CHAPTER I.
PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS TO THE BATTLE.
The Situation in Southwest Missouri After the Firing on Ft. Sumpter—The First Federal Troops in the Country—“Sigel is Coming!”—Gen. Sweeney Comes to Springfield—Sigel Departs for Carthage—Gen. Lyon Enters the Country—Sweeney’s Expedition to Forsyth—Confederate Military Operations—The Fight at Dug Springs—Gen. Lyon Falls back—Gens. Price and McCulloch Follow up—A Great Battle Imminent—Controversy Between Price and McCulloch.
In giving an account of the battle of Wilson’s Creek, or Oak Hills, which though not the largest, has passed into history, as one of the hardest and best fought battles of the American Civil War, it is necessary to describe certain military movements and operations which took place previously, in order that a better understanding of all of the circumstances may be had. This must be done here briefly and in a somewhat desultory way.
Upon the outbreak of the civil war in 1861, the people of Southwest Missouri were divided in sentiment, although a majority of them were Unionists. At the previous Presidential election, Lincoln, the Republican candidate, had received 42 votes in Greene county alone, and this district had sent unconditional Union candidates to the State Convention the previous February by a vote of four to one. Union Home Guards were organized in Springfield in May to the number of 1200, composed of citizens of Greene, Christian, and adjoining counties and commanded by Col. John S. Phelps (afterward Governor). The secessionists in this quarter of the State were in the minority, but they were bold and disposed to be aggressive.
FIRST FEDERAL TROOPS.
In a few days after the occupation of Rolla, Col. Franz Sigel took up the line of march for Springfield. He had his own regiment, the 3d Mo. Volunteers, and Col. Chas. E. Salomon’s 5th Missouri Volunteers. The march from Rolla to Springfield was necessarily slow, as the Federals were compelled to feel their way cautiously, but, considering all of the circumstances, very good time was made. Detachments were sent out on either side of the road from time to time, and the country pretty well reconnoitered.
“SIGEL IS COMING!”
At last, on Sunday morning, June 24, 1861, the citizens of Springfield who lived in the eastern part of town, looked out on the St. Louis road and saw, coming leisurely along, a column of men led by others on horseback. The wind lifted and shook out a banner, which, when unfolded, showed the old familiar stripes in all their splendor and the stars in all their beauty. Just then the band struck up a spirit-stirring air, and the cry rang out and was caught up and borne through all the town, “They are coming! They are coming!” If it was asked, “Who are coming?” the reply sometimes was, “The Union soldiers,” but often came the answer, “The Yankee Dutch.” People had different ways of looking at the thing and different ideas altogether about the matter!
But whether they were “brave Union Germans” or “Yankee Dutch,” certain it was that Sigel and his troops were in full possession of the town. It was about 11:30 in the forenoon when the soldiers reached the main part of town. Pickets were put out on all roads, and many prisoners made among the citizens accused of real or premeditated “treason” against the government. The court-house was pretty well filled at one time with these prisoners. Some property was seized or “pressed” by the soldiers, and their presence did not give universal or even general satisfaction.
GEN. SWEENEY COMES TO SPRINGFIELD.
On the 1st of July Gen. T. W. Sweeney (then really only a captain in the regular army), having been _elected_ a brigadier by the St. Louis Home Guards, came to Springfield with a force of, say 1,500 men, including the 1st Iowa Infantry (dressed in gray uniforms) a portion of the 2d Kansas, and some artillery and a battalion of regular dragoons.
By reason of his rank, which was recognized as that of brigadier, Gen. Sweeney became the commander of the Federal army, then in Southwest Missouri. He was a brigadier-general of Home Guards or U. S. Reserve Corps; Sigel and Salomon and Brown were but colonels of volunteers. Sweeney was an Irishman. He had but one arm, having lost the other in the Mexican war. Like many another of his countrymen, he had more fight in him than good judgment. Although starting in rank pretty well at the top at the beginning of the war, he never attained any great military distinction. After the war he led the Fenian raid into Canada, which ended so ignominiously.
SIGEL DEPARTS FOR CARTHAGE.
After the battle of Boonville, June 17, the State forces, under Col. Marmaduke and Gov. Jackson, retreated toward the Southwest portion of the State to co-operate with the troops under Gen. Rains, and to be in easy distance of the Confederate forces at Fayetteville, Ark., under Gen. Ben McCulloch. News of this movement having reached Gen. Sigel at Springfield, that officer at once set out to intercept it—to prevent, if possible, a junction between the forces of Col. Marmaduke and those of Gen. Rains, and to attack the latter and destroy him in his camp, supposed to be near Rupe’s Point, in Jasper county.
“Pressing” a number of horses and wagons from the citizens of this county, especially from about Springfield, Sigel, with the greater part of his own and Salomon’s regiment and a company of regulars, set out from Springfield westward on the Mt. Vernon road, one hot morning about the 1st of July. His destination was Carthage, 65 miles away. He had with him eight pieces of Backof’s artillery, 6 and 12 pounders. On the 5th the battle of Carthage was fought between the eight companies of Sigel’s regiment, seven companies of Salomon’s and the artillery under Backof on the Union side, and the State Guards under Gov. Jackson in person, and Gens. Rains and Parsons. The Federals were defeated and fell back to Mt. Vernon, Sigel being foiled in his attempt to prevent the concentration of the secessionists.
GEN. LYON ENTERS THE COUNTY.
On the 3d of July Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, at the head of about 2,000 troops, left Boonville for the Southwest to co-operate with Sigel. On the 25th of June five companies of cavalry, six companies of regular infantry and dragoons, and ten companies of Kansas volunteers, in all about 1,600 men, under command of Maj. S. D. Sturgis, left Kansas City, destined also for Southwest Missouri. At Grand River, in Henry county, the two commands formed a junction, and then started for Sigel. Hearing of the latter’s defeat, and retreat to the eastward, Gen. Lyon changed his direction more to the eastward and came into this county about the 13th of July, going into camp near Pond Spring, on section 31, township 29, range 23, in the western part of the county. Lyon came into the town of Springfield July 13th, leaving, as he wrote to Chester Harding, his troops, “a few miles back.”
Gen. Lyon was mounted on an iron-gray horse, and had an escort or body-guard of ten men of the 1st regiment U. S. regular cavalry, all of whom were men remarkable for their large size, strong physique, and fine horsemanship. Lyon treated the citizens with courtesy and kindness, although impressing their provisions and animals, to some extent, for the use of his men. As soon as he arrived in this quarter he communicated with Sigel, and with Gen. Fremont at St. Louis, asking the latter to send him reinforcements at once. He also busied himself in recruiting for the Federal service—issuing commissions to officers of Home Guard companies, and mustering in enlisted men. Ho was visited by Union men from counties north and east 75 miles away.
SWEENEY’S EXPEDITION TO FORSYTH.
Saturday, July 20, about 1,200 men were detailed under Gen. Sweeney to break up a secession camp reported to be at Forsyth, the county seat of Taney county. The command was composed of the two companies of regular cavalry, under Capt. D. S. Stanley; a section of Capt. Totten’s battery, in charge of Lt. Sokalski; about 500 men of the 1st Iowa Infantry, under Lt. Col. Merritt; Capt. Wood’s company of mounted Kansas volunteers, and the 2d Kansas Infantry, under Col. Mitchell. The expedition reached Forsyth in the afternoon of Monday, captured the town with but little difficulty, driving out about 200 State Guards, who had been quartered in the court-house, and secured some blankets, clothing, guns, provisions, horses and one or two prisoners. A quantity of lead was taken from a well into which it had been thrown. Three shells were thrown into the court-house after the Federals had possession of the town.
Gen. Sweeney remained in Forsyth about 24 hours, and returned to Springfield on Thursday. His loss was three men wounded, and Capt. Stanley had a horse shot under him. It was reported that the secessionists had five killed and ten wounded, among the latter being one Capt. Jackson. A camp of 1,000 Confederates, at Yellville, Ark., was not molested by Gen. Sweeney, although only 50 miles from Forsyth.
CONFEDERATE MILITARY OPERATIONS.
Meantime preparations were making among the secessionists of Missouri to dispute the occupancy of the Southwest portion of the State with the Federals. Gen. Ben McCulloch, of Texas, had been ordered by the Confederate government to go to the assistance of its allies in Missouri. Accordingly he rendezvoused at Fayetteville, Ark., where he was joined by some Louisiana and Arkansas volunteers and a division of Arkansas State troops. The Missouri State Guards, Gov. Jackson’s troops, had rendezvoused, first near Sarcoxie, in Jasper county, afterward on the Cowskin Prairie, in McDonald county, where some time was spent in drilling, organizing and recruiting.
On the 25th of July, 1861, General Sterling Price, in command of Gov. Jackson’s State Guard, began to move his command from its encampment on the Cowskin Prairie toward Cassville, Barry county, at which place it had been agreed between Generals McCulloch and N. B. Pearce, of the Confederate force, and Price that their respective commands, together with General J. H. McBride’s division of State Guards, should concentrate, preparatory to a forward movement on Lyon and Sigel and the other Federal troops in the vicinity of Springfield. On the 29th the junction was effected. The combined armies were then put under marching orders. The 1st division, commanded by Gen. McCulloch in person; the 2d, by Gen. Pearce, of Arkansas, and the 3d, by Gen. Steen, of Missouri, left Cassville on the 1st and 2d of August, taking the Springfield road. It is said that Gen. Price, with the greater portion of his infantry, accompanied the 2d division. A few days afterward a regiment of Texas rangers, under Col. E. Greer, joined the martial host advancing to attack the Federals. Gen. James S. Rains, formerly the well known politician of Jasper county, with six companies of mounted Missourians belonging to his division, the 8th, commanded the advance guard. Rains was given the advance because many of his men were from this quarter of the State and knew the country very well. On Friday, August 2, he encamped at Dug Springs, in Stone county, about 20 miles southwest of Springfield. The main army was some distance to the westward.
The Southern army was really composed of three small armies, as follows: The Missouri State Guard, under Gen. Price; a division of Arkansas State troops, under Gen. N. Bart. Pearce, and a division of Confederate troops under Gen. McCulloch. Pearce’s division was composed of the 1st Arkansas cavalry, Col. De Rosey Carroll; Capt. Chas. A. Carroll’s independent company of cavalry; the 3d Arkansas infantry, Col. John R. Gratiot; the 4th Arkansas infantry, Col. J. D. Walker; the 5th Arkansas infantry, Col. Tom P. Dockery, and Capt. Woodruff’s battery, the “Pulaski Artillery.” All of the infantry regiments had enlisted only for three months, and their time expired about Sept. 1. They were _State_ troops, or militia. Another Arkansas battery, Capt. J. G. Reid’s, of Ft. Smith, was also with Gen. Pearce, but assigned to McCulloch afterwards.
THE FIGHT AT DUG SPRINGS.
Gen. Lyon was duly informed of the concentration of the Southern troops at Cassville, of the junction of Price and McCulloch, and of their intention of marching upon his own camp. His scouts and spies were numerous, sharp and faithful. They marched in the ranks with the secession troops at times, hung about officers’ quarters, picked up all the information they could and then made their way inside the Federal lines in a very short time. For the most part Lyon’s scouts were residents of this part of the State and knew all the country very thoroughly. Gen. Price, too, had scouts and spies, who kept _him_ posted—who, by various ruses and stratagems visited the Federal camps, and obtained valuable information and conveyed it to “Old Pap” in short order. And Price’s scouts, too, were chiefly residents of Southwest Missouri. A number of Greene county men did scouting for both Price and Lyon.
Learning of the movements of Price and McCulloch, Gen. Lyon determined to go out and meet them. He first sent more messengers to Gen. Fremont, at St. Louis, begging for reinforcements, and late in the afternoon of Thursday, the 1st of August, his entire army, which, by the addition of Sigel’s and Sturgis’ forces, had been increased to 5,868 men of all arms, infantry, cavalry and eighteen pieces of artillery, led by himself, moved toward Cassville, leaving behind a force of volunteers and Home Guards to guard Springfield. That night the army bivouacked about ten miles southwest of Springfield, on a branch of the James. Gen. Lyon’s subordinate commanders were Brig. Gen. T. W. Sweeney, Col. Sigel and Maj. Sturgis. The next morning, early, the command moved forward. It was a hot day and the men suffered severely from dust, heat and excessive thirst, most of the wells and the streams being dry. Towards evening five dollars was offered for a canteen of warm ditch water.
At Dug Springs the army halted, having come up with Gen. Rains’ advance of the Southern forces. The Missourians were first observed about 11 o’clock in the forenoon, at a house by the roadside with a wagon partially laden with cooked provisions, from which they were driven away by shell from one of Capt. Totten’s guns. At the Dug Springs (which are in an oblong valley, five miles in length and broken by projecting spurs of the hills, which form wooded ridges), at about 5 o’clock in the evening a skirmish took place between Rains’ secessionists and a battalion of regular infantry under Capt. Fred Steele, a company of U. S. dragoons under Capt. D. S. Stanley, and two 6-pounders of Capt. Totten’s battery. The Southerners were driven away with a loss of one killed, perhaps half a dozen wounded, and ten prisoners. A Lieutenant Northent is reported as having been mortally wounded. The Federal loss was four killed outright, one mortally wounded, and about thirty slightly wounded. Three of the Federal killed were Corporal Klein, and Privates Givens and Devlin.
On the side of the Missourians a young man named H. D. Fulbright, was sunstruck in the engagement, and died. W. J. Frazier, of the Greene County Company, attached to McBride’s division, was wounded.
The Federals pursued next morning, going as far as Curran, or McCullah’s store, nearly on the county line between Stone and Barry counties, and twenty-six miles from Springfield. During the day a scouting party of secessionists, which had come across the country from Marionville, was encountered at dinner. Totten’s artillery was brought up, a few shells fired, and the Southern troops did not wait for the dessert! This is a brief, but correct account of what is often referred to in histories of the civil war as the “_battle_” of Dug Springs.
GEN. LYON FALLS BACK.
Finding that the enemy in his front was much his superior in numbers, Gen. Lyon determined to go no farther than Curran, but to return to Springfield and await the reinforcements so urgently requested of Gen. Fremont before risking a decisive battle, the result of which would certainly mean a splendid victory and possession of all Southwestern Missouri to one party or the other. The Federal scouts also reported that a large force of State Guards was marching to the assistance of Gen. Price from toward Sarcoxie. Accordingly, after a conference with his officers, Sweeney, Sigel, and Majors Sturgis, Schofield, Shepherd, and Conant, and the artillery captains, Totten and Schaeffer, Gen. Lyon countermarched his army and returned to Springfield, coming this time directly to the town, where he arrived August 5th. The main body of the army camped about the town. Nearly 2,000 of the volunteers and regulars under Lt. Col. Andrews, of the 1st Missouri, and Maj. Sturgis were stationed out about four miles from town. Two days later this force was withdrawn to the line of defence around the town.
A vigilant guard was at once set upon all roads and avenues of approach to Springfield. No one was allowed to _go out_, except physicians, although everybody was admitted. Never, perhaps, in the history of war was a camp so well guarded, and all knowledge of its character kept so well from the enemy as was Gen. Lyon’s at Springfield.
Col. Thos. L. Snead, now of New York City, and Gen. Price’s assistant adjutant general in 1861, has kindly furnished much very valuable information to the writer hereof, and through this volume to the world at large. The colonel’s means of knowledge are very superior, and he has manifested the utmost willingness to impart what he knows concerning the memorable days of July and August, 1861.
Col. Snead says that on Sunday morning, August 4th (1861), Gen. Price and he rode over to Gen. McCulloch’s headquarters, at McCulloch’s farm, and in the presence of Snead and Col. James McIntosh, who was McCulloch’s adjutant general, Gen. Price urged McCulloch to co-operate with him in an attack on Lyon, who was supposed to be in the immediate front,—it not then being known to the Confederates that he had retreated. McCulloch had no faith in Price’s skill as an officer, and a profound contempt for the Missouri officers generally,—and for Gen. Rains particularly.[1]
Gen. Price was a major-general of Missouri militia, McCulloch only a Confederate brigadier. Price had a loud voice and a positive address, and always spoke to McCulloch as if the latter were his inferior. “Do you mean to march on and attack Lyon, Gen. McCulloch?” he demanded. “I have not received orders yet to do so, sir,” answered McCulloch; “my instructions leave me in doubt whether I will be justified in doing so.” “Now, sir,” said Price, still in his loud, imperious tone, “I have commanded in more battles than you ever saw, Gen. McCulloch. I have three times as many troops as you. I am of higher rank than you are, and I am twenty years your senior in age and general experience. I waive all these considerations, Gen. McCulloch, and if you will march upon the enemy I will obey your orders, and give you the whole command and all the glory to be won there!” McCulloch said he was then expecting a dispatch from President Davis, and would take Gen. Price at his word if it should be favorable, and if after consultation with Gen. Pearce the latter should agree also to co-operate, Gen. Pearce having an independent command of Arkansas State troops.
Gen. Price immediately called his general officers together and told them what he had done. They were at first violently opposed to his action, but finally they gave their unwilling consent to what they considered an unnecessary self-abasement. In the afternoon McCulloch and McIntosh came to Price’s headquarters, and McCulloch announced that he had received from Richmond, since morning, dispatches that gave him greater freedom of action and also that he would receive that night 1,000 reinforcements (Greer’s Texas regiment), and that he would therefore accede to Gen. Price’s proposition and assume command of the combined armies and march against Gen. Lyon. Accordingly Col. Snead wrote, by Gen. Price’s direction, the necessary orders and had them published to the Missouri State Guard. It having been learned that the Federals were retreating, orders were given to move that very night. Lyon had, however, escaped, “and,” says Col. Snead, “this was fortunate for us, perhaps.”
THE SOUTHERN FORCES UNDER PRICE AND M’CULLOCH ENTER GREENE COUNTY—A GREAT BATTLE IMMINENT.
When Gen. Rains’ troops were driven from the field at Dug Springs, they fell back on the main army under Price and McCulloch, some five miles away, and reported that the force which had assailed them was not only vastly superior to their own, but was much larger and more formidable than the combined Southern army. It was evident that Gen. Rains, if not badly whipped, was badly frightened. The Confederates and Missourians were then encamped on Crane Creek, in the northern part of Stone county.
Thereupon there was confusion among the principal Southern officers. General McCulloch counselled a retreat and General Price advocated a forward movement. Price’s officers and men agreed with him and were “eager for the fray.” As McCulloch was unwilling to advance, General Price asked him to loan him some arms for the destitute portion of his command, that the Missourians might advance by themselves. McCulloch at first refused; afterwards 800 muskets were furnished the Missourians. The embarrassing disagreement continued till in the evening of Sunday, August 4, when an order was received by McCulloch from the Confederate authorities ordering what Price much desired—an advance on General Lyon. A council was at once held, at which McCulloch agreed to march on Springfield provided he was granted the chief command of the consolidated army. Price, to whom in right and justice the supreme command belonged, anxious to encounter the Federals and defeat and drive them from the State before they could be reinforced by Fremont from St. Louis, consented to the terms of the imperious Texas ranger, saying: “I am not fighting for distinction, but for the liberties of my country, and I am willing to surrender not only my command but my life, if necessary, as a sacrifice to the cause.” A little after midnight, therefore, on Sunday, August 4, the Southern camp was broken up and the troops took up the line of march, which was continued slowly and cautiously, along the Fayetteville road to the crossing of Wilson’s Creek, near the Christian county line, in sections 25 and 26, tp. 28, range 23, ten miles southwest of Springfield, which locality was reached on the 6th.