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s. 166 There were very many in these regiments serving as privates and non-commissioned officers who afterwards made fine records as commanders of companies and regiments and became distinguished in civil life. Taken altogether, Lyon's army was an unusually fine body of fighting men. The Iowa and Kansas men were ardent, enthusiastic youths, accustomed to the use of the gun, and who hunted their enemies as they did the wild beasts they had to encounter. They were free from the superstition inculcated in the Eastern armies that the soldier's duty was to stand up in the open and be shot at. When it was necessary to stand up they stood up gallantly, but at other times they took advantage of every protection and lay behind any rock or trunk of tree in wait for the enemy to come within easy range, and then fired with fatal effect. The older Regulars trained to Indian fighting were equally effective, and speedily brought the mass of recruits associated with them into similar efficiency. Nowhere else at that early period of the war was the fire of the Union soldiers so deliberate and deadly as at Wilson's Creek. The Confederates had no pickets out--not even camp-guards. They had been marched and countermarched severely for days, and were resting preparatory to advancing that morning on Springfield. Many were at breakfast, many others starting out to get material for breakfast in the neighboring fields. Rains's Division was the most advanced, and Rains reports that he discovered the enemy when about three miles from camp, and that he put his Second Brigade--mounted men commanded by Col. Caw-thorn, of the 4th Mo.--into line to resist the advance. He says that the brigade maintained its position all day, which does not agree with the other accounts of the battle. 167 Before Gen. Lyon--a mile and a half away--rose the eminence, afterward known as "Bloody Hill," which overlooked the encampment of the Confederates along Wilson's Creek, and on which substantially all the fighting was to take place. From it the Confederate trains were in short reach, and the rout of the enemy could be secured. Its central position, however, made it easy to concentrate troops for its defense and bring up reinforcements. Capt. Plummer sent forward Capt. C. C. Gilbert, 1st U. S., with his company to guard the left of the advance, cross Wilson's Creek, and engage the right of the enemy. Capt. Gilbert was a soldier of fine reputation,
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