It is proper to state that Dr. Melcher’s testimony is corroborated in part by two survivors of the 1st Arkansas, and by Mrs. Livonia Green, now of Lane county, Oregon, and also by Mrs. Jerome Yarbrough, of this county, both of the latter being daughters of the Mr. and Mrs. Ray mentioned. (Mr. and Mrs. Ray are now dead.)
After Sturgis’ army had gotten well on the road to Springfield, it was discovered that Gen. Lyon’s body had been left behind. Sturgis immediately started back a flag of truce party under Lieut. Canfield, of the regular army, with orders to go to Gens. Price and McCulloch, and, if possible, procure the remains and bring them on to Springfield. Lieut. Canfield and party went to the battle field, saw Gen. McCulloch, obtained his order for the body (the general remarking that he wished he had a thousand other dead Yankee bodies to send off) and there ascertained that the body had already started for the Federal lines.
When the corpse was deposited in the former headquarters of the general, on the north side of College street, west of Main, in Springfield, word was sent to Sturgis. He and Schofield and other officers held a consultation, and decided that the body should be taken with the army to Rolla, if possible. There not being a metallic coffin in the place, it was determined to embalm it, or preserve it by some artificial process. Accordingly, the chief surgeon, Dr. E. C. Franklin, was sent for. Responding to the inquiries of the writer, Dr. Franklin says:—
About ten o’clock p. m., on the night when it arrived at head quarters, I was summoned there and then first saw the body of Gen. Lyon lying upon a table, covered with a white spread, in a room adjoining the one where two or three of the Union officers were seated. Gens. Schofield, Sturgis, and others consulted me as to the possibility of injecting the body with such materials that would prevent decay during its transit to St. Louis. I prepared the fluid for injection into the body, but discovered that instead of being retained within the vessels it passed out into the cavity of the chest. This led me to suspect a laceration either of one of the large arteries near the heart, or, possibly, a wound of the heart itself. This hypothesis, coupled with the fact that there was an external wound in the region of the heart, confirmed my opinion of the utter uselessness of attempting the preservation of the body during its passage to St. Louis. These facts I reported to the commanding officer, who then gave me verbal orders to attend to the disposal of the body in the best possible manner. At this time preparations were being made and the orders given for the troops to retreat and fall back upon Rolla, some fifty or more miles nearer St. Louis. Returning to the general hospital, of which I was in charge, I detailed a squad of nurses to watch by the body of Gen. Lyon till morning, which order was faithfully carried out. I then disposed of my time for the best interests of the wounded and sick under my charge.
Dr. Franklin was furnished with money and directed to have the general’s remains well cared for, and he ordered an undertaker, Mr. Presley Beal, to make a good, substantial coffin at once. Early the following morning, in some way, word was sent to Mrs. Mary Phelps, wife of Hon. John S. Phelps, that the body of the great Union leader was lying stiff, and bloody, and neglected in the temporary charnel house on College street. Soon she and the wife of Mr. Beal were by his side, and watching him. Not long thereafter came the wife of Col. Marcus Boyd and her two daughters (one of whom, now Mrs. Lula Kennedy, still resides in Springfield), and kept them company. And so it was that women, “last at the cross and first at the tomb,” were those who kept vigil over the corse of the dead warrior, who, although he died the earliest, was one of the greatest Union generals the war produced.
The body had now lain about twenty-four hours in very hot weather. It was changing fast, and its condition made it necessary that it should be buried as soon as possible. Mrs. Phelps left Mrs. Boyd and her daughters and went to see about the coffin. Dr. Franklin came in and sprinkled the corpse with bay rum and alcohol. Mr. Beal brought the coffin, and soon a wagon—a butcher’s wagon—was on its way to Col. Phelps’ farm with all that was mortal of the dead hero, and with no escort save the driver, Mrs. Phelps, Mr. Beal and one or two soldiers.
Col. Emmett McDonald, than whom the war produced no more knightly a soldier, had been made a prisoner by Gen. Lyon, at the capture of Camp Jackson. When Lyon was killed, Col. McDonald not only assisted Dr. Melcher in recovering the body, but Dr. Franklin says of him:—
Here let me do justice to Col. Emmett McDonald, who called upon me at the general hospital and after some conversation in regard to the circumstances attending the death of Gen. Lyon, tendered to me an escort of Confederate troops as a “guard of honor” to accompany Gen. Lyon’s remains to the place of burial, which I refused from a too sensitive regard for the painful occasion, and an ignorance of military regulations touching the subject.
Mrs. Phelps was practically alone at the time. Her husband was in his seat in the Federal Congress, her son, John E. Phelps, had followed off the Federal army, and even her faithful servant, George, had accompanied his young master. But Mrs. Phelps was a lady not easily daunted, or one that would shrink from what she considered a duty, no matter how unpleasant it might be. The body was taken to Mrs. Phelps’ residence, and not buried at once, it being the understanding that it would be sent for soon. Mr. James Vaughan, who owned a tin-shop in Springfield, was ordered to make a zinc case for the coffin, to assist in the preservation of its contents.
The coffin was temporarily deposited in an out-door cellar or cave, which in summer had been used as an ice-house, and in the winter as an “apple-hole,” and was well covered with straw. It was here placed about two o’clock on the 11th. A day or two later, the slave, George, returned. While the body of Gen. Lyon lay in Mrs. Phelps’ cellar, the place was visited by some citizens and many Southern soldiers. It is much to be regretted that some brutes there were among the soldiers that treated the remains of the dead man with all disrespect, cursing them and him openly and in the vilest terms. One young officer is reported to have said to Mrs. Phelps: “There is quite a contrast betwixt the resting place of old Lyon’s body and his soul, isn’t there, Madame? The one is in an ice-house; the other in hell!” he added with a heartless chuckle.