Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[334] Price hastened to set the rest of his troops occupying positions in the neighborhood, under arms, and rushed with about twenty-five hundred men and one battery to the aid of the combatants, whom the Federals were beginning to dislodge from their positions. During this time Plummer's regulars crossed the stream and advanced, deploying in the fields on the right; but two regiments of Arkansas cavalry, who had dismounted, supported by a Louisiana regiment, soon came rushing upon them. The small body of regular troops was obliged to fall back before so large a force, and it would have been annihilated if two guns posted on the heights to the left of the river had not arrived in time to check the aggressive movement of the Confederates in the valley.

The battle is fought with ardor on both sides; Price and Mc-Culloch rally the soldiers who have not yet been able to join their ranks. Lyon leads successively into action all the regiments composing his little band; his soldiers fight bravely, while his artillery displays a great superiority over that of the enemy, which is badly served, and the fire of which is very irregular. As we have just seen, this artillery has already saved the regular troops compromised in the valley. A section of Totten's battery replies with great effect to a few guns posted by the enemy on the heights commanding the right bank of Wilson's Creek, for the purpose of enfilading the Federal line. The rest of the Union artillery supports the attack of the infantry. The point at issue is to carry the crest of a hill from which Lyon's troops are separated by a bend, where the brigade they had surprised was encamped, and beyond which lay the undulating plateau which the Missourians had occupied for some days. The ground, covered with brushwood and scattered trees, renders manoeuvring difficult. The Confederates, recovered from their first confusion, are superior in numbers, and they cleverly avail themselves of the advantages which the nature of the ground gives to the defensive. The First Missouri has suffered cruelly. The Federal troops are several times driven back in disorder, but the artillery still supports them. The Confederates try to surprise them by displaying a Federal flag under cover of which to advance; but Totten, who has allowed them to approach, discovers the disloyal trick in time, and a few rounds of grape severely punish the authors of it for their