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[162] He saw that his men were unable to advance against the sheet of fire before them, and he marked with desperate concern the huge chasms in his lines where his torn regiments had given way. He had already been wounded in the leg, and a bullet had cut the scalp of his head. His horse was shot under him. Bloody and haggard, he turned to one of his officers, and said: “I fear the day is lost — I will lead the charge.” Remounting and riding rapidly to the front, he said simply to the nearest regiments, “Forward, men: I will lead you.” He had advanced but a little way, when two small rifle-balls, or buckshot, pierced his breast. He reeled in his saddle, and fell dead from his horse. 1 The Federal line pushed forward, but after a brief encounter was evidently staggered. McCulloch and Price threw forward nearly all their reserves. Totten's dreadful battery at last fell back. Missourians, Arkansians, Louisanians, and Texans pressed forward. The Federal centre gave way; the wings were forced to the rear; and with one wild yell, the Southerners.broke upon their disordered ranks, pushing them back, and strewing the ground with their dead. The order to retreat was given, and soon the enemy's infantry columns, artillery, and wagons, were seen in the distance among the hills, rapidly making their way towards Springfield, defeated and driven from the field. The Federal loss could not have been less than two thousand in killed and wounded; three hundred prisoners were taken, and six pieces of artillery. Gen. McCulloch officially stated his loss as two hundred and sixty-five killed and eight hundred wounded. More than half of this loss was among the Missourians commanded by Price. After the brilliant victory of Oak Hill — which for a time freed the whole of Southwestern Missouri from Federal rule — it unfortunately fell out that McCulloch and Price could not agree upon a plan of campaign.
1 Maj.-Gen. Nathaniel Lyon was a native of Connecticut, and had served in the regular army of the United States. He was an exception to the politics of that army; for he was an undisguised and fanatical Abolitionist. He entered the United States army as second lieutenant in 1841, and was subsequently brevetted captain. He arrived in St. Louis in April, 1861, having been sent from a post far in the Southwest to stand a court-martial on the charge of peculation. Here his great activity in suppressing the excitement of Southern feeling, seizing the arsenal, erecting defences around the city, and disarming Southern sympathizers, recommended him to notice in the North and at Washington; and he rapidly rose from the rank of captain to that of major-general in two months. He was undoubtedly an able and dangerous man: one who appreciated the force of audacity and the value of quick decision. He was small in stature, wiry, active, of dark complexion: brave, to a fault; and an excellent, though restless and ambitious officer. For several days before the battle in which he lost his life, he is said to have been a prey to uneasiness and disappointment, which brought upon his face a troubled look, observed by all around him. To one cf his staff he said gloomily, that he “believed in presentiments,” and could not rid himself of the idea that the coming battle would result disastrously. After he was dead, it was remarked that the same troubled look he had borne for days clung to his countenance in death. The fall of this man was undoubtedly a serious loss to the Federals in Missouri.
1866.
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