Battle's Beginning ... and End

Battle's Beginning ... and End. Wilson's Creek. This Northern spur of Bloody Hill saw the beginning and end of the battle. In the days proceeding the fight, the field before you was the camp of the 1,200 cavalrymen of Colonel James Cawthorne's Missouri State Guard Brigade. , At dawn on August 10th, word of the Union army's approach from the north reached this camp. Colonel Cawthorne ordered a regiment to advance and contact the enemy. At the end of the field to your left the regiment halted and formed a line of battle. Lyon's artillery unlimbered and opened fire while over 1,200 Union infantry charged. Faced with this onslaught the Southerners retreated. Pushing aside further resistance on the north slope of Bloody Hill, Lyon soon forced the Confederates over the crest and down the hill's south slope. With the Federals now in control of this area, a Union field hospital was established in the ravine to your right., With General Lyon's death about 9:30 a.m. Major Samuel Sturgis assumed command of the army. By 11 a.m., with ammunition running low and Sigel's column routed, Sturgis decided to withdraw to Springfield. Sturgis placed his rear guard on this spur of Bloody Hill and marched his army off the battlefield. Once the column had passed, the rear guard fell into line. The Battle of Wilson's Creek was over.