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by W. E. Woodruff (Author)
The accompanying hastily written sketch outlining the career of his old companies and battalion is made at the request of old comrades. It is written in the spirit that influenced the action at the time of occurrence, and is the best a failing memory can do; it will serve until a better account can be prepared, wholly or by amendment. It is merely a jotting down of names, facts and incidents as recalled while writing, with few memoranda or persons to consult. It makes no pretension to literary merit. Some occurrences are probably stated out of chronological order, and the rolls are defective by omission of names, partial or total. Ten thousand things omitted are ineffaceably impressed upon memory by the hard pounding endured-some important, others trivial or only amusing-but enough is given to show the character of the new military life in the "trans-Mississippi" country, in '61-5, to friends and descendants, who care to learn of what the participants endured, learned and saw. Most of the officers and men are dead or removed to a distance; forty-two years have elapsed since the organization of the oldest company. Although prepared very late, it may still be useful as a memorial in honor of, and it is dedicated to the men and boys who tried to do their state service in a cause they believed to be just, at peril of their lives and fortunes. A plan of the field covered by the battle of Oak Hill (so called by the victors), otherwise known as Springfield or Wilson's Creek, is attached. It is the work of another participant; it varies in some respects from the writer's recollection, but on the whole gives a fair representation of the theatre of the famous struggle, and the grounds on which the several States' troops were camped at its opening. W. E. WOODRUFF.
