THE RETREAT FROM SPRINGFIELD.
Upon reaching Springfield the Federal army rested a brief time and got itself ready for flight. A conference of the principal officers was held, and the command of all the forces given to Col. Sigel, of whom it is reported Maj. Sturgis said he was not altogether successful in attack, but was “h—l on retreat.” The citizens were notified, and hundreds of them began packing up and preparing to follow the army. These were Union people who dreaded the approach of the Southern troops. The Home Guards also got ready to move as a part of the army. Many citizens of the county, living outside of Springfield, got their effects together and were ready to go.
A vast amount of money belonging to the bank had been made ready for shipment, by Lyon’s order, and was being guarded by a Home Guard company. Merchandise of all kinds was loaded into wagons and certain of the officers “pressed” teams for the occasion to load commissary and quartermasters’ stores into.
Sigel’s ordnance officer destroyed a considerable quantity of powder because there were no means of transporting it. The 1st Iowa also burned a portion of its baggage for the same reason. The town was full of frightened men, women, and children, wagons, teams, horses, mules, milch cows, soldiers, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and there was the greatest confusion all of the evening and till long after dark, even up to the time when the hegira commenced. The public square was a perfect jam of cannon carriages, army wagons, farm wagons, buggies, etc.