The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-11
rnr BAr1rE OF Wrrsox,s GREEK
FARTHER Larht rroua = r1anuscript Account ~
Gen. aweeny.

hoFNANE AnhAN W = hAhHuacEbht account u
Gen. sweeny.
To THE EDITOR OF THE suN-Sir: In your
excellent review of Gen. Schofcld's "Forty.six
Years In the Army In your issue OF Dec. 5. you
quote the General as saying, in reference to the
battle Of Wilson's Creek, on Aug. 10, 1861:
There Is probably noroom for doubt that the enemy
was beaten, II he had but known II, The error vas a
failure to estimate the effect that must have been
produced upon che enemy. az we'll a. upon ourselves,
by so much hard fighting. 1t was only necessary TO
hold our ground, trusting TO the pluck and endurance
Of our men. and the victory would have been ours.
1t Is, I believe. not generally known that tho
late Gen. Thomas w. Sweeny. u. s. A.. took tho
Same view as does Gen. Schofcld In regard to
that important battle. Gen. Sweeny. it will BIO
remembered. was the officer who prevailed upon
Gen. Lyon to fight, when the latter had deter.
mined to retreat. Sec Peckham's Lyon and
Missouri in 1861" mp. 326-7. and Woodward's
"Life Of Lyon" PIP. 1884.
From q manuscript account OF events prior
and subsequent to the battle OF Wilson's Creek,
which manuscript is in my possession, and
10 dated March l, 1884," dictated and signed
by Gen. Sweeny, he says:
About tho LIST of August, 1901, we moved out on
the Fayetteville road. and struck the advance guard
Of ths enemy sogys at ,Rss s sRrin T. vi; whep S,s AFTER ". a nu saasg
him to Mccuila's Store, twenty.six miles from
shP arnss, 4 o whssiii or or M 1hS m mS'n hsSd % vi ts' d ssG Cd
upon returning 70 Springfield. The enemy followed
" wilson,, 1: N: t el.s SsG snd H 6Sm sS.a "a t 3 sssGns position on
On the nh Cen, Lyon. after holding a council Of
g retreat; Everything was ready and only waiting
for the order to move. when went to hesdquarters
and had along conversation with Lyon. during which,
in a. forciblo LANGUAGE as I GOULD command. pointed
ifeSs; ana begged him to hold on Tor a little while
After giving various reasons why, in his opin-
Ion, they should stand their ground and give the
enemy battle. Gen, Sweeny continued:
In reply to . question as to what plan I would
adopt, I told him / would walt patiently until the
enemy got within easy distance. when l would march
chances were greatly in favor Of The attacking party.
He thought we would be annihilated II we failed.
I told him that did not think so. that our little army
demoralized. and even II we were defeated. we would
be in q better condition to retreat than we would II
we failed to deliver a battle. He decided to fight.
After q description Of the battle Of Wilson's
Greek, the account concludes:
The fight lasted two hours after Lyons death. when
the enemy entirely disappeared from the field. Ma
tor sturgts. however. having assumed command after
tanned in my opinion by other oricers that the enemy
had abandoned the field. still Sturgis persisted In fall.
ing back on Springfield. 1 begged him not TO think vi
in our possession. and all we had to do was simply to
remain where we were.
II was satisfied" Gen. Sweeny states, THAT
the enemy was out OF ammunition, as numbers
Of our men were supplied. by my direction. with
ammunition from the cartridge boxes OF the
dead and wounded on the field. and I knew we
were ms well provided with ammunition as they
were when the fight commenced,
still Sturgis insisted on retreating. under
the impression that the enemy had not yet
brought his reserves into action. 49,
Thus we threw away one Of the most splendid
victories ever achieved W On ms SoRMtipss nEr,
ASTORIA, Dec. 9.