42

POSITION OF NATIONAL TROOPS IN MISSOURI.

CHAPTER II.

CIVIL AND MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MISSOURI

a 1861.

E left General Lyon in possession of Booneville, Missouri,' from which he had driven the Confederates under Price and Jackson, on the 18th of June. These leaders, as we have observed, were satisfied that the northern part of the State was lost to the cause of Secession, for the time, and they endeavored to concentrate their troops with Ben McCulloch's more southern men, in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth. We also left Colonel Franz Sigel in the vicinity of Rolla, pushing with eager Missouri loyalists toward the Confederate camps, on the borders of Kansas and Arkansas.

Colonel Sigel arrived at Springfield on the 23d of June, where he was informed that the Confederates, under Governor Jackson, were making their way from the Osage River in a southwesterly direction. He pushed on to Sarcoxie, a post-village in Jackson County, where he arrived toward the evening of the 28th, and learned that General Price, with about nine hundred troops, was encamped at Pool's Prairie, a few miles north of Neosho, the capital of Newton County, and that other State troops, under Jackson and Rains, were making their way in the same direction. It was important to prevent their junction. Sigel resolved to march first on Price, and capture or disperse his force, and then, turning northward, attack the other troops, and so open a communication with General Lyon, who, he had been informed (but incorrectly), had been fighting with the Confederates on the banks of the Little Osage.

Sigel's march from Sarcoxie had just commenced, when a scout brought him word that Price had fled from Pool's Prairie to Elk Milis, thirty miles south of Neosho. He at once turned his attention to the troops north of him, who he supposed were endeavoring to make their way into Arkansas. He sent forward a detachment of two companies, under Captain Grone, with two field-pieces, toward Cedar Creek and Grand Falls, on the Neosho, to occupy a road in this supposed route of the Confederates, and to gain information, while he pushed on with the remainder of his command to Neosho, receiving greetings of welcome from the inhabitants on the way, who had been pillaged by the insurgents. He had already summoned Colonel Salomon, with his Missouri battalion, to join him at Neosho, and with this addi

BATTLE NEAR CARTHAGE.

43

tion to his force, he went forward to meet his foe, leaving a single rifle company, under Captain Conrad, to protect the loyal inhabitants there, with orders to retreat to Sarcoxie if necessary.

Sigel encamped close by the south fork of the Spring River, southeast of Carthage, the capital of Jasper County, on the evening of the 4th of July, after a march of twenty-five miles, where he was informed that Jackson was nine or ten miles distant, in the direction of Lamar, the county seat of Barton County, with four or five thousand men. Sigel's force consisted of about five hundred and fifty men of the Third (his own) Missouri Regiment, and four hundred of the Fifth (Salomon's) Regiment, with two batteries of artillery, each consisting of four field-pieces-in all about fifteen hundred men. With these troops, and with his baggage-train three miles in the rear, he slowly advanced to find his foe on the morning of the 5th, his skirmishers driving before them large numbers of mounted riflemen, who seemed to be simply gathering information. Six miles northward of Carthage they passed the Dry Fork Creek, and, after a brisk march of three miles farther, they came upon the Confederates, under Governor Jackson, assisted by Brigadier-Generals Rains, Clark, Parsons, and Slack. They had been marching that morning in search of Sigel, and were now drawn up in battle order on the crown of a gentle ascent. Sigel was soon convinced that his foe was vastly his superior, not only in numbers, but in cavalry, but was deficient i artillery. They had but a few old pieces, which were charged with trace-chains, bits of iron, and other missiles. Sigel therefore determined to make his own cannon play an im portant part, for they were his chief reliance for success.

The battle commenced at a little past ten o'clock by Sigel's field-piece under Major Bischoff, and, after a desultory contest of over three hours, it wa observed that the

of which were on each flank, and four in the rear, of the little Union army. The retreat was made in perfect order, and was but little interrupted by fighting, excepting at the bluffs at Dry Fork Creek, through which the road passed. There the Confederate cavalry massed on Sigel's front and tried to impede his progress. These were quickly dispersed by his guns, and by a vigorous charge of his infantry.

44

RETREAT TO SPRINGFIELD.-LYON IN MOTION.

Finding the presence of an overwhelming force (estimated at full five thousand men, including a heavy reserve) too great to be long borne with safety, Sigel continued his orderly retreat to the heights near Carthage, having been engaged in a running fight nearly all the way. The Confederates still pressed him sorely. He attempted to give his troops rest at the village, but the cavalry of his enemy, crossing Spring River at various points, hung so threateningly on his flank, and so menaced the Springfield road, that he continued his retreat to Sarcoxie without much molestation, the Confederates relinquishing the pursuit a few miles from Carthage. The Nationals had lost in the battle thirteen killed and thirty-one wounded, all of whom were borne away by their friends. They also lost nine horses, a battery of four cannon, and one baggage wagon. In the mean time, Captain Conrad and his company of ninety men, who were left in Neosho, had been captured by the Confederates.' The loss of the insurgents, according to their own account, was from thirty to forty killed, and from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty wounded.' They also lost forty-five men made prisoners, eighty horses, and a considerable number of shot-guns, with which Jackson's cavalry were armed.

a July, 1861.

Being outnumbered by the Confederates, more than three to one, Colonel Sigel did not tarry at Sarcoxie, but continued his retreat by Mount Vernon to Springfield, where he was joined by General Lyon on the 13th," who took the chief command. It was a fortunate movement for Sigel; for within twelve hours after the battle, Jackson was re-enforced by Generals Price and Ben McCulloch, who came with several thousand Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas troops.

General Lyon had left Booneville in pursuit of the fugitive Confederates on the 3d of July, with a little army numbering about twenty-seven hundred men, with four pieces of artillery and a long baggage-train. The day was intensely hot. The commander was mounted on an iron-gray horse, accompanied by his body-guard, composed of ten German butchers of St. Louis, who were noted for their size, strength, and horsemanship, and were all well mounted and heavily armed with pistols and sabers. He reached an important ferry on the Grand River, a branch of the Osage, in Henry County, on the 7th, where he was joined by three thousand troops from b July. Kansas, under Major Sturgis. The whole force crossed the river, by means of a single scow, by ten o'clock on the 8th. In the mean time, two companies of cavalry, who crossed on the evening of the 7th, had pushed forward to gain the ferry on the Osage, twenty-two miles ahead. Near that point, in the midst of a dense forest, the main army reached the river in the afternoon of the 9th, when they were stirred by intense excitement, produced by intelligence of Colonel Sigel's fight near Carthage.

Lyon was now eighty miles from Springfield. Satisfied of Sigel's peril, he decided to change his course, and to hasten to the relief of that officer, by forced marches. Early on the morning of the 10th, regardless of the intense heat and lack of sleep, the army moved from the south bank of the

1 Report of Colonel Sigel to Brigadier-General Sweeney, dated Springfield, July 11th, 1861. "Pollard's First Year of the War, page 183. It is believed that the entire loss of the Confederates was at least 800 men.

LYON'S MARCH TO SPRINGFIELD.-CONFEDERATE FORCE. 45

Osage, and soon striking a dense forest, sometimes pathless and dark, they were compelled to make their way among steep hills, deep gorges, swiftly running streams, miry morasses, ugly gullies washed by the rains, jagged rocks, and fallen timbers. At three o'clock in the afternoon, when the army halted for dinner, they were twenty-seven miles from their starting-place in the morning. The march was resumed at sunset, and was continued until three o'clock on the morning of the 11th, when the commander ordered a halt. For forty-eight hours, most of the men had not closed their eyes in sleep. Within ten minutes after the order to halt was given, nine-tenths of the wearied soldiers were slumbering. They did not stop to unroll their blankets, or select a good spot for resting; but officers and privates dropped upon the ground in deep cleep. They had marched over a horrible road, during twenty-four hours, almost fifty miles. Early the next morning a courier brought intelligence of Sigel's safety in Springfield, and the remainder of the march of thirty miles was made leisurely during the space of the next two days.'

a

1861.

Lyon encamped near Springfield, and then prepared to contend with the overwhelming and continually increasing number of his enemies. Within the period of a few weeks, the Confederates had July 13 been driven into the southwestern corner of Missouri, on the border of Kansas and Arkansas. Now they were making vigorous preparations to regain the territory they had lost. They had been largely re-enforced, and were especially strong in cavalry. At Cassville, the capital of Barry County, near the Arkansas line, on the great overland mail route, they established a general rendezvous; and there, on the 29th of July, four Southern armies, under the respective commands of Generals Price, McCulloch, Pearce, and McBride, effected a junction.

At that time General Lyon, with his little force daily diminishing by the expiration of the terms of enlistment, was confined in a defensive attitude to the immediate vicinity of Springfield. He had called repeatedly for re-enforcements, to which no response was given. He waited for them long, but they did not come. Every day his position had become more perilous, and now the Confederates were weaving around him a strong web of real danger; yet he resolved to hold the position at all hazards.'

At the close of July, Lyon was informed that the Confederates were marching upon Springfield in two columns (in the aggregate, more than twenty thousand strong); one from Cassville, on the south, and the other from Sarcoxie, on the west, for the purpose of investing the National camp and the town. He determined to go out and meet them; and, late in the afternoon of the 1st of August, his entire army (5,500 foot, 400 horse, and 18 guns), led by himself, moved toward Cassville, with the exception of a small force left behind to guard the city. They bivouacked that night on Cave

Life of General Nathaniel Lyon. By Ashbel Woodward, M. D.

* On the 31st of July, Lyon wrote, saying: "I fear the enemy may become emboldened by our want of activity. I have constant rumors of a very large force below, and of threats to attack us with overwhelming numbers. I should have a much larger force than I have, and be much better supplied."

Lyon's force at this time consisted of five companies of the First and Second Regulars, under Major Sturgis; five companies of the First Missouri Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews; two companies of the Second Missouri, Major Osterhaus; three companies of the Third Missouri, Colonel Sigel; Fifth Missouri, Colonel Salo mon; First Iowa, Colonel Bates; First Kansas, Colonel Deitzler; Second Kansas, Colonel Mitchell; two com

46

THE BATTLE OF DUG SPRINGS.

Creek, ten miles south of Springfield, and moved forward at an early hour in the morning, excessively annoyed by heat and dust, and intense thirst, for most of the wells and streams were dry. At Dug Springs, nineteen miles southwest of Springfield, they halted. They were in an oblong valley, five miles in length, and broken by projecting spurs of the hills, which formed wooded ridges. Soon after halting, they discovered, by clouds of dust at the other extremity of the valley, that a large body of men were there and in motion. These were Confederates, under General Rains. A battle-line was formed by the Nationals, and in that order the little army moved forward toward the enemy, led by a company of Regular Infantry, under Captain Steele, supported by another of the Fourth Regular Cavalry, under Captain Stanley, which held the advanced position on the left. Owing to the ridges in the valley, the real force of each party was easily concealed from the other, and afforded opportunities for surprises. And so it happened. While the vanguard of the Nationals was moving cautiously forward, followed by the main body, and skirmishers were exchanging shots briskly, a large force of Confederates suddenly emerged from the woods, to cut off Steele's infantry from Stanley's cavalry. The latter (about a hundred and fifty strong) immediately drew up his men in proper order, and when the foe was within the range of their Sharp's carbines, they opened a deadly fire upon them. The latter numbered nearly five hundred. They returned the fire, and a regular battle seemed about to open, when a subordinate officer in Stanley's command shouted "Charge!" and twenty-five horsemen dashed in among the Confederate infantry, hewing them down with their sabers with fearful slaughter. Stanley could do nothing better than sustain the irregular order; but before he could reach the heroic little band with re-enforcements, the Confederates had broken and fled in the wildest confusion. "Are these men or devils-they fight so?" asked some of the wounded of the vanquished, when the conflict was over.

When this body of Confederate infantry fled, a large force of their cavalry appeared emerging from the woods. Captain Totten brought two of his guns to bear upon them from a commanding eminence with such precision, that his shells fell among and scattered them in great disorder, for their frightened horses became unmanageable. The whole column of the Confederates now withdrew, leaving the valley in possession of the National troops. Thus ended THE BATTLE OF DUG SPRINGS. Lyon's loss was eight men killed and thirty wounded, and that of the Confederates was about forty killed and as many wounded. The Nationals moved forward the next morning in search of foes, but were disappointed. They encamped at Curran, in Stone County, twenty-six miles from Springfield, and remained in that vicinity until the next day, when General Lyon called a council of officers,' and it was determined @ August 4, to return to Springfield. The army moved in that direction on the following morning, and reached Springfield on the 6th.2

1561.

panies First Regular Cavalry, Captains Stanley and Carr; three companies First Regular Cavalry (recruits), Lieutenant Lathrop; Captain Totten's Battery, Regular Artillery, six guns, 6 and 12-pounders: Lieutenant Du Bois' Battery, Regular Artillery, four guns, 6 and 12-pounders; Captain Schaeffer's Battery, Missouri Volunteer Artillery, six guns, 3 and 12-pounders. General Lyon gave the most important secondary commands to Brigadier-General Sweeney, Colonel Sigel, and Major Sturgis.

1 The officers called into the council were Brigadier-General Sweeney, Colonel Sigel, Majors Schofield, Shepherd, Conant, and Sturgis, and Captains Totten and Schaeffer.

2 Correspondence of the New York World and Herald; Life of General Lyon, by Dr. Woodward, pages 297 to 801, inclusive.