THE PEA RIDGE CAMPAIGN.

3 2 3

[Mr. Hunt P. Wilson, who was a member of Gui-bor’s Confederate battery, has given the followingdescription in the “ St. Louis Republican” of thecontest on the Confederate right in the first day’sfight. He also describes the ground where theprincipal fighting 011 both days took place, forwhich reason his account is useful in connectionwith the map on the preceding page and the cuton page 330:

“ The Missouri army by a long night march had passedcompletely around the Federal right flank, marching tothe north-east of Big Mountain, then forming line of bat-tle facing south on the Keetsville and Fayetteville or* Wire ’ road, directly in General Curtis’s rear. Thecountry on this side of the hill is broken with highridges and deep hollows through which the Wire roadruns. The column entered by what is called CrossTimber Hollow. Some of the ridges are 150 feet high.In the valley of this defile is located what is known asthe tan-yard, three-quarters of a mile from ElkhornTavern. From the tan-yard there is a gradual ascent,and alongside the road runs a deep hollow reaching upto the spring near the tavern. At the head of this andcrossing it is a ‘bench’ along the base of the mountain.Along this bench was the United States Cavalry underGeneral Carr. Along the road leading down from thetavern were the Iowa troops with artillery, and on theirright, reaching to the east of the Van Winkle road, onwhich there are a few clearings, General Curtis pro-longed his line of battle. Another hollow leads from thetan-yard to the south-east, and at the head of this hollowrested the Federal right. . . . The battle was openedby the Iowa Battery [Hayden’s] of 4 guns, on the Wire road, supported by the Iowa troops with 2 guns 150 feetfurther up the road, to which Guibor’s battery re-sponded from the opposite ridge at a distance of 250yards. The other Confederate batteries with the infan-try arriving by the same road, took position further tothe left, and opened on the enemy’s right wing.”

Mr. Wilson says of the first Confederate line :

“ Some State Guard Cavalry under Bob McCullochand Congreve Jackson formed on the extreme left. Thenon their right came Bledsoe’s and Clark’s and McDonald’sbatteries, Rains ’s infantry, Wade’s battery, a regimentof infantry, and then Guibor’s battery. This filled outthe ridge. Little’s Confederate brigade was on the rightacross the tan-yard hollow. Within an hour the IowaBattery was obliged to withdraw. Soon after, Gates’sregiment of cavairy came up the hollow in front of theguns, and went lialf-way up the slope, dismounted, everyfourth man holding the horses, then formed and movedup the brow of the hill. At the same time, Little’s Con-federate brigade, which had by this time come into line,opened on the Iowa troops in their roar, with Gates intheir front. After a fierce contest of musketry, Little’sbrigade swuDg around and cut off part of the Federalline, the remainder retreating up to the tavern. Guibor’sbattery now moved around to the position which hadbeen held by the Iowa Battery. Guibor’s battery hadgone up with Little’s line and the fight was renewed onthe new line.”

He thus describes the Confederate advance :

“ The fire in front began to lull, and Slack’s brigadewith Rives’s and Burbridge’s regiments came up on aleft-wheel, with Rains on their left, across to the hollow,and the whole line charged up with a wild cheer. Cap-tain Guibor, who well understood how to fight artilleryin the brush, took all the canister he could lay his handson, and with two guns went up in the charge with theinfantry. General Rains ’s brigade on the left, led byColonel Walter Scott O’Kane, and Major Rainwater madea brilliant dash at the redoubt and battery which hadbeen throwing on them for an hour or more from itsposition in an old field. Eight guns were captured alongthe line. The Federal troops being dislodged from thewoods began forming in the fields and planted some new

batteries back of the knobs in tbe rear. And now thefight grew furious. Gorham’s battery could not hold itsposition, and fell back to its old place. Guibor plantedhis two guns directly in front of the tavern and openedat close quarters with grape and canister on the Federalline, in which great confusion was evident, as officerscould be seen trying to rally and re-form their men.

“The entire Confederate line was charging up to theElkhorn Tavern; Colonel Carr, the Federal cavalry com-mander, had withdrawn his command from the benchof the mountain on the Confederate right. The IllinoisBattery, at first planted in the horse-lot west of thetavern, had limbered to the rear and taken a new posi-tion in the fields. The Federal Mountain Howitzer Bat-tery had also moved away. The 3d Iowa Battery, whichhad poured such a hot fire down the road upon Guiborand Gorham, had by this time lost the use of two of itsguns, dismounted by the fire of Guibor’s battery, butcontinued to fight its two remaining guns until the Con-federate regiment of Colonel Clint Burbridge was uponthem; when, their horses being killed, that regimenttook them in, and at nightfall brought them down theroad. To the left on the Van Winkle road the [Confeder-ate] batteries of McDonald, Bledsoe, and Wade had beenengaged in a severe artillery duel in which the Federalbatteries held their own until the Confederate infantrygot within range, when they were forced back, leavingtwo guns captured by Rains ’s men led by the gallantO’Kane. The cavalry 011 the extreme left, under GeneralJohn B. Clark and Colonel Robert McCulloch, hadturned the Federal right wing, and the latter’s entireline was falling back to meet reenforcements hurryingto their assistance from Sugar Creek 011 their left rear.The Federals placed 18 or 20 guns to command thetavern. Guibor moved up with the Confederate line,or a little in advance, and formed in battery in the nar-row road in front of the tavern, losing several horses inthe movement. And now commenced a hot fight. Therapid fire of the twenty pieces of Federal artillery . . .commenced waving and blazing in his front, while thetwo guns were replying with grape and canister. Nowcame the crisis. A regiment of United States infantrymoved out of thetimber on the left front of the guns, aboutone hundred yards distant, with a small field intervening,the fences around it leveled to the ground. On Guibor’sright was the tavern, on his left a blacksmith’s shop,and in the lot some corn-cribs. Behind these buildings‘Rock’ Champion had placed his company of cavalryto protect their horses from thickly flying bullets. Rock’squick eye saw the bright bayonets as they were pushingthrough the brush, and, riding up, he yelled in his rough-and-ready style, ‘Guibor, they’re flankin’ you! ’ ‘I knowit, but I can’t spare a gun to turn on them,’ was the reply.There was no supporting infantry on his left. Said Rock,‘ I’ll charge them! ’ This meant to attack a full regimentof infantry advancing in line, 700 or 800 strong, with 22men. . . . Galloping back a few paces to his littleband, liis clear, ringing voice could be heard by friendand enemy. ‘Battalion, forward, trot, march, gallop,march, charge! ’ and with a wild yell in they went, theirgallant chief in the lead, closely followed by ‘ Sabre Jack ’Murphy, an old regular dragoon; Fitzsimmons, Coggins,O’Flaherty, Pomeroy, and the others. The last namedwere old British dragoons; three of them had ridden withthe heavy squadrons at Balaklava and all well knewwhat was in front of them. . . . Within thirty secondsthey were right in the midst of the surprised Federalinfantry, shouting, slashing, shooting. Corporal Caseycharged on foot. Guibor’s two guns were at the sametime turned left oblique and deluged the Federal leftwith canister. The result was precisely what Championhad foreseen, and proved his reckless courage was di-rected by good judgment. The attack was a clear sur-prise, the result a stampede; the infantry fired au aimless,scattering volley, then, expecting a legion of horsemento fall on them, fled in confusion. Champion did notfollow. Knowing when to stop as well as to commence,he secured their flag and quickly returned to the batterywhich he had saved, with a loss of only three of his gal-lant rough-riders.”]