An account of the battle of Wilson's Creek, or Oak Hills, fought between the Union troops, commanded by Gen. N. Lyon and the Southern, or Confederate troops, under command of Gens. McCulloch and Price, on Saturday, August 10, 1861, in Greene county, MissouriHolcombe, R. I. (Return Ira)
History
An account of the battle of Wilson's Creek, or Oak Hills, fought between the Union troops, commanded by Gen. N. Lyon and the Southern, or Confederate troops, under command of Gens. McCulloch and Price, on Saturday, August 10, 1861, in Greene county, Missouri
Holcombe, R. I. (Return Ira)
Missouri -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Campaigns; Wilson's Creek, Battle of, Mo., 1861
On the 3d of July Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, at the head of about 2,000
troops, left Boonville for the Southwest to co-operate with Sigel. On
the 25th of June five companies of cavalry, six companies of regular
infantry and dragoons, and ten companies of Kansas volunteers, in all
about 1,600 men, under command of Maj. S. D. Sturgis, left Kansas City,
destined also for Southwest Missouri. At Grand River, in Henry county,
the two commands formed a junction, and then started for Sigel. Hearing
of the latter’s defeat, and retreat to the eastward, Gen. Lyon changed
his direction more to the eastward and came into this county about the
13th of July, going into camp near Pond Spring, on section 31, township
29, range 23, in the western part of the county. Lyon came into the town
of Springfield July 13th, leaving, as he wrote to Chester Harding, his
troops, “a few miles back.”
Gen. Lyon was mounted on an iron-gray horse, and had an escort or
body-guard of ten men of the 1st regiment U. S. regular cavalry, all of
whom were men remarkable for their large size, strong physique, and fine
horsemanship. Lyon treated the citizens with courtesy and kindness,
although impressing their provisions and animals, to some extent, for
the use of his men. As soon as he arrived in this quarter he
communicated with Sigel, and with Gen. Fremont at St. Louis, asking the
latter to send him reinforcements at once. He also busied himself in
recruiting for the Federal service—issuing commissions to officers of
Home Guard companies, and mustering in enlisted men. Ho was visited by
Union men from counties north and east 75 miles away.
SWEENEY’S EXPEDITION TO FORSYTH.
Saturday, July 20, about 1,200 men were detailed under Gen. Sweeney to
break up a secession camp reported to be at Forsyth, the county seat of
Taney county. The command was composed of the two companies of regular
cavalry, under Capt. D. S. Stanley; a section of Capt. Totten’s battery,
in charge of Lt. Sokalski; about 500 men of the 1st Iowa Infantry, under
Lt. Col. Merritt; Capt. Wood’s company of mounted Kansas volunteers, and
the 2d Kansas Infantry, under Col. Mitchell. The expedition reached
Forsyth in the afternoon of Monday, captured the town with but little
difficulty, driving out about 200 State Guards, who had been quartered
in the court-house, and secured some blankets, clothing, guns,
provisions, horses and one or two prisoners. A quantity of lead was
taken from a well into which it had been thrown. Three shells were
thrown into the court-house after the Federals had possession of the
town.
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