fore the fire should reach them. At that time we thought we had
succeeded. Late in the afternoon I found several wounded men lying in
secluded places, where they had been terribly burned, though they were
still alive. Very few of them survived.

Our loss in this battle was a tenth of our whole force. The enemy lost
more than we in numbers, though less in proportion to his strength.
His position, directly in our rear, would have been fatal to a
defeated army in many other localities. There were numerous small
roads, intersecting the great road at right angles. On these roads the
Rebels made their lines of retreat. Had we sent cavalry in pursuit,
the Rebels would have lost heavily in artillery and in their supply
train. As it was, they escaped without material loss, but they
suffered a defeat which ultimately resulted in our possession of all
Northern Arkansas.

The Rebels retreated across the Boston Mountains to Van Buren and Fort
Smith, and were soon ordered thence to join Beauregard at Corinth.
Our army moved to Keytsville, Missouri, several miles north of the
battle-ground, where the country was better adapted to foraging, and
more favorable to recuperating from the effects of the conflict.

From Keytsville it moved to Forsyth, a small town in Taney County,
Missouri, fifty miles from Springfield. Extending over a considerable
area, the army consumed whatever could be found in the vicinity. It
gave much annoyance to the Rebels by destroying the saltpeter works on
the upper portion of White River.

The saltpeter manufactories along the banks of this stream were of
great importance to the Rebels in the Southwest, and their destruction
seriously reduced the supplies of gunpowder in the armies of Arkansas
and Louisiana. Large quantities of the crude material were shipped
to Memphis and other points, in the early days of the war. At certain
seasons White River is navigable to Forsyth. The Rebels made every
possible use of their opportunities, as long as the stream remained in
their possession.

Half sick in consequence of the hardships of the campaign, and
satisfied there would be no more fighting of importance during the
summer, I determined to go back to civilization. I returned to
St. Louis by way of Springfield and Rolla. A wounded officer,
Lieutenant-Colonel Herron (who afterward wore the stars of a
major-general), was my traveling companion. Six days of weary toil
over rough and muddy roads brought us to the rai