The union army followed closely after the rebel one, and for more than a hundred miles the chase was continued. Sometimes the advance of the pursuers was not more than a mile or two from the rear of the pursued. A retreating army always has the advantage, as it has a clear road, while the advancing one must carefully reconnoiter the ground to prevent falling into ambuscades. Then, too, the retreating force can forage upon the country, where there is anything to be obtained in it, and by clearing it of provisions and supplies of every kind make it a difficult matter for the pursuers to feed themselves, unless by waiting for the wagon-trains, which are always an encumbrance and hinder rapid movements.

General Price did not stop to form ambuscades or otherwise engage the advance of General Curtis, but kept straight on toward the southwest till he formed a junction with McCulloch at Cross Hollows in northern Arkansas. Cross Hollows is a curious sort of a place, and is well described by its name. The rolling and hilly country is suddenly broken by a series of ravines that spread out from a common center like the rays of a star. Ravines in this part of the country are generally known by the more prosaic name of “Hollows,” and the crossing of the hollows gives the name to the locality.

The main road from Springfield to Fayetteville and the southwest traverses the center of the hollows. A short distance before reaching the hollows it crosses a fine stream of water, which bears the name of Sugar Creek. The water of Sugar Creek is pure, like that of a mountain brook. In its shallow parts it is without color, but wherever it attains a depth of thirty inches or more it is deeply tinged with blue. This is the character of the streams generally through that section of country, and when one looks down from a height upon the valley of one of these streams the effect of the pools of blue alternating with the white water of the shallow portions and the green of the enclosing banks forms a very pretty picture.

Down to that time none of the union forces in southwest Missouri had ever crossed the line into Arkansas. General Vandever's brigade was leading the advance of the infantry column, a half mile or so behind the cavalry, and Jack and Harry were as far in front as they were permitted to go. When the head of the column reached the line a halt was ordered, the regiments were closed up, and preparations were made for commemorating the invasion of the seceded state in an imposing manner.

For some days the bands had been practicing the music of “The Arkansas Traveler,” one of the far-seeing officers of the staff having supplied the leaders with the score. After the column had been halted two of the bands were brought forward and stationed on each side of the road, where a post marked the boundary between Missouri and Arkansas. When all was ready the bands started up “The Arkansas Traveler,” and with their rifles at right-shoulder shift, and in column of fours the infantry filed past. As each company crossed the frontier a loud cheer was given, and the greatest enthusiasm prevailed. To add to the good spirits of the men the news of the fall of Fort Donelson reached them and spread like wildfire on their first night in camp on the soil of Arkansas.

Price and McCulloch united their forces at Cross Hollows and made a stand against the union advance, though evidently not a serious one, as there was only a slight skirmish, after which the rebels retired in the direction of Fayetteville twenty-two miles further on. The cavalry division pursued them to that point, but the infantry halted at Cross Hollows. Even at Fayetteville the rebels did not feel strong enough to make a fight, but continued their retreat after a short resistance over the Boston Mountains in the direction of Fort Smith, where for a long time the United States government had formerly maintained a military post.

The rebels had accumulated at Fayetteville a considerable supply of bacon, corn and other materials for feeding their army, and when our troops arrived most of the storehouses containing these supplies were on fire. It was afterward ascertained that the burning of these storehouses had been the cause of a serious dispute between Price and McCulloch—a renewal of their quarrel at the time of the Wilson's Creek campaign.

Price wanted to leave these supplies for the use of the union army, and he argued as follows: We've got to retreat, and the union army is going to stay here till we drive them out. They are in our country, and more than two hundred miles from their base. They will forage on the country for a large part of their supplies, and if we leave this bacon and corn they will have just so much less to take from the people, who are our people, and not theirs. Arkansas is a seceded state, and the Yankees and Dutch won't have any compunctions about living on the state that they might have in Missouri, which they claim to be still in the union, and are trying to keep there. The easier it is for them to find their living the easier it will be for Arkansas.

On this line of argument Price opposed the destruction of the supplies. McCulloch opposed his view of the matter, and said it was no part of their business to help feed the Yankee army, and what happened to the people was simply the fortune of war. The quarrel reached its height and came near a fighting point when McCulloch accused Price of disloyalty to the South and a willingness to see Arkansas subjugated by the Northern troops.

Price was overruled and the stores were set on fire. His prediction was verified, as the union forces foraged right and left among the people, and certainly caused them much more hardship than would have been the case had the supplies fallen into our hands. Which of them was right in the argument the reader may decide for himself. Certainly the question, like most matters on which men differ, had two well-defined sides.

McCulloch's army had spent the winter at Cross Hollows, where it erected buildings capable of lodging eight or ten thousand men. When the rebels retired from Cross Hollows these buildings were set on fire, and by the time our troops arrived all but half a dozen of them had been consumed. The ashes remained to mark the spot, and the positions of the smoking ash-heaps showed that the cantonment was laid out with the regularity of a carefully-platted town.

Original Size

The Third Illinois Cavalry, which was attached to General Vandever's brigade, followed closely upon the heels of the enemy after the skirmish at Sugar Creek, and pushed on in the direction of Fayetteville. A single company was retained by the general for scouting purposes, and to this company Jack and Harry were temporarily attached. The youths were among the first to enter the rebel cantonment and try to save what they could from the flames.

Harry's sharp eyes fell upon some chickens, of which a hundred or more were running wildly about the place.

The slaughter of the innocents began at once; chickens were not abundant in that part of the country, and Harry thought a fine fowl would be very welcome at the general's mess-table that evening, and he was also of the opinion that a similar bird would taste well for himself and Jack.

He secured two, and remarked to Jack that they were the thinnest birds of the kind he had yet come across. “But they're chickens, anyhow,” said he, “and if they're too tough for broiling they will do well in a stew.”

Jack was equally fortunate in his chicken hunt, but his second bird was a surprise that caused his eyes to open very wide.

“Just look at this,” said he to Harry, as he pointed to the legs of the fowl; “wonder what this means?”

The objects that arrested his attention were a pair of steel “gaffs” as sharp as needles, and attached by straps and cords to the legs of the chicken; they were hollow at the base, so that they passed over the natural spurs of the bird.

“I never saw anything like this,” said Jack, “and don't believe it grows there.”

“Nor I either,” replied Harry. “Here comes the general; let's show it to him and find out what it's all about.”

Jack ran to General Vandever and exhibited his discovery. The latter immediately ordered the slaughter of the chickens to cease, and it was stopped at once, but not till two-thirds of the number about the camp had fallen.

“These are game cocks,” said the general, “and they're kept for fighting purposes. I heard that the Third Louisiana had a lot of game cocks, and were keeping them here for amusing themselves. They come from a chicken-fighting region, and this is one of their favorite sports. They get up matches, on which they bet heavily, and then the fighting-cocks are equipped with these spurs or gaffs, and put in the ring against each other. The bird that can first pierce the other with these gaffs generally wins the fight, as a well-directed blow with them is fatal.

“Probably we interrupted a fight,” the general continued. “This bird was certainly all ready for the ring, and if you look around you 'll find another similarly equipped and about to proceed to business.”

Sure enough, the antagonist of the bird was found in the hands of a soldier; at any rate, there was another chicken with the gaffs on that had been killed before his character was known. Game chickens are not considered edible except in case of emergency. Those that had been killed were, however, duly served up, as it was thought extravagant to waste anything in the chicken line at that particular time. It was as Harry had predicted, the chickens were not good for broiling, but they did fairly well when stewed, especially when the stewing continued all night.

The birds that were saved from slaughter were the source of much amusement to the officers while the army remained in camp at Cross Hollows. Almost every day there was a cock-fight in front of one of the tents, but it was generally bloodless, as nobody knew anything about handling the birds, and the steel gaffs were never used. The names of the rebel leaders were given to the fighters, and it was a common occurrence to have Beauregard pitted against Jeff Davis, Price against McCulloch, or Lee against Johnston. General Vandever turned two of the birds over to the care of Jack and Harry. Harry's pet was called Magruder, and Jack's received the fighting name of Breckinridge.

In the first encounter Breckinridge tore three feathers out of Magruder's neck and otherwise disabled him, so that Harry lost his wager. But as betting in money was not in order, and the stakes consisted only of army crackers, the youths' losses were not heavy.

One after another the fighting-chickens went to the cooking-pots, as they were not securely guarded and several of the officers had negro servants. There is a traditional affinity between the negro and the chicken, an affinity which results in the absorbing of the latter by the former. Some of the negro servants were good foragers, and ran considerable risk in their search for supplies, as we shall see later on.