his force,
leading them on and sustaining them by his gallant bearing."

182

Gen. Price's report is more accurate and soldierlike, but he says that
after several "severe and bloody conflicts" had ensued, and the battle
had been conducted with the "greatest gallantry and vigor on both
sides for more than five hours, the enemy retreated in great confusion,
leaving their Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Lyon, dead upon the battlefield,
over 500 killed and a great number wounded." He claims that his forces
numbered 5,221 officers and men, of whom 156 were killed and 517
wounded. This would make the loss of his whole division of 5,000 men
673, or about the same lost by the 1st Mo. and the 1st Kan., with these
two regiments still maintaining their position, while the enemy retired.

It seems difficult to understand why, if the enemy "retreated in great
confusion," as reported by Mc-Culloch and Price, the several thousand
horsemen who did little or nothing during the battle were not let loose
to complete the ruin of the Union forces. No matter how poorly armed or
disciplined these might have been, their appearance on the flank of the
retiring column would have been fatal to any orderly retreat such as was
conducted. The universal testimony of the Union officers and soldiers is
that there was no enemy in sight when they started to leave the field,
and that they suffered no molestation whatever, though they halted two
miles from the field and in plain sight for some time.

It also passes comprehension that this horde of irregular horsemen
were not employed during the long hours of the battle in making some
diversion in the rear of the Union army.

Both Price and McCulloch seem to have had their attention so fully
engrossed in bringing up new regiments to keep Lyon from breaking thru
their lines and reaching their trains that they had no opportunity to
give orders or organize manuvers by the horsemen, and nobody seems to
have suggested to the mounted men that they could employ their time
better than by standing back and watching the progress of the terrible
conflict between the two opposing lines of infantry.

183

It appears that the Union officers in the council called by Gen. Sturgis
were not at all unanimous for retreat. Capt. Sweeny, altho severely
wounded, vehemently insisted upon pursuing the enemy, and Capt. Gordon
Granger, also severely wounded, rode up to Sturgis, pointed out that
there was not a man in sight and