Pulaski Arkansas Battery

In the opening moments of the battle, Union infantry swept back Southern cavalry, overran two camps, and topped the crest of Bloody Hill, leaving the main Southern camp at the bottom of the hill virtually defenseless. Then Captain William E. Woodruff's Pulaski Arkansas Battery opened fire from the top of a small ridge, enfilading the entire length of the Union line. Its four cannon forced a halt in the Federal advance, allowing Southern infantry to organize a line of battle and attack the Union line. The battery was positioned near Wilson Creek, opposite General Sterling Price's Confederate headquarters. Before the Civil War, the bronze guns of the Pulaski Battery had been under the command of Captain James Totten of the U.S. Arsenal of Little Rock. When war threatened, Arkansas secessionists took control of the arsenal, but Totten remained loyal to the Union. At Wilson's Creek, he commanded a Union battery across the creek on Bloody Hill and opposed his old guns, now manned by his old friends.

Missouri · United States