CHAPTER XXIV. A RAPID PURSUIT—“THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER”—GAME CHICKENS
The union army followed closely after the rebel one, and for more than a hundred miles the chase was continued. Sometimes the advance of the pursuers was not more than a mile or two from the rear of the pursued. A retreating army always has the advantage, as it has a clear road, while the advancing one must carefully reconnoiter the ground to prevent falling into ambuscades. Then, too, the retreating force can forage upon the country, where there is anything to be obtained in it, and by clearing it of provisions and supplies of every kind make it a difficult matter for the pursuers to feed themselves, unless by waiting for the wagon-trains, which are always an encumbrance and hinder rapid movements.
General Price did not stop to form ambuscades or otherwise engage the advance of General Curtis, but kept straight on toward the southwest till he formed a junction with McCulloch at Cross Hollows in northern Arkansas. Cross Hollows is a curious sort of a place, and is well described by its name. The rolling and hilly country is suddenly broken by a series of ravines that spread out from a common center like the rays of a star. Ravines in this part of the country are generally known by the more prosaic name of “Hollows,” and the crossing of the hollows gives the name to the locality.
The main road from Springfield to Fayetteville and the southwest traverses the center of the hollows. A short distance before reaching the hollows it crosses a fine stream of water, which bears the name of Sugar Creek. The water of Sugar Creek is pure, like that of a mountain brook. In its shallow parts it is without color, but wherever it attains a depth of thirty inches or more it is deeply tinged with blue. This is the character of the streams generally through that section of country, and when one looks down from a height upon the valley of one of these streams the effect of the pools of blue alternating with the white water of the shallow portions and the green of the enclosing banks forms a very pretty picture.
Down to that time none of the union forces in southwest Missouri had ever crossed the line into Arkansas. General Vandever's brigade was leading the advance of the infantry column, a half mile or so behind the cavalry, and Jack and Harry were as far in front as they were permitted to go. When the head of the column reached the line a halt was ordered, the regiments were closed up, and preparations were made for commemorating the invasion of the seceded state in an imposing manner.
For some days the bands had been practicing the music of “The Arkansas Traveler,” one of the far-seeing officers of the staff having supplied the leaders with the score. After the column had been halted two of the bands were brought forward and stationed on each side of the road, where a post marked the boundary between Missouri and Arkansas. When all was ready the bands started up “The Arkansas Traveler,” and with their rifles at right-shoulder shift, and in column of fours the infantry filed past. As each company crossed the frontier a loud cheer was given, and the greatest enthusiasm prevailed. To add to the good spirits of the men the news of the fall of Fort Donelson reached them and spread like wildfire on their first night in camp on the soil of Arkansas.
Price and McCulloch united their forces at Cross Hollows and made a stand against the union advance, though evidently not a serious one, as there was only a slight skirmish, after which the rebels retired in the direction of Fayetteville twenty-two miles further on. The cavalry division pursued them to that point, but the infantry halted at Cross Hollows. Even at Fayetteville the rebels did not feel strong enough to make a fight, but continued their retreat after a short resistance over the Boston Mountains in the direction of Fort Smith, where for a long time the United States government had formerly maintained a military post.
The rebels had accumulated at Fayetteville a considerable supply of bacon, corn and other materials for feeding their army, and when our troops arrived most of the storehouses containing these supplies were on fire. It was afterward ascertained that the burning of these storehouses had been the cause of a serious dispute between Price and McCulloch—a renewal of their quarrel at the time of the Wilson's Creek campaign.
Price wanted to leave these supplies for the use of the union army, and he argued as follows: We've got to retreat, and the union army is going to stay here till we drive them out. They are in our country, and more than two hundred miles from their base. They will forage on the country for a large part of their supplies, and if we leave this bacon and corn they will have just so much less to take from the people, who are our people, and not theirs. Arkansas is a seceded state, and the Yankees and Dutch won't have any compunctions about living on the state that they might have in Missouri, which they claim to be still in the union, and are trying to keep there. The easier it is for them to find their living the easier it will be for Arkansas.
On this line of argument Price opposed the destruction of the supplies. McCulloch opposed his view of the matter, and said it was no part of their business to help feed the Yankee army, and what happened to the people was simply the fortune of war. The quarrel reached its height and came near a fighting point when McCulloch accused Price of disloyalty to the South and a willingness to see Arkansas subjugated by the Northern troops.
Price was overruled and the stores were set on fire. His prediction was verified, as the union forces foraged right and left among the people, and certainly caused them much more hardship than would have been the case had the supplies fallen into our hands. Which of them was right in the argument the reader may decide for himself. Certainly the question, like most matters on which men differ, had two well-defined sides.
McCulloch's army had spent the winter at Cross Hollows, where it erected buildings capable of lodging eight or ten thousand men. When the rebels retired from Cross Hollows these buildings were set on fire, and by the time our troops arrived all but half a dozen of them had been consumed. The ashes remained to mark the spot, and the positions of the smoking ash-heaps showed that the cantonment was laid out with the regularity of a carefully-platted town.
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The Third Illinois Cavalry, which was attached to General Vandever's brigade, followed closely upon the heels of the enemy after the skirmish at Sugar Creek, and pushed on in the direction of Fayetteville. A single company was retained by the general for scouting purposes, and to this company Jack and Harry were temporarily attached. The youths were among the first to enter the rebel cantonment and try to save what they could from the flames.
Harry's sharp eyes fell upon some chickens, of which a hundred or more were running wildly about the place.
The slaughter of the innocents began at once; chickens were not abundant in that part of the country, and Harry thought a fine fowl would be very welcome at the general's mess-table that evening, and he was also of the opinion that a similar bird would taste well for himself and Jack.
He secured two, and remarked to Jack that they were the thinnest birds of the kind he had yet come across. “But they're chickens, anyhow,” said he, “and if they're too tough for broiling they will do well in a stew.”
Jack was equally fortunate in his chicken hunt, but his second bird was a surprise that caused his eyes to open very wide.
“Just look at this,” said he to Harry, as he pointed to the legs of the fowl; “wonder what this means?”
The objects that arrested his attention were a pair of steel “gaffs” as sharp as needles, and attached by straps and cords to the legs of the chicken; they were hollow at the base, so that they passed over the natural spurs of the bird.
“I never saw anything like this,” said Jack, “and don't believe it grows there.”
“Nor I either,” replied Harry. “Here comes the general; let's show it to him and find out what it's all about.”
Jack ran to General Vandever and exhibited his discovery. The latter immediately ordered the slaughter of the chickens to cease, and it was stopped at once, but not till two-thirds of the number about the camp had fallen.
“These are game cocks,” said the general, “and they're kept for fighting purposes. I heard that the Third Louisiana had a lot of game cocks, and were keeping them here for amusing themselves. They come from a chicken-fighting region, and this is one of their favorite sports. They get up matches, on which they bet heavily, and then the fighting-cocks are equipped with these spurs or gaffs, and put in the ring against each other. The bird that can first pierce the other with these gaffs generally wins the fight, as a well-directed blow with them is fatal.
“Probably we interrupted a fight,” the general continued. “This bird was certainly all ready for the ring, and if you look around you 'll find another similarly equipped and about to proceed to business.”
Sure enough, the antagonist of the bird was found in the hands of a soldier; at any rate, there was another chicken with the gaffs on that had been killed before his character was known. Game chickens are not considered edible except in case of emergency. Those that had been killed were, however, duly served up, as it was thought extravagant to waste anything in the chicken line at that particular time. It was as Harry had predicted, the chickens were not good for broiling, but they did fairly well when stewed, especially when the stewing continued all night.
The birds that were saved from slaughter were the source of much amusement to the officers while the army remained in camp at Cross Hollows. Almost every day there was a cock-fight in front of one of the tents, but it was generally bloodless, as nobody knew anything about handling the birds, and the steel gaffs were never used. The names of the rebel leaders were given to the fighters, and it was a common occurrence to have Beauregard pitted against Jeff Davis, Price against McCulloch, or Lee against Johnston. General Vandever turned two of the birds over to the care of Jack and Harry. Harry's pet was called Magruder, and Jack's received the fighting name of Breckinridge.
In the first encounter Breckinridge tore three feathers out of Magruder's neck and otherwise disabled him, so that Harry lost his wager. But as betting in money was not in order, and the stakes consisted only of army crackers, the youths' losses were not heavy.
One after another the fighting-chickens went to the cooking-pots, as they were not securely guarded and several of the officers had negro servants. There is a traditional affinity between the negro and the chicken, an affinity which results in the absorbing of the latter by the former. Some of the negro servants were good foragers, and ran considerable risk in their search for supplies, as we shall see later on.
CHAPTER XXV. A RAPID RETREAT—AN EXPEDITION AND A FORCED MARCH.
For two weeks after the army reached Cross Hollows it remained apparently inactive, though really far from idle. Foraging expeditions were constantly in motion, scouting parties were sent out in every direction, and small forces of infantry and cavalry went to visit the various villages and towns within a radius of fifty miles to the east and west. Several times detachments of cavalry visited Fayetteville, and made sure that the rebels had not reoccupied the place.
As already intimated the negro servants of the officers were active in search of chickens and other articles of food. General Vandever and Colonel Herron had as manager of their mess a negro named William, generally abbreviated to Bill, who could scent a chicken at least a mile away, and a concealed ham even though a load of hay had been piled on top of it. In the same brigade was the Twenty-fifth Missouri, commanded by Colonel John S. Phelps. The latter officer rejoiced in a negro named Jake, and he and Bill went together almost daily in a hunt for provisions. Not infrequently they ventured beyond the lines, and on two or three occasions had narrow escapes from capture.
One evening Bill gave the following account of the day's performance:
“Me and Jake went out for to find suthin', and I says to Jake that chickens was gettin' mighty sca'ce round yere. We went out on a side road off from de Fayetteville road, and while we wras at a house dere and trying to find out if dere was any chickens in de chicken-house, and if de man what owned de place was to home or not, we heern a noise.
“I looks out o' de chicken-house, and down de road I sees some dust, and in dat dust I sees two or free dozen rebs. I jest says 'Rebs' to Jake, and him and me lit out o' dat dere chicken-house and over behind der barn and den we got out inter de road.
“De rebs dey comes up and stops at der house, and den me and Jake lit out for camp. And yer jest ort to a-seen Jake run; dere nebber was a nigger run like Jake did; he jest streaked it along ez if a tiger was arter him, and mighty near cotchin' him, too.”
Here Bill doubled himself up with laughing at the picture presented by the swift-footed Jake. After laughing awhile he paused, and repeated his belief that Jake was, “de runnin'est nigger dat eber was know'd.”
“Well, what did you do, Bill?” said the general, when the negro stopped laughing long enough to permit the question to be edged in.
“Wot did I do? Wot do yer s'pose I did, Gineral? I jest retreated, fell back, alongside o' Jake, and got inter camp'bout five minutes ahead of him.”
“And that's the way of war,” the general remarked to the rest of the party. “We retreat or fall back, but others run.”
Jack and Harry had a retreat of this sort one day when out in search of a quantity of bacon that was said to be concealed in a barn several miles away. They did n't get the bacon, but they did get a brush with a similar but larger party of the enemy, probably on the same baconian intent. Being in the minority, the union squadron retired in good though somewhat rapid order, which was doubtless described afterward by the rebels who witnessed it as a dead run. Harry admitted as much to a friend, but insisted that it was a retreat, and not a run for safety.
Rumors reached the army that the rebels had formed a camp about twenty-five miles south of Fayetteville, and were receiving reinforcements. The position at Cross Hollows was a strong one, and in view of the reports from the front General Curtis did not care to advance, and thus abandon his very desirable camp. With an abundant supply of water, and with the natural advantages of the ridges that bounded the hollows, and on which his artillery was planted, he thought it best to wait there for the advance of the enemy rather than advance to Fayetteville.
The front of the army was extended so that it covered a distance of about five miles, the camps being pushed out to the south of Cross Hollows and the wings extended both ways from the line of the main road. General Sigel's division was moved to Bentonville, several miles to the west of Cross Hollows, in order to increase the opportunities of foraging for supplies and also to guard the roads in that direction. It was supposed that the advance of the main body of the enemy would be along the main road, and only a small force would be sufficient to hold the roads on the flanks. The rear of the union army was at Sugar Creek, and the quartermaster's train, heavily laden with supplies, was along this creek and at Elkhorn Tavern, a country hotel, which derived its name from a pair of antlers or elkhorns over the front entrance.
On the second and third of March several expeditions were sent out for the purpose of collecting supplies and also of breaking up small camps where the rebels were said to be recruiting. One of these expeditions went in the direction of Pineville, Missouri, and arrived within half a mile of the object of its search, when it received orders to return. It got back to camp without meeting the enemy, but it was afterward ascertained that it crossed the intersection of two roads only half an hour before a rebel division reached that spot in sufficient force to have completely overwhelmed the little detachment.
Another detachment which went to Maysville, near the western boundary of Arkansas, was completely cut off and compelled to march northward to avoid capture. A third expedition went to Huntsville, in Madison county, to break up a rebel camp; but it failed of its mission, as the rebels had left two days before it arrived there.
Harry and Jack accompanied this expedition, and therefore we have a special interest in knowing how it turned out. We will let Harry tell the story of their adventures.
“We were not a large party,” wrote Harry afterward; “only a thousand men in all. There was a part of the Ninth Iowa and the Twenty-fifth Missouri, two companies of cavalry and two pieces of light artillery from the Dubuque battery. General Vandever commanded the expedition, and we expected to be away four or five days.
“We were two days getting to Huntsville, where we found the rebels that we were after had gone. Huntsville is an Arkansas county-seat of two or three hundred inhabitants, and hardly an able-bodied man could be found in the whole place; all were away fighting in the rebel ranks. The principal store in the place was a whisky-shop, and the proprietor claimed to be a union man. One of the officers, a captain, bought a canteen of whisky of him, and offered a United States treasury note in payment.
“The man took the note and looked at it carefully. Then he returned it, saying he must have either gold or Confederate paper money.
“'Isn't this good enough?' the captain asked.
“'Good enough as long as you 'uns are here,' said the man; 'but when you turn your backs the other fellows would hang me if I had that kind of money.'
“Nobody had any Confederate paper, and the captain didn't know what to do. He wanted the man's whisky, as the weather was cold, but he knew the fellow was right about getting into trouble for having our money.
“Another of the officers had been in the first expedition to Fayetteville, and happened to have in his pocket a whole sheet of private 'shinplasters,' or promises to pay, that he picked up in a printing-office in that town. He took the sheet from his pocket and asked if that was the kind of money the man wanted.
“'Just the thing,' said the whisky-dealer. 'Give me one of them slips and you can have a canteen of whisky for it.'
“The slip was cut from the sheet and handed over. The man's attention was called to the fact that it had not been signed, but he declared it was just as good, and nobody would know the difference.
“Another and another and another were cut off, and finally the whole sheet had been disposed of for canteens of bad whisky. Then somebody fished out another sheet of the same sort of stuff, and the whisky-dealer did a lively stroke of business as long as the paper lasted. Probably he worked it off on his neighbors and suffered no loss owing to the notes having been without signature.
“Well, we did n't make many prisoners at Huntsville, but the few we did make set us thinking pretty lively.
“We picked up four or five men of no particular consequence, and they were examined apart from each other to make sure that they had not patched up lies to tell us. Next we picked up two men who had left the rebel army only twenty-four hours before, for the reason that they had no weapons and were simply useless mouths to feed.
“They gave us the startling intelligence that the rebels were already advancing to attack our army. They had left the camp about twenty-five miles south of Fayetteville, but not until they actually saw the troops marching out on the road to the north. They said there were thirty thousand of the rebels, and they were commanded by General Van Dorn.
“General Vandever immediately sent off a courier with this information to General Curtis, and very soon afterward he gave the order to return to camp. We went about six miles and then camped, but before we had been in camp an hour we had a courier from General Curtis with the same information and ordering our immediate return.
“General Vandever,” continued Harry, “gave orders for us to start out of camp at two o'clock and make a forced march to rejoin the main column. Do you know what a forced march is?
“Well, it's something pretty tough when you have to make it, as it means a march without any rest until it is ended. We had forty-one miles to go that day, and it took us from two in the morning until ten at night, but we did it. It was n't so bad for the cavalry and artillery, as they had their horses, but it was terrible for the infantry. The word passed along the lines that the enemy was on the road to attack us. General Vandever had great fears that the rebels knew of our expedition and would try to cut us off at the crossing of the White river, and so he hurried on till he got the stream behind us. There was about three feet of water at the ford, and to save the infantrymen from getting their feet wet, and consequently sore, he crossed them over with the cavalry. An infantry soldier jumped up behind a cavalryman and was soon on the other side. Others climbea on the caissons of the artillery, and so by two trips of the cavalry the whole force was crossed over with dry feet.
“We only halted for about fifteen minutes at a time, and three times in all during that long day's march. The infantrymen were completely tired out when they got into camp, but they were ready for the battle the next day, and they did good work, too, you may be sure.
“While we were on the march we met couriers that had been sent out by General Curtis to tell us that fighting had already begun away on the right of our line where General Sigel was. They also told us that we should find the center or main position at Sugar Creek, where the shape of the ground was such as to give us a better defensive position than the one at Cross Hollows. General Curtis had decided to concentrate his forces there as soon as he heard of the rebel advance, and the movements of the various parts of the army had such a concentration in view.”
Not the least weary of these who took part in General Vandever's expedition on its return to camp were Harry and Jack. The noble-hearted youths had done all they could to help along their comrades, and for nearly half the way they had loaned their horses to footsore infantrymen who were unable to keep up with the column. Harry declared that a little exercise would do him good. Jack shared his kindly feeling, and walked briskly along as though it was the greatest fun in the world. General Vandever said they were a pair of Mark Tapleys, who could be jolly under the most adverse circumstances.
When they were yet four or five miles from camp the general sent Harry to give notice of the coming of the expedition and order a supper prepared for the weary men. Harry took his horse from the man who had been riding it, and darted away as fast as he could go. The men in camp set to work with a will, and when the expedition arrived a supper as good as the army rations could supply was ready and waiting. Harry satisfied his own hunger and secured a good meal for Jack, who was not long in swallowing it; the horses were fed and watered, and then the pair of young veterans stretched themselves on the ground to get what sleep they could before the breaking of day should be the signal for battle.
While they are sleeping we will look at the organization of the two armies, and the plans on which the battle of Pea Ridge was fought.
As before stated, the army of General Curtis was about sixteen thousand strong when it started from Rolla, but the number had been reduced by leaving a garrison at Springfield and by the other causes that always reduce the strength of an army in the field, so that the aggregate of effective men ready for battle was little if any above ten thousand. It was in four divisions—the first being commanded by General Osterhaus, the second by General Asboth, the third by General Jeff C. Davis, and the fourth by General Carr. Some of these officers had not then received their commissions as generals and were still known as colonels; but as they all rose to the rank shortly afterward, it will be convenient and not unjust for us to designate them by the higher titles, whose duties they were performing.
Each division consisted of two brigades, but some of the brigades were very small, and did not contain enough men for a full regiment. General Sigel was in command of the first and second divisions, and thus held the position of a field marshal, under the superior command of General Curtis, the commander-in-chief. The infantry regiments that were in the battle of Pea Ridge on the union side were the Twenty-fifth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh and Forty-fourth Illinois, the Eighth, Eighteenth, and Twenty-second Indiana, the Fourth and Ninth Iowa, and the Second, Ninth, Fifteenth, Twelfth, Seventeenth, Twenty-fifth and a part of the Third Missouri; of cavalry regiments there were the Third Iowa, the Third and Thirty-ninth Illinois, and the First, Fourth and Sixth Missouri together with two battalions of Benton hussars, and Major Brown's battalion of cavalry, which served as a body-guard to the general-in-chief. The artillery comprised about fifty field-guns of various sizes, in four and six-gun batteries, from the same states as were represented by the infantry.
The rebel army was commanded by General Earl Van Dorn, and its aggregate was said to be not far from thirty thousand men. Van Dorn's army was composed as follows: Missouri troops, under Major-General Sterling Price, about nine thousand; Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas troops, under Brigadier-General Ben McCulloch, about thirteen thousand; Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw and other Indian troops, with two white regiments, under Brigadier-General Albert Pike, about seven thousand. No exact statement of the number of rebel troops in the battle has ever been published, but the above-named figures are not far from the correct ones. An officer of Price's army wrote an account of the battle, which was published in the Richmond Whiff. In this account he said the rebels estimated their strength at thirty-five thousand, and making all deductions for stragglers and the usual falling off on the line of march, they had from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand men to go into action.
CHAPTER XXVI. VAN DORN's ADVANCE—SIGEL'S MASTERLY RETREAT—THE BATTLE BEGUN.
Van Dorn had learned through his spies and the country people about the strong front presented by General Curtis on the northern bank of Sugar Creek and the hills that bordered it. He therefore made his plans for attacking on the other side, going completely around to the rear and placing himself between the union army and its base. With his great superiority of numbers he felt sure of winning the battle, and in case he did so the whole union force would be compelled to surrender, as it would have no line of retreat. Possibly some of the cavalry and horse artillery might get away, but this would be a small matter compared with the capture of the whole of the infantry and the immense wagon-train.
In carrying out this plan Van Dorn left the main road about half-way between Sugar Creek and Fayetteville, and moved by a side road which is nearly parallel to the main one. This side road passes through Osage Springs and Benton ville, branching at the latter place in the direction of Pineville, and connects with the main road near the Missouri state line about eight miles further north. The men carried rations for four days, and all were confident that by the end of that time they would be living on the stores they were to capture from the union army.
At Bentonville, ten miles from the main camp at Sugar Creek, Van Dorn's advance encountered General Sigel's command on the sixth of March, and had a sharply-contested battle, though not a very destructive one on either side. At first General Sigel supposed it was only a scouting party that had advanced, but very soon the numbers increased so rapidly that he saw it necessary to retreat. And just as the attack began he received orders from General Curtis to fall back to Sugar Creek, and consequently his movements had the double stimulus of obedience to his superior and overwhelming numbers of the enemy.
The retreat was skilfully conducted, and was pronounced by impartial students of the war a splendid display of military ability. Sigel sent his train ahead and got it away safely; then he put the rest of his forces in motion, holding the enemy at bay with a single battery of artillery and about one thousand of his best infantry. As the enemy advanced it was met with a vigorous fire of shot and shell from the rapidly-worked guns, supported by the infantry. Half the battery was used for this purpose, and while the advancing forces of the rebels were thus checked and thrown into confusion, the rest of the battery was sent ahead to take up a good position.
As soon as the report came that the other section was in position the first would be limbered up and rapidly rushed on, the infantry fell back to the support of the guns which were ready for their work, and then as the enemy advanced the reception of a few minutes before was repeated. Meantime the first section had taken up a new position; and, fighting in this way, the retreat was brilliantly successful, and Sigel's forces joined those of Curtis before nightfall.
What made Sigel's success all the greater was that the roads were in sad condition, being cut up by recent rains, and all of them narrow. Much of the country was wooded, and in some places densely so; but this circumstance, while a disadvantage to the retreating force, was also a hindrance to the assailing one, as they were liable to fall into ambuscades unless they exercised great caution. Sigel's loss in this retreat was less than one hundred men altogether, and a good part of these were captured by going on a wrong road and marching directly into the enemy's lines. During the night a battery of four pieces met the same fate, and the incident was thus humorously described by one of the rebel officers:
“It was a little after dark,” said he, “when our pickets heard and soon saw a battery coming leisurely along the road. The sergeant in charge of the picket took in the situation at once, and when the battery came up to him he promptly challenged it. In the gloom of the night the captain did not observe the gray uniforms, and thought himself among friends.
“'We want to find General Asboth's Division,' said the captain.
“'All right,' replied the sergeant. 'Keep along this road, and you 'll find it on the left. I 'll send a man along to show you.'
“The captain thanked the sergeant and accepted the guide, who took the battery into camp and quietly told the boys what was up. They gathered around, and before they knew where they were the artillerymen were snaked off their horses and told to surrender. The poor devil of a captain was awfully down in the mouth when he found what a trap he'd walked into.”
During the night of the sixth Van Dorn kept most of his men in motion, so that by daylight he had stretched his line completely across the road between the union army and its base at Springfield. General Curtis at the same time was not idle, and changed his position, as we have before stated, converting into the front what had formerly been his rear. This compelled him to move all his wagons, excepting such as had already fallen into the hands of the enemy, which, happily, were not numerous; but it also compelled him to fight on ground that had no advantages for him, as would have been the case on the Sugar Creek front; besides, it was even better known to the rebels than to himself, as they had nearly all the people of the country on their side.
This was the state of affairs when Harry and Jack returned from their expedition with General Vandever. From a resident of the country they learned that the ground where the union army was encamped was known as Pea Ridge. Here was the force of General Curtis that was to fight with nearly three times its number. It was a wooded table-land with occasional openings, where the timber had been cleared away to make room for fields. There was hardly any water upon it, and for the two entire days of the battle few of the animals had an opportunity to drink. The men also suffered severely, but as a supply could be taken from Sugar Creek, at the rear of the camp, they were less badly off than the horses and mules.
We will let Harry tell the story of the battle, which he did in an account that he sent home, and was afterward delighted to see in print.
“Neither Jack nor I got much sleep last night, as we were all eagerness to see how the next day was going to turn out; and even if we had been sleepy, the noises that kept up all night long would have interfered with us a good deal. Our men that had walked so far were allowed to rest, but most of the other regiments were moved about so as to have them in a good position for the day's work, that was sure to be very lively.
“Very soon after daylight the scouts came in and told General Curtis that the country to the north, right along our road to Springfield, was full of rebels, and they were advancing to attack us. The general thought it would be a good thing to attack them first, or at all events to meet them before they got close up to where we were.
“General Sigel was on our left with the divisions of Generals Osterhaus and Asboth. It was reported that a heavy force of rebels were coming in that direction, and so Sigel was ordered to meet them. He sent General Osterhaus out for that purpose, and he reached the line on the road running north from Bentonville without opposition. Just beyond the road he encountered what was supposed to be a small body of rebels, who were posted in a wood, and in order to drive them out he opened fire upon them with three cannon. After a few rounds had been fired he ordered the artillery to stop, and sent some cavalry to finish the fighting and clear the wood.
“Well, the wood was cleared; but it was cleared the other way from what had been expected. Instead of a few rebels there, it turned out that 'the woods were full of 'em,' the place being held by Pike's division of white and Indian troops. The cavalry met a heavy fire of rifles, shotguns and small arms of every kind, and the charge was completely broken up; and not only was the charge broken up, but the rebels followed the retreating cavalry, and in the confusion they managed to capture the three cannon that had been shelling them.
“But they did n't keep the cannon very long, for General Osterhaus brought up his infantry and drove the rebels away. The white and red rebels were busy plundering and scalping the men they had captured, and were quarreling over the possession of the horses and saddles, and while their attention was thus drawn away they were attacked and defeated. The Indians and whites were all mixed up in this fight, and several of the Indians were left dead on the ground, along with some Texans, who were armed with big bowie-knives in addition to their firearms. The Texans fought with these knives, and several of our soldiers were killed by them.”
This statement was made at the time, and has been denied by the rebels. In proof of the correctness of the assertion the following quotation from a rebel account in the Richmond Whig of April 9, 1862, ought to suffice:
“About forty-five men lay in the space of two or three hundred yards to the rear of the battery; all save one entirely dead, and all but three Dutchmen. One was gasping in the agonies of dissolution; three were our comrades. Here was a sterner feature of the war than any I had yet seen. The Texans, with their large, heavy knives, had riven skulls in twain, mingling blood and brains and hair. The sight was a sad one, but not devoid of satisfaction to our own exiles from home and wife.”
Pea Ridge would seem to have been the scene of more barbaric fighting than any other battle of the war, when we include the performances of Texans and Indians; but in defense of the Texans it may be said that the bowie-knife is really no more barbaric a weapon than the sword in its mode of operation, whatever may be urged against the practice of carrying it habitually. The wounds described by the writer in the Richmond Whig could easily be attributed to a cavalry saber and nobody would think it out of the ordinary modes of warfare.
With the increase of civilization in Texas and the Southwest generally since the war the bowie-knife seems to have gone out of fashion. Little is heard of it nowadays, and as the state of Texas has a law imposing a heavy fine for the carrying of concealed weapons, it is probable that this famous implement will soon be forgotten altogether, and be seen only in museums by the side of the tomahawk and scalping-knife.
“Why is it called the bowie-knife?” a youthful reader asks.
It is so called after Colonel Bowie, its inventor. His name has clung to his knife just as that of Doctor Guillotin has adhered to the beheading machine which he designed, and that of Colonel Colt to his revolving pistol.
CHAPTER XXVII. THE FIGHTING NEAR ELKHORN TAVERN—HARRY'S EXPERIENCE UNDER FIRE.
Van Dorn's movements were delayed by the obstructions on the roads by which he moved. As soon as General Curtis became satisfied that the rebels were trying to get around to his rear, he ordered General Dodge, who commanded the fourth division of the army, to cut down trees along the road leading north from Bentonville, and the order was instantly carried out. General Dodge had been ill in his tent for three days, but when the news of the approaching enemy reached him he was cured as if by magic. Remarking that it was no time to be sick, he got out of bed, assumed the active command of his division, and during the afternoon of the sixth supervised the work of a large detail of men, who felled trees across the road and otherwise blocked it to delay the rebel advance. He kept at it until the rebel skirmishers began to fire upon his men, and as he had orders not to bring on an engagement he prudently withdrew.
“General Dodge was a trump,” said Harry afterwards, when telling the story of the battle; “sick in his tent and in the doctor's hands before the battle began, he was almost constantly in the saddle for three days. When the battle was over and the enemy had retreated, he dropped to the ground and went back to his sick-bed. It's a good example of what a man can do under excitement.”
“And there was another example of the same sort,” said Jack. “There was Major Post, of the Thirty-seventh Illinois who became General Philip Sidney Post, and served gallantly in a good many battles. Early on the second day at Pea Ridge he was wounded in the arm, but he kept his place with his regiment and would not stop to have his wound dressed. The surgeon insisted, but he would n't go. 'I can walk and give orders,' he said, 'even if I can't use my arm, and I'm going to stay here.' The colonel of his regiment had to order him to go to the field hospital. He went very reluctantly, as he wanted to see the battle fought out to the end, and was determined to do all he could toward winning it.”
The same spirit prevailed among officers and men throughout the whole army. Of course there were instances of shirking, as will always be the case in any battle, but they were not numerous. Perhaps the knowledge that the enemy was right on the line of communications, so as to cut off retreat and render surrender necessary in case of a defeat, had something to do with the good conduct of a few, but it could not be the case throughout the whole army. And to do the rebels justice, they displayed similar courage, but they had the advantage of being the attacking party and knowing that they were superior in numbers to the union forces.
“On the morning of the seventh,” said Harry, in his story of the battle, “there was great activity all through the union camp. Every drum and fife in the army was called into use, and never before had the woods of Pea Ridge resounded to so much martial music. Rations for two days had been prepared, the soldier's cartridge-boxes were filled to their fullest capacity, every man made a careful inspection of the lock of his rifle to make sure that it was in perfect order, and then the order was given to load with ball cartridge and be in readiness to advance when the word was given.
“We were kept waiting while General Sigel had his fight with the enemy on the left of our line that I've already told about. While we were getting ready for work Jack and I went to General Vandever and asked what we should do.
“'What do you want to do?' said he.
“'We want to do the best we can,' I answered, 'and help all we can. We'll do anything you tell us to do.'
“'Well, then,' the general said, very quickly, 'stay near me and act as my volunteer aide till I tell you to do something else.' Then he turned away to attend to getting his brigade in order, and we stood still and waited till he came back.
“He was gone only a minute or two, and then told Jack to ride over to General Carr and say the second brigade was waiting for orders. He told me to go to General Dodge and ask if he had received orders to move yet, and to let him know whenever orders came.
“Jack came back with the order for the brigade to follow that of General Dodge, which had received its orders just before I got to it. One of General Carr's aids had brought the order to General Dodge, and he rode with me to General Vandever to repeat the order which Jack had already brought.
“The order to advance was loudly cheered, and the men stepped off as gayly as though they were going to dress-parade, and most of them a great deal more so. I couldn't help thinking how many of these gallant fellows would be stark and stiff on the ground or suffering with wounds before another morning sun would rise on them. We could hear the roll of musketry and the booming of cannon where General Sigel was engaged on the left, and before long our advance was engaged with that of the rebels, and the shot and shell were crashing among the trees as their artillery opened upon us.
“General Dodge's brigade marched up the main road toward the Missouri state line, and filed off to the east near Elkhorn Tavern. As soon as it got into position it opened with a battery upon the rebels, who were posted in a wood on a slope in front. The battery was promptly replied to, and then the shots were exchanged with great rapidity. There were six guns on each side, though some of our men thought the rebels had eight or ten guns, but we afterward learned they had only six; but it was the best battery in their whole army. Our battery was the First Iowa, and its captain prided himself on having brought it to a state of great efficiency, but he wasn't quite equal to his antagonist.
“General Vandever's brigade went a little beyond Elkhorn Tavern and took position on the left of the road nearly opposite to where General Dodge had stretched out to the right. As I sat on my horse close behind the general I could see that we had a dry ravine in front of us and a wooded slope farther on, and it did not need sharp eyes to discover that this slope was well occupied by rebels. The general ordered the Dubuque battery (Captain Hayden) to open fire on these gray and butternut coats, and as he did so there was a lively running of the fellows to cover. They showed by their actions that Captain Hayden's shots were well aimed; but we had not given them more than two or three rounds before a battery on the other side replied to us.
“That battery was evidently in the hands of a good officer, as he got our range at the very first fire. A shot came whistling close to the general, and I thought it passed between him and me, but an officer who was there said it went over our heads. You have no, idea if you've never heard it, what a spiteful screeching a cannon-shot makes when it goes by you. Involuntarily you dodge, but really dodging is of no use, as the ball has gone past you before you hear it. A cannon-ball moves a great deal faster than sound. According to our school-books sound moves one thousand one hundred and forty-two feet a second, and the scientific gunners say the velocity of a cannon-ball is from one thousand four hundred to one thousand, eight hundred feet a second. That of a rifle-ball is greater, and so by the time you can hear the sound made by a missile, whether large or small, it has gone way past you.
“At the third fire the rebels blew up one of our limber-chests, which was standing close behind the gun to which it belonged. The great puff of smoke that rose from it showed the rebels that they were taking good aim, and they poured in their shot very rapidly after that. In ten minutes more they blew up another limber-chest, and then the general ordered the battery to change its position, and sent me to carry the order to Captain Hayden.
“It was about nine o'clock in the morning when the first shots were exchanged on this part of the field, and in fifteen minutes the whole of General Carr's division was engaged. Before I could get to Captain Hayden to give him General Vandever's order the rebels made a rush upon the battery and captured one of the guns; the rest were hauled back a short distance, and at the same time the Ninth Iowa, which was supporting the battery, poured in a heavy fire and covered the ground with the enemy's dead and wounded. The rebels were driven back to their cover in the woods, and the gun that had been captured was retaken, as they did not have time to drag it from the field.
“'They stand like veterans,' said General Vandever, referring to the soldiers of the Ninth Iowa. 'Their long march yesterday has n't affected their courage. There were never better men on a battlefield.'
“Just as he said this Colonel Herron, of the Ninth came up, and the general congratulated him; and then the general rode along the line and said to the soldiers the same that he had to their commander. The men cheered him and were evidently determined to do their part toward winning the battle for the union side. But would they succeed against all those masses of men that could be seen on the hill-slope to the east and west, and crowded in the brushwood and among the trees that stretched away to the north?
“After this for a while there was a lull in the fighting, and meantime we could hear the artillery and small arms to the left, where General Sigel and General Davis, with their divisions, were sustaining the shock of the enemy. They were overmatched in numbers, but their weapons were more effective, and they had a better supply of ammunition. Many of the enemy were armed only with squirrel-rifles and shot-guns, and, of course, they could not load and fire with the rapidity of our men. Had they been able to do so, and had their weapons been equally effective with ours, the battle would have been hopelessly lost to us by reason of the great superiority of the rebels in numbers alone and their better knowledge of the ground.
“By and by we heard that Sigel and Davis had driven away the enemy and were slowly drawing in their lines, as only a small force were in front of them. The attack on General Carr's division was renewed by the rebel artillery, and we could see that they had a great number of men gathered behind their battery to charge upon our lines at the proper moment. So General Carr sent an order for General Vandever to fall back, and at the same time he gave a similar order to General Dodge.
“We fell back perhaps a hundred and fifty yards, close to Elkhorn Tavern and a little to the north of it. There our battery opened fire again, still supported by the Ninth Iowa, and there the rebel battery again poured its fire upon us.
“Near the house were two companies of infantry drawn up in line and waiting orders to move. I had just gone to carry an order for them to come up to the support of the Ninth, when a shell passed close to me and struck in their ranks, where it burst. Two of the men were killed and five were wounded by this shell. Almost at the same time another shell exploded on the ground in front of the house and shattered the leg of a soldier who stood there. Another fell among some horse-teams, frightening the animals into running away. They dashed up the road in the direction of the enemy, and were lost in a cloud of dust. In its runaway career one of the wagons knocked down some of our soldiers, wounding one seriously and two or three slightly. A solid shot struck the house and went completely through it, but did no damage to any one, as the family had taken refuge in the cellar.”