CHAPTER XXX. THE REBELS DEFEATED—END OF THE BATTLE—INDIANS SCALPING OUR SOLDIERS AND MUTILATING THEIR BODIES.
While Sigel's batteries had been pouring their iron hail upon the hill which formed the center of the rebel position the divisions of Carr and Davis had slowly advanced till they occupied the woods where the rebels were posted when the fight began. I should have said our guns stopped two or three times, partly to allow them to cool and partly to carry them forward to a closer range. The melting away of the rebel lines was the last act of the battle. The order to retire was given, and before noon the fighting was over.
“General Sigel's command went in pursuit, while the rest of the army remained on the field. The chase was kept up for twelve miles and then given up, as the rebels had a fair road before them and could push on without danger, while we had to be constantly on the lookout for ambuscades. General Sigel captured a good many wagons with supplies and some ammunition, and his men picked up about a thousand stand of arms which the fleeing rebels had thrown away. They were of very little use, as they were mostly shotguns and squirrel-rifles. The best among them were picked out by the officers, to send home as trophies of the campaign and in memory of the battle we had won.
“As soon as it was certain that the rebels had gone and the field was ours we set about looking after the wounded.
“General Vandever went to the hill where the rebel batteries had been posted in the morning, and took me along with him. Such a sight as I saw there I hope never to see again.
“The ground was covered with dead and wounded men, the most of them dead, as they were struck down by shot and shell or by grape and canister. Some were killed by the falling limbs of trees, and one man was crushed by the weight of a limb five or six inches in diameter that had fallen directly upon his shoulders and pressed him to the ground. One tree had been pierced through from side to side by a solid shot; its top was shivered by a shell, and its trunk was pierced by a dozen or more canister-balls. Here lay the fragments of a battery-wagon that had been blown up, and not far off were five artillery wheels. Three mules lay dead by the side of the broken wagons, and one of them was so torn by the explosion that little more than the general shape of the animal remained.
“In a space thirty feet square I counted seven dead men and three wounded ones, one of the latter just gasping his last. A little further on there were fifteen wounded rebels, all begging and imploring for water. I gave them all my canteen contained, and so did the rest of the party, and the general sent me off for more. As I turned my horse to ride away he jumped aside to avoid stepping on a prostrate man whose arm had been torn off by a cannon-shot, and as he jumped he almost trod on another whose leg had been shattered. Close by a tree was a dead man whose head had been blown off by a shell, and by his side was another dead man whose breast was pierced by a grapeshot. A letter had fallen from his pocket, and I sprang to the ground and picked it up, intending to read it later.
“The letter was addressed to Pleasant J. Williams, Churchill's regiment, Fayetteville, Ark.; it was from a girl in Kentucky, to whom Williams was evidently engaged, if I may judge by the tenor of the document. I shall keep it in the hope of some day being able to return it to the writer. She was an ardent rebel, but evidently a very sweet and loving young woman, though, unfortunately, she does not inclose her photograph.