orced, the whole being under the command of General Van
Dorn. Their strength was upward of twenty thousand men, and they were
confident of their ability to overpower us. Knowing our strong front
line, General Van Dorn decided upon a bold movement, and threw himself
around our right flank to a position between us and our base at
Springfield.

In moving to our right and rear, the Rebels encountered General
Sigel's Division before it had left Bentonville, and kept up a running
fight during the afternoon of the 6th. Several times the Rebels, in
small force, secured positions in Sigel's front, but that officer
succeeded in cutting his way through and reaching the main force, with
a loss of less than a hundred men.

The position of the enemy at Bentonville showed us his intentions,
and we made our best preparations to oppose him. Our first step was
to obstruct the road from Bentonville to our rear, so as to retard
the enemy's movements. Colonel Dodge, of the Fourth Iowa (afterward
a major-general), rose from a sick-bed to perform this work. The
impediments which he placed in the way of the Rebels prevented their
reaching the road in our rear until nine o'clock on the morning of the
7th.

Our next movement was to reverse our position. We had been facing
south--it was now necessary to face to the north. The line that had
been our rear became our front. A change of front implied that our
artillery train should take the place of the supply train, and _vice
versa_. "Elkhorn Tavern" had been the quartermaster's depot. We made
all haste to substitute artillery for baggage-wagons, and boxes of
ammunition for boxes of hard bread. This transfer was not accomplished
before the battle began, and as our troops were pressed steadily back
on our new front, Elkhorn Tavern fell into the hands of the Rebels.

The sugar, salt, and bread which they captured, happily not of large
quantity, were very acceptable, and speedily disappeared. Among the
quartermaster's stores was a wagon-load of desiccated vegetables, a
very valuable article for an army in the field. All expected it would
be made into soup and eaten by the Rebels. What was our astonishment
to find, two days later, that they had opened and examined a single
case, and, after scattering its contents on the ground, left the
balance undisturbed!

Elkhorn Tavern was designated by a pair of elk-horns, which occupied a
conspicuous position above the door. After the battle these horns were