An analytical study of the losses in the preceding chapter will aid in a more thoro appreciation of the most bitter battle fought on the American Continent up to that time, and by far the severest which had ever been waged west of the Allegheny Mountains. It will be perceived that the loss in the Union army was almost wholly in Gen. Lyon's column of 4,000 men, or less, which suffered to the extent of almost one-third of its number. In the 1,300 men in Gen. Sigel's command the loss was insignificant, except in prisoners.

Both sides fought with a stubbornness absolutely unknown in European wars, but the regiments of the Union army seemed to be inspired with that higher invincibility of purpose which characterized their great leader.

Judged by the simple equation of losses, the Union regiments displayed a far greater tenacity of purpose than the Confederates. We have no exact figures as to the number in each Union regiment, as there were constant changes taking place; a great many men had served their time out and more were claiming and receiving their discharges.

Aug. 4, 1861, six days before the battle, Gen. Lyon gave from "recollection" the following estimate of the strength of his command, which must have been considerably reduced in the seven days between that and the battle, and from which must be deducted some 250 men left to guard the trains and property in Springfield:{178} 179-table{179}

It is altogether unlikely that the 1st Mo., for example, took into battle within 100 or more of the 900 men assigned to it, and the same thing is true of the 900 men given for the 1st Iowa, and the 700 each for the two Kansas regiments.

If we assume that the 1st Mo. and the 1st Iowa had 800 men each and the Kansas regiments 600 each, we find that the loss of 295 for the 1st Mo., 284 for the 1st Kan., and 154 for the 1st Iowa to be appalling. The Regulars suffered severely, but not so badly as the volunteers.

Among those who were noted for gallant conduct in the battle of Wilson's Creek was Eugene F. Ware, then a private in the 1st Iowa, and who afterward became a Captain in the 7th Iowa Cav. In civil life he attained a leading place at the Kansas bar, and was appointed Commissioner of Pensions by President Roosevelt.{180}

None of the Confederate regiments engaged suffered to anything like the same extent, and as they were driven from the field, while the Union regiments maintained their position and were even ready for further aggression, the palm of higher purposes and more desperate fighting must be unhesitatingly conceded to the Union volunteers. Few of the Confederate commanders give reports of the number they carried into action, but many of their regiments must have been approximately as strong as those of the Union, and they had many more of them.

The moral effect of the battle was prodigious on both sides. The Union troops were conscious of having met overwhelming forces and fought them to a stand-still, if not actual defeat. Every man felt himself a victor as he left the field, and only retreated because the exigencies of the situation rendered that the most politic move.

It was consequently a great encouragement to the Union sentiment everywhere, and did much to retrieve the humiliation of Bull Run. The Confederates naturally made the very most of the fact that they had been left masters of the field, and they dilated extensively upon the killing of Gen. Lyon and the crushing defeat they had administered upon Sigel, with capture of prisoners, guns and flags. They used this to so good purpose as to greatly stimulate the Secession spirit thruout the State.{181}

Gen. McCulloch's dispatches to the Confederate War Department are, to say the least, disingenuous. His first dispatch that evening stated that the enemy was 12,000 strong, but had "fled" after eight hours' hard fighting. His second official report, dated two days after the battle, gave his "effective" forces at 5,300 infantry, 15 pieces of artillery and 6,000 horsemen, armed with flintlock muskets, rifles and shotguns. He says: "There were, other horsemen with the army, but they were entirely unarmed, and instead of being a help they were continually in the way." He repeatedly pronounces the collisions at the different periods of the battle as "terrific," and says: "The incessant roar of musketry was deafening, and the balls fell as thick as hailstones." His next sentences are at surprising variance with the concurrent testimony on the Union side; for he says: "Nothing could withstand the impetuosity of our final charge. The enemy fell back and could not again be rallied, and they were seen at 12 m. fast retreating among the hills in the distance. This ended the battle. It lasted six hours and a half."

By this time Gen. McCulloch had reduced the Union force to between 9,000 and 10,000, and he claims the Union loss to have been 800 killed, 1,000 wounded and 300 prisoners. He gave his own loss at 265 killed, 800 wounded and 30 missing. His colleague, Gen. Price, he curtly dismisses with this brief laudation: "To Gen. Price I am under many obligations for assistance on the battlefield. He was at the head of his force, leading them on and sustaining them by his gallant bearing."{182}

Gen. Price's report is more accurate and soldierlike, but he says that after several "severe and bloody conflicts" had ensued, and the battle had been conducted with the "greatest gallantry and vigor on both sides for more than five hours, the enemy retreated in great confusion, leaving their Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Lyon, dead upon the battlefield, over 500 killed and a great number wounded." He claims that his forces numbered 5,221 officers and men, of whom 156 were killed and 517 wounded. This would make the loss of his whole division of 5,000 men 673, or about the same lost by the 1st Mo. and the 1st Kan., with these two regiments still maintaining their position, while the enemy retired.

It seems difficult to understand why, if the enemy "retreated in great confusion," as reported by Mc-Culloch and Price, the several thousand horsemen who did little or nothing during the battle were not let loose to complete the ruin of the Union forces. No matter how poorly armed or disciplined these might have been, their appearance on the flank of the retiring column would have been fatal to any orderly retreat such as was conducted. The universal testimony of the Union officers and soldiers is that there was no enemy in sight when they started to leave the field, and that they suffered no molestation whatever, though they halted two miles from the field and in plain sight for some time.

It also passes comprehension that this horde of irregular horsemen were not employed during the long hours of the battle in making some diversion in the rear of the Union army.

Both Price and McCulloch seem to have had their attention so fully engrossed in bringing up new regiments to keep Lyon from breaking thru their lines and reaching their trains that they had no opportunity to give orders or organize manuvers by the horsemen, and nobody seems to have suggested to the mounted men that they could employ their time better than by standing back and watching the progress of the terrible conflict between the two opposing lines of infantry.{183}

It appears that the Union officers in the council called by Gen. Sturgis were not at all unanimous for retreat. Capt. Sweeny, altho severely wounded, vehemently insisted upon pursuing the enemy, and Capt. Gordon Granger, also severely wounded, rode up to Sturgis, pointed out that there was not a man in sight and that the fire could be seen from where the retreating foe was burning his wagons, and he urged the pursuit so vigorously that Sturgis had to repeat his order for him to leave the field.

Col. Sigel, in his report made at Rolla eight days after the battle, made a long and labored explanation of his operations during the day. He thus explained his failure to do more:

Later, when Gen. Sigel was seeking promotion, Maj. Schofield, then a Brigadier-General, sent the following communication to Gen. Halleck:{184}

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This was accompanied by a statement embodying the same facts and signed by substantially all the higher officers who had been with Lyon.{186}

At the first halt of the army, about two miles from the battlefield, while the dead and wounded were being gathered up, it was discovered that Gen. Lyon's body had been left behind. The Surgeon and another officer volunteered to take an ambulance and return to the battlefield for it They were received graciously by Gen. McCulloch; the body was delivered to them and they reached Springfield with it shortly after dark. The Surgeon made an attempt to embalm it by injecting arsenic into the veins, but decomposition, owing to exposure to the hot sun, had progressed too far to render it practicable, and they were compelled to leave it when the army moved off.

Mrs. Phelps, wife of the member of Congress from that District, and a true Union woman, obtained it and had it placed in a wooden coffin, which was hermetically sealed in another one of zinc. Fearing that it might be molested by the Confederate troops when they entered the city, Mrs. Phelps had the coffin placed in an out-door cellar and covered with straw. Later she took an opportunity of having it secretly buried at night.

Thinking that the remains had been brought on, Mr. Danford Knowlton, of New York, a cousin, and Mr. John B. Hasler, of Webster, Mass., a brother-in-law of Gen. Lyon, came on at the instance of the Connecticut relatives to obtain the remains. Not finding them at St. Louis, they went forward to Rolla, where Col. Wyman furnished them with an ambulance, with which they proceeded to Springfield under a flag of truce. They were kindly received by Gen. Price, and also by Gen. Parsons, whose brigade was encamped on the ground where the body was buried, and exhuming it, brought it to St. Louis. The city went into mourning, and the remains were conducted by a military and civic procession to the depot, where they were delivered to the Adams Express Company to be conveyed East under an escort of officers and enlisted men.{187}

At every station on the road crowds gathered to pay their tribute of respect to the deceased hero and distinguished honors were paid at Cincinnati, Pittsburg, New York, and Hartford. The body was taken to Eastford, Conn., where the General was born, and in the presence of a large assemblage was interred in a grave beside his parents, in accordance with the desire the General expressed while in life.

Upon opening Lyons' will it was found that he had bequeathed all his savings, prudent investments and property, amounting to about $50,000, to the Government to aid it in the prosecution of the war for its existence.

Aug. 25, Gen. Fremont issued congratulatory orders, in which he said:

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Dec. 30, 1861, Congress passed a joint resolution, in which it said:

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