Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1., page 332

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19th-Century American

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[332] unexpected appearance; he was badly surprised “when on the 6th of March, instead of gobbling up” my two divisions at McKissick's farm, as he confidently expected, he only met a rear-guard of 600 men, which he could not gobble up during nearly 6 hours of its march of 6 miles; he was also surprised to find, on his detour around our left flank and rear, that the road was at different places so blocked up, that instead of arriving in our rear, on the road to Springfield, with the divisions of Price, at daylight of the 7th, he did not reach that point before 10 o'clock in the morning, by which delay Price's and McCulloch's forces became separated and could not assist each other at the decisive moment, while we gained time to make our preparations for the reception of both. Finally, on the 8th, Van Dorn was

Brigadier-General Albert Pike, C. S. A., Commander of the Indian forces at Pea Ridge. From a photograph.

greatly “surprised to find himself suddenly confronted by a new, unexpected force,” attacked in flank and rear, and compelled to retreat. On the other hand, Curtis was “surprised” by the sudden turn things had taken, and much disappointed because the enemy did not make the attack against our front, a position not only very strong by nature, presenting a chain of high hills, but also strengthened by intrenchments and abatis, the access to it being also protected and impeded by a deep creek running along our line of defense. He would have been much more “surprised” had it not been for the discovery, by our scouting parties, of the enemy's flanking movement.¹

1 The reports of Generals Van Dorn and Price make it evident that they intended and were prepared to renew the battle, or, as Van Dorn says, “to accept the gage,” on the morning of the 8th; the determination to retreat was therefore forced upon them during the course of the morning by the advantages we gained. The results obtained in this three-days struggle consisted not only in the immediate losses, which, as mentioned before, were about equal, but also, and much more so, in the condition into which the Southern forces were thrown at the beginning of and after their retreat from the battlefield; their separation by following diverging lines, the disorganization of their artillery, the dissolution of the “Indian Brigade,” and of a part of the Arkansas troops, and finally by the impossibilty of restoring order and bringing together all their forces north of the Boston Mountains. A report of the actual strength of McCulloch's division on March 11th, three days after the battle, shows only 2894 men out of a total effective of 8384, present at “Strickler's.” March 2d, four days before the battle. On the 12th of March Van Dorn wrote or telegraphed from Van Buren to Colonel B. W. Share, 3d Texas Cavalry, to join “the army” at its encampment on the Frog Bayou road, about seven miles from that town (Van Buren), which shows that the Southern army was very considerably scattered for several days after the battle, and that Curtis could have followed it as far as the Boston Mountains without meeting any serious resistance. If Van Dorn had succeeded in his bold manoeuvre against us, had “cornered” our army and forced it to surrender, he would have come into possession of such material of war as would have enabled him to move with thirty thousand men to Springfield and Rolla, and, by at least “threatening” St. Louis, he might have seriously disconcerted the plans of Halleck. The consideration of such an exigency lends additional importance to the success of the Union forces at Pea Ridge.-F. S.

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Robert Underwood Johnson, Clarence Clough Buell, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: The Opening Battles. Volume 1.

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