As evidence of this I will mention here the fact of the enemy being allowed to leave his position, six miles distant from us, 20 hours before we knew it; thus causing us to make a night march to surprise the enemy, who was at that time entirely out of our reach. A day or two previous to this march the Generals of the Missouri forces, by common consent on their part and unasked on mine, tendered me the command of their troops, which I at first declined, saying to them it was done to throw the responsibility of ordering a retreat upon me if one had to be ordered for the want of supplies, their breadstuffs giving out about this time; and, in truth, we would have been in a starving condition had it not been for the young corn, which was just in condition to be used. * * * The battle over, it was ascertained that the camp followers, whose presence I had so strongly objected to, had robbed our dead and wounded on the battlefield of their arms, and at the same time had taken those left by the enemy. I tried to recover the arms thus lost by my men, and also a portion of those taken from the enemy, but in vain. Gen. Pearce made an effort to get back those muskets loaned to Gen. Price before we entered Missouri the first time. I was informed he recovered only 10 out of 615. I then asked that the battery be given me, which was one taken by the Louisiana regiment at the point of the bayonet. The guns were turned over by the order of Gen. Price, minus the horses and most of the harness. I would not have demanded these guns had Gen. Price done the Louisiana regiment justice in his official report The language used by him was calculated to make the impression that the battery was captured by his men Instead of that regiment * * * McCulloch was a voluminous writer, both to the Confederate War Department and to personal and official friends, and few of these communications are without some complaint about the Missouri troops. Everything that he had failed to do was due to their inefficiency, their lack of soldierly perceptions, and conduct. They would give him no information, would not scout nor reconnoiter, and he was continually left in the dark as to the movements of the enemy. When they were attacked he claimed that they would run away in a shameful manner. His dislike of Gen. Rains seemed to grow more bitter continually. [Illustration: 195-General Samuel R. J. Curtis] 193