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,