| Description: All the troops under Blunt's command were camped at Rhea's Mills. On the evening of December 26th, the men received rations and were told to be ready to move out at 3 AM on the morning of the 27th. They moved out in three columns over three different roads marching over the Boston Mountains toward Van Buren. General Blunt took Cove Creek road and Herron traveled Telegraph road. The distance was about 45 miles. At 3 AM the temperature was below freezing and the four inches of snow that fell a few days earlier was not completely melted. Wiley Britton of the Sixth Kansas Cavalry in his "Memoirs of the Rebellion on the Border, 1863" gives a detailed description. The depressions in the road were filled with slush and ice. About daylight the area of snow and ice disappeared and the road became firmer and rockier. At 10 AM they struck the head of Cove Creek. With heavy rains and melting snow, the river was swollen. The men were forced to cross Cove Creek thirty-three times that day. The water was freezing cold. When the infantry first crossed, they stayed dry by stepping from stone to stone. The next time, they got their feet wet. The fifth or sixth times, they rolled their trousers up. The water got deeper and swifter with each crossing. On later crossings the water came up to the armpits of the men. The worry at that point was keeping only their cartridge boxes dry and not being washed away by the swift current. The clothing to their waists was wet all afternoon and evening but the physical exercise of marching kept them warm. They bivouacked that night. Britton says a thousand fires were kindled that night as the infantry men dried their clothing. The artillery men did not believe that their ammunition had been damaged by the water. At 3 AM the men resumed their march. The sky was overcast and it was pitch black. They crossed the river six more times before daylight although the river had gone down in the last five or six hours. Regimental records indicate that they crossed Cove Creek thirty-nine times between Cane Hill and the junction formed with Lee's Creek. There were numerous cases of pneumonia and chronic rheumatism as a result of the exposure. |
