one of the brigades of the Second Division from the right to the support of the centre. The Thirty-seventh Illinois and Twenty-sixth Indiana were moved to the front, and across the road to the centre of the field. At the same time, three pieces of Battery F were moved forward — and the Twentieth Iowa in support of it to the centre of the prairie on the right of the road. On the left, the Rebel infantry began to move down the hill, when the Thirty-seventh Illinois and Twenty-sixth Indiana were ordered to charge them, which they did, Colonel Huston leading them. General Herron reported that "it was a repetition of the first charge. The same battery was captured, the enemy again driven back, and we in turn compelled to abandon the position by force of numbers." In this charge Lieutenant-Colonel Black, of the Thirty-seventh Illinois, was wounded in the left arm.

On the slope of the ridge to the right of the road occupied by the Rebels, the woods had been cleared off and an orchard raised. When the Twentieth Iowa reached the middle of the prairie, a force of infantry was seen coming down through that orchard. The regiment was moved to the right in front of the orchard, and hurried forward under fire to the fence at the foot of the hill. The enemy fell back under the fire we gave them, to the top of the hill. At this time, a heavy force was discovered coming down the valley on our extreme right. The regiment was ordered back to the middle of the field, and changed front towards it. An officer came riding rapidly forward and announced the arrival of the advance of Blunt's division. He had heard our firing, and — at once discovering that the enemy had passed him, and had engaged our divisions moved with his division to our aid. A battery, with a regiment of Indians, rapidly took position upon the right of the Twentieth Iowa. This was at half-past three o'clock in the afternoon. The Twentieth Iowa and the Indian regiments were at once sent forward up the hill, through the orchard, to the top; but

finding the enemy in full force moving down upon us, we fell back fighting to the fence at the foot of the hill, from which we continued firing, the Rebels swarming through the orchard after us. As soon as we were under the fence, Murphy's and Blunt's batteries shelled the orchard, and soon cleared it, and we fell back out of range to a fence, and formed line fronting the orchard. No further movement was made by the Rebels in front of the Second and Third Divisions, and our infantry remained quiet. Our sixteen pieces of artillery kept up an incessant shower of shells into the woods until dark. General Blunt's forces came up rapidly on our right, and at once entered into engagement, and we could hear the roll of their volleys until night closed the scene. He had engaged the First Indiana, the Second, Tenth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Kansas regiments of infantry, and possibly another. The Eleventh Kansas was commanded by Colonel Thomas Ewing, Jr., who left the chief-justiceship of the Supreme Court of that State to take the field.

seen no statement of The enemy's loss was This battle decided the

We lay under arms all night on the field, and in the morning learned that the enemy had fled into the mountains, leaving us in possession of the battlefield of Prairie Grove. The ground was such that the cavalry took no part in the engagement. The loss of the Second and Third Divisions was nine hundred and fifty-three killed, wounded, and missing; I have the loss in the First Division. stated to be about four to our one. fate of northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri, no further attempt being made to recover that territory during the war. We have always felt that the march and battle were unparalleled in their severity upon infantry. The march to the battle-field, from the morning of December 4, was one hundred miles; the last fifty-three and a half miles was made from the morning of the 6th to noon of the 7th, our troops marching all night, the last nine miles being made in two hours. From one o'clock

till dark of the same day, the troops engaged in battle, and slept on their arms all that cold night without shelter.

We buried the Rebel dead, cared for their wounded, and camped upon the ridge occupied by the Rebel army during the fight. On December 27, we started with five days' rations across the Boston Mountains, to capture Van Buren, Arkansas; the distance was forty-five miles; all our trains and camp were left behind in charge of about three hundred sick men. We marched that day and half the night till one o'clock in the morning. It was wretched work crossing the mountains in the dark. On the afternoon of the next day we reached Van Buren, scattered a small Rebel force, captured one hundred prisoners, and took and destroyed some camp equipage and three steamboats. We started back on the evening of the 29th, and at noon of the 31st were again in camp, having finished the active work of the Army of the Frontier. On the 29th, General Schofield overtook us near Van Buren, and resumed command of the army. General Curtis telegraphed to General Halleck, on December 29, that "the march of forty-five miles, with arms and service, over the mountains and through the deep mud of the valley, was a most hazardous and gallant affair." From this time, we slowly moved across the State of Missouri to Rolla, thence to St. Louis and to Pilot Knob.

On May 13, 1863, General Schofield was assigned to the command of the Department of Missouri, and on the 3d of June following, he sent the six regiments of infantry to take part in the siege of Vicksburg; and the Army of the Frontier ceased to be.

THE ARMY OF THE SOUTHWEST AND THE

BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE.

AT

BY EDWARD A. BLODGETT.

[Read December 10, 1891.]

T the outbreak of the war there was practically no concert of action regarding Federal supervision of the organization of the Union forces. In the loyal States volunteers gathered for the protection of the principal cities, and the militia was drilled and strengthened; but aside from some interchange of troops among neighboring States, there was really no concerted plan of operations. In the border States, where the war was sure to be fought, this want of Federal direction involved the greatest peril. The possession of those salient points where many a contest was afterwards lost or won, was left to those who could first control public opinion and put a force in the field.

This state of affairs was particularly true of the great Western Department, of which St. Louis was the headquarters. Missouri is the pathway of the West. She commands the navigation of the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland; and control of these waterways was of vital importance to the North. In this State the newly-elected Governor and the Legislature were actively supporting the South. Basil W. Duke and D. M. Frost were drilling Southern sympathizers in the streets of St. Louis, and throughout the State the Secessionists were preparing to take Missouri out of the Union. Opposed to them - hopelessly and alone, it seemed at first were Francis P. Blair and Captain Nathaniel Lyon; and to the statesmanship of the one, and the generalship of the other, the salvation of