HEADQUARTERS MCCULLOCH’S BRIGADE,
Camp near Cassville, Mo., July 30, 1861.

Hon. L. P. WALKER, Secretary of War, Richmond, Va.:

SIR:  I have the honor to report that I am now at this place with my command on my way to Springfield.  Since my communication of the 18th I have been busily engaged in preparing my force for a forward march, and have also been urging on the commanders of the different forces near me to be ready to co-operate with me.

By furnishing the Missouri force with all the ammunition I could spare, and also what could be spared from General Pearce’s command, I have given them sufficient to warrant them in again taking the field.  General Price, with his force of between 9,000 and 10,000 men is encamped around Cassville.  His effective force will hardly reach 7,000, and they are nearly all armed with shotguns and common rifles.  General Pearce, of Arkansas, is within 10 miles of Cassville with his command of 2,500 men.  His infantry is well armed. My brigade is also near me, amounting to about 3,200, nearly all well armed.  I shall move towards Springfield as rapidly as possible with the entire force, and hope soon to put the Missourians again in possession of it.

I communicated my plans to General Hardee at Pocahontas, Ark., and suggested the propriety of his making a demonstration at the same time on Rolla, in Missouri, the terminus of the Southwestern Railroad.  I have been compelled to furnish other commands with so much of my ammunition that my supply is now very limited, and if the enemy are reenforced it may be necessary to have a large supply here to carry on the war.  In any event it is necessary to have a supply sent to Fort Smith for the use of my command, and I hope you will see the necessity of at once sending me a large amount of flint-lock musket cartridges, percussion musket cartridges for percussion and minie muskets, and caps, and such cannon ammunition for field pieces as can be spared.

We are very much in need of caps, both for the musket and the ordinary rifle.  I am in hopes that you have sent me the cavalry arms that I have applied for in former communications.  Major Clark has notified me that the ammunition lately sent for the use of the brigade (seventy boxes of musket cartridges and a quantity of accouterments) were lost with the steamboat William Henry, on the Arkansas River.

I write in haste, as I move early to-morrow morning. I herewith inclose my general order of march, which has been left to me, and which the generals commanding other forces have agreed to observe.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

BEN. McCULLOCH,
Brigadier-General, Commanding

SOURCE:  OR, Series I, Volume 3, Pages 622-623.

HEADQUARTERS MISSOURI STATE GUARD,
Springfield, Mo., August 12, 1861.

SIR:  I have the honor to submit to your excellency the following report of the operations of the army under my command at and immediately preceding the battle of Springfield:

I began to move my command from its encampment on Cowskin Prairie, in McDonald County, on July 25, towards Cassville, in Barry County, at which place it had been agreed upon between Generals McCulloch, Pearce, and myself that our respective forces, together with those of Brigadier-General McBride, should be concentrated, preparatory to a forward movement.

We reached Cassville on Sunday, July 28, and on the next day effected a junction with the armies of Generals McCulloch and Pearce.  The combined armies were then put under marching orders, and the First Division, General McCulloch commanding, left Cassville on August 1 upon the road to this city.  The Second Division, under General Pearce, of Arkansas, left on August 1; and the Third Division, Brigadier-General Steele, of this State, commanding, left on August 2.  I went forward with the Second Division, which embraced the greater portion of my infantry, and encamped with it some 12 miles northwest of Cassville.

The next morning a messenger from General McCulloch informed me that he had reason to believe that the enemy were in force on the road to Springfield, and that he should remain at his then encampment, on Crane Creek, until the Second and Third Divisions of the army had come up.  The Second Division consequently moved forward to Crane Creek, and I ordered the Third Division to a position within 3 miles of the same place.  An advance guard of the army, consisting of six companies of mounted Missourians, under command of Brigadier-General Rains, was at this time (Friday, August 2) encamped on the Springfield road, about 5 miles beyond Crane Creek.

About 9 a. m. of that day General Rains’ pickets reported to him that they had been driven in by the enemy’s advance guard, and that officer immediately led forward his whole force, amounting to nearly 400 men, until he found the enemy in position some 3 miles on the road.  He sent back at once to General McCulloch for re-enforcements, and Colonel McIntosh, C. S. Army, was sent forward with 150 men, but a reconnaissance of the ground having satisfied the latter that the enemy did not have more than 150 men on the ground, he withdrew his men and returned to Crane Creek.  General Rains soon discovered, however, that he was in presence of the main body of the enemy, numbering, according to his estimate, more than 5,000 men, with eight pieces of artillery, and supported by a considerable body of cavalry.  A severe skirmish ensued, which lasted several hours, until the enemy opened their batteries and compelled our troops to retire.  In this engagement the greater portion of General Rains’ command, and especially that part which acted as infantry, behaved with great gallantry, as the result demonstrates, for our loss was only 1 killed (Lieutenant Northcut) and 5 wounded, while 5 of the enemy’s dead were buried on the field, and a large number are known to have been wounded.

Our whole forces were concentrated the next day near Crane Creek, and during the same night the Texas regiment, under Colonel Greer, came up within a few miles of the same place.

Reasons which will be hereafter assigned induced me on Sunday, the 4th instant, to put the Missouri forces under the direction, for the time being, of General McCulloch, who accordingly assumed the command in chief of the combined armies.

A little after midnight we took up the line of march, leaving our baggage trains, and expected to find the enemy near the scene of the late skirmish, but we found as we advanced that they were retreating rapidly towards Springfield.  We followed them hastily about 17 miles to a place known as Moody’s Spring, where we were compelled to halt our forces, who were already nearly exhausted by the intense heat of the weather and the dustiness of the roads.

Early the next morning we moved forward to Wilson’s Creek, 10 miles southwest of Springfield, where we encamped . . . . 

[For the balance of Price's report on Wilson Creek see the OR, Series I, Volume 3, pages 99-102.]

STERLING PRICE,
Major-General, Commanding Missouri State Guard

SOURCE:  OR, Series I, Volume 3, Pages 98-102.

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