ame together some two or three miles north of
a country hostelry known as Elkhorn Tavern on the main road to
Springfield, at the northeastern end of Pea Ridge.

[Illustration: 316-Battle of Pea Ridge]

At 2 p. m., March 4, Gen. Curtis was at Gross Hollow with Col. Carr's
Fourth Division. The extreme left of his army was Col. Wm. Vandever,
of the 9th Iowa, at War Eagle Mills, near White River, 42 miles to the
southeast. The extreme right--the First and Second Divisions, under Gen.
Franz Sigel--was at Cooper's Farm, four miles in front of Bentonville
and 14 miles to the southwest of Sugar Creek. The Third Division, under
Col. Jefferson C. Davis, had moved back to the line selected in rear of
Sugar Creek, where Col. Bussey with his regiment was in camp.

By 2 o'clock scouts and fugitives had convinced Gen. Curtis that Van
Dorn had concentrated his forces, and was in rapid march upon him, only
a few miles away. He sent orders by swift riders to all his outlying
parties to march at once to the designated rendezvous at Sugar Creek,
and started back himself with Carr's Division, arriving on the crest
about 2 a. m. of March 5, and immediately setting his men to work
preparing for the battle. Col. Dodge worked until midnight blockading
with fallen trees the road from Bentonville to Springfield west of
Leetown.

317

In spite of their wide dispersion, Gen. Van Dorn brought McCulloch's,
Pike's and Price's forces together with great rapidity. How many
fighting men he was able to assemble is a question. Gen. Curtis gravely
estimated it at 30,000. Gen. Van Dorn in his reports after the battle,
when he was putting the best face upon matters, stated his force at one
time at 16,000 men, and again at "less than 14,000."

Probably if we follow an old arithmetical device, adding Curtis's
overstatement and Van Dom's understatement together and dividing the sum
by two--the number of statements--we may get somewhat near the truth.
This would give Van Dorn 22,000 men. Students since the war have arrived
at the conclusion that he actually had 26,000 men.

Analysis of the various reports points to this being nearly correct.

Feb. 24--nine days before the battle--Van Dorn reported to Albert Sidney
Johnston that with the combined forces of McCulloch, Pike and Price, he
would "be able to take about 26,000 men into battle."

The best organized and drilled troops west of the Mississippi were
McCulloch's. March 2 he reported his "effective