Letter from Captain Lyon to Mrs. Lyon.
“Pilot Knob, Saturday, Oct, 19, 1861.—We arrived here on Thursday afternoon. This place is ninety miles southwest of St. Louis. Ironton is only two miles from here. The country is rough, wild and mountainous. Pilot Knob is a conical hill, rising some eight hundred feet above us. There are also extensive lead mines in the vicinity. I wrote you at De Soto, forty miles from here. We came on to where the bridge across Big River was burned, and my company and another were sent on here in advance of the rest of the regiment. Col. Murphy, who was with us, had a telegram from here saying the rebels were advancing on this place. We hurried up, the train running with frightful velocity, and when we got here the inhabitants were running from the place to the hills and everybody said a battle was being fought three or four miles out. We expected to be sent right on. It was concluded, however, that we should wait for the balance of the regiment, which had been sent for in great haste. Before they arrived we learned the facts about the fight. It was a mere skirmish, some twenty miles from here, between three hundred Indiana cavalry stationed here and a detachment of cavalry from the rebel army. Five or six men wounded on our side, none killed. Several reported killed on the other side.
“There are about four thousand troops here. The men are all anxious to fight. It is impossible to foretell our future movements. Do not be disturbed by any newspaper reports about us. One of the St. Louis papers yesterday puts us in a battle here and has us badly cut up. That is a fair specimen of their accuracy. I was in more danger on the cars Thursday than I shall be in any battle. When I see the misery and suffering which I see this war causes here, I thank God that you are all in peaceful homes and that the trials and perils of the contest, so far as you are concerned, can be borne by me alone.”
