Mechanically the men obeyed, and when they were at a good distance from the guns that had been left on the ground he halted them to give his infantry a chance to come up and help surround the prisoners.
The infantry came up, and the prisoners, twenty-four in all, were duly “surrounded” and marched into camp, where they were placed among others of their late comrades-in-arms. Twenty-four armed men surrounded and captured by four soldiers and a chaplain is an occurrence not often known in war. The prisoners were mostly beardless youths, who had little appreciation of what war was or is. Only the rawest of soldiers could be captured in this way and brought safely into the lines, and it required all the audacity of which the chaplain was capable to carry out his enterprise.
Booneville was entered in triumph, and there was great excitement among the inhabitants, many of whom expected to be murdered in cold blood after witnessing the pillaging of their houses and the destruction of everything that the “Yankee thieves” did not desire to carry away. The poorer part of the population was generally loyal, while the wealthier inhabitants were nearly all in favor of secession. There were some rich people who were stanch supporters of the Union, but they had a hard time of it among their more numerous secession neighbors.
A considerable quantity of rebel stores and arms were taken at Booneville and in the neighborhood, and altogether the forces that were arrayed under the secession banner suffered a heavy loss in things that were valuable to them. The hiding-places of these valuables were pointed out by union men, who in some instances desired their identity concealed for fear of the vengeance that would be visited upon them after the national troops should go away. They complained that they had been very badly treated, and several of them had been given a certain number of days in which to close up their affairs and leave town. Their time of probation had not ended when the battle and its result rendered their departure a matter which the rebels were not exactly able to control.
General Lyon issued a proclamation, in which he briefly recited the events of the past week and warned the people not to take up arms against the government. He advised all who had been in arms to go to their homes, and promised that all who would do so and remain quietly attending to their own business, should not be disturbed for past offenses. The proclamation had a good effect, and the number recently under arms who went home and stayed there was by no means small. Unhappily it was more than offset by those who responded to the summons of the governor and went to follow the fortunes of the army that he was organizing.
Preparations were now made for an advance into the southwest part of the state, as it was understood that the rebels would attempt to make a stand there, where they would be assisted by the troops that the Confederate government was sending to help in getting Missouri out of the Union.
General Sweeney was ordered to march from Rolla to Springfield, and at the same time General Lyon would move from Booneville toward the same point. Simultaneously a column under Major Sturgis was to advance from Leavenworth, Kansas, through the western part of Missouri, and the three columns were to unite near Springfield and endeavor to cut off and disperse the rebels that were concentrating with a view to taking the offensive. This was the plan, but owing to the absence of railways it could not be carried out in a hurry.
The First Iowa reached Booneville shortly after the battle, and most of its officers and soldiers were greatly disappointed to think they could not have had a hand in the fight.
Jack and Harry had their first view of the Missouri river from the bank opposite Booneville, and were greatly interested in studying the mighty stream as the ferryboat carried them across.
As he looked at the yellow flood pouring along with the rapidity which is one of its characteristics, Jack remarked: