Greeno(formerly Co’E’)
Company ‘D’-CPT J.W. Orahood(formerly Co’F’)
Company ‘E’-CPT H.M. Dobyns(formerly Co’G’)
Company ‘F’-CPT Clarke(formerly Co’I’)
Company ‘G’-CPT Lucas
Company ‘H’-LT David Mefford
Company ‘I’-CPT Van Sickle-from 3rd Ks Rgt.
Company ‘K’-LT Rodgers
This is the organization which the adjutant general’s report, regimental descriptive and muster rolls represent, with one exception-CPT Van Sickles Company ‘I’, in July 1862, was deemed to be an irregular formation and mustered out of service. The regiment remained without a Company ‘I’ until 1863. At this latter time not only was a new Company ’I’ raised, but also Companies ‘L’ & ‘M’.