USA > Indiana > The soldier of Indiana in the war for the union, Vol. I > Part 17
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The weather turned bitterly cold, and the return march was attended with suffering, especially on the part of the cavalry. The thermometer averaged below zero during the march, and about six inches of snow lay on the ground. Many had feet and ears frozen.
The Twenty-Second made no stay in Sedalia, but pro- ceeded to Otterville, twenty miles, through a heavy snow. The wagons were overturned on the way, and the men were obliged to choose between sleep in the snow and exercise to keep themselves awake and alive. They chose the exercise, and the morning found them well supplied with chickens and stands of honey.
Even such of the troops as succeeded in getting into their encampments suffered from the cold of this terrible night.
The following passage from . General Pope's report sums up the character and result of the expedition:
" Within seven days the infantry composing this expedition have marched one hundred miles, the cavalry more than double that distance-have swept the whole country of the enemy west of Sedalia, as far as Rose Hill, to a line within fifteen miles of the Osage-have captured nearly fifteen hundred prisoners, twelve hundred stand of arms, nearly one hundred
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PATIENT IN PRIVATION.
wagons, and a large quantity of supplies. The march alone would do credit to old soldiers."
A more accurate calculation of the prisoners reduced the number to thirteen hundred. Another result of the expedi- tion was to drive General Price back towards the southern part of the State.
The prisoners were sent to St. Louis under the care of the. Twenty-Fifth Indiana. Captors and captured seemed to enjoy the trip with equal good humor.
The troops commenced building winter quarters before the Warrensburg expedition, but on their return they were ordered not to resume the work, as Sibley tents would soon be received, and would be warm enough for a Missouri winter. Only a partial supply, however, of the boasted tents arrived, and these did not answer the general expectation. The winter was ex- tremely cold, the mercury being frequently below zero. Frozen fingers and feet sometimes resulted from the performance of ordinary duties. The warming apparatus, whatever it was, whether stoves or the contrivance already described, required space, and the men, especially if all the occupants of a tent were within it, could seldom stand or even sit upright. They spent the coldest days crouched under their bent canvass roofs, and shivered during the long nights, sometimes with the actual fear of freezing before them. Many placed their camp kettles, filled with live coals, in their tents at night, but they frequently suffered from the generation of carbonic acid gas. Allen Schultz, a private in the Eighth, was suffocated by this means.
The men had no lack of employment during these winter days. They threw up an embankment, enclosing five or six acres, on a hill commanding the new bridge over the LaMine; they did an immense amount of work on the wagon roads in the vicinity of Otterville; they procured forage at long dis- tances from camp, and in addition performed the details ne- cessary for grand, provost and brigade guards.
They performed their labor and endured their discomforts with patience and cheerfulness. They were convinced that Governor Morton did all that man could do to provide them with necessaries. They were remembered by their friends at home,
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
who often sent them tokens of affection in the form of boxes of warm clothing. They expected to endure hardships when they enlisted. Published and private letters both show the manly patience of our soldiers on the La Mine.
Some energetic young men found time and means ts con- tinue the studies the war had interrupted. Arithmetic, geol- agy or French engaged many of the few leisure hours.
The 7th of February the Twenty-Fourth left the encamp- ment near Otterville, and started to Jefferson City, which it reached on the 10th, after a terrible march through cutting prairie cold. It endured without shelter three more days of snow and cold, then it was moved into the State House. The capitol, which of late years had protected the worst traitors in the State, now did good and redeeming service in warming up the half-frozen patriots. Two days later the Twenty- Fourth was removed to St. Louis, taking a final farewell by this removal of the scenes of its first military experience.
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SPRINGFIELD AGAIN.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PURSUIT OF GENERAL PRICE .- BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE .- ON THE MARCH AGAIN.
In wasting march, in bloody fight, All in love, yet half in fear, We pray from morning until night That God will save our volunteer .- M. C. Ames.
JANUARY 24th, 1862, Colonel Davis succeeded to the com- mand of the division, General Pope having been transferred to the scene of operations on the Mississippi. Shortly after, he was ordered to join General Curtis' column, which was moving from Rolla, preparatory to an advance upon forsaken and forlorn Springfield. Remonstrances from military men of position and influence were presented to General Halleck on account of this order, as it was asserted that in the thiaw- ing and freezing month of February Missouri roads were utterly impassable. But General Halleck was inflexible. He was confident that Colonel Davis' skill and energy, with the eagerness of the soldiers for an advance, would carry the division safely through.
Accordingly the troops set out, leaving behind tents and every article of baggage which could possibly be spared. In a few days they reached the banks of the Osage. The waters were running high and swift, and no bridge joined the oppo- site banks. In a heavy snow storm the troops were forced to ferry themselves on rafts. They were three days in effect- ing the perilous crossing, but, safely landing, they soon reached Lebanon, and, joining Curtis, became a part of the Army of the Southwest.
The army assembled at Lebanon on the 7th of February consisted of twelve thousand men, and were arranged in four divisions, under Sigel, Asboth, Davis and Carr. Major Gen- eral Samuel R. Curtis was in command.
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
The ardor with which the troops four months before had chased General Price revived, and they moved on so rapidly that they were within ten miles of him before he was aware of their approach. He decamped without delay. The Twenty- Second Indiana entered Springfield at the head of the army, unfurled the colors from the top of the court house, cheered the flag, cheered the gallant division commander, Colonel Davis, and in high good humor cheered themselves, and con- tinued their scarcely interrupted march.
As it was impossible for the supply trains to work their way through the almost bottomless roads of the prairie fast enough to keep pace with the army, the last crackers were eaten at Springfield, and from this point corn, foraged from farmers' cribs, parched or raw, formed the food of the greater number of the troops.
During nearly two weeks Curtis, at the rate of twenty miles a day, followed close on the heels of Price, finding at evening the smouldering fires which marked the Rebel bivouac of the previous night, and expecting every morning immediate battle. The way grew rough and rougher. It cut through the Ozark mountains, and wandered through uninhabited dis- · tricts. But the foot of Price never failed. The fleetest horse- men seldom came in contact with his rear picket line, although when the pickets of the two armies met the Rebels showed they could fight as well as run. In pluck and grit the en- counter was even.
In one of these running fights Sergeant John A. Edwards, of the Eighth, was shot through the arm, the bone of which was broken ; he had two horses shot under him, mounted a third, and was shot through the thigh, before he left the field.
Once while the Eighth was waiting at the crossing of a stream for an Iowa regiment to pass, the sound of skirmish- ing was heard from the front. Instantly the Eighth dashed through the stream, through the Iowa regiment, and on to- wards the sound, but it arrived only in time to see the smoke clearing away from the field.
The Rebels fled into Arkansas. The Federals followed, shouting as they crossed the boundary line, and left the old
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A SHORT REST.
State of "Misery" behind them, but, in spite of their eager- ness to push on, they halted to hear the assembled bands play the inspiriting National airs, "Hail Columbia," and "Star Spangled Banner."
Price pressed on through a narrow mountain road. Curtis pressed on after him. At Sugar Creek, a clear, shallow stream, in a deep, broad valley, commanded on both sides by high hills, the hostile armies for the first time came in sight of each other. But Price could not be induced to stay. He still pushed forward, while his rear, fighting hard, kept back the van of Curtis.
Fifty miles further, to the Boston mountains, the Rebel General continued his flight, burning on his way the greater part of Fayetteville, to prevent the refreshment and shelter of the Union army there. Now he was safe, for Curtis was at last exhausted.
The 5th of March was cold. Blustering winds from the western prairies blew in fitful gusts over the Ozark mountains. A light snow lay on the ground. Sheltered in the Cross Hol- lows, a pass in the hills, twelve miles south of Sugar creek, General Curtis and his fourth division rested after the con- flicts and the long, weary, forced marches of the pursuit. The first and second divisions, under General Sigel, lay almost due west, extending from Osage Springs to Lindsey's prairie, and back to Bentonville, four or six miles in the rear. The third division, under Colonel Davis, had, four days before, gone back from Cross Hollows to the hills which form the northern boundary of Sugar Creek Hollow.
Large numbers from all the divisions, and especially from General Sigel's command, were scattered over the country in every direction, reconnoitring, grinding grain and foraging. Several small forces were garrisoning important posts in the rear. The entire Union army in Arkansas was not more than ten thousand five hundred, cavalry and infantry, with forty- nine pieces of artillery, including four mountain howitzers.
About two in the afternoon of that bleak March day the quiet and rest of the camp at Cross Hollows were broken by fugitives from the farms and villages of the neighborhood, in
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
terror and haste, claiming the protection of the national forces, General Price was impressing every man in the region into his service, and was rapidly approaching to attack Generał Curtis. General Van Dorn and General McCulloch had joined him with large reinforcements, and his numbers now amounted to thirty thousand or thirty-five thousand men. Scouts came galloping in with the same intelligence.
General Curtis determined on an immediate concentration of his forces in the strong position north of Sugar Creek, already occupied by Colonel Davis; and he at once marched back to that point, sending, at the same time, an order to General Sigel to make the same movement. Owing to the greater number and distance of Sigel's scouting parties, he could not move so readily, and it was two in the morning be- fore he was in motion. General Price overtook him, fought him, almost surrounded him; but Sigel covered his trains, made constant use of his artillery, and crossed the Hollow, reaching the hills on Davis' right with little loss:
General Curtis' army now fronted Sugar Creek Hollow, and commanded the main road, and two other roads which converge from the southwest. General Carr, with the fourth division, held the extreme left wing towards the East, Davis, with the third division, the center, and Sigel, with the first and second, the right, towards the West. Carr's line extended back nearly to Elkhorn Tavern on the main or Springfield road. Davis commanded the direct approaches from the South. His Indiana brigade, consisting of the Eighth, Eigh- teenth and Twenty-Second regiments, and the First Indiana battery, Captain Klaus, was directly west of the road, on points which were separated from each other by deep ravines. Within the last five hours intrenchments had been thrown up on these points. In the rear of Colonel Davis' position spread a high, broken plain, called Pea Ridge, which was partly under cultivation, partly covered with densely growing scrub- oaks. Farther back was the deep valley of Big Sugar Creek, or Cross Timbers. Some distance in the rear of both Davis and Sigel was Leetown. The position was strong if assailed in front, where alone assault could be reasonably expected;
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PEA RIDGE.
but too full of points and gorges, and of too wide extent to be guarded from attack in the rear.
The men slept on their arms, and scarcely slept, expecting every moment to be roused by the call to battle. But the night passed quietly, and morning found Sigel, Asboth, Davis and Carr where evening had left them, on the hights over- looking Sugar Creek Hollow, keenly watching the roads from the South.
But they were deceived. In the darkness of the night, of the ravines and of the woods, the Confederates outflanked them, gained their rear, cut them off from their supplies, and now Price and Van Dorn were marshaling their troops from Sugar Creek Hollow, on Sigel's right, to Elkhorn Tavern, in Carr's rear. At daylight the two Confederate leaders were at Elkhorn Tavern with Price's tattered, hungry, but valiant Missourians.
General Van Dorn was Commander-in-Chief of the trans- Mississippi District, and consequently out-ranked Price. He was a coarse, dissipated, lawless man, but clear-headed, prompt and brave, and adopted Price's plans with good will.
On the rear of Davis, and the rear and flank of Sigel, were General McCulloch end General McIntosh, with fresh, spir- ited but untried troops, Louisianians, Arkansians and two thousand or three thousand Indians, in all the glitter of feathers, nose-rings and paint.
Many of the Arkansians engaged were volunteers and con- scripts for this single battle, and were directed to rush on the Union trains during the confusion of the struggle, knock down or shoot the teamsters and drive off the wagons.
General McCulloch was an original Texan Ranger, and had won an unrivaled reputation for boldness and hardihood during more than twenty years of border life. The Southwest loved to call him Garibaldi. With large, brown, quiet eye, heavy dark beard and hair, and tall, slender form, he was not unlike the great Italian Liberator in appearance. He was fond of dress, and was always attired so as to attract attention. For this great day, the greatest, with all his fighting habits, that he had ever seen, he had discarded military dress, and wore
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a black velvet suit, with fine, high-top boots, and a low broad brimmed hat or sombrero. It was his death suit.
General McIntosh was much less noticeable, and was less influential. The Cherokee chieftain, Ross, and the renegade New Hampshire lawyer, Albert Pike, led the Indians .*
All odds on the morning of the 7th were in favor of the Confederates.
But General Curtis was not long in learning his critical position, nor slow in turning to meet the increased danger. His whole line faced about. He sent Colonel Osterhaus, from Sigel's force, with cavalry and artillery, to make an attack upon the Rebel center.
Colonel Osterhaus advanced about a mile beyond Leetown, and found McCulloch's troops streaming along the road from Bentonville to Elkhorn Tavern. They received him with shouts of defiance. One of his regiments fled, but the others took a position on the left of the road, with a small infantry force, part of which was the Twenty-Second Indiana, under Lieutenant Colonel Hendricks, which had followed as a sup- port, and held their ground until Colonel Davis, with nearly the whole of his division, joined them.
The check which Davis offered was like a dam cast across an impetuous river, delaying only to throw the irrestrainable torrent out far beyond its banks. McCulloch's front swept across an open field to the west of the road, the bed of the current, his flank swarmed in an oak thicket, which extended southeast to Davis's camp.
# In 1837 Albert Pike wrote a hymn to the air of the Marsellaise. One stanza is:
"Now! Now! The traitors' hearts are aiming To shiver Freedom's golden chain, Disunion's fires are wildly flaming; The starry heart of peace doth ware. Lo! Freedom's eye and cheek are paling! And shall we tamely sit and smile While Slavery's feet our land defile, And anarchy and wrath are wailing? To arms! To armsl Ye brave! The avenging sword unsheath. March on! March on! All hearts resolved On victory or death."
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LEETOWN.
Davis steadily met both front and flank. The two forces locked in battle. All was now smoke, dust and din. The shrill whoop of the Indian rose above the shout of the white soldier, and pierced through the dull, unceasing boom of artillery.
The second brigade was overwhelmed, and lost two guns from Davidson's Peoria battery. The first (Indiana) brigade, under Colonel Pattison, pushed through the woods to McCul- loch's rear, drove him from the front of the second brigade, and the Eighteenth, directed by Colonel Washburn, charged upon the captors of the guns and retook them. Colonel Davis thanked the regiment on the field. The Twenty-Sec- ond was pressed hard by Arkansas troops and Indians. Colonel Hendricks, receiving two shots at the same moment, died in the thicket. A very short time the Twenty-Second was with- out a commander, and in some confusion, but when order was restored it routed the enemy in its front.
McCulloch fell. . McIntosh fell. The Indians, confused by the novelty of "shooting wagons," as they called the artil- lery, could not be made to advance, or even to hold their ground.
The Confederate line once broken, the voice of the favorite General no longer heard, all order was lost; the battle was lost, but it was won to the good cause, and won by desperate fighting.
The struggle at the east end of the line, three miles off, began at the same time, but, threatened from the beginning to be disastrous. General Carr begged General Curtis for re- inforcements. But troops could not be sent from Sigel, be- cause an attack on the extreme left was momentarily expected; neither could they be taken from Davis, because his whole division, except the few troops guarding the road from the south, was already and hotly engaged. General Curtis sent him all the disengaged soldiers he could gather, a few horse- men beside his body-guard.
Again Carr implored help. Curtis gave all he had-a promise, with the order to persevere.
Carr did persevere; but as the weighty moments moved by and no help came, he sent the Commanding General a
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
declaration that, without help, further effort to hold his ground was useless.
General Curtis then ordered Colonel Benton to send half his little force. Colonel Benton made the division, but the two halves disputed so hotly for the privilege of rushing into the fire to the help of their comrades, that the lot was resorted to for a decision. It became Lieutenant-Colonel Shunk's lot to go with a battalion of infantry and three pieces of artil- lery, under Captain Klaus.
Soon after the enemy's forces had melted away in the brushy center, and the fire had slackened and ceased, General Curtis directed the remainder of Benton's regiment and also General Asboth and General Sigel to move up to Carr's help.
General Carr was covered with wounds; he had been fight- ing seven hours, had been driven back a half mile, and had lost a great number of his men before help reached him. The Fourth Iowa was falling back for cartridges when Curtis ad- vanced; he instantly directed it to face about and join the Ninth Illinios, which still was on the field, in a bayonet charge. General Asboth at the same time opened a close and tre- . mendous fire. General Sigel, who had had nearly four miles to move, sent word that he was close at hand.
Encouraged and cheered, strengthened and lengthened, Carr's line resumed the fight. But Price and Van Dorn were not to be easily beaten. Stubborn as bears they held the ground they had gained, and victory seemed deciding in their favor, when happily night put an end to the day's struggle.
Every preparation was now made for the desperate and decisive conflict of the morrow. Men were hurried after the caissons. A detail from each company was sent to bring water and provisions. The weary soldiers were not allowed to move from the ground they had trampled in the battle. They lay that night within a few yards of the foe, with their dead and wounded comrades scattered round them. Dark- ness, silence and fatigue secured for them repose; but the awful memories of the day, and the chill wind, untempered by the soldiers' great consoler, heaps of burning logs, rendered slumber but gloomy.
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ELKHORN.
At midnight Colonel Davis' division left the battle-ground at the center to join General Curtis.
The Confederates also concentrated in the night, and when the sun rose they were all in readiness. But their position was not good. They were crowded and cramped in broken defiles. The Federal line, on the contrary, was ranged along an open plain, with nothing directly in front to obstruct view, or movement, except the low oaks at the head of the ravines. Though concentrated, the relative positions of the divisions were the same as on the previous day-from left to right, the first, second, third and fourth, or Sigel, Asboth, Davis and Carr.
General Sigel had not yet assumed his position when Colonel Davis ordered the batteries of Davidson and Klaus, which were on his left, to open fire, and the Twenty-Second, Eighth and Eighteenth Indiana to advance. The Rebels re- turned the salutation from a battery which was hidden in a thicket, not two hundred yards distant. Klaus was forced to retire, the Eighth and Twenty-Second to follow. The Eight- eenth, after a little delay, also slowly drew back.
The day could scarcely have opened less auspiciously. But when Sigel was once in line the rising Rebel tide was checked. The Indiana troops again, but more slowly and more cau- tiously, moved to the front, the right somewhat in reserve. The drove the hidden battery, which had been the cause of their discomfiture, from the field, with drawn bayonets, and hotly, though steadily, pushed their way forward.
The field was bounded east and west by eminences, which, shortly after the opening of the struggle, became objects of contest. Colonel Carr's batteries easily gained the eastern ridge, and while the battle lasted rained down an unceasing cross-fire. The enemy was more resolute in his efforts to get a stand-point on the western hill, the base of which Sigel held. Confederate infantry was already lodged on the hillside, seeking shelter behind rocks and stones; Con- federate artillery was working round still further, when Gen- eral Sigel's batteries gained a position which commanded
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THE SOLDIER OF INDIANA.
them, and began a vigorous fire, "the rocks and stones work- ing as hard as the shell and shot."*
"General Sigel ordered the Twenty-Fifth Illinois to take a position along a fence in open view of the enemy's batteries, which at once opened fire. Immediately a battery of six of our guns was thrown into line a hundred paces in the rear of our advanced infantry, on a rise of ground. The Twelfth Missouri then wheeled into line on the right of the Illinios regiment, and another battery was disposed in the same way in its rear. This movement continued until thirty pieces of artillery were in a line, with infantry lying down in front. Each piece opened fire as it came into position."+
After an hour's close and hard fighting the enemy fell back. Sigel then advanced his line, and shortly after issued an order to charge. The brave men, who had lain for hours with the hail of the enemy falling upon them, and their own cannon playing over them, rose up and moved in compact line upon the now broken Confederate ranks.
The first troops in the race down the defiles were the Twenty-Fifth Illinois, the Twelfth Missouri and the Eigh- teenth and Twenty-Second Indiana. Davis' division captured five cannon, but the chase met with little farther success. Here and there a frightened foot-soldier or a straggling wagon were all the results. When the rebels fell back they sank beyond recall down the Ozark gorges, and scattered beyond pursuit; but they lived to fight another day.
The battle was over by noon. "It was a delightful moment when we all met after twelve o'clock on the eminence where the enemy held position but a few minutes before."*
The total Federal loss in this great battle was thirteen hun- dred and fifty in killed, wounded and missing. The Confed- erate loss, according to General Van Dorn, was six hundred.
When the attention of the army was turned to the mournful duties of burial, horror was added to grief. "The Texans, with their large, heavy knives, had driven skulls in twain,
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