ceived
documentary proof from Captains Sturgis, Schofield, and Totten, and a
number of other officers, in regard to his conduct on those occasions,
which destroyed all confidence in him. It was for that reason that I
telegraphed to you so often not to let Siegel separate from you. I
anticipated that he would try to play you a trick by being absent at
the critical moment. I wished to forewarn you of the snare, but I
could not then give you my reasons. I am glad you prevented his
project and saved your army. I cannot describe to you how much
uneasiness I felt for you. You saved your army and won a glorious
victory by refusing to take his advice.

Captain Kinsman, of Company B, Fourth Iowa, who was holding Pea Ridge, and
witnessed the battle from that point, and could look down upon Carr's
Division, described the battle in the rear as follows:

At 8:30 o'clock Colonel Dodge opened the ball, and the battle was soon
raging all along the line with a fierceness and obstinacy which omened
a terrific struggle. The weather was splendid, and the smoke instead
of hanging murkily among the trees, rose rapidly and rolled away over
the hills in dense sulphurous masses. The thunder of the artillery was
terrific, and the shot and shell hissed and screamed through the air
like flying devils, while the infantry of both armies, with their
rifles, shot-guns, and muskets, kept a perfect hurricane of death
howling through the woods. The rebels fought well, but generally fired
too high, and their batteries, although getting our range accurately,
missed the elevation much of the time. Their poor shooting was our
salvation. Had they done as well as our men, with the tremendous odds
against us, they must have annihilated us. The enemy were clear around
our right flank, enveloping us, and it looked as though they would
capture Dodge's Brigade, when Colonel Dodge took a battalion of
Colonel Carr's regiment, the Third Illinois cavalry, and charged the
forces that were turning our right flank like a whirlwind. Everything
gave way before them. Every man in that battalion seemed to ride for
his life, and they swept way around our front, routing and
demoralizing that flank of the enemy, and effectually freeing our rear
and flank. Price told some of our boys of the Fourth Iowa who were
captured on the day of the fight and have s