December 1862
1st weather fair rumors of Blunt being sorely pressed by a force from 25.000 or 35.000 under Hindman & Marmaduke
2d this is a beautiful day, warm and pleasant
3d weather fair orders to march at one oclock in the morning Blunt is at Cane Hill 115 miles S.W. but we are satisfied we must go to his relief
4th march S.W. at 3.A.M. S.W. along the old telegraph road we are about 5.000 strong in two Div'ns under Gen. Herron a man that all liked march 22 miles camp on flat creek
5th march at 3.A.M. along the telegraph road 24 miles pass through Keatsville & Cassville & camp at what is known as Camp Sigel
6th again we march at 3.A.M. cross the state line at sunrise arrive at Cross Hollows 26 miles about sunset this is a very formidable place all our Cav. except a battallion or two has been sent ahead to reach Blunt if possible & sustain him until we arrive
7th resume march at 1.A.M. arrive at Fayetteville 18th miles at sunrise march on to the flat west of town & take breakfast when it is asertained that the rebs have eluded Blunt & are now coming to meet us again we set forth it is 13 miles to Prairie Grove our advance meets them is repulsed reinforced meets & drives them across Illinois Creek & they take position on an angling Hill beautifully adapted to their purposes it is just accross an open field & is very steep but short & covered with timber at 1.P.M. preparations have been completed & after a short Artilery duel a charge is made a noble one too but it is repulsed by a solid mass of the enemy at the brow of the Hill. steadily did they ascend the Hill but such a fire no mortal could stand & they came back (3 Reg. I think) in utter confusion then another sharp artilery duel & another charge was to be made the 37th (ours) Ill. & 26th Ind. were led forward accross the field & halted at the fence at the foot of the Hill for orders it soon came & our Co. (I) was called for to act as skirmisher in front & Co. A to the right of the Battallion we ascended the Hill & there was an open field (small one) accross which the reb's. were skulking we fired upon them & then sought the best cover we could find (fence trees Barn House &.C.) & kept up a pretty brisk fire but the Reb's arose at least 8 ranks deep in front of us & advanced we let them have all that we had but it did not change[?] them & just then the Reg. came up & such a whizzing & hissing as was there for a few moments I never dreampt of before but it soon ended for our Col. was severely wounded & the gallant 26th was forced back on our left & in a moment more it would have been a hand to hand contest but just then orders were given for us to retreat & away we went down the Hill & formed on the flat below in a moment at the command & again we were ready for them & started for the Hill but the Gen. rode to the front & says he ["]Boys I cannot allow you to go up there again["] but we were still within range & fired away with our Belgians until our amunition began to run low but where was Blunt all the time you will say. he was coming & just about one hour before sunset he opened on the Rebs left flank & then the Battle raged in all its wild fury until near sunset when the enemy partialy withdrew we were the advance Reg. & lay on our arms a kind of Piquet. the fore part of the night was ocupied in caring for our wounded dealing out amunition & preparing for one grand rush in the morning but we were doomed to be disappointed
8th about two oclock A.M. Marmaduke came in with a flag of truce we kept him in our Reg. & sent for the Gen. he came about some trivial matter & their army was all the while retreating but we was not aware of it at daylight Marmaduke went back & Hindman & Blunt & others met on the line Hindman wanted time to bury his dead & care for his wounded but when the parley was ended it was ascertained that the Secesh were all gone during the Parley Hindman owned himself badly whipped our loss was not far from 1.000 (our Reg. 70) theirs could not have been less than twice that I should judge by passing over the field & visiting their Hospitals which ocupy every house for miles around & their dead lay very thick where we went we lay in our old position until five P.M. when we moved further to the right our Co. go on Piquet have a cold time of it at night our things have come up but we cannot go back to get them therefore all we can do is lay & shiver until morning shall dawn no sign of secesh they have all left bag & baggage
9th Come in this morning pitch our tents got breakfast which is very acceptable after our long fast go over the Battle field & go to the Secesh Hospitals it is a very hard sight all unkind feelings vanish as one looks upon those poor suffering men it is true they brought it upon themselves still it looks hard to see them suffer so they tell me they had 8 Reg'ts 6.000 strong against our two Reg'ts of 700 or 800 they also said our Reg. killed more than their own No we have very effective guns revolving rifles & Belgian rifle 69/100 Calibre theirs were splendid English guns therefore we were not much ahead of them in that respect they had poor artilerists here
10th we have to bury part of their dead their wounded is left in our hands
11th nothing seems of importance until about Christmas accept a heavy rain making it very muddy & we move on to the Hill
27th march at six A.M. leave everything but one blanket & each strike the telegraph road at Hogeye then passed over the Boston mountains 30 miles & bivouac at midnight beside a small creek on the south slope of the mountain which is very rough & almost impassable for either man or beast
28th arise at five but cannot march for Blunt with the 1st Div'n has formed a junction with us two miles south & we have to wait for him to go ahead at 10.A.M. we are two miles on our way we march along at a moderate pace until about 3.P.M. when Blunt & Herron who are ahead with the Cav. make a dash on Vanburen driving the Rebs out of town accross the river in hot haste leaving 70 teams loaded 4 large transports & any amount military stores in town when the cannonading commenced we were hurried forward we soon passed the 94th Ill. & 9th Wis'n Inf'y and Batery E. 1st Mo Light Artilery & now nothing was left to impede our progress & we went through at a flying rate until within 2 miles of the town when all became [illegible] & we bivouaced for the night 20 miles
29th march in to town lay two hours come back & at five P.M. start back for P.G.[Prairie Grove] march 13 miles 6 below town & back
30th last night Schofield met us we march 24 miles bivouac for the night
31st march 13 miles into camp this ends 1862 would they were as successful East as we have been here in the west