Pea Ridge: Civil War Campaign in the West

Chapter 5. Death of a Texan

5 DeathofaTexan F riday, March 7, was a cold, clear, windless day. The temperature remained belowfreezing allmorning, and patches of snow covered the ground. Thousands of Federal soldiers awokestiff and chilled in their camps overlooking Little Sugar Creek and stamped around their campfires drinking scalding coffee. At Pratt's store Curtis ate a spartan breakfast in his headquarters tent and reviewed matters with his staff. He was annoyed because he had no informationabout the occasional crackle ofgunfire coming from the vicinity of Big Mountain to the north. About 8:00 A.M. Curtis looked up in surprise to find Maj. Eli Weston standing at the entrance to his tent. As provost marshal of the Army of the Southwest, Weston was responsible for securing the Federal rear, among other things. The previous day Curtis had posted Westonat Elkhorn Tavern, one mile north of Pratt's store, with six companies of his own 24th Missouri and two companies of horsemen from the 1st Missouri Cavalry and 3rd Illinois Cavalry. During the night Westonhad placed small cavalry pickets to the north of the tavern at the junction of Telegraph Road and the Bentonville Detour, to the west on Ford Road, and to the east on Huntsville Road. Other than the passage to and fro of Dodge's woodcutters, the night had been uneventful. Dawn brought a flurry of activity. About 5:00 A.M. the picket on Telegraph Road reported a brush with a small party of rebel horsemen who had emerged from the Bentonville Detour. Moments later the Death of a Texan \\\ 89 picket on Ford Road reported a sizable band of mounted rebels south of Big Mountain.1 The Confederates on Ford Road were dangerously close to the army's trains, so Weston dispatched a company of the 24th Missouri and the two cavalry companies in that direction. The Federals encountered the rebels about one mile west of the tavern just as dawn was breaking and pushed them back in a noisy but bloodless skirmish—the first shots of the battle of Pea Ridge. Weston's men continued moving west on Ford Road until they reached the gentle western slope of BigMountain. There they were brought to an abrupt halt by the sight of a solid column of butternut infantry and cavalry moving eastward along the Bentonville Detour.2 The Federals turned and hurriedly retraced their steps toward Elkhorn Tavern. When Capt. Barbour Lewis of the 1st Missouri Cavalry, the senior officer in the detachment, learned that Weston had gone to see Curtis at Pratt's store, he galloped after him. Lewis arrived while Westonwas briefing Curtis on the initial reports he had received from his pickets. The captain entered Curtis's tent and told of sighting a large enemy force on the Bentonville Detour at Twelve Corner Church. Curtis thanked both officers and sent them back to Elkhorn Tavern, instructing Weston to find out as much as possible about the movements of the enemy. As the two men sped away, Curtis ordered a meeting of his division and brigade commanders at 9:00 A.M.3 While awaiting the arrival of his lieutenants Curtis pondered the information he had just received. The Confederates had managed to get a strong force around his right flank during the night without being detected. (It may have crossed his mind that Dodge had been correct when he had reported enemy activity on the Bentonville Detour six hours earlier.) Curtis assumed that the rebels were attempting to maneuver him out of the Little Sugar Creek fortifications by turning his right flank. Nevertheless, he remained alert to the danger that the turning movement was a diversion and the rebels were preparing to launch an attack against those fortifications. Asyet he gave little serious thought to the possibility that the Confederate column on the Bentonville Detour was moving toward Cross Timber Hollow, and he failed to consider the improbable notion that the entire Confederate army was heading in that direction. Forthe next two hours Curtis acted on the reasonable but incorrect assumption that he was confronting two enemy forces: one in Little Sugar Creek Valley opposite his fortifications and another near Twelve Corner Church moving around his right flank. 90 H I Pea Ridge Around 9:00 A.M. the Federal division and brigade commanders assembled at Pratt's store for a council of war. Curtis informed everyone of the Confederate movement on the Bentonville...