that the fire could be seen from where
the retreating foe was burning his wagons, and he urged the pursuit so
vigorously that Sturgis had to repeat his order for him to leave the
field.

Col. Sigel, in his report made at Rolla eight days after the battle,
made a long and labored explanation of his operations during the day. He
thus explained his failure to do more:

In order to understand clearly our actions and our fate, you
will allow me to state the following facts:

1st. According to orders, it was the duty of this brigade to
attack the enemy in the rear and to cut off his retreat,
which order I tried to execute, whatever the consequences
might be.

2d. The time of service of the 6th Regiment Mo. Volunteers
had expired before the battle. I had induced them, company
by company, not to leave us in the most critical and
dangerous moment, and had engaged them for the time of eight
days, this term ending on Friday, the 9th, the day before
the battle.

3d. The 3d Regiment, of which 400 three-months men had been
dismissed, was composed for the greatest part of recruits,
who had not seen the enemy before and were only
insufficiently drilled.

4th. The men serving the pieces and the drivers consisted of
infantry taken from the 3d Regiment and were mostly
recruits, who had had only a few days' instruction.

5th. About two-thirds of our officers had left us. Some
companies had no officers at all; a great pity, but a
consequence of the system of the three months' service.

Later, when Gen. Sigel was seeking promotion, Maj. Schofield, then a
Brigadier-General, sent the following communication to Gen. Halleck:

184

St Louis, Mo.. Feb. 18, 1862. Maj.-Gen. Halleck,
Commanding Department of the Missouri.

General: The question of the merits of Brig.-Gen. Franz
Slgel as a commander having assumed such shape as to deeply
involve the interests of the service, I deem it my duty to
make a statement of facts which came to my knowledge during
the campaign of last Summer in the Southwest, ending in the
death of Gen. Lyon and the retreat of his army from
Springfield.

Soon after the capture of Camp Jackson, in May, Gen. Lyon
sent Col. Slgel, with his two regiments of infantry and two
batteries of artillery, to the southwestern part of the
St