A SUCCESSFUL MOVEMENT. 281 taking possession of the steamers not sunk or injured, he remained until the forces landed. As Colonel Buford was in command of these forces, Colonel Elliott turned over to his infantry force the prisoners, batteries, and captured property for safe keeping, and proceeded to cross the country in the direction of Tiptonville, along Reelfoot Lake, as directed. "It is almost impossible to give a correct account of the immense quantity of artillery, ammunition, and supplies of every description which fell into our hands. Three generals, two hundred and seventy-three field and company officers, six thousand seven hundred prisoners, one hundred and twentythree pieces of heavy artillery, all of the very best character and of the latest patterns, seven thousand stand of small arms, several wharf-boat loads of provisions, an immense quantity of ammunition of all kinds, many hundred horses and mules, with wagons and harness, etc., etc., are among the spoils. Very few if any of the enemy escaped, and only by wading and swimming through the swamps. The conduct of the troops was splendid throughout, as the results of this operation and its whole progress very plainly exhibit. We have crossed the great river, the banks of which were lined with batteries and defended by seven thousand men; we have pursued and captured the whole force of the ene tion, with orders to land as rapidly as possible on the opposite shore and push forward to Tiptonville, to which point the enemy's forces were tending from every direction. I sent no force to occupy the deserted batteries opposite Island No. 10, as it was my first purpose to capture the whole army of the enemy. At eight or nine o'clock that night (the 7th), the small party abandoned on the island, finding themselves deserted, and fearing an attack in the rear from our land forces, which they knew had crossed the river in the morning, sent a message to Commodore Foote, surrendering to him. The divisions were pushed forward to Tiptonville as fast as they were landed, Paine leading. The enemy attempted to make a stand several times near that place, but Paine did not once deploy his columns. By midnight all our forces were across the river and pushing forward rapidly to Tiptonville. The enemy retreating before Paine, and from Island No. 10, met at Tiptonville during the night in great confusion, and were driven back into the swamps by the advance of our forces, until at four o'clock A. M. on the 8th, finding themselves completely cut off, and being apparently unable to resist, they. laid down their arms and surrendered at discretion. They were so scattered and confused that it was several days before anything like an accurate account of their number could be made. Meantime I had directed Colonel W. L. Elliott, of the 2d Iowa cav-my and all his supplies and material of alry, who had crossed the river after dark, to proceed as soon as day dawned to take possession of the enemy's abandoned works on the Tennessee shore, opposite Island No. 10, and to save the steamers if he possibly could. He reached there before sunrise that morning (the 8th), and took possession of the encampments, the immense quantity of stores and supplies, and of all the enemy's batteries on the main land. He also brought in almost two hundred prisoners. After posting his guards and war, and have again recrossed and occupied the camp at New Madrid, without losing a man or meeting with an accident. Such results bespeak efficiency, good conduct, high discipline, and soldierly deportment of the best character, far better than they can be exhibited in pitched battles or the storming of fortified places. Patience, willing labor, endurance of hardship and privation for long periods, cheerful and prompt obedience, order and discipline, bravery and spirit, are the qualities which these operations have devel oped in the forces under my command, command, a few days before the surren- The final dispatches of Commodore Foote to the Department at Washington complete the history of this memorable siege. At dawn on the morning of the 7th, when General Pope was about to cross the river with his forces, for the decisive attack on their rear, two officers of the rebel navy boarded the flag-ship, stating that, by order of their commanding officer, they were ordered to surrender Island No. 10 to the commander of the fleet. Captain Phelps was thereupon sent to ascertain the position of the batteries on the Tennessee shore, and returned with the information that they had been hastily evacuated. General Buford, commanding the troops, was then ordered by Commodore Foote to proceed immediately, in company with two of the gunboats, and take possession of the island. Communication was then had with General Pope; and, in place of the combined attack of the naval and land forces, for which all was prepared, the two commanders had the less onerous duty to perform of receiving rebel officers, calculating the number of men surrendered, and investigating the extent of the military preparations of the enemy, the forts and batteries, which it had required twenty-three days of courageous and most ingenious effort, on land and water, Lo gain possession of. As a trophy of the occupation, Commodore -Foote had the satisfaction of enclosing, in his official report to Secretary Welles, a copy of the order of BrigadierGeneral W. D. McCall, the rebel commander of the forces to which he had been opposed. It was issued on taking To this welcome dispatch, announcing a conclusion so satisfactory of a siege watched with no little interest by the public, and over the inevitable delays of which they had shown some impatience, Secretary Welles responded in a cheering bulletin. Flag-Officer A. H. Foote, Commanding Gunboats on Western Waters, Sir: A nation's thanks are due you and the brave officers and men of the flotilla on the Mississippi, whose labors and gallantry at Island No. 10, which surrendered to you yesterday, have for weeks been watched with intense interest. Your triumph is not the less appreciated because it was protracted and finally bloodless. To that Being who has protected you through so many perils, and carried you onward to successive victories, be the praises for his continued goodness to our country, and especially for this last great success of our arms. Let the congratulations to yourself and your command be also extended to the officers and soldiers who coöperated with you." 1 CHAPTER LVII. BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE, ARKANSAS, MARCH 6TH AND 7TH, 1862. IN a recent chapter on the military affairs of General Halleck's Department of Missouri, we traced the brief and brilliant campaign of General Pope in his defeat of the rebel forces gathering to the command of the Confederate General Price, on the central portion of the State. This successful movement threw the insurgents back upon their old resting place in the southwesterly region, whence they were presently driven into Arkansas by the rapid pursuit of the Union forces from Rolla, under the command of General Samuel R. Curtis. This officer, born in Ohio, of a Connecticut family, in 1807, was a graduate of West Point of the year 1831. He resigned his commission the following year for the study of the law, practiced for a while, then turned his attention to engineering, and was employed as chief engineer of the Muskingum Works. When the Mexican war broke out, he volunteered for duty in the field, and accompanied General Taylor in his campaign, with the rank of Colonel. He was for a time governor of Monterey, and filled other positions of the kind requiring administrative ability. At the close of the war he returned home, was engaged in his professions of law and engineering, particularly in reference to the western railroads. He settled at Keokuk, Iowa, and was elected from that state to Congress in 1858, and again in 1860. He resigned his seat to enter the army, his name occurring in the first list of appointments of Brigadier-Generals of the 17th of May, 1861. Early in February, General Curtis' army in Missouri, formed in divisions. under acting Brigadier-Generals Colonel Jefferson C. Davis and Colonel E. A. Carr and Generals Sigel and Asboth, was pushing on rapidly from Rolla, the termination of the railway communication with St. Louis, by way of Lebanon, toward Springfield, where the rebel General Price had, since his retreat from the Osage, established his headquarters, in his own language, "for the purpose of being within reach of supplies, protecting that portion of our State from both Home Guard depredations and Federal invasion, as well as to secure a most valuable point for military movements." He had received from Grand Glaze supplies of clothing, camp and garrison equipage, built huts, and congratulated himself on the comfortable condition of the army of four thousand men, which, "Missouri having been admitted as an equal member of the Confederate States," he had been enabled to raise and equip for the Confederate service. From this state of security, General Price was roused by reports of the gathering army of General Curtis. He called upon the commanders of the confederate troops in Arkansas for reinforcements, with the expectation of holding his position; but the Union force descended too rapidly upon him, and after some sharp skirmishing on the 12th of February between his pickets and the advance of General Curtis' troops, fearing to be outnumbered and defeated, he prudently avoided the impending engagement by a sudden retreat during the night. At daylight the Union advance entered the town, found there six hundred sick who had been left behind, captured a large amount of stores General Price to C. F. Jackson, Governor of Missouri. Arkansas, February 25, 1862. Missouri cavalry were poisoned at Mud Town by eating poisoned food which the rebels left behind them. The gallant Captain Dolfert died, and LieutenantColonel Van Deutzh and Captain Schwan have suffered much, but are now recovering. The indignation of our soldiers is very great, but they have been restrained from retaliation upon the prisoners of war." On the 1st of March, General Curtis was led, by the misrepresentations which had been made by the enemy of the purposes and conduct of his army, to issue an "Address to the People of the Southwest." In it he set forth the difficulties of the situation, and his desire that the burdens of war should fall as lightly as possible upon the innocent. The only legitimate object of the war, said he, was peace, and peaceable citizens should be protected. The flight of the citizens from their homes, however, "leaving their effects abandoned, as it were, for their victors," he admitted, and equipage, and, to the delight of the loyal inhabitants, raised the flag of the Union once more over the court house. The retreating army was immediately pursued by the whole Union force, and driven by forced marches beyond the border of the State. They took the route by Cassville to Benton county, the extreme north-westerly corner of Arkansas, the troops of General Curtis pressing closely upon their rear with frequent skirmishing. At the old battle-ground at Wilson's Creek, where there was some expectation the rebels might make a stand, the Union troops found only the deserted camp-fires of the enemy, who had left but a few hours before. The chase was very exciting. After reaching Cassville, for four days there was a continual series of attacks. The whole march into Arkansas of over two hundred miles from Rolla, was, in the words of the tribute of General Curtis to his troops, "attended with continual exhibitions of toil, privation, conflict, and gallantry." The report of General Price," had much embarrassed him in his efalready cited, bears equal testimony to the ardor of the pursuit. "Retreating and fighting," says he, "all the way to the Cross Hollows in this State (Arkansas), I am rejoiced to say, my command, under the most exhausting fatigue, with but little rest for either man or horse, and no sleep, sustained themselves and came through, repulsing the enemy upon every occasion with great determination and gallantry." The Federal troops crossed the Missouri line into Arkansas on the 18th, with cheers for the restoration of the Union. On the 23d of February, General Curtis entered and took possession of Fayetteville, capturing a number of prisoners, stores, and baggage. The enemy burnt part of the town before leaving on their flight over the Boston Mountains. A barbarous incident of the war is thus recorded by General Halleck in his dispatch to General McClellan, informing him of the capture. Forty-two officers and men of the 5th forts to preserve discipline in his command, as these circumstances offered extraordinary temptations. The burning of farms and fields of grain in Missouri, and extensive barracks and valuable mills in Arkansas by the enemy, has induced some resentments on the part of my troops, which I have severely punished. Necessary supplies for my command could not keep up with my rapid movements, and peaceable citizens not being at home to sell them to my quartermasters, I am compelled to take them without purchase, making settlement difficult and doubtful; occasioning irregularities which I have always labored to counteract. If peaceably disposed citizens will stay at home, or return home, and check the clandestine, stealthy warfare that is carried on under the cover and cloak of peaceable citizens, much of the havoc of war will be avoided, and many poor families can be protected from distress and misery. I have fol GENERAL CURTIS' APPEAL. lowed the war-path through the entire State of Missouri, have seen the havoc and devastation surrounding it, and I deplore the prospect of these disasters in the virgin soil of Arkansas. 285 eral Halleck, from his headquarters at St. Louis :-"Soldiers of the Army of the South-west! You have nobly performed the duties assigned to you. You have made a long and fatiguing march in midwinter, over almost impassable roads, through snow, deep mud, and swollen streams. You have driven the enemy from Missouri into the barren mountains of Arkansas. It was not your fault that he did not stay to give you battle. Fighting, however, is but a small part of a soldier's duty. It is discipline, endurance, activity, obedience to orders, as much as steadiness and courage on the battle-field, that distinguishes the veteran from the recruit. Let not the honor you have won in this campaign be tarnished by any excesses or improprieties. All officers must maintain order and enforce discipline in their commands. You have an active foe before you. Be vigilant and ready to take advantage of the first op "We have restored," he added, in an earnest appeal," the Stars and Stripes to Northwestern Arkansas, where I am glad to find many who rejoice to see the emblem of their former glory, and hope for a restoration of the peace and happiness they have enjoyed under its folds. A surrender to such a flag is only a return to your natural allegiance, and is more honorable than to persist in a rebellion that surrendered to the National power at Forts Henry and Donelson, at Nashville and at Roanoke, and throughout the most powerful Southern States. Why then shall the West be devastated to prolong a struggle which the States of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee cannot successfully maintain? Disband your compan-portunity to fight him."* ies; surrender your arms; for in all instances where men in arms have voluntarily surrendered and taken the oath of allegiance to our common country, they have been discharged. No prisoners have, to my knowledge, been shot or hung, or cruelly treated by us. I know of no instance where my troops have treated females with violence, and I have not heard of a complaint of any kind. I enjoin on the troops kindness, protection and support for women and children. I shall, to the best of my ability, maintain our country's flag in Arkansas, and continue to make relentless war on its foes, but shall rejoice to see the restoration of peace in all the States and Territories of our country-that peace which we formerly enjoyed and earnestly desire; and I implore for each and all of us that ultimate, eternal peace which the world cannot give or take away.'" The services rendered by the Union troops in the long and arduous pursuit of the rebels was handsomely acknowledged in a bulletin issued by command of Gen Though he had thus freed Missouri from the presence of a confederate army, General Curtis was well aware that he could hold the advantage which he had gained for the State only by an obstinate further contest with the foe, whose haunts he had invaded. General Price, though sorely pressed, had carried off his army with comparatively little loss in his flight; and, indeed, had greatly recruited his ranks, by gathering in by the way a considerable portion of the population whom his misrepresentations of the Union army had induced to abandon their homes. He was now within easy reach of the regiments in Arkansas whom he had vainly called to his aid at Springfield. A new Confederate army, in fact, was rapidly assembling, with the hope of destroying the Union forces and regaining the lost ground in Missouri. It was the calculation of General Curtis at this time that General Price was reinforced by at least eleven regiments, brought to the field by General McCulloch, and five commanded Bulletin of Gen. Halleck, St. Louis, March 5, 1862. |