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Battle of Pea Ridge
Harper's Weekly - Journal of Civilization

The Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas -

The Final Advance of Our Troops, March 8, 1862

The following is transcribed from Harper's Weekly: Journal of Civilization, dated March 29, 1862:

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          (We devote this article to the above illustration) of the great battle won by General Curtis at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, on the 6th, 7th and 8th March. The official report of General Curtis is as follows:

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​Headquarters, Army of the Southwest,

Pea Ridge, Arkansas, March 9, 1862

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          General, -- On Thursday, the 6th inst., the enemy commenced an attack on my right wing, assailing and following the rear-guard of a detachment under General Siegel to my main lines on Sugar Creek Hollow, but ceased firing when he met my reinforcements about four p.m.

          During the night I became convinced that he had moved on so as to attack my right or rear, therefore early on the 7th I ordered a changed of front to the right, my right, which thus became my left, still resting on Sugar Creek Hollow. This brought my line across pea Ridge, with my new right resting on Head Cross Timber Hollow, which is the head of Big Sugar Creek. I also order an immediate advance  of the cavalry and light artillery, under Colonel Osterhaus, with orders to attack and break what I supposed would be the reinforced line of the enemy. This movement was in progress when the enemy, at eleven a.m., commenced at attack on my right. The fight continued mainly at these points during the day, the enemy having gained the point held by the command of Colonel Carr, at Cross Timber Hollow, but was entirely repulsed, with the fall of the commander, McCulloeh, in the centre, by the forces under Colonel Davis. The plan of attack on the centre was gallantly carried forward by Colonel Osterhaus, who was immediately, sustained and supported by Colonel Davis's entire division supported also by General Siegel's command, which had remained till near the close of the day on the left. Colonel Carr's division held the right under a galling, continuous fire all day. 

          In  the evening firing having entirely ceased in the centre, and the right being now on the left, I reinforced the right by a portion of the Second Division, under General Asboth. Before the day closed I was convinced that the enemy had concentrated his main force on the right. I commenced another change of the front forward, so as to face the enemy where he had deployed on my right flank in a strong position. The change had only been partially effected, but was in full progress when, at sunrise on the 8th, my right and centre renewed the firing, which was immediately answered by the enemy with renewed energy along the whole extent of his line. My left, under General Siegel, moved close to the hills occupied by the enemy, driving him from the heights, and advancing steadily toward the the head of the hallows. I immediately ordered the centre and right wing forward, the right turning the left of the enemy, and cross-firing on his centre. This final position of the enemy was in the arc of a circle. A charge of infantry, extending throughout the whole line, completely routed the whole rebel force, which retired in the great confusion, but rather safely, through the deep, impassable defile of cross-timber.

          Our loss is heavy. The enemy's can never be ascertained, for their dead are scattered over a large field. Their wounded, too, may many of them be lost and perish. The force is scattered in all directions, but I think his main force has returned to Boston Mountains.

          General Siegel follows him toward Keithsville, while my cavalry is pursuing him toward the mountains, scouring the country, bringing in prisoners, and trying to find the rebel Major-General Van Dorn, who had command of the entire force at this, the battle of Pea Ridge.

          I have not as yet statements of the dead and wounded, so as to justify a report, but I will refer you to a dispatch which I will forward very soon. 

          Officers and soldiers have displayed such unusual gallantry that I hardly dare to make distinction. I must, however, name the commanders of division. General Siegel gallantly commanded the right, and drove back the left wing of the enemy; General Asbeth, who is wounded in the arm, in his gallant effort to reinforce the right; Colonel and Acting Brigadier-General Davis, who commanded the cnetre, where McCulloch fell on the 7th, and pressed forward the cntre on the 8th. Colonel and Acting Brigadier-General Carr is also wounded in the arm, and was under continuous fire of the enemy during the two hardest days of the struggle.

          Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohioi and Missouri may proudly share the honor of victory which their gallant heroes won over the combined forces of Van Dorn, Price, and McCulloch at Pea Ridge, in the mountains of Arkansas.

          The rebels, it is said, had thirty-five thousand men in the field, among whom were twenty-two hundred Indians, under Albert Pike. The rebels acknowledge a loss of eleven hundred killed, and nearly three thousand wounded. Our loss was six hundred killed and from eight hundred to one thousand wounded. We took sixteen hundred prisoners and thirteen pieces of cannon.

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