hing Springfield, which
Division was about 5,000 strong, and was with Pope on the Lamine River
line. Curtis hesitated, and did not feel secure with the forces he had,
although Halleck did not believe Price would stand for a fight, or that
Curtis would need Jeff C. Davis's Division.

The Army of the Southwest, about seven thousand strong, was organized at
Rolla, and moved from there January 14th, towards Springfield, halting at
Lebanon. From Lebanon it moved on to Marshfield, where Colonel Jeff C.
Davis, with his Division, joined it. Great preparations were made there
for the attack upon Price, and we moved out of Marshfield prepared for
battle, General Siegel commanding the First and Second Divisions, one
under General Osterhaus and the other under General Asboth. General Jeff
C. Davis, from General Pope's Army, commanded the Third Division, and
Colonel Eugene A. Carr the Fourth Division, a Brigade of which I
commanded.

When within about three miles of Springfield we received orders to attack
that town the next morning, and moved at midnight. All the reports we
received were that Price was in Springfield ready for battle. I had the
extreme left, and put out my skirmishers soon after midnight, supposing,
of course, that I was in front of the enemy, although I had seen nothing
of them. In the darkness I lost track of the company of the Fourth Iowa,
who were the skirmishers of my Brigade, and was greatly worried at the
fact, but at daylight I met them on the road mounted upon horses and
dressed in all kinds of costumes. The officer in command, who was an
enterprising one, had started his skirmish-line, and, not meeting any
enemy, had pushed right into Springfield, which he found evacuated except
for a rear guard and a number of horses. They mounted the horses and rode
back to us. All this time our extreme right, under Siegel, was using its
artillery upon the town, not knowing that the enemy had gone.

General Curtis, in his order of battle, instructed Captain Sheridan to
line up his transportation in the rear of the line of battle, so that it
could be used as a defensive obstruction for the troops to fall back to,
provided they met any check or were driven back. Captain Sheridan looked
on this order as a very singular one, and says that he could, in his
imagination, if anything happened our army, see his transportation flying
over that rough country, knowing that his mule-drivers would be the first
to run, most likely f