forward, and took its first position on the side of Oak Hill, north of where themain fight afterward took place. I had directed Captain Woodruff, who wasposted within easy range, to give attention to Totten, and the two batteries weresoon engaged in a lively artillery duel, being well matched in skill and mettle.Lieutenant Weaver, of Woodruff’s battery, was killed, and 4 of Totten’s menwere killed and 7 wounded in this engagement. General Lyon’s right, althoughit had gained a temporary advantage in the early morning by surprisingthe Missourians, was roughly handled when they had recovered themselves.They were reenforced by Churchill’s regiment, which had moved up from theextreme right, and the battle raged several hours while they held their ground.At this juncture a gallant charge was made by Greer’s and Carroll’s mountedregiments on Totten’s battery, but it was not a complete success, as thegunners turned about and recovered their guns.
In the early morning, perhaps simultaneously with the advance of Lyon,General Sigel, commanding the left column of the advance from Springfield ,came upon our right and rear, first attacking Colonel Churchill’s camp, as themen were preparing for breakfast, obliging them to retreat to an adjacentwood, where they were formed in good order. The surprise resulted from themovement of the night before, when pickets had been withdrawn that werenot re-posted in the morning. Sigel did not wait for a fight, however, butadvanced to, and had his battery unlimbered near, the Fayetteville road, westof Wilson’s Creek, opposite and within range of Reid’s battery as it was thenin position as originally placed. Before he had discovered us, and perhaps inignorance of our position, Reid attacked him, under my personal orders andsupervision. Sigel’s movement was a bold one, and we really could not tell,on his first appearance (there having been no fight with Churchill), whetherhe was friend or foe. An accidental gust of wind having unfurled his flag,we were no longer in doubt. Reid succeeded in getting his range accurately,so that his shot proved very effective. At this juncture, General McCullochin person led two companies of the Louisiana infantry in a charge and capt-ured five of the guns. A General Sigel was himself in command, and made vainattempts to hold his men, who were soon in full retreat, back over the roadthey came, pursued by the Texas and Missouri cavalry. This was the last ofSigel for the day, as his retreat was continued to Springfield . As a precau-tion, however, not knowing how badly we had defeated Sigel, I immediatelyposted the 4th Arkansas Infantry (Colonel Walker) along the brow of the hill,commanding the road over which he had fled, which regiment remained onduty until the battle was over.
There seemed now to be a lull in the active fighting; the bloody contest inthe corn-field had taken place; the fight “ mit Sigel ” had resulted satisfac-torily to us, but the troops more immediately opposed to General Lyon hadnot done so well. General Price and his Missouri troops had borne the bruntof this hard contest, but had gained no ground. They had suffered heavy
A General McCulloch’s report says: “ When we and soon the Louisianians were gallantly chargingarrived near the enemy’s battery we found that among the guns and swept the cannoneers away.Reid’s battery had opened upon it, and it was Five guns were here taken.”already in confusion. Advantage was taken of it,