Knowing our strong front line, General Van Dorn decided upon a bold movement, and threw himself around our right flank to a position between us and our base at Springfield.
In moving to our right and rear, the Rebels encountered General Sigel's Division before it had left Bentonville, and kept up a running fight during the afternoon of the 6th.

Several times the Rebels, in small force, secured positions in Sigel's front, but that officer succeeded in cutting his way through and reaching the main force, with a loss of less than a hundred men.
The position of the enemy at Bentonville showed us his intentions, and we made our best preparations to oppose him.

Our first step was to obstruct the road from Bentonville to our rear, so as to retard the enemy's movements.

Colonel Dodge, of the Fourth Iowa (afterward a major-general), rose from a sick-bed to perform this work.

The impediments which he placed in the way of the Rebels prevented their reaching the road in our rear until nine o'clock on the morning of the 7th.
Our next movement was to reverse our position.