Unfortunately for his reputation, the war upon which he had now entered was to be carried on by stern aggressiveness, to which he seemed unsuited. He had a strong hold on the affections of the Germans, whose support of the Union was exceedingly valuable, and in spite of repeated failures to satisfy the expectations of his superior officers, he was promoted and given high commands, in all of which his misfortune was the same. After Rastadt he seemed bent only upon conducting brilliant retreats, and that from Carthage greatly helped to confirm this tendency. He was finally relegated to the shelf, which contained so many men who had started out with brilliant promise, and died in New York in 1902, supported during his later years by a pension of $100 a month granted him by Congress.
After resting his men a few hours at Sarcoxie, Sigel marched on to Springfield, where Gen. Sweeny was, and to which point Gen. Lyon hurried with all the force he could gather, to forestall the junction of Gen. Ben McCulloch's Arkansas column with the force that Price and Jackson would bring to him.
There was strong need of his presence there and of his utmost efforts. He had rolled back the Secession tide only to have it gather volume enough to completely submerge him. Not only had Gov. Jackson and Sterling Price concentrated many more men than he had, but a still stronger column composed of Arkansans and Texans under the noted Gen. Ben. McCulloch was near at hand and pushing forward with all speed.
Benjamin McCulloch, a tall, bony, sinewy man of iron will and dauntless courage, was easily a leader and master of the bold, aggressive spirits who had wrested Texas away from Mexico and erected her into a great State. He had achieved much reputation in the command of the Texan Rangers during the Mexican War and in the Indian fights which succeeded that struggle. As a soldier and a fighter he had the highest fame of any living Texan, except Sam Houston, and when he espoused the cause of Secession he drew after him many thousands of the adventurous, daring young men of the State. The Confederate army had immediately commissioned him a Brigadier-General, and he had set about organizing, with his accustomed energy and enterprise, a strong column for aggressive service west of the Mississippi. Warlike young leaders, ambitious for distinction, hastened to join him with whatever men they could raise, for such was their confidence that they felt his banner would point to the most direct road to fame and glory. Many of these, then Captains and Colonels, afterward rose to be Generals in the Confederate army. He had proposed to the Confederate Government to aid the situation in Virginia by active operations in Missouri, and to this plan the Governors of Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas gave their hearty consent and co-operation. McCulloch had another motive for aggressive action, as it would determine the position of the Indians.