USA > Missouri > Greene County > Past and present of Greene County Missouri, early and recent history and genealogical records of many of the representative citizens, Volume I > Part 31
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During the period of the fight in the Ray cornfield, Price's division was desperately fighting to hold its ground in the center and was hotly engaged on the sides of the height upon which the enemy was posted. Early in the engagement the First Regiment of Arkansas Mounted Rifles, which had been driven out of its camp by Sigel and had formed a few hundred yards to the north was brought up by Price's order to the support of General Slack and formed on his left. Here it fought during the battle, led in person by its commander, Col. T. J. Churchill, who was destined to become governor of Arkansas. During the battle he proved a most efficient officer and had two horses shot from under him. The regiment's loss was forty-two killed and one hundred and fifty-five wounded. Captain McAlexander and three lieu- tenants were among the killed. Col. B. T. Embry, commanding the Second Arkansas Mounted Rifles, also fought with Price's Missouri State Guard against Lyon's column, losing eleven killed and forty-four wounded. Then for several hours the battle waged furiously and stubbornly along the ridge, each side advancing and retreating a few yards alternately. Sometimes the advantage was with the blue, sometimes with the gray. The firing, both of infantry and artillery was incessant and a pall of heavy smoke overhung the
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field for a mile, north and south, the lines being so close together that only one cloud was formed. It would require a large volume to give in detail the many deeds of daring, heroism and gallantry performed by the troops and officers on both sides. There was no difference in the courage or ability displayed, both sides fighting equally well whether advancing, retreating, firing or falling back to re-form for another assault. There were some stragglers on both sides, some hiding among the rocks and bushes and doubt- less many of these, rather than those displaying real nerve who stood in the front lines, later boasted of their deeds of daring. The impression has gone abroad and found lodgment in the minds of many that the sanguinary battle of Wilson's Creek was fought by neighbors, the army on both sides being made up principally by men from the counties of southwest Missouri, that brother fought brother and father son. The fact is that both armies were very cosmopolitan, including troops from many states and a number of foreign countries, a very large percentage of the Federals being Germans. It is true that men were there whose homes were in Greene county, who had long been familiar with the country tributary of the stream along which they fought. But they were there from the cities. St. Louis, St. Joseph, Little Rock and others: from the warehouses, the store, the factory, the counting rooms, the law offices and school houses. Men fought who, when at home, could look over the rolling plains of lowa, or across the muddy Missouri river westward over the prairies of Nebraska, then a sparsely settled terri- tory. Men were there who lived within sound of the Father of Waters up beyond Hannibal or from the region of the Kaw in the Sunflower state, from the bayou country of the far South, and from the region of the cypress for- ests of Dunklin or the swamps of Pemiscot. They were there who had only lately looked upon the Brazos and the Rio Grande and they came from all parts of Missouri.
Early in the engagement, General Clark sent a mile and a half to the rear for his regiment of cavalry, Col. James P. Major, commanding ; he was attacked by Sigel before he could get to the main line and was driven back into the woods with all his command. He reformed as quickly as possible and started toward the front to join their own division. Major's men were all broken up by large bodies of other horsemen, who were seeking to escape from Totten's grape-shot and Dubois' shells and the musket balls of the Kansas men. They rode through Major's ranks in all directions, dividing the forces and spreading their own terror to those about them, and the result was that Colonel Major had but one company intact with which he could advance. However, he succeeded in getting together about three hundred men. assisted by Col. Casper W. Bell, Clark's adjutant general, of Brunswick, Chariton county, Missouri, and Capt. Joseph Finks. Returning to the rear Major assisted in the defeat of Sigel. The remainder of those who could
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be formed into line were taken charge of by Lieutenant-colonel Hyde and advanced to the front where Lyon was, but while preparing to charge the Federal left they were driven back by Dubois' Battery and some infantry.
After nearly six hours of desperate fighting between the columns of Price and Lyon neither side seemed to have gained a perceptible advantage. Each side had advanced many times, only to be driven back later-always- with loss. Neither side could see victory ahead, although the more sagacious. Union officers entertained fears that they could not hold out all day against superior numbers and with rapidly diminishing ammunition. Just when the issue seemed hanging in the balance, Price looked down the valley and saw McCulloch coming up with his column after having routed Sigel's. force. So the Missouri State Guard was quickly reinforced by the troops from Louisiana under Hebert; by cavalry from Arkansas, under Carroll; the Fifth Arkansas Infantry, under Colonel Dockery; McIntosh's Second Arkansas Rifle Regiment, under Lieutenant-colonel Embry; Gratiot's Third' Arkansas Regiment ; McRay's Regiment; Reid's Battery, also of Arkansas; and the greater portion of Greer's Texas Cavalry. When this large and effective fighting force got into position, it was soon seen that it meant the beginning of the end. The entire Confederate army threw itself furiously against the concentrated Union line along the bloody ridge. The musketry fire was incessant and the artillery-men redoubled their efforts. Masses of infantry fell back and rushed again forward. The summit of the hill was. literally covered with the dead and wounded. Each advance was made over the bodies of fallen comrades. Both sides fought with reckless abandon and matchless desperation for victory. Both Generals Price and McCulloch took their lives in their hands and rode up and down their lines, freely mingling with their troops, encouraging them to do their utmost, animating them by their voices and presence as well as their example for courage and bravery. Although Price was slightly wounded he refused to leave the field. The infantry had been so hard pressed for such a prolonged period that McCulloch decided to make a diversion in their favor and press the cavalry to the front. Accordingly a line was fornied composed of a portion of Greer's and Car- roll's regiments and a large number of Missouri mounted troops to go up the valley and fall upon the Federal left, but Dubois' Battery and the Union in- fantry scattered the horsemen before the line could be properly formed.
THE TURN OF THE TIDE.
Seeing that "the psychological moment" had arrived when something must be done ; when a little delay might mean disaster, McCulloch determined to strike a vicious blow and ordered forward his reserves. Rapidly the rest of Pearce's Arkansas Division, Dockery's and Gratiot's regiments came up
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cheering and on the run, throwing themselves into "the jaws of death." They were "stripped for action," having thrown away everything that would en- cumber them, including their long, heavy knives, depending solely upon their muskets, most of them priding themselves as expert riflemen. Their work was most effective and was directed against the very center of the Union line. Reid's Battery was also ordered forward and Hebert's Louisianians were again called into action on the left of the battery. About the same time Guibor's Battery, of Parson's Division, opened with canister on the Federals and terrible was the noise and slaughter. The Union officers ob- served these movements and prepared as best they could to withstand the concerted charges, bringing forward all their available troops and guns, and once more the battle became general, violent and bloody, and over all blazed the AAugust sun making the valley in which the Southerners fought a veritable furnace. With grim determination neither side seemed to take notice of the terrible heat of the sun and the battle, of the suffocating fumes of burning gunpowder, or shrieking shells and stampeding horses. They were fighting to kill, to hold their positions-to gain a victory at all hazards.
But it all ended suddenly, "in the twinkling of an eye," or "as quick as a clap of thunder ceases," as some of the men later described it. The Federals retreated almost in a body, Totten's Battery, that had wrought such havoc all the forenoon, being first to withdraw and soon the entire Union force left the field. in possession of the Confederates, but it was sometime. before the sierred hosts of the latter realized just how the battle had gone. They expected another attack by the Federals and prepared for it, reforming their lines as best they could under the circumstances. Gradually, in the comparative stillness, the ground in front where Totten's Battery had stood was occupied, and then a line of skirmishers, pushing cautiously to the front, discovered that the victory was theirs. Strange as it may seem no attempt at pursuing the flying columns of the Northerners was made, although McCul- loch had some six thousand cavalry whose horses were fresh and rested. Army officers were later greatly surprised that the Confederates did not cut off the retreat of Sturgis' army toward. Springfield and capture it on the high prairies west of town. But the Federal officers asserted that the reason they were not pursued was because the Confederates were so badly cut up and exhausted that they could not do so. But Price urged McCulloch to pursue with his cavalry, but he refused. without giving any reason. The Federals believed if Lyon had not lost his life the results of the battle would have been different.
MC CULLOCH'S FIGHT WITH SIGEL.
At the beginning of the battle when Sigel struck McCulloch upon the southern end of the Confederate camp the troops he encountered were
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Churchill's Arkansas regiment, Greer's Texas Rangers and about seven hun- dred mounted Missourians, under command of Col. Benjamin Brown, of Ray county, Mr. Brown being at that time president of the Missouri state senate. These troops were completely surprised and were quickly pushed back up the valley across the Fayetteville road; McCulloch occupied the ex- treme right, the troops facing the east. When General Lyon first opened the battle, McCulloch hastened back to Price's headquarters and took up two of his best regiments (Hebert's and McIntosh's), to the assistance of his fellow commander. The position of McCulloch was greatly weakened by the absence of these two regiments, and for a time Sigel had matters his own way. Pearce's Division of Arkansas state troops were put in position, somewhat in reserve. When McCulloch became fully aware that the Union attack was threatening danger to the entire camp, he brought back the Louisi- ana and Arkansas regiments and forming them with some of Pearce's Divi- sion and Brown's and Major's Cavalry, advanced to meet Sigel. The regi- ments of Hebert and McIntosh had been worsted in their engagement with the enemy in Ray's cornfield, but they now sought to win back their lost laurels and fought desperately. The attack was being made on Sigel's and Salomon's regiments and the four guns of Schuetzenbach and Schaeffer. As related on preceding pages there was only a half-hearted resistance on the part of the Federals, who mistook the Confederates for regiments from the Union lines, on account of similarity of uniform of two opposing regi- ments. However, it was no fault of McCulloch's men that Sigel's troops were deceived. It was the Louisiana regiment that was mistaken for an Iowa regiment. It will be remembered that at the outbreak of the war be- tween the states the infantry uniform of the regular army of the United States was gray which was changed to blue when the Confederates adopted gray for their uniforms. During the first year of the war the similarity of uniforms resulted in many unfortunate mistakes, regiments composing the same army not infrequently firing upon each other. The Southerners were surprised at being able to come almost within grappling distance of Sigel's men without being fired upon. When right at the cannons' mouths they made a well-directed and well-regulated charge, driving the Unionists from the field at one sweep. Then followed a vain attempt by some of the officers of Sigel's command to rally their troops, but a panic-stricken, headlong flight resulted, a great number being slain or captured by the cavalry, especially by the Texas Rangers. The confusion was greatly augmented by Reid's Arkansas Battery opening up on the unsuspecting Germans who made up many companies of Sigel's command. Effective work was also done at this time by Colonel Rosser, of Weightman's Brigade with Capt. Hiram Bledsoe's Missouri Battery from Lafayette county, with "Old Sacramento," a noted
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twelve-pounder and three other guns of smaller caliber. It took but a few minutes to accomplish the destruction of Sigel, and McCulloch knowing that he was needed at the other end of the field, left the flying fragments to be looked after by sundry detachments of his cavalry and returned with the larger portion of his cavalry and all his infantry to the assistance of Price, and the former's troops took a conspicuous part in the last hour or so of fighting against the Federals, in fact, it seems certain that the victory could not have been won had it not have been for the appearance on the field at the critical moment of the troops under McCulloch and Pearce. Left to itself Price's column doubtless would have failed to defeat Lyon's army, although the two were about equal in numbers.
LOSS OF THE TWO ARMIES.
The Federal loss in the battle of Wilson's Creek as officially reported, was as follows : First Kansas Volunteers, seventy-seven killed, one hundred and eighty-seven wounded. twenty missing; Second Kansas Volunteers, five killed, fifty-nine wounded, six missing; First Missouri Volunteers, seventy- six killed, two hundred and eight wounded, eleven missing; First Iowa Volunteers, thirteen killed, one hundred and thirty-eight wounded, four missing; Captain Plummer's Battalion, nineteen killed, fifty-two wounded, nine missing ; Company D, First Cavalry, Captain Elliott, one wounded, three missing: Captain Steele's Battalion, fifteen killed, forty-four wounded, two missing : Captain Carr's Company, four missing; Captain Wood's Company of Kansas Rangers, one wounded; Captain Wright's Dade County Home Guards. two wounded : Captain Totten's Battery, four killed, seven wounded ; Captain Dubois' Battery, two wounded, one missing; Colonel Sigel's Third Regiment Missouri Infantry, thirteen killed, fifteen wounded, twenty-seven missing: Colonel Salomon's Regiment Fifth Missouri Infantry, thirteen killed, thirty-eight wounded. fifteen missing. Total, two hundred and thirty- five killed, seven hundred and fifty-four wounded, one hundred and two miss- ing. Of the wounded forty-eight are known to have died of their injuries afterwards, making the actual loss in killed two hundred and eighty-three. The principal Federal officers killed were Gen. Nathaniel Lyon; Capt. Carey Gratz. First Missouri; Capt. A. L. Mason, First Iowa. Wounded. General Sweeney: Colonel Deitzler. First Kansas (twice) ; Colonel Mitchell. Second Kansas; Colonel Merritt, First Towa: Lieutenant-colonel Andrews, First Missouri; Adjutant Waldron, First Iowa : Captain Plummer, of the regulars.
Following is the loss in the Confederate army, Price's column. General Slack's Division. Col. John C. Hughes' Brigade, thirty-six killed, seventy- six wounded (many mortally), thirty missing ; among the killed were C. H. Bennet, adjutant of Hughes' regiment; Capt. Charles Blackwell, of Carroll
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county, and Lieutenant Hughes. Colonel Rives' Brigade lost four killed and eight wounded; among the killed were Lieutenant-colonel Austin, of Liv- ingston county, a member of the state legislature and Captain Enyart. Gen- eral Clark's Division Infantry, seventeen killed and seventy-one wounded; cavalry, six killed and five wounded. Among the killed were Captains Farris and Halleck and Lieutenant Haskins. Among the wounded were General Clark himself and Colonel Burbridge, both severely, and Capt. D. H. Mc- Intyre, later attorney-general of Missouri. General Parson's Division In- fantry, nine killed and thirty-eight wounded; cavalry, three killed and two wounded; Guibor's Artillery, three killed and seven wounded. Among the killed was Captain Coleman, of Grundy county. Colonel Kelly, command- ing the infantry, was wounded. General McBride's Division, . total loss, twenty-two killed, one hundred and twenty-four wounded. Among the lat- ter were Colonel Foster (mortally) and Captains Nichols, Dougherty, Arm- strong and Mings. General Rains' Division, Weightman's Brigade, thirty- five killed, one hundred and eleven wounded. Cawthorn's Brigade, twenty- one killed and seventy-five wounded. Among the killed were Col. Richard Hanson Weightman, commanding the First Brigade and Maj. Charles Rogers, of St. Louis. Two other prominent officers were killed among the Southerners, namely : Col. Ben Brown, of Ray county, commanding cavalry with McCulloch's army and Col. George W. Allen, of Saline county, of Gen- eral Price's staff. The latter was shot down while bearing an order and was buried on the field. Col. Horace H. Brand, of Price's staff, was taken prisoner, but released soon afterward. According to official reports, the total loss in General Price's army was one hundred and fifty-six killed, six hundred and nine wounded, thirty missing. The official report of General McCulloch states that in the aggregate he had in his army one hundred and nine killed, three hundred wounded and fifty prisoners. Among the officers killed were Captain Hanson, of the Louisiana regiment; Captain McAlex- ander and Adjutant Harper, of Churchill's regiment; Captains Bell and Brown and Lieutenants Walton and Weaver, of Pearce's Division. Some of the severely wounded were Colonel McIntosh (by a grapeshot), Lieuten- ant-colonel Neal, Maj. H. Ward, Captains Gibbs, Pearsons, Ramsaur, King and Porter, and Lieutenants Johnson, Chambers, Dawson, King, Rainey, McIvor, Saddler, Hardister and Adams. The aggregate Confederate loss was not far from two hundred and sixty-five killed, nine hundred wounded and eighty prisoners. This was a little heavier than that of the Federals, owing, partly to the long-range muskets and rifles of the latter and their more efficiently served artillery. Military men agreed that the Confederate batteries were not well served, as a rule, in this battle. The combined loss of the two armies was about five hundred killed and over sixteen hundred wounded.
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CARE OF THE WOUNDED AND BURIAL OF THE DEAD.
By ten o'clock the morning of the battle the Federal wounded began to arrive in Springfield from the front, where the contest was hourly grow- ing fiercer, with the news that General Lyon was driving the enemy at all points. The Union sympathizers cheered lustily and bestirred themselves in giving every attention to the wounded soldiers. The court house on the west side of the public square, which had not long been finished and the sheriff's residence were appropriated for hospital purposes and by midnight contained one hundred men. The Bailey house was filled, the Methodist church building was similarly occupied. Ambulances, carriages, express wagons, delivery wagons of grocers and butchers, in fact every sort of vehicle with wheels and springs, plied hurriedly between the town and the battle-field all day and until after nightfall, bringing off the wounded. There was no "lack of woman's nursing, nor dearth of woman's tears," as we read of at the battle of Bingen. on the Rhine; for a large number of the women of the town volunteered their services as hospital nurses and assisted in any way as best they could.
The dead at Wilson's Creek were not well disposed of. All were given hasty and rude burial. The Confederate slain fared somewhat better, being buried by their own comrades. The Federal dead were put under the ground as soon as possible and with but little or no ceremony. Fourteen bodies were thrown into an old well near the battle-field, and thirty-four were tumbled into a large "sink-hole" nearby. The others were buried in groups here and there, and the burial heaps marked. In many instances a few Union soldiers were present when the burials were made and identified certain graves. Some of the bodies whose graves were so marked were afterwards disinterred and removed to their former homes. A number of the Federal dead were never buried. This was particularly true regarding Colonel Sigel's men, who were killed over a large stretch of country, some dying among the thick underbrush and were not hunted out. Doctor Melcher, mentioned in preceding pages, said that he saw portions of the bodies of the German Federals strewn along near the road, several days after the battle, having been torn by dogs, hogs, buzzards and beasts of prey. Skulls and bones later gathered indicated that at least a dozen bodies had been left unburied. Citizens in that locality .corroborated the doctor's statement. The weather being oppressively hot. putrefaction soon set in and as there was a great scarcity of coffins and coffin makers, perhaps the Southerners did the best they could under the circumstances. Their own dead, in many instances, were given imperfect burial. Six years after the battle, in 1867, when the National cemetery at Springfield was established, the contractor for the re- moval of the Union soldiers on the field of Wilson's Creek, took up and re-
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moved to the cemetery, one hundred and eighty-three bodies, including thirty- four from the "sink-hole" and fourteen from the old well, and one hundred and thirty-five from different portions of the field.
GLOOM SETTLES OVER THE LAND.
"The widows of Ashur are loud in their wail for those whose eyes waxed deadly and chill," was written in describing the scenes after the destruction of Sennacherib's army in the ancient days of the old Scriptures. Something similar would not be inappropriate in an attempt to depict the heart-rendering scenes following the great contest of arms delineated in the foregoing pages, for a pall of gloom, somber, impenetrable, spread its cloudy wings over the land, up and down the valley of the turbid Father of Waters for a thousand miles, as news of the conflict penetrated to the distant homes of those who went down "in the valley of death" in the Ozarks. The habili- ments of woe draped ten thousand hearth-stones in mourning from as far - south as central Louisiana, as far north as central Iowa and as far west as central Kansas and all over Missouri and Arkansas. Never again could they come back to the peaceful home, labor in their harvest fields or greet their little ones, wives or mothers at the thresholds they held so dear in days gone by. There they lay, weltering in their 'blood, ghastly under the cerulean skies, the hills and vales all serene once more and with the purling stream near by, heedlessly hastening on-incarnadined to the sea.
GREENE COUNTY MEN IN THE BATTLE.
Capt. Dick Campbell's company of Greene county men fought in Mc- Bride's Division of the Missouri State Guards. Early in the engagement, this company, which was mounted, was sent to the westward, the right of General Lyon's position, and to the extreme left and a little to the front of General Price's Division. Here it remained, watching the Federals to pre- vent them from flanking the Confederate position. When the fight was practically over, the company withdrew from its position and came on to the main field. The men had been without water through the long morning hours and, running down the hill to a spring to quench their thirst which was becoming unbearable, they were fired upon by some lurking Federals; Martin McQuigg was mortally wounded, being shot through the body and died in a day or two. Dr. A. V. Small was slightly wounded ; C. T. Frazier's armı was broken by a musket ball and Louis Tatum's horse was killed under him. On the whole it is rather surprising how few men from this county fought at Wilson's Creek. On the Federal side there were but few who took part, although back in Springfield over one thousand men stood ready
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and anxious to engage the enemy, eagerly waiting a call to assist Lyon or Sigel at any stage of the fight. With Sigel were the Union guides, John Steele, Andy Adams, Baker Owen, L. A. D. Crenshaw, and with Lyon was E. L. McElhany, Pleasant Hart, Parker Cox and others. It is believed that a number of over-zealous Union men went out unobserved with the First Kansas Regiment and fought independently, but their names have never been made public. John E. Phelps, son of Col. John S. Phelps, and after- wards a brevet brigadier general, early on the morning of the battle, set out for his father's home south of town, armed for the fight with a Maynard rifle and a Colt's dragoon revolver. Accompanying him was one of his father's slaves, a negro man named George, another negro named Amos, be- longing to Major Dorn, of the secessionists and Pleasant Hall and Robert Russell, two young men, citizens of the county. They took the Fayette- ville road, Phelps in the lead, and the party encountered Lieutenant Morton of the Second Kansas. The squad, now numbering six, hurried along as the firing began and soon encountered two pickets. Leaving the others to attract their attention, Phelps contrived to make his way to the rear of the pickets, and coming upon them suddenly leveled his rifle and soon had them prison- ers. The party then rode on and soon encountered another picket. Employ- ing the same tactics as those used on the former post, Phelps succeeded in capturing a well armed State Guard lientenant of McBride's Division, named Kelly, who had four revolvers, a double barreled shotgun and a heavy dragoon saber. Buckling on the saber himself, Phelps rode to the main field of battle, and, encountering a detachment of Confederates, induced a negro belonging to an officer of the Louisiana regiment to ride out to him when, forcing the negro to follow and keeping him between the enemy and himself, Phelps retired in good order. He met a large squad at Ray's house still nearer the contending lines, was encountered in the house and taken in. Just then a newspaper correspondent named Barnes, representing the New York Tribunc, came up, and of the event he wrote the following to his paper :
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