Night Moves

Night Moves. Pea Ridge National Military Park. , I have ordered Generals Sigel and Davis to move with their divisions during the night and form on the left of Carr's division ... and be ready to renew the battle at daylight. The enemy will concentrate his whole force at Elk Horn; we will fight him there tomorrow...[I am] certain of success on the coming day. , Samuel Curtis, major general commanding, United States Army of the Southwest, From this overlook you can see the great challenge facing General Samuel Curtis as two armies grappled on Pea Ridge - how to turn the 10,500 men in the Union army from facing south to facing north, while keeping his supply wagons from being captured., After night fell, Federal divisions that had fought at Leetown had to be brought together with the battered defenders astride the Telegraph Road you see below. Cold and hungry Union men who had marched most of the night had to be fed and issued fresh ammunition. , Thousands of men and horses, hundreds of wagons, and dozens of cannons jostled along narrow country roads in the dark. Union officers took little comfort in knowing that the Confederates faced the same demanding task that winter night. Both armies had to reorganize and resupply to be able to fight again.