war; Butler, with autocratic will, forced upon it CHAP. XVI. quiet and order. With suicidal folly it had created destitution and want and raised the gaunt specter of famine; with imperious authority Butler filled its hungry mouths and obliged it to reorganize industry and reëstablish trade. Through misrule and indolent neglect it had invited pestilence; Butler relentlessly constrained it to a cleanliness and health it had never experienced. One might almost transpose the Scripture parable to contrast their contumacious opposition and his beneficent compulsion. They asked a scorpion, and he gave them an egg; they asked a serpent, and he gave them a fish; they asked a stone, and he gave them bread.

CHAPTER XVII

PEA RIDGE AND ISLAND NO. 10

S a powerful supplement to the Union victories in Tennessee, the military operations west of the Mississippi River next demand our attention. Under the vigorous promptings of Halleck we left the army of General S. R. Curtis engaged in his trying midwinter campaign in Southwestern Missouri. He made ready with all haste to comply with the order to "push on as rapidly as possible and end the matter with Price." His army obeyed every order with cheerful endurance. "They contend with mud, water, and snow and ice manfully," wrote Curtis under date of February 1, 1862, "and I trust they will not falter in the face of a more active foe." In the same spirit he encouraged his officers: "The roads are indeed very bad, but they are worse for the enemy than for us if he attempts to retreat... The men should help the teams out of difficulty when necessary, and all must understand that the elements are to be considered serious obstacles, which we have to encounter and overcome in this campaign. . . Constant bad roads will be the rule, and a change for the better a rare exception."