Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-08-16
The Battle Of springfield.
FULL AND INTERESTING Ac-
COUNT By AN OFFICER.
Gen. Seigel's Progress Toward
Rolla.
THE ENEMY BADLY CUT UP.

Especial Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune
ST. Louis, Aug. l4-2 P. ii.
The following Is an account OF the battle
near Springfield by Capt. Fairehud, of the
Let Kansas regiment who has arrived al
ROlla;
We had been diminishing in view TO mud
the enemy, when on Thursday nigaL II was
reported by party of our cavalry that MS
ou,posts were four miles southwest Of Spring
field. The lst and "a Kansas Regiments,
two companies of cavalry and two or three
companies of Regulars, were ordered oat 10
sngsge him II possible. When they came |
within attacking distance they formed line
of battle, but the enemy withdrew.
Next day at P. NJ, we received orders TO
take one days ratiOns and prepare for march
About O'Clock in the same evening a great
sr part of us, under General Lyon, lei'
Springfield, while Siegel remained behind as
q reserve. Siegel had about / 800 men un-
der him. We marched seven miles In the
direction of the enemy, and then rested tor
several hours. At 6 o'clock Saturday morn
ing. we resumed our march, and after having
proceeded threO miles further, came upon the
enemy, who were encamped on a piece OF
ground admirably adapted to their species OF
warfare, covered at intervals with brushWood
and eornfeld, and covering many ravines Tor
cencealment. AS soon as General Lyon
came within sight of the COnfederates, he
opened cannonads on them. 1t was
promptly and ably answered, and the battle
now fairly commenced, aud in short time
became general along the whole line. A
little before eight clock, Gen. Lyon was
wounded BY a shot in the foot, and his horse
killed, and he retired to the rear for surgical
treatment
It 90 happened that our troops were hard
pressed by the Oenfederates just at this time
Things began to assume threatening as
pect, and Gen. Lyon seeing the danger, at
once dismissed all thoughts of his wound,
mounted his horse and rode in front of his
men. and waving his hat and hankerchief
called out to the boys to rally and follow
him. A ball struck him in the back and
killed him instantly. The effect OF Lyon 5
death upon our troops was terrible. feel
ing of CONSERVATION spread through our
ranks and depicted itself in every counte-
nance. At that moment had the enemy
made charge, our troops would have hard
/ " resisted 1t with success, and their defeat
might have been easy; but soon every other
! feeling gave way to a feeling of revenge and
/ deadly determination. Major Sturgis prompt
Iy assduned theicomman, and from that
] time until o'clock in the afternoon, the
combat lasted almost uninterruptedly, and
was conducted with a ierceness on both
sides rarely eqnalled in the annals OF war. =
Our troops would have achieved a splendid
victory, had il not been Tor the fearful odds
they had to contend against On the side oi
the ConfedeFates, 10000 to $4,000 were iH
the fight, and to these, up to O'Clock 2. NJ.
body OF only 5000 was opposed An
unfortunate circumstance for our troops was
that, during the gre Ater part of the battle
they came so near the Confederates, that the
oI shot guns and 9th er Indifferent weapons
If the latter could be- used with the same
deadly effect as Mimic muskets. The ground
too, was ofthe enemy,I own choice, and our
troops went into battle not knowing how iar
the line of the enemy extended, or where
his forces were.
At about o'clock P. n, General Siege
having heard cannopadi ng, came up with th'
reserve from Springfield. he immedistel
attacked the enemy on Iais right flank, snC
did terrible execution. The rest of our troop
seeing that Siegel brought them succor, raj
lied and made one more stermined onset OF
the enemy; but such was the Overwhelming
odds against which they Taught that the en-
counter amounted to nothing more than
mutual cprting up; and BY 4 o'clock all par
ties seeYied to be enXio0s to withdraw iron
the fissd. The o. s. troops retired to Spring
fe)i in good order, and the call OF the rol
~ regiments was responded TO as usual
At4 o'clock on Sunday morning, Genera
Siegel, having concluded that It would mo-
be prudent 70 resume the battle, the Wnoi'
column of troops, followed By large number
of citizens, with all they could gather up II
the shape Of movable goods, commenced
retreat from Springfield, in the direction o
Rolla.
T The Confederates were thrown back in th'
beginning Of the engagement, and In retreat
ing burned part of their baggage wagons an'
tents.
The prisoners brought into Springfield
+ state that the Confederates lost great man!
, in killed and wounded. One Oftheir comps
MES was nearly entirely cut to pitces.
The Louisiana and Arkansas regiment
; had sustained the heaviest losses. Thei
5 number Of killed was estimated at from 5O'
: to 1000. ~
It il reported that Ben MoCullOch wa
killed.
8 Over one hundred prisoners and lsrE
!. number Of horses were taken from tn
a rebels -ll,. :,
According to the muster rolls which fel
into our hands, the Confederate force mum
e bsred 1000 armed men, aud 5000 PARTIAL.
: armed. Their artillery took but little eteci
. az nearly all the shots were aimed too high
and proved destructive only to artiler
J horses on our side. E.
] The number of wounded on the Federa
a side was somewhere near 300, Of which on
= Of the Kansas regiments, the Ist Missoul
and the Iowa regiment sustained the lafges
share. The Kansas regiment was cut q
most. The highest estimate made by ou
ofloe.s of the number Of our killed was %
n A prisoner in our hands IA nephew Of Ger
/ Price, said that Price was killed. =
The Confederates on several occasion
hoisted Union Tags to delude our troops an
decoy them into false positions. Our troop
we're thus several times the object Of q mos
n murderous FIRE from the enemy.
1 4 -. =