Headquarters Western Army,
Near Springfield, Missouri, August 12, 1861.

The General commanding takes great pleasure in announcing to the army under his command, the signal victory it has just gained. Soldiers of Louisiana, of Arkansas, of Missouri, and of Texas, nobly have you sustained yourselves. Shoulder to shoulder you have met the enemy and driven him before you. Your first battle has been glorious and your general is proud of you. The opposing forces, composed mostly of the old regular army of the North, have thrown themselves upon you, confident of victory; but, by great gallantry and determined courage, you have routed them with great slaughter. Several pieces of artillery and many prisoners are now in your hands. The commander-in-chief of the enemy is slain, and many of the general officers wounded. The flag of the Confederacy now floats near Springfield, the stronghold of the enemy. The friends of our cause who have been in prison there are released. While announcing to the army the great victory, the general hopes that the laurels you have gained will not be tarnished by a single outrage. The private property of citizens of either party must be respected. Soldiers who fought as well as you did the day before yesterday cannot rob or plunder. By order of

Ben McCulloch,
General Commanding.

James McIntosh, Capt. C. S. A. and Adjutant General.

General Price was also seized with the proclamation fever and a few days after the occupation of Springfield, that is to say on August 20th, published the following:—

GEN. PRICE’S PROCLAMATION.

To the People of Missouri:—Fellow-citizens: The army under my command has been organized under the laws of the State for the protection of your homes and firesides, and for the maintenance of the rights, dignity and honor of Missouri. It is kept in the field for these purposes alone, and to aid in accomplishing them, our gallant Southern brethren have come into our State. We have just achieved a glorious victory over the foe, and scattered far and wide the well-appointed army which the usurper at Washington has been more than six months gathering for your subjugation and enslavement. This victory frees a large portion of the State from the power of the invaders, and restores it to the protection of its army. It consequently becomes my duty to assure you that it is my firm determination to protect every peaceable citizen in the full enjoyment of all his rights, whatever may have been his sympathies in the present unhappy struggle, if he has not taken an active part in the cruel warfare, which has been waged against the good people of this State, by the ruthless enemies whom we have just defeated. I therefore invite all good citizens to return to their homes and the practice of their ordinary avocations, with the full assurance that they, their families, their homes and their property shall be carefully protected. I, at the same time, warn all evil disposed persons, who may support the usurpations of any one claiming to be provisional or temporary Governor of Missouri, or who shall in any other way give aid or comfort to the enemy, that they will be held as enemies, and treated accordingly.

Sterling Price,
Maj.-Gen. Commanding Mo. State Guard.

August 20, 1861.

It will be observed that the terms of Gen. Price’s proclamation differed somewhat from McCulloch’s. The latter declared that prisoners of the Union army would be released and allowed to return to their friends, while Gen. Price declared that no man who had taken an active part in the “cruel warfare which had been waged against the good people (i.e., the secession good people) of the State” should be protected in his rights. And yet Gen. Price was as much a friend of the Union people and Union troops as Gen. McCulloch, and showed them as many favors.

JOY AND CONGRATULATIONS.

The news of the battle of Wilson’s Creek was received with great joy throughout the Southern Confederacy and everywhere that the Confederate cause had sympathizers, and the event did much for that cause in Missouri, by stimulating recruiting and causing many an undecided individual to come down off the fence and stand on the Southern side. Some time afterward, November 4, 1861, when the “Claib. Jackson Legislature” (as the Legislature that passed the Neosho ordinance of secession was called), was in session at Cassville, it passed the following resolution, introduced by Mr. Goodlett, under a suspension of the rules:—

Resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring therein: That the thanks of the State of Missouri are hereby cordially given to Major-General Price and Brigadier-Generals Parsons, Rains, Slack, Clark, McBride, and Steen, and the officers and troops of the Missouri State Guard under their command, and to Brigadier-General McCulloch and officers and the troops of the Confederate States under their command, for their gallant and signal services and the victory obtained by them in the battle of Springfield.

The following resolutions were introduced into the Confederate Congress on the 21st of August, by Mr. Ochiltree, of Texas, and were passed unanimously:—

Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe to the arms of the Confederate States another glorious and important victory, in a portion of the country where a reverse would have been disastrous, by exposing the families of the good people of the State of Missouri, to the unbridled license of the brutal soldiery of an unscrupulous enemy; therefore

Be it Resolved by the Congress of the Confederate States, That the thanks of Congress are cordially tendered to Brig.-Gen. McCulloch and the officers and soldiers of his brave command for their gallant conduct in defeating after a battle of six and a half hours a force of the enemy equal in numbers and greatly superior in all their appointments, thus proving that a right cause nerves the heart and strengthens the arms of the Southern people, fighting as they are for their liberty, their homes and friends, against an unholy despotism.

Resolved, That in the opinion of Congress, Gen. McCulloch and his troops are entitled to and will receive the grateful thanks of all our people.