of War, will show the temper which pervaded all his
correspondence, and was probably still more manifest in his personal
relations with the Missourians:

It was at this point that I first saw the total inefficiency
of the Missouri mounted men under Brig.-Gen. Rains. A
thousand, more or less, of them composed the advance guard,
and whilst reconnoiterlng the enemy's position, some eight
miles distant from our camp, were put to flight by a single
cannon-shot, running in the greatest confusion, without the
loss of a single man except one who died of overheat or
sunstroke, and bringing no reliable information as to the
position or fore of the enemy; nor were they of the
slightest service as scouts or spies afterwards.

192

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 thes