----He died, To throw away the dearest thing he owed, As
'twere a careless trifle.---MACBETH.
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.--MERCHANT OF
VENICE.
[Sidenote: THE BATTLE OF WILSON CREEK.]
On the 10th of August, at Wilson Creek, two hundred and forty miles
southwest of St. Louis, occurred the hardest-fought battle of the
year. General Lyon had pursued the Rebels to that corner of the State.
He had called again and again for re-enforcements, but at Washington
nothing could be seen except Virginia. Lyon's force was five thousand
two hundred men. The enemy, under Ben McCulloch and Sterling Price,
numbered over eleven thousand, according to McCulloch's official
report. Lyon would not retreat. He thought that would injure the Cause
more than to fight and be defeated.
To one of his staff-officers, the night before the engagement, he said:
"I believe in presentiments, and, ever since this attack was planned,
I have felt that it would result disastrously. But I cannot leave the
country without a battle."
On his way to the field, he was silent and abstracted; but when the
guns opened, he gave his orders with great promptness and clearness.
He had probably resolved that he would not leave the field alive unless
he left it as a victor. By a singular coincidence, the two armies
marched out before daybreak on that morning each to attack the other.
They met, and for many hours the tide of battle ebbed and flowed.
Lyon's little army fought with conspicuous gallantry. It contained the
very best material. The following is a list--from memory, and therefore
quite incomplete--of some officers, who, winning here their first
renown, afterward achieved wide and honorable reputation:
AT WILSON CREEK. AFTERWARD.
Frederick Steele Captain Major-General.
F. J. Herron Captain Major-General.
P. J. Osterhaus Major Major-General.
S. D. Sturgis Major Major-General.
R. B. Mitchell Colonel Major-General.
Franz Sigel Colonel Major-General.
D. S. Stanley Captain Major-General.
J. M. Schofield Major Major-General.
Gordon Granger Captain Major-General.
J. B. Plummer Captain Brigadier-General.
James Totten Captain Brigadier-General.
E. A. Carr Captain Brigadier-General.
Geo. W. Deitzler Colonel Brigadier-General.
T. W. Sweeney Captain Brigadier-General.
Geo. L. Andrews Lieutenant-Colonel Brigadier-General.
I. F. Shepard Major Brigadier-General.
[Sidenote: DARING EXPLOIT OF A KANSAS OFFICER.]
During the battle, Captain Powell Clayton's company of the First
Kansas Volunteers, becoming separated from the rest of our forces,
was approached by a regiment uniformed precisely like the First Iowa.
Clayton had just aligned his men with this new regiment, when he
detected small strips of red cloth on the shoulders of the privates,
which marked them as Rebels. With perfect coolness, he gave the order:
"Right oblique, march! You are crowding too much upon this regiment."
By this maneuver his company soon placed a good fifty yards between
itself and the Rebel regiment, when the Adjutant of the latter rode up
in front, suspicious that all was not right. Turning to Clayton, he
asked:
"What troops are these?"
"First Kansas," was the prompt reply. "What regiment is that?"
"Fifth Missouri, Col. Clarkson."
"Southern or Union?"
"Southern," said the Rebel, wheeling his horse; but Clayton seized him
by the collar, and threatened to shoot him if he commanded his men to
attack. The Adjutant, heedless of his own danger, ordered his regiment
to open fire upon the Kansas company. He was shot dead on the spot by
Clayton, who told his men to run for their lives. They escaped with the
loss of only four.
[Sidenote: THE DEATH OF LYON.]
Toward evening Lyon's horse was killed under him. Immediately
afterward, his officers begged that he would retire to a less exposed
spot. Scarcely raising his eyes from the enemy, he said:
"It is well enough that I stand here. I am satisfied."
While the line was forming, he turned to Major Sturgis, who stood near
him, and remarked:
"I fear that the day is lost. I think I will lead this charge."
Early in the day he had received a flesh-wound in the leg, from which
the blood flowed profusely. Sturgis now noticed fresh blood on the
General's hat, and asked where it came from.
"It is nothing, Major, nothing but a wound in the head," replied Lyon,
mounting a fresh horse.
Without taking the hat that was held out to him by Major Sturgis, he
shouted to the soldiers:
"Forward, men! I will lead you."
Two minutes later he lay dead on the field, pierced by a rifle-ball
through the breast, just above the heart.
Our officers held a hurried consultation, and decided not only to
retreat, but to abandon southwest Missouri. Strangely enough, the
coincidence of the morning was here repeated. Almost simultaneously,
the Rebels decided to fall back. They were in full retreat when they
were arrested by the news of the departure of the Federal troops, and
returned to take possession of the field which the last Union soldier
had abandoned eight hours before.
They claimed a great victory, and with justice, as they finally held
the ground. Their journals were very jubilant. Said _The New Orleans
Picayune_:
"Lyon is killed, Sigel in flight; southwestern Missouri
is clear of the National scum of invaders. The next word
will be, 'On to St. Louis.' That taken, the whole power of
Lincolnism is broken in the West, and instead of shouting
'Ho for Richmond!' and 'Ho for New Orleans!' there will
be hurrying to and fro among the frightened magnates at
Washington, and anxious inquiries of what they shall do to
save themselves from the vengeance to come. Heaven smiles on
the armies of the Confederate States."
[Sidenote: LYON'S COURAGE AND PATRIOTISM.]
Lyon went into the battle in civilian's dress, excepting only a
military coat. He had on a soft hat of ashen hue, with long fur and
very broad brim, turned up on three sides. He had worn it for a month;
it would have individualized the wearer among fifty thousand men. His
peculiar dress and personal appearance were well known through the
enemy's camp. He received a new and elegant uniform just before the
battle, but it was never worn until his remains were clothed in it,
after the brave spirit had fled, and while our forces were retreating
from Springfield by night.
Notwithstanding his personal bravery and military education, he always
opposed dueling on principle. No provocation made him recognize the
"code." Once he was struck in the face, but he had courage enough to
refuse to challenge his adversary. For a time this subjected him to
misapprehension and contempt among military men, but, long before his
death, his fellow-officers understood and respected him.
He seemed to care little for personal fame--to think only of the Cause.
Knowing exactly what was before him, he went to death on that summer
evening "as a man goes to his bridal." Losing a life, he gained an
immortality. His memory is green in the nation's heart, his name high
on her roll of honor.
[Sidenote: ARRIVAL OF GENERAL FREMONT.]
On the 25th of July, Major-General John C. Fremont reached St. Louis,
in command of the Western Department. His advent was hailed with great
enthusiasm. The newspapers, West, predicted for him achievements
extravagant and impossible as those which the New York journals had
foretold for McClellan. In those sanguine days, the whole country made
"Young Napoleons" to order.
With characteristic energy, Fremont plunged into the business of his
new department, where chaos reigned, and he had no spell to evoke
order, save the boundless patriotism and earnestness of the people.
His head-quarters were established on Chouteau Avenue. He was overrun
with visitors--every captain, or corporal, or civilian, seeking to
prosecute his business with the General in person. He was therefore
compelled to shut himself up, and, by the sweeping refusal to admit
petitioners to him, a few were excluded whose business was important.
Some dissatisfaction and some jesting resulted. I remember three
Kansas officers, charged with affairs of moment, who used daily to be
merry, describing how they had made a reconnoissance toward Fremont's
head-quarters, fought a lively engagement, and driven in the pickets,
only to find the main garrison so well guarded that they were quite
unable to force it.
[Sidenote: UNION FAMILIES DRIVEN OUT.]
ST. LOUIS, _August 26, 1861_.
A long caravan of old-fashioned Virginia wagons, containing rude
chairs, bedsteads, and kitchen utensils, passed through town yesterday.
They brought from the Southwest families who,
"Forced from their homes, a melancholy train, are seeking in
free Illinois that protection which Government is unable to
afford them in Missouri. At least fifty thousand inoffensive
persons have thus fled since the Rebellion."
_August 29._
We were lately surprised and gratified to learn that a gentleman from
Minnesota had offered an unasked loan of forty-six thousand dollars to
the Government authorities--gratified at such spontaneous patriotism,
and surprised that any man who lived in Minnesota should have forty-six
thousand dollars. The latter mystery has been explained by the
discovery that he never took his funds to that vortex of real estate
speculation, but left them in this city, where he formerly resided.
Moreover, his money was in Missouri currency, which, though at par here
in business transactions, is at a discount of eight per cent. on gold
and New York exchange. The loan is to be returned to him in gold. So,
after all, there is probably as much human nature to the square acre in
Minnesota as anywhere else.
_September 6._
"Egypt to the rescue!" is the motto upon the banner of a new Illinois
regiment. Southern Illinois, known as Egypt, is turning out men for
the Mississippi campaign with surprising liberality; whereupon a fiery
Secessionist triumphantly calls attention to this prophetic text, from
Hosea: "Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them!"
The aptness of the citation is admirable; but he is reminded, in
return, that the pet phrase of the Rebels, "Let us alone," was the
prayer of a man possessed of a devil, to the Saviour of the world!
[Sidenote: AN INVOLUNTARY SOJOURN WITH REBELS.]
I have just met a gentleman, residing in southwestern Missouri, whose
experience is novel. He visited the camp of the Rebels to reclaim a
pair of valuable horses, which they had taken from his residence. They
not only retained the stolen animals, but also took from him those
with which he went in pursuit, and left him the alternative of walking
home, twenty-three miles, through a dangerous region, or remaining
in their camp. Fond of adventure, he chose the latter, and for three
weeks messed with a Missouri company. The facetious scoundrels told him
that they could not afford to keep him unless he earned his living;
and employed him as a teamster. He had philosophy enough to make the
best of it, and flattered himself that he became a very creditable
mule-driver.
Early on the morning of August 10th, he was breakfasting with the
officers from a dry-goods box, which served for a table, when bang!
went a cannon, not more than two or three hundred yards from them, and
crash! came a ball, cutting off the branches just above their heads.
"Here is the devil to pay; the Dutch are upon us!" exclaimed the
captain, springing up and ordering his company to form.
My friend was a looker-on from the Southern side during the whole
battle. He gives a graphic account of the joy of the Rebels at finding
the body of General Lyon, lying under a tree (the first information
they had of his death), and their surprise and consternation at the
bravery with which the little Union army fought to the bitter end.
Twenty leading Secessionists are in durance vile here. There is a
poetic justice in the fact that their prison was formerly a slave-pen,
and that they are enabled to study State Rights from old negro quarters.
_September 7._
[Sidenote: A STARTLING CONFEDERATE ATROCITY.]
The Rebels have just perpetrated a new and startling atrocity. They cut
down the high railroad bridge over the Little Platte River near St.
Joseph. The next train from Hannibal reached the spot at midnight, and
its locomotive and five cars were precipitated, thirty feet, into the
bed of the river. More than fifty passengers were dangerously wounded,
and twenty instantly killed. They were mainly women and children; there
was not a single soldier among them.
_September 15._
General Fremont is issuing written guarantees for their freedom to the
slaves of Rebels. They are in the form of real-estate conveyances,
releasing the recipient from all obligations to his master; declaring
him forever free from servitude, and with full right and authority
to control his own labor. They are headed "Deed of Manumission,"
authenticated by the great seal of the Western Department, and the
signature of its commander. Think of giving a man a warranty-deed for
his own body and soul!
In compliance with imperative orders from the Government, several
regiments, though sadly needed here, are being sent eastward. To the
colonel commanding one of them, the order was conveyed by Fremont in
these characteristic terms:
"Repair at once to Washington. Transportation is provided for
you. My friend, I am sorry to part with you, but there are
laurels growing on the banks of the Potomac."
[Sidenote: ORGANIZATION OF THE "BOHEMIAN BRIGADE."]