[
582]
He further says:
Our total loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, amounts to 1.235--that of the enemy will probably reach 3,000.
Beyond doubt, the
Rebel army was considerably larger than ours — probably about two to one.
It embodied not only the mass of the
Missouri Rebels under
Gen. Price, as well as those of
Arkansas under
McCulloch, but a considerable force, also, from
Texas, with one regiment from
Louisiana.
Among its losses were
Col. Weightman, commanding a brigade of Missourians, while
Gens. Slack and
Clark were severely, and
Gen. Price slightly wounded.
Yet the preponderance of losses was undoubtedly on our side; that of
Lyon alone being a national disaster.
1 McCulloch, from his camp
near Springfield, on the 12th, after learning that the
Union army, under
Sturgis and
Sigel, had retreated from that city, issued an exulting proclamation, in which he said:
We have gained over them a great and signal victory.
Their general-in-chief is slain, and many of their other general officers wounded; their army is in full flight; and now, if the true men of Missouri will rise up and rally around our standard, the State will be redeemed. * * *
Missouri must be allowed to choose her own destiny — no oaths binding your consciences.
I have driven the enemy from among you. The time has now arrived for the people of the State to act. You can no longer procrastinate.
Missouri must now take her position, be it North or South.
In an order to his army, issued that day, he says:
The flag of the Confederacy now floats near Springfield, the stronghold of the enemy, --
proving that he did not, even yet, feel strong enough to attack that city.
But
Springfield was neither fortified nor provisioned for a siege; while the immense preponderance of the
Rebels in cavalry would have enabled them to cut off our supplies from every quarter: a retreat was, therefore, wisely determined on, and commenced during the night of the 14th.
On the 19th, our little army, with a baggage train five miles long, reached
Rolla utterly unmolested.
Indeed, it does not seem to have been even pursued.
2
John C. Fremont had, on the 9th of July, been appointed to the command of the Western District, including the States of
Illinois,
Kentucky,
Missouri, and
Kansas, with the
Territories stretching westward of these; but was still in
New-York, endeavoring to obtain necessary arms, equipments, and munitions, when
