CHAPTER XXV. A RAPID RETREAT—AN EXPEDITION AND A FORCED MARCH.
For two weeks after the army reached Cross Hollows it remained apparently inactive, though really far from idle. Foraging expeditions were constantly in motion, scouting parties were sent out in every direction, and small forces of infantry and cavalry went to visit the various villages and towns within a radius of fifty miles to the east and west. Several times detachments of cavalry visited Fayetteville, and made sure that the rebels had not reoccupied the place.
As already intimated the negro servants of the officers were active in search of chickens and other articles of food. General Vandever and Colonel Herron had as manager of their mess a negro named William, generally abbreviated to Bill, who could scent a chicken at least a mile away, and a concealed ham even though a load of hay had been piled on top of it. In the same brigade was the Twenty-fifth Missouri, commanded by Colonel John S. Phelps. The latter officer rejoiced in a negro named Jake, and he and Bill went together almost daily in a hunt for provisions. Not infrequently they ventured beyond the lines, and on two or three occasions had narrow escapes from capture.
One evening Bill gave the following account of the day's performance:
“Me and Jake went out for to find suthin', and I says to Jake that chickens was gettin' mighty sca'ce round yere. We went out on a side road off from de Fayetteville road, and while we wras at a house dere and trying to find out if dere was any chickens in de chicken-house, and if de man what owned de place was to home or not, we heern a noise.
“I looks out o' de chicken-house, and down de road I sees some dust, and in dat dust I sees two or free dozen rebs. I jest says 'Rebs' to Jake, and him and me lit out o' dat dere chicken-house and over behind der barn and den we got out inter de road.
“De rebs dey comes up and stops at der house, and den me and Jake lit out for camp. And yer jest ort to a-seen Jake run; dere nebber was a nigger run like Jake did; he jest streaked it along ez if a tiger was arter him, and mighty near cotchin' him, too.”
Here Bill doubled himself up with laughing at the picture presented by the swift-footed Jake. After laughing awhile he paused, and repeated his belief that Jake was, “de runnin'est nigger dat eber was know'd.”
“Well, what did you do, Bill?” said the general, when the negro stopped laughing long enough to permit the question to be edged in.
“Wot did I do? Wot do yer s'pose I did, Gineral? I jest retreated, fell back, alongside o' Jake, and got inter camp'bout five minutes ahead of him.”
“And that's the way of war,” the general remarked to the rest of the party. “We retreat or fall back, but others run.”
Jack and Harry had a retreat of this sort one day when out in search of a quantity of bacon that was said to be concealed in a barn several miles away. They did n't get the bacon, but they did get a brush with a similar but larger party of the enemy, probably on the same baconian intent. Being in the minority, the union squadron retired in good though somewhat rapid order, which was doubtless described afterward by the rebels who witnessed it as a dead run. Harry admitted as much to a friend, but insisted that it was a retreat, and not a run for safety.
Rumors reached the army that the rebels had formed a camp about twenty-five miles south of Fayetteville, and were receiving reinforcements. The position at Cross Hollows was a strong one, and in view of the reports from the front General Curtis did not care to advance, and thus abandon his very desirable camp. With an abundant supply of water, and with the natural advantages of the ridges that bounded the hollows, and on which his artillery was planted, he thought it best to wait there for the advance of the enemy rather than advance to Fayetteville.
The front of the army was extended so that it covered a distance of about five miles, the camps being pushed out to the south of Cross Hollows and the wings extended both ways from the line of the main road. General Sigel's division was moved to Bentonville, several miles to the west of Cross Hollows, in order to increase the opportunities of foraging for supplies and also to guard the roads in that direction. It was supposed that the advance of the main body of the enemy would be along the main road, and only a small force would be sufficient to hold the roads on the flanks. The rear of the union army was at Sugar Creek, and the quartermaster's train, heavily laden with supplies, was along this creek and at Elkhorn Tavern, a country hotel, which derived its name from a pair of antlers or elkhorns over the front entrance.
On the second and third of March several expeditions were sent out for the purpose of collecting supplies and also of breaking up small camps where the rebels were said to be recruiting. One of these expeditions went in the direction of Pineville, Missouri, and arrived within half a mile of the object of its search, when it received orders to return. It got back to camp without meeting the enemy, but it was afterward ascertained that it crossed the intersection of two roads only half an hour before a rebel division reached that spot in sufficient force to have completely overwhelmed the little detachment.
Another detachment which went to Maysville, near the western boundary of Arkansas, was completely cut off and compelled to march northward to avoid capture. A third expedition went to Huntsville, in Madison county, to break up a rebel camp; but it failed of its mission, as the rebels had left two days before it arrived there.
Harry and Jack accompanied this expedition, and therefore we have a special interest in knowing how it turned out. We will let Harry tell the story of their adventures.
“We were not a large party,” wrote Harry afterward; “only a thousand men in all. There was a part of the Ninth Iowa and the Twenty-fifth Missouri, two companies of cavalry and two pieces of light artillery from the Dubuque battery. General Vandever commanded the expedition, and we expected to be away four or five days.
“We were two days getting to Huntsville, where we found the rebels that we were after had gone. Huntsville is an Arkansas county-seat of two or three hundred inhabitants, and hardly an able-bodied man could be found in the whole place; all were away fighting in the rebel ranks. The principal store in the place was a whisky-shop, and the proprietor claimed to be a union man. One of the officers, a captain, bought a canteen of whisky of him, and offered a United States treasury note in payment.
“The man took the note and looked at it carefully. Then he returned it, saying he must have either gold or Confederate paper money.
“'Isn't this good enough?' the captain asked.
“'Good enough as long as you 'uns are here,' said the man; 'but when you turn your backs the other fellows would hang me if I had that kind of money.'
“Nobody had any Confederate paper, and the captain didn't know what to do. He wanted the man's whisky, as the weather was cold, but he knew the fellow was right about getting into trouble for having our money.
“Another of the officers had been in the first expedition to Fayetteville, and happened to have in his pocket a whole sheet of private 'shinplasters,' or promises to pay, that he picked up in a printing-office in that town. He took the sheet from his pocket and asked if that was the kind of money the man wanted.
“'Just the thing,' said the whisky-dealer. 'Give me one of them slips and you can have a canteen of whisky for it.'
“The slip was cut from the sheet and handed over. The man's attention was called to the fact that it had not been signed, but he declared it was just as good, and nobody would know the difference.
“Another and another and another were cut off, and finally the whole sheet had been disposed of for canteens of bad whisky. Then somebody fished out another sheet of the same sort of stuff, and the whisky-dealer did a lively stroke of business as long as the paper lasted. Probably he worked it off on his neighbors and suffered no loss owing to the notes having been without signature.
“Well, we did n't make many prisoners at Huntsville, but the few we did make set us thinking pretty lively.
“We picked up four or five men of no particular consequence, and they were examined apart from each other to make sure that they had not patched up lies to tell us. Next we picked up two men who had left the rebel army only twenty-four hours before, for the reason that they had no weapons and were simply useless mouths to feed.
“They gave us the startling intelligence that the rebels were already advancing to attack our army. They had left the camp about twenty-five miles south of Fayetteville, but not until they actually saw the troops marching out on the road to the north. They said there were thirty thousand of the rebels, and they were commanded by General Van Dorn.
“General Vandever immediately sent off a courier with this information to General Curtis, and very soon afterward he gave the order to return to camp. We went about six miles and then camped, but before we had been in camp an hour we had a courier from General Curtis with the same information and ordering our immediate return.
“General Vandever,” continued Harry, “gave orders for us to start out of camp at two o'clock and make a forced march to rejoin the main column. Do you know what a forced march is?
“Well, it's something pretty tough when you have to make it, as it means a march without any rest until it is ended. We had forty-one miles to go that day, and it took us from two in the morning until ten at night, but we did it. It was n't so bad for the cavalry and artillery, as they had their horses, but it was terrible for the infantry. The word passed along the lines that the enemy was on the road to attack us. General Vandever had great fears that the rebels knew of our expedition and would try to cut us off at the crossing of the White river, and so he hurried on till he got the stream behind us. There was about three feet of water at the ford, and to save the infantrymen from getting their feet wet, and consequently sore, he crossed them over with the cavalry. An infantry soldier jumped up behind a cavalryman and was soon on the other side. Others climbea on the caissons of the artillery, and so by two trips of the cavalry the whole force was crossed over with dry feet.
“We only halted for about fifteen minutes at a time, and three times in all during that long day's march. The infantrymen were completely tired out when they got into camp, but they were ready for the battle the next day, and they did good work, too, you may be sure.
“While we were on the march we met couriers that had been sent out by General Curtis to tell us that fighting had already begun away on the right of our line where General Sigel was. They also told us that we should find the center or main position at Sugar Creek, where the shape of the ground was such as to give us a better defensive position than the one at Cross Hollows. General Curtis had decided to concentrate his forces there as soon as he heard of the rebel advance, and the movements of the various parts of the army had such a concentration in view.”
Not the least weary of these who took part in General Vandever's expedition on its return to camp were Harry and Jack. The noble-hearted youths had done all they could to help along their comrades, and for nearly half the way they had loaned their horses to footsore infantrymen who were unable to keep up with the column. Harry declared that a little exercise would do him good. Jack shared his kindly feeling, and walked briskly along as though it was the greatest fun in the world. General Vandever said they were a pair of Mark Tapleys, who could be jolly under the most adverse circumstances.
When they were yet four or five miles from camp the general sent Harry to give notice of the coming of the expedition and order a supper prepared for the weary men. Harry took his horse from the man who had been riding it, and darted away as fast as he could go. The men in camp set to work with a will, and when the expedition arrived a supper as good as the army rations could supply was ready and waiting. Harry satisfied his own hunger and secured a good meal for Jack, who was not long in swallowing it; the horses were fed and watered, and then the pair of young veterans stretched themselves on the ground to get what sleep they could before the breaking of day should be the signal for battle.
While they are sleeping we will look at the organization of the two armies, and the plans on which the battle of Pea Ridge was fought.
As before stated, the army of General Curtis was about sixteen thousand strong when it started from Rolla, but the number had been reduced by leaving a garrison at Springfield and by the other causes that always reduce the strength of an army in the field, so that the aggregate of effective men ready for battle was little if any above ten thousand. It was in four divisions—the first being commanded by General Osterhaus, the second by General Asboth, the third by General Jeff C. Davis, and the fourth by General Carr. Some of these officers had not then received their commissions as generals and were still known as colonels; but as they all rose to the rank shortly afterward, it will be convenient and not unjust for us to designate them by the higher titles, whose duties they were performing.
Each division consisted of two brigades, but some of the brigades were very small, and did not contain enough men for a full regiment. General Sigel was in command of the first and second divisions, and thus held the position of a field marshal, under the superior command of General Curtis, the commander-in-chief. The infantry regiments that were in the battle of Pea Ridge on the union side were the Twenty-fifth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh and Forty-fourth Illinois, the Eighth, Eighteenth, and Twenty-second Indiana, the Fourth and Ninth Iowa, and the Second, Ninth, Fifteenth, Twelfth, Seventeenth, Twenty-fifth and a part of the Third Missouri; of cavalry regiments there were the Third Iowa, the Third and Thirty-ninth Illinois, and the First, Fourth and Sixth Missouri together with two battalions of Benton hussars, and Major Brown's battalion of cavalry, which served as a body-guard to the general-in-chief. The artillery comprised about fifty field-guns of various sizes, in four and six-gun batteries, from the same states as were represented by the infantry.
The rebel army was commanded by General Earl Van Dorn, and its aggregate was said to be not far from thirty thousand men. Van Dorn's army was composed as follows: Missouri troops, under Major-General Sterling Price, about nine thousand; Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas troops, under Brigadier-General Ben McCulloch, about thirteen thousand; Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw and other Indian troops, with two white regiments, under Brigadier-General Albert Pike, about seven thousand. No exact statement of the number of rebel troops in the battle has ever been published, but the above-named figures are not far from the correct ones. An officer of Price's army wrote an account of the battle, which was published in the Richmond Whiff. In this account he said the rebels estimated their strength at thirty-five thousand, and making all deductions for stragglers and the usual falling off on the line of march, they had from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand men to go into action.
CHAPTER XXVI. VAN DORN's ADVANCE—SIGEL'S MASTERLY RETREAT—THE BATTLE BEGUN.
Van Dorn had learned through his spies and the country people about the strong front presented by General Curtis on the northern bank of Sugar Creek and the hills that bordered it. He therefore made his plans for attacking on the other side, going completely around to the rear and placing himself between the union army and its base. With his great superiority of numbers he felt sure of winning the battle, and in case he did so the whole union force would be compelled to surrender, as it would have no line of retreat. Possibly some of the cavalry and horse artillery might get away, but this would be a small matter compared with the capture of the whole of the infantry and the immense wagon-train.
In carrying out this plan Van Dorn left the main road about half-way between Sugar Creek and Fayetteville, and moved by a side road which is nearly parallel to the main one. This side road passes through Osage Springs and Benton ville, branching at the latter place in the direction of Pineville, and connects with the main road near the Missouri state line about eight miles further north. The men carried rations for four days, and all were confident that by the end of that time they would be living on the stores they were to capture from the union army.
At Bentonville, ten miles from the main camp at Sugar Creek, Van Dorn's advance encountered General Sigel's command on the sixth of March, and had a sharply-contested battle, though not a very destructive one on either side. At first General Sigel supposed it was only a scouting party that had advanced, but very soon the numbers increased so rapidly that he saw it necessary to retreat. And just as the attack began he received orders from General Curtis to fall back to Sugar Creek, and consequently his movements had the double stimulus of obedience to his superior and overwhelming numbers of the enemy.
The retreat was skilfully conducted, and was pronounced by impartial students of the war a splendid display of military ability. Sigel sent his train ahead and got it away safely; then he put the rest of his forces in motion, holding the enemy at bay with a single battery of artillery and about one thousand of his best infantry. As the enemy advanced it was met with a vigorous fire of shot and shell from the rapidly-worked guns, supported by the infantry. Half the battery was used for this purpose, and while the advancing forces of the rebels were thus checked and thrown into confusion, the rest of the battery was sent ahead to take up a good position.
As soon as the report came that the other section was in position the first would be limbered up and rapidly rushed on, the infantry fell back to the support of the guns which were ready for their work, and then as the enemy advanced the reception of a few minutes before was repeated. Meantime the first section had taken up a new position; and, fighting in this way, the retreat was brilliantly successful, and Sigel's forces joined those of Curtis before nightfall.
What made Sigel's success all the greater was that the roads were in sad condition, being cut up by recent rains, and all of them narrow. Much of the country was wooded, and in some places densely so; but this circumstance, while a disadvantage to the retreating force, was also a hindrance to the assailing one, as they were liable to fall into ambuscades unless they exercised great caution. Sigel's loss in this retreat was less than one hundred men altogether, and a good part of these were captured by going on a wrong road and marching directly into the enemy's lines. During the night a battery of four pieces met the same fate, and the incident was thus humorously described by one of the rebel officers:
“It was a little after dark,” said he, “when our pickets heard and soon saw a battery coming leisurely along the road. The sergeant in charge of the picket took in the situation at once, and when the battery came up to him he promptly challenged it. In the gloom of the night the captain did not observe the gray uniforms, and thought himself among friends.
“'We want to find General Asboth's Division,' said the captain.
“'All right,' replied the sergeant. 'Keep along this road, and you 'll find it on the left. I 'll send a man along to show you.'
“The captain thanked the sergeant and accepted the guide, who took the battery into camp and quietly told the boys what was up. They gathered around, and before they knew where they were the artillerymen were snaked off their horses and told to surrender. The poor devil of a captain was awfully down in the mouth when he found what a trap he'd walked into.”
During the night of the sixth Van Dorn kept most of his men in motion, so that by daylight he had stretched his line completely across the road between the union army and its base at Springfield. General Curtis at the same time was not idle, and changed his position, as we have before stated, converting into the front what had formerly been his rear. This compelled him to move all his wagons, excepting such as had already fallen into the hands of the enemy, which, happily, were not numerous; but it also compelled him to fight on ground that had no advantages for him, as would have been the case on the Sugar Creek front; besides, it was even better known to the rebels than to himself, as they had nearly all the people of the country on their side.
This was the state of affairs when Harry and Jack returned from their expedition with General Vandever. From a resident of the country they learned that the ground where the union army was encamped was known as Pea Ridge. Here was the force of General Curtis that was to fight with nearly three times its number. It was a wooded table-land with occasional openings, where the timber had been cleared away to make room for fields. There was hardly any water upon it, and for the two entire days of the battle few of the animals had an opportunity to drink. The men also suffered severely, but as a supply could be taken from Sugar Creek, at the rear of the camp, they were less badly off than the horses and mules.
We will let Harry tell the story of the battle, which he did in an account that he sent home, and was afterward delighted to see in print.
“Neither Jack nor I got much sleep last night, as we were all eagerness to see how the next day was going to turn out; and even if we had been sleepy, the noises that kept up all night long would have interfered with us a good deal. Our men that had walked so far were allowed to rest, but most of the other regiments were moved about so as to have them in a good position for the day's work, that was sure to be very lively.
“Very soon after daylight the scouts came in and told General Curtis that the country to the north, right along our road to Springfield, was full of rebels, and they were advancing to attack us. The general thought it would be a good thing to attack them first, or at all events to meet them before they got close up to where we were.
“General Sigel was on our left with the divisions of Generals Osterhaus and Asboth. It was reported that a heavy force of rebels were coming in that direction, and so Sigel was ordered to meet them. He sent General Osterhaus out for that purpose, and he reached the line on the road running north from Bentonville without opposition. Just beyond the road he encountered what was supposed to be a small body of rebels, who were posted in a wood, and in order to drive them out he opened fire upon them with three cannon. After a few rounds had been fired he ordered the artillery to stop, and sent some cavalry to finish the fighting and clear the wood.
“Well, the wood was cleared; but it was cleared the other way from what had been expected. Instead of a few rebels there, it turned out that 'the woods were full of 'em,' the place being held by Pike's division of white and Indian troops. The cavalry met a heavy fire of rifles, shotguns and small arms of every kind, and the charge was completely broken up; and not only was the charge broken up, but the rebels followed the retreating cavalry, and in the confusion they managed to capture the three cannon that had been shelling them.
“But they did n't keep the cannon very long, for General Osterhaus brought up his infantry and drove the rebels away. The white and red rebels were busy plundering and scalping the men they had captured, and were quarreling over the possession of the horses and saddles, and while their attention was thus drawn away they were attacked and defeated. The Indians and whites were all mixed up in this fight, and several of the Indians were left dead on the ground, along with some Texans, who were armed with big bowie-knives in addition to their firearms. The Texans fought with these knives, and several of our soldiers were killed by them.”
This statement was made at the time, and has been denied by the rebels. In proof of the correctness of the assertion the following quotation from a rebel account in the Richmond Whig of April 9, 1862, ought to suffice:
“About forty-five men lay in the space of two or three hundred yards to the rear of the battery; all save one entirely dead, and all but three Dutchmen. One was gasping in the agonies of dissolution; three were our comrades. Here was a sterner feature of the war than any I had yet seen. The Texans, with their large, heavy knives, had riven skulls in twain, mingling blood and brains and hair. The sight was a sad one, but not devoid of satisfaction to our own exiles from home and wife.”
Pea Ridge would seem to have been the scene of more barbaric fighting than any other battle of the war, when we include the performances of Texans and Indians; but in defense of the Texans it may be said that the bowie-knife is really no more barbaric a weapon than the sword in its mode of operation, whatever may be urged against the practice of carrying it habitually. The wounds described by the writer in the Richmond Whig could easily be attributed to a cavalry saber and nobody would think it out of the ordinary modes of warfare.
With the increase of civilization in Texas and the Southwest generally since the war the bowie-knife seems to have gone out of fashion. Little is heard of it nowadays, and as the state of Texas has a law imposing a heavy fine for the carrying of concealed weapons, it is probable that this famous implement will soon be forgotten altogether, and be seen only in museums by the side of the tomahawk and scalping-knife.
“Why is it called the bowie-knife?” a youthful reader asks.
It is so called after Colonel Bowie, its inventor. His name has clung to his knife just as that of Doctor Guillotin has adhered to the beheading machine which he designed, and that of Colonel Colt to his revolving pistol.