The Lost Army

by Frank Gee Patchin

  CHAPTER XXVI. VAN DORN’s ADVANCE--SIGEL’S MASTERLY RETREAT--THE BATTLEBEGUN.

  |Van Dorn had learned through his spies and the country people about thestrong front presented by General Curtis on the northern bank of SugarCreek and the hills that bordered it. He therefore made his plans forattacking on the other side, going completely around to the rear andplacing himself between the union army and its base. With his greatsuperiority of numbers he felt sure of winning the battle, and in casehe did so the whole union force would be compelled to surrender, as itwould have no line of retreat. Possibly some of the cavalry and horseartillery might get away, but this would be a small matter compared withthe capture of the whole of the infantry and the immense wagon-train.

  In carrying out this plan Van Dorn left the main road about half-waybetween Sugar Creek and Fayetteville, and moved by a side road whichis nearly parallel to the main one. This side road passes through OsageSprings and Benton ville, branching at the latter place in the directionof Pineville, and connects with the main road near the Missouri stateline about eight miles further north. The men carried rations for fourdays, and all were confident that by the end of that time they would beliving on the stores they were to capture from the union army.

  At Bentonville, ten miles from the main camp at Sugar Creek, Van Dorn’sadvance encountered General Sigel’s command on the sixth of March, andhad a sharply-contested battle, though not a very destructive one oneither side. At first General Sigel supposed it was only a scoutingparty that had advanced, but very soon the numbers increased so rapidlythat he saw it necessary to retreat. And just as the attack began hereceived orders from General Curtis to fall back to Sugar Creek, andconsequently his movements had the double stimulus of obedience to hissuperior and overwhelming numbers of the enemy.

  The retreat was skilfully conducted, and was pronounced by impartialstudents of the war a splendid display of military ability. Sigel senthis train ahead and got it away safely; then he put the rest of hisforces in motion, holding the enemy at bay with a single battery ofartillery and about one thousand of his best infantry. As the enemyadvanced it was met with a vigorous fire of shot and shell from therapidly-worked guns, supported by the infantry. Half the battery wasused for this purpose, and while the advancing forces of the rebels werethus checked and thrown into confusion, the rest of the battery was sentahead to take up a good position.

  As soon as the report came that the other section was in position thefirst would be limbered up and rapidly rushed on, the infantry fell backto the support of the guns which were ready for their work, and then asthe enemy advanced the reception of a few minutes before was repeated.Meantime the first section had taken up a new position; and, fightingin this way, the retreat was brilliantly successful, and Sigel’s forcesjoined those of Curtis before nightfall.

  What made Sigel’s success all the greater was that the roads were in sadcondition, being cut up by recent rains, and all of them narrow. Muchof the country was wooded, and in some places densely so; but thiscircumstance, while a disadvantage to the retreating force, was alsoa hindrance to the assailing one, as they were liable to fall intoambuscades unless they exercised great caution. Sigel’s loss in thisretreat was less than one hundred men altogether, and a good part ofthese were captured by going on a wrong road and marching directly intothe enemy’s lines. During the night a battery of four pieces met thesame fate, and the incident was thus humorously described by one of therebel officers:

  “It was a little after dark,” said he, “when our pickets heard and soonsaw a battery coming leisurely along the road. The sergeant in charge ofthe picket took in the situation at once, and when the battery came upto him he promptly challenged it. In the gloom of the night the captaindid not observe the gray uniforms, and thought himself among friends.

  “‘We want to find General Asboth’s Division,’ said the captain.

  “‘All right,’ replied the sergeant. ‘Keep along this road, and you ‘llfind it on the left. I ‘ll send a man along to show you.’

  “The captain thanked the sergeant and accepted the guide, who took thebattery into camp and quietly told the boys what was up. They gatheredaround, and before they knew where they were the artillerymen weresnaked off their horses and told to surrender. The poor devil of acaptain was awfully down in the mouth when he found what a trap he’dwalked into.”

  During the night of the sixth Van Dorn kept most of his men in motion,so that by daylight he had stretched his line completely across the roadbetween the union army and its base at Springfield. General Curtis atthe same time was not idle, and changed his position, as we have beforestated, converting into the front what had formerly been his rear. Thiscompelled him to move all his wagons, excepting such as had alreadyfallen into the hands of the enemy, which, happily, were not numerous;but it also compelled him to fight on ground that had no advantages forhim, as would have been the case on the Sugar Creek front; besides, itwas even better known to the rebels than to himself, as they had nearlyall the people of the country on their side.

  This was the state of affairs when Harry and Jack returned from theirexpedition with General Vandever. From a resident of the country theylearned that the ground where the union army was encamped was known asPea Ridge. Here was the force of General Curtis that was to fightwith nearly three times its number. It was a wooded table-land withoccasional openings, where the timber had been cleared away to make roomfor fields. There was hardly any water upon it, and for the two entiredays of the battle few of the animals had an opportunity to drink. Themen also suffered severely, but as a supply could be taken from SugarCreek, at the rear of the camp, they were less badly off than the horsesand mules.

  We will let Harry tell the story of the battle, which he did in anaccount that he sent home, and was afterward delighted to see in print.

  “Neither Jack nor I got much sleep last night, as we were all eagernessto see how the next day was going to turn out; and even if we had beensleepy, the noises that kept up all night long would have interferedwith us a good deal. Our men that had walked so far were allowed torest, but most of the other regiments were moved about so as to havethem in a good position for the day’s work, that was sure to be verylively.

  “Very soon after daylight the scouts came in and told General Curtisthat the country to the north, right along our road to Springfield,was full of rebels, and they were advancing to attack us. The generalthought it would be a good thing to attack them first, or at all eventsto meet them before they got close up to where we were.

  “General Sigel was on our left with the divisions of Generals Osterhausand Asboth. It was reported that a heavy force of rebels were coming inthat direction, and so Sigel was ordered to meet them. He sent GeneralOsterhaus out for that purpose, and he reached the line on the roadrunning north from Bentonville without opposition. Just beyond the roadhe encountered what was supposed to be a small body of rebels, who wereposted in a wood, and in order to drive them out he opened fire uponthem with three cannon. After a few rounds had been fired he orderedthe artillery to stop, and sent some cavalry to finish the fighting andclear the wood.

  “Well, the wood was cleared; but it was cleared the other way from whathad been expected. Instead of a few rebels there, it turned out that‘the woods were full of ’em,’ the place being held by Pike’s divisionof white and Indian troops. The cavalry met a heavy fire of rifles,shotguns and small arms of every kind, and the charge was completelybroken up; and not only was the charge broken up, but the rebelsfollowed the retreating cavalry, and in the confusion they managed tocapture the three cannon that had been shelling them.

  “But they did n’t keep the cannon very long, for General Osterhausbrought up his infantry and drove the rebels away. The white and redrebels were busy plundering and scalping the men they had captured, andwere quarreling over the possession of the horses and saddles, and whiletheir attention was thus drawn away they were attacked and defeated. TheIndians and whites were all mixed up in this fight, and se
veral of theIndians were left dead on the ground, along with some Texans, who werearmed with big bowie-knives in addition to their firearms. The Texansfought with these knives, and several of our soldiers were killed bythem.”

  This statement was made at the time, and has been denied by the rebels.In proof of the correctness of the assertion the following quotationfrom a rebel account in the Richmond _Whig_ of April 9, 1862, ought tosuffice:

  “About forty-five men lay in the space of two or three hundred yards tothe rear of the battery; all save one entirely dead, and all but threeDutchmen. One was gasping in the agonies of dissolution; three were ourcomrades. Here was a sterner feature of the war than any I had yet seen.The Texans, with their large, heavy knives, had riven skulls in twain,mingling blood and brains and hair. The sight was a sad one, but notdevoid of satisfaction to our own exiles from home and wife.”

  Pea Ridge would seem to have been the scene of more barbaric fightingthan any other battle of the war, when we include the performances ofTexans and Indians; but in defense of the Texans it may be said that thebowie-knife is really no more barbaric a weapon than the sword inits mode of operation, whatever may be urged against the practiceof carrying it habitually. The wounds described by the writer in theRichmond _Whig_ could easily be attributed to a cavalry saber and nobodywould think it out of the ordinary modes of warfare.

  With the increase of civilization in Texas and the Southwest generallysince the war the bowie-knife seems to have gone out of fashion. Littleis heard of it nowadays, and as the state of Texas has a law imposinga heavy fine for the carrying of concealed weapons, it is probable thatthis famous implement will soon be forgotten altogether, and be seenonly in museums by the side of the tomahawk and scalping-knife.

  “Why is it called the bowie-knife?” a youthful reader asks.

  It is so called after Colonel Bowie, its inventor. His name has clung tohis knife just as that of Doctor Guillotin has adhered to the beheadingmachine which he designed, and that of Colonel Colt to his revolvingpistol.