GEN. LYON IN SPRINGFIELD.
When Gen. Lyon returned to Springfield after the Dug Springs expedition, he scattered his forces upon the different roads leading into the city at a distance of from three to five miles. Five miles from town, on the Fayetteville road, was a force of 2,500 under command of Maj. Sturgis. The other roads were well guarded, and all precautions were taken against a surprise or a sudden attack. Gen. Lyon’s private room and personal headquarters were in a house on North Jefferson street, not far from the public square. The building, a small one, was then owned by Mrs. Boren; it is now (1883) the property of Mrs. Timmons. His general headquarters were on the north side of College street, a little west of Main, in a house then owned by John S. Phelps, but which had been recently occupied by Maj. Dorn. In this same house his body lay, after it was borne from the battle field of Wilson’s Creek. The house was burned by Curtis’ Federals in February, 1862, and where it once stood is now (July, 1883) a vacant lot, on which are the remains of an old cellar.
As soon as Lyon reached Springfield he again sent off a courier to Fremont at St. Louis asking for reinforcements. Hon. John S. Phelps, who had started for Washington City to attend the extra session of Congress convened by President Lincoln, had stopped in St. Louis, called upon Gen. Fremont, and urged him to help Lyon and the Union people of Southwest Missouri with men and supplies, both of which were at St. Louis in abundance.[2] But Fremont stated that he did not believe Gen. Lyon was in anything like desperate straits; that McCulloch and Price could have nothing but an inconsiderable force, since the country in Southwestern Missouri was too poor to support a force of any formidable strength; that in his opinion Lyon could take care of himself; and finally that he had no troops to spare him anyhow, as he had received information through Gov. Morton, of Indiana, that a large Confederate force and flotilla of gunboats, under command of Gen. Pillow, were coming up the Mississippi to attack Cairo, Bird’s Point, and if successful in their destruction, would come on and destroy St. Louis, and that he had need of every available man to guard those threatened points.
Gen. Lyon consulted with his officers and with the prominent Union men of Springfield very freely. He knew the situation perfectly. His scouts came in every day from McCulloch’s army and gave him all needed information. He was impatient to fight the force in his front, but he anxiously desired reinforcements to enable him to have a reasonable chance of success. Every day he visited the out-posts and nearly every day sent off messages for help. Sometimes he would lose his temper and curse and swear quite violently. On one occasion he received a message from Fremont that no more troops could or would be sent for the present. Striding back and forth in his room, with the paper in his hand, he suddenly threw it on the table, and smiting his hands together cried out: “G—d d—n General Fremont: He is a worse enemy to me and the Union cause than Price and McCulloch and the whole d—d tribe of rebels in this part of the State!”[3]
PRELIMINARIES OF THE FINAL STRUGGLE.
On Monday, August 5, the day of Lyon’s arrival at Springfield, as before stated, he left a force of 2,500 strong at a point about five miles from Springfield, on the Fayetteville road. This force (comprising fully one-third of Lyon’s army), under Major Sturgis, was ordered by Gen. Lyon to be ready to move at a moment’s notice, and at about 6 o’clock on the evening of the next day the men were in ranks, the artillery horses harnessed, and everything in readiness to march back and attack the advancing enemy.
Shortly afterward a stream of visitors, messengers, and communications poured in upon the general, some reporting the engagement of Capt. Stockton, of the 1st Kansas, and two companies of Home Guards with a party of Price’s cavalry, on the prairie west of town, in which two of the latter were wounded; some gave other information; some were the bearers of excellent advice(!); others came for orders; still others had no business.
Two companies were ordered to the relief of Capt. Stockton. Eight companies of the 1st Kansas infantry, a part of the second Kansas, and Major Osterhaus’ battalion of the 2d Missouri were ordered to a certain point in town to await the arrival of Gen. Lyon, who, it seems, was so entirely occupied with other matters that instead of starting at 10 o’clock, it was midnight when he left his headquarters, and without looking at his watch he proceeded to Camp Hunter, having already ordered Major Sturgis to drive in the enemy’s pickets, if within two miles of his own. A company of cavalry under Capt. Fred Steele[4] was dispatched on his errand (to find the pickets) at half-past 12, and Gen. Lyon, with the troops above mentioned, arrived at 3 o’clock in the morning. Here he consulted his watch, and, finding the time more than two hours later than he supposed, he at once called together his principal officers, communicated to them his embarrassing position, and taking their advice, withdrew the entire force to Springfield.
It had been Lyon’s intention, on retreating from Dug Springs to Springfield, to wheel suddenly about on reaching the latter place and march back upon Price and McCulloch (who, he considered, would be following him up), fall upon them when they least expected an attack, and defeat them if possible. On arriving at Springfield, appearances indicated the approach of a Confederate force from the west, and this caused him to wait a few hours. The night of the 6th, his information was to the effect that Price and McCulloch were only seven miles away from Sturgis’ camp, and he intended attacking them at daylight. On the return to town the general remarked to Major Schofield, of the 1st Missouri (Frank Blair’s regiment), that he had a premonition that a night attack would prove disastrous, and yet he had felt impelled to try it once, and perhaps should do so again, “for my only hope of success is in a surprise,” he added. Before the Federals reached Springfield it was daylight. An ambush was formed in the timber southwest of town in case of pursuit.
During Wednesday continued alarms were circulated in Springfield, and a real panic prevailed among many of the citizens, who packed up and left, or prepared to leave, for supposed places of safety. The troops wore under arms in every quarter, and several times it was reported that fighting had actually commenced. Toward night the panic in a degree subsided: but many of the people who remained did not retire or make any attempt to sleep. Phelps’ regiment of Home Guards, commanded by Col. Marcus Boyd, was on the qui vive the whole night.