Five cannon were abandoned in the confusion, and the foe, with wild yells, came rushing on.

Colonel Sigel himself narrowly escaped capture in his efforts to arrest the rout. After this disaster it was impossible for Sigel to join Lyon with the remnant of his command, the enemy occupying the only road by which he could do so in time to make the movement of use. There was no alternative for Sigel but to withdraw his shattered ranks from the field as safely as possible.

Meantime General Lyon on the other road had encountered the enemy's pickets at day-break, which prevented the surprise from being as great as was that of Sigel. When Lyon reached the north end of the camp he found the enemy prepared to receive him, but he succeeded in gaining a commanding position at the north of the valley in which the camp was situated. Abbott describes this part of the engagement as follows: "Captain Plummer with four companies of infantry protected his left flank. The battle was now commenced by a fire of shot and shell from Captain Totten's battery and soon became general. In vain did the Rebel host endeavor to drive Lyon from his well chosen position. On the right, on the left, and in front they assailed him in charge succeeding charge, but in vain. His quick eye detected every movement and successfully met and defeated it. The overwhelming numbers of the Rebels enabled them to replace, after each repulse, their defeated forces with fresh regiments, while Lyon's little band found no time for rest, no respite from the battle. The Rebel host surged wave after wave upon his heroic lines, as

billows of the sea dash upon the coast. And as the rocks upon that coast beat back the flood, so did these heroic soldiers of freedom with courage which would have ennobled veterans, and with patriotism which has won a nation's homage and love, hurl back the tireless surges of rebellion, which threatened to engulf them. It will be enough for any of these patriots to say, 'T was at the battle of Wilson's Creek,' to secure the warmest grasp of every patriot's hand.

"Wherever the missiles of death flew thickest, and the peril of battle was most imminent, there was General Lyon surely to be found.

"His young troops needed this encouragement on the part of their adored leader and it inspired them with bravery which nothing else could have conferred. His horse had been shot under him; three times he had been wounded, and though faint from the loss of blood, he refused to retire even to have his wounds dressed; in vain did his officers beseech him to avoid so much exposure. It was one of those eventful hours, which General Lyon fully comprehended, in which there was no hope but in despair.

"Again and again had the enemy been repulsed, only to return again and again, with fresh troops to the charge. Colonels Mitchell, Deitzler, and Andrews were all severely wounded. All the men were exhausted with the long unintermitted battle, and it seemed as though one puff of war's fierce tempest would now sweep away the thin and tremulous line. Just then the Rebels again formed in a fresh and solid column for the charge. With firm and rapid tread and raising unearthly yells they swept up the slope.

General Lyon called for the troops standing nearest him to form for an opposing charge. Undaunted, and ready for the battle they inquired' Who will be our leader?" Come on, brave men,' shouted GeneralLyon, 'I will lead you.' In a moment he was at their head. At the next moment they were on the full run at the next, a deadly storm of bullets swept their ranks, staggering but not checking them in their impetuous advance,-on-on they rushed, for God and Liberty; and in another moment the foe were dispersed like dust by the gale. The victory was cntire ; this division of the Rebels could rally no more; the army was saved; but Lyon was dead! Two bullets had pierced his bosom. As he fell one of his officers sprang to his side and inquired anxiously, 'Are you hurt?' 'Not much,' was his faint reply. They were his last words. He fell asleep to wake no more.'

After Lyon's death Major Sturgis assumed command. His forces were exhausted with the long battle; they had had no water since the evening before, and could get none nearer than Springfield. A foe confronted them twenty thousand strong, and though one victory had been gained, another battle impended. Sigel's disaster was unknown to them, and when a heavy column approached from the direction in which Sigel's guns had been heard, bearing the American flag and wearing uniforms not unlike their own, they naturally supposed the force to be Sigel's. The advancing troops were allowed to approach unmolested.

Suddenly the Union banner was hauled down, the Rebel colors went up and at the same time a discharge of artillery from a hill near by, swept our ranks.

The fiercest battle of the day now commenced. But Major Sturgis and his command sustained the unexpected attack with unwavering firmness. The line remained compact, without a break, and though at times it seemed as though the brave little band would be utterly swept away, yet with muzzle to muzzle and almost hand to hand the unequal contest was waged. Suddenly, by an ingenious manœuvre, the reserve was brought upon the enemy's flank and in a short time the whole Rebel army was routed and in full retreat.

Not having sufficient force to follow up the victory Major Sturgis withdrew to Springfield, reaching that place at about five o'clock in the evening. The discomfited foé attempted no molestation. Their plans had been thwarted and their baggage train fired and destroyed.

Therefore in its results, the battle of Wilson's Creek may be counted a victory. It is probable that but for the natural mistake into which Sigel's forces were led, the complete rout of the entire rebel army under Price would have been effected.

Nor is it probable that an attack conducted in any other way by so small a force upon one so much larger would have been equally successful.

The results desired were obtained, but at what fearful cost! A nation mourned when Lyon fell. Said the New York Tribune, in an issue of that time. "Such honors were never before, perhaps, paid to so young a general.

"Funeral obsequies attended him from the battlefield where he fell, across one half a continent, taken up from state to state, from city to city, from village to

village and carried forward for near two thousand miles, amid the tearful eyes, the bowed heads and the deepest expressions of personal sorrow of hundreds. of thousands of grateful people."

Thus was the soil of Missouri again bedewed with patriot gore, and when the young of future gencrations shall search history for examples of sublime heroism, among those who died for the cause of Union and Liberty, surely no nobler instance can be found than that of Lyon at Wilson's Creek.