Horace Greeley, The American Conflict: A History of the Great Rebellion in the United States of America, 1860-65: its Causes, Incidents, and Results: Intended to exhibit especially its moral and political phases with the drift and progress of American opinion respecting human slavery from 1776 to the close of the War for the Union. Volume I.

[589] the Home Guards left the outer defenses and retired within the line of inner intrenchments, saying they would fight no longer, and raising the white flag over the center of our works. Col. Mulligan, who had been twice wounded this day, called his officers around him, and they decided that nothing remained but to surrender. Of course, no terms could now be made. Price agreed that the privates on our side should be paroled — he having none too much food for his own; but the officers must be retained as prisoners of war, with all arms and equipments.

The losses during this fight were probably much the greater on the side of the Rebels; Price, indeed, makes them barely 25 killed and 75 wounded; but this probably includes only returns from such portion of his forces as were regularly organized and mustered; while nearly half his men were irregulars, of whom no account was taken. Our loss was 40 killed and 120 wounded.

Gen. Fremont, who had good reason to believe that Sturgis had already reenforced Mulligan, and that Lane and Pope had done or would do so that day, enabling him to hold his position, directed Davis by telegraph, on the 18th, to push forward 5,000 men to the crossing of Lamine Creek by the Pacific Railroad, with a view to intercept Price's retreat at the Osage. Late on the 22d, he received from Pope the sad tidings of Mulligan's surrender; and, on the 27th, he left St. Louis for Jefferson City, expecting that Price would try to maintain himself at some point on or near the Missouri, where lay his chief strength.

But Price was too crafty for this. By good luck, as well as good generalship, he had struck us a damaging blow, and was determined to evade its return. On the very day that Fremont left St. Louis, he put his force in motion southward and south-westward. He, of course, made feints of resuming the offensive, threatening the forces closing upon him from three sides, as if about to precipitate his full strength upon this or that particular foe, which, with his immense superiority in cavalry, was not a difficult feat. Our troops, of course, fell back or advanced cautiously; and, meantime, his infantry and artillery were making the best possible time southward. Pollard says he in two days crossed the Osage with 15,000 men in two common flat-boats, and that Fremont was fifteen days in building pontoon bridges, and crossing after him. This is untrue; but a General who lived from hand to mouth on the country he traversed, moving but few and light guns, with very little ammunition, and who was careful to destroy whatever means of transit he no longer wished to use, breaking down bridges and burning boats, could easily outstrip his more heavily laden pursuer.

Price continued his flight to Neosho, in the south-west corner of the State, where he found McCulloch, with 5,000 Arkansas Confederates; and where Jackson assembled the fag-end of his old Legislature, and had an Ordinance of Secession formally passed by it — a most superfluous