BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE, ARK.
March 6–8, 1862.
One of the most brilliant events of the war west of the Mississippi, was the battle of Pea Ridge, which lasted from the 6th to the 8th of March, and crowned the national army with a splendid victory, after a long and toilsome pursuit of the rebels.
After the removal of General Fremont from the command in Missouri, the army which he had led from Jefferson City to Springfield, made a retrograde movement, falling back on Rolla, St. Louis and the towns on the line of the Missouri river. As was to be anticipated, the consequence of this retreat was the return of General Price, with his forces, and the reoccupation of the whole of Southern Missouri by the insurgents. They remained in possession of the field until February, when a new national force, under Generals Curtis, Sigel and Ashboth entered the field and advanced rapidly in pursuit of the retreating enemy. The rebels fell back, to avoid a general engagement, and evacuated Springfield, on the 12th of February, near which, in a brief skirmish, General Curtis’ army encountered and defeated them. On the morning of the 13th General Curtis entered the town, and restored the national flag to its place. Price left about six hundred sick men behind him, and large quantities of forage and wagons. He expected that the Federal army would remain several days at least in Springfield, to give the troops rest, satisfied with the reoccupation of this valuable position.
But General Curtis was not a man to sleep upon his arms. On the morning of the 14th, he resumed his pursuit, and continued his march to Crane’s Creek, about twenty-two miles from Springfield. He pressed closely upon the enemy, and on the 17th had another encounter with them at Sugar Creek. This protracted pursuit of three weeks, at an average rate of twenty miles a day, is remarkable in the history of warfare. But like most western men, General Curtis had learned the art of war, and the expediency of energetic action to some purpose. He had given up his seat in Congress when the war broke out, and took the field, forgetting politics and every thing else in a burning love of his country. With such men long marches and hard fighting is the business of war. They shrink from nothing but inaction.
Both armies had now reached the soil of Arkansas. The rebels being rapidly reinforced by regiments which had been stationed in that State and the Indian Territory, General Price was in a better position to give battle. Upon mature deliberation, General Curtis selected Sugar Creek as the best position he could take to withstand any attack which might be made upon him. The enemy had, in the mean time, taken up his position in the locality of Cross Hollow, which was peculiarly adapted to his mode of warfare. But this was not long permitted, for on learning that the Union troops were turning their flank by way of Osage Spring, Price’s followers again decamped in hot haste, leaving behind a considerable quantity of supplies and munitions of war. By this time the lines of the Union army extended nearly ten miles. The right was under General Sigel, resting at the Osage Springs, and the left under Colonel Carr, extending to Cape Benjamin. Colonel Carr’s headquarters were at Cross Hollows.
Having abandoned Cross Hollows, General Price took up a fresh position in the Boston Mountains, a high range that divides the waters of the White Mountains and Arkansas, where every effort was made to rally the dispirited rebels and augment the ranks of his command. Here it was that he was reinforced by Generals McCullough, Pike and Van Dorn. These combined armies were estimated at thirty-five thousand men.
Matters remained comparatively quiet until the 5th of March, when General Curtis received information that the rebels were advancing to give battle. The information proved correct, and the 6th, 7th and 8th will long be held in remembrance as the anniversary of one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war.
Pea Ridge is in the extreme north-west part of Arkansas, situated in Benton, the corner county of the State. A range of hills—a spur of the Ozark Mountains—sweeps from Missouri into this corner of the State, and from thence branches into the Indian Territory, where the section known as the Boston Mountains is found. Sugar Creek, where the battle commenced, is situated close to Bentonville, the capital of the county on the north. Pea Ridge is also adjacent to the same town, and forms a part of the mountain range just described.
At this time it became evident to the several commanders that a general contest was inevitable. A decisive combat was, in fact, desired by both of the opposing forces. General McIntosh, confident of success with his large army, under the leadership of Price, McCulloch, Pike and Van Dorn, believed that he could strike a fatal blow at the Union cause west of the Mississippi, by the annihilation of the Federal army. General Curtis, on the other hand, was not less anxious for a contest, even at the fearful disadvantage offered him. With his keen discrimination, he saw the glorious results of a defeat of the four rebel chieftains united against him. Should he prove successful in the almost desperate encounter, it would prove the destruction of the rebel forces in the two States, and leave a clear field for future operation. Should he fail—but no true general even thinks of that after he has made up his mind to fight.
At this time his force was divided into three divisions, as follows:
General Sigel’s Division.—First Brigade, Colonel Gruesel.—36th Illinois, Col. Gruesel; 25th Illinois, Col. Coler; 44th Illinois, Col. Knoblesdorf. Second Brigade, Col. Osterhaus.—12th Missouri, Col. Osterhaus; 17th Missouri, Col. Hassendeufel; 2d Missouri, Col. Schaeffer. Third Brigade, Col. Asboth.—3d Missouri, Col. Friala; Illinois Cavalry, (one battalion,) Capt’s. Jenks and Smith; 3d Iowa Cavalry.
General Davis’s Division.—First Brigade, Col. Benton.—8th Indiana, Col. Benton; 18th Indiana, Col. Patterson; 22d Indiana, Col. Hendricks. Second Brigade, Col. Julius White.—59th Illinois, Col. Fredericks; 37th Illinois, Col. Burnes; Missouri Cavalry, (battalion,) Maj. Broen; 2d Ohio, battery, Col. Catin; 1st Missouri Light Artillery, one battery.
General Carr’s Division.—First Brigade, Col. Dodge.—4th Iowa, Lieut.-Col. Galighan; 35th Illinois, Col. G. A. Smith; 24th Missouri, (battalion,) Maj. Weston. Second Brigade, Col. Vandenier.—9th Iowa, Lieut.-Col. Herron; 25th Missouri, Col. Phelps; 9th Iowa, battery, Capt. Hayden; 1st Iowa, battery, Lieut. David. Third Brigade, Col. Ellis.—1st Missouri Cavalry, Col. Ellis; 3d Illinois, ——; 6th Missouri, battalion, Maj. Wright.
Opposed to the forces of General Curtis, just enumerated, the rebel army had fully ten thousand Missouri State troops under Major-General Price; six to eight regiments of Arkansas troops under General McCulloch; six regiments of Texans under General Earl Van Dorn; three thousand Cherokee, Choctaw and Seminole Indians under Colonel Albert Pike, all under command of Major-General McIntosh. Besides those mentioned, there were two or three regiments of Louisiana troops and companies of Mississippi and Alabama regiments under the command of their respective colonels, majors and captains.
Upon this occasion the Union troops were well armed and equipped, while the weapons of the rebels varied in character and effectiveness. Many of them were excellent, embracing Minie rifles, Enfield muskets, and good United States muskets. The larger portion, however, were hunting rifles and shot-guns. The rebels had eighty-two field pieces, twenty of which were rifled, while General Curtis’ forces had but forty-nine; nearly all, however, were of superior manufacture and destructive power.
On the evening of the 5th of March, the scouts of General Sigel brought in word, that large forces of the rebel cavalry were on the Pineville road at Osage Spring. Sigel was evidently in a bad position, and on the following day he commenced moving back, his pickets being driven in before he could get his wagon train in motion. His route lay a few miles to the north, when he struck the bed of Sugar creek, along which he travelled six miles. It was there the battle first began. General Sigel with two battalions of Missouri infantry and a squadron of cavalry formed the rear guard of his division, and were delayed by the train which moved slowly along the rough roads. He determined not to desert a single wagon to the rebels, although by so doing, he could have easily reached the main body of the Union forces.
The enemy made his appearance with 4,000 cavalry, at about 10 o’clock in the morning, a few miles out of Bentonville, and immediately commenced the attack by a desperate charge. Sigel had with him nearly 1,000 men. He sent forward two hundred infantry to prevent the enemy cutting him off, and with the remainder he received the whole of the vast army. He ordered his men to stand firm and take good aim. The teams were put upon good pace, and the enemy came rushing on in several lines. The horsemen on the flanks and infantry in the rear awaited their approach until within about 200 yards, when they delivered a terrible volley of Minie balls into the rebel ranks, which had the effect of throwing them into temporary confusion. In a few minutes the leaders succeeded in getting them into something like order. This time they came up to close quarters. The same volley, succeeded by a second and a third, greeted them. The enemy came on in crowds, and their cavalry closed all around the little band, notwithstanding horses and riders were falling thick and fast before its steady fire. General Sigel rode undismayed along the whole line, inspiring his men. Some of the cavalry on the flank had succeeded in getting across the road so cutting the train in two. Here the enemy set up a shout of triumph.
It was short lived. In a minute more the bayonets of the Union men had done their work, leaving hundreds of dead and wounded in their tracks. The enemy was driven off, broken and dismayed. Galled and maddened at the repulse, his scattered ranks could be seen reforming to renew the attack.
The column was yet seven miles from the encampment. A dispatch had been sent forward to General Curtis, explaining the position and asking for assistance. It was hardly possible that the messenger could have been captured. The enemy was advancing on the road and along the ridges enclosing the stream. At about two o’clock a second attack was made and desperately carried forward. The rebel cavalry spurred their horses right on to the irresistible bayonets, delivering their load of buckshot from their miscellaneous guns, and then brandishing huge knives, which every one of them carried in place of sabres.
They surrounded the rear guard a second time, and for a few minutes friend could hardly be distinguished from foe. The dense smoke enveloped the whole of the combatants, and for some time it was doubtful whether any of the Union band survived. The faithful Germans never faltered for a moment. Their gallant leader struck down a dozen who clamored for his life, and hewed his way through a line of enemies to rejoin his command. The bayonets proved the invincibility of the Union infantry against horsemen. The foe retired a second time, and for an hour could not be induced to return. By this time the advance, which had been constantly skirmishing with the rebel cavalry, announced reinforcements in sight, and a faint cheer went up, which was re-echoed by the troops from the camp. A third and last attempt was made to capture the train. It failed, and the enemy withdrew about 3½ o’clock.
General Sigel reached camp at 4½ o’clock, to receive the congratulations of the whole army. His loss in the entire march was estimated at 60 killed and 200 wounded, many of whom fell into the hands of the rebels, it being impossible to bring them off.
The night of the 6th of March was passed in a state of suspense. The houses in the valley had been appropriated as hospitals, and a strong force posted on the hill on the south bank of the creek under Colonel Carr, with General Sigel occupying the ridge on the north side, while Colonel Davis occupied the centre, near the crossing. The enemy, it was supposed, would naturally make the attack from the Fayetteville road, and the baggage trains and hospitals had been placed to the rear of the lines. During the night the manifestations showed conclusively that he was approaching in great strength by the road leading from Bentonville to Keatsville, thus getting to the flank and rear. This road lies, after crossing Sugar creek, over a high table land, called Pea Ridge. It extends from the stage road westwardly some eight miles along the right bank of Sugar creek.
The ridge is covered with a growth of stunted oaks, and a sprinkling of larger growth, called post-oaks. Three or four farms were located upon the ridge two miles west of the road, to which the name of Leetown has been given. It was near these farms that the principal part of the fighting took place.
Thursday night, March 6th, was clear and cold; the reflection of the enemy’s camp-fires could be seen stretching along for miles to the right. On the Fayetteville road the Union pickets reported nothing unusual. Several Union field pieces had been placed in position, sweeping that road. The men slept on their arms, that is each man lay on the ground in fine of battle with his musket by him, ready for action at a moment’s notice. A strong picket guard was extended for a quarter of a mile beyond the lines, and the Federal soldiers awaited the break of day with premonitions that the morrow’s sun would be the last which would rise for many of them.
ATTACK OF COLONEL OSTERHAUS’ MISSOURI CAVALRY ON THE TEXAS RANGERS.
The evidences were very clear on the morning, that a strong force had been posted on the Fayetteville road, thus standing directly between the Union forces and their next line at Cassville, completely cutting off communication with the outer world. The line of battle was changed. Colonel Carr was sent back along the Fayetteville road, two miles, with his right resting on Cross Timber Hollows at the head of Beaver Creek, a tributary of Big Sugar Creek, immediately facing the rebel batteries on the side of Elkhorn tavern. General Davis, with the central division, was posted on the top of Pea Ridge, leaving Sigel to cover the camp with his left wing resting on Sugar Creek. In this position things stood when the rebels opened the fight with artillery on the extreme right, from a very advantageous position at the distance of a mile. The Federal batteries soon replied. The fight raged in front of Colonel Carr’s division from 10 to 11 o’clock, when another battery was ordered up to his support, for he was hotly pressed. The left, as yet, had not been menaced. General Sigel felt confident that the enemy might be expected to make a descent from the south side, and it was deemed indispensable to keep the men ready for action in that direction. Colonel Osterhaus was sent with his brigade in the morning along the high land in the direction of Leestown, where he intercepted the reinforcements of the enemy. This was one of the most spirited and successful attacks of the battle, and resulted in a complete diversion of the enemy from the overpowered forces of Colonel Carr, on the Fayetteville road.
The Union cavalry penetrated along the main ridge beyond the road by which the enemy had advanced, and were on the point of seizing some of his wagons when a brigade of rebel cavalry and infantry attacked them. Then followed one of the most sanguinary contests that ever has been recorded between cavalry. Most of the fighting was done at close quarters. Pistols and carbines having been exhausted, sabres were brought into requisition. The rattle of steel against steel, sabres against muskets and cutlasses, was terrific. The rebels were Texas Rangers, and fought like demons. The slaughter was awful. The Missouri cavalry cleaving right and left, left winrows of dead and wounded in front of their horses. The enemy fell back in dismay, the valorous Federals pursued them along the road for a mile, when they opened a battery upon the mass of friends and foes, plowing through them with solid shot and shell. Colonel Osterhaus had succeeded in his attempt, and retired, bringing off his dead and wounded in safety.
Meantime the contest was raging furiously on the extreme right on both sides of the Fayetteville road. The First and Second Iowa batteries, planted at an eminence overlooking the declivity in the road, were plying shrapnel and canister into the ranks of the enemy, who appeared in immense numbers on all sides, as if to surround the right of the Union line, and thus completely environ them. In order to defeat this object, a severe struggle took place for the occupancy of a rising knoll on the east side of the road. The enemy gained upon the Federals, and it was not until the men were half stricken down that they yielded the point. Word had been passed back to General Curtis that the enemy was pressing severely on the right flank, and the Union forces were sent back. The section of a battery had been left on the hill, and the enemy was now turning it upon the Union lines. Colonel Carr, fearing that no reinforcements would arrive, collected his strength, and mustered his entire force for a last desperate charge, resolved to retake the position or perish in the attempt. A heavy firing on the centre, and a cheer from the advancing division of General Davis favored the effort. The troops marched up to the battery amid a storm of shot from their own guns, and, after a desperate hand-to-hand struggle, finally drove the enemy down the ravine, in hopeless confusion. Colonel Carr received a wound in the arm, but remained on the field.
During the night a sharp fire of artillery had been kept up upon the left, and from two Missouri batteries on the centre, under Colonels Patterson and Fiala. The enemy had made frequent attempts to gain a position nearer the Union lines, and succeeded in getting so near that the balls from their guns would strike near the tents and baggage wagons. Towards night the enemy made an attempt to break the Federal centre, but the timely support of a brigade of General Sigel and a section of artillery promptly repulsed them. The night closed with skirmishing and sharpshooting.
Occasionally the report of a musket could be heard during the night, then a second, and an interval of silence. But few of the soldiers slept. The communication with Springfield was cut off, and Union messengers were falling into the enemy’s hands. As yet the Federals had gained little advantage, and with desperate fighting had only succeeded in repelling equally desperate attacks. Nothing but hard fighting could avail them. Filled with these thoughts, the soldiers solemnly gave their wives and children into each others’ charge, no one being aware who the survivor would be. Young men talked in low voices of the loved ones at home, fathers, mothers, sisters, sweethearts—and messages full of tender pathos were left to be given after death. It was indeed, an anxious, mournful night.
The fight on the morning of the 8th, commenced by a salute from the Union batteries on the extreme right. General Asboth, with a regiment of infantry and a battalion of cavalry, had been sent to the support of Colonel Carr, while General Sigel was moving up to a fresh position on the ridge near Leestown. The enemy was unprepared for this sudden and vigorous assault, and fled after a short and spiritless resistance. They ran, leaving four pieces of artillery behind them, and a fifth was afterwards taken in the pursuit. The enemy was being turned by the left flank, General Sigel pushing boldly after him. An hour or more was spent in contesting the possession of a spot on Cox’s farm, when the rebels fell back to the hollow.
A pause ensued, when the right, under General Davis, moved along, and after a sharp contest of half an hour, in which the rebel General McIntosh, was killed, the enemy began to retreat to Cross Timber Hollow. The whole line was then ordered forward. The rebels attempted to make a stand on the next hill, but the Union artillery played upon them with disastrous effect. The enemy on the road near the tavern refused to be moved. General Asboth, with a large column of cavalry, was sent round to outflank them, when another desperate conflict ensued between the Union cavalry and the Texas and Louisiana troops. The Indians also took part in it, but beyond shrieks and yells their influence was not felt. The batteries of the enemy fired chains, spikes, pieces of bar-iron, and solid shot. It was evident that his canister and shell were exhausted. Now the Federal batteries on the right were ordered to the front. Taking a position within five hundred yards, they poured in an incessant shower of grape, canister and shell for twenty minutes. A general bayonet charge was then ordered, and the Union line rushed down the valley and ascended the opposite hill. A cheer went up from them as they delivered volley after volley into the enemy’s ranks. The rebels cheered also; and it was evident that they doubled the Union forces, from the overwhelming shout that rang up from their lines.
At this time General Sigel was carrying everything before him on the extreme left. The foe was running, and the Union men catching the inspiration of the moment rushed on in pursuit. Before one o’clock the rout was complete.
To the westward of Pea Ridge there was a wide strip of timber which had been blown down by a hurricane the previous summer. Across this swarth of uprooted trees, which were larger and denser in the low lands, the enemy’s cavalry and artillery attempted to retreat, and were mercilessly pelted with shell. The panic was overwhelming, and their defeat decided. Muskets, clothing, and shot-guns were strewn along the woods. Horses roamed about in wild droves. The cries of the cavalry men and the yells of the Indians, with the groans of the wounded, surpassed all description. Caissons overturned, wagons broken down, and horses dying and dead strewed the whole road. Thirteen cannon, 6 and 12-pounders, were taken in all, besides thousands of shot-guns and loads of provisions.
It was in this position of affairs that General Price with a detachment of his army had, in his attempt to make a stand on the Keatsville road, caught the contagion of his fleeing comrades, and betook himself to the northward, Colonel Carr and General Asboth keeping closely after him.
This was probably one of the most hotly contested battles of the war, when every thing is taken into consideration, and it is worthy of remark that few officers were wounded, although at all times exposed even to recklessness. For three days the fighting continued, the men only resting during the darkness, to renew the attack with the first light, and even then were but partially allowed to slumber. Pea Ridge will never be forgotten while we have a history.
The Federal loss in killed, wounded and missing, was 1,351. That of the rebels about 2,000. Generals McIntosh and McCulloch were killed.