|General Curtis remained a few days in the camp near where the battle
was fought, and then, as the country around was exhausted of supplies,
he drew back a few miles to Keitsville, Missouri; but not until he had
positively ascertained that the rebel army had retired to Fort Smith and
Van Buren, on the line of the Arkansas river.
A day or two after the battle negotiations were begun for an exchange of
prisoners. Both the commanders were favorable to the exchange, as they
were so hard pressed for supplies that the prisoners on their hands were
burdensome in the way of devouring rations, and, besides, they required
a strong guard to hold them securely. Each side wanted its men back
under their own colors, and as the number of prisoners was about equal
the exchange was speedily arranged.
Colonel Hebart, of the Third Louisiana, was a prisoner in General
Curtis's hands, and was traded off for Colonel Herron, and each army
thus secured the return of an honored officer. There was some delay
in arranging the exchange of the men of the rank and file, and in
consequence of this it looked as though Jack would have to remain behind
when Colonel Herron started from Van Buren for the Union camp.
Jack was equal to the emergency, and when he learned that the colonel
had been exchanged and was to start on the following morning, he devised
a plan, which he unfolded as follows to his friend, the rebel captain,
already-mentioned:
“It's clear the colonel can't walk or can't ride on horseback. He's got
to be carried in an ambulance or a wagon.”
The captain admitted that this was the case.
“He's to go in an ambulance,” said the captain, “and I'm to accompany
him on horseback. Dr. ------ will go along, too, to take care of the
colonel's leg.”
“I'm glad of that,” said Jack; “but who'll drive the ambulance?”
“One of the drivers, I suppose,” replied the captain.
“Now, there's just where I can come in,” said the persistent youth.
“How so?”
“Why, don't you see, Captain? Let me drive the ambulance. I can do it
just as well as anybody else.”
The officer shook his head with an emphasis that indicated the proposal
to be something quite out of the ordinary run of things, and not to be
entertained. But Jack was not to be put off thus.
“I ask it as a great favor, Captain,” said he, “and I 'll be sure to
return it with interest one of these days. Let me drive the ambulance,
and when it gets to our lines we 'll have one of your men drive it back,
and it will bring some wounded officer along, if there's one to bring.
It will be in your charge and protected by the flag of truce, and you
'll save having one of your drivers go up to our camp and back again.”
Viewed in this light, the proposal did not seem so very far out of the
way, and as it met the wishes of Colonel Herron, who was highly popular
among the rebel officers with whom he had been brought in contact by
reason of his amiability and courtesy of manner, the matter was speedily
arranged. The ambulance started at the time appointed, and Jack handled
the reins as though he had been bred to the business and intended to be
at the head of it before very long. The fact is, no great handling was
necessary, as the horses were not at all fiery in their natures, and had
been very much reduced in flesh by the experiences of the campaign.
There were no adventures of consequence on the journey, the presence of
the captain and the white flag that fluttered in front of the vehicle
being sufficient to protect it from any kind of molestation. The colonel
suffered considerably with the jolting of the ambulance, and more than
once he half wished he had remained in captivity long enough to allow
the wound to heal. But, on the other hand, he was elated at the prospect
of soon being among his own friends, and you can be sure he was received
with open arms by his fellow-officers.
As for Jack, he was a person of great consequence when he returned to
camp and told the story of his adventures among the rebels. His first
thought was for Harry, whom he hunted up with the least possible delay.
In fact, the two youths were hunting for each other, as Harry had heard
of Jack's return with Colonel Herron from a soldier who had seen the
flag of truce on its way to the headquarters of General Curtis and
recognized Jack as the driver of the vehicle.
Leave of absence was granted to Colonel Herron, and he returned to St.
Louis and thence to his home in Iowa, where he remained until he was
restored to health. As soon as he could do so he went into active
service again, and long before the end of the war his uniform was
adorned with the double stars of a major-general. But he never forgot
his experiences in captivity after Pea Ridge, nor the devotion of Jack
through all those days of suffering.
Jack offered to go with him as far as Rolla, or even to Iowa, if he
desired; but as the colonel had his own servant with him, and was to be
accompanied by one of the newspaper correspondents, who was returning to
St. Louis, he declined the offer, as he readily divined that the
youth had no desire to go home just then. In spite of their numerous
experiences, both Harry and Jack thirsted for more, their appetites
having been sharpened rather than dulled by what they had gone through.
“Wonder what we 'll do now?” said Harry one morning as they were
strolling about the camp.
“That's for the general to say,” replied Jack, “and the most we can do
on the subject is to guess.”
“Well, here's for a guess,” said Harry, and the pair sat down for a
council of war on their own account.
“From several things that were dropped in my hearing,” said Jack, “while
I was at Van Buren, I should n't wonder if the most of Van Dorn's army
was sent off to the east of the Mississippi to join the rebel forces in
Tennessee. This will leave Arkansas with no army large enough to oppose
us, and so we can go where we please.”
“That may be so,” said Harry, musingly; “but where's all our supplies to
come from? We're a long way from Rolla now, and if we get down into the
interior of Arkansas we 'll be farther still. We 'll have to live on the
country, and must do as the rebels do. We 'll get along without tea and
coffee and other luxuries, and settle down to corn-bread and bacon. But
before we start we've got to replenish our stores of ammunition, and
make up for what was consumed at Pea Ridge. In my opinion that's what
the general is waiting for, and we sha'n't get orders to march until
everything is ready. It won't do to go down into the middle of Arkansas
without being 'well heeled,' as they say in this part of the country.”
“Yes, but where do you think we 'll go when we start?” queried Jack.
“We 'll go for the capital of the state, and I 'll bet on it,” said
Harry. “When we have taken Little Rock we shall virtually have the State
in our possession, and that will be a blow to the rebels. Of course,
there 'll be parts of it still in their hands, but the possession of the
capital is a strong point on our side.”
The youths mentioned their belief to some of their comrades, and the
latter repeated it to others. The story grew with each repetition, and
by the end of the day it was currently reported throughout the camp that
the army was about to advance on Little Rock, and was only waiting for
supplies and reinforcements. Inasmuch as that was the objective point
that General Curtis then had in view, he was naturally puzzled to know
how the story arose when it was reported to him. Careful and close
inquiry traced it to Harry and Jack, who promptly acknowledged their
authority to be nothing more nor less than guesswork.
There was a vast amount of this amateur generalship during the war, and
it was by no means confined to the men in the field. Every cross-roads
grocery, and every place, in fact, where men assembled to the number
of half a dozen or more, was a center of strategy, in which campaigns
innumerable were laid out and battles without number were fought, and
always won by the side on which the sympathies of the strategists were
enlisted. There was hardly an editor of a newspaper who did not feel
himself fully competent to direct the generals in the field how to
conduct their campaigns, and if all the editorial advice and criticism
of the war could be gathered and printed in a book, it would form
probably the largest, and undoubtedly the heaviest, volume ever known.
It was no more than natural that the soldiers in the field should put
their brains at work to discover what moves were intended, and very
often the generals were obliged to use a good deal of deception to
prevent the premature working-out of their plans. Some of the generals
lost their temper whenever they learned that any one besides themselves
had been thus using his brains, but the majority of them took it
good-naturedly, and regarded it as the evident outcome of an army drawn
from the intelligent population of the North. General Curtis was one of
those men of broad views, and he had a hearty laugh to himself when he
found that the camp rumor was founded upon the amateur strategy of those
enterprising youths, Jack and Harry.
“By the way,” said Jack to Harry, “do you know what the difference is
between strategy and tactics?”
“I can't say exactly,” was the embarrassed reply; “only I think strategy
is a good deal bigger than tactics, and means more.”
“There's one more syllable in it, anyhow,” said Jack; “but that doesn't
tell the whole story. Here comes Mr. Fayel, the correspondent of the
Missouri _Democrat_; lets ask him.”
Harry agreed to it, so the momentous question was propounded to the
good-natured gentleman, who had been with the army since its departure
from Springfield.
“Harry was right,” said Mr. Fayel, “when he thought strategy was larger,
and included more than tactics. Strategy is the art of moving armies
through a country and conducting a military campaign. It is the science
of military command, or the science of directing great movements. On
the other hand, tactics is the science of disposing military and naval
forces in order of battle and performing military and naval evolutions.
It was strategy to bring the army here from Rolla, and to fall back to
the position on Sugar Creek and get everything in shape for fighting.
The general showed his tactics in handling the troops on the
battlefield, and by winning the fight he showed himself a successful
tactician.”
“Ever so much obliged to you for the explanation,” said Harry, to which
Jack added his vote of obligation.
Harry was about to ask another question, but was interrupted by
the sudden arrival of an orderly, who said the youths were wanted
immediately at General Vandever's tent.
Wondering what the sudden summons could mean, they started at once to
obey it.