When the
Confederates under
General Price fled into
Arkansas in February, 1861,
General Curtis and a strong force of Nationals pursued him.
Curtis crossed the
Arkansas line on Feb. 18 and drove
Price and his followers over the
Boston Mountains.
He then fell back and took a position near
Pea Ridge, a spur of the
Ozark Mountains.
Meanwhile
Price had been joined by
Gen. Earl Van Dorn, a dashing young officer who was his senior in rank, and now took chief command of the
Confederates.
Forty heavy guns thundered a welcome to the young general.
“Soldiers!”
cried the general, “behold your leader!
He comes to show you the way to glory and immortal
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renown.
He comes to hurl back the minions of the despots at
Washington, whose ignorance, licentiousness, and brutality are equalled only by their craven natures.
They come to free your slaves,
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Battle of Pea Ridge. |
lay waste your plantations, burn your villages, and abuse your loving wives and beautiful daughters.”
Van Dorn came from
western Arkansas with
Generals McCulloch,
McIntosh, and
Pike.
The latter was a
New England man and a poet, and came at the head of a band of Indians whom he had lured into the service.
The whole Confederate force then numbered 25,000 men; the
National troops, led by
Curtis, did not exceed 11,000 men, with 50 pieces of artillery.
On March 5
Curtis was informed by his scouts of the swift approach of an overwhelming force of Confederates; he concentrated his army in the
Sugar Creek Valley.
He was compelled to fight or make a disastrous retreat.
Choosing the former, he prepared for the struggle.
Meanwhile
Van Dorn, by a quick movement, had flanked
Curtis and gained his rear, and on the morning of the 7th he moved to attack the Nationals, not doubting his ability to crush him and capture his train of 200 wagons.
Curtis's troops were in battle order.
His 1st and 2d divisions, on the left, were commanded respectively by
Generals Asboth and
Sigel; the 3d was under
Gen. J. C. Davis, and composed the centre, and the 4th, on the right, was commanded by
Colonel Carr.
His line of battle extended about 4 miles, and there was only a broad ravine between his troops and the heavy Confederate force.
Towards noon the battle was opened by a simultaneous attack of Nationals and Confederates.
A very severe conflict ensued, and continued a greater part of the day, with varying fortunes to each party, the lines of strife swaying like a pendulum.
At 11 A. M. the pickets on
Curtis's extreme right under
Major Weston were violently assailed, and
Colonel Osterhaus, with a detachment of
Iowa cavalry and Davidson's Peoria Battery, supported by
Missouri cavalry and
Indiana infantry, attacked a portion of
Van Dorn's troops before he was fairly ready for battle.
Colonel Carr went to the assistance of
Weston, and a severe engagement ensued.
Thus the battle near
Pea Ridge was opened.
Osterhaus met with a warm reception, for the woods were swarming with Confederates.
His cavalry were driven back,
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when
General Davis came to his rescue with
General Sigel, who attacked the
Confederate flank.
Soon afterwards
Davis fought severely with
McCulloch,
McIntosh, and Pike.
Then the battle raged most fiercely.
The issue of the strife seemed doubtful, when the 18th Indiana attacked the
Confederate flank and rear so vigorously with ball and bayonet that they were driven from that part of the field, when it was strewn with the dead bodies of Texans and
Indians.
The Confederates now became fugitives, and in their flight they left their dead and wounded on the field.
Among the latter were
Generals McCulloch and
McIntosh, mortally hurt.
Osterhaus, and
Sigel with his heavy guns,
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Map of battle of Pea Ridge. |
now went to the assistance of
Colonel Carr on the right.
But
Carr had held his ground.
There were no indications that the
Confederates wished to renew the fight, for it was now sunset.
The
Nationals bivouacked on the battle-field that night among the dead and dying.
The contest was renewed at dawn (March 8), when the Nationals hurled such a destructive tempest of shot and shell upon the
Confederates that the latter soon broke and fled in every direction in the wildest confusion.
Van Dorn, who had been a greater part of the day with the troops that fought
Carr, concentrated his whole available force on
Curtis's right.
The latter had been vigilant, and at 2 A. M. he had been joined by
Sigel and his command.
The whole four divisions of the army were in position to fight
Van Dorn at daylight.
With batteries advantageously planted, and infantry lying down in front of them,
Curtis opened a terrible cannonade.
Battery after battery of the
Confederates was silenced in the course of two hours, and so horrible was the tempest of iron that
Van Dorn and his followers were compelled to fly to the shelter of the ravines of Cross Timber Hollow.
At the same time,
Sigel's infantry, with the troops of the centre and might, engaged in the battle.
Van Dorn fled so suddenly, and in such a scattering manner, that it was difficult for
Curtis to determine the main route of his retreat.
General Price had been posted some distance off, and he, too, participated in the flight.
The Confederate army, made so strong and hopeful by
Van Dorn's speech twenty-four hours before, was now broken into fragments.
This conflict, called the
battle of Pea Ridge by the Nationals and
Elkhorn by the
Confederates, was a sanguinary one.
The
Indians under Pike shamefully tomahawked, scalped, and mangled the bodies of National soldiers.
It is said they were maddened with intoxicating drink before the battle.
The
Nationals lost 1,351 killed, wounded, and missing. The loss of the
Confederates was never reported.
It was probably about the same as that of the Nationals.
