er of General Dodge.]

At Pea Ridge we were surrounded by Van Dorn, who placed Price's two
Divisions in our rear, and he himself on our right flank with McCullough
and McIntosh's Divisions. The great Pea Ridge divided his Army, so it was
impossible for one part to support the other. His Army was twice as large
as that of Curtis, and the fact that it was divided enabled Curtis to whip
his Army in detail, so that Van Dorn's Army was virtually whipped before
Curtis got his entire force into the field, Siegel only coming into battle
after Van Dorn's Arkansas force had left for the South, Jeff C. Davis's
Division having killed its two Division commanders, and Van Dorn had given
Price orders to get out the best way he could, which forced him to retreat
to the east towards White River.

After the Pea Ridge campaign the Battle of Prairie Grove was fought, under
the command of General F. C. Herring, who was Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Ninth Iowa Infantry in the Battle of Pea Ridge. As it was not in my
command I have no knowledge of the detail of it; but from the reports it
evidently was a sharp fight.

In the spring of 1865 Jeff C. Thompson and his command surrendered to me
on the Arkansas line. His command consisted of six thousand men, but he
found he could not gather them, and claimed that not half of his command
was present. When I asked him how it was possible to get them all
together, he suggested that I should send them rations. I therefore loaded
two steamers from St. Louis, and sent them around by the White River, and
Thompson issued his celebrated order bringing the men all in, and there
was gathered about twice the number he had present when he surrendered to
my forces. When asked for his transportation he said that he would show it
to me, and out of the rivers and bayous he run down about one hundred
canoes and flats, as the transportation he had to move his army with. It
was at this time that he made that celebrated speech. When his soldiers
came in without bringing their guns, as he had instructed them to do,
bringing along old shot-guns and muskets that were of no use, he said if
they were not satisfied with the generosity of this Government they should
emigrate to Mexico, and he denounced more than half of them as being
soldiers whom he had never seen, stating that they had stayed in the brush
and along the river-banks in Arkansas until the moss had grown upon their
heads and backs. From this speech of his came