David..... I have done some research on your questions and will update you. You asked:

1) Is there in existance an actual copy of the orders directing that the Kansas Regiments be reorganized in early 1862 (I believe the orders would've originated from General Hunter's HQ)? If so, could you direct me to their location?

Volume 8 of the Official Records, page 614-617 contain several documents. They are:

a.) Letter from Charles G. Halpine, Major and AAG, under Colonel Dietzler, to Major General Henry Halleck, Commanding Department of the Mississippi from Fort Leavenworth to St. Louis on March 14, 1862. The letter is a statement of the location and activities of Kansas troops. Halpine states "Jayhawkers murdering and pillaging in Jackson County and border; consequently all Fourth Kansas, six companies, sent to Independence and Westport, Mo., to-day."

b.) A second letter from Halpine to Halleck, dated March 14, 1862 and forwarded to the Secretary of War on March 18, 1862. This lengthy letter is an expansion on the first letter but also states that Halpine will "transmit herewith copy of General Orders, No. 26, of this department, reorganizing the Kansas troops, now in process of being carried out;". Halpine disparages Lane's Kansas Brigade and its officers in particular. He further states, "To remedy these things mustering officers were sent to remuster the regiments of Lane's brigade and consolidate the companies to the minimum standing, mustering out the surplus officers and all who could prove they had been enlisted as Home Guards under General Lyon's call." Later, "and when the muster rolls are received no doubt the Third and Fourth Kansas Infantry will be consolidated into one requment, their overplus, if any, being needed to fill the ranks of the First Kansas.... This will leave the state but three infantry regiments - the First, Third and Fourth consolidated, and Eighth."

c.) an inclosure which states in full: GENERAL ORDERS, No. 26, Headquarters Dept. of Kansas, Fort Leavenworth, Kans., February 28, 1862.

I. Pursuant to instructions from Headquarters of the Army, dated Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D.C., February 1, 1862, and by and with the consent of His Excellency the Governor of Kansas, the following reconstruction of the volunteer forces of the State of Kansas is hereby made, in accordance with the acts of Congress heretofore promulgated in General Orders, series of 1861, from the War Department.

By order of Major-General Hunter:

CHAS. G. HALPINE, Assistant Adjutant General

This correspondence implies that there were several collaborative efforts to destroy Lane's Kansas Brigade through reorganization.

1.) Major General David Hunter, who may have set the wheels in motion but was relieved from duty by President's War Order, No. 3 issued March 11, 1862. Hunter was replaced by Halleck.
2.) General James W. Denver was appointed to command the Department of Kansas under Major General Halleck by Special Orders No. 54 on March 13, 1862. (page 613) On April 2, Denver made his first report to the AAG (Halpine) (OR page 653). In his report he noted, "the Governor proposes to consolidate these two regiments (Third and Fourth), to be designated as the Tenth Kansas..." He also noted that Colonel William F. Cloud was in command but that the Third was near Mound City or Fort Scott and the Fourth was stationed at Wyandotte.
3.)Major Henry Halleck was supportive of limiting Lane's powers.
4.)Governor Charles S. Robinson also had many reasons to curb Lane's Brigade. He hated Lane his political rival; he feared that Lane's Brigade would bring Missourians pouring over the border for revenge; he was trying to increase his power of the system of rewarding followers with military commissions. Robinson by early May was fighting impeachment for accusations of bond fraud against himself, and other staff.

The process of remustering the officers was the first step and Lt. Charles Bowman began mustering out officers who could not show valid commissions, were under staffed at the company and regimental level and held competing roles, i.e. Colonel, Lt. Colonel, Major, Chaplain, etc. The second step was to take the company level men and reorganize them into one infantry regiment, or to reallocate cavalry to existing cavalry regiments and to create separate artillery batteries.

Howard Mann