ANOTHER CAMPAIGN IN MISSOURI.
From St. Louis to Rolla.--A Limited Outfit.--Missouri Roads in
Winter.--"Two Solitary Horsemen."--Restricted Accommodations in a
Slaveholder's House.--An Energetic Quartermaster.--General Sheridan
before he became Famous.--"Bagging Price."--A Defect in the
Bag.--Examining the Correspondence of a Rebel General.--What the
Rebels left at their Departure.
On the 9th of February I left St. Louis to join General Curtis's army.
Arriving at Rolla, I found the mud very deep, but was told the roads
were in better condition a few miles to the west. With an _attaché_
of the Missouri _Democrat_, I started, on the morning of the 10th, to
overtake the army, then reported at Lebanon, sixty-five miles distant.
All my outfit for a two or three months' campaign, was strapped behind
my saddle, or crowded into my saddle-bags. Traveling with a trunk
is one of the delights unknown to army correspondents, especially
to those in the Southwest. My companion carried an outfit similar to
mine, with the exception of the saddle-bags and contents. I returned
to Rolla eight weeks afterward, but he did not reach civilization till
the following July.
From Rolla to Lebanon the roads were bad--muddy in the valleys of
the streams, and on the higher ground frozen into inequalities like a
gigantic rasp.
Over this route our army of sixteen thousand men had slowly made its
way, accomplishing what was then thought next to impossible. I found
the country had changed much in appearance since I passed through on
my way to join General Lyon. Many houses had been burned and others
deserted. The few people that remained confessed themselves almost
destitute of food. Frequently we could not obtain entertainment
for ourselves and horses, particularly the latter. The natives
were suspicious of our character, as there was nothing in our
dress indicating to which side we belonged. At such times the
cross-questioning we underwent was exceedingly amusing, though coupled
with the knowledge that our lives were not entirely free from danger.
From Lebanon we pushed on to Springfield, through a keen, piercing
wind, that swept from the northwest with unremitting steadiness. The
night between those points was passed in a log-house with a single
room, where ourselves and the family of six persons were lodged. In
the bitter cold morning that followed, it was necessary to open the
door to give us sufficient light to take breakfast, as the house could
not boast of a window. The owner of the establishment said he had
lived there eighteen years, and found it very comfortable. He tilled a
small farm, and had earned sufficient money to purchase three slaves,
who dwelt in a similar cabin, close beside his own, but not joining
it. One of these slaves was cook and housemaid, and another found the
care of four children enough for her attention. The third was a man
upward of fifty years old, who acted as stable-keeper, and manager of
the out-door work of the establishment.
The situation of this landholder struck me as peculiar, though his
case was not a solitary one. A house of one room and with no window, a
similar house for his human property, and a stable rudely constructed
of small poles, with its sides offering as little protection against
the wind and storms as an ordinary fence, were the only buildings
he possessed. His furniture was in keeping with the buildings. Beds
without sheets, a table without a cloth, some of the plates of tin and
others of crockery--the former battered and the latter cracked--a less
number of knives and forks than there were persons to be supplied, tin
cups for drinking coffee, an old fruit-can for a sugar-bowl, and two
teaspoons for the use of a large family, formed the most noticeable
features. With such surroundings he had invested three thousand
dollars in negro property, and considered himself comfortably
situated.
Reaching Springfield, I found the army had passed on in pursuit of
Price, leaving only one brigade as a garrison. The quartermaster
of the Army of the Southwest had his office in one of the principal
buildings, and was busily engaged in superintending the forwarding
of supplies to the front. Every thing under his charge received his
personal attention, and there was no reason to suppose the army would
lack for subsistence, so long as he should remain to supply its wants.
Presenting him a letter of introduction, I received a most cordial
welcome. I found him a modest and agreeable gentleman, whose private
excellence was only equaled by his energy in the performance of his
official duties.
This quartermaster was Captain Philip H. Sheridan. The double bars
that marked his rank at that time, have since been exchanged for other
insignia. The reader is doubtless familiar with the important
part taken by this gallant officer, in the suppression of the late
Rebellion.
General Curtis had attempted to surround and capture Price and his
army, before they could escape from Springfield. Captain Sheridan told
me that General Curtis surrounded the town on one side, leaving two
good roads at the other, by which the Rebels marched out. Our advance
from Lebanon was as rapid as the circumstances would permit, but it
was impossible to keep the Rebels in ignorance of it, or detain
them against their will. One of the many efforts to "bag" Price had
resulted like all the others. We closed with the utmost care every
part of the bag except the mouth; out of this he walked by the
simple use of his pedals. Operations like those of Island Number Ten,
Vicksburg, and Port Hudson, were not then in vogue.
Price was in full retreat toward Arkansas, and our army in hot
pursuit. General Sigel, with two full divisions, marched by a road
parallel to the line of Price's retreat, and attempted to get in his
front at a point forty miles from Springfield. His line of march was
ten miles longer than the route followed by the Rebels, and he did not
succeed in striking the main road until Price had passed.
I had the pleasure of going through General Price's head-quarters only
two days after that officer abandoned them. There was every evidence
of a hasty departure. I found, among other documents, the following
order for the evacuation of Springfield:--
HEAD-QUARTERS MISSOURI STATE GUARD,
SPRINGFIELD, _February_ 13, 1862.
The commanders of divisions will instanter, and without
the least delay, see that their entire commands are
ready for movement at a moment's notice.
By order of Major-General S. Price.
H.H. Brand, A.A.G.
There was much of General Price's private correspondence, together
with many official documents. Some of these I secured, but destroyed
them three weeks later, at a moment when I expected to fall into the
hands of the enemy. One letter, which revealed the treatment Union men
were receiving in Arkansas, I forwarded to _The Herald_. I reproduce
its material portions:--
DOVER, POPE CO., ARKANSAS, _December_ 7, 1861.
MAJOR-GENERAL PRICE:
I wish to obtain a situation as surgeon in your army. * * * Our men
over the Boston Mountains are penning and hanging the mountain
boys who oppose Southern men. They have in camp thirty, and in the
Burrowville jail seventy-two, and have sent twenty-seven to Little
Rock. We will kill all we get, certain: every one is so many less. I
hope you will soon get help enough to clear out the last one in your
State. If you know them, they ought to be killed, as the older they
grow the more stubborn they get.
Your most obedient servant,
JAMES L. ADAMS.
In his departure, General Price had taken most of his personal
property of any value. He left a very good array of desks and other
appurtenances of his adjutant-general's office, which fell into
General Curtis's hands. These articles were at once put into use by
our officers, and remained in Springfield as trophies of our success.
There was some war _matériel_ at the founderies and temporary arsenals
which the Rebels had established. One store full of supplies they left
undisturbed. It was soon appropriated by Captain Sheridan.
The winter-quarters for the soldiers were sufficiently commodious to
contain ten thousand men, and the condition in which we found them
showed how hastily they were evacuated. Very little had been removed
from the buildings, except those articles needed for the march. We
found cooking utensils containing the remains of the last meal, pans
with freshly-mixed dough, on which the impression of the maker's hand
was visible, and sheep and hogs newly killed and half dressed. In the
officers' quarters was a beggarly array of empty bottles, and a few
cases that had contained cigars. One of our soldiers was fortunate in
finding a gold watch in the straw of a bunk. There were cribs of corn,
stacks of forage, and a considerable quantity of army supplies. Every
thing evinced a hasty departure.