Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-11-23

the wide difference between the
published so-called facts that
caused my reply to j. E. MS
article taken from the Frederick
town paper.
Col. Murphy starts out by quot
ing Gen. Prices official report of
entering the State, showing that
Gen. Price had three divisions,
made Of nine brigades. He says
Sin this army were 33 regiments of
more than 500 men to the regi-
ment, and 10 batalions. His bat
talon strength shows to have been
nearly 300 men; this would make
2100 men in Prices army, which
more probably contained 10000
men," Here you see that Col.
Murphy denies Gen. Prices report
and quotes myself as authority,
from the fact that I stated in my
article that when he went out of
the State into Kansas he issued
rations for $4,000 men. 1t is not
necessary to further discuss Gen.
Prices intention for entering the
State. We will confne ourselves
to the facts of the battle of Pilot
Knob.
Col. Murphy says my statement
in regard to the killed and wound
ed sis most astounding asser-
tion," and that he would quote
some Confederate authority on the
subject: GA Confederate from the
ranks who participated in the bat
tie of Pilot Knob has written his
recollections of the engagement,
and in describing the scene as he
rode over the battlefield the next
morning says: estimated our
losses $50 to 200 killed and 200 to
800 wounded;'" which would
make $50 killed at lowest estimate,
and 500 at highest; so the Col.
will see from this quoted authority
that he has 500 killed, and not the
1900 or 2400, as he quoted in his
article. "This is the opinion of
an honest man telling an honest
story of what he saw before the
dead were collected" The Col.
seems to insinuate here that l am
not an honest man, or telling an
honest story, and that the man
who rode over the battlefield could
give more correct report THAI tho
man who counted the dead. OF
course Col. Murphy did not think
this; he must have been somewhat
excited to know that Confeder-
ate is still living who knew the
| facts as they existed at the battle
of Pilot Knob. Col. Murphy say rs
that Col. John P. Bull stated to
him that he left 42 of his dead and
wounded on the field. l stated in
my article that the Al men were
nearly all Arkansas troops.
i Col. Murphy says there were q
regiments and s batallions on the
Confederate side, and indicates
that az men were lost to each regi-
ment. Now, COL, l did not, in
my limited powers of observation,
only count the men, but l saw
them fall in the battle, and this is
the loss in dead in the assault by
the Arkansas troops. They were
the only troops that ever reached
the ditch of the fort. No other
command could have sustained as
great a loss.
The Col. says: "But we also
find something of an official o.
semi-oficial character from tina
side worthy of noting. Gen. Price
, studiously suppressed the figures
of his losses in this battle in hi
. official report" In referring tt
8 DR.. j. w. Johnson, in charge o
3 the Union hospital, talking with ;
, Confederate non-commissionet
8 officer of the burial squad, the lat
ter showed him his list, and ther,
f had been 1856 buried on the battle
!. field, and the scattered men on tn,
4 mountain had not been collected
"which was known to amount t,
. rs men," Here we see the Col. ha
0 40 killed. He further quoted DR.
1 johnson, saying: "Their loss wa
4 400 killed and a correspondent,
Q number wounded" which we un
: derstand to be 800 killed ant
wounded. The Col. says: "Thi
would make their total losse
q in killed and wounded anywher
s from 1900 to 2400." He acknowl
t edges that there were some me-
: killed in the fort, buried in singh
8 graves and covered by the maya
n zine explosion. Now the Colone
9 has been telling the number tina
o were killed on the Confederat
S side; if he sees fit, will he pleas
: give us an account of the dead AM
: wounded on the Union side?
r G. X. POLK.