movement cut off his communication and flank him whenever disposed. His appeals for reinforcements had not been granted, yet he was daily indulging the hope that he would soon be furnished a sufficient force to enable him to meet the enemy with a reasonable prospect of success. The days were passing on, the enemy was drawing nearer, and General Lyon was compelled to make his decision. The alternative was before im, either to retreat and leave the finest section of the State open to the ravages of the enemy, or make the attempt to expel the foe, even though he might sacrifice his own army in the effort. On the afternoon of the ninth of August, he held a consultation with his officers, when after a full discussion of the question, it was deemed advisable to attack the enemy in his camp at Wilson's Creek, nine miles south of Springfield. The attack was to be made simultaneously by two columns, at daylight on the following morning, Saturday the 10th; the first under command of General Lyon and the second under General Sigel.

The rebel leaders were Generals Sterling Price, Ben McCulloch and Brigadier-General John B. Clark. Somewhat singularly, both parties had planned an attack at the same hour, but the darkness of the night induced the rebels to postpone their movement. Their tents were pitched on either side of Wilson's Creek, extending a mile east and south of the road, crossing to two miles west and north of the same, the creek running nearly in the shape of a horizontal. At the crossing of the Fayette road the hills on each side of the stream are from two to three hundred feet high, sloping gently on the north, and abrupt to the south side. The valley is about half a mile wide.

While on the verge of this, his last engagement, General Lyon was impressed with a sad presentiment-not regarding his own fate-but a fear for his brave command. A terrible responsibility rested upon him. With no adequate strength with which to cope with the enemy, hemmed in and growing weaker every day, his position was both perilous and painful. Unsupported, with his cry for help passed over, he saw nothing before him but the barren satisfaction of dying, bravely performing his duty, and protecting to the last the little army that he felt to be doomed. With these feelings-sadly bitter they must have beenthis glorious man entered upon his last battle field.

The following day was one of remarkable quiet, and enlistments in the Springfield regiment went on rapidly. During the afternoon, Captain Woods' Kansas cavalry, with one or two companies of regulars, drove five hundred rebel rangers from the prairie west of the town, capturing eight and killing two men, without loss on their part.

At eight o'clock in the evening, General Sigel, with six pieces of artillery and part of Colonel Salomon's command, moved southward, marching until near two o'clock, and passing around the extreme camp

of the enemy, where he halted, ready to press forward as soon as he should be apprised by the roar of General Lyon's artillery that the attack had begun. The main body, under General Lyon, had moved at the same time, and halted about five miles west of the city, from whence, after resting, they proceeded again about four miles in a southwesterly direction, and slept until 4 A. M. on Saturday, the day of battle.

At five o'clock the pickets of the enemy were driven in, and the northern end of the valley, with its thousands of tents and camp fires, became visible, and this most destructive battle, when the numbers engaged are considered, commenced. The roar of the artillery was terrible,—the rattling of the musket-balls was like a storm of great hailstones, and the clash of steel like hammers ringing on countless anvils. Riding forward in the thick of the fight, his war-horse bearing him more proudly than usual that fatal day, General Lyon performed the work of a dozen heroes. A stern sadness was on his face-a resolute fire burned in the gray depths of his eyes. Twice was he wounded, leading on his men, and his war-steed fell under him, pierced to the heart with a bullet. Those who loved him grew anxious for his safety, for there was something wonderful in the steady courage that made him forget the wounds that would have driven another man from the field.

A member of his staff approached him as he stood by his dead horse, and seeing blood-upon his forehead, asked if he was hurt.

"I think not seriously," he answered; and mounting another horse, he plunged again into the terrible melee.

At one time, when the whirlwind of battle was at its height, General Lyon desired his men to prepare for a charge, and the Iowans at once volunteered to go, and asked for a leader. On came the enemy, crushing in their strength, and there was no time for choice.

"I will lead you," exclaimed the impetuous and fearless General. "Come on, brave boys," said he, as he took his position in the van, while General Sweeney prepared to lead on a portion of the Kansas troops, and the serried ranks of glittering deadly steel resistlessly moved on.

In the very act of leading those valiant men, with his hand uplifted in an effort to cheer them on, and his noble face turned partly to his command, but not altogether away from the enemy, a bullet pierced him, and he fell, regretted not only by his devoted little army, but by every man, woman and child who ever heard how bravely he fought for the flag they love.

The battle continued from six until eleven o'clock, with but little cessation; and then the gallant Unionists, overwhelmed by superior numbers, were forced to retreat. In good order they accomplished it, and the enemy made no attempt to follow, though their combined forces

amounted to about 20,000, while General Lyon's command did not exceed one-quarter of that number.

The Federal loss was 223 killed, 721 wounded and 292 missing; the rebel loss, (McCulloch's report,) 265 killed, 800 wounded, 30 missing; Price's report of Missouri troops, 156 killed and 517 wounded.

The death of the brave General Lyon was universally deplored. Countless were the tributes to his memory, and deep the sorrow when his body was borne homeward, surrounded with military honors. From amid the murky smoke and fearful glare of battle his soul was called home-the flashing eye dimmed-the good right hand unnerved, and the fiery spirit, that scorned danger and hated treason, was quenched forever.

SKETCH OF GENERAL LYON.

Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon was born in the State of Connecticut, in the year 1818, and entered the military academy at West Point in 1837, where he graduated four years afterwards with the rank of Second-Lieutenant of the Second Infantry. In February, 1847, he was made First-Lieutenant, and for gallant conduct in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, during the following August, was breveted Captain. On the 13th of September he was severely wounded in a

most desperate assault, and in June, 1851, was promoted to a captaincy, which rank he held at the time of the troubles in Kansas. As has been stated, he was in command of the Missouri Volunteers at the capture of Camp Jackson, and was for his well-proven bravery and eminent ability, promoted to the rank which he held at the time of his death. In personal appearance he was about five feet and eight inches in height, his frame wiry and muscular. His hair was long and thick, his whiskers sandy and heavy, and his eyes of a blueish gray. His forehead was high and broad, with a firm expression of the lips, and a countenance that indicated an intellect of no ordinary capacity. He was a strict disciplinarian, endeared to his soldiers, and universally regretted by the whole country which followed him to the grave with deep and mournful affection. In his will, made before he started on his last campaign, he left his entire property to the country for which he gave his life.

RETREAT OF THE UNION ARMY.

The Federal troops remained in Springfield until Monday morning, and then started on their retreat towards Rolla, unmolested by the rebels. The enemy entered the town immediately after its evacuation by the Federal forces, having suffered the loss of a large portion of their tents, baggage and camp stores by the attack of Sigel.

Hundreds of the inhabitants of this section were now compelled to leave their homes, and the exiles were seen every day on the roads leading to St. Louis, fleeing for refuge beyond the lines of the insurgents, plundered of everything and destitute, having been forced to abandon their homes and property to save their lives.

The loyal people who remained were favored with proclamations by McCulloch and Price, which abounded in abuse and misrepresentation of the Federal army, and were filled with professions and promises which strikingly contrasted with their administration and conduct.

This calamity was not merely disastrous by its positive loss, but it gave a prestige of success to the rebel leaders, and afforded an opportunity for them to increase the spirit of rebellion among the people, as well as to nerve themselves to other enterprises. On the 17th, fifteen hundred recruits had assembled in Saline county, and were preparing to join General Price, or to engage in local operations in the surrounding counties. On the 18th, about one thousand men from Chariton county crossed the Missouri at Brunswick, with a large number of horses and wagons, on their march to join Price's division.

The rebels were so much elated with the death of General Lyon and the abandonment of Springfield by the Federal troops, that they became more reckless than ever in their depredations and persecutions of the loyal citizens. In St. Lou on the 14th, after the retreat became

known, they became so bold and defiant that General Fremont proclaimed martial law, and appointed Major J. McKinstry as ProvostMarshal.

On the 20th, a train on the Hannibal and St. Joseph's railroad was fired into, and one soldier killed and six wounded. The train was immediately stopped, and two of the guerrillas were killed and five captured.

Five days afterwards, on the 25th, Governor Gamble issued a proclamation calling for forty-two thousand volunteers to defend the State, restore peace and subdue the insurrection; the term of service to be six months, unless sooner discharged.

KENTUCKY.

Kentucky occupies a central position among the States, and is about four hundred miles in length, by one hundred and seventy in width at the widest point, where the State stretches from the boundary of Tennessee across to Covington, opposite Cincinnati, on the Ohio river. This river, from the Virginia line, follows a circuitous course along the Kentucky border, a distance of six hundred and thirty-seven miles, until it flows into the Mississippi at Cairo. The Cumberland and Tennessee rivers pass through the western part of the State, as they approach their confluence with the Ohio. Big Sandy river, two hundred and fifty miles in length, forms for a considerable distance the boundary between Kentucky and Virginia. The Kentucky river rises in the Cumberland Mountains and falls into the Ohio river fifty miles above Louisville. These geographical facts are necessary to a perfect understanding of the struggles in that State, and are worthy of remembrance.

When the President of the United States, on the 15th of April, 1861, issued his proclamation, in which the Governors of the States that had not already committed themselves to the cause of secession, were called upon to furnish their quota of seventy-five thousand men for the national defence, Beriah Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky, replied by saying, that, "Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister States."

This act was looked upon with both sorrow and surprise by the loyal people of that State, and was hailed with delight by the Confederate Government at Montgomery. The rebel Secretary of War congratulated Governor Magoffin on his "patriotic" response, informed him that Virginia needed aid, and requested him to send forward a regiment of infantry without delay to Harper's Ferry. Though sympathizing with the enemies of the Union, Governor Magoffin was not prepared to set at defiance the wishes of the people of Kentucky, and