CHAPTER V.

BATTLE OF SPRINGFIELD, OR WILSON'S CREEK, AUGUST 10, 1861.

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HE day succeeding the battle of Carthage, General Price, who had hitherto been detained from active command by a severe sickness, arrived at that town, accompanied by Brigadier-General McCulloch of the Confederate army and Major-General Pearce of the Arkansas State troops, with a force of nearly two thousand men. These timely reinforcements were hailed with great joy; and the patriot army was alike animated by the appearance of their beloved commander, and the assurance, which McCulloch's presence gave them, of the friendly feeling and intention of the Confederate Government.*

The next day the forces at Carthage, under their respective commanders, took up their line of march for Cowskin Prairie, near the boundary of the Indian Nation. Here they remained for several days, organizing and drilling. General Price still continued to receive reinforcements, and the whole numerical strength of the command was now rated at about ten thousand.

With this force, although yet imperfectly armed, it was decided to venture on the offensive; and it having been ascertained that the Federal commanders, Lee, Sturgis, Sweeny and Sigel, were about to form a junction at Springfield, it was determined by Price, McCulloch, and Pearce, to march upon that place, and attack the enemy in the position he had chosen. To that end, their forces were concentrated at Cassville, in Barry county, according to orders, and from that point they proceeded in the direction of Springfield, ninety miles distant, General McCulloch leading the advance.

Upon his arrival at Crane creek, General McCulloch was informed by his pickets that the Federals had left Springfield, and were advancing upon him in large force, their *Lost Cause, p. 284.

advanced guard being encamped within seven miles. For several days there was considerable skirmishing between the pickets of the two armies in that locality.

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In consequence of information of the immense superiority of the enemy's force, General McCulloch, after consultation with the general officers, determined to make a retrograde movement. He regarded the unarmed men as incumbrances, and thought the unorganized and undisciplined condition of both wings of the army suggested the wisdom of avoiding battle with the disciplined enemy upon his own ground, and in greatly superior numbers. General Price, however, entertained a different opinion of the strength of the enemy. He favored an immediate advance. This policy being sustained by his officers, General Price requested McCulloch to loan a number of arms from his command for the use of such Missouri soldiers as were unarmed, believing that, with the force at his command, he could whip the enemy. General McCulloch declined to comply with the request, being governed, no doubt, by the same reasons which had induced him to decline the sibility of ordering an advance of the whole command.* On the evening of the day upon which this consultation occurred, General McCulloch received an order from General Polk, commander of the Southwestern division of the Confederate army, to advance upon the enemy in Missouri. He immediately held another consultation with the officers of the two divisions, exhibited the order he had received, and offered to march at once upon Springfield, upon condition that he should have the chief command of the army. General Price replied, that he was not fighting for distinction, but for the defence of the liberties of his countrymen and that it mattcred but little what position he occupied. He said he was ready to surrender not only the command, but his life as a sacrifice to the cause. He accordingly did not hesitate, with a magnanimity of which history presents but few examples in military leaders, to turn over the command to General McCulloch, and to take a subordinate position in a combat in which, from the first, he felt assured of victory.

* First Year of the War, p. 165.

On taking command, General McCulloch issued a general order, that all the unarmed men should remain in camp, and all those furnished with arms should put their guns in condition for service, provide themselves with fifty rounds of ammunition, and get in readiness to take up the line of march by twelve o'clock at night.

The army was divided into three columns: the first commanded by General McCulloch, the second by General Pearce and the third by General Price. They moved at the hour named, leaving the baggage train behind, and proceeded in the direction of Springfield. The troops were in fine condition and in excellent spirits, expecting to find the enemy posted about eight miles from their camp, on the Springfield road, where the natural defences are very strong, being a series of eminences on either side of the road. They arrived at that locality about sunrise, carefully approached it, and ascertained that the enemy had retired the previous afternoon.

They followed in pursuit that day a distance of twentytwo miles, regardless of dust and heat; twelve miles of the distance without a drop of water-the troops having no canteens. The weary army encamped on the night of the 8th at Big Spring, one mile and a half from Wilson's creek, and ten and a half miles from Springfield. Their baggage trains and beef cattle having been left behind, the troops had not eaten anything for twenty-four hours, and had been supplied with only half rations for ten days previous. In this exigency, they satisfied the cravings of hunger by eating green corn, without salt or meat. On the next day, the army moved to Wilson's creek and there took up camp, that they might be convenient to several large fields from which they could supply themselves with green corn, which, for two days, constituted their only repast.

Orders were issued by General McCulloch to the troops. to get ready to take up the line of march to Springfield by nine o'clock P. M., with a view of attacking the enemy at four different points at daybreak the next morning. His effective force, as stated by himself, was five thousand three hundred infantry, fifteen pieces of artillery, and six

thousand horsemen, armed with flint-lock muskets, rifles, and shotguns.

After receiving the order to march, the troops satisfied their hunger, prepared their guns and ammunition, and got up a dance before many of the camp-fires. When nine o'clock came, in consequence of the threatening appearance of the weather, and the want of cartridge-boxes to protect the ammunition of the men, the order to march was countermanded, the commanding general hoping to be able to move early the next morning. The dance before the camp-fires was resumed and kept up for some time with a merry earnestness.

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THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK.

The next morning, the tenth of August, before sunrise, the troops were attacked by the enemy, who had succeeded in gaining the position he desired. General Lyon attacked them on their left, General Sigel on their right and in their From each of these points batteries opened upon them. General McCulloch's command was soon ready. The Missourians under Brigadier-Generals Slack, Clark, McBride, Parsons, and Rains, were nearest the position taken by General Lyon with his main force. General Price ordered them to move their artillery and infantry forward. Advancing a few hundred yards, he came upon the main body of the enemy on the left, commanded by General Lyon in person. The infantry and artillery, which General Price had ordered to follow him, came up to the number of upwards of two thousand, and opened upon the enemy a brisk and well directed fire. Woodruff's battery was oposed to that of the enemy under Captain Totten, and a constant cannonading was kept up between these batteries. during the action. Herbert's regiment of Louisiana volunteers and McIntosh's regiment of Arkansas mounted riflemen were ordered to the front, and after passing the battery, turned to the left, and soon engaged the enemy with the regiments deployed. Colonel McIntosh dismounted his regiment, and the two marched abreast to the fence around a large cornfield, where they met the left of the enemy already rosted. A terrible conflict of small-arms took

place here. Despite the galling fire poured upon these two regiments, they leaped over the fence, and, gallantly led by their colonels, drove the enemy before them back upon the main body.*

During this time, the Missourians under General Price, were nobly sustaining themselves in the centre, and hotly engaged on the sides of the height upon which the enemy was posted. Some distance on the right, General Sigel had opened his battery upon Churchhill's and Green's regiments, and gradually made his way to the Springfield road, upon each side of which the Confederates were encamped, and had established their battery in a strong position.

General McCulloch at once took two companies of the Louisiana regiment which were nearest to him at the time, and marched them rapidly from the front and right to the rear, with orders to Colonel McIntosh to bring up the remainder. When they arrived near the enemy's battery, they found that Reid's battery had opened upon it, and that it was already in confusion. Advantage was taken of this and soon the Louisianians gallantly charged upon the guns and swept the cannoniers away. Five cannon were here taken, and Sigel's forces completely routed. They commenced a rapid retreat with but a single gun, pressed by some companies of the Texas regiment and a portion of Colonel Major's Missouri regiment of cavalry. In the pursuit many of the enemy were killed and his last gun captured.

Having cleared their right and rear, it became necessary for the Confederate forces to direct all their attention to the centre, where General Lyon was pressing upon the Missourians with all his strength. To this point McIntosh's regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Embry, and Churchhill's regiment on foot, Gratiot's regiment, and McRae's battalion were sent to their aid. A terrible fire of musketry was now kept up along the whole line of the hill upon which the enemy was posted. Masses of infantry fell back and again rushed forward. The summit of the hill was covered with the dead and wounded. Both sides were *Covell's "Diary."