2nd Kansas Infantry Regiment

Sent into Missouri, it participated in several small actions in the Springfield area before fighting in the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, where it suffered 70 casualties out of about 600 men present excluded a detached cavalry company.

[5] The men of the regiment were provided blue fatigue blouses as uniforms and were armed with a mixture of rifles and outdated smoothbore muskets.

[6] Joining the forces of Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon, the regiment marched to the Springfield, Missouri area, via Stockton and Melville.

The men trained at a camp in the Springfield area, and the 1st and 2nd Kansas Infantry were brigaded together under the command of Colonel George Washington Deitzler.

[10] Union troops drove them off and the 2nd Kansas Infantry scouted 2 miles (3.2 km) ahead to a location known as either McCulla's Springs[11] or McCullah's store.

[12] Lyon later learned that the Missouri State Guard and the Confederates had joined forces and ordered a retreat to Springfield.

[14] That evening, Lyon moved out most of his command from Springfield to attack a Confederate and Missouri State Guard camp along Wilson's Creek.

[1] The 2nd Kansas Infantry was part of Lyon's column and was initially kept in a reserve role[16] while Union troops occupied a terrain feature known as Bloody Hill at around 6:30 a.m.[17] When a force of Missouri State Guard infantrymen advanced against the hill, Lyon brought the 2nd Kansas forward to the main line, where it deployed next to the 1st Missouri Infantry Regiment.

[19] With another enemy attack ongoing, Lyon led the 2nd Kansas Infantry to another part of the line on Bloody Hill.

During the return march, on September 4, the men of the Paris expedition fought a small action at Shelbina, Missouri, with the officers of the 2nd Kansas deciding to withdraw to Macon.