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.