Full Particulars of the Three Days’ Fighting.
(Correspondence
Cincinnati Times.)
CAMP SIGEL, PEA RIDGE,
Benton Co., Ark.,
Monday Evening, March
10.
Before this reaches Cincinnati, you will have learned of the
great three days’ battle fought on Pea Ridge, in Benton county, Arkansas,
commencing on Thursday morning, the 6th, and closing on Saturday afternoon, the
8th inst., certainly one of the severest engagements during the war, and
little, if any, behind the great struggle at Fort Donelson.
This battle, like that up the Cumberland, extended over a
great deal of ground, and was characterized by a vast amount of irregular
fighting, such as it is impossible to embrace with the eye, and almost
impossible to describe in detail. Such
particulars, however, as I can gather amid the tumult and confusion, that
attend and follow a battle, I will endeavor to furnish in my usual crude and
desultory form.
FEARS FOR OUR TROOPS.
No marvel fears were felt for the safety of our soldiers,
notwithstanding the confidence reposed in such officers as Sigel, Carr, Davis,
Osterhaus, and others, who had been tested by sever ordeals on the fields. That their situation was precarious – that
the odds were largely against them – and the prospect of their success dim and
distant, is evident at a glance.
Our little army seemed rather to consult its ardor than its
prudence, and marched steadily on in the face of frowning dangers and
formidable opposition. Our advance
reached Fayetteville forty-five miles below the Missouri State line, and still
Price retreated.
At Boston mountains the Missouri rebel was joined by Ben.
McCulloch, Van Dorn, Albert Pike and his Indians, and McIntosh, who had been
made Generalissimo of all the Secession forces in Arkansas, much to the chagrin
of Sterling Price, really more deserving of the great dishonor.
At this time Gen. Curtis, hearing of the rebel
reinforcements, and knowing their force more than twice his own, had no doubt
he would be attacked, or at least have an opportunity for battle in a very few
days. He discovered that the vicinity of
Sugar Creek was much better adapted for camping, and he therefore ordered his
advance to fall back to the neighborhood of that stream. Up to this time Price and McIntosh had
believed the Federal army at least 50,000 strong; not supposing Curtis and
Sigel would have the temerity to enter a thickly settled State, whose every
man, woman and child had been reported as hostile, to the last degree, to the
odious Yankees.
Hearing of Curtis’ retrograde movement, McIntosh had no
doubt that he was retreating in hot haste, anxious to escape from the toils in
which he had discovered himself, as it was hoped to late for extrication. When he learned, too, through one of his
spies, the exact number of the Federal troops, he was confident they were
flying, and thereafter the only effort was to destroy or capture the Yankee
host.
THE FEDERAL ARMY.
Our effective force could not have been more than twelve
thousand on the day of the first engagement, and was composed of Indiana,
Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, and Missouri troops.
The army was divided into three divisions, under the command of Gen.
Samuel R. Curtis, a brave and patriotic officer, and was brigaded, as nearly as
I learn, in the following manner:
GEN. SIGEL’S DIVISION.
FIRST BRIGADE – COL. GREUSEL.
Thirty-sixth Illinois, Col Greusel.
Twenty-fifth Illinois, Col. Koler.
Forty-fourth Illinois, Col. Knoblesdorf.
SECOND BRIGADE – COL. OSTERHAUS.
Twelfth Missouri, Col. Osterhaus.
Seventeenth Missouri, Col. Hassendeufel.
Second Missouri, Col. Schaeffer.
THIRD BRIGADE – COL. ASBOTH.
Third Missouri, Col. Friala,
Illinois Cavalry, (one battalion,) Captains Jenks and Smith;
Third Iowa Cavalry.
GEN. DAVIS’ DIVISION.
FIRST BRIGADE – COL. BENTON.
Eighth Indiana; Col. Benton;
Eighteenth Indiana, Col. Patterson;
Twenty-second Indiana, Lieut. Col. Hendricks.
SECOND BRIGADE – COL. _____
Fifty-ninth Illinois, Lieut. Col. Fredericks;
Thirty Seventh Missouri, Col. _____
Missouri Cavalry, battalion, Major Bowen;
Second Ohio Battery, Col. Carlin;
First Missouri Light Artillery, one battery.
GEN. CARR’S DIVISION.
FIRST BRIGADE – COL. DODGE.
Fourth Iowa, Lieut. Col. Galighan;
Twenty-fifth Illinois, Col. G. A. Smith;
Twenty-fourth Missouri (Battalion), Major Weston.
SECOND BRIGADE – COL. VANDEVIER.
Ninth Iowa, Lieut. Col. Herron;
Twenty-fifth Missouri, Col. Phelps;
Thirdy Iowa Battery, Capt. Hayden;
First Iowa Battery; Lieut. David.
THIRD BRIGADE – COL. ELLIS.
First Missouri Cavalry, Col. Ellis;
Third Illinois, Lieut. Col. _____
Sixth Missouri (battalion) Major Wright.
THE REBEL ARMY.
The rebel army was composed of nine or ten perhaps twelve
thousand Missouri State troops, under Major General Sterling Price; some six or
eight regiments of Arkansas, under Gen. Ben McCulloch; five or six regiments of
Texans, under Gen. Earl Van Dorn; some three thousand Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek
and Seminole Indians, under Col. Albert Pike, all under the command of Major
General McIntosh. In addition to those
mentioned, there were two or three regiments of Louisiana troops, and companies
of Mississippi and Alabama soldiers, under their respective Captains, Majors
and Colonels, whose names are unknown alike to your correspondent and to
fame. The entire rebel force could not
have been less than thirty thousand; many persons estimate it still higher.
ARMS OF THE
FEDERALISTS AND REBELS.
Our troops were of course generally well armed, while the rebels
varied as usual in the style, character and effectiveness of their weapons. –
Many of the Confederate arms were excellent, embracing Mini rifles, Enfield
muskets, and good United States muskets; but the greater portion were rifles
and shot guns, with which Sterling Price once swore he would establish the
Southern Confederacy against the opposing world.
The rebels and 82 field pieces, some 20 of which were
rifled; while we had but 49; most of them, however, being of superior
manufacture to those made in Secessia.
THE FIRST DAY’S
FIGHTING.
As I have said, the rebels, before they began the new
memorable battle in Benton County, Arkansas, on Thursday morning, March 6th,
1862 were entirely confident of success, and their chief concern only how to
destroy or capture our whole force.
Gen. Curtis anticipated an attack from the South, and
accordingly had the trains placed on the north, under the protection of Gen.
Sigel, with a body of eight hundred men – the principal federal encampments and
main lines being to the eastward and near the head on both sides of Sugar
Creek. Meantime, the rebel forces were
moving in full strength from Bentonville, whence they had proceeded from Cross
Hollows, and with rapid marches were endeavoring to cross the creek, and by
placing themselves on the north to cut off our retreat.
An advance of about two thousand cavalry reached the desired
point, and made a fierce onslaught on Sigel, hoping to take possession of our
large and valuable train.
Sigel proved himself the right man in the right place. He gallantly met the enemy, and while he
repelled their charge, prevented them from seizing upon our wagons. The brave and accomplished officer seemed
ubiquitous. He rode rapidly here and
there; giving orders and observing the point of attack and the situation of the
enemy, at the same time cheering and encouraging his troops.
Often he was in the thickest of the fight, and hey he was
always cool, calculating, and skillful; exposing himself as a common soldier,
and yet preserving the calm judgment and fixed purpose of a Commander-in-Chief.
Sigel’s desire was to keep the communication open between
himself and the main camp, and the enemy’s design to cut off this avenue for reinforcements. They closed round him with tumultuous shouts,
and believed they had accomplished their purpose, when Sigel rushed in upon
them with his brave followers and compelled them to give way. Sigel could not relinquish the trains and so
he fought on, and exhorted his men to renewed hope and courage by his example.
For two hours the strife went on with great ardor on both
sides; but it seemed as if the Federalists would soon be compelled to
yield. There seemed no hope for
them. They must become exhausted, and doubtless
they must have done so, had their destiny been in less powerful and expert
hands than Sigel’s.
The waves of opposition rolled around Sigel’s band once
more, and gain the traitorous shout went up to the sky, and swept like a note
of victory along the rising hill. Many a
stout loyal heart doubtless sank when that cry was heard; but Sigel had no
thoughts of failure. He was fighting for
his adopted country, and the salvation of his little band, and ordering three
companies of his men to charge bayonets the rebel cavalry was dispersed, and
the way was open once more.
Still no reinforcements came, and our gallant soldiers
appeared contending as a forlorn hope.
About the trains the din of strife rose louder than before,
and the rattle of musketry and the booming of cannon awoke the surrounding
echoes.
The enemy were losing ground. They rallied and fell with redoubled force on
our heroic band, two hundred of whom had already proved their patriotism with
their blood.
The combat was hand to hand.
Horsemen were dismounted, and struggled with the infantry, while the
officers were sometimes seen defending themselves against the advancing
bayonets of the common soldiers.
A superhuman effort on the part of the enemy, and a third
time the Federalists were surrounded.
Firmer and firmer were the rebels closing round the five or
six hundred braves, who were evidently going to the wall.
The sun of Hope seemed sinking, though that of Nature was
shining clear from out the quiet sky.
Sigel saw the smile of Heaven, only, and would not
despond. His eye flashed, and his form
expanded, as the shouts of the enemy rose above the din of the struggle. Only one way was left.
“Follow me!” thundered Sigel, and his proud steed trampled
an approaching rebel under his haughty feet.
A deep, strong, earnest cry from the Unionists, and they met
the foe with the rush of determination and the energy of despair.
The Secession line could not endure the shock. It recoiled, was thrown into confusion, and
retired from a position that was immovable as an Alpine rock.
And Sigel was victorious with the sun still beaming clearly
out of the quiet sky.
The train was saved.
The first day was won. The future
looked blue with hope as the violets of the early year.
THE SECOND DAY’S
BATTLE.
The enemy, during the night and early in the morning, poured
in from the Bentonville, road, and gathered in heavy force to our rear,
sweeping round to the right, and occupying both sides of the Keetsville road, a
position from which it was absolutely necessary to dislodge them, or surrender
all hope of success.
Truly, before the second day’s engagement began, the
prospect was very dark.
Defeat seems to stare us in the face, and the sole thing
possible appeared a struggle to prevent too disastrous a discomfiture.
The way to Missouri was defended by thirty thousand of the
enemy; and we had little more than one-third of the number to dispute the
perilous passage. On the south were the
Boston mountains. To the east or west we
could not go. Were we not hemmed in by
nature and the enemy?
Could we longer resist?
Could we say we were contending only for victory when the shadows were
lengthening and deepening on our hearts?
Gen. Carr’s division was sent by Gen. Curtis to force the enemy
from their position, and about ten o’clock in the morning the battle was
renewed with increased ardor, and soon the batteries from both sides were
replying to each other with death dealing voices. The main action in the morning was to the
right of our encampment, and for seven hours the field was hotly contested.
Gen. Carr made a spirited and heavy charge upon the enemy
under McCulloch and Price. – The musket and rifle firing was very sharp, and
every few seconds there boom of the batteries burst across the country, and the iron hail swept
down the stream of life, and filled the surging and noisy waves with spectral
corpses.
The rebels reeled as we went against them, but their column
did not break. The charge was
repeated. Still the foe stood firm,
opening a galling fire from two batteries whose presence had not before been
known. Our troops were thrown into
confusion, and three companies of infantry and Col. Ellis’ cavalry were ordered
to silence the destructive guns.
Like lightning our men leaped forth prompt to the word, and
raged about the rebel batteries as ravenous wolves around a sheep fold.
Everywhere the strife roared; everywhere the smoke crept;
everywhere the ground shook.
The sunbeams glanced off from the swords and bayonets; but
they ceased to shine for many eyes on that blood stained day.
Carr’s column advanced and fell back and advanced again, and
beyond them, up the hill, the cavalry and infantry were struggling to capture
the detested guns. The regiment which
protected the batteries met them fairly and freely, and for half an hour, the
two combatants were so comingled that they almost failed to recognize one
another.
“Our men have the batteries,” was announced and the Federals
rent the welkin with their huzzas.
Yes, it was so.
Through the blue curling vapors our men could be seen dragging
the guns after them. Ere they had gone a
hundred yards, the rebels were behind them struggling like Hercules for the repossession
of the pieces.
Blood streamed anew, and shouts and groans and prayers and
curses went up with gigantic forms of smoke into the upper air.
Appropriate incense to waft the elements of battle to the
skies.
No noise now.
All as silent as when men are holding their breath for a deadly
purpose. The suspense is awful. It cannot last.
Do you not hear a thousand hearts beat across the
plain? Anxiety has made the roar of
battle almost inaudible, so keenly is the sense upon the rack.
Five thousand throats are roaring with triumph.
Brief triumph. The
batteries are lost. Our men have been
overpowered by numbers. They retire, and
blood marks their progress, and many dead are abandoned.
The recaptured guns are avenging themselves. Their shot and shell are tearing up the
ground, and tearing open brave bosoms, and making history and peopling graves.
The batteries are sought once more. We win them back with blood. We are hurrying them off. The rebels stare like demons out of malignant
eyes, and curse through firm-set teeth.
Triumph is about to crown our efforts, when a large force of
the enemy, repulsed by General Davis from that section of Pea Ridge known as
Leetown, throngs to the rescue. A dozen
combats over the guns, and the contest is still undecided when the darkness
gathers, and through the night the enemy are seen bearing off their twice
captured, twice recaptured guns.
Nature is no longer an impartial witness. She draws the curtain, and the camp fires
blaze along the road and light up the trees.
Man’s Pandemonium is profaning the holy night.
Midnight comes; and the scattered words of the sentinel are
heard; and the Federalists and rebels are sleeping on their arms, dreaming, it
may be, of the time when they were friends and brothers, and America had not
become one vast military camp.
The stars, too, are keeping watch on the battlements of
Heaven. They challenge no one. – They seem
to say to all the weary and worn, “Come hither!
Here is peace!”
Speak, they, or be forever silent, there are many spirits in
the air seeking the peace that is not of earth.
THE THIRD DAY’S
BATTLE.
At 6 o’clock our guns opened on the enemy, and our fire was
returned from 20 pieces. The firing did little
harm. The enemy’s shot passed over our
heads. Our cause was growing darker.
This day must win or lose the battle. As yet the fortunes of war incline not to our
side. We have reason to be alarmed, but
home and courage are strong counselors, and add strength to weak arms.
Gen. Sigel observes new positions for our operations. We plant six batteries at different points
commanding their principal forces. A
fire of ball is shattering the space with its roar.
The enemy’s list of mortality is swelling. – They do not
understand our great advantages. They
turn pale and hesitate to advance. No
time is given them for reflection. They
are seized in their soul’s perplexity, while judgment tosses in fevered sleep.
Our army move forward.
Our entire infantry is engaged. The rebels meet our dreadful volleys of
musketry for a quarter of an hour, and their fire slackens.
Still our batteries are forcing the verdict of the outraged
nation into their startled souls.
The cannon answered the musketry – the musketry replies to
the cannon.
Every inch of ground appears alive with troops. Every twig and dry leaf seems ablaze. The balls are falling like the large drops of
a summer shower. The Pentecost of war is
descending.
The rebels can endure no longer the sheet of flame out of
which go death and pain in [a] thousand forms.
They have lost their faith in their bad cause and themselves. They fly, and a roar of victory follows them
as the waves of the river the lean and hungry shore. They turn not back. Two of their Generals have received their
mortal wounds, and the word is: “Save himself who can.”
The Yankees have beaten them, and their star has set over
the verdureless ridge of this hard fought field.
The birds twitter over head.
The sun shines warmer and clearer.
The atmosphere of blood is purified by the feeling that it was shed in a
sacred cause.
The spring greets the victors, and kisses their burning
brows with the same pure lips that call forth the early flowers. Nature rejoices over the triumph of
principle, for Nature is the order and the law.
The rebels are hastening away. The Federalists pursue the broken columns,
and the breezes come wafting the victorious shouts, and the incense of the
youthful March, revealing that all is well, and that the future is secure.
THE LOSS ON BOTH
SIDES.
Our loss cannot be known at this time, but it must be in the
vicinity of 1,700 – 500 killed and some 1,300 wounded, most of them slightly. –
Our officers, contrary to the past experience of this war, suffered little,
though they exposed themselves recklessly, as Americans always will do on the
battle-field.
The rebel loss will never, I presume, be accurately ascertained,
as they are lying all over the ridges, in the ravines, among the brush and
along the roads. The casualties among
the enemy, however, were far greater than with us, and three thousand, of which
nine or ten hundred were in killed, I am confident, would not be an over
statement of their loss. Their officers
fell thick and fast in the engagement, and their dead and wounded Majors,
Colonels, Captains and Lieutenants, were at least double ours. – The Secession
officers were generally brave and dashing, and fought in so praiseworthy a
manner as to leave us no regret, so far as courage goes, that they were born
upon our own beloved soil.
THE HEROES OF THE
FIELD.
It is not possible to mention all who distinguished
themselves, or those who did not; for men and officers seemed determined to do
all that lay in nerve and limb to shed luster on our arms, and gird the glories
of three illustrious days with the laurels the great Julius so ambitiously, but
deservedly wore beneath the eagles of eternal Rome.
Under no circumstances, I cannot forbear to mention as I
believe Gen. Curtis will, the heroic conduct of Generals Sigel, Carr, Davis and
Asboth; Colonels Dodge, Osterhaus, Hendricks, Vandevier, [Greusel], Schaeffer,
Benton, Ellis, Herron, and a host of Majors and Captains., in fact, I have
heard of no complaint in any quarter.
All shone like heroes in a heroic cause, and were worthy the fame, past
and future, of the country deserving ere many months to resume her proud title
of the Model Republic.
BENIGHTED CONDITION
OF ARKANSAS.
The semi-barbarous condition of Arkansas has become
proverbial in this country; and yet no one who has not traveled in the State
can have just idea of the ignorance and immorality that prevail there. If a foreigner were set down in this
Patagonia of places, and told that it was one of the component parts of the
Great Republic, famous for its school houses, railways and newspapers, he would
not believe a story so apparently self-contradictory.
Here in Benton county one sees very few indications of civilization,
and it would seem an anomaly if loyalty ever could have flourished on so barren
a soil. The population is not now over
eighteen hundred, though it once boasted four thousand, and the dwellings are
usually miles apart, and made of logs and mud, presenting a most cheerless and
squalid appearance.
No one is at home save women and children, and the old men,
and very few of the last, even those of sixty years who were not diseased
having been impressed into the rebel army.
The women are only such in name, and their sex, in absence of
physiological demonstration, must be taken on faith. Tall, meager, sallow, with hard features and
large bones, they would appear masculine, if they were not attenuated to
suggest the possibility of health of strength.
They drink whiskey and smoke as freely as the men, often chew tobacco,
and go about swearing in discordant tones and expectorating skillfully, and are
as hideous as any Tophetian trollops that the most prolifically depraved mind
can imagine.
Very few of the common people – and Heaven knows they are
common enough – can read or write; and it is not usual to find but one or two
in a township so blessed beyond this kind.
Ignorance and crime are inseparable companions, and it is no wonder vice
here assumes many of its lowest and most disgusting forms. The life led is one of brutalized sense and
dissipation, practical amalgamation, gambling and fighting, are the end and aim
of Arkansas existence. Not many of the
people have been out of the State (just think of a being that has no idea
beyond or above this Boeotia) and they live, if I may employ so inappropriate a
verb, and die here, unpenetrated by a ray of beauty, unlifted by a hope of
advancement, undeveloped by a thought of change.
Among some of the farmers in this country are men of
considerable intelligence, but they are generally from other States. The true Arkansian knows nothing and learns
nothing. He regards education in every
form as a Yankee invention that has a tendency to interfere with the
institution of Slavery, which many of the poor whites adore, because they own
no negroes.
THE UNION SENTIMENT
OF ARKANSAS.
With several of the more intelligent people here, and with
some of the prisoners, I have conversed on the subject of the Union sentiment
in Arkansas, and they say the people, strange as it may seem, would never have
gone with the Confederacy if they had been allowed to determine the question
for themselves.
Throughout the entire State men went as emissaries of
Secession, and told the people they must go out of the Union, if they did not
want to be despoiled of their slaves, and ruled over by the Yankees, who could
compel them to perform all menial offices.
Their property, their wives, their homes, their very children would be
taken from them; they would exchange positions with their negroes, and the
latter be made their masters.
These arguments even the Arkansans could comprehend, and in
a few weeks after the diffusion of such nefarious sentiments, the State was
thrown into a terrible excitement. A
reaction occurred. A few thinking Union
men enlightened the half crazed community, and told them they were deceived;
that Secession would ruin them; that their only safety was in the Union, and
that President Lincoln had no disposition and no intention to interfere with
any of their constitutional rights.
The advice came too late.
The rebels had by that time gained the power, by seizing all the arms,
and thereafter they had full and absolute sway.
They pillaged and destroyed wherever they went, and the people found their
worst enemies were at home.
Terror-stricken, they yielded, for they knew their lives were in the
hands of the oppressors, and since that period hardly a man has dared to lift
his voice against the outrageous tyranny imposed upon the State. Perhaps the oppressed were wise in their
reticence, for the means of forcing eternal silence were not wanting.
Men were often carried off by armed bands, who broke into
quiet habitations at unseasonable hours of the night, whipped, tarred and
feathered, dragged through horse ponds, and often hanged, or otherwise
murdered, because they were charged with infidelity to the South. Loyalty to the union was the unpardonable
offence, and the individual suspected of any such sentiment was liable to
assassinations anywhere. Hundreds of men
escaped from the confines of the State, leaving their families and all their
property behind, fearing to remain where their lives were not worth a moment’s
purchase. Any scoundrel could make an accusation
against an honest citizen that would destroy his life, or drive him an outcast
and an exile from his home and all the associations he held dear.
The incidents of personal prowess and daring on the field
were numerous, and the narrow escapes from death difficult to believe unless witnessed. A few examples will not, I opine, be without
interest at a time when the public pulse beats from sympathy with little else
than war.
PAINFUL FATE OF A
BRAVE LIEUTENANT.
A melancholy incident occurred to a Lieutenant (whose name I
could not learn) in one of the Iowa companies, that I cannot forbear
mentioning. He had been shot in the leg,
and had fallen. He rose and supported
himself upon a stump, cheered his company, whose captain had been killed, to
push on to the then important crisis toward the reinforcement of Gen. Carr.
While the Lieutenant was waving his sword, an artillery wagon
was driven madly along the road, by the side of which he was standing. – The wheel
struck him, threw him to the ground and the heavy carriage passed over his
neck, causing instant death. Poor
fellow. I saw rude men weep over his
corpse, and they proved themselves braver and truer for their tears.
MAGNANIMOUS REBEL.
Even Secession cannot crush the noble instincts of the
heart. Even a rebel often has the
generous qualities of nature and the lofty instincts of gentlemen.
A case in point:
A Colonel of one of the Louisiana regiments saw a poor
private, a Federalist, lying wounded alone by the roadside, and begging for a
drink. The colonel dismounted, and
taking the soldier’s canteen, went to the creek and filled it; gave him a drink
and placed him in an easier position – all this while our bullets were flying
in his immediate vicinity.
I am very sorry I do not know the gallant Colonel’s
name. He never did a nobler act on the
battle field. He has some reason to
boast of chivalry, though I doubt if he does so. If the South comprehended chivalry as he
comprehends it, their assumption of a high attributed would not render it a
subject of merriment and an object of scorn.
A BRAVE
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL.
Lieutenant Colonel Herron, of the Ninth Iowa, was wounded in
the battle and taken prisoner, though he lost his liberty through no fault of
his, as he seemed determined to die rather than fall into Rebel hands. He was surrounded by ten or twelve of the
enemy, and his surrender demanded in vain.
He killed one and wounded three of the rebels, and was making every
resistance with his sword, when his arms were seized and his opposition
rendered impossible. He would have been
killed most assuredly, had not a Southern Major saved his life, and shot an
Indian dead who was trying to butcher him after his arms were bound with a
handkerchief.
ATROCITIES OF THE
INDIANS.
The three thousand Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole
Indians under Col. Albert Pike, a renegade son of Connecticut, committed the
greatest atrocities in the field, not only plundering and maiming the dead, but
actually murdering and scalping the wounded as they lay helpless and suffering
on the ground. More than one hundred and
twenty of our brave men were thus barbarously treated by the savage foe, who
had been wrought to a pitch of frenzy by the rebels, through passionate appeals
and declarations that the Yankees designed to enslave them, and force them,
with chains and whips, to do the vilest drudgery in their aristocratic homes in
the North.
Not only did the enemy thus poison their minds, but every
day before the savages went into action they received large potations of whisky
mixed with gunpowder, which rendered the naturally fierce sons of the forest
perfect demons. Under this extraordinary
stimulus they forgot their usual caution, and exposing themselves after the
American fashion, were killed in great numbers.
Still they were very formidable, and often attacked the Federalists in
the rear, and as they were passing some bend in the road or piece of wooded
land, and did much execution. They yelled
and danced and brandished their knives, and acted like crews of madmen; but
when they became partially sober, became more prudent, and fought after their
time-honored fashion – from behind trees and fallen timber.
When our troops discovered on the second day that the
Indians were using the scalping-knife, their rage knew no bounds, and they made
sad havoc in the ranks of the red devils; slaying them without mercy whenever
and wherever they could reach them. In
one instance the Second Iowa battery which had four of its members scalped
obtained the range of a body of four or five hundred of these savages and fired
several charges of canister and shell upon them in rapid succession, at a
distance of not more than three quarters of a mile.
The effect upon the natives was terrible. – They were cut
down like grass, and the dusky demons who were unhurt ran howling from the
field, and could not be rallied again that day (Friday) though Col. Albert Pike
shot several with his own hand and bawled at them until he was hoarse. Some ten or twelve of the chiefs were killed,
whose names were Pri-chi-i-liko, (Seminole,) Maa-to-wee, (Creek,) Sag-a-hache,
(Seminole,) Tar-a-nil-fut, (Cherokee,) No-ir-wampum, (Choctaw,) Yah-ta-min-go,
(Chactaw,) Nor-i-mos-ker, (Creek,) Jor-a-tink-tinkel, (Cherokee,) Bo-re-op-o-lee,
(Seminole,) and Elk-i-man-to-ros, (Creek.)
Bo-re-op-o-lee, was one of the most renowned of warriors,
and though over fifty years of age was athletic and daring to an extraordinary
degree, and famed in his tribe alike for his counsels and his prowess. He had fought with the celebrated Red Jacket
in Florida during the Seminole war, and bore upon his person no less than
twenty wounds.
THE REBELS SLAUGHTERD
BY THEIR SAVAGE ALLIES.
It is said the Indians, in the engagement of Friday, became
so excited by the alcohol they had drunk, and the scenes that they witnessed
that they turned their weapons upon their own allies, and butchered and scalped
the rebels and Federalist with the most charming indifference. An instance of this is given by one of the
prisoners, a member of one of the companies that suffered from what the
Southerners believed to be the treachery of the savages.
Four companies of the Arkansas troops belonging to Ben.
McCulloch’s Division were marching upon one of the ridges north of Sugar Creek,
on Saturday morning, to strengthen the enemy, who were badly pressed by General
Sigel. They soon came in sight of about
three hundred Creeks and Choctaws who stood on the brow of an adjacent
hill. When within about one hundred and
fifty yards of the savages the latter opened fire on them. The rebel Major who commanded the battalion
cried out to them that they were killing their friends; but the Indians did not
heed what he said, and again discharged their pieces.
“The d----d rascals have turned traitors,” cried the
Major. “Upon them, Arkansans and give
them no quarter.”
The Southerners needed no second order. – The attacked them
with great energy, and for nearly an hour a desperate battle was waged on the
Ridge; the Indians fighting with blind fury, and scalping all who fell into
their hands, whether living, wounded or dead.
This is described as one of the severest actions of the entire battle,
and the Indians, who were finally routed, are said to have lost one hundred and
twenty-five killed and wounded.
JUNIUS.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 2
