DISPOSITION OF THE DEAD.
The dead at Wilson’s Creek were not well disposed of. All were given hasty and rude sepulture. Of course the Confederate slain fared the better, being buried by their own comrades. The Union dead were put under ground as soon as possible, and with but little ceremony. In an old well, near the battle field, fourteen bodies were thrown. In a “sink-hole” thirty-four of their bodies were tumbled. The others were buried in groups here and there, and the burial heaps marked. In many instances, a few Federal 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 Sigel’s men. Dr. Melcher says he saw portions of the bodies of the German Federals along the line of Sigel’s retreat, several days after the battle, strewn along near the road, having been torn by dogs and hogs and buzzards. Skulls, bones, etc., indicating that at least a dozen corpses had been left above ground were gathered up. The doctor’s statement is corroborated by citizens who lived in the neighborhood.
The weather was hot—oppressively so. Putrefaction soon set in; there was a scarcity of coffins and coffin-makers, and coffin-maker’s materials, and perhaps the Confederates did the best they could. Their own dead were, in many instances, given imperfect burial.
In 1867, six years afterwards, when the National Cemetery at Springfield was established, the contractor for the removal of the dead bodies of the Union soldiers on the battle ground, took up and removed, and received pay for 183 bodies, as follows: Out of the “sink-hole,” 34; out of the old well, 14; from other portions of the field, 135.