Tuttle captured Peyton's sword and still has it in his possession. This sword has a historic record. It was presented to Bailie Peyton by the citizens of New Orleans at the outbreak of the Mexican war, and was carried by Col. Peyton during the entire war. Col. Peyton was on Gen. Scott's staff at the close of the war, and when Santa Anna surrendered the City of Mexico to Gen. Scott, Col. Peyton was the staff officer designated by Scott to receive the surrender of the city, carrying this sword by his side. It bears this inscription: "Presented to Col. Bailie Peyton, Fifth Regiment Louisiana Volunteer National Guards, by his friends of New Orleans. His country required his services. His deeds will add glory to her arms." There has been considerable correspondence between the government and state, officials and the descendants of Col. Peyton relative to returning this trophy to Col. Peyton's relatives, but so far no arrangements to that effect have been concluded. It was reported by Tennesseeans at the time of the battle that young Peyton was what was known as a "hoop-skirt" convert to the Confederate cause. Southern ladies were decidedly more pronounced secessionists than were the sterner sex, and whenever they discovered that one of their chivalric brethren was a little lukewarm toward the cause of the South they sent him a hoop skirt, which indicated that the recipient was lacking in bravery. For telling of his loyalty to the Union he was insulted and hissed at on the streets of Nashville, and when he received a hoop skirt from his lady friends he reluctantly concluded to take up arms against the country he loved so well. He paid the penalty of foolhardy recklessness in the first battle in which he participated. A correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, who was an eye-witness of the battle, gave a glowing description of the heroic conduct of the Second Minnesota during the engagement. He said: "The success of the battle was when the Second Minnesota and the Ninth Ohio appeared in good order sweeping through the field. The Second Minnesota, from its position in the column, was almost in the center of the fight, and in the heaviest of the enemy's fire. They were the first troops that used the bayonet, and the style with which they went into the fight is the theme of enthusiastic comment throughout the army." It was the boast of Confederate leaders at the outbreak of the rebellion that one regiment of Johnnies was equal to two or more regiments of Yankees. After the battle of Mill Springs they had occasion to revise their ideas regarding the fighting qualities of the detested Yankees. From official reports of both sides, gathered after the engagement was over, it was shown that the Confederate forces outnumbered their Northern adversaries nearly three to one.