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The morning of the 5th
(when
Van Dorn moved) was blustery, and snow covered the ground.
Curtis was unsuspicious of the movements of his enemy until two o'clock in the afternoon, when scouts and fugitive citizens came hurrying to his tent, in which he was writing, with the startling intelligence that the
Confederates were approaching in large force from the direction of
Fayetteville, that their artillery had already passed that place, and that their cavalry would be at
Elm Springs, not more than twelve miles from Headquarters, that night.
Curtis at once determined to concentrate his forces in Sugar Creek Valley, not far from Mottsville, and a short distance south of
Pea Ridge, a portion of a spur of the
Ozark Mountains, on the highway between
Fayetteville and
Springfield, where there was a good point for defense and an abundance of water, and where
General Davis had already thrown up intrenchments.
1 He gave orders accordingly, and there, on the morning of the 6th of March,
the greater portion of his troops were gathered, excepting those under
General Sigel and a few who were yet abroad.
Sigel had moved his camp
from
Osage Springs to a point nearer
Bentonville, to secure a better position for obtaining forage.
He now found his command, and a train of two hundred wagons, placed in a perilous position by
Van Dorn's sudden and unexpected advance; but, as we shall observe presently, he extricated them with small loss.
Van Dorn had marched rapidly from his camp near the
Boston Mountains, in the edge of the
Indian Country, about fifty miles from
Pea Ridge, accompanied by
Generals Price,
McCulloch,
McIntosh, and
Pike. Informed of the strength of
Curtis's position in front, he left the direct road at
Fayetteville, and, marching more westward through
Bentonville, struck the highway near the
State line, about eight miles north of
Sugar Creek, in the rear of the Nationals, thereby, as he thought, cutting off
Curtis's supplies and re-enforcements, and securing him and his army as captives.
It was while he was on that march from
Fayetteville that his approach was made known.
He encamped that night at
Cross Hollows,
2 which
Carr had left; and
Sigel, by a skillful movement in sending cavalry to
Osage Springs to cover his right flank, safely conducted his train from McKissick's farm, west of
Bentonville, to the latter place, and secured it from the grasp of the
Confederates.
Leaving a rear-guard (Thirty-sixth Illinois and a portion of the Second Missouri) at
Bentonville, he sent his train forward toward
Sugar Creek.
Mistaking an order,
Colonel Schaeffer with the Second Missouri also went forward, leaving only about six hundred men and five pieces of light artillery behind.
These were surrounded by a battalion of cavalry forming
Price's body-guard, and
Louisiana infantry.
Fortunately,
Sigel had remained with his rear-guard, and he handled his little band so skillfully and bravely that they cut their way through, and, changing front, they fought and fell
