It is not my intention to give the details of the battle--the
movements of each regiment, battalion, or battery, as it performed
its part in the work. The official record will be sought by those who
desire the purely military history. It is to be regretted that the
official report of the engagement at Wilson Creek displays the
great hostility of its author toward a fellow-soldier. In the early
campaigns in Missouri, many officers of the regular army vied with the
Rebels in their hatred of "the Dutch." This feeling was not confined
to Missouri alone, but was apparent in the East as well as in the
West. As the war progressed the hostility diminished, but it was never
entirely laid aside.

The duration of the battle was about four and a half hours. The
whole force under the National flag was five thousand men. The Rebels
acknowledged having twelve thousand, of all arms. It is probable that
this estimate was a low one. The Rebels were generally armed with
shot-guns, common rifles, and muskets of the old pattern. About a
thousand had no arms whatever. Their artillery ammunition was of
poorer quality than our own. These circumstances served to make the
disparity less great than the actual strength of the hostile forces
would imply. Even with these considerations, the odds against General
Lyon were quite large.

Our loss was a little less than one-fifth our whole strength. Up to
that time, a battle in which one-tenth of those engaged was placed
_hors de combat_, was considered a very sanguinary affair. During the
war there were many engagements where the defeated party suffered a
loss of less than one-twentieth. Wilson Creek can take rank as one
of the best-fought battles, when the number engaged is brought into