At Camp Fremont, south of Springfield, Franz Siegel's force consisted of three elements.
Eight companies of the 3rd Kentucky Infantry, nine companies of the 5th Kentucky Infantry, and six guns of Backoff's Kentucky Light Artillery.
Around 4 to 5 p.m., Siegel received the order to start taking action at 6:30 p.m.
In order to obtain the help of mounted troops, Company C of the 1st American Cavalry and 2nd Dragoons were transferred from the 1st Brigade at Sturgis to the 2nd Brigade.
At this time, Siegel had a total of 5,100 officers and soldiers, which was considered a good new force.
The number of Siegel's troops had been greatly reduced due to previous battles, illness, and expiration of service terms. For example, Siegel's own Third Kentucky Infantry Regiment had 400 men who completed their ninety-day tour of duty on July 25.
Most of the gunners in Backoff's artillery company also retired and had to be replaced by infantrymen from the 3rd Kentucky Infantry Regiment. A considerable number of the 5th Missouri Infantry Regiment were unable to make the trip due to illness or retirement.
Most of the soldiers only served for three months and were discharged before the battle began. This was very common in the early stages of the war because Abraham felt the war would be over quickly.
The Federation is very particular about the spirit of contract. When the time comes, the soldiers put down their equipment and go home, and no one can stop them.
This resulted in the Northern Army often being short of troops in early battles.
This situation also exists among the Southern Army, but it is much rarer.
That is to say, professional armies like the Kansas Legion do not have this problem.
At half past six, the 2nd Brigade left camp southward along the York Mill Road, with Eugene Asa Carr's cavalry leading the way and Charles E. Farrand's dragoons guarding the rear.
After crossing the James River for five miles, the column turned southwest.
The night was dark and windy, with no moon and no clouds in the sky, making the march more difficult. The troops were ordered to remain silent and smoking was prohibited. The only sound was the clash of weapons from artillery carriages.
Carr, as the leading force, was ordered to arrest anyone on the road who might tip off the Confederate Army, and to set up sentries in various houses to ensure that no one would inform the Confederate Army after the Union Army passed by.
At about eleven o'clock in the evening, Siegel stopped the team to rest for three hours and set off again at two o'clock in the morning.
At about 4:30 in the morning, the troops were approaching Wilson Creek and the Southern camp.
At this time, an unexpected encounter occurred.
They captured forty Southerners who were out searching for supplies and placed them under the guard of Company K, 5th Missouri Infantry.
When Farrand talked with one of them, the other party said that they were reinforcements from Louisiana.
These captured Confederate soldiers had no psychological burden at all. Flanders chatted with them like old friends. If they had a bottle of rum, they could chat for a whole day and night.
Under the guidance of local guides, Siegel's troops arrived at a location near Wilson Creek, just where Terrell Creek meets it.
As the sun rose about five o'clock, a company of dragoons was deployed in front of the column. Farrand led his company to the designated position on the left wing, while Karl's cavalry took up the right wing.
Siegel and Carl rode together up a long ridge towering on the east side of the creek.
From this high ground, the two officers could overlook the unsuspecting Confederate cavalry encampments that covered the fields of Sharp's farm on the west side of the creek.
On the Union side, early on the morning of August 20, General James Raines was at his headquarters at Gibson's Mill, discussing the previous night's events with Lieutenant Colonel John Snyder.
He planned to wipe out the federal army that underestimated the enemy and advance in one fell swoop here, and then go north to join Wall's Kansas Army.
At this moment, several soldiers who had planned to search for supplies in the north of the camp suddenly brought shocking news.
They saw Lyon's column, and Raines immediately ordered Snyder to take a look.
Leon's soldiers were not many, but they really frightened Snyder, who had never seen federal troops several times.
He returned to Raines' side and told him that Union infantry, cavalry and artillery were covering the prairie.
Snyder was then sent to inform General Price of the Missouri National Guard, whose headquarters was located at Edwards Farm, about a mile to the south. Price also had more than 2,000 infantrymen.
Raines also sent a second rider to inform General Ben McCulloch, who had established the Army of the West headquarters at Winn's Farm.
Judging from the path, these soldiers searching for supplies must have just left the Norman farm where they were resting and re-started shortly when they saw the Leon column.
Leon's march resumed at four o'clock, with Jones's main regiment leading the way, followed by Major Osterhouse's regiment and Captain Totten's six guns.
In order to ensure concealment, they avoided the main road and crossed the countryside due south, and soon entered a long and low valley.
They had expected to encounter Southern outposts, so Lyon would have Jones' men advance in skirmish formation.
Soon they encountered a group of southerners, fired a few shots and ran away. In fact, these were just soldiers collecting supplies.
Laian regarded them as outposts and stopped the column and allowed the leading troops to form a horizontal line.
The troops continued to advance at a brisk pace, but they never encountered any Union outposts.
After crossing the canyon for more than a mile, they found a farm with houses on the right - the Short family's farm.
The Short family had suffered so much at the hands of Confederate soldiers who raided the area that Price had to send guards to their home to protect their safety.
At 4 a.m. on August 20, the Short family woke up. Then the hostess Rebecca killed a chicken—the only chicken they rescued from the hungry Southerners.
While the family was still having breakfast, the yard was suddenly crowded with federal soldiers, with the cavalry trotting and the infantry advancing quickly.
The children ran to the door to see what was going on. John, the son of the host Elias, was only nine years old.
Years later, he recalled that when he saw General Leon and his advancing troops on gray horses, "my heart was filled with joy."
disappear".
The Confederate army's first resistance to Lyon's attack did not come from Raines' orders, but relied on the subjective initiative of Colonel James Cawthorn, who commanded the Cavalry Brigade under Raines' division.
The levy soldiers who opened fire on Lyon's troops were Cawthorn's men. Presumably after receiving reports from these levy soldiers, Cawthorn sent a patrol of 300 men to the west of Wilson Creek, commanded by DeWitt Hunter.
When Hunter's troops poured out of the ravine and rushed up the ridge to form a battle line at the northern mouth of Bloody Mountain, he saw Leon's column entering Short's farm, only 450 yards away.
After sending someone to inform Cawthorn of the situation of the Lyon troops, Hunter launched a horizontal column on the North Pass. Originally, Hunter planned to conduct a harassing attack to delay the federal attack, but a ravine on a tributary of Wilson Creek separated the two troops.
, In addition, the hillside is steep and contains many rocks and vegetation, coupled with the federal artillery, making it impossible for Hunter to organize an effective charge.
However, his defensive posture still delayed the federal army's offensive rhythm, sounded the alarm for Cawthorn, and bought time for the remaining troops at Bloody Mountain and Gibson's Mill.
At this time, Leon was fully capable of rushing forward and driving away the Confederate cavalry.
But at that time, the federal army did not know what was waiting for them on the ridge. Out of caution, Leon ordered Toten's Lieutenant George Sokalski to continue to stabilize the center, and then moved Toten's remaining four artillery along the
Follow a small road toward a hill on the far right of the Union line.
There he could shoot down the enemy troops on the ridge. When Leon ordered the advance, Sokarski's artillery fired the first shots of the battle. It was not yet five o'clock.
Short, the young manor owner, did not expect a fight in his yard. They debated whether to leave until bullets were fired into their house. Finally, they fled to a neighbor's house in the northwest and spent the whole day there.
During this initial firefight, the 1st Missouri Infantry in the center encountered the most resistance. When the order came, Colonel Jones sent Captain Theodore Yates' Company H forward as skirmishers, leaving the remaining companies to hold
Column, after being attacked, Jones sent Thomas Morris' D Company as support and deployed the infantry regiment in line.
On the far left side of the battle line, Gilbert's regular army advanced through the rugged terrain of the mountainside leading to Wilson's Creek.
Under the Union's shelling and overwhelming numbers, the Confederate horsemen quickly retreated, but they also caused initial casualties to the Union. Even the 2nd Missouri Infantry Regiment, which was in reserve, was not spared.
It is worth mentioning that although the North and South armies at this time had replaced breech-loading guns, they still did not have the habit of digging trenches.
At this time, it was another encounter, so the soldiers could only rely on the farm fence or the rocks on the mountain as bunkers.
The efficiency of soldier casualties is much higher than in history.
After hearing the sounds of Hunter's exchange of fire, Cawthorn without orders moved the remaining Mounted Brigade troops, about 2,600 men, to form a second line of defense on the top of the main part of Bloody Mountain.
Colonel Robert Paton's regiment was on the left, with Lieutenant Colonel James McCann on the right.
They are just mounted infantry. At this time, they have to dismount to fight, and their mounts are hidden under the mountain on the other side of the mountain.
Hunter's men found cover for their horses and joined the right end of the battle line, but because every four horses needed one soldier to guard them, part of the force was wasted.
After repelling the first line of defense of the Confederate army, Leon arrived at the top of the northern mouth of Bloody Mountain. He believed that he had inflicted a serious blow on the opponent.
From their current position, the Federals could see Cawthorn's abandoned camp in the ravine ahead and to the left, as well as Raines' remaining troops at Gibson's Mill.
In order to protect the left wing, Leon decided to continue to split his already small army. Leon ordered Plummer's regular army, as well as Clark Wright and some of Theodore Switzler's mounted local guardsmen to go
East side of Wilson Creek.
In addition, Laon's current column is too long, and the end of the column even ends at Short's farm.
The leading troops had to move about three-quarters of a mile, and the rear troops had to move a full mile to effectively fire on the Confederate camp. It would take about forty minutes to fully deploy the entire force.
Based on this consideration, Leon moved up Colonel George Detzler's 2nd Infantry Regiment to strengthen his front and deployed it on the left side of Colonel Jones's 1st Missouri Infantry Regiment. At this time, Leon's front line had 4,650 soldiers.
formed, and then the column moved forward, with Totten's artillery following closely behind.
The location of Leon on the northern mouth of the mountain is about half a mile from the main ridge of Cawthorn.
Leon's remaining troops did not follow the line down the ravine, the 1st Iowa Infantry, Dubois's four guns, Steele's regular barracks, and Osterhouse's 2nd Missouri Infantry.
The battalion moved southwest, following the farm road around the gully, thus threatening Cawthorn's left flank.
After a few rounds of simple exchanges of fire, Cawthorn's troops were quickly driven down the mountain, perhaps because they saw that they would soon be outflanked.
Soldiers from Price's Missouri National Guard scrambled toward their horses, and in the ensuing chaos, the soldiers were separated.
Hunter's and Paton's troops were not able to regroup and join Cawthorn's troops until later that morning.
Although Lyon's initial attack was unexpected, it was not until 5:30 that the soldiers reached the top of the mountain, where they waited for the remaining troops to arrive. From this position, the federal troops could see almost the entire Confederate camp.
Totten discovered Price's light artillery regiment next to Wynn's farm, more than half a mile to the southeast.
Ironically, Totten had been in charge of training the artillerymen of the Missouri National Guard Light Artillery Regiment under the command of Captain William Woodruff not long ago.
It can be said that the early military relationships between the North and the South were close, especially among the generals, most of whom were classmates, teachers, students or friends. The war changed the fate of these people, and fate seemed to be playing tricks on them.
Because Bloody Hill was so wide, the Union troops could not see Price's headquarters or the main body of the Missouri Guards camp. They saw only a small group of cavalry defending on their right.
The Confederate high command was indeed caught off guard by the attack. At dawn, Price sent his adjutant, Captain Thomas Sneed, to McCulloch's headquarters to assess his plans for a march to Springfield.
McCulloch did not mention to Snead the report of enemy movements to the north that had come from Raines' courier a few minutes earlier.
He simply sent Colonel Elkanah Greer's Texans from his camp at Sharp's Farm to scout the ford of Wilson Creek on Telegraph Road.
He gave similar orders to Charles Carroll's Arkansas Cavalry Company. McCulloch probably thought that Raines' report was not credible, so he sent two teams of cavalry to investigate.
When Sneed arrived he decided to meet Price in person. He left the headquarters at about five o'clock. Had he started later he would have been able to see the battle taking place at the mouth of the back of Bloody Mountain.
It took McCulloch and his lieutenant only a few minutes to reach Elwha Farm, where Price was having breakfast.
Snyder, who was sent by Raines to report the news, finally arrived a few minutes later. He was delayed for unknown reasons. He told the two generals that the Federation had 20,000 soldiers and 100 artillery pieces.
McCulloch obviously didn't believe it, and told Snyder that he would go to the front in person later, which was about 5:20.
Because they were in the shadow zone, McCulloch and Price were unable to hear the firefight at Bloody Mountain or the bombardment of Confederate cavalry by Siegel's artillery at Sharp's Farm.
A few minutes later, a second courier arrived, reporting that a large enemy force was approaching them. At about 5:30, Price finally decided to leave for Gibson's Mill to meet Raines, and McCulloch returned to his own home.