THE GREAT BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK.

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It was very true, indeed, that his numbers were greatly inferior to those of the enemy. He had repeatedly besought the Federal Government to reinforce him; and had set forth, with clearness and power, the reasons which rendered such a course imperative. But the Government was either unable or unwilling to comply, and he was left to his fate. But it was also evident that a retreat from Springfield would, at that critical moment, be highly pernicious to the cause of the Union in Missouri, and might produce the most disastrous effects. Thousands would • thenceforth regard the Rebels as irresistible, and identify themselves with their side. A defeat even would be preferable after a battle, than a flight without a conflict. But, like a brave and gallant officer, Lyon anticipated a victory even against overwhelming odds; and he resolved to try the issue of a desperate and deadly conflict. His first plan was to make a night attack on the foe; but his arrangements could not be completed until several hours after the appointed time. He then determined to postpone the engagement until the next day. This was Saturday, August 9th, 1861.

At eight o'clock on the preceding evening Colonel Sigel was ordered to march with his command, with that of Colonel Solomon, in a southward direction from Springfield; to pass around the camp of the enemy unobserved; to take a position in their rear, and when he heard the guns of Lyon's division in the front, to commence an attack on the Rebels. Sigel accomplished his journey by two o'clock on Saturday morning. He had taken six cannon with him. General Lyon advanced from Springfield with all the troops under his command during Friday night, and reached the position of the enemy, nine miles south of that town, at four o'clock in the morning. He then halted until the hour of attack arrived. At six o'clock the action commenced. The Rebels were posted in an advantageous position. Their camp had been placed at the northern end of a verdant vale; but their troops were drawn out to meet the Federals upon the hills which intervened between them and their camp. The pickets of the latter were first driven in. Then Captain Wright, with four companies of mounted Home Guards, skirmished with a small body of horsemen who had taken a position in advance on the left. These were the mere lures of an ambuscade; and, by retiring, they endeavored to draw the Federal detachments into a position of danger. The artifice partly succeeded; for three thousand Rebels rushed upon the Federals, and by superioity of numbers, compelled them to give way.

By this time the Federal troops on the other extremity of the line had engaged the enemy. The first Missouri regiment, the battalion of Osterhaus, and the battery of Totten, were advantageously posted on an eminence; and they commenced a vigorous attack upon the Rebel host arrayed against them. Soon the latter broke and fled in confusion, until they reached the summit of another hill in the rear. The Federals pur

sued, but in their advance they encountered a fresh regiment of Louisiana troops. A desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued between them. This lasted about forty-five minutes. The Rebels were again routed; and as they retired, were pursued till the victors reached the brow of a third eminence. There they encountered another fresh detachment of the enemy, and another desperate contest followed, more furious and deadly than had yet occurred. The contest here was also protracted, and the combatants struggled inch by inch for the possession of the field. The fire of the Rebels was very destructive, and the result was for a time doubtful. Fresh Iowa and Kansas troops were ordered forward to support those already engaged, and were assailed by treble their own numbers. Captain Gratz was slain while gallantly leading forward his men. Lieutenant Brown was disabled by a severe scalp wound, and was carried to the rear. The slaughter on both sides was fearful. The powerful batteries of Totten and Dubois, which were admirably served, mowed down the serried ranks of the enemy like frost work, and covered the ground with heaps of the wounded and the slain. But the vast numbers of the Rebels enabled them to repair their losses with new detachments, and to hurl back the tide of death upon their assailants.

Thus the action became general between both armies along the whole line. The chief brunt of the battle had been borne by the Missouri, the Iowa and the Kansas regiments. General Lyon had superintended all the operations of the Federal troops. He rode fearlessly from regiment to regiment, encouraging the men, and giving the necessary orders. He had received two wounds, which, though painful, were not dangerous. Still he rode from rank to rank, inspired with a heroism which, by voice and gesture, he endeavored to communicate to his men. He well knew the mighty and overwhelming odds against which he and they contended; and when he saw unusual acts of steadiness and bravery, he cheered the actors with almost boyish ardor. He had feared, before the battle began, that the first Iowa regiment, under Colonel Merritt, would not prove staunch when made to confront the foe. When, however, he saw them pass into action under a heavy fire with the utmost firmness; assault the enemy with the vigor and energy of veterans; compel the successive masses of fresh troops which the Rebels brought forward to recoil; relieve the first Missouri regiment which, after two hours of fighting, were nearly exhausted and were about giving way, and thus recover the advantage over the exultant foe; when General Lyon observed all this, he cheered the Iowa regiment heartily, and expressed his admiration of them with the utmost enthusiasm.

At length that heroic commander resolved to make a still more vigor. ous and combined effort to overpower the Rebel host and secure the victory. He gave the order to prepare to make a general bayonet charge. When all was ready and the troops were about to advance, it was discovered

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that the commanding officer of the Iowa troops was missing. No time was to be lost, and General Lyon exclaimed; "Come on, brave men! I will lead you!" At the head of the gallant Iowa boys he rode forward toward the enemy, whose inexhaustible numbers still swelled up toward them like the tumultuous tides of an endless and fathomless sea. The charge was made, the enemy wavered and fled after a terrific collision; but General Lyon, during the struggle, was slain. He received a ball in the side, fell from his horse, and immediately expired. About the same moment General Sweeney was wounded in the leg and disabled. The command then devolved upon Major Sturgis. The partial retreat of the enemy now caused an interval of twenty minutes in the firing, after which they made a fresh assault. That assault was their most desperate one, but it was their last. The field was already covered with bleeding and mangled multitudes of their dead and wounded. Their immense hordes had been greatly thinned by the heroic and desperate valor of the Federal troops; but the fire of Totten's battery, with the general energy and bravery of our men, again shattered and broke their columns and again they fled. It was now eleven o'clock, and during five hours the battle had raged. Before retiring the enemy set fire to thirty or forty wagons lest they might fall into the hands of the victors.

At this time, though the Federal troops had gained a decisive victory, they were unable to continue the contest or to make a pursuit. The reason was because the ammunition of Totten's battery had become exhausted, and because the death and wounds of so many officers on the Federal side diminished their confidence and vigor. Moreover, it had been ascertained that the troops under Sigel had been unfortunate, and had not effectually carried out their portion of the programme. As soon as that officer heard the guns of Lyon in the front of the enemy, he approached the scene of conflict and commenced an attack. But he was met and overwhelmed by so vast a body of Rebel troops that, after a brief but vigorous contest, he was defeated, and compelled to give way. He lost five of his guns and many of his men, and effected nothing in favor of the Federal troops who were operating in front. He succeeded afterward in making his escape with the larger portion of his command. After the conclusion of the battle the whole of the Federal army retired in good order to Springfield, and still later to Rolla, under the skilful guidance of Colonel Sigel; the defeated foe making no effort to pursue them. The loss of the Federal troops was considerable, being about two hundred killed and seven hundred wounded. They took four hundred horses and seventy prisoners. The loss of the enemy was much greater than our own, though the precise number is unknown to us. The battlefield was covered with gory heaps of their dead and wounded. Their vast superiority in numbers, and their formidable batteries of twentyone guns, were the sole causes that they maintained the contest so long

and the reason why their defeat was not still more disastrous. The praise of superior bravery, steadiness and skill, belonged to the little band of heroes who, on this bloody day, fought for the honor and su premacy of the immortal Stars and Stripes. Many of them now sleep in a soldier's grave; but the noblest and bravest of them all was -he who commanded them, and led them to victory.

The war for the Union has not failed to develop instances of the most exalted patriotism and valor, which will forever elicit the grateful pride and enthusiasm of every lover of his country. One of the most remarkable of those who have challenged the close and admiring scrutiny of mankind was the conqueror of the Rebel hordes at Wilson's Creek. General Nathaniel Lyon was one of the genuine heroes of this stormy and disastrous time. There was no hypocritical sham, no false or arrogant pretence, no mean or selfish impulse about him. His character realized, with rare completeness and clearness, Carlyle's definition of what constitutes a genuine hero. Said that profound thinker, in his fourth lecture on Heroes and Hero worship; "We have repeatedly endeavored to explain that all sorts of heroes are intrinsically of the same material; that, given a great soul open to the divine signifiance of life, then there is given a man fit to speak of this, to sing of this, to fight and work for this, in a great, victorious, enduring manner; there is given a hero, the outward shape of whom will depend on the time and the environment he finds himself in."* Every characteristic of General Lyon and every act which he performed, indicated the presence and power of such an heroic soul within him.

Nathaniel Lyon was born at Ashford, Connecticut, in the year 1819. He was well descended; and his ancestors on his mother's side distinguished themselves in the Revolutionary War. One of those ancestors was the famous Colonel Knowlton, who commanded the Connecticut troops at the "Old Rail Fence," on the left wing of the patriot army at Bunker Hill. He was afterward killed at the battle on Harlem Heights, near New York. The future hero of Wilson's Creek gave indications of superior talent at an early age; but the tendency of his mind was toward mathematical studies and mechanical contrivances. Having chosen the military profession he entered the Academy at West Point. He graduated with honor in 1841, entered the regular service, rapidly rose to the rank of captain, and distinguished himself in the Mexican war. He displayed superior skill and bravery at Vera Cruz, Contreras, Churubusco, and was wounded while fighting near the Belem Gate, in the city of Mexico. After the termination of the war he was engaged in active service in Missouri and California. His reputation stood high in both of those States. When the war of Secession began, he was chosen by the

* Heroes, Hero Worship, and the Heroic in History, by Thomas Carlyle, page 133.