e B ttle of P r l ri e ro Th a a G v e , D . 1 6 . e c 7 , 8 2 'Th e f o l l o wi n g acco u n t o f th e battl e of Prai ri e Gro v e is t ak en f rom t h e r South e n Bivo uac , pu bl ish ed at Lo u n d w a w S a m i s v i l l e K . a s r t , y , i ten by ' 'on me M - n a uel es , For rl y aj or Ge er l , m C . S . A r y j n th O Sunday , th e 7 day of Decem b er , 1 862 , in Washington County , in s n d th e n orth weste rn p ar t o f A r ka n s a , a n ear th e Indian Territory , an engage ment took place b etween the Union “ and Confederate forces called th e Bat a ” “ tle of F yetteville or Illinois Creek , but which is b etter known as th e Bat i m tle of Prairi e Grov e , which had an portant bearing on sub sequent military o peration s in th e T rans - M i s s is sippi f h p art o t e co un try . There are on file i n th e War D epart ment in Washington forty official r e ports and congratulatory addres s es to th e troops , written by offi cers engaged purporting to giv e corre ct s tatements of the battle and th e preliminary move - ments and skirmish es . Th irty one of thes e do cuments are by Union and nin e by Confederate officers . With such a mas s of offi cial informa tion availabl e , it woul d s e em that a clear an d truthful his tory of th e battle migh t readily b e written ; yet so oh s cure , confus ed , an d contradictory are h t e s e official re cord s , that it is i mpo s s ible to write an intelligibl e an d a o curate narrativ e of th e engagement which sh all b e con sis tent in its elf an d with th e offi cial record s . Di s crepencies as to th e particulars of a battl e naturally o ccur in th e r e ports from th e diff erent side s . Even wh en no strong influence s operate on th e writers to give a d es criptiv e ton e a n d coloring to th eir reports , th e fact that th ey view the engagement from d ifferent s tan dpoints , and that no oh s erv er can s ee all that is pas sing over an extensive fi eld , may very naturally l ead th em into con fli cting statement s . In this instance , how ever , th e differ e n c e s are unusually wid e and radical . Fo r in s tan ce , Gen eral Thomas C . Hin dman , commanding th e C onfed er h e ate forc e s, s tate s that carried into th e engagement l e s s than ten th ousand e men of all arms . H estimated th e en emy ’ s force at from fourteen thous and to ei ghteen thousand , with s ixty pi eces of artillery ; a nd th eir lo s s es to hav e been ab out whil e his own wer e General 'ames G . Blunt, c ommanding the Union forces , says h e . had in th e engagement only s even thousand men ; that General Hindman admitted his own force in th e engage ment to have b een twenty - eight thous and ; that th e Confederate lo ss , in kill ed on th e fiel d was an d th e wound ed exceeded 'General Her ron , next to Blunt in rank on th e Union n sid e , thi ks th e Confed erate los s in all will reach from 5 000 to whil e 1 n his own total los s kill , wounded , and missing was only Both General s Hindman an d Blunt, wh en in conversa tion und er flag of truce th e day after th e battl e s eem , with mu ch franknes s , to have admitte d d efeat ' an d yet in official reports Gen eral Hindman states that at th e clos e of th e engagement th e enemy fl ed b eyond th e prairie and “ , he ' adds At dark the battl e clo s ed , l eaving us masters of every foot of o n ground whi ch it was fought . On th e oth er han d , General Blunt reports officially that both General Marmaduke 'now Governor of M is s ouri' and Gen eral Hindman a ckn owl edged to m e in an intervi ew under flag of truce that th ey had b een well whip ped , and in an addres s to his troops five days after th e battle h e c o n g r a tu lat e s th e m on having gain ed in that battl e compl ete succes s a n d a brilli ant victory , and ad ds ' No battl e du r i n g th e p r e s ent war h as be en more d etermine d and bloody a n d n ev er was th i n e a fi e ld upon win ch , con sid ering th e nu mb er of troop s engaged , and th e ' tim e o c cupied , the slaughter was as great . Even th e minor in cid ents preced i n g a n engagem ent are greatly magni fie d' n t o to us e a stronger term . Gen eral M armaduke m ention s th at on th e fifth two of his advancing b rigades engaged th e en emy ’ s pickets and drove r th em back , wh ereas General Blunt e ports that o n th e same day his pickets e ncountered th e en emy in vastly su p erior numbers an d drov e th em s ix m m n ti n s iles into th e o u a . It is impo s sibl e to wholly reconcil e such contradictory statem ents . Nev r c th e l e s s , when divested of redundant n e xaggeration and vain boasting , a d e a n a l z wh n , th e res iduum is clearly y e d , th e re p orts di sclo s e th e salient an d m o st im p ortant incid ents of a w ell c ont e sted a n d unusually bloody e n m n i n e n g a g e e t, which th e numb ers g a g e d a n d th e los s es sustain ed were strikingly near equality , an d which , with s om e notable exce ptions , was highly creditabl e to th e enduranc e an d v alor of th e troo ps engaged . O n the 3 r a of Decemb er , 1 862 , th e Fi rst divis ion , B r a g a di e n Gen era l 'ame s G . Blunt co mmanding , of th e Army of the Frontier was on Cane Hill , about twelve miles southwest of Fayetteville , in th e northwestern part of Arkansas . Th e Second and Th ird divis ion s of the same army, both divis ions command ed by Brigadi e r- Gen h eral Herron , w ere e n e c e lon from ’ V i n V l so s Creek , Missouri , about on e hundred mil es from Fayetteville , to ‘ ward th e latter pla ce . In th e ab s ence - h fi l of Maj or General S c o e d, Brigadier Gen eral Blunt was in comman d of th e Army of th e Frontier . On th e same date th e First corps of - th e Trans M is sis sippi Army , M aj o r a Gen er l Thomas C . Hindman com manding , was in th e vicinity of Van i n Buren , Arkan sas . Tha t sdc t o of country was destitute of food , a nd th e Arkan sas River was too low for navi a ti n g o . Th e s cant ration s for th e men and forage for the cavalry hors es and draft animals was haul ed about eighty ' to th e i r miles camps . Gen eral Hind man was convinced that it woul d v ery so on b e neces sary to move th e greater part of his command to the vicinity of i L ttl e Rock to sub si st it . But it would n o t b e safe to l eave a small force n ear Van Buren while th e enemy o ccupied n Cane Hill in force . Knowing that o e di vi s ion , th e First , estimated at from s ev en to eight thousan d m e n , with th irty p ieces of artill ery , o ccu pied Can e Hill , and that th e oth er two d ivision s of th e Army of th e Frontier were from s ev enty to on e hundred miles away to th e north , Gen eral Hin d man determined to attack the Firs t division at Can e Hill a n d d estroy or drive it off b efore it could b e j oined by th e Secon d and Third divisions .