GENERAL McCULLOCH'S REPORT. tween these batteries during the engagement. Hebert's regiment of Louisiana Volunteers, and McIntosh's regiment of Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, were ordered to the front, and after passing the battery (Totten's), turned to the left and soon engaged the enemy with the regiments deployed. Colonel McIntosh dismounted his regiment, and the two marched up abreast of a fence around a large corn-field, where they met the left of the enemy already posted. A terrible conflict of small arms took place here. The opposing force was a body of regular United States Infantry, commanded by Captains Plummer and Gilbert. Notwithstanding the galling fire poured on 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 attempting to sustain themselves in the centre, and were hotly engaged on the sides of the height upon which the enemy were posted. Far on the right, Sigel had opened his battery upon Churchill's and Greer's regiments, and had gradually made his way to the Springfield road, upon each side of which the army was encamped, and in a prominent position he established his battery. I at once took two companies of the Louisiana regiment, who were nearest me, and marched them rapidly from the front and right to the rear, with order to Colonel McIntosh to bring up the rest. When we arrived near the enemy's battery, we found that Reid's battery had opened upon it, and it was already in confusion. Advantage was taken of it, and soon the Louisianians were gallantly charging among the guns, and swept the cannoneers away. Five guns were here 527 taken, and Sigel's command completely routed, were in rapid retreat, with a single gan, followed by some companies of the Texan regiment and a portion of Colonel Major's Missouri cavalry. In the pursuit many of the enemy were killed and taken prisoners, and their last gun captured. "Having cleared our right and rear, it was necessary to turn all our attention to the centre, under General Lyon, who was pressing upon the Missourians, having driven them back. To this point McIntosh's regiment, under LieutenantColonel Embry, and Churchill's regiment on foot, Gratiot's regiment, and McRae's battalion were sent to their aid. The terrible fire of musketry was now kept up along the whole side and top 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 fighting with desperation for the day, Carroll's and Greer's regiments, led gallantly by Captain Bradfute, charged the battery, but the whole strength of the enemy was immediately in rear, and a deadly fire was opened upon them. At this critical moment, when the fortune of the day seemed to be at the turning point, two regiments of General Pearce's brigade were ordered to march from their position (as reserves) to support the centre. The order was obeyed with alacrity, and General Pearce gallantly rushed with his brigade to the rescue. Reid's battery was also ordered to move forward. and the Louisiana regiment was again called into action on the left of it. The battle then became general, and probably no two opposing forces ever fought with greater desperation; inch by inch the enemy gave way, and were driven he had already done distinguished serfrom their position; Totten's battery fell vices at the battle of Rock Creek, where back ianians and Texans pushed forward. The incessant roll of musketry was deafening, and the balls fell as thick as hailstones; but still our gallant Southerners pushed onward, and with one wild yell broke upon the enemy, pushing them places, and died just as the victorious back and strewing the ground with their shouts of our army began to rise upon dead. Nothing could withstand the im- the air. Here, too, died, in the dispetuosity of our final charge; the enemy charge of his duty, Colonel Benjamin fled, and could not again be rallied, and Brown, of Ray county, President of the they were seen, at 12 M., last retreating Senate, a good man and true." The among the hills in the distance. Thus story of the day multiplies these eulogies. ended the battle. It lasted six hours We may accept them from both sides. and a half." Good men and true may be deluded by their pride or prejudices. The deepest sorrow for them, the heaviest indignation for the leaders, the traitorous conspirators by whom the offence cometh. Missourians, Arkansians, Louis-he commanded the State forces after the death of the lamented Holloway, and at Carthage where he won unfading laurels by the display of extraordinary coolness, courage and skill. He fell at the head of his brigade, wounded in three The loss in this battle was very heavy in proportion to the number engaged. It appears by official returns that the loss of the Union army was two hundred and twenty-three killed, seven hundred The Union forces, the morning after the and twenty-one wounded, and two hun- battle, left Springfield, and began their redred and ninety-one missing; a total treat under command of Colonel Sigel, to loss in killed and wounded of about one- whom Major Sturgis and the other offififth of the number engaged. General cers assigned the direction of the moveMcCulloch, the Confederate commander, ment, a distance of about a hundred and states his loss at two hundred and sixty-twenty-five miles in a north-westerly difive killed, eight hundred wounded, and thirty missing. General Price reports one hundred and fifty-six killed on the field, and five hundred and seventeen wounded of his Missouri State Guardabout one-eighth of his command. "This great victory," he writes, "was dearly bought by the blood of many a skillful officer and brave man. Among those who fell mortally wounded on the battlefield, none deserve a dearer place in the memory of Missourians than Richard Hanson Weightman, Colonel commanding the first brigade of the second division of the army. Taking up arms at the very beginning of this unhappy contest, rection, to Rolla, where there was railway communication with St. Louis. The southern portion of the State was thus left open to the depredations of the Confederates. It was more than a month afterward, however, before they made any further inroad upon the north, when General Price, having mustered a considerable force, appeared before Lexington. The immediate result of General Lyon's battle was undoubtedly to give an important check to the movements of the secessionists. Its lasting influence was felt throughout the war, and will not be forgotten in another age. When public speakers would animate the valor of the FUNERAL OF GENERAL LYON. 529 newly-enlisted officers and their recruits," indomitable" General Lyon, which we untried in the experience of the camp, have already recorded in the official rethey held up the example of the courage port of Major Sturgis, he invited all to and devotion of Lyon; when Represent- "emulate his prowess and undying devoatives in Congress would stimulate the tion to his duty. The regiments and activity of generals in the field, they corps engaged in this battle will be perpointed to the energy of Lyon; when mitted to have 'Springfield' emblazoned patriots would rebuke the corrupt horde on their colors as a distinguished memoof army contractors, fattening upon the rial of their services to the nation." misfortunes of the State, they turned to dwell with admiration on the purity and self-denying virtues of Lyon, the singleminded lover of his country. General Lyon was never married. He left three brothers and three sisters. It was stated at the time of his death that he had bequeathed some thirty thousand dollars, the frugal gatherings of his career in the public service, to the nation; but this was an error. He made no such disposition of his property, nor was he called upon to do so. That such an anecdote was invented and generally credited shows, however, the view entertained of his character and devoted patriotism. By no one was this devotion more warmly acknowledged than by MajorGeneral Fremont, the commander of his department. On the receipt of the official reports of the officers engaged at Wilson's Creek, he issued a general order, in which he announced "with pride and the highest commendation the extraordinary services to their country and flag rendered by the division of the brave and lamented General Lyon. Opposed by overwhelming masses of the enemy in a numerical superiority of upward of twenty thousand against four thousand three hundred, or nearly five to one, the successes of our troops were nevertheless sufficiently marked to give to their exploits the moral effect of a victory." Adopting the glowing eulogy of the The body of General Lyon was placed in an ambulance to be carried from the field, and by some accident was not removed in the retreat; but was recovered by a flag of truce and borne to Springfield. There the remains were taken in charge by the wife of the Hon. J. S. Phelps, loyal member of Congress of the district, and entombed. They were presently removed to the East by two members of the family of the fallen General, who were received by the Confederate military authorities at Springfield with every consideration for their melancholy errand. At St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New York and Hartford, the remains were accorded public honors as they were borne to a final resting-place in the rural district of Connecticut, the village home where, forty-three years before, the lamented patriot first saw the light. A large procession, military and civic, attended the funeral, and eulogies and addresses were delivered in front of the church at Eastford by the Hon. Judge Carpenter of Connecticut, the Hon. Galusha A. Grow, Speaker of the national House of Representatives, Governor Buckingham of Connecticut, Governor Sprague of Rhode Island, and others. When the National Legislature met in December, it was resolved, by a joint resolution of both Houses, that "Congress deems it just and proper to enter upon its records a recognition of the emi nent and patriotic services of the late sure you that it is my firm determination Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon. The to protect every peaceable citizen in the country to whose service he devoted his full enjoyment of all his rights, whatever life, will guard and preserve his fame as may have been his sympathies in the a part of its own glory. That the thanks present unhappy struggle, if he has not of Congress are hereby given to the taken an active part in the cruel warfare brave officers and soldiers who, under which has been waged against the good the command of the late General Lyon, people of this State by the ruthless ensustained the honor of the flag and emies whom we have just defeated. I achieved victory against overwhelming therefore invite all good citizens to return numbers at the battle of Springfield in to their homes and the practice of their Missouri; and that in order to commem- ordinary avocations, with the full assurorate an event so honorable to the coun-ance that they, their families, their homes try and themselves, it is ordered that and their property shall be carefully each regiment engaged shall be authorized to bear upon its colors the word 'Springfield,' embroidered in letters of gold. And the President of the United States is hereby requested to cause these resolutions to be read at the head of every regiment in the army of the United States." General Price, the commander of the Missouri State Guard, issued a Proclamation after the battle, addressed to the People of Missouri. Declaring that the army under his command "had been organized under the laws of the State for the protection of their homes and firesides, and for the maintenance of the rights, dignity and honor of Missouri," he added that it was "kept in the field for these purposes alone, and to aid in accomplishing them, our gallant Southern brethren have come into our State with these. We have just achieved a glorious victory over the foe, and scattered far and wide the well-appointed army which the usurper at Washington has been more than six months gathering for your subjugation and enslavement. This victory frees a large portion of the State from the power of the invaders, and restores it to the protection of its army. It cousequently becomes my duty to as protected. I, at the same time, warn all evil-disposed persons, who may support the usurpations of any one claiming to be provisional or temporary Governor of Missouri, or who shall in any other way give aid or comfort to the enemy, that they will be held as enemies, and treated accordingly." The Confederate Congress at Richmond presently, on the 21st of August, on motion of Mr. Ochiltree of Texas, passed the following resolution : "Whereas it has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe to the arms of the Confederate States another glorious and important victory in a portion of the country where a reverse would have been disastrous, by exposing the families of the good people of the State of Missouri to the unbridled license of the brutal soldiery of an unscrupulous enemy; therefore, be it resolved: That the thanks of Congress are cordially tendered to Brigadier-General Ben McCulloch and the officers and soldiers of his brave command, for their gallant conduct in defeating, after a battle of six and a half hours, a force of the enemy equal in numbers, and greatly superior in all their appointments, thus proving that a right cause nerves the hearts and strengthens the DEFENCE OF LEXINGTON. 531 ters of the motives and conduct of the Federal army, raised at such cost and self-sacrifice for the preservation of the Union and the old liberties and prosper arms of the Southern people, fighting, as THE DEFENCE OF LEXINGTON, SEPTEMBER 12-20, 1861. We have now to turn our attention to the 1st Illinois regiment of cavalry, Cola position in western Missouri which be- onel Marshall, five hundred Missouri came the scene of one of the most inter- Home Guards, and the 23d regiment of esting episodes of the war. The town of the Irish brigade, a body of stalwart Lexington, the capital of Lafayette coun- men raised in Illinois, who were led by ty, situated on the southern bank of the Colonel James A. Mulligan of Chicago. Missouri river, three hundred miles This gentleman, of Irish parentage, was above St. Louis, occupies an important born in Utica, New York, in 1829. He frontier position, commanding the approach by water to Fort Leavenworth, and the direct communication with Independence and the great overland route to Santa Fé. It was a prosperous town, lying in a fertile region, and one of the most thriving settlements of the West. Its inhabitants were understood to be tainted with secession sentiments, and the place afforded, of course, a favorable opportunity for the operations of the insurgents. As the danger of its occupation became imminent, a small force was sent forward by order of General Fremont to take charge of the money in the banks, and protect the region from spoliation in aid of the rebellion. With these Colonel Mulligan, while encamped with and several accessions of troops, there his regiment at Jefferson City, at the end were collected at this place, early in Sep- of August, received an order to march to tember, a body of about twenty-seven the relief of Colonel Marshall's cavalry hundred men, composed of the 13th Mis- at Lexington, one hundred and twenty souri regiment vnder Colonel Peabody, miles by the road to the westward was educated at the Catholic College at Chicago, had studied law, and edited the Western Tablet in that city, been admitted to the bar, employed as a clerk in the Department of the Interior at Washington, and at the outbreak of the present war was Captain of a militia company, "Shields' Guards," at Chicago. With such antecedents, it was a natural step to a Colonelcy of the Irish Brigade raised in that city in 1861. The youth, enthusiasm, and energy of this officer proved important qualifications for the military career upon which he had entered, and which his command was destined successfully to illustrate. |