was about two thousand, and his loss was very small. The rebel force was about four thousand, and their loss in killed and wounded was nearly one hundred. A great many of their men were made prisoners. General Lyon then issued a proclamation from Booneville, in which, after a statement of the facts in relation to the battle, he said: "I hereby give notice to the people of this state, that I shall scrupulously avoid all interference with the business, right, and property of every description recognized by the laws of the state, and belonging to law-abiding citizens. But it is equally my duty to maintain the paramount authority of the United States with such force as I have at my command, which will be retained only so long as opposition makes it necessary, and that it is my wish, and shall be my purpose, to visit any unavoidable rigor arising in this issue upon those only who provoke it.” General McCulloch, with a large force, was at this time in the southwestern part of the state, and was soon joined by General Price with some portion of the Missouri rebels, and subsequently by Parsons and General Rains. Lyon left Booneville to march against them July 3d. His small force swelled as he advanced, and when he reached Springfield, July 20th, he had under his command ten thousand men; but this force had again decreased to six thousand by August 1st. On that day at five P. M., General Lyon marched to look for the rebels, who were said to be in motion toward Springfield, and not finding them, bivouacked ten miles south of the town. Early the next day the march was resumed, and about noon, at a place called Dug Spring, the rebels were reported in sight. A halt was ordered, and while a reconnoissance was made, two companies of regular infantry were thrown forward as skirmishers, supported by a company of cavalry. This force encountered a body of about five hundred rebels, and a warm fire was exchanged. The national infantry was hard pressed, when this advanced body of the rebels was entirely scattered by a brilliant charge of the cavalry. The rebels rallied, however, engaged the infantry again, and having received support formed a line to advance, but at this juncture Captain Totten's artillery was brought to bear, and after a few discharges scattered them for the day. Next morning, August 3d, the march was continued six miles further, but the enemy made no stand, and, unable to bring on a general action, and being out of provisions, and with many of his men ill, Lyon marched his force back to Springfield, which he reached August 5th. Generals McCulloch, Price, Rains, and Colonel Parsons, were then known to be in motion toward Springfield with a combined force variously reported at eight, twenty, and twenty-four thousand men, well-armed and effective. They reached Wilson's Creek, ten miles south-west of Springfield, August 6th, and encamped there. General Lyon, thus vastly outnumbered, and left without reinforcements, saw but little hope for success, and a council of his officers advised the abandonment of Springfield and a fur ther retreat: he determined, however, to attack the rebels in their camp, and for that purpose marched from Springfield on the 9th, at sunset, with but little over five thousand men. His force was disposed in two columns. The right or main column comprised four regiments and a battalion of volunteers, five companies of regular infantry, one company of artillery recruits, and two batteries of artillery, and was commanded by General Lyon in person. The left column was commanded by Colonel Siegel, and was made up of two battalions of volunteers and six field-pieces. The rebel camp stretched along Wilson's Creek for three miles, and it was intended that the two columns should attack it at nearly opposite extremities. Lyon's column encountered the rebel pickets near the northern end of their camp at five P. M., and one of his volunteer regiments was soon warmly engaged with the rebel infantry, whom they drove from an eminence, on which the national artillery was immediately posted and opened fire. Repeated attempts of the rebels to carry this position were repulsed, and the battle merged into this endeavor on the part of the rebels, until Siegel made his attack in the rear and fired their baggage train, when they desisted from their attempt against the batteries and the battle was virtually relinquished. From the first attack General Lyon had actively assisted and encouraged his men where the fight was thickest, and was thrice wounded. Near nine A. M., when the enemy was about to make one of his several attempts against Totten's battery, the first Iowa regiment was brought up to relieve, in its support, the Kansas first and second. This regiment had lost its colonel, and when Lyon ordered it to prepare to repel the enemy with the bayonet, the men called upon him to lead them. He had been standing by his horse, but now mounted to lead the charge, and gave the word. The rebels did not stand, but delivered their fire and broke. General Lyon was struck by a rifle-ball in the breast. He fell into the arms of his body-servant and expired almost immediately. His fall was not generally observed, and the battle continued for several hours after it. Four months after General Lyon's death, on the 20th December, 1861, the following resolution was introduced into the United States Senate from the House of Representatives, and unanimously concurred in: "Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress deems it just and proper to enter upon its records a recognition of the eminent and patriotic services of the late Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon. The country to whose service he devoted his life will guard and preserve his fame as a part of its own glory. Second, That the thanks of Congress are hereby given to the brave officers and soldiers who, under the command of the late General Lyon, sustained the honor of the flag, and achieved victory against overwhelming numbers at the battle of Spring field, in Missouri; and that, in order to commemorate an event so honorable to the country and to themselves, it is ordered that each regiment engaged shall be authorized to bear upon its colors the word 'Springfield,' embroidered in letters of gold. And the President of the United States is hereby requested to cause these resolutions to be read at the head of every regiment in the army of the United States." Previous to its adoption, however, Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, delivered an eloquent tribute to the general's memory as follows: "Mr. President: The resolutions which have just been read to the Senate were introduced to the House of Representatives by the distinguished member from St. Louis, and passed the House very unanimously. I trust they will in like manner pass the Senate. But to me there is one reason why they should receive at least a passing notice. The state of Kansas was largely interested in that battle at Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, and the country and mankind have a large interest in the fame of the immortal Lyon, who fell in that battle. Such a man and such a general is not often found, and very rarely combined in one person. Perhaps I may be pardoned here for saying that I had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with General Lyon for years; and it was an acquaintance formed and matured under the most impressive circumstances. The early struggles for the freedom of our own state were not unlike in their nature the present struggles of the nation. The same questions, to a great extent, entered into the one that now convulse the other. The same interests, passions, and barbarity, so disgraceful to our age and humanity, entered as largely into that struggle as in the present. "General Lyon, whose deeds and fame now belong to the whole country, was then Captain Lyon, of the regular army, stationed at Fort Riley, in Kansas. He had for ten years served the country in that capacity, and without promotion. He was as true a soldier as ever stood in the line of battle; a sagacious officer, strict in habit and discipline, and an honest man. "His attention to me, on an occasion of great personal fatigue and exposuretaking me to his quarters, welcoming me to all his comforts, and then loaning me his own horse, fresh and strong, and taking in charge mine exhausted and worn, were acts of generosity and kindness that I shall never forget. The elements of a friendship cemented by unity of sentiment and principle, in an hour of great extremity, are the most enduring attachments of this life. "As Captain Lyon, he sympathized with the free state men of Kansas, espoused their cause, and vindicated their rights in the presence of superior army officers and government appointees, who were, even there, as false to their country, to freedom, and to God, as secession itself. He was then, as always, an earnest man, true among the false, faithful among the faithless, devotedly attached to the Union that he loved, the constitution that he vindicated, and the flag of his country for which he died. แ Comparisons are odious, and I hesitate to draw them. Still, amidst the general inactivity so prevalent on the Potomac, and so discouraging to live men, it is refreshing to notice that when the order was for Captain Lyon to take and capture General Frost's command at Camp Jackson, the ink was scarcely dry on the order before that work was accomplished. "The 10th day of May will be forever memorable in St. Louis as a day when one decisive blow, struck by one decided officer, forever freed that city from subjection to the rebellion. And there she remains to-day a proud monument, her edifices standing in towering magnificence, vindicating that policy, and safe amidst surrounding desolation. "One Friday morning in June last, Claib. Jackson, the so-called governor of Missouri, issued his proclamation, declaring war against the United States forces in Missouri. That very afternoon, before the sun went down, General Lyon commenced moving his little army of two thousand seven hundred men upon steamboats, at St. Louis, and was soon under way for Jefferson City, the capital. On the following Sabbath evening, he took possession quietly of that capital. The rebels, governor, and officers, and soldiers, had fled, burning bridges, and spreading destruction in their train. Before Monday morning, he commenced moving a portion of that little invincible army to Booneville, fifty miles further up, where he engaged the enemy and dispersed them, taking the city. Thus, I say, it is refreshing to see that there was one general who could move his army three hundred miles in three successive days, and have a battle and a victory! General Lyon moved south from Booneville toward Springfield, in the wake of the fleeing rebels, who were retreating into Arkansas. After several successful skirmishes about Springfield, restoring order and quiet, he halted there for reinforcements. On his way there, he was joined by one regiment from Iowa and two from Kansas. "And now may I be allowed to pause in my argument a moment to say that these two regiments were only the first generous offerings of our young state to the cause of the country? But the flower and pride of our young state were in them. These were of the kind of men who spring spontaneously to their arms in an hour of danger. They mustered in as infantry in the month of June, and were ordered immediately into Missouri. Thank God there were no wretched traitors in Kansas left unhung to rise up against their country, and to seek the overthrow of the government. So our troops were ordered into Missouri-many of them without one day's notice. The first day's march of one regiment was forty-five miles in twenty-two successive hours, without baggage-wagons or ambulances. And before they could be provided with clothing or shoes, they were ordered onward and still onward into Missouri; and when they had joined General Lyon at Springfield, they had marched over three hundred miles; and one of the regiments had only seven baggage-wagons! A part of the Kansas and Iowa regiments, under an order from General Sweeney, were marched in two days from Springfield to Forsyth, sixty miles, and had a battle; and after dispersing the rebels, returned to Springfield in two and a half days; and during this unparalleled marching, over two hundred of these brave men were entirely destitute of shoes. "But the memorable day about which cluster all the interests of that southwestern campaign was the 10th day of August, 1861. Upon the evening of the 9th, as darkness quietly settled down into the valleys, and light lingered blushingly upon the hill tops, this little army of five and a half thousand men set out to meet twenty-five thousand and engage them in conflict. They marched by two different routes all night, and at daybreak came upon the enemy encamped upon Wilson's Creek. Immediately, without waiting on points of etiquette, General Lyon formed the line of battle. And here began, at five o'clock in the morning, the conflict of arms—more terrible and destructive, according to numbers, than ever engaged men on this continent before. From the beginning to the close, for six and a half hours, the firing was incessant and terrific. At halfpast ten o'clock the man of all men there the general of all generals in this war -fell at the head of one of our regiments, leading them gloriously onward to victory. He placed himself there in a moment, in response to the call of these men as unconquerable as himself. General Lyon had before, that day, been twice wounded, and had one horse shot under him. He resisted all entreaties for refreshments, willing to hazard every thing himself, anxious only for his men. and their cause. He neither faltered nor complained, until the fatal shaft entered the life fountain, and the 'golden bowl was broken.' He thus sunk quietly to rest, amidst the din of battle and the smoke of the contest-the Warren of this The battle went on, though its leader had fallen. Few of either officers or men knew what had occurred. The enemy being repulsed, returned with fresh regiments, again and again, but returned only to retreat in confusion, leaving their trail strewn with the fallen. Our troops advanced and took possession of the field. The rebels, in fear, now burned their own baggage-wagons. Volumes of smoke rolled up from every side of the battle-field, and concentrating above them, hung the heavens in a drapery of mourning. The rebels were receding, and the firing ceased altogether. "Thus ended the 10th day of August, 1861; evening shadows, cooling the heat of both sun and fire; our troops marched regularly to camp. And I now say, in contradiction to much that has been written and said, that that battle was a triumph. It was a costly one; nevertheless a victory. What other war. * * * * * |