any organized force of the enemy, had more marching and
endured more suffering than the great Armies I was connected with east of
the Mississippi, and its three days' fighting at Pea Ridge compared
favorably with any of our battles, when the numbers engaged are
considered.

Then again, at the end of the war, the sufferings of the troops that I
took onto the plains in the Indian campaigns in the winters of 1864-5,
1865-6, were far beyond any of the sufferings of any of our Armies during
the Civil War. Their exposures through the cold weather, and the
brutalities and butcheries of the Indians, which it was impossible for
them to avenge or retaliate, were beyond description.

Our early campaign in Missouri was without previous experience. It was
simply one soldier standing up against another in battle, and we had to
learn all the tricks of camp life, and from experience how to take care of
our soldiers.

There were a great many funny incidents in the Pea Ridge campaign. The
Southwestern Army was organized at Rolla, Missouri, of which post I was in
command. My quartermaster was Captain Philip H. Sheridan, and my
commissary, Captain M. P. Small. No one who knew or saw Sheridan then
thought of the great position he was to occupy in our Army, but when he
took hold of that Army and stripped it and fed it, three hundred miles
away from rail or water communication, we all knew that his was a
master-mind. When he came to me at Rolla, the first order he gave was to
take away about three-quarters of our transportation. I think we had about
two wagons to the company, and he brought us down to about four to a
regiment. You can all appreciate the rebellion I had on my hands when I
undertook to enforce his order. I know he stood by and watched to see what
I was going to do. Every Regiment and Command entered a protest, and said
some very unkind things of him, denouncing him as a regular officer who
had no mercy upon a volunteer; but I had then had experience enough to
appreciate our necessities, and started in by stripping my own Regiment,
and then enforcing the orders upon the others. We were not long on that
march before they appreciated the foresight of Sheridan. He had great
energy and great resources. He had to run all the mills along our line of
march; he had to forage in every direction, and the punishment that he
gave to some of the people to make them tell where their horses, forage
and sweet potatoes were hidden would astoni