|Fremont's army reached Springfield two days after the charge of the
body-guard, the rebels retiring as the advance of the column approached.
There was an amusing incident connected with the charge which may here
be related.
A corporal and half a dozen men became separated from the rest of the
body-guard and straggled into Springfield after the others had left.
While the corporal was undecided what to do, a flag of truce came in
from the rebels, asking a suspension of hostilities to permit the burial
of the dead.
The corporal received the flag of truce at the courthouse, and, on
learning the object of the visit, said he must consult his general,
who was lying down in an inner room of the building. He disappeared for
several minutes, and after a sufficient time had elapsed for a parley
with the imaginary general, he returned with the partial and conditional
approval of the request. He cautioned the officer bearing the flag of
truce not to approach a certain piece of woods near the scene of the
fight until word could be sent there that a truce had been arranged;
otherwise there would be danger of a collision between the troops, as
the general's division was too much exasperated to be under control. He
said it would take not less than three hours to arrange the matter, and
meantime the burying party must remain away. The flag of truce departed,
and the corporal hastily summoned his men and decamped in the direction
which his chief had taken.
A ruse not unlike this was played by the colonel of a Kansas regiment
that was suddenly confronted while on the march through western Missouri
by a force four times its own strength. The colonel immediately deployed
his entire regiment into a skirmish-line and boldly advanced to battle.
The rebels naturally thought that when an entire regiment was deployed
as skirmishers there must be a good sized force behind it. They
retired carefully and in good order, the Kansas colonel pressing them
sufficiently close to give the impression that he was anxious for a
fight. By this ruse, which required a good deal of nerve to undertake, a
battle was avoided and the prestige of victory went to the Unionists.
The day after Fremont's advance reached Springfield the column from
Rolla made its appearance, and went into camp just outside the town.
Jack and Harry were attached to the wagon-train as before, but with the
advantage in their favor that they were allowed to retain the horses
which had been given to them after the capture of the rebel captain,
and therefore they were able to see more of the country than under their
former circumstances. There had been no opposition on the march,
and therefore the trip from Rolla had been devoid of incidents of
importance. The boys went several times with scouting parties that were
sent out to examine the country, on both sides of the line of march, but
however much they wanted to get into a brush with the enemy they could
not find an enemy to brush with. All the men who sympathized with the
rebellion seemed to have gone to the rebel army, with the exception of
those who were too old for service.
But if the men were absent, the women were not; and what was more,
they were not slow, in most cases, to make known their feelings. They
denounced the “Yankees” and “Dutch” in the bitterest terms, taunting
them with robbing and killing honest people who were fighting in defense
of their homes; charging them with being cowards and hirelings, and
sometimes cursing them roundly in language altogether unfit for ears
polite or lips refined.
One day a woman poured upon Jack and Harry a volley of vituperation
that was delivered with such rapidity as to render fully half of it
unintelligible. Jack was at first inclined to anger, and started to
“talk back,” but Harry restrained him, and asked the woman if that was
all she had to say.
“All I've got to say?” she screamed; “no, I've got more to say; and that
is that you're a pair of brainless boys that sense is wasted on.'T ain't
no use talking to such babies without no more beards than the back of my
hand.”
“Did you ever read 'Washington's farewell address to his army, madam?”
said Harry, with the utmost gravity depicted on his face.
“No; I don't know nothing about it,” she replied. “Who's he, I'd like
to know; one of your Dutch thieves, I s'pose?” and her voice came down a
note or two from its very high pitch.
“He was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his
countrymen,” said Harry, with his mock gravity continued throughout.
“I s'pose he's one of your Dutch generals or colonels,” retorted the
woman. “He'd better not come around here, or I 'll tell him what I think
of him and all his other Dutchmen.”
“He will not come, madam; I 'll take care that he does n't. But in his
farewell address he remarked that there was nothing half so sweet in
life as two souls without a single thought, and two hearts that beets
and cabbages could not turn from their faithful allegiance.”
“What's that got to do with us, I'd like to know,” said she. “He'd
better not come around here alone talking that way; but if he fetches
along his Dutch thieves, we can't help ourselves. You'uns ought to go
home if you want to save yourselves from killing, for the Southern men
won't leave one of ye alive.”
“That is what I was saying to my friend here,” responded Harry; “and now
that we've had our call, we 'll take your advice and go.”
Away they rode, and had a good laugh as soon as they were out of sight
of the house. Jack admitted that Harry had shown good sense in making
light of the vituperation they received, and said he would follow the
same plan in future.
“It's no use trying to convert these people to our way of thinking,”
said Harry, as they rode along on their way to rejoin the column.
“Argument is wasted on them just as it would be wasted on us. Nobody
could win us over to believe in secession, and why should we expect
these men and women, born and bred with slaves around them, to regard
slavery and what comes of it as we regard it.” Jack acquiesced in
Harry's theory, and he further admitted that if he had been born in the
South and brought up there, it was fair to suppose that he would have
believed in state-rights and the other principles that the Southern
leaders had advocated since the formation of the republic.
After the arrival of the column at Springfield and its junction with
the forces of General Fremont, there was a prolonged halt to wait for
supplies for the army, preparatory to a further advance into the enemy's
country. The rebels fell back toward the Arkansas line, and it was
reported that a force was advancing to join them from Arkansas, when
they would be ready to meet us. Scouting parties were sent out, and
ascertained that there was practically no enemy within fifty miles,
the rebel army being concentrated at Cassville, where they waited the
reinforcements mentioned. The country far beyond Wilson's Creek was
entirely safe, only a stray scouting party of rebels having been seen
for several days.
Jack and Harry obtained permission to visit Wilson's Creek and the
battle-ground from which they had been driven eleven weeks before. “The
thing that impressed us most,” said Jack, in his letter to his father,
which he wrote the evening afterward, “was the absolute stillness of the
place in contrast to the roar of artillery and the crash of the small
arms on the day of the battle. There was no sound whatever to break it,
except the occasional chirping of a bird or the rippling of the creek,
except our own voices and the breaking of the twigs under the feet of
our horses. At every step we took we could not help contrasting the
cool autumn morning with that hot day in August when shot and shell
and bullets were flying all around and the sound of the cannon was like
rapid peals of thunder.
“My horse stumbled over something in the grass, and I looked down to see
what it was. It was a human skull on which his foot had fallen, and the
skull turning had caused him to stumble as he did. A few feet away lay
the dismembered skeleton to which the skull evidently belonged. It was
probably the remains of a soldier who had been wounded and crawled under
a tree for shelter and died there, as the spot was among the trees, and
away from the beaten track. There were bits of cloth scattered over the
ground, and it was evident that birds or wild animals had been at work
there; and also upon another skeleton a little further on, which was
disturbed and scattered like the first.
“On the battle-field there were numerous graves, that showed how
severe had been the carnage; some were single graves, while others
were sufficiently broad to contain a dozen or more bodies. Fragments of
weapons, pieces of the broken wheel of a gun-carriage, and of the shell
that destroyed it, were lying all around, and the trees everywhere were
seamed and scarred by bullets. Then there were skeletons of horses lying
where the animals fell, and these had also been the prey of birds or
animals, to judge by the general aspect of dismemberment.
“We looked for the spot where General Lyon fell, and found it marked by
an inscription carved upon the nearest tree. A farmer living near the
battle-field came out to show us around, and he told us that the rebel
soldiers cut off the glossy mane and tail of General Lyon's horse and
divided it among them, to wear as badges of honor or send home to their
friends. Then they took away the teeth and bones as souvenirs of the
fight, and when these were exhausted the teeth and bones of other horses
were secured as relics of the general's favorite steed.
“We rode over and around Bloody Hill and then descended to the valley of
the creek, where the rebels had their camp on the morning of the battle.
Here there were more traces of the conflict in the shape of the ashes of
the wagons that were set on fire at the time of Sigel's attack, and
the bits of iron which the fire could not consume. And all the time the
stillness impressed us so much that it was almost painful.”
They returned to Springfield by the Fayetteville road, having gone to
the battle-field by the route which was followed by General Lyon.
The next day there was a rumor that the rebels had been reinforced and
were advancing. A battle could be looked for very soon, and the whole
camp was in a state of excitement.
On the morning of the second of November the scouts brought positive
information that the rebels were advancing, and the next day it was
reported that they were camped on the old battleground at Wilson's Creek
and would fight there. The general officially announced it, and gave
orders for an advance on the following day.
The army was ready to move, pickets were doubled and grand guards
increased, and a battery of four guns was placed on the Fayetteville
road to greet the enemy if he chose to come on. Jack and Harry slept
that night with their horses saddled; their sleep was more in theory
than practice, as they were so excited that they hardly closed an eye
during the night.