Class __ 
 Book __ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
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GENERAL vSTERLING PRICE, 
 
BATTLES 
 
 -AND- 
 
 Biographies of Missourians 
 
 OR THE 
 
 Civil War Period of Our State 
 
 V By 
 L. WEBB. 
 
 ^' 
 
 Kansas City, Mo.: 
 
 hudson-klmberly pub. co. 
 
 1900. 
 
29578 
 
 li-ibrsir'y of Coriv-ese 
 
 I Two Copies REcr^ED | 
 AUG 3 1900 I 
 
 Copyright entry 
 
 SECOND COPY. 
 
 Delivered *o 
 
 ORDER DtVlSlOM, 
 
 67156 \mJ-^^ 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 To my Father and Mother, who courageously faced the 
 hardships and sacrifices of the war, he as a soldier in the 
 Confederate Army, she in supporting a helpless family, in exile 
 under Order No. 11,1 affectionately dedicate this work. 
 
 W. L. WEBB. 
 
 Copyrighted 1900, 
 By W. L. WEBB. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter I.— Why They Fought 7 
 
 Chapter II. — Kansas Troubles 28 
 
 Chapter III — Premonitions of War 40 
 
 Chapter IV. — The Camp Jackson Affair 49 
 
 Chapter V. — Lyon Declares War 57 
 
 Campaign of the Missouri State Guards.— 
 
 Chapter VI — First Great Movements 63 
 
 Chapter VII.— Price's Army 71 
 
 Chapter VIII.— Battle of Wilson Creek 75 
 
 Chapter IX. — From Springfield to Lexington 87 
 
 Chapter X. — Battle of Lexington. 94 
 
 Chapter XL — From Lexington to Pea Ridge 108 
 
 Chapter XII.— From Des Arc to Corinth 116 
 
 Chapter XIII. — From Vicksburg to Peace 126 
 
 Chapter XIV.— The Battle of Independence 135 
 
 Chapter XV. - The Battle of Lone Jack. . 147 
 
 Chapter XVI. — Newtonia, Cane Hill, and Prairie Grove. . . 168 
 
 Chapter XVII — The Raids of Marmaduke and Shelby 179 
 
 Chapter XVIII —The Battle of Helena 187 
 
 Chapter XIX. -Banks and Steele Defeated 195 
 
 Price's Great Raid.— 
 
 Chapter XX. — From Dardanelle to Lexington 207 
 
 Chapter XXL— From Lexington to Westport 218 
 
 Chapter XXIL— The Battle of Westport o , o .226 
 
 Chapter XXIIL— The Retreat 240 
 
 Chapter XXIV. -Order No. 11 247 
 
 Chapter XXV.— Quantrell and His Men 265 
 
 Chapter XXVI.— The Story of Doniphan 278 
 
 Biographicai.. — 
 
 Chapter XXVIL— General Sterling Price 283 
 
 Chapter XXVIIL— Claiborne F. Jackson 294 
 
 Chapter XXIX.— General Jo. O. Shelby 305 
 
 Chapter XXX.— General John S. Marmaduke 311 
 
 Chapter XXXI.— Bledsoe of Missouri. ... 316 
 
 Chapter XXXIL— Colonel Upton Hays 322 
 
4 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter XXXIII.— Other Biographies 326'> 
 
 Major John M. Edwards 326> 
 
 R. Iv. Yeager 331 
 
 Major B. L. Woodson 333 
 
 H. V. P. Kabrick .334 
 
 F. M. Webb 335 
 
 Captain Wm. H. Gregg 336 
 
 Lieutenant Hopkins Hardin 337 
 
 Colonel John B. Stone 338 
 
 J.M.Lowe 340 
 
 Colonel John T. Hughes 342 
 
 Captain W. F. Wilkins 345 
 
 Colonel W. F. Cloud 349 
 
 General Gideon W. Thompson 353 
 
 W. A. Knight 356- 
 
 Samuel H. Chiles 358 
 
 Wm. E. Cassell 359 
 
 Captain Schuyler Lowe 360 
 
 Captain Turner A. Gill. ■ • • 360 
 
 Colonel John C. Moore 362 
 
 Colonel John N. Southern 363 
 
 Captain A. A. Lesueur 365- 
 
 Captain S. C, Ragan 366- 
 
 Major H. J. Vivian 367" 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 If any here, 
 By false intelligence or wrong surmise, 
 Hold me a foe; 
 
 If I unwittingly or in my rage 
 Have aught committted that is hardly borne 
 By any in this presence, I desire 
 To reconcile me to his friendly peace. 
 'Tis death to me to be at enmity — 
 I hate it, and desire all men's love. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Dining the Civil War 487 battles were fought 
 in the State of Missouri. Such a display of the 
 war passion almost demands an apology to the 
 civilized world. But the Avorld will applaud the 
 military activity of our people when it compre- 
 hends the conditions which alone are answerable 
 for so much bloodshed. These conditions are un- 
 folded in the first five chapters. Then follow 
 seven chapters dealing distinctively with the suc- 
 cesses and failures of the Missouri State Guards. 
 This was a remarkable organization with a re- 
 markable career, heretofore insufficiently dis^tin- 
 guished by historians from Confederate troops. 
 During the first year of the war there were practi- 
 cally no Confederate soldiers in Missouri. All'the 
 fighting occurred between the State Guards and 
 the Federal troops. The Missouri State Guards 
 marched and fought under the flag of Missouri, 
 an ensign made of blue merino, with the coat-of- 
 arms of the State emblazoned in gold on both 
 sides. The purposes of the State Guards was to 
 repel invasion and to hold the State in an atti- 
 tude of armed neutrality. After the battle of Pea 
 Ridge, the State Guards were gradually absorbed 
 into the Southern Confederate service. 
 
 Ta^^o chapters are devoted to the operations 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. ' 
 
 of the Missoiirians in the Cis-Mississippi Depart- 
 ment, and two chapters to the operations of Mis- 
 sourians in Arkansas. The chief battles, raids, 
 and campaigns in the State are outlined. Quan- 
 trell and his men and Order No. 11 each have a 
 chapter. Especial attention is given throughout 
 the book to the movements of armies. The reader 
 will understand how the two forces at any battle 
 happened to be there, whence they came and 
 whither they go. 
 
 I have indulged in no sensational or blood- 
 curdling recitals. The nobler aspects of war 
 should alone be accentuated by the writer who 
 aspires to perpetuity in his work. To this higher 
 standard of history I have attempted to conform 
 my labors. 
 
 The book closes with biographical reviews of a 
 few only of the men who made the war period oT 
 our State immortal. ThCvSe biographies are sup- 
 plemental to the main work, in connection with 
 which they should be read. 
 
 The book is written from the Southern stand- 
 point, but it is not partisan. The Southern sol- 
 dier will find here no fulsome laudation of the 
 ^^Lost Cause.'' I have written the truth about 
 him; that is praise enough. I have withheld no 
 meed of praise from any Federal soldier who has 
 come within the purview of my subject. A few 
 Federal biographies are inserted. 
 
 The hot passions engendered by the Civil War 
 are dead and cannot live again; therefore, I have 
 written without constraint and have not hesitated 
 to utter the truth. 
 
 W. L. Well. 
 
 Independence, Mo., July 4, 1900. 
 
Chapter 1. 
 
 WHY THEY FOUGHT. 
 
 I will allow a thing to struggle for itself in this world, with 
 any sword or tongue or implement it has, or can lay hold of. We 
 will let it preach and pamphleteer and fight, and to the utter- 
 most bestir itself, and do, beak and claw, whatsoever is in it; 
 very sure that it will, in the long run, conquer nothing which 
 does not deserve to be conquered. What is better than itself it 
 cannot put away, but only what is worse. In this great duel. 
 Nature herself is umpire, and can do no wrong: the thing which 
 is deepest-rooted in Nature, what we call truest, that thing and 
 not the other will be found growing at last. — Garlyle. 
 
 There was no delusion about it. The people 
 of the two sections understood clearly and defi- 
 nitely what impelled them to the issue of arms. 
 The War of the Rebellion was not the project of 
 ambitious men. It was the people's war and it 
 was fruitful of lasting good to the human race. 
 The two sections were equally right — and equally 
 wrong, and every victory of one was ultimately 
 a victory for the other. From the time of the 
 constitutional convention to the election of Lin- 
 coln, negro slavery had obtruded itself in some 
 form into the consideration of nearly every great 
 question that occupied public attention. The 
 North and South fell apart, divided on many 
 problems that harassed the minds of men from\ 
 the beginning of our independence, but matters 
 pertaining to slavery alone gave edge to sectional: 
 
8 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80UR1ANS. 
 
 antipathy and furnished all the irritation and all 
 the excitement necessary for the precipitation of 
 the bloody conflict. There were causes remote 
 and immediate. The proximate causes of the war 
 may be uttered in two words — the Underground 
 Eailroad operated by the North and the Fugitive 
 Slave Law enacted for the South. For forty year^ 
 the Underground Railroad pertinaciously carried 
 negroes, aggregating many thousands, from South- 
 ern slavery to Northern freedom. The South be- 
 came exasperated at this ruinous pillage, and in 
 1850 secured the passage of a new Fugitive Slave 
 Law. This was a brutal, inhuman law, enacted 
 with the hope of estopping the nefarious opera- 
 tions of the Underground Railroad. 
 
 The Underground Railroad and the Fugitive 
 Slave Law — these wrought the temper of the 
 divided nation to the pitch and strain of revolu- 
 tion. The North would have seceded had not the 
 South done so. The experiment of disunion had to 
 be tried before the sections could be welded into a 
 nation. 
 
 As early as the days of Washington the Quak- 
 ers had a secret society in Philadelphia whose ob- 
 ject was to promote the escape of slaves into Can- 
 ada. Societies consecrated to the same cause con- 
 tinued to multiply, and by the year 1820 were nu- 
 merous. By the year 1840 these societies were in 
 systematic operation, not only all over the North, 
 but also throughout the slave States. 
 
 A negro escaping from his master was clandes- 
 
WHY THEY FOUGHT. 9 
 
 tinely conducted at night from one "station" to 
 another. He was hidden during the day in some 
 barn or cellar. Sometimes the fugitives traveled 
 in companies, and the business was wholesale. 
 The operators used steamboat and steamship lines, 
 railroads, canals, and road wagons. There were 
 stations in the principal cities of the country. 
 
 There died in St. Louis, in the summer of 1899, 
 a man by the name of Evens, in whose veins was 
 negro blood. Evens was one of the trusted oper- 
 ators of the Underground Railroad. He kept a 
 wagon yard and a supply of large boxes. He 
 w^ould secrete a negro fugitive in one of these boxes 
 during the night, and next morning he would load 
 the box into his wa^on and drive boldly and leis- 
 urely dow^n to the river and then cross the ferry 
 to the Illinois side. He returned with the box 
 empty. 
 
 The negro slaves soon heard of the avenues of 
 escape. White abolitionists who settled or trav- 
 eled in the South spread the information among 
 the negroes, giving them minute details. Ohio, 
 always opposed, in the abstract, to slavery, hired 
 each year, from Kentucky and Virginia, on an av- 
 erage of 2,000 negro slaves. These heard of Can- 
 ada and the settlements of the free negroes in the 
 Northern States. The slave-holders used to at- 
 tempt to counteract abolition persuasion among 
 the negroes by representing to them the rigors of 
 the Northern climate. 
 
 The number of escapes of negroes by the Un- 
 2 
 
10 BATTLES AND BIOORAPEIEB OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 derground Railroad was variously estimated. 
 One congressman placed the number at 100,000 
 for the period of forty years ending with 1850. A 
 congressional committee reported in 1861 that the 
 number of fugitive slaves had greatly decreased 
 in the preceding decade, but the census of 1860 is 
 known to be erroneous on this subject. Senator 
 Trusten Polk, of Missouri, in a speech in the 
 Senate, January, 1861, said : 
 
 *' Underground Railroads are established, 
 stretching from the remotest slave-holding States 
 clean up to Canada. Secret agencies are put to 
 work in the very midst of our slave-holding com- 
 munities to steal away slaves. * * * This 
 lawlessness is felt with especial seriousness in the 
 border slave States. * * * Hundreds of thou- 
 sands of dollars are lost annually. * * * i^en- 
 tucky loses annually as much as |200,000. The 
 other border States no doubt lose in the same 
 ratio, Missouri much more. 
 
 "But all these losses and outrages, all this dis- 
 regard of constitutional obligation and social duty 
 are as nothing in their bearing upon the Union in 
 comparison with the animus, the intent and pur- 
 pose of which they are at once the fruit and the 
 evidence.'' 
 
 Prof. Wilbur H. Siebert, of the Ohio Univer- 
 sity, has published a large volume, entitled "The 
 Underground Railroad.'' He closes the work with 
 this sentence: "The Underground Railroad was 
 one of the greatest forces which brought on the 
 
WHY THEY FOUGHT. 
 
 11 
 
 Civil War and thus destroyed slavery.'' He pub- 
 lishes in the book a map streaked with interwoven, 
 complicated red lines, exhibiting clearly the Un- 
 derground Eailroad system on land and sea. The 
 author says: "Thus it happened that in the 
 course of sixty years before the outbreak of the 
 War of the Eebellion the Northern States became 
 traversed by numerous secret pathways leading 
 from Southern bondage to Canadian freedom.'- 
 The introduction to the book says: "In aiding 
 fugitive slaves the abolitionist was making the 
 most effective protest against the continuance of 
 slavery; but he Avas also doing something more 
 tangible; he was helping the oppressed, he was 
 eluding the oppressor, and at the same time he was 
 enjoying the most romantic and exciting amuse- 
 ment open to men who had high moral standards. 
 He w\as taking risks, defying laws, and making 
 himself liable to punishment, and yet could glow 
 with the healthful pleasure of duty done. * * 
 The Underground Eailroad was simply a form 
 of combined defiance of national law^s, on the 
 grounds that those laws were unjust and oppres- 
 sive. It was the unconstitutional but logical re- 
 fusal of several thousand people to acknow^ledge 
 that they owed any regard to slavery or were 
 bound to look upon a fleeing bondsman as prop- 
 erly of the slave-holder, no matter how the laws 
 read. * * * It gave opportunity for the bold 
 and adventurous; it had the excitement of piracy, 
 the secrecy of burglary, the daring of insurrection; 
 
12 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 to the pleasure of relieving the poor negro's suffer- 
 ings, it added the triumph of snapping one's fingers 
 at the slave-catcher. * * * As yet we know 
 too little of the anti-slavery movement which so 
 profoundly stirred the Western States, including 
 Missouri and Kentucky, and which came closely 
 into contact with actual conditions of slavery." 
 
 The most prominent figure in Underground 
 Railway circles was that of John Brown, a brave, 
 fanatical man, who operated from the Missouri- 
 Kansas border and finally at Harper's Ferry. His 
 last exploit was intended to be an open consumma- 
 tion of fifty years of secret Underground Railroad 
 l^rojects. His action at Harper's Ferry stirred the 
 South with a profound and intense excitement. 
 The long-dreaded servile insurrection seemed near 
 at hand and the South shuddered. The fact was 
 then unknown that the negro race is incapable of 
 any united and sustained effort. John Brown 
 gave more oil to the fire of sectional hate in one 
 day than had all other abolitionists in fifty years. 
 
 The South held a vested property right in negro 
 slaves and openly denounced as a thief any man 
 who took such i^roperty from rightful owners. 
 The Underground Railway, therefore, was re- 
 garded as a system of wholesale pillage, and in 
 bearing it for fifty years th-e South thought itself 
 very patient. The North as a whole disavowed the 
 doctrine of abolitionism and condemned the Un- 
 derground Railroad, but the people of the North 
 were a unit in denouncing the sin of slavery. And 
 
WET THEY FOUGHT. 13 
 
 all the people of the North united in a campaign 
 against slavery, the most remarkable campaign 
 the world has ever witnessed. They denounced 
 slavery in the papers, in books, in pami)hlets, from 
 pulpits, from rostrums and platforms; by resolu- 
 tions in conventions, in societies and legislatures. 
 Tlie}^ sent petitions to Congress voluminously 
 signed and they packed the mail-bags with incen- 
 diary documents intended to incite the slaves to 
 insurrection. Congress Avas flooded every morn- 
 ing with resolutions from legislatures praying 
 that the Union be dissolved or that hostile action 
 be taken against slavery. Jeff Davis said in a 
 speech: ^^Sir, it is a melancholy fact that, morn- 
 ing after morning, when we come here to enter up- 
 on the business of the Senate, our feelings are har- 
 rowed up by the introduction of this exciting and 
 profitless subject, and we are compelled to listen 
 to insults heaped upon our institutions.'' 
 
 The South was exasperated at the North for 
 such expressions of antipathy toward the institu- 
 tion of slavery. Underground Railroad charters 
 were seen in Whittier's and Lucy Larcom's poems, 
 in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and in all the range of 
 Northern literature. The Underground Railroad 
 system had its franchise in Northern public 
 sentiment 
 
 In 1850 the South secured the passage of the 
 new Fugitive Slave Law. The North was in- 
 stantly overrun with slave-hunters; coarse men — 
 usually hired agents — who found as much pleasure 
 
14 BATTLED A^'D BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURI AN 8. 
 
 in reclaiming a negro as the Underground Rail- 
 road operator did in kidnapping him. 
 
 The immediate effect of the new Fugitive 
 Slave Law was to stimulate the business of the 
 Underground Railroad, which at once received 
 public recognition and aid in the passage of Per- 
 sonal Liberty Laws in all the Northern States. 
 
 The human race has not yet produced a people 
 who would not fight under such conditions. 
 
 Each section was incensed and outraged by the 
 actions, the sentiments, and the laws of the other. 
 
 The Fugitive Slave Law^ was brutal in its 
 terms; and it was executed upon the Northern peo- 
 ple by inhuman processes. A slave-ow^ner, or his 
 agent, might pursue andpersonally arrest a fugitive 
 slave; he might command the assistance of any by- 
 stander. All federal officials and all the machin- 
 ery of the federal law were at his service. The 
 law of 1850 imposed judicial duties, in the arrest 
 and return of fugitive slaves, on the United States 
 commissioners, on the judges of the United States 
 circuit and district courts, on judges of territorial 
 courts, and on such special commissioners as the 
 various courts might appoint. The United States 
 commissioners had power to arrest and imprison 
 any citizen for offenses against the United States. 
 It was the duty of all United States marshals to 
 execute all warrants and processes of judges and 
 commissioners. A fugitive slave, upon being ar- 
 rested, was brought before a judge or commis- 
 sioner, whose duty it was to summarily dispose of 
 
WHY THEY FOUGHT. I5 
 
 the case. The testimony of the fugitive was not 
 admissible. No jury was permitted in such 
 cases. The ownership of a horse might be tried 
 before a jury, but not the ownership of a negro. 
 This was not so unreasonable as it appears to be. 
 A jury of Northern citizens would have been un- 
 prejudiced in the case of a horse; in the case of a 
 negro the verdict would have been regarded as a 
 foregone conclusion. By the abuse of the Fugitive 
 Slave Law, the legally free negroes of the North 
 were in danger of arrest and transportation to the 
 South. The law was a dangerous exercise of fed- 
 eral power and was directly subvertive of the State 
 rights doctrine so strongly advocated by the South. 
 But if the Fugitive Slave Law was brutal and in- 
 human, so was the condition against which it was 
 intended to militate. Both the Fugitive Slave 
 Law and the Underground Kailroad were respon- 
 sible for theft and murder. 
 
 To counteract the outrageous processes and the 
 enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law^, fourteen 
 of the free States enacted what came to be known 
 as the Personal Liberty Laws. The laws of Maine 
 provided that no sheriff, deputy sheriff, coroner, 
 constable, jailer, justice of the peace, or other offi- 
 cer of the State should arrest or detain, or aid in 
 so doing, in any prison or building belonging to the 
 State, or in any county or town, any person on 
 account of a claim on him as a fugitive slave, 
 under penalty not exceeding |1,000, and made it 
 the duty of ail county attorneys to repair to the 
 
16 BATTLES AND BIOGBAFHIES OF MimOURIANS. 
 
 place where such person was held in custody, and 
 render him all necessary and legal assistance in 
 making his defense against said claim. 
 
 The statutes of New Hampshire declared that 
 slaves coming or brought into the State by or 
 with the consent of the master should be free; to 
 hold a slave was felony. 
 
 The laws of Vermont held that no court, justice 
 of the peace, or magistrate should take cognizance 
 of any certificate, warrant, or process under the 
 Fugitive Slave Law, and provided that no officer or 
 citizen of the State should arrest or aid and assist 
 in arresting any person for the reason that he was 
 claimed as a fugitive slave. 
 
 This Northern exercise of State rights was not 
 ax>preciated by the South. 
 
 The people of the two sections were thus face 
 to face in enmity and war w^as inevitable. Yet the 
 disputes arising out of questions of slaver}^ were 
 inadequate to raise such a war as broke out in 
 1861. These disputes would have been com- 
 promised again and again, as they had ever been; 
 but other questions pressed to the front for settle- 
 ment and assassinated compromise. The burden 
 of all other questions fell on the shoulders of the 
 institution of slavery. Superficial observers have 
 said that slavery caused the war. Slavery indi- 
 cated the point of friction; here was the excite- 
 ment, the agitation, but back of slavery were 
 the impact and momentum of such heavy questions 
 as the tariff, State rights, construction of the Con- 
 
WHT THEY FOUGHT. 17 
 
 stitution, alternate admission of Northern and 
 Southern States to the Union, acquisition of new 
 territory (known in our day as "expansion"), the 
 extension of slavery into new territory, and some 
 others. Slavery questions might be compromised ; 
 these others could not be compromised, being fun- 
 damental. They had to be referred to the arbitra- 
 ment of the sword. 
 
 Among the questions up for determination by 
 the war was the question as to the right of a 
 State to secede. The war settled the question of 
 secession, settled it forever and settled it right; 
 settled it no less for the North than for the South. 
 And the question of secession needed to be set- 
 tled for the North even more than for the South. 
 
 For seventy years after the Constitution went 
 into operation, the people of the North taught the 
 doctrine of secession, and often threatened, even 
 attempted, to put it into practice. 
 
 Mr. Pow^ell, in "Secession and Nullification in 
 the United States," says: "The effort of eleven 
 States to break loose from the Union in 1800-61 
 was not an episode dependent on a novel reading 
 of constitutional rights, nor was it solely a con- 
 sequence of the desire to perpetuate a social sys- 
 tem based on slavery. It is a very partial and a 
 very partisan reading of American history that 
 fails to see that from the acceptance of the Consti- 
 tution in 1790 there had been a tendency to assert 
 the right of States to nullify national enactments 
 or even to sever their relation to the Union. This 
 
18 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. i ^ 
 
 has been a shifting sentiment; asserted now at the 
 South and now at the North. Overt acts have 
 been six in number. The first of these occurred 
 in 1798, and in Virginia and Kentuck}^ took 
 the shape of nullification resolutions. The sec- 
 ond was the effort of New England, in 1803, 
 to create a Northern Confederacy, consisting 
 of five New England States with New York 
 and New Jersey. The third was the desperate 
 effort of Vice-President Burr to create a cleava<i:e 
 in the Southwest, including the Mississippi Val- 
 ley, and, hopefully, of Ohio. The fourth in the 
 disagreeable list was the practical withdrawal of 
 the NeAV England States from cooperation in the 
 War of 1812-14; ending in a convention of those 
 States to formulate sectional autonomy. The 
 fifth act was in the form of nullification, and was 
 confined to South Carolina. The sixth and final act 
 w^as that of 1861, when eleven States withdrew 
 their representatives from Washington, and cre- 
 ated a distinct Confederacy. We may concede 
 that in all these cases the result involved a whole- 
 some discussion of federal problems.^' 
 
 Wendell Phillips, the apostle of abolitionism, 
 for years advocated a peaceable separation of the 
 sections as a means of abolishing slavery. He 
 said: "Here are a series of States girding the 
 Gulf who think their peculiar 'isms' require a 
 separate government. They have a right to decide 
 that question without appealing to me or you." 
 
 The New York Herald advocated the recon- 
 
WHY THEY FOUGHT. 19 
 
 striietiou of the Uuioii, with New En^hind k^fl 
 out. Horace Greeley wrote in February, 1861: 
 ^'If the cotton States choose to form an independ- 
 ent nation, the}^ have a clear right to do so." After 
 the election of Lincoln came the first intimation 
 that a seceding State might be coerced back into 
 the Union. It was a bold, startling intimation, 
 new to the country, and elicited from Horace 
 Greeley the vigorous announcement that soldiers 
 marching into the South for any such unholy pur- 
 pose would be fired upon in the rear by Northern 
 men w^ho believed the right of secession to be 
 sacred. The North had taught the right of seces- 
 sion for seventy years, and for seventy years de- 
 sired a government separate from the South. The 
 firing on Fort Sumter reversed the North in one 
 day. Greeley and Phillips and all the rest who 
 thought they believed in the right of secession, 
 and in the propriety of separation, fell into line 
 for the Union and for coercion. The world was 
 astonished at them ; they were astonished at them- 
 selves. The Constitution suddenly became sacred 
 and the Union indissoluble. They had denounced 
 the Constitution as a compact with the devil, in 
 league with hell. They had proclaimed a higher 
 law than the Constitution. The South was about 
 to dissolve the Union in order to save the prlucipl s 
 of the Constitution; the North determined to pre- 
 serve the Constitution by maintaining the Union. 
 Those of the North who have condemned the 
 South as traitorous have condemned their own an- 
 
20 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOUBIANS. 
 
 tececlents, their own history, and the sentiment and 
 past conduct of their own people. One thought of 
 the attitude of the North at the Hartford Conven- 
 tion ought to check any man who attempts to ap- 
 ply the word ^^traitor" to the South for its action in 
 1861. It was long the habit of the North to ap- 
 ply bitter language to the South. Alexander H. 
 Stephens, the brainiest man of the South, in re- 
 ply to a letter from President Lincoln concerning 
 the Rebellion, said that the South was resenting 
 the moral opprobrium heaped upon them by the 
 North. Perhaps if the North had used more gen- 
 teel language toward the South, there would have 
 been no war. 
 
 Mr. Powell, above referred to, says : ''It is time 
 to deal justly by the South; and recognize its full 
 share in the better part of nation-building; while 
 at the same time we do not overlook the diverse 
 obligations that naturally fell upon the comple- 
 mentary sections. It is easy for either North or 
 South to perceive the blunders in action and de- 
 fects of character of the opposite section; it is dif- 
 ficult to generously measure each other's achieve- 
 ments, and to help atone for each other's errors.". 
 
 In conclusion, I quote briefly from Jeff Davis, 
 John Sherman, Henry Clay, Thos. Benton, Repre- 
 sentative McDuflfte, and the majority and minority 
 reports of the committee in the Missouri State Con- 
 vention, known as the "Gamble Convention." 
 
 From the beginning Congress had admitted 
 States into the Union alternately, one from the 
 
WHY THEY FOUGHT. 21 
 
 North and one from the South. Jeff Davis said of 
 the great contest: ^'It is a struggle for the main- 
 tenance or the destruction of that balance of power 
 or equipoise between North and South which was 
 early recognized as a cardinal principle in our fed- 
 eral system. '• 
 
 Sherman said : "They [the people of the South] 
 had cultivated a bitter sectional enmity, amount- 
 ing to contempt, for the people of the North, grow- 
 ing partly out of the subserviency of large portions 
 of the North to the dictation of the South, but 
 chiefly out of the wordy violence and disregard of 
 constitutional obligations by the abolitionists of 
 the North. — ^herman^s ''Recollections.^^ 
 
 Benton said in a speech before the United 
 States Senate: "Wealth has fled from the South 
 and settled in the regions north of the Potomac. 
 Under this legislation [tariff] the exports of the 
 South have been made the basis of the federal 
 revenue, Virginia and the two Carolinas defraying 
 three-fourths of the national expense.'' ^ 
 
 Representative McDuffie, of South Carolina, 
 said in Congress: "Sirs, if the union of these 
 States shall ever be severed and their liberties sub- 
 verted, the historian who records these disasters 
 will have to ascribe them to measures of this de- 
 scription [tariff]." 
 
 Clay, at the same time, said: "The danger to 
 the Union does not lie on the side of persistence 
 in the protective system, but on that of its aban- 
 donment.'' 
 
22 BATTLES AND BIOChRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 The majority report of the ^^Gamble Conven- 
 tion'' committee reviewed the causes which led 
 to the war, as follows: 
 
 ^'If, in our astonishment at the sudden disrup- 
 tion of our nation, we attempt to trace the causes 
 that produced the disastrous results, we find that 
 the origin of the difficulty is rather in the alienated 
 feelings existing between the northern and south- 
 ern sections of our country, than in the actual in- 
 jury suffered by either; rather in the anticipation 
 of future evils, than in the pressure of any now 
 actually endured. 
 
 "It is true that the people of the Southern States 
 have a right to complain of the incessant abuse 
 poured upon their institutions by the press, the 
 pulpit, and many of the people of the North. It is 
 true that they have a right to complain of legisla- 
 tive enactments designed to interfere with the as- 
 sertion of their constitutional rights. It is true 
 that the hostile feeling to Southern institutions 
 enter^ined by many of the North has manifested 
 itself in mob violence, interfering with the exe- 
 cution of laws made to secure the rights of 
 Southern citizens. It is true that in one instance 
 this fanatical feeling has displayed itself in the 
 actual invasion of a Southern State by a few mad- 
 men, who totally misunderstood the institution 
 they came to subvert. It is true that a sectional 
 political party has been organized at the North, 
 based upon the idea that the institution of South- 
 ern slavery is not to be allowed to extend itself 
 
WHY THEY FOUGHT. 23 
 
 into territory of the United States, and that this 
 party has for the present possessed itself of the 
 power of the Government. Whilst it is thus true 
 that the people of the South have well-grounded 
 complaints against many of their fellow-citizens of 
 the North, it is equally true that heretofore there 
 has been no complaint against the action of the 
 Federal Government in an}^ of its departments, as 
 designed to violate the rights of the Southern 
 States. By some incomprehensible delusion, many 
 Northern people have come to believe that in some 
 way they are chargeable with complicity in what 
 they are pleased to consider the sin of slavery. 
 * * This morbid sensitiveness has been minis- 
 tered to b}^ religious and political agitators for the 
 purpose of increasing their own importance and 
 advancing their own interests, and the natural con- 
 sequences have followed: outbursts of mob vio- 
 lence and of political action against the owners of 
 slaves. * * * * 
 
 ^'Upon the subject of violent interference by 
 mobs with the execution of the Fugitive Slave 
 Law, and the forcible abduction of slaves when 
 with their owners in the Northern States, it is 
 proper to observe there reigns throughout the land 
 a spirit of insubordination to law that is proba- 
 bly unequalled in any other civilized country on 
 the globe.'' This report was written by Judge 
 Gamble. 
 
 The minority report said: ^^When we look 
 back over the history of our country, we see arising 
 in the Northern States an anti-slavery party, 
 
24 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 whose sole cohesive principle was a bitter hostility 
 to the slave institutions of the Southern States. 
 At first that party was weak, its members few and 
 scattered abroad and considered by the Northern 
 people themselves as mischievous fanatics; it con- 
 tinued gradually, but steadily, to increase until 
 political parties began to court its aid. * * * 
 They violated the compact that united them to 
 their sister States of the South. By that compact, 
 they had covenanted that a fugitive slave found 
 within their borders should be delivered up, upon 
 demand of his master. They have violated their 
 compact : 
 
 "1st. By failing to enact laws providing for 
 his delivery. 
 
 "2d. By refusing the master aid, permitting 
 their lawless citizens to deprive him of his prop- 
 erty by mob violence. 
 
 "3d. When Congress interposed for his relief 
 by the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law, they 
 trampled that law under foot, and nullified it by 
 deliberate State legislation." 
 
 KETROSPECTION. 
 
 The centripetal and centrifugal forces in our 
 political system manifested their presence at the 
 Constitutional Convention in 1787. Hamilton and 
 his followers wanted a constitution that gave great 
 power to the general (xovernment. The opponents 
 to Hamilton's policy, led afterwards by Jefferson, 
 insisted on leaving the largest possible power with 
 the respective States. These two forces required 
 
WHY THEY FOUGHT. 25 
 
 the Constitutional Convention to resort to many 
 compromises. 
 
 Our Constitution is a bundle of compromises. 
 
 The convention wrote three compromises in the 
 Constitution on the subject of slavery, while simi- 
 lar devices went to other subjects. The result was 
 an instrument which Gladstone denominated the 
 most wonderful work ever "struck off at a given 
 time by the brain and purpose of man," but which 
 our fathers accepted with grave misgivings. Only 
 nine of the thirteen States accepted the Constitu- 
 tion, barely enough to set the new government in 
 operation. New York ratified the Constitution, 
 but in doing so called upon all ratifying States to 
 make immediate application to the new Congress, 
 presently to meet, for the authorization of a new 
 Constitutional Convention, and at the same time 
 specified thirty-three amendments which alone 
 would bring the new system to any tolerable de- 
 gree of perfection. Massachusetts demanded nu- 
 merous amendments in her act of ratification. 
 Discontent with the new sj^stem was very general. 
 Pennsylvania ratified promptly — by fraud, it was 
 charged. Left to a popular vote, the Constitution 
 would have been rejected. The ratifying Colonies 
 did not like each other. They never had liked 
 each other. The foolish effort of King George the 
 Third to impose upon them a personal government 
 had driven them into a constrained and unwilling 
 unity. Scarcely had independence been achieved 
 when the Colonies began to harass each other with 
 tariff schedules. 
 
26 BATTLES AND BIOQRAPEIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 At the beginning of the Revolution, Virginia 
 was in closer touch with England than with Mas- 
 sachusetts. In Pennsylvania and New York the 
 Tory party at all times prior to the actual begin- 
 ning of hostilities largely outnumbered the Whig 
 party. Fiske, in his "Critical Period/' says: "It 
 was not simply free Massachusetts and slave-hold- 
 ing South Carolina, or English Connecticut and 
 Dutch New York, that misunderstood and ridiculed 
 each other; but even between such neighboring 
 States as Connecticut and Massachusetts, both of 
 them thoroughly English and Puritan and in all 
 their social conditions exactly alike, it used to be 
 said that there Vv^as no love lost." The Colonies 
 ceased to levy tariffs against each other with the 
 adoption of the Constitution, but the tariff habit 
 was continued, being transferred to a wide plane, 
 whereby one section gained material advantage at 
 the expense of the other section. Negro slavery at 
 the South had a marked influence in unifying that 
 section against the tariff aggression of the North. 
 Rightly understood, negro slaves saved the Union 
 for seventy years by solidifying the South against 
 the disintegrating tendencies of the North. 
 
 At the beginning of the nineteenth century two 
 men, one a philanthropist, the other a soldier, and 
 each a statesman, Jefferson and Napoleon, con- 
 tributed to the history of the world a chapter which 
 was rife with the shadows of civil war. If there 
 had been no Louisiana Purchase, there would have 
 
WHY THEY FOUGHT. 27 
 
 been no war of the Rebellion. Strife and dissen- 
 tion were born of the expansion of 1803. 
 ; From the beginning there had been recogniza- 
 bly a North and a South. Congress early estab- 
 lished the practice of admitting States into the 
 Union alternately, one from the North and one 
 from the South, for the purpose of sustaining the 
 equipoise between the two sections. Thus Missis- 
 sippi and Indiana were admitted as offsets; Ala- 
 bama and Illinois, Missouri and Maine. The Lou- 
 isiana Purchase and the Missouri Compromise ren- 
 dered the North top-heavy. The North was able 
 to outswap the South. The war with Mexico and 
 the acquisition of Spanish territory w^ere consum- 
 mated with the view of gaining for the South new 
 slave territory. The War of 1812 nearly drove the 
 North into secession; the Louisiana Purchase and 
 the war with Mexico opened the door wide to 
 Southern secession. 
 
 The War of the Rebellion actually began in the 
 bloody effort of both North and South to win Kan- 
 sas under the Gospel of Douglas, or Squatter Sov- 
 ereignty, an am])lified State rights doctrine. 
 
28 BATTLES AND BtOaRAPHlES OF MISSOURI AN S. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 KANSAS TROUBLES. 
 
 I do believe, 
 Statist though I be none, nor lilie to be, 
 That this will prove a war. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Ho, brothers! Come, brothers! 
 
 Hasten all with me! 
 We '11 Bing upon the Kansas plains 
 
 A song of liberty! 
 
 — Lucy Larcom. 
 
 The great Santa F^ Trail, which began at Inde- 
 pendence, Mo., separated into two branches in 
 Kansas, and gave that Territory two great higli- 
 ways. One branch led southwest into New Mex- 
 ico; the other ran up between the Kaw and the 
 Wakarusa. This was the California rout \ Fr m 
 all the river towns and all the landings, roads ram- 
 ified the West. The travel of emigrants over the 
 principal of these roads equalled the travel over 
 an Eastern turnpike. (Hale, 1854.) 
 
 Eli Thayer, a member of the Massachusetts Leg- 
 islature, conceived the plan of assisting European 
 emigrants, who reached our eastern seaboard, to 
 locate safely in the West. There were harpies in 
 those days, who lived by fleecing newly-arrived 
 foreigners. Mr. Thayer introduced and had 
 passed a bill providing for the incorporation of the 
 Massachusetts Emigrant and Aid Society, with a 
 
KANSAS TROUBLES. 29 
 
 capital stock limited to |5,000,000. This was one 
 of the earliest sinews of the war between the 
 States. Similar societies were incorporated in 
 New York and Connecticut. Emigrants, foreign 
 and native, were sent to Kansas as rapidly as pos- 
 sible. Free transportation was given to all who 
 applied for tickets for the journey. Local leagues 
 and auxiliary branches were erected all over the 
 East as feeders to the emigrant companies. The 
 Union Emigrant Society of Washington City was 
 organized "by such members of Congress and citi- 
 zens generally as were opposed to the repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise and to the extension of 
 slavery in the Territories.'^ 
 
 The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill en- 
 throned "Squatter Sovereignty," a term first used 
 by Senator Cass, of Michigan. The term meant 
 that the settlers in a new Territory should super- 
 vise their own domestic affairs without the dicta- 
 tion of the general Government at Washington 
 City; that is, the settlers were to have slavery or 
 not as they might elect. Edward E. Hale, of Bos- 
 ton, wrote a book in 1854, on Emigrant Aid So- 
 cieties, in which he said: "To secure to Kansas, 
 therefore, a fair proportion of Western emigra- 
 tion; to secure for the principle of Squatter Sov- 
 ereignty a fair trial, and to make sure that the in- 
 stitutions, both of Kansas and Nebraska, should 
 be digested by settlers of every class; it became 
 necessary that some organization of the great cur- 
 rent of western emigration should encourage each 
 
30 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOVRIANS. 
 
 emigrant from the North by showing him how 
 strong a force was behind him and around him." 
 The Missonrians accepted the repeal of the Mis- 
 souri Compromise and the passage of the Kansas- 
 Nebraska bill as legalizing the claims of slavery in 
 all the Territories. They felt outraged by the tres- 
 pass and intrusion of Yankee emigrants who were 
 not bona-fide settlers, but who came as minions of 
 political schemers of the East to abolitionize the 
 new Territory. The Missonrians argued that Mas- 
 sachusetts and Vermont had no right to come with 
 their abolition propaganda into Kansas and thus 
 open an avenue of escape to Missouri slaves. The 
 Underground Eailroad was in operation all over 
 the country when Kansas was erected into a Terri- 
 tory in 1854. The Missonrians, therefore, not to 
 be outdone by Yankee schemes and enterprise, or- 
 ganized ''Blue Lodges,'^ "Sons of the South," and 
 other orders. The methods and purposes of these 
 lodges were exactly similar to the methods and 
 purposes of the Eastern Aid Societies. Antici- 
 pating the arrival of the Eastern emigrants, the 
 Missonrians went iAto the new Territory and 
 staked off numerous claims, the basis of many 
 future quarrels. In July, 1854, the first Eastern 
 emigrants arrived in Kansas and stopped at Law- 
 rence. A band of pro-slavery Missonrians warned 
 them not to settle there. No blood Avas shed, but 
 the inter-state quarrel was begun, and the quarrel 
 deepened from that day and widened until the na- 
 
KANSAS TROUBLES. 31 
 
 tioii was involved, and only ended with Lee and 
 Grant at Appomattox. 
 
 A Free Soil w^riter of the time, who denominat- 
 ed the Missourians as "Border Riiflfians/' said: 
 '^Yankee settlements in the valley of the Kaw 
 awakened a bloodthirsty wish to extirpate them.'' 
 The extirpation imi)iilse seemed to be mutual be- 
 tween the Free Soil and the pro-slavery people. 
 During' the half-dozen years between 1854 and 
 1860, poor bleeding-, distracted Kansas excited uni- 
 versal interest, hatred at the South, commiseration 
 at the North. The effusion of blood was not the 
 vendetta of fractious and misguided neighbors. 
 The temper of the wide nation was displaying it- 
 self here in the Territory of Kansas. The shock 
 here was the premonition of the earthquake of the 
 Civil War. 
 
 Mr. Thayer has left on record that the Missouri 
 settler brought his family into Kansas, while the 
 Aid Societies sent out only men. It was noted 
 that the abolition settlers had more Sharp's rifles 
 than implements of agriculture. In 1854 the first 
 election was held in Kansas. Citizens of Missouri 
 went over and voted. They carried the election 
 and the pro-slavery delegate elected to Congress 
 took his seat and served without protest. The Ter- 
 ritorial Legislature was elected in March, 1855. On 
 the occasion of this election large bands of Mis- 
 sourians invaded Kansas to vote, claiming that 
 they had as good a right — in fact, a better right to 
 vote than did the interlopers brought fromtheEast 
 
32 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 by Emigrant Aid Societies. Over a thousand Mis- 
 sourians attended the election at Lawrence, more 
 than enough to carry that precinct; so three hun- 
 dred rode twelve miles to another precinct and car- 
 ried that also. The best men of the State of Mis- 
 souri attended this Kansas election and exercised 
 the right of suffrage. Such men as Claiborne F. 
 Jackson, Senator D. K. Atchison, Joseph O. Shel- 
 by, John T. Hughes, judges of Buchanan and Cass 
 counties and other county officials, and prominent 
 citizens from different parts of the State, were en- 
 thusiastic visitors in Kansas on that 30tli of 
 March, 1855. Senator Atchison, who had been 
 president of the United States Senate, said in 
 urging Missourians to vote in Kansas: "If men a 
 thousand miles off can send men to abolitionize 
 Kansas, how much more is it the duty of those who 
 live within a day's journey of the Territory, and 
 whose peace and property depend on the result, 
 to meet and send young men over the border 
 to vote. If they should fail, Missouri and the oth- 
 er Southern States would show themselves rec- 
 reant to their own interests and would deserve 
 their fate." 
 
 A pro-slavery legislature was declared elected, 
 and this body made the Lecompton Constitution 
 and enacted laws which Avere utterly repudiated 
 by the Free Soil party of the Territory of Kansas. 
 A Free Soil writer said of the election: "The im- 
 mediate effect was to further excite the people of 
 the Northern States, induce acts of retaliation, and 
 
KAN 8 AS TROUBLES. 33 
 
 exasperate the actual settlers against their Mis- 
 souri neighbors." 
 
 Governor Shannon, of Kansas, said he could 
 understand why Missouri was so active in Kansas 
 affairs: "Missouri has 50,000 slaves in that por- 
 tion of her territory which borders upon Kansas. 
 By estimating the average value of each of these 
 slaves at |600, a low estimate, we have a total of 
 $30,000,000. Now, should Kansas become a free 
 State, it would be ruinous to the slave-holding in- 
 terests of Missouri." 
 
 James Montgomery was a Christian minister 
 from Missouri, a Free Soiler of decided cast. He 
 settled on Sugar Creek, a Kansas tributary of the 
 Marais des Cygnes. In 1856, Gen. Clark, with 300 
 United States troops, burned his house. He or- 
 ganized a band of Jay hawkers, and these retaliated 
 by despoiling their pro-slavery neighbors. Houses 
 were ransacked and burned; horses were taken; 
 Blue Lodge men were notified to leave the country 
 or were murdered. Montgomery's biographer and 
 apologist, Tomlinson, says: "His judgment, cour- 
 age, and skill with firearms became proverbial." 
 Montgoinery was in open rebellion against the 
 United States authorities at Fort Scott. In the 
 battle of "Yellow Paint" he overcame the Federal 
 troops. Tomlinson says: "By that fight — the 
 first between the settlers and the Federal soldiery 
 of Kansas — it was satisfactorily demonstrated 
 that a Sharp's rifle ball, carefully directed, would 
 have the same effect upon a dragoon as upon a 
 
34 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 common man." The cry of Montgomery's men was, 
 "Down with Fort Scott! Down with the strong- 
 hold of tyranny!'- The operations of John Brown 
 belong to general history and are well known. 
 Brown was an nnselfish, fanatical abolitionist; 
 Montgomery was a Jayhawker. Brown killed 
 men and took their property, if they believed in 
 slavery. He was not a robber per se, although af- 
 ter his last raid into Missouri he sold his horse in 
 Ohio, warning the purchaser of a ''possible defect 
 in title." Missouri was an older country than 
 Kansas, and, possessing more property than Kan- 
 sas, suffered heavier losses than the latter. Mis- 
 sourians found ample pretexts for penetrating into 
 Kansas to recover stolen and runaway negroes and 
 "stray" horses. These were usually enterprising 
 enough to get what they went after in either "meal 
 or malt." 
 
 Leverett W. Springer, professor of English in 
 the University of Kansas, in his admirable Avork, 
 says that Fort Scott was a military post from 1842 
 to 1856 and w^as a Border Ruffian stronghold, 
 against which the Jayhawkers directed especial 
 animus. Springer says: 
 
 "Confederated at first for defense against pro- 
 slavery outrages, but ultimately more or less com- 
 pletely into the vocation of robbery and assassins, 
 they received the name^ — whatever its origin may 
 be — of Jayhawkers. The best known leader in the 
 jayhawking episodes is James Montgomery. * * 
 
 "In these aggressions Jayhawkers seemed to 
 
KANSAS TROUBLES. 35 
 
 take the lead, and they established a freebootin^ 
 reputation that fairly intimidated pro-slavery ad- 
 herents. The accounts of marauding incursions 
 from Missouri which appeared in contemporary 
 prints were mostly canards circulated by Jay- 
 hawkers as an excuse for their own depredations. 
 They occasionally dispatched messengers to Law- 
 rence with a budget of exaggerated or manufact- 
 ured pro-slavei'y outrages, to keep alive their 
 reputation as struggling, self-denying, afflicted 
 patriots. 
 
 ^'While it may be rash to speak with confidence 
 on a matter where so much confusion, blur, and 
 conflict of testimony still exist, yet the conclusion 
 seems to be forced that in comparison with the 
 Missourians, whose sins are black enough. Jay- 
 hawkers are superior devils.'' The same author 
 says of the Kansas "Ked-legs'': ^^It was a loose- 
 jointed association with members shifting betw^een 
 25 and 50, dedicated originally to the vocation of 
 horse-stealing, but flexible enough to include 
 rascalities of every description." 
 
 In 1859 Governor Stewart sent a message to the 
 Missouri Legislature asking for relief for the bor- 
 der counties against the continued incursions of 
 the Kansas Jayhawkers. The governor wrote to 
 President Buchanan that he had ^'ordered a body 
 of militia into Cass and Bates counties, because 
 they have been subjected to repeated depreda- 
 tions." 
 
 A legislative committee was appointed and its 
 
36 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 report on the governor's message was singnlarly 
 dispassionate and wise : "We have evidence of the 
 most satisfactory character that outrages almost 
 without parallel, in America at least, have been 
 perpetrated upon the persons and property of unof- 
 fending citizens of Bates and Vernon counties — 
 their houses plundered and then burned, their ne- 
 groes kidnapped in droves, citizens wounded and 
 murdered in cold blood, etc.'' 
 
 The committee was opposed to the adoption of 
 warlike measures. It advised that rewards be of- 
 fered for the arrest of leading Jayhawkers and that 
 circuit judges should hold special terms in the 
 disturbed district to investigate grievances. The 
 governor was authorized to adopt measures that 
 he might deem necessary. The sum of |30,000 was 
 appropriated to enable the governor to carry out 
 these purposes. A reward of |3,000 was offered 
 for the arrest of John Brown. By the exertion of 
 the State, federal, and territorial- authorities, com- 
 parative peace was established, and '^out of sub- 
 siding anarchy there arose a crude, rudimental 
 order." 
 
 "It did not last long," says Lucien Carr in 
 "Missouri a Bone of Contention." "In November, 
 1860, another outbreak occurred, in which the Uni- 
 ted States court for the Third District of Kansas 
 Avas broken up by a band of Jayhawkers under 
 Montgomery, and the United States officers, in- 
 cluding the judge liimself, were compelled to fly 
 for their lives. A grand juror (Moore) was mur- 
 
KANSAS TROUBLES. 37 
 
 dered, as were al^o Sam Scott and Kussell Hindes, 
 the latter a Missourian who was hunting a runa- 
 way negro. These proceedings were endorsed by 
 the so-called conventions of Linn and Bourbon 
 counties, Kansas, and were backed by the declara- 
 tion of Montgomery, that he intended ^to keep pos- 
 session of Fort t^cott and other places near the 
 State line to prevent a fire in the rear while he 
 cleaned out southern Missouri of its slaves/ Citi- 
 zens of Missouri on the Osage and Marmaton rivers 
 and in Bates and Vernon counties left their homes 
 and fied to the interior of the State. Gen. D. M. 
 Frost, afterwards of Camp Jackson fame, was or- 
 dered by Gov. Stuart to end the difiticulty. Frost 
 went with 630 men. Gen. Harney was there; 
 Montgomery quit his fort, disbanded his men and 
 left the county. Frost reported to the governor 
 that ''the deserted and charred remains of once 
 happy homes, combined with the general terror 
 that prevailed amongst the citizens who still clung 
 to their possessions, gave but too certain proof of 
 the persecutions to which they had all been sub- 
 jected and which they would again have to endure 
 so soon as armed protection should be Avithdrawn.'' 
 
 Col. John S. Bowen, who afterwards rose to a 
 high command in the Confederate Army, Avas left 
 in command. At the outbreak of the Civil War 
 jayhawking still flourished, though it ended for 
 that season with Frost and Bowen. 
 
 "The old jayhawking leaders, however, now 
 came with United States commissions in their 
 
38 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 pockets and at the head of regularly enlisted 
 troops, in which guise they carried on a system of 
 robbery and murder that left a good portion of the 
 frontier, south of the Missouri Kiver, as perfect a 
 waste as Germany was at the end of the Thirty 
 Years' War.'' (Lucien Carr.) 
 
 This outline of the ante-bellum troubles le 
 tween Missouri and Kansas would be inexcusably 
 incomplete without some notice of the Wakarusa 
 War. In this exciting but bloodless affair many 
 Missourians began their military careers. 
 
 Samuel J. Jones, of Westport, a courageous 
 man, had been elected sheriff of Douglas County, 
 Kansas. At the election which put Jones in office 
 the Free Soil men refused to vote, not recognizing 
 as legal the legislature under whose laws it was 
 held. All '^ white" men had a right to vote; the 
 right of suffrage was so broad that it included all 
 Indians who conformed to the customs of the white 
 man, which condition seemed to be fulfilled by the 
 drinking of bad whisky. 
 
 A claim dispute near Lawrence, between F. N. 
 Coleman and Chas. M. Dow, eventuated in the 
 assassination of the latter by the former. Dow 
 was a Free Soiler and lived with Jacob Bronson. 
 A meeting of Free Soilers was held at the scene 
 of the killing and measures of retaliation were dis- 
 cussed. Bronson threatened \o kill Coleman. In 
 order to protect the latter, a warrant for the arrest 
 of the former was placed in the hands of Sheriff 
 Jones, who proceeded with a posse to the home of 
 
KANSAS TROUBLES. 39 
 
 Bronson and at night served the writ As they 
 came away with their prisoner, they were con- 
 fronted by a posse of Free Soilers. Bronson at 
 once left the ranks of his captors and joined his 
 friends. The news flew like wildfire all over Kan- 
 sas and Missouri that legal processes could not be 
 executed in the Territory on account of Free Soil 
 outlaw^s. Gov. Shannon called out the militia to 
 uphold the laws, and 1500 men from Missouri 
 marched heavily armed into Kansas to sustain the 
 laws enacted by the legislature which they had as- 
 sisted in electing. The Free Soilers repaired in 
 heavy force to Lawrence, which place they forti- 
 fied. Law^rence had been in bad repute with Mis- 
 sourians from the beginning. Thither they con- 
 centrated and besieged the towm, led by such men 
 as Atchison, Doniphan, and Hi Bledsoe. The be- 
 leaguered Free Soilers opened communication with 
 Gov. Shannon and induced him to visit Lawrence. 
 The governor. Major Kobinson, and Jim Lane were 
 sent to confer with the Missourians. By keeping 
 ''the frothy, pictorial, and unbalanced'' Lane quiet, 
 Gov. Shannon and Senator Atchison succeeded in 
 explaining matters to the Missourians and a peace 
 w^as made. The peace was ratified by the approval 
 of everybody in both Missouri and Kansas, except 
 old John Brow^n, who announced himself as in 
 favor of blood-letting. 
 
40 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 PREMONITIONS OF WAR. 
 
 Although General Sterling Pidce and other 
 Union Democrats carried the State of Missouri for 
 Douglas in 1860, the Legislature elected that year 
 was from the Breckinridge or Southern wing of 
 the party. The new governor, Claiborne F. Jack- 
 son, found the General Assembly which convened 
 on the last day of December to be in perfect accord 
 with himself on all questions of federal relations 
 of the State. The governor, therefore, seems to 
 have made a mistake in his inaugural me.-^sage, 
 by asking that a State convention be called. The 
 Legislature was competent to pass an ordinance 
 of secession, and was at last desirous of doing so; 
 but the power had then been lodged by law with 
 the State Convention, w^hich not only rejected 
 secession, but deposed the governor and all the 
 other State officers, including members of the 
 Legislature. 
 
 The members of the General Assembl}^ were 
 chosen at the August election. The national crisis 
 had not then developed. The war cloud on the 
 horizon was not larger than a man's hand and ex- 
 cited no apprehension of immediate danger. The 
 will of the people on the question of secession, par- 
 amount in January, found no expression at the 
 election held on the first Monday of the preced- 
 
PREMONITIONS OF WAR. 41 
 
 ing August A uew election, therefore, was nec- 
 essary. 
 
 In recommending a State convention Governor 
 Jackson was prompted by the lofty motives of a 
 disinterested patriotism. Patriotically, the con- 
 vention was righteous; from a party standpoint, it 
 was, perhaps, an error. The cotton States adopted 
 ordinances of secession through State conventions. 
 Perhaps Gov. Jackson expected the Missouri State 
 Convention to do the same. 
 
 The election of Abraham Lincoln to the presi- 
 dency was looked upon throughout the South as 
 in the last degree inimical to the institution of 
 slavery. Lincoln's speech at Springfield, 111., in 
 June, 1858, was distinctly remembered. He said 
 in accepting the nomination to the United States 
 Senate: "A house divided against itself cannot 
 stand. I believe this Government cannot endure 
 permanently half slave and half free. I do not ex- 
 pect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect 
 the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to 
 be divided. It will all become one thing or the 
 other." This prophetic utterance was derided as 
 the idle vaporings of a buffoon. Lincoln was now 
 to be President. He was regarded as the chief of 
 abolitionists, and was detested accordingly. 
 
 After the election of Lincoln, the Southern Con- 
 federacy was quickly organized. Missouri be- 
 longed to both the North and the South and her 
 people were divided in the impending conflict. 
 The voices of the outgoing and the incoming gov- 
 
42 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 ernors, carefully noted, give a perfect reflection 
 of public sentiment at that dark and distressinjjj 
 hour. 
 
 Gov. Stewart, whose neglected grave may be 
 seen at St. Joseph, in his final message to the 
 Legislature, said: 
 
 "Missouri occupies a position in regard to 
 these troubles that should make her voice po- 
 tent in the councils of the nation. With scarce- 
 ly a disunionist per }^e to be found in her borders, 
 she is still determined to demand, and to maintain, 
 her rights at every hazard. She loves the Union 
 while it is the protector of equal rights, but will 
 despise it as the instrument of wrong. She came 
 into the Union upon a compromise, and is willing 
 to abide by a fair compromise still; not such 
 ephemeral contracts as are enacted by Congress 
 to-day, and repealed to-morrow; but a compromise 
 assuring all the just rights of the States, and 
 agreed to in solemn convention of the parties 
 interested. 
 
 "Missouri has a right to speak on this subject, 
 because she has suffered. Bounded on three sides 
 by free territory, her border counties have been the 
 frequent scenes of kidnapping and violence, and 
 this State has probably lost as much, in the last 
 two years, in abducted slaves, as all the rest of the 
 Southern States. At this moment several of the 
 western counties are desolated, and almost depop- 
 ulated, from fear of a bandit horde, who have been 
 
PREMONITIONS OF WAR. 43 
 
 committing depredations — arson, theft, and foul 
 murder — upon the adjacent border. 
 
 "Missouri has a right, too, to be heard by rea- 
 son of her present position and power, as well as 
 from the great calamities which a hasty dissolu- 
 tion of the Union will bring upon her. She has 
 already a larger voting population than any of the 
 slave States, witli prospective power and wealth 
 far beyond any of her sister States. * * * * 
 
 "As matters are at present, Missouri will stand 
 by her lot, and hold to the Union as long as it is 
 worth an effort to preserve it. So long as there is 
 hope of success she will seek for justice within the 
 Union. She cannot be frightened from her pro- 
 priety by the past unfriendly legislation of the 
 North, nor be dragooned into secession by the ex- 
 treme South. If those Avho should be our friends 
 and allies undertake to render our property worth- 
 less by a system of prohibitory laws, or by reopen- 
 ing the slave trade in opposition to the moral sense 
 of the civilized world, and at the same time reduce 
 us to a position of humble sentinel to watch over 
 and protect their interests, receiving all the blows 
 and none of the benefits, Missouri will hesitate 
 long before sanctioning such an arrangement. 
 She will rather take the high position of armed 
 neutrality. She is able to take care of herself, and 
 will be neither forced nor flattered, driven nor 
 coaxed, into a course of action that must end in her 
 own destruction. 
 
 "If South Carolina and other cotton States per- 
 
44 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MISSOURI AN8. 
 
 sist in secession, she will desire to see them go in 
 peace, with the hope that a short experience at 
 separate government, and an honorable readjust- 
 ment of the federal compact, will induce them to 
 return to their former position. In the meantime 
 Missouri will hold herself ready, at any mouaent, 
 to defend her soil from pollution and her property 
 from plunder by fanatics and marauders, come 
 from what quarter they may." 
 
 Gov. Jackson said in his first message: 
 ^^The triumph of such an organization [the Re- 
 publican party] is not the victory of a political 
 party, but the domination of a section. * * * 
 "Accordingly, we find the result of the recent 
 presidential election has already produced its nat- 
 ural effects. From Florida to Missouri a feeling of 
 discontent and alarm has manifested itself, more 
 or less violent, according to the imminence of the 
 danger and the extent of the interests at stake. * 
 
 "The destiny of the slave-holding States of this 
 Union is one and the same. * * The identity, 
 rather than the similarity, of their domestic insti- 
 tutions; their political principles and party usages; 
 their common origin, pursuits, tastes, manners, and 
 customs; their territorial contiguity and commer- 
 cial relations — all contribute to bind them together 
 in one sisterhood. And Missouri will, in my judg- 
 ment, best consult her own interests and the inter- 
 ests of the whole country by a timely declaration 
 of her determination to stand by her sister slave- 
 holding States, in whose wrongs she participates, 
 
PREMONITIONS OF WAR. 45 
 
 and with whose institutions and people she sym- 
 pathizes. * * * 
 
 "The ultimate fate of all the slave-holding 
 States is necessarily the same, their determination 
 and action in the present crisis should be the re- 
 sult of a general consultation. * * * 
 
 "I am not without hope that an adjustment 
 alike honorable to both sections may be effected, 
 * * * but in the present unfavorable aspect of 
 public aft'airs it is our duty to prepare for the 
 worst. * * * The magnitude of the interests 
 now in jeopardy demands a prompt but deliberate 
 consideration; and in order that the will of the 
 people may be ascertained and effectuated, a State 
 convention should, in my view, be immediately 
 called. '^ 
 
 In accordance with the governor's recommend- 
 ation, George G. Vest introduced a bill, which was 
 promptly enacted into law, providing for a State 
 convention similar to those which in the cotton 
 States were jjassing ordinances of secession. The 
 convention was to be composed of ninety-nine 
 members, three from each of the thirty-three sen- 
 atorial districts. The election was ordered for 
 February 23d. 
 
 It was confidently expected that the people 
 would elect a thoroughly Southern if not a seces- 
 sionist convention. But the temper of the people 
 was dispassionate. A deep vein of conservatism 
 developed itself. The people selected for the State 
 Convention their most thouohtful and cautions 
 
46 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 men. The result was emphatic. Every man in the 
 convention was for the Union. 
 
 The convention met at Jefferson Oity on the 
 last day of February, 1861. It was composed of 
 such eminent citizens as Sterling Price, Judge 
 Gamble, John B. Henderson, Judge Norton, and 
 Alexander W. Doniphan. The Lexington district 
 was represented by Samuel L. Sawyer. Independ- 
 ence sent Jas. K. Sheley. 
 
 The convention was clothed with ampler powers 
 than belonged to the Legislature itself. The con- 
 vention might have abrogated the constitution of 
 the State and replaced it with another. Sterling 
 Price was chosen president, and Judge Gamble was 
 placed at the head of the Committee on Federal 
 Relations. After a three-days session, the conven- 
 tion adjourned to meet in St. Louis on the 4th of 
 March. At tliat meeting, as Lincoln was taking 
 the oath of office. Judge Gamble reported this res- 
 olution, which was adopted: "To involve Missouri 
 in a revolution under the present circumstances is 
 certainly not demanded by the magnitude of the 
 grievances of which we complain; nor by the cer- 
 tainty that they cannot be otherwise and more 
 peacefully remedied; nor by the hope that they 
 would be remedied, or even diminished, by such 
 revolution.'' 
 
 This resolution was forwarded to the governor 
 and the General Assembly. The convention, hav- 
 ing done ajl that it was created to do, now should 
 have adjourned sine die. Instead of doin^ so, it 
 
PREMONITIONS OF WAR. 47 
 
 adjourned subject to the call of a committee. Evi- 
 dently the Legislature was distrusted by the con- 
 vention. The convention derived its authority, 
 not from the Legislature, but directly from the peo- 
 l^le, whose will was expressed at a popular elec- 
 tion, the last one held in a dozen years. A large 
 minority of the convention, forty-seven members, 
 believed in secession, under circumstances of suffi- 
 cient provocation, A small majority, fifty -two 
 members, believed unconditionally in the Union. 
 This majority afterwards constituted the "Gamble 
 Convention" and was the source of authority of the 
 "Gamble Dynasty." 
 
 The General Assembly continued in session 
 during the winter. Many fiery Southern speeches 
 were delivered by such members as George G. Vest 
 and Thos. A. Harris, afterwards Gen. Harris of the 
 State Guards army, and still later of the Confed- 
 erate Congress. During the session commission- 
 ers were received from many of the seceded States. 
 On such occasions both houses of the Legislature, 
 the governor, judges of the Suijreme Court, and 
 other officials of the State, assembled in the Hall 
 of Representatives and the visiting commissioners 
 were received with the ceremony and circumstance 
 due a plenipotentiary of a foreign Government. 
 The Union people over the State were greatly ex- 
 ercised by these manifestations of sovereignty at 
 the State Capitol. Such occurrences were held as 
 treasonable by many historians of the day, few of 
 whom freed themselves from prejudice far enough 
 
48^ BATTLES AND BIOaRAPEIEB OF MI880URIA1^S. 
 
 to relate that the State Convention, unquestiona- 
 bly Union, was no less treasonable in this respect 
 than the Legislature itself. The convention gave 
 a respectful hearing to Luther J. Glenn, commis- 
 sioner from Georgia. A committee was appointed 
 and made its report to the convention in due and 
 formal order on Glenn's mission and his address. 
 The convention passed many resolutions during 
 its several weeks' session, one of which urged al- 
 most passionately the Federal Government not to 
 coerce a seceding State, and the seceding States 
 were begged to ^'withhold and stay the arm of mil- 
 itai^ power.'' Federal coercion of a seceding State 
 found no countenance in the Legislature or in the 
 State Convention. This early meeting of the State 
 Convention was conservative in all its actions, 
 showing due and proper deference to the governor 
 and the Legislature. In its later meetings it was 
 denominated the "Gamble Convention." Judge 
 Gamble was made provisional governor of the State 
 and a full set of State officers were chosen. The 
 provisional Government of the State of Missouri 
 was in perfect accord with Lincoln's administra- 
 tion. Its seat of power was in St. Louis. 
 
THE GAMP JACKSON AFFAIR. 49 
 
 Chapter IV, 
 
 THE CAMP JACKSON AFFAIR. 
 
 The Douglas anrl the Hotspur, both together. 
 Are confident against the world in arms. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Frank P. Blair was the head and front of the 
 Union cause In Missouri ; Nathaniel Lyon was the 
 shivering lance. These two together saved Mis- 
 souri to the Union. Neither could have accom- 
 plished the result alone. They transcended their 
 federal authority and usurped powers lodged by 
 law with the governor of the State. The exigencies 
 of war soon justified their course. 
 
 As early as 1856 Frank P. Blair whispered the 
 magic word "Emancipation.'' In the campaign of 
 18G0 he organized the Germans of St Louis into 
 political clubs devoted to Mr. Bates for the 
 presidential nomination which went to Lincoln. 
 The Wide-awakes ratified the nomination of Lin- 
 coln, whom they supported with an enthusiasm 
 attributable mainly to Blair's leadership. In De- 
 cember the Wide aw^akes were formed into stal- 
 wart, loyal Union clubs. Every member was an 
 "unconditional Union" man and believed with 
 Blair that "every traitor should feel the strength 
 of Missouri hemp." These political clubs became, 
 in January, the basis of the "United States Re- 
 serve Corp,'' better known as the Home Guards. 
 
50 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MtSSOURIANS. 
 
 These were secretly drilled in garrets at first, but 
 were strong and fearless. The secessionists were 
 not less active. They drilled minute men and 
 other bodies. These antagonist organizations de- 
 veloped the war spirit and St Louis was early the 
 scenes of mob violence. 
 
 Major Bell was in command of the United 
 States arsenal at St. Louis. Gen. D. M. Frost, a 
 West Pointer, who had served in the State Senate 
 and was author of the military bill of 1858, was at 
 the head of the State militia in the St. Louis dis- 
 trict. Major Bell agreed, in an interview with 
 Gen. Frost, that the United States arsenal be- 
 longed of right to the State of Missouri and prom- 
 ised that nothing should be removed without time- 
 ly notice. Major Bell resigned and was succeeded 
 by Major Hagner, who in turn was succeeded by 
 Major Harney. Early in January the sub-treas- 
 ury in St. Louis held |400,000. Isaac Sturgeon, 
 assistant treasurer, wrote to the President that 
 this money needed special protection and that a few 
 soldiers ought to be stationed at the sub-treasury. 
 Forty soldiers were foolishly sent. Instantly a 
 resolution was introduced in the Legislature de- 
 manding of the Government an explanation for the 
 presence of these soldiers on the sacred soil of Mis- 
 souri. The resolution was dropped when it was 
 learned that the soldiers had been transferred to 
 the arsenal. The feeling of anxiety did not sub- 
 side, however. A few extreme Southern men in 
 the State now urged the governor to seize the ar- 
 
THE GAMP JACKSON AFFAIR. 51 
 
 senal, but this would have been an act of secession 
 and the governor was not yet a secessionist. 
 
 On the 6th of February, Capt. Lyon marched 
 into the arsenal grounds with a company of regu- 
 lars from Fort Kiley. Blair and Lyon had their 
 heads together at once. No other men in the na- 
 tion so well understood as Lyon and Blair that a 
 revolution was impending. Neither Blair nor 
 Lyon had the slightest faith in pacificatory meas- 
 ures. Both were disgusted with the conservative 
 methods of Major Harney. Both wanted to force 
 the issue by military organization and occupation. 
 Their earliest and most persistent effort was to get 
 Lyon in charge of the post at St .Louis, and Blair 
 made trip after trip to Washington City for this 
 purpose. His brother, Montgomery Blair, was a 
 member of Lincoln's cabinet, and this circum- 
 stance, united with Frank P. Blair's own strength 
 of character, gave read}^ importance to any scheme 
 he might espouse. After the fall of Fort Sumter, 
 Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers. A requisi- 
 tion was sent to Governor Jackson for four regi- 
 ments, Missouii's quota. He sent this reply to the 
 President: 
 
 "Your dispatch of 13th inst, making a call up- 
 on Missouri for four reo'iments of men for imme- 
 diate service, has been received. There can be, I 
 apprehend, no doubt but these men are intended 
 to form a part of the President's army to make war 
 upon the people of the seceded States. Your 
 requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitu- 
 
52 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 tional, and revolutionary in its objects, inhuman 
 and diabolical, and cannot be complied with. Not 
 one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry 
 on such an unholy crusade." 
 
 The governor promptly issued a call convening 
 the Legislature in extra session, and at the same 
 time each military district was directed to go into 
 encampment for six days "to the end that men and 
 officers might attain a greater degree of efficiency 
 in drill and discipline." The Legislature met on 
 May 2d and the encampments were to begin on May 
 3d. Gen. Frost, commandant of the First District, 
 accordingly went into camp at St. Louis, the Uni- 
 ted States flag floating over headquarters. The 
 sentiment of Frost's men was well understood. 
 They made no attempt to conceal their sympathy 
 with the South. One street of the camp was 
 named Davis and another Beauregard. It was 
 charged that the camp was secretly receiving arms 
 and ammunition unlawfully taken from the arse- 
 nal at Baton Tlouge. The earliest plan of the Se- 
 cessionists was to seize United States arsenals and 
 war material. Secretary of War Floyd, during 
 the last month's of Buchanan's administration, had 
 distributed kirge quantities of arms, etc., over the 
 South against tlie day of secession. Already had 
 the arsenal at Liberty, Mo., been seized by citizens 
 of Jackson and other counties. It looked probable 
 to Lyon that General Frost might attack the St. 
 Louis arsenal. He did not wait. He marched out 
 with a large force to summons Frost to surrender. 
 
THE CAMP JACKSON AFFAIR. 53 
 
 Many Union men protested against the move and 
 a committee of loyal citizens waited on Blair to 
 forestall the project. But Blair and Lyon were de- 
 termined. It is notable that IT. S. Grant, then un- 
 known, was in St. Louis that day and quite ap- 
 proved the course pursued. Frost had no alter- 
 native; he surrendered and his State militia be- 
 came prisoners of war and were paroled. The 
 supremacy of the United States over the State had 
 been asserted. Lyon had received arms during 
 the winter and in secrecy had transferred them 
 through the streets in beer wagons. Had not an 
 officer in the State service an equal right? It was 
 doubtful; to solve such doubts the great war was 
 fought. As Lyon marched in with his prisoners, 
 a fight occurred between some of his soldiers and 
 the exasperated, jeering citizens who thronged the 
 way as spectators. The soldiers fired and a num- 
 ber of persons were killed, including women and 
 children. 
 
 The capture of Camp Jackson, as Frost's camp 
 was called, and the attendant calamities created 
 a profound sensation all over the State. At Jeffer- 
 son City the Legislature in extra session was dis- 
 cussing the new military bill. The measure was 
 being contested vigorously. When it was knowii 
 that Lyon had taken Camp Jackson, all opposition 
 vanished into thin air, and within twenty minutes 
 the military bill was passed and ready for the 
 governor's signature. That night it was rumored 
 in Jefferson City that Frank Blair was marching 
 
54 BATTLE H AND BIOGBAPHIEa OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 with a band of Home Guards toward the State 
 capital. A' midnight session of the Legislature 
 was held. Dictatorial powers were conferred on 
 the governor, and f 30,000 was appropriated for the 
 governor's use in defending the State against mil- 
 itary aggression. It was proposed that the gov- 
 ernor should purchase foundries and employ men 
 to cast cannon. Lyon and Blair were in open 
 rebellion against the authorities of the State, an 
 offense quite heinous in the eyes of those who held 
 that the autonomy of the State was of equal or 
 superior dignity to that of the United States. 
 
 Lyon was widely condemned by Union men 
 and bitterly and universally denounced by Seces- 
 sionists. Judge Gamble, afterwards provisional 
 governor of the State, and eTas. E. Yeatman were 
 sent as a committee from St. Louis to call on Pres- 
 ident Lincoln and Secretary Cameron with pro- 
 testations against the arbitrary conduct of Lyon, 
 and to have him removed. They represented tbat 
 Lyon was rash and inconsiderate and that he 
 hastened to take Camp Jackson before the men 
 dispersed and before the return of Major Harney, 
 and that he had neecllessly involved the general 
 Government in a war with the State of Missouri. 
 
 The task before Harney upon his return was to 
 pacify the State, now excited to the pitch and stress 
 of open hostilities. Lyon was withdrawn some- 
 what from view and excuses were offered for his 
 conduct. Major Harney was a loyal man and he 
 declared the passage of the new military law to be 
 
THE CAMP JA0K80N AFFAIR. 55 
 
 in itself an act of secession. At the same time he 
 attempted unsuccessfully to disband Lyon's Home 
 Guards. The Leoislature adjourned on May 15th, 
 after vigorously denouncing Lyon and Blair. Gen. 
 Price and Gen. John B. Clark hastened to Jefferson 
 City and offered their services to the governor. In 
 three days more than a. thousand men arrived at 
 Jefferson City to enlist in the service of the State. 
 Among these were the Independence Grays from 
 Jackson County, who brought with them the four 
 brass 6-pounders taken a month before from the 
 Liberty arsenal. The first regiment was composed 
 of eight companies and were under the command 
 of Col. Marmaduke. There were uprisings all over 
 the State and the secession flag waved far and 
 wide. On May 21, Gov. Jackson announced the 
 following brigadier generals, one for each con- 
 gressional district : Alexander W. Doniphan, M. M. 
 Parsons, Jas. S. Rains, John B. Clark, M. L. Clark, 
 Nathan W. Watkins, Beverly Randolph, W. T. 
 Slack, and Jas. H. McBride. Gen. Sterling Price 
 was named major-general. Several of those named 
 above failed to act and others were named instead. 
 Major Harney now saw he had a war on his hands, 
 raised by the rashness of Lyon — or rather, raised 
 by the deliberate purpose of Lyon and Blair. 
 They wanted war. Harney was appalled and in- 
 vited Price to come to St. Louis for an interview. 
 They quickly agreed to terms of peace, and the 
 agreement was signed and published. Harney 
 bound the United States to respect the neutrality 
 
56 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 of the state of Missouri and to permit no further 
 incursions of Federal troops into the State. Both 
 Price and Harney were to preserve order, and 
 each in conjunction with the governor advised the | 
 
 people to resume their ordinary vocations. The j 
 
 regiment under Marmaduke was disbanded. A ; 
 
 measurable degree of peace and quiet returned. 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE 3£ISS0URI STATE GUARDS. 57 
 
 Chapter Y. 
 
 LYON DECLARES WAR. 
 
 The publication of the Price-Harney a.^reement 
 ^'fell like a black cloud upon the hopes of the Un- 
 ionists, and it was apparent that only one party 
 (Harney) was observing it," says Peckham, who 
 wrote a history of Lyon while the passion of war 
 was still rankling in his breast. The truce was not 
 in harmony with the plans laid out by Lyon and 
 Blair. They advised the President to garrison St. 
 Joseph, Hannibal, Macon City, Springfield, aud 
 other points where the Secesh flag had been raised. 
 Lyon still commanded the five regiments raised by 
 him instead of the four authorized. Blair said to 
 the Washington Government: "We are able to 
 take care of this State without assistance from 
 elsewhere, if authorized to raise a sufficient force 
 within the State, and after that work is done we 
 can take care of the Secessionists from the Arkan- 
 sas line to the Gulf along the west shore of the 
 Mississippi River,'' Lyon was less confident, but 
 equally anxious for military action. Blair had 
 been to Washington City again and had secured, 
 almost extorted, from Lincoln, a letter relieving 
 Harney from the command at St. Louis. This let- 
 ter he carried in his pocket; it was to be used only 
 in case of absolute necessity. After Blair re- 
 turned to St. Louis, the President wrote a letter to 
 5 
 
58 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MISSOURI AN S. 
 
 Blair renewing his expressions of doubt as to the 
 propriety of removing Harney. Mr. Lincoln did 
 not recall the letter; he had great confidence in 
 Blair, but he feared the result of Lyon's succession 
 to full control. 
 
 The Price-Harney agreement was enough. 
 Blair delivered the momentous letter. Lyon as- 
 sumed full control. The militar^^ subjugation of 
 the State was now to be undertaken. Price sent 
 instructions to his brigadier generals to hasten 
 their organizations until the State Convention 
 should decide on the federal relations of the State. 
 Conservative men were justly alarmed and per- 
 suaded Gov. Jackson and Gen. Price to ask for an 
 interview with Lyon. A conference was arranged 
 for June 12th and Price and Jackson went to 
 St. Louis, under safe conduct of Lyon. Thos. L. 
 Snead, who was present as Price's aid-de-camp, 
 gives the following graphic account of themeeting: 
 
 ^^The governor notified Gen. Lyon the next 
 morning that he was at the Planters' House and 
 would be pleased to confer with him there. Lyon 
 replied that he would meet him and Gen. Price at 
 the arsenal instead. The governor, rightly con- 
 sidering this reply impertinent, informed General 
 Lyon that he would confer with him at the Plan- 
 ters' House and at no other place. Lyon accord- 
 ingly came to the Planters' House, accompanied 
 by Blair and Major Conant, his aid-de-camp, and 
 the conference took place there. 
 
 "Lyon opened it by saying that the discussion 
 
CA3IPAI0N OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 59 
 
 jon the part of his Government would be conducted 
 by Col. Blair, who enjoyed its confidence in the 
 very highest degree, and was authorized to speak 
 for it. 
 
 "Blair was, in fact, better fitted than any man 
 in the Union to discuss with Jackson and Price the 
 grave questions then at issue between the United 
 States and the State of Missouri, and in all her 
 border there were no men better fitted than they to 
 speak for Missouri on that momentous occasion. 
 
 "But, despite the modesty of his opening, Lyon 
 was too much in earnest, too zealous, and too w^ell- 
 informed on the subject, too aggressive, and too 
 fond of disputation to let Blair conduct the discus- 
 sion cm the part of his Government. In half an 
 hour it was he that conducted it, holding his own 
 at every point against Jackson and Price, mas- 
 ters though they were of Missouri politics, whose 
 course they had been directing and controlling for 
 years, while he Avas only a captain of an infantiw 
 regiment on the plains. He had, however, been no 
 mere soldier in those days, but had been an earn- 
 est student of the very questions he was now dis- 
 cussing, and he comprehended the matter as well 
 as any man, and handled it in a soldierly way to 
 which he had been bred, using the sword to cut 
 knots he could not untie. 
 
 "It was to no purpose that they all sought, or 
 pretended to seek, the basis of a new agreement for 
 maintaining the peace in Missouri. If they really 
 sought to find one, they did not. Finally, when 
 
60 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 the conference had lasted four or five hours, Lyon 
 closed as he opened it, ^Rather/ said he. (he was 
 still seated, and spoke deliberately, slowly, and 
 with a peculiai' emphasis), rather than concede 
 to the State of Missouri the right to demand that 
 my Government shall not enlist troops within her 
 limits, or bring troops into the State whenever it 
 pleases, or move its own troops at its own will into, 
 out of, or through the State; rather than con- 
 cede to the State of Missouri for one instant the 
 right to dictate to my Government in any matter, 
 however unimportant, I would (rising as he said 
 this, and pointing to every one in the room) see 
 you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and every 
 man, woman, and child in the State, dead 
 and buried.' Then, turning to the governor, he 
 said: ^This means war. In an hour one of my 
 officers will call and conduct you out of my lines.' 
 And then, without another word, without an incli- 
 nation of the head, without even a loolv, he turned 
 upon his heels and strode out of the room, rattling 
 his spurs and clanking his sabre, while we, whom 
 he left, and who had known each other for years, 
 bade farewell to each other, courteously and kind- 
 ly, and separated — Blair and Conant to fight for 
 the Union, we for the land of our birth." 
 
 The question between Gov. Jackson and Gen. 
 Lyon as to the place of holding their meeting was 
 identical with the question between Governor Han- 
 cock and President Washington. When President 
 Washington amved at Boston, he did not call on 
 the governor of Massachusetts, holding that the 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 61 
 
 governor should call on the President. The gov- 
 ernor declined to do so until the last hour of the 
 President's visit. The question was one of more 
 than mere ceremonial manners. It involved the 
 principle of State rights, settled by the war. 
 
 Governor Jackson and General Price returned 
 in all haste to Jefferson City. They promptly ac- 
 cepted the issue of war, so formally and emphat- 
 ically declared by General Lyon. By daylight on 
 the following morning the governor's proclama- 
 tion had been prepared and was being rapidly 
 printed and distributed over the State. It called 
 for 50,000 State militia "for the purpose of repel- 
 ling invasion and for the protection of the lives, 
 liberties, and property of the citizens of this State. 
 
 "A series of unprovoked and unparalleled out- 
 rages have been inflicted upon the peace and dig- 
 nity of this Commonwealth and upon the rights 
 and liberties of its people by wicked and unprinci- 
 pled men professing to act under the authority of 
 the United States Government. The enactments 
 of your Legislature have been nullified; your vol- 
 unteer soldiers have been taken prisoners; your 
 commerce with your sister States has been sus- 
 pended; your trade with your own fellow-citizens 
 has been and is subjected to harassing control of 
 an armed soldiery; peaceful citizens have been 
 imprisoned without warrant of law; unoffending 
 and defenseless men, women, and children have 
 been ruthlessly shot down and murdered; and 
 other unbearable indignities have been heaped 
 upon your State and yourselves." 
 
Q2 BATTLES AND BIOQRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 Referring to the Price-Harney agreement, the 
 proclamation said: "We had an interview on the 
 11th inst. We agreed to disband the State Guards 
 and break up its organization; would disarm all 
 companies armed by the State; would pledge not 
 to organize under military bill; would suppress in- 
 surrection; would maintain strict neutrality and 
 would, if necessary, invoke assistance of United 
 States troops. All this I proposed to do upon con- 
 dition that the Federal Government would under- 
 take to disarm the Home Guards, which it has 
 illegally organized and armed throughout the 
 State, and pledge itself not to occupy with its 
 troops any locality not occupied by them at this 
 time. * * * 
 
 "In issuing this my proclamation, I hold it to 
 be my solemn duty to remind you that Missouri is 
 still one of the United States; that the executive 
 does not arrogate to itself the power to disturb 
 that relation; that that power has been wisely 
 vested in a convention, which will, at the proper 
 time, express your sovereign will, and that mean- 
 while it is your duty to obey all constitutional re- 
 quirements of the Federal Government. But it is 
 equally my duty to advise you that your first alle- 
 giance is due your own State, and that you are un- 
 der no obligation whatever to obey the unconstitu- 
 tional edicts of the military despotism which has 
 enthroned itself at Washington, or to submit to the 
 infamous and degrading sway of its minions in this 
 State." 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 63 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 FIRST GREAT MOVEMENTS. 
 
 Do but stir 
 An echo with the clamor of thy drum, 
 And even at hand a drum is ready brac'd 
 That shall reverberate all as loud as thine. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 After the Lyon-Jackson conference, hope of 
 peace for the State was abandoned by all. Inde- 
 scribable excitement attended the quick and uni- 
 versal preparation for hostile action. General 
 Lyon lost not a minute after leaving the Planters- 
 House. He ordered General Sigel to hasten with 
 his forces by rail to Kolla, thence to penetrate the 
 Southwest and oppose the threatened invasion of 
 Gen. McCulloch and to be in a position to intercept 
 the possible retreat of Governor Jackson in that 
 direction. 
 
 Lyon himself embarked a large and well ap- 
 pointed army on board two steamboats, the latan 
 and J. C. Swon, and pushed off m^^steriously for 
 Jeft'erson City. At the mouth of the Osage River 
 a special correspondent on board sent this despatch 
 to the St. Louis, Missouri, Democrat: "We expect 
 to reach Jefferson City without any resistance 
 whatever and restore the flag of our Union to its 
 place over the Capitol of the State and to shoot the 
 first and every man who dares to attempt to haul 
 it down. From the reports of scouts and messen- 
 
64 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 gers from above, we gather that State forces will 
 endeavor to make a stand at or near Boonville, and 
 if this is a correct inference, they are doomed to 
 certain destruction. Our forces are now so com- 
 pletely distributed that no loophole of escape is 
 left to the fugitive executive. With the hardy 
 Kansas volunteers accustomed to skirmishing 
 with border ruffians on the one side of them and 
 our enthusiastic volunteers on the other, the 
 Secessionists will hardly be able to resist." 
 
 Gen. Price had ordered the brigadier generals 
 from the several Congressional districts to con- 
 centrate at Boonville with such volunteer forces 
 as they had respectively been able to bring to- 
 gether. Gen. Price was seized with a violent ill- 
 ness, and was for a time unable to take the field. 
 About eight hundred "barefoot Rebel militia,'' 
 nucleus of the State Guards army, congregated at 
 Boonville. These were without arms, or armed 
 with Derringer pocket pistols, family fowling- 
 pieces, squirrel rifles, old flint-locks, long knives 
 made of files which had been beaten into shape by 
 blacksmiths, etc. They were without organiza- 
 tion or military instructions and had no cannon. 
 Col. Marmaduke,a West Pointer, was in command. 
 
 Gen. Lyon left a garrison at Jefferson City and 
 puslied up the river, stopping and tying up the 
 boats at night. On June 20th he anchored a few 
 miles below Boonville. His army was disem- 
 barked and set in motion for Marmaduke's camp. 
 Col. Marmaduke insisted on the futility of making 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 65 
 
 a stand, but Gov. Jackson, commander-in-chief, by 
 virtue of his office, ordered instant preparation for 
 battle. Lyon deployed cautiously, and when fired 
 upon fell back and brought up his cannon; then he 
 advanced resolutely, and the Missourians retreated 
 to Camp Vest on the Bacon farm. Beyond Camp 
 Vest the retreat became a rout. The Missourians 
 fought doggedly and stood their ground longer than 
 good generalship would have permitted, but they 
 were not properly officered and didn't know how 
 to come off the field. They had failed to make 
 good the common boast that "one Missourian could 
 whip three Yankees. '^ Gen. Lyon had also failed 
 of his purpose, namely: to "arrest the insurgents.'' 
 Each side had surprised the other by exhibiting 
 unexpected fighting qualities, and yet the affair 
 was trivial. Two or three were killed on each 
 side. Insignificant as this battle was in itself, its 
 effects were tremendous. All the rich and popu- 
 lous region north of the river was now open to Fed- 
 eral dominion, and the State Guards, of whom so 
 much had been expected, were in full retreat for 
 the South. The Missouri River flowed unvexed 
 from the Kaw to the Father of Waters. Garri- 
 sons were posted at Lexington, Boonville, and Jef- 
 ferson City. Col. Stevenson was charged with 
 keeping the water-way open, and was to prevent 
 any reinforcements from crossing to join Price. 
 
 If the Camp Jackson affair produced furor over 
 the State, the Boonville affair created frenzy. 
 
 Gen. Lyon, always advised by that able and 
 
QQ BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIANS. 
 
 fearless statesman, Frank P. Blair, wisely issued a 
 proclamation extending amnesty to those in arms 
 against his Government, who would return to their 
 homes. Many accepted his terms. He paroled at 
 Boonville a number of prisoners, young men un- 
 der military age, presenting each with a New Tes- 
 tament. Lyon has been called an atheist 
 
 It was ten days before Lyon could purchase 
 and impress horses necessary for the pursuit of 
 Jackson. Meantime Lyon returned to St. Louis, 
 while Gov. Jackson made forced marches toward 
 the Osage Kiver. Generals Parsons and Clark 
 with their commands joined him en route. Gen. 
 Price ordered Kains and Slack to leave Lexington 
 with their forces. They formed a junction with 
 Jackson, beyond the Osage, where the united 
 squads were organized into companies, battalions, 
 regiments, brigades, and divisions. 
 
 This was on the 4th of July. The next day 
 they marched to the neighborhood of Carthage, 
 where they unexpectedly encountered Sigel. At 
 the same time it was learned that Lyon was in pur- 
 suit. Jackson's men were eager to fight. They 
 had a few pieces of artillery taken in the spring 
 from the Liberty arsenal. Hi Bledsoe was there 
 also with ^^Old Sacramento,'' a magnificent field- 
 piece which he had assisted in taking from the 
 Mexicans in the Doniphan expedition to Taos. 
 ^^Old Sacramento" was drawn by a yoke of steers. 
 Its missiles in this battle were made up of trace- 
 chains, old scrap-iron, and smooth pebbles. 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 67 
 
 Sigel was an accomplished soldier, and a strict 
 disciplinarian. He brought his troops into this 
 action to the sound of music and in perfect step. 
 The awkward State Guards looked with astonish- 
 ment upon the precise movements and soldierly 
 bearing of their foes. Sigel opened the battle with 
 his batteries, throwing grape, canister, shell, and 
 round shot 
 
 Hi Bledsoe "gee-hawed'^ his steers and replied 
 yigorously with ^^Old Sacramento." Brigadier Gen- 
 erals Clark, Parsons, and Slack commanded the 
 infantry. The cavalry deployed to the right and 
 left, for the purpose of charging the Federals, but 
 there was a stampede among the horses. The in- 
 fantry charged unsupported at double-quick and 
 with a shout drove Sigel's fine soldiers into Dry 
 Fork. It was a great day. But Sigel could have 
 been captured. He was forced to institute a retro- 
 grade movement, which is the polite military term 
 for retreat. His retreat was precipitate and disor- 
 derly. A running fight was kept up from Dry 
 Fork to Carthage. Sigel made his escape. On 
 entering the battle he remarked that the Kebels 
 were coming into line, like a worm fence. His de- 
 rision was turned into words of admiration. He 
 exclaimed: "Great God! Was the like ever seen? 
 Kaw recruits, unacquainted with war, standing 
 their ground like veterans, hurling defiance at 
 every discharge of the batteries against them, and 
 cheering their own batteries whenever discharged. 
 Such material properly worked up would make 
 
68 BATTLES AND BIOaRAtHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 the best troops in the world." Sigel was right; 
 these Missourians were properly worked up and 
 speedily became the best troops in the world. 
 
 When General Price left Lexington, after the 
 Boonville affair, he pushed with all possible speed, 
 with a small escort into Arkansas to entreat Gen. 
 McCulloch to march into Missouri. His success 
 had been gratifying, and on the day following the 
 battle of Carthage, Gen. Price, accompanied by 
 Gen. McOullock, arrived in Jackson's Camp. The 
 Missourians were in ecstasy at seeing their great 
 captain and in rejoicing over the victory of the day 
 before. They believed a great victory had been 
 won; that they had certainly established the South- 
 ern Confederacy. They were delighted with Mc- 
 Culloch's soldiers uniformed in gray, and executing 
 military movements with such ease. Gen. Price 
 now assumed command and marched to Cowskin 
 Prairie, where there was grass for the horses and 
 lean beef for the men. Now followed a month of 
 assiduous work, organizing, drilling, and pre- 
 paring ammunition. Arms were scarce and effi- 
 cient drill masters were not plentiful. 
 
 General Pearce, of the Arkansas State troops, 
 loaned Gen. Price 615 muskets. Gov. Jackson, in 
 his march through the State, had acquired two 
 supplies of guns. John Q. Burbridge brought 150 
 muskets that he had wheedled out of the Home 
 Guards of Pike County. Another supply was 
 secured at Cole Camp. At the latter place, a Col. 
 Cook, an obnoxious Union man, a brother to the 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 69 
 
 notorious B. F. Cook, who was hanged with John 
 Brown in Virginia, had organized a force of Home 
 Guards, which lay in wait across Jaclison's path. 
 The citizens of the neighborhood organized under 
 Capt. Keyes and inarched to Jackson's relief. They 
 found Coolv's men calmly sleeping in tw^o large 
 barns. The men were dispersed or killed; over 200 
 were killed, and 302 new muskets were taken. 
 
 Two men, Henry Guibor and William P. Bar- 
 low, were arrested as spies in Barton County and 
 brought before Governor Jackson for examination. 
 They proved to be paroled men from Camp Jack- 
 son, and were skillful cannoneers. They found 
 excellent employment at Cow^skin Prairie, disre- 
 garding their paroles. 
 
 Thomas L. Snead, of General Price's staff, in 
 his ^'Fight for Missouri," gives a graphic account 
 of the difficulties overcome at Cow^skin Prairie. 
 Lead was transported to the camp from the Gran- 
 by mines, in Newton County. All the powder 
 (sixty tons) which Gov. Jackson had forcibly pur- 
 chased in St. Louis was here in the possession of 
 the respective brigadier generals. Snead says 
 Major Thomas L. Price, nephew of Gen. Price, 
 "knew how to convert trees into monster moulds 
 for making buck-shot and bullets. He went 
 zealously to work with a corps of assistants, and 
 in a few days his ordnance shops were turning 
 out heaps of bullets and buck-and-ball cartridges, 
 enough for the immediate wants of the State 
 Guards. No educated soldier, no officer of the ord- 
 
70 BATTLE i^ AND BIOOBArUIES OF MI880URIANS. 
 
 nance department, could have done what Major 
 Price did. They were not educated for such emer- 
 gencies, nor could they have found precedents for 
 anything he did. 
 
 "How the artillery was supplied with ammu- 
 nition has been told by Lieut. Barlow, of Guibor's 
 Battery. One of SigePs captured wagons fur- 
 nished us with a few loose round shot; with these 
 for a beginning, Guibor established an arsenal of 
 construction. A turning lathe in Carthage sup- 
 plied sabots; the owner of a tin shop, strains and 
 canister; iron rods, which a blacksmith gave and 
 cut into small pieces, made good slugs for the 
 canister; and a bolt of flannel, with needles and 
 thread, freely donated by a dry goods man, pro- 
 vided us with material for our cartridge-bags. A 
 bayonet made a good candlestick; at night the 
 men went to work making cartridges, strapping 
 ehot to sabots, and filling the bags from a barrel of 
 powder placed some distance from the candle. My 
 first cartridge resembled a turnip, rather than the 
 prim cylinders from the Federal arsenals, and 
 would not take a gun on any terms. But we soon 
 learned the trick, and, at the close range at which 
 our next battle was fought, our home-made ammu- 
 nition was as effective as the best" 
 
 In one month Price's army was evolved. It 
 suddenly faced to the north and met and overcame 
 the Federal forces under Lyon in the first great bat- 
 tle of the Civil War. Price's men called it the bat- 
 tle of Oak Hill; the Federals named it the battle of 
 Wilson Creek, 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 71 
 
 Chapter YII, 
 
 PRICE'S ARMY. 
 
 O war, thou son of hell. 
 Whom angry heavens do make their minister, 
 Throw in the frozen bosom of our parts 
 Hot coals of vengeance. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Missouri was a sovereign State. She liad her 
 own army and her own flag. She owned no alle- 
 giance to the Southern Confederacy and she held 
 her allegiance to the United States as scarcely 
 binding. General Price was himself a Union man, 
 but he was ready to fight Union men who tres- 
 passed with arms upon Missouri soil. He mar- 
 shaled an army and fought battles and won vic- 
 tories which spread his fame and the fame of his 
 men as far as the renown of arms ever reaches. 
 
 The army of Missouri State Guards came into 
 being to repel invasion and to protect the lives and 
 the property of citizens of the State. The task 
 was too great for human accomplishment. There 
 were invasions from three sides, Kansas, Iowa, 
 and Illinois; there were rivers and railroads and 
 telegraph lines in possession of the Federals; there 
 were uprisings of Home Guards within the State; 
 there was the strong and settled purpose of subju- 
 gation with the authorities at Washington City. 
 Undaunted by the adverse surroundings, the army 
 of the Missouri State Guards prosecuted a bril- 
 
72 BATTLES AND BIOORAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 liant and successful campaign during the summer 
 of 1861, winning battles wherever it fought, for- 
 aging and recruiting at will and taxing the Feder- 
 als with heavy operations. At winter it made its 
 lair at Springfield, Mo. Price's army crossed the 
 State three times; won victories at Carthage, Wil- 
 son Creek, Dry Wood, and Lexington. When the 
 Missouri State Guards finally evacuated the State, 
 they retreated into the romantic mountain regions 
 of Arkansas, and the next year were absorbed into 
 the field forces of the Southern Confederacy. 
 
 Bevier, in his Confederate "First and Second 
 Missouri Brigades," says in laudation of the Mis- 
 souri State Guards: "It was a chapter of won- 
 ders. Price's army of ragged heroes had marched 
 over eight hundred miles; it had scarcely passed 
 a week without an engagement of some kind; it 
 was tied down to no particular line of operations, 
 but fought the enemy wherever he could be found, 
 and it had provided itself with ordnance and equi])- 
 ments almost entirely from the prodigal stores of 
 the Federals. 
 
 "The hero of Missouri started on his campaign 
 without a dollar, without a wagon or a team, with- 
 out a cartridge, without a bayonet gun. When he 
 commenced his retreat he had about 8,000 bayonet 
 guns, fifty pieces of cannon, four hundred tents, 
 and many other articles needful to an army, for 
 which his men were almost exclusively indebted to 
 their own strong arms in battle. 
 
 "This campaign was little less than a puzzle to 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 73 
 
 military critics. Price managed to subsist an 
 army without governmental resources. He sel- 
 dom complained of want of transportation. His 
 men were never demoralized by hunger. They 
 would go into the corn-field, shuck the corn, shell 
 it, take it to the mill, and bring it into camp ground 
 into meal; or, if they had no flour, they took the 
 w^heat from the stack, threshed it themselves, and 
 asked the aid of the nearest miller to reduce it to 
 flour. Price proved that an army could go where 
 they pleased in an agricultural country. His men 
 were always cheerful. They frequently, on the 
 eve of an engagement, danced around their camp- 
 fires wuth bare feet and in ragged costumes, of 
 which it was declared 'Billy Barlow's' dress at a 
 circus would be decent in comparison. Price him- 
 self wore frequently on his shoulders but a brown 
 linen duster, and this and his white hair streaming 
 on the battle-field made him a singular figure. It 
 often flapped, this duster did, in the front of the 
 battle, even as the white plume of Henry of 
 Navarre waved where the carnage w^as greatest on 
 the field of Ivry." 
 
 The army of the Missouri State Guards never 
 marched under the Stars and Bars, the flag of the 
 Southern Confederacy. They marched and fought 
 under the flag of Missouri. This ensign w^as made 
 of blue merino with the arms of the State embla- 
 zoned in gold-gilt on each side. 
 
 At Oowskin Prairie Gov. Jackson relinquished 
 all authority over the army and Gen. Price became 
 
74 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 its sole commander. After the battle of PeaKidge, 
 Price marched over with 8,000 men to engageGrant 
 at Corinth. These all fell in battle before the war 
 was over, save a handful. After controllingthe de?;- 
 tinies of the cis-Mississippi Missourians for a time, 
 Price was assigned to the command of the Trans- 
 Mississif>pi Department, and, bidding farewell to 
 those he led away from the State, he returned to 
 this side of the river, and, invading Missouri, suf- 
 fered defeat at Westport. The men commanded 
 by Price were as brave as the bravest that ever fol- 
 lowed a general. They belonged to the first fami- 
 lies of the State. Neither Grant nor Lee com- 
 manded any better soldiers than these Missourians 
 commanded by Price on either side of the river. 
 They are to live in history as long as history lives. 
 The coming ages will do them fuller justice than 
 the past has done. Edwards says beautifully: 
 ^'We ask sympathy and honor, and love and glory 
 for those who struck with Price and Bowen, and 
 Parsons and Green, and Marmaduke and Shelby, 
 and Cockrell and Gates, and in after times, per- 
 hapB, when Missouri is asked for her jewels, she 
 will point to these as her priceless ones." 
 
CAMPAIGX OF THE MISSOURI STATE GVARDS. 75 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 BATTLE OP WILSON CREEK. 
 
 His death (whose spirit lent a fire 
 Even to the dullest peasant in his camp) 
 Being bruited once, took fire and heat away 
 From the best-tempered courage in his troops. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 An army had now come forth, created by the 
 marvelous energy and genius of General Price. 
 This army sprang into being as Minerva sprang 
 from the head of Jove, full armed and full grown. 
 It was a grim instrument of destruction wielded 
 by a master hand. Price Avas one of earth's great 
 men; he was great in himself, but great also as the 
 exponent of the military instincts of his men. 
 These citizen-soldiers drilled themselves into an 
 army in one month and fought themselves into vet- 
 erans in one battle. Price's army was unique in 
 its origin, its purpose and its achievements. It 
 had no countrj^ unless it could retake its own. 
 Price had no capital to defend, no government to 
 obey, no superior to give him orders, no authority 
 over him to receive his reports, and no department 
 to send him supplies. His army was independent 
 and self-supporting; it fought without aid and con- 
 tested succesvsfully the sovereignty of the greatest 
 government in the world on behalf of the sover- 
 eignty of the State. 
 
 When this splendid army turned to devour 
 
76 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF AIISSOURIANS. 
 
 Lyon, it was animated by the news from Bull Run. 
 The South believed itself unconquerable; the 
 North believed it; England believed it; the world 
 believed it. The battle of Bull Bun seemed to con- 
 firm the universal belief in the invincibility of the 
 South. 
 
 The battle ot Wilson Creek was the initial move 
 in a great plan for regaining the State. Gen. Pil- 
 low, one of the heroes of the Mexican War, was to 
 come over from Tennessee and join forces w^ith 
 Jeff Thompson, the ''Swamp Angel" of southeast- 
 ern Missouri. Gen. Hardee, whose Army Tactics 
 was the standard work of the day, but which Grant 
 avers he did not read, was to come up from noi*th- 
 ern Arkansas. Price and McCulloch were to de- 
 stroy Lyon, and then all these forces were to con- 
 centrate on St Louis, the fall of which was deemed 
 inevitable; thence this, the "Army of Liberation," 
 would sweep the State and capture all the Federal 
 troops or expel them from Missouri's sacred soil. 
 Of all the actors who were to play a part in this 
 mighty programme. Price alone carried out in 
 some degree the role assigned him. 
 
 Gen. Lj^on was at Springfield with 7,000 or 
 8,000 troops. Snead thus describes the coming of 
 Lyon: 
 
 "The chroniclers of the city still delight to tell 
 of the brave appearance that he made that day, as 
 he dashed through the streets on his iron-gray 
 horse, under escort of a bodv-guard of ten stalwart 
 troopers enlisted from among the German butch- 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 77 
 
 ers of St. Louis for that especial duty, and how the 
 fearless horsemanship and defiant bearing of these 
 bearded warriors, mounted on powerful chargers 
 and armed to the teeth AAath great revolvers and 
 nuissive swords, their heroic size and ferocious as- 
 pect gave lustre to the entry into the chief city of 
 the Southwest of the grim soldier who had cap- 
 tured the State troops at St. Louis, had driven the 
 governor from his capital, had dispersed the army 
 that was gathering at Boon vi lie, and had forced 
 Jackson and Price and all their men to fly for 
 safety into the uttermost part of the State." 
 
 For some weeks Price and Lyon glared at each 
 other. Each was eager to fight; each wanted rein- 
 forcements; each was fearful that the other was re- 
 ceiving reinforcements. It was a fearful time for 
 each. But reinforcements came to neither. 
 
 Lyon sent messenger after messenger to Fre- 
 mont in St. Louis, crying always, "Soldiers, sol- 
 diers, soldiers!" Fremont has been much criti- 
 cised for not relieving Lyon. But Fremont may 
 not have been altogether blameworthy. His every 
 soldier was needed elsewhere. Even a better man 
 than the old pathfinder might have failed. A 
 messenger said to Fremont: "If you don't send 
 reinforcements, Lyon will fight without them." 
 Fremont replied: "If Lyon fights, he must do it 
 on his own responsibility." And then the first Ee- 
 publican candidate for the presidency went on with 
 his Oriental splendor and left Lyon to his fate. 
 Lyon could wait no longer, believing as he did, that 
 
78 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 large rebel forces were pouring in from the South 
 and massing in his front. The term of enlistment 
 of 3,000 of his soldiers, nearly half his army, was 
 about to expire. Lyon could delay no longer. A 
 regiment came down from Fort Leavenworth and 
 a regiment from Boonville. No other reinforce- 
 ments came. 
 
 On the other hand, Gen. Price was urging Mc- 
 Oulloch to join him against Lyon. McCulloch had 
 returned to Arkansas. He had been assigned to 
 the department of the Indian Territory. 
 
 Snead writes bitterly, saying: "Missouri, with 
 her 100,000 men and resources greater than those 
 of all the cotton States together, was worth noth- 
 ing to the Confederacy in com]iarison with two 
 or three regiments of semi-civilized Indians who 
 ouglit never to have been allowed to cross the 
 borders of their own territory.'' 
 
 The Richmond Government said to McCulloch: 
 "The position of Missouri as a Southern State 
 still in the Union requires, as you will readily per- 
 ceive, much prudence and circumspection, and it 
 ghould only be when necessity and propriety unite 
 that active and direct assistance should be af- 
 forded by crossing the boundary and entering the 
 State." 
 
 Price entreated McCulloch to come with him, 
 and finally said: "I am an older man than 
 you, General McCullough, and I am not only 
 your senior in rank now, but I was a briga- 
 dier general in the Mexican War, with an inde- 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 79 
 
 pendent command, when yon were only a cap- 
 tain; I have fought and won more battles than 
 you have ever witnessed; my force is twice as 
 great as yours, and some of my officers rank and 
 have seen more service than you, and Ave are also 
 upon the soil of our own State; but, Gen. McCul- 
 loch, if you will consent to help w^hip Lyon and to 
 repossess Missouri, I will put myself and all my 
 forces under your command, and we will obey you 
 as faithfully as the humblest of your men. * * 
 All the honor will be yours. * * You must 
 either fight beside us, or look on at a safe distance, 
 and see us fight all alone the army which you dare 
 not attack even Avith our aid. I must have your 
 ansAver before dark, for I intend to attack Lyon to- 
 morrow." 
 
 McCulloch hesitated. He said the Missourians 
 were not an army, but a mob, and would run at the 
 first fire; then his regulars would sustain the brunt 
 of the battle. It transpired the next day that Mc- 
 Culloch was Avell-nigh routed at first by Sigel, while 
 the Missourians Avon a great victory over Lyon. 
 McCulloch finally consented to accompany Price 
 against Lyon. They marched to Wilson Creek and 
 camped at sundown, ten miles from Springfield. 
 The plan was to attack and surprise Lyon's en- 
 trenchments that night, but a cloud came up in the 
 Avest portending rain. There was not a cartridge- 
 box in the army. To keep the powder dry they re- 
 mained in the camp. After supper— of roasting- 
 ears, brought from the near-by fields, the usual 
 
80 BATTLE t^ AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. . 
 
 fare — the men got up dances before the camp-fires; 
 many of them were without arms, but these entered 
 the battle the next day against orders, to be ready 
 to take the arms of fallen comrades. The next 
 morning at daylight a bomb-shell leaped into Price's 
 camp-fire, upsetting his coffee-pot. It was a greet- 
 ing from L^^on. The Federals had marched from 
 Springfield in the night and had surprised the Mis- 
 souriaus at breakfast. In a moment there was 
 "mounting in hot haste." Thousands of Price's 
 men were stampeded and scattered in the woods 
 and did not arrive on the battle-field during the 
 engagement. But enough were found of steady 
 nerve to meet Lyon and hold him back. In the 
 midst of the confusion and excitement attendant 
 on the surprise in front, a messenger came to Price 
 with the news that a similar attack was being 
 made in the rear. No pickets had been put out 
 the night before at either front or rear. Lyon, 
 therefore, had every advantage at the beginning 
 of the battle, and he might have won the day had 
 Sigel, who planned the battle, been as great ih 
 action as in council. But Lyon hardly hoped for 
 victory. He was fighting to cover his own retreat. 
 He greatly overestimated the strength of Price and 
 McOuUoch. He placed their combined forces at 
 30,000. Had Price's army numbered that many, 
 Lyon's entire command might have been annihi- 
 lated on the field of battle, that 10th of August, 
 186L Snead says the Union forces numbered 
 5,400 men ; of these 1,200 w^ere with Sigel and were 
 
CA3IPAIGN OF THE iMISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 81 
 
 never in the battle. Lyon entered the battle, 
 therefore, with only 4,200 men. The Southern 
 forces the night before were 10,175 troops of all 
 descriptions. These were utterl}^ surprised by 
 Lyon's early morning attack and 4,730 Avere stam- 
 peded and lost in the woods. The Southern forces 
 were therefore, reduced to 5,439, and some of these 
 were in the rear for the purpose of repulsing Sigel. 
 Lyon did not know what chances of victory he pos- 
 sessed. He could not forget the slaughter of his 
 men at Cole Camp and the defeat of Sigel at Car- 
 thage. He had himself experienced a bitter skir- 
 mish a few da^'s before at Dug Springs with the 
 same Southern forces. He was well apprised of 
 the indomitable courage of Price's men, and he 
 knew that he lay between them and their homes, 
 or the sites of their homes marked by blackened 
 chimneys, pointing like accusing fingers to heaven. 
 Lyon was despondent. He had a premonition of 
 his fate. The night before, after marching near 
 enough to the unguarded Missourians, he and 
 Schofield lay down to sleep between two friendly 
 rocks. But Lyon could not sleep. Presently he re- 
 marked prophetically: ^'Schofield, I believe in pre- 
 sentiments, I have a presentiment that I shall not 
 survive this battle." When he went to the attack 
 next morning, his onl}^ hope was to cripple Price 
 and afterAvards to retreat leisurely and securely 
 back to Eolla, the nearest railroad point. This he 
 might have done without a battle, but a decisive, 
 earnest, courageous nian^ such as Lyon, animated 
 
82 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 by his "sublime fanaticism," could not retreat from 
 such a field without striking* a blow. With true 
 military instinct, Price had raised his merino flag 
 where the brunt of the fighting fell. Lyon and 
 Price were directly in front of each other. It 
 w^as an opportunity that both desired. The high 
 resolve of the two commanders Avas reflected in 
 the hosts of the two lines which came eagerly to 
 the bloody work. Here for the first time the Kan- 
 sans and the Missourians met in a great battle. 
 They had been in temper for such a combat for 
 years. On ])art of the field the fight j)roceeded 
 as a border skirmish. The tAVo lines would ap- 
 proach each other silently, and when separated by 
 sixty paces they delivered simultaneously a with- 
 ering, deadly fire. Then they silently retired as 
 though the work were done; they reloaded their 
 weapons and came again. This was the privates' 
 battle and it was akin to murder. As the smoke 
 thickened in the hot air over this strange battle 
 in the woods, the opposing lines ceased to move 
 back to reload and only moved back when forced 
 to do so by a resistless charge. The carnage be- 
 came frightful. The slopes of Bloody Hill were 
 strewn with ghastly corpses. Never before had 
 such slaughter been witnessed on this continent; 
 scarcely yet has it a parallel, save at Gettysburg, 
 or Chickamauga, or Franklin. Lyon fought like a 
 demon; Price was superb. Bloody Hill was becom- 
 ing immortal. Price charged time and again up 
 the slope, only to be repulsed by the Federals lying 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 83 
 
 on the crest. The Federals even more often broke 
 over the crest of the hill and flowed down like an 
 inundation of fire and Avere thrown back. 
 
 One of the Federal officers, writing of the 
 beginning of the battle, says: "For a few mo- 
 ments I thonght we had won the fight almost 
 before w^e had begun it, but just then I saw the 
 rebel camp fairly vomiting forth regiment after 
 regiment, until it seemed as if there was no end 
 of men coming against us. They were coming on 
 the left and right and in front .of us — in some 
 places in three lines — all on the double-quick, 
 and then I changed my mind." 
 
 Lyon wondered what had become of Sigel. 
 Then came a shell leaping through space on an 
 errand of death, Avith an angry dominating roar 
 which sank into a Avail and a sob almost human as 
 it died aAAay beyond the ranks. The sound was 
 horror made manifest, and it told a mournful 
 story. The voice of that projectile was dilferent 
 from the uoav familiar voice of Price's round 
 shot, which came Avith a petulant Avail, a mingling 
 of shriek and squeal. A hundred Federals ex- 
 claimed: "My (rod! they are firing Sigel's ammu- 
 nition at us." Ly(m Avas desperate, but undis- 
 mayed. He was constantly at the front, leading, 
 cheering, and directing his men. His horse had 
 been killed and he had been twice wounded, 
 once in the head. He was begrimed and bloody. 
 When King David Avould have gone into the battle 
 his folloAvers Avould not permit it, because he was 
 
84 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 worth ten thousand of them. But Lyon was not 
 so restrained. He was reckless of danger. Stur- 
 gis gave hira another horse and he rode again to 
 the front, swinging liis hat and calling to his men 
 to follow. Here, in the furor of the final charge, 
 he received his third and fatal wound. He fell 
 from his horse and expired with a rifle ball in his 
 breast, Avhile the heavy fight went on around him. 
 This final charge, like the others, was borne back 
 in heavy disaster. When Sturgis learned that 
 L^^on had been lost in the charge, he assumed the 
 command and ordered the disconsolate troops from 
 the field. 
 
 Early in the morning Sigel cautiousdy ap- 
 proached Price's and McCulloch's cam]) in the rear. 
 The surprise was here as complete as the surprise 
 in front. Five weeks before Sigel had been routed 
 at Carthage by Jackson's unorganized squads. But 
 now they had Price betAveen two fires and they 
 would crush hiin. One of the German troopers 
 asked: "Where is de man mit de ox cannon?" In 
 a moment "Old Sacramento'' replied. Her never- 
 to-be forgotten intonation inspired terror. "Mine 
 Gott in Himmel!" exclaimed the German, and 
 the retreat here was more disastrous than the re- 
 treat from Carthage. When the day was done on 
 Bloody Hill, Sturgis marched back to Springfield. 
 There behind the works he found SigePs men — but 
 not all of them. His cannon and a large part of his 
 force had been left with McCulloch in the rear of 
 Price. It is related on good authority that Sigel 
 
CAMPAWN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 85 
 
 plundered McCiilloch's camp himself and then 
 waited for Ljon to drive Price to him. And while 
 he waited the unexpected happened. McGulloch, 
 who fled at first, came back, and Sigel's army was 
 destroyed. 
 
 Snead, who was Price's aid, and who wrote an 
 un warped, impartial book, ^^'lie Fight for Mis- 
 souri," concluding the same with an account of 
 this battle, says: 
 
 ^'Sturgis retreated to Holla, 125 miles, with an 
 enormous army train of over 400 heavily laden 
 wagons, among whose spoils were |210,000 that 
 had been taken from the State Bank at Spring- 
 field. The troops moved at day, inextricably 
 mixed up with the multitude of fugitives with their 
 wives and children; their horses and cattle, their 
 wagons and carts and household goods were flying 
 before Ben McCuUoch, whose very name was then 
 a terror to the Union men of Missouri, that they 
 more nearly resembled a crowd of refugees than 
 an army of organized troops. In this condition 
 they scampered along to Kolla, and arrived there 
 August 17th, seven days after the battle. 
 
 ^^All this time, during all this disorderly retreat 
 of a defeated army over difficult roads and through 
 a not friendly population, more than twice its num- 
 bers of well mounted and w illing Southern soldiers 
 lay absolutely idle at Springfield. They might eas- 
 ily have captured the entire force and its richly 
 loaded train, worth more than |1,500,000, and with 
 the captured store, could have armed and supplied 
 
86 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 10,000 Confederates. But McGullocli sulked in 
 his tent and his army melted away. Nothing ex- 
 cuses that brave soldier's conduct on this occasion, 
 except the fact that the Confederate Government 
 was then opposed to an aggressive war or the in- 
 vasion of an}' State which had not seceded and 
 joined the Southern Confederacy." 
 
 The losses at Wilson Creek were heavy. The 
 loss on each side Avas 25 per cent — a bloody record. 
 The battle was mainly fought at Bloody Hill, be- 
 tween 3,550 Union men, who lost 892, and 4,239 
 Southern men, who lost 988. 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI ^TATE GUA.RD8. 87 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 FROM SPRINGFIELD TO LEXINGTON. 
 
 General Price, he marched to Lexington, 
 And there he thrashed out Mulligan. 
 
 —Om Rchcl Song. 
 
 Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching; 
 
 Cheer up, comrades, they will come, 
 And beneath our starry flag 
 We will breath the air again 
 
 Of freedom in our own beloved home. 
 
 — Old Ffxloral Song. 
 
 There is something superb in the march of tin 
 army. If the army is a victorious one and is 
 marching through a friendly region, its progress 
 will be triumphal. Price's army rested awhile at 
 Springfield; then it moved across the State, con- 
 scious of its power, thrilling its foes with appre- 
 hension and awe, and was greeted by salvos of 
 welcome from its friends. It swept to the north 
 along parallel roads and struck the Federal base 
 at Lexington with the impact of a hurricane. Af- 
 ter a great battle an army is lame and halt and for 
 days is weary and disinclined to move. The men 
 are nervous, moody, and fretful. If the army has 
 lost a fourth of its men, as Price's did at Wilson 
 Creek, it will need to be reorganized and reoffi- 
 cered and its morale reestablished. After the Fed- 
 erals departed from Bloody Hill at Wilson Creek, 
 the exhausted victors lay down where they were 
 
88 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 and rested. A few of the dead were buried that 
 afternoon, but not many. A battle-field after 
 nightfall, silent and terrible in agony, is one of the 
 most appalling features of war. The following 
 artistic delineation of a night-enw^rapped battle- 
 field is not inapplicable to the field of Wilson 
 Creek : 
 
 ^^From dark to midnight there is groaning and 
 wailing. Then a fear comes upon the wounded 
 men and they are silent. It is not fear of death — 
 not fear of the dead beside them — but of the night 
 itself, of the ghouls who may come to plunder. 
 This feeling of fear even extends to the w^ounded 
 horses. A wounded horse often lies down as soon 
 as he is struck. When he finds himself growing 
 w^eaker, his aim is to get upon his feet again. If 
 he can do so, he will stand with his legs braced and 
 peer into the darkness and neigh and whinny his 
 hopes and fears. If he cannot rise, he will la}^ his 
 head on the ground and sigh and sob, and the noise 
 will add to the fright of the wounded men within 
 hearing. By midnight the field is quiet. A plun- 
 derer roaming about will imagine that all the 
 fallen are dead. Ue w ill not know to the contrary 
 until he lays hands upon them. For an hour or 
 two the wounded will remain voiceless and with- 
 out movement. Then the darkness and the silence 
 around him makes him believe that death it at 
 hand. He does not want to die among the dead. 
 A feeling comes to him that he must crawl away 
 
AM PA ION OF rUE MISSOURI STATE GILiRDS. 89 
 
 and die by himself, and after a little he acts iip- 
 ou it. 
 
 "A burial party finds a battle-field covered 
 with trails. The wounded have dragged them- 
 selves yards or rods away from the spot where they 
 fell. They have drawn themselves over the earth, 
 inch by inch, to hide beside logs — in thickets or 
 fence corners — in swamp or forest. Those who 
 have crawled farthest are dead when mornino- 
 comes, and on their faces is a look of terror and 
 despair. They were creeping away from death 
 and darkness, but were overtaken. And the men 
 with the stretchers find those who still live silent 
 and wide-eyed and speaking only in whispers. 
 They have had their blood chilled by the blackness 
 of night and the footsteps of death, and it will be 
 days before they find their voices or smile again.*' 
 
 SloAvly and laboriously. Price's army remod- 
 eled itself. In a few days it moved u]) to Spring- 
 field, and for two weeks Price was occupied in drill- 
 ing, recruiting, and reorganizing his forces and in 
 dispatching couriers here and there to the North. 
 McC'ulloch settled down at Pond Springs. Al- 
 though he was in nominal command at Wilson 
 Creek, and although he received from the Confed- 
 erate Congress a vote of thanks for the victory, 
 he failed to achieve the glory so justly earned by 
 Price. But he had lost the most precious hours of 
 the battle in chasing Sigel. McCulloch was a 
 brave man, and Price would have fared badly that 
 day without the aid of the regiments from Ar- 
 
90 BATTLEIS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 kansas, Texas, and Lousiana. lu two weeks Me- 
 Ciilloeli abandoned the State of Missonri and 
 dropped back into xVrkansas and rested until the 
 battle of Pea Ivid^e. Pearce, of the Arkansas 
 State Guards, soon disbanded his men whose terms 
 of service expired. 
 
 When every possible preparation had been 
 completed and the final niessen<>;ers had been dis- 
 patched to Harris and Green north of the river. 
 General Price put his army into unexpected mo- 
 tion. The State of Kansas was instantly in a furor 
 of excitement and alarm, fearing an invasion. 
 General Lane, the ''Grim Chieftain,'^ sent swift 
 horsemen to summons reinforcements to Ft. Scott 
 Colonels Jennison and Johnson Avere sent to lecoi- 
 noiter in the direction of Dry Wood. General 
 Ivains, with his southwest Missouri forces, was 
 there waiting and ready to answer for havin:ji, 
 seized a large herd of Government mules tlie diy 
 before. A furious battle of several hours' durati )n 
 w^as fought, after which the Federals fell back to 
 Ft. Scott, whereupon General Lane retreatel t) 
 a safe distance into Kansas. He threw up brea t- 
 works and remained there until Price had passe 1 
 on; then he fell in behind and burned OsceoLi. 
 When Lane evacuated Ft. Scott, nearly the entir.' 
 male population accompanied him. Jennison was 
 left to hold the place until Price should arrive in 
 sight During the night Jennison's 400 men van- 
 dalized the place, according to their custom. Gen- 
 eral Price marched unopposed to Lexington, driv- 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE iMIS^WURI ^TATE GUARDS. 91 
 
 ing in a force of Federals under Peabody at 
 Warrensburg. 
 
 General Price had ordered Generals Tlios. A. 
 Harris and Martin E. Green to join Mm in the 
 neighborhood of Lexington with their forces from 
 the northern part of the State, where for three 
 months they had been organizing under great 
 difficulties. Anarchy prevailed in that section. 
 Gen. Pope Avas the Federal commander of northern 
 Missouri. Wiley Brit ton, a Federal soldier and 
 author of "The Civil War on the Border,'^ says: 
 
 "The drunken and lawless acts of the Federal 
 soldiers were believed to have been countenanced 
 from headquarters, instead of being corrected. 
 Union men were insulted and robbed and plun- 
 dered of their property, and his (Pope's) policy was 
 regarded as a license for such acts. In one in- 
 stance it is asserted and not denied that the mem- 
 bers of a regiment shipped over sixty head of horses 
 and mules taken from citizens to Chicago to be 
 sold, the proceeds of Avhich went to the men's pri- 
 vate accounts. In numerous other cases the Fed- 
 eral soldiers appropriated to their private use the 
 property of citizens of the localities through which 
 they marched or where they were stationed. The 
 Federal soldiers also in several cases fired at the 
 citizens from the railroad trains with as little con- 
 cern as they would fire at a flock of birds. Such 
 abuses tended to alienate all classes instead of 
 making them fast friends of the Government. 
 Bands of Secessionists were allow^ed to organize 
 
92 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOVRIANS. 
 
 and commit depredations within less than a day's 
 march of the idle Federal troops, and weeks passed 
 without efforts being made to disperse them. * * 
 
 "General Pope was not alone in the short- 
 sighted policy of punishing the citizens indiscrim- 
 inately for the war-like acts of the Secessionists. 
 He had a rival in General Lane, commanding the 
 Kansas brigade, then operating in the western 
 counties of Missouri, between Fort Scott and Kan- 
 sas City. Gen. Lane had acted with commendable 
 energy and zeal in raising and organizing troops 
 to defend Kansas from invasion. As Generals 
 Price and Kains marched north toward Lexington, 
 after the action at Dry Wood, Gen. Lane contin- 
 ually threatened the left flank of the Southern 
 forces, and no doubt did much good in preventing 
 detachments of Secessionists from making raids 
 into Kansas. Hearing that a considerable force 
 of Secessionists had been left at Osceola to guard 
 Price's ammunition train and other supplies col- 
 lected at that point for his army. Gen. Lane made 
 a rapid march with his command to that place for 
 the puri^ose of capturing and destroying the train 
 and supi^lies. When he arrived near town he met 
 with scmie resistance from a small f(UT-e of the ene- 
 my. He then ordered up his battery of four guns 
 and commenced to shell the woods and town. Af- 
 ter a little skirmishing, the Secessionists retreated, 
 and Gen. Lane moved into town, and not only de- 
 stroyed the stores which had been collected for the 
 Southern forces, but burned the place to ashes. 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 93 
 
 It was the county seat of St. Clair County, was the 
 head of navigation on the Osage, and contained 
 much substantial wealth for a town of its size. 
 
 "Many of the merchants of western and south- 
 western Missouri and the Indian Territory had 
 their goods shipped from tlie East to Osceola, and 
 from thence hauled in wagons to their destination. 
 As it was the nearest shipping-point to the lead 
 mines of tlie Southwest, hundreds of tons of lead 
 turned out by the Granby mines were hauled there 
 annually and shipped to St. Louis. 
 
 "In destroying the town. Gen. Lane seemed to 
 be unconscious of the fact that his conduct would 
 be just excuse for retaliation, and that it might 
 possibly come with interest, and he did not seem 
 to realize that he was making a name for his com- 
 mand that should not attach to troops engaged 
 in honorable warfare. Perhaps upwards of one- 
 third of the people of St. Clair County were Union- 
 ists, and many of the men were in the Federal 
 army; some, too, in Kansas regiments. Gen. Lane 
 destroyed and appropriated their property with the 
 same recklessness that he did the property of the 
 Secessionists. He was incapable of seeing that 
 the loyal people of Missouri were entitled to the 
 protection of the Federal Government, even if they 
 were fighting its battles.'' 
 
94 BATTLE IS AND BIOGRAFHIEH OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 Chapter X. 
 
 BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. 
 
 There stood a hill not faj", whose grisly top 
 Belched fire and rolling smoke. 
 
 — Milton. 
 
 Why the Federals were unprepa-red to receive 
 Price at Lexington remains one of tlie mysteries 
 of history. 
 
 Colonel Mulligan, commandant of the place, 
 knew of the approach of Price two weeks before 
 the beginning of the siege, and had sent nrgent 
 messages to Fremont for reinforcements. The 
 only reply vouchsafed was an order to hold Lex- 
 ington to the last extremity. General Pope was 
 north of the river with 5,000 to 10,000 Federals; 
 Sturgis had a large force at Macon City, whither 
 he had fled from Wilson Creek. Jeff. C. Davis held 
 Jefferson City with 10,000 troops; a fleet of trans- 
 ports might have been sent in that time from St. 
 Louis; there were the forces at Leavenworth, and 
 even General Lane might have followed behind 
 Price from Fort Scott. 
 
 There were 50,000 Federal troops in Missouri, 
 armed and maintained by the Government for no 
 other purpose than to meet such attacks as now 
 threatened liexington. Every commander in the 
 State knew what Price meant to do. By railroad 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 95 
 
 aud river these 50,000 troops could have all been 
 sent to Lexington; half that number should have 
 been sent there. Yet Mulligan was left to his fate. 
 Fremont did order Jeff. O. Davis to go by rail to 
 Sedalia, western terminus of the Missouri Pacific 
 Kailroad, and to march from there with a large 
 force to relieve Mulligan. Price would have cov- 
 ered the distance between Sedalia and Lexin.i- 
 ton under such circumstances in one day. Davis 
 thought the trip impracticable, and disobeyed the 
 order. General Sturgis was ordered forward from 
 Macon City, and he, with ^'Bloody Hill" green in 
 his memory, made a belated and futile elTort to 
 reach Lexington, the only effort of any Federal 
 commander. 
 
 General Price reached Lexington on Septem- 
 ber 13, 1861, chasing Colonel Peabody. The latter 
 had gone to Warrensburg to caiTy out the pro- 
 visions of Fremont's proclamation, and was sur- 
 prised by General Price. Peabody delayed the 
 pursuit and saved himself by burning the biidg' s 
 behind him as he retreated to Lexington. 
 
 After notifying Mulligan of his presence by 
 copious salutes from Guibor's and Bledsoe's bat- 
 teries, General Price went into camp at the fair 
 grounds, two miles south of the city, and began 
 systematically to draw his lines tightly around 
 the l)eleaguered garrison. General Parsons, who 
 branched off from Price's army to watch Sedalia, 
 was ordered to Lexington. Cols. Sanders and Pat- 
 ton were coming down from northwest Missouri, 
 
96 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 and at Blue Mills fought a stirring battle when 
 they attempted to cross the Missouri IJiver. Gen 
 eral Green was soon to arrive, and Harris had al- 
 ready arrived. None of Price's reinforcements 
 failed him, while Mulligan Avaited and looked in 
 vain for help which he ought to have had by every 
 tenet of military science. 
 
 If it seems hard that Mulligan was left unsup- 
 ported by the War Department of his Government 
 in this trying hour, his great opponent seems to 
 have been equally neglected by the Confederate 
 Government True, Price was not fighting for the 
 (J'onfederacy directly, but he was fighting its ene- 
 mies and should have had its support. 
 
 Mulligan did everything possible to save his 
 command except to fly across the river in boats 
 moored at the wharf. He constructed around the 
 Masonic College a redan of great strength, with 
 embrasures, parapets, and a banquette f < r barbette 
 guns. The works were greatly strengthened dur- 
 ing the five days of Price's preparation. 
 
 These five days were enough for the utter anni- 
 hilation of Price by the Federals. But Price was 
 taking no unwarranted risk. He knew the people 
 of Missouri as no other man knew them. He had 
 personal and well-known friends in every hamlet 
 and township and neighborhood. He expecteit 
 these to rally to his standard. Fremont had issued 
 his famous proclamation on August 30th, which 
 was so radical that President Lincoln modified 
 it by annulling two of its extremest provisions, 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 97 
 
 namel3% the one emancipating the shives of Mis- 
 souri and the one confiscating private propert}^, 
 real and personal. Another provision of the proc- 
 lamation established martial law over a large part 
 of the State. Price rightly guessed that this in- 
 considerate and rigorous proclamation would send 
 recruits to his camp, and everywhere benefit the 
 cause for which he was fighting. 
 
 The situation was dramatic and heroic. Mul- 
 ligan, with his riiicago Irish, and Peabody, with 
 his Missouri militia, waited gallantly for destruc- 
 tion, which was obviously upon them. Mulligan's 
 men had seen much skirmishing since their occu- 
 pation of Lexington a few weeks before the siege. 
 Colonel Eoute, of Liberty, led a thousand unorgan- 
 ized men from Clay and Jackson counties against 
 Mulligan. These camped at the fair grounds, but 
 they came away after causing Mulligan some un- 
 easiness, perhaps all they expected to accomplish. 
 
 Capt. Shelby, restless, enterprising, had arrived 
 from Springfield Avith his company ahead of the 
 main army. Mulligan's scouts and Shelby's men 
 had met and fired at each other not infrequently 
 at different places in Lafayette County. During 
 the week that Price was encamped at the fair 
 grounds there were numerous conflicts between 
 scouts and pickets. A great deal of powder was 
 wasted in this way with no effect other than the 
 effect of keeping the excitement at fever heat on 
 both sides. Eagerness for the great battle was 
 thus engendered. 
 
98 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 While encamped at the fair grounds Gen. Price 
 dispatched Gen. D. R. Atchison on the road to- 
 ward St. Joseph to hasten forward the command 
 under Col. Thos. Patten. Gen. Atchison had been 
 United States senator from Missouri, and had 
 acted as president of the Senate. He met Patten 
 at Blue Mills Landing, where an attack of Federals 
 was repulsed in an hour's engagement on Tuesday, 
 the 17th. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, September 18, 18G1, 
 Gen. Price ordered the assault from all directions 
 on Mulligan's works. Gen. liains was stationed 
 northeast of the fortifications, while Gen. Parsons 
 was southwest, across the deep ravine. Col. Con- 
 greve Jackson's and Gen. Stine's divisions were 
 held as reserves and were not engaged. Batteries 
 were planted at distances of six hundred yards on 
 four sides of the fortifications. The batteries were 
 ccmimanded by Churchill, Clark, Hi Bledsoe, Lan- 
 dis, of St. Joseph, and Guibor, of St. Louis. At an 
 early hour the various divisions were in the posi- 
 tions assigned them. Sharj^sliooters Averesent for- 
 ward from all quarters and at the signal the battle 
 began with a tremendous fusillade from all attack- 
 ing parties. The batteries opened with the sound 
 of a thousand storms. The beleaguered Federals 
 replied gallantly. For three days the thunder of 
 battle shook the foundations of the earth. Almost 
 at the beginning of the battle, Col. Eives, acting in 
 place of Gen. Slack, led his own regiment and 
 Col. Hughes' down the river bank to the landing, 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 99 
 
 where he captured a steamboat. He was relu- 
 forced by Gens. Harris and McBi'ide. The boat 
 was h)aded afterwards with 2,000 sokliers, who 
 were sent to the opposite bank as a gnard ai^ainst 
 Stiirgis, w]io was cominc^ up from Macon Cit3\ 
 Just above the landin^i^ and near the Federal outer 
 entrenchments stood the residence of Col. Ander- 
 son. Above it floated the sacred hospital M<^. 
 Those Avho were ca]>turing- the boat were fired up- 
 on from this hospital. Several companies of Har- 
 ris' command charged the house and took it, a 
 splendid foothold within the P^deral lines. Mean- 
 time Harris and McBride took possession of the 
 impregnable bluffs nortli of the Anderson house. 
 These positions enabhMl the besiegers to so harass 
 and annoy the Federals that Mulligan ordered a 
 strong force to retake the Anderson house. His 
 order was carried out to perfection. But the 
 house Avas held but a few minutes by the Federals. 
 Harris charged the ])lace again and took it and 
 held it. The final assault on the fortifications 
 was made at the sloi)e guarded by the Anderson 
 house. Before the end of the first day, a messen- 
 ger from Gen. Atchison arrived at Price's head- 
 quarters Avith news of the battle at Blue Mills. 
 The news was received by the army with a great 
 shout. 
 
 On Thursday morning the attack was renewed, 
 after a restful night. A Federal newspaper writer 
 of the time, an eye-witness, wrote: "Thursday jthe 
 cannonade amounted to but little — it was mainly 
 
100 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 confined to the twelve-pounder of the Confederates, 
 with an occasional reply from the besieged. But 
 the cracking of small-arms was incessant, and so 
 thick and close were the enemy about the works, 
 and so accurate the aim of their sharpshooters, that 
 a man, a head, or a cap shown for a single instant 
 above the works was sure to be saluted with fifty 
 balls that never went many inches from the mark.'' 
 Thursday night Price ordered hot shot fired into 
 the college, hoping to burn the building or explode 
 the Federal magazine, which, however, was kept 
 in the basement. On Friday morning the pro- 
 gramme of the preceding days was resumed. The 
 batteries were at work early and the sharpshoot- 
 ers occupied every tree, rock, elevation, gully, 
 house, or other sheltering object in the vicinity of 
 the works. On the river side the fighting had all 
 the time been heavy from the Anderson house and 
 the extemporized fortifications north of it. At the 
 wharf several hundred bales of hemp were await- 
 ing shipment. The hemp industry was a large one 
 in those days. The soldiers saturated these hemp 
 bales with water, then rolled them up the hill. 
 Behind each moving bale were crouched two or 
 three soldiers, firing as they came. Mulligan 
 turned loose his batteries and the full tide of lead 
 from his small-arms upon the advancing breast- 
 works. Slowly and laboriously, but surely and 
 steadily, the moving forts aiiproached the Federal 
 position. It was now only a question of a few 
 
CA3IPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 101 
 
 hours when a large part of Price's army would be 
 clambering into the Federal fortifications. 
 
 Bevier quotes a Federal writer: "Let sneering 
 Europeans no longer dispute our capacity for war, 
 for here we have an idea developed in the heat of 
 battle by a Western general, which excels the best 
 strateg}' ever developed inLombardy or theCrimea. 
 It was a stroke of genius — one of thosehappy adap- 
 tations of chance means which prove the talent of 
 the general and elevate the art of battle above the 
 level of mere downright force. It excels, by far, 
 the fine conception of Jackson's breastw^orks at 
 New Orleans, for it engrafts upon that artifice a 
 superior idea. It was an active rather than a pas- 
 sive stratagem, and inspired an inert and merely 
 resisting body with a living, moving and assailable 
 function. 
 
 "We have heard of flying artillery, and seen its 
 execution; but who ever heard before of flying re- 
 doubts, which, while they give shelter to an ad- 
 vancing line, can successfully withstand the heav- 
 iest cannonade. Poor Mulligan must have gazed 
 upon this miracle, in the method of approach, with 
 much of the same wonder as the Scottish king be- 
 held from liis battlements the advance of Birnam 
 wood upon Dunsinane, and his heart must have 
 sunk as heavily within him at the sight. No valor 
 could withstand the marching bastion. It was 
 impregnable to bayonet charges and inaccessible 
 to cavalry, and the force behind it was superior to 
 his own." 
 
102 BATTLED AND BIOGRAPHIES OF AIISSOURIANS. 
 
 Some time in the afternoon Major Becker, of 
 the Home Guards, ran out a white flag, at his oAvn 
 suggestion. Mulligan a\ as not ready to surrender, 
 and he ordered Becker under arrest and gave or- 
 ders for the battle to be resumed. The firing, how- 
 ever, gradually subsided, and a parley ensued, at 
 which terms of cai)itulation were agreed upon. If 
 Mulligan was averse to surrendering, Col. Bh^lsoe 
 was equally opposed to it. Gen. Price sent three 
 orders to Bledsoe to stop firing his battery. The 
 garrison surrendered and 3,500 Federals became 
 prisoners of war. These were paroled and on Sat- 
 urday and Sunday mornings were liberated on the 
 oj)posite side of the Missouri River. Among those 
 captured were Colonels Mulligan, Peabod^^, Mar- 
 shall, White, G rover, and Major Van Horn. The 
 property surrendered was immense, arms, ammuni- 
 tion, wagons, teams, camp equipage, more than a 
 hundred thousand dollars' worth of commissary 
 stores, and nearly a million of money. The latter 
 had been' taken from tlie P'armers' Bank at Lexing- 
 ton, in accordance Avitli the contiscation orders 
 issued by Gen. Fremont. The Bank of Warrens- 
 burg would have suffered in the same way under 
 the same order had not Price arrived there when he 
 did and driven Col. Peabody back to Lexington. 
 Col. Mulligan refused to be paroled, inasmuch as 
 his Government did not reco'>nize the State Guards 
 as belligerents. He was, therefore, held as a pris- 
 oner and accom])anied Price's army south. Mul- 
 ligan was under the care of Gen. HaiTis, and the 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MIS.SOURI STATE GUARDS. 103 
 
 two men became strongly attached to each other 
 during the several weeks the}' were together. 
 Mulligan Avas finally exchanged and fell in battle, 
 fighting for the Union, somewhere be^^ond the Mis- 
 sissippi. Harris Avas elected to the Confederate 
 Congress. 
 
 Notes, 
 U. S. (Irant, AAiio Avas in northern Missouri 
 during the summer of 1861, makes notable men- 
 tion of General Thos. A. Harris in his "Memoirs.*' 
 Says Grant: ''As we api)roached the brow of the 
 hill from which it was expected we could see Har- 
 ris' camp, and possibly find his men ready formel 
 to meet us, my heart kept getting higher and 
 higher, until it felt to me as though it was in my 
 throat I would haA e giA^en anything then to have 
 been back in Illinois, but I had not the moral cour- 
 age to halt and consider what to do; I kept right 
 on. When we reached a i3oint from which the 
 valley below was in full view, I halted. The place 
 wiiere Harris had been encamped a few days be- 
 fore was still there, and the marks of a recent 
 encampment Avere plainly visible, but the tio-^pj 
 were gone. My heart resumed its place. It oc- 
 curred to me that Harris had been as much afraid 
 of me as I had been of him. This was a vieAV of 
 the question I had never taken before; but it was 
 one I never forgot afterAvards. From that event 
 to the close of the Avar I never felt trepidation 
 upon confronting an enemy, though I ahvays felt 
 more or less anxiety.'' 
 
104 J^A^TTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 A newspai^er writer of the time, who posses- 
 sed most decided Federal sympathies, wrote of the 
 battle: ^^Tlie Home Guards, as. a general thing, 
 sneaked into the trenches and refused to fight at 
 all — the cannon were useless for the w^ant of am- 
 munition. Dead horses strewed the ground in 
 every direction, producing a most intolerable odor. 
 These, and perhaps similar circumstances, charac- 
 terized the condition of affairs at about the time of 
 the capitulation, and were sufficient not only to 
 drive a man into surrender, but into suicide or 
 insanity." 
 
 The same newspaper article describes the ap- 
 pearance and conduct of Price's men and officers 
 after the victory. The officers deported them- 
 selve as gentlemen, but the howls of joy and 
 drunken jubilation, from thirty thousand throats, 
 beggars all descriptions. The author of the arti- 
 cle writes as follows : 
 
 "Here went one fellow in a shirt of brilliant 
 green, on his side an immense cavalry sabre, in his 
 belt two navy revolvers and a Bowie knife, and 
 slung from his shoulder a Sharp's rifle. Tlight by 
 his side was another, upon whose liip dangled a 
 light medical sword, in his hand a double-bar- 
 relled shot-gun, in his boot an immense scythe, on 
 his heel the inevitable spur, his whole appearance, 
 from tattered boot, througii which gazed auda- 
 ciously his toes, to the top of his head, indicating 
 that the plunderings of many regions made up his 
 whole. Generally, the soldiers were armed with 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 105 
 
 shot-guns or squirrel rifles. Some had the old 
 flint-lock muskets, a few had Minie guns, and 
 others Sharp's or Maynard's rifles, while all, to 
 the poorest, had horses. * * * 
 
 "I saw one case that shows the Confederate 
 style of fighting. An old Texan, dressed in buck- 
 skin and armed with a long rifle, used to go up to 
 the works every morning about seven o'clock, car- 
 rying his dinner in a tin pail. Taking a good posi- 
 tion, he banged away at the Federals till noon, 
 then rested an hour, ate his dinner, after which he 
 resumed operations till six p. m., when he re- 
 turned home to supper and a night's sleep. The 
 next day a little before seven saw him, dinner and 
 rifle in hand, trudging up the street to begin again 
 his regular day's work — and in this style he con- 
 tinued till the surrender." 
 
 Gen. Sturgis made a feeble effort to reach Lex- 
 ington. He disembarked his forces at Utica on 
 the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad, some forty 
 miles north of Lexington. This was Tuesday 
 morning. By twelve o'clock noon he had under 
 arrest some twenty men and one captain for pilfer- 
 ing around town. Meantime Sturgis had been 
 busy pressing wagons and teams for the overland 
 trip to Lexington. The troops marched ten miles 
 that afternoon and then camped until morning. 
 The newspaper writer above quoted says: 
 
 ^^Wednesday morning about eight o'clock, and 
 when at a distance of some thirty miles from Lex- 
 ington, the whole command was electrified by the 
 
 8 
 
106 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 faint mutter of a cannonade that crept up sullenly 
 on the air from the direction of Lexington. All 
 day, without a moment's intermission, and that 
 night up to midnight, the roar of the conflict came 
 up from the south as if a half-dozen thunderstorms 
 had met and were battling on the distant horizon. 
 The day Avas savagely hot, and the men, unused to 
 walking, although inspired by the music that 
 seemed inviting them on, gave out in scores. So 
 that, notwithstanding the march was kept up till 
 long after dark, only twenty miles were made that 
 day. They were now within fifteen miles of Lex- 
 ington, and Gen. Sturgis determined to halt the 
 men, give them a few hours' sleep, then push on. 
 At one o'clock in the morning the command was 
 roused up, a cup of coffee was dealt around, and 
 the march resumed.'' 
 
 Sturgis had sent a messenger ahead to inform 
 Mulligan of his coming. The messenger fell into 
 the hands of Price's scouts. He was searched and 
 the dispatches taken from the lining of his coat. 
 After the boats were taken on Thursday, Price 
 sent over a force to wait for Sturgis on the north 
 side of the river. But Sturgis did not arrive. 
 lie abandoned his impedimenta to Price — wagons, 
 teams, tents, everything — and fled to Liberty 
 Landing, where he embarked for Leavenworth. 
 
 Our illustration, "The Surrender of Mulligan," 
 is from an old painting copied by Miss Bertha Cald- 
 well, daughter of T. C. Caldwell, of Independence, 
 Mo. It is a faithful portrayal of the appearance 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 107 
 
 of the victors as they marched up to take posses- 
 sion of the Federal works. 
 
 Mulligan says in an article in ^^Battles and 
 Leaders of the Civil War" : ^'Our cartridges were 
 now^ nearly used up, many of our brave fellows 
 had fallen, and it was evident that the fight must 
 soon cease, when at 3 o'clock an orderly came, say- 
 ing the enemy had sent a flag of truce. With the 
 flag came a note from General Price, asking, ^Why 
 has the firing ceased?' I returned it with the 
 reply written on the back: ^General, I hardly 
 know^ unless you have surrendered.' He at once 
 took pains to assure me that this was not the case. 
 I then discovered that the major of another regi- 
 ment, in spite of orders, had raised a white flag." 
 
108 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIANS. 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 
 FROM LEXINGTON TO PEA RIDGE. 
 
 Thus, sometimes, hath the brightest day a cloud; 
 And after summer, evermore succeeds 
 Barren winter, with his wrathful nipping cold. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 The indifference of the Federal troops in Mis- 
 souri to the fall of Lexington profoundly stirred 
 President Lincoln. He urged Fremont to repair 
 the loss without delay. Price remained a full 
 week in Lexington after capturing the place. By 
 that time Fremont's vast military machine was 
 put into slow motion. Price was in danger of be- 
 ing crushed. He faced about and made off leis- 
 urely for the South, like a hunted lion that bounds 
 away, but is not much afraid. Pope was in his 
 rear with 10,000 troops; Sigel wa& at Sedalia with 
 nearly 10,000; Hunter was at Versailles with 
 10,000; Gens, Asboth and McKinstry were at Tip- 
 ton and Syracuse Avith an aggregate of more than 
 10,000; on the west Gen. S. D. Sturgis was at Kan- 
 sas City with 3,000, and Lane was a little further 
 south w^ith 2,500. This spectacular array of Fed- 
 eral forces was highly gratifying to Fremont, who 
 came on from St. Louis to superintend personally 
 the movements w^hich he now ordered. He left St 
 Louis, September 27th, the day that Price broke 
 camp at Lexington. Price had hoped to winter at 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 109 
 
 Lexington, but he was now in a trap and must run 
 the gauntlet for 150 miles south to safety. He ran 
 slowly, ten miles a day. He was compelled to dis- 
 band large bodies of unarmed recruits. Moving 
 forward, he ordered demonstrations made to the 
 right and to the left, while his center proceeded 
 with his immense train. The Federals were de- 
 ceived by these feints of their wily foe. It was a 
 splendid game, and Price won it. McCulloch had 
 agreed to send up wagon-loads of lead from the 
 Granby mines in Newton Counly, but he failed of 
 his promise, alleging that Price would hardly need 
 the lead, being forced to retreat, as predicted by 
 McCulloch. 
 
 A vigorous movement of Polk's and Hardee's 
 forces into southeast Mfssouri at this time would 
 have drawn Fremont in that direction to protect 
 St Louis. Then McCulloch should have joined 
 Price, and the combined army might have wintered 
 on the Missouri Eiver. But the State of Missouri 
 had not yet seceded, and therefore it was no part 
 of the Southern Confederacy and had no legal 
 claim on the aid of the Confederate Army. 
 
 Price's army halted for two weeks at Neosho. 
 Here, by proclamation of Gov. Jackson, the Legis- 
 lature convened. An ordinance of secession was 
 passed. Senators and representatives were chos- 
 en to the Confederate Congress at Richmond. Mc- 
 Culloch could now conscientiously invade the 
 State, and he came gladly, uniting his forces with 
 
110 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 Price's; remaining, however, in Missouri but a few 
 days. 
 
 After Price had effected his masterly retreat, 
 Fremont came pouring after him. Price fell back 
 to Cassville in Barry County and prepared to 
 engage Fremont's forces. By this time Lincoln 
 was thoroughly disgusted with Fremont, and or- 
 dered his removal. Gen. Hunter, who succeeded 
 Fremont, ordered a retro<Trade movement. The 
 United States had expended and squandered, 
 through Fremont,* millions of dollars to expel Price 
 from the State and now the project was abandoned. 
 Price renewed his plan of wintering on the Mis- 
 souri River, but .again McCulloch refused to go 
 with him, holding that his men were unacclimated 
 and insuflficientl}' clothed to bear the rigors of a 
 Missouri winter. 
 
 In a few weeks Hunter was succeeded by Gen. 
 Halleck. The situation speedily changed. Price's 
 army had gone into winter quarters at Springfield 
 and other places in that region. In February, 1862, 
 after Price's army had comfortably lodged itself 
 in log huts for the winter, and McCulloch's army 
 was equally comfortable at Cross Hollows, Ark., 
 Gen. Curtis, now in command of the Federal forces 
 in the Southwest, threw his legions forward. Price 
 had dispatched Capt. Shelby, Col. Hughes, and 
 others back to the Missouri River with small forces 
 to recruit brigades and to bring south those who 
 were disbanded for the want of arms after the bat- 
 tle of Lexington. Both Hughes and Shelby re- 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. HI 
 
 joined Price in time to take conspicnons parts in 
 the great battle of Pea Kidge. Meantime tlie first 
 steps had been taken to organize a Confederate 
 army out of the State Guards. Price had no ex- 
 pectation of leaving the State. Van Dorn, who 
 was now assigned to the command of both Price's 
 and McCulloch's armies, advised Price to prepare 
 for a new excursion northward. They were to 
 take St. Louis, and from there were to overrun 
 both Missouri and Illinois. 
 
 Gen. Curtis, whose statue of heroic size may be 
 seen at Keokuk, Iowa, now formed the bold scheme 
 of invading Arkansas. His initial movements 
 were so decisive and vigorous and were executed 
 with such wisdom and such consummate prepara- 
 tion that Price evacuated Springfield precipitately, 
 leaving to Curtis an accumulation of winter sup- 
 plies. Price had hardly left Springfield and had 
 not yet reached the old battle-field of Wilson 
 Creek, when the main body of Curtis' army dashed 
 into the evacuated city and hoisted the Stars and 
 Stripes over the court-house. 
 
 Price sent swift couriers to McCulloch at Cross 
 Hollows and a widespread and instantaneous prep- 
 aration was on foot to resist the advance of Curtis. 
 Gen. Van Dorn hastened up from Jacksonport, 
 Ark. Gen. Price retreated with all possible haste 
 in the direction of Cross Hollows, hotly pushed by 
 Curtis. Many skirmishes were fought and many 
 hardships were endured. Cross Hollows was an 
 extensive Confederate stronghold. Curtis made 
 
112 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 a flank movement to the west, and Cross Hol- 
 lows was abandoned to the Federals without 
 firing a gun. Price and McCulloch took refuge in 
 the Boston Mountains, where on the 3d of March 
 they received Gen. Van Dorn with a major-gener- 
 aFs salute of forty guns. Curtis now occupied 
 Cross Hollows and Fayetteville. He began to feel 
 the pressure in his front of the accumulating and 
 resentful rebels. The great battle was about to 
 be fought. Curtis had been the aggressor until 
 now. Knowing that he was about to be attacked, 
 he chose a strong position on Sugar Creek and re- 
 called his advanced forces to his chosen stronghold 
 at Pea Eidge. Van Dorn advanced without de- 
 lay, hoping to destroy Sigel at Bentonville and 
 Carr at Cross Hollows. Sigel barely escaped, and 
 joined Curtis closely pushed by Price. At night 
 Van Dorn rested in front of Curtis, just beyond 
 cannon range. McCulloch pointed out a road 
 leading to the rear of the Federal position. Price 
 and Van Dorn immediately after nightfall entered 
 this road, and by morning, March 7th, were two 
 miles from Curtis in his rear, and occupying the 
 only road upon which he could retreat to Missouri. 
 McCulloch was left in front of Curtis with his own 
 forces and with Generals Pike's and Stand Wait- 
 ie's Indians. The plan of battle was designed to 
 bag Curtis' entire army. The battle began early 
 in the morning and raged on all parts of the large 
 field throughout the day. Price advanced stead- 
 ily, drawing his lines closely around Curtis, who 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 113 
 
 held a council of war and was about to surrender. 
 His headquarters of last night were in possession of 
 Price. Between Price with his Missourians on one 
 side and McCulloch with his large well-trained 
 Confederate veterans on the other, Curtis was 
 about crushed. The day had been a hard one on 
 all the contending forces. Suddenly Curtis felt 
 the pressure from McCulloch give way. The de- 
 spairing Curtis was now hopeful. He might yet 
 meet the advancing and triumphant Price. Van 
 Dorn was writing out a dispatch, late in the after- 
 noon, to McCulloch, urging him to press the ene- 
 my vigorously in front, and Price would close in 
 at the rear, and before dark the contest would 
 be ended. The dispatch was never sent Col. Dil- 
 lon rode up and reported: ^^McCulloch is dead, 
 Mcintosh is dead, Herbert is dead!'' 
 
 Late that night the broken, disorganized, and 
 disheartened remnant of McCulloch's proud army 
 arrived at Price's camp. They had no ammuni- 
 tion, their train having gonejby some criminal mis- 
 take, to Bentonville. Curtis was now relieved in 
 front, and in the morning Sigel would join his 
 friends in front of Price. Van Dorn decided to re- 
 treat, although retreating seemed running from 
 victory. Van Dorn had ventured into this battle 
 with a force only half as great as that commanded 
 by Curtis. This force he divided into two parts, 
 and b}^ the mischances of the day one part, the 
 larger part, was eliminated from further possible 
 participation in the battle. Dividing an army and 
 
114 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 fighting it against a superior force is a doubtful 
 expedient, but this was not Van Dorn's fatal mis- 
 take at Pea Ridge. Had Van Dorn remained with 
 McCulloch at the front, instead of accompanying 
 Price to the rear of Curtis, the vanquished would 
 have been the victors. McCulloch needed super- 
 vision, not Price. McCulloch was a good general, 
 but he was also a good sharpshooter; when killed 
 he had a Maynard rifle on his shoulder. He ex- 
 posed himself unnecessarily. Had he not fallen, 
 perhaps all would have been well. 
 
 When night came the soldiers of the contend- 
 ing armies rested among their dead. When morn- 
 ing came the battle was resumed, mainly by the 
 opposing batteries, and for the purpose, on the 
 part of Van Dorn, of giving Curtis gentle employ- 
 ment until the retreat could be executed, under the 
 immediate supervision of General Little. Price's 
 men supposed they w^ere making a flank move- 
 ment, and were in high spirits. Mutterings of dis- 
 content were loud when they learned that they 
 were retreating. 
 
 Bevier says: ^^Maintaining the best of order 
 in the worst of humors — supplied alone with such 
 provisions, principally corn meal and bacon, as 
 could be picked up in the country; through floods 
 of rain, and over submerged bottom lands and 
 swollen rivers, the retreating Missouri brigades 
 marched for eight days, and finally camped on 
 Frog Bayou, near Van Buren." 
 
 Curtis made no attempt to follow. His army 
 
CAMPAIGN OF THE MISSOURI STATE GUARDS. 115 
 
 finally drifted toward Helena, and part of it, later 
 in the war, fought under Steele. 
 
 While the battle of Pea Ridge was a Federal 
 victory, gained principally by Sigel, Van Dorn car- 
 ried away some of the substantial fruits of success, 
 having captured three hundred prisoners, four 
 pieces of artillery, and three baggage wagons. The 
 Federal loss in killed was nearly four hundred. 
 Van Dorn's loss in killed was less than two hun- 
 dred. While in camp near Van Buren, Price re- 
 ceived his commission as major-general in the Con- 
 federate Army, and with the commission came a 
 cry for help from Albert Sidney Johnson. Grant 
 was pressing down toward Shiloh. From Van Bu- 
 ren, Price marched to Des Arc on White River, and 
 there embarked his army for Memphis. It was 
 like embarking for another continent 
 
116 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 Chapter XII . 
 
 FROM DES ARC TO CORINTH. 
 
 A braver choice of dauntless spirits 
 Than now the English bottoms have wafted over, 
 Did never float upon the swelling tide 
 To do offense and scath in Christendom. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 To go or not to go, that was the question to be 
 decided by the men at Des Arc. These citizen- 
 soldiers had gone into the Missouri State Guards 
 to fight for Missouri and for nothing else. Many 
 of them had in past years gone frequently on 
 excursions to the Kansas line to repel by force 
 marauding bands of Jayhawkers. Defending the 
 State against invasion was, therefore, not only a 
 principle; it was a habit also, long practiced. 
 When the appeal came for help beyond the Missis- 
 sippi, where Grant was bearing down on Beaure- 
 gard, there were division and debates in the camp 
 of the State Guards. Some said: "We will go 
 and fight wherever duty calls.'' Others said: 
 "We will return to Missouri, if possible, and we 
 will fight and die for our State." 
 
 The earliest Confederate camp established for 
 recruiting out of the State Guards was on Sac 
 River, near Osceola, Mo., in December, 1861. After 
 the retreat from Lexington, Price knew his army 
 of State Guards must eventually become Confed- 
 erate. But not until after the battle of Pea Ridge 
 
FROM DES ARC TO CORINTH. 117 
 
 was the necessity forced upon the unwilling at- 
 tention of the rank and file. Near Van Buren, 
 Ark., at Frog Bayou, seventy-five miles beyond the 
 Missouri line, the final decision was mostly made. 
 General Rains was left in command of those who 
 remained; General Price was to command those 
 who should go. Here the separation took place, 
 but the final farewell was said at Des Arc. on 
 White River. Here the men were dismounted, and 
 their horses sold to the Government or sent to 
 pasture in Texas. Here Price resigned his com- 
 mand of the Missouri State Guards and issued a 
 passionate appeal to his followers, in these burn- 
 ing words : 
 
 ^^Soldiers of the State Guard, I command you 
 no longer. I have this' day resigned the commis- 
 sion which your patient endurance, your devoted 
 patriotism, and your dauntless bravery have made 
 so honorable. I have done this that I might the 
 better serve you, our State, and our country; that 
 I may the sooner lead you back to the fertile 
 prairies, the rich woodlands and majestic streams 
 of our beloved Missouri; that I may more certainly 
 restore you to your once more happy homes, and 
 to the loved ones there. 
 
 ^^Five thousand of those who have fought side 
 by side with us, under the Grizzly Bears of Mis- 
 souri, have followed me into the Confederate 
 camp. They appeal to you, as I do, by all the 
 tender memories of the past, not to leave us now, 
 
118 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 but to go with US wherever the path of duty may 
 lead, till we shall have conquered a peace and won 
 our independence by brilliant deeds upon new 
 fields of battle. 
 
 ^'Soldiers of the State Guard, veterans of six 
 pitched battles and nearly twenty skirmishes — 
 conquerors in them all, your country, with its 
 ruined hearths and shrines, rescue forever from 
 the terrible thralldom which threatens her. I 
 know she will not call in vain. The insolent and 
 barbarous hordes which have dared to invade our 
 soil, and to desecrate our homes, have just met 
 with a signal overthrow beyond the MississipDi. 
 Now is the time to end this unhappy war. If 
 every man will do his duty, his own roof will shel- 
 ter him in peace from the storms of the coming 
 winter. 
 
 "Let not history record that men who bore with 
 patience the privations of Oowskin Prairte, who 
 endured uncomplainingly the heats of a Missouri 
 summer, and the frosts and snows of a Missouri 
 winter; that the men who met the enemy at Carth- 
 age, at Wilson's Creek, at Fort Scott, at Lexing- 
 ton, and numerous lesser battle-fields in Missouri, 
 and met them but to conquer them ; that the men 
 who fought so bravely and so well at Elk Horn; 
 that the unpaid soldiers of Missouri were, after so 
 many victories, and after so much suffering, un- 
 equal to the great task of achieving the independ- 
 ence of their magnificent State. 
 
FROM DES ARC TO CORINTH. 119 
 
 "Soldiers! I go but to make a pathway to our 
 homes. Follow me. 
 
 ^^Sterling Price. 
 
 "Des Arc, Ark., April 8, 1862.'' 
 
 Many of the State Guards had followed Price 
 to Des Arc and many were willing to go with him 
 beyond the Mississippi River, but were unwilling 
 to become irrevocably attached to the Southern 
 Confederacy. They would go for a brief period to 
 the relief of Beauregard, but would return. These 
 were under Brigadier General M. M. Parsons, by 
 special order of Warick Hough, adjutant-general 
 of Missouri. 
 
 At this time White Kiver was a seething flood. 
 Boats were quickly secured. Price embarked 
 with 8,000 troops, sailed down the swollen White 
 Kiver, out into the Mississippi, and up to Memphis. 
 The mighty Grant was slowly emerging from 
 obscurity. His quick, lightning-like decision and 
 unerring judgment had won for him the fall of 
 Forts Henry and Donelson. He had broken the 
 line of Confederate defenses from Bowling Green 
 to Columbus; he had fought and dearly won the 
 battle of Shiloh. By the success of his brilliant 
 strategies, he had driven a wedge into the Confed- 
 erate Army and had moved his own front 200 miles 
 southward. Beauregard had fallen back to Cor- 
 inth, at the extreme northern edge of the State 
 of Mississippi. Beauregard was a consummate 
 civil engineer as well as a trained strategist. He 
 fortified Corinth with great skill. He had also 
 
120 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIANS. 
 
 constructed the defensive works at Island No. 10, 
 which commanded the Mississippi River. A few 
 days before Price left Des Arc the battle of Shiloh 
 had been fought. But it was not a Confederate 
 victory, as reported in Price's camp. On April 8th, 
 the date of Price's appeal to his followers at Des 
 Arc, Island No. 10 ceased to be a Confederate 
 stronghold. Its fall had cost the Federals "fifty 
 tons «f powder,'' declared Beauregard. Island 
 No. 10 was an outpost of Vicksburg. When Price 
 and Van Dorn arrived at Corinth, General Hal- 
 leck was approaching the place by the slow process 
 of a regular siege. Edwards says: "Halleck dug 
 and dug, and pushed his immense army forward 
 slowly and painfully as a w^ounded snake." 
 
 Halleck belonged to the old school of soldiers, 
 and he believed that Grant had been incautious at 
 Shiloh. He would now teach Grant how to be cau- 
 tious, and the siege of Corinth was an object les- 
 son. Halleck tutoring Grant! The light of history 
 reveals nothing more ludicrous. 
 
 At the begining of the war Corinth was un- 
 marked on the maps. Its position with reference 
 to railroad connections gave it great military im- 
 portance. Beauregard threw up fortifications in 
 front of Corinth for fifteen miles. Farmington 
 was a high point on the east — an important out- 
 post. Here occurred the first battle in which 
 Price's army took part on the east side of the great 
 river. Other Missourians, however, fought at Shi- 
 loh. General Bowen, of St. Louis, organized the 
 
FROM DES ARC TO CORINTH. i2l 
 
 Missouri First Brigade at Memphis, chiefly of men 
 who were captured by Lyon at Camp Jackson. 
 Bowen's command fought at Shiloh. 
 
 On May 8, 1862, General John Pope occupied 
 Farmington. The Confederate generals believed 
 they could capture Pope's entire command. A 
 combined attack of the forces under Bragg, Har- 
 dee, Price, and Van Dorn was made on the morn- 
 ing of the 9th. Pope contrived to escape with his 
 forces. Three weeks later Beauregard evacuated 
 Corinth and retreated farther south. After the 
 battle of Farmington, the famous cannon, ^'Old 
 Sacramento,'' ceased to be useful. The life of a 
 cannon is limited to a few hundred shots. 
 
 Bevier quotes a Northern writer of tlie time: 
 "The Confederate strategy since the battle of Shi- 
 loh has been as successful as it has been supe- 
 rior. * * * If the attack at Shiloh was a sur- 
 prise to Grant, the evacuation of Corinth was no 
 less a surprise to General Hal leek. * * * * 
 Corinth has been searched in vain for a spiked or 
 disabled gun. Shame on us! What a clean piece 
 of evacuation it was!" 
 
 The army fell back to Tupelo. From here the 
 Missouri State Guards, under General Parson, re- 
 turned to the Trans-Mississippi Department, Capt. 
 Jo. Shelby and Col. John T. Hughes among them. 
 General Beauregard fell ill and the command of 
 the Army of the West devolved on General Bragg. 
 
 In August General Bragg took his main army 
 
 by rail to Chattanooga, leaving Price in command 
 9 
 
122 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 of the Army of the West, with special instructions 
 to observe Grant at Corinth. Van Dorn was in 
 command at Vicksburg. Price and Van Dorn 
 were independent of each other, and each com- 
 manded a corps of tAvo strong divisions. Bevier, 
 in this connection, quotes Major-General Dabney 
 H. Maury : "And just here were developed the bad 
 consequences of having these two commanders 
 present in the field without a common superior; 
 for, had Price been justified in placing his forces 
 under Van Dorn's command at this time, there is 
 scarcely a doubt that the enemy would have been 
 driven in a few da^^s entirel}'^ beyond the Tennessee 
 River. Then would have followed the reinforce- 
 ment of Bragg's arm}^ by the corps of Van Dorn 
 and Price, and without extraordinary misconduct 
 or mischance, the Confederate Army of the Ten- 
 nessee might have crossed the Ohio." 
 
 As it was, Price captured luka, wdiere Gen- 
 eral Little fell. Nine cannon were captured. A 
 great victory over Bosecranz was expected in the 
 morning. During the night General Grant came. 
 In a council of war, it was decided to fall back, al- 
 though Price maintained: "We '11 w^ade through 
 him, sir, in the morning. You ought to have seen 
 how my boys fought this evening; we drove them 
 a mile, sir." On October 3d, Price and Van Dorn 
 invested Corinth and during that day and the next 
 made disastrous attempts to take the place. 
 
 Maury says: "At sunset the enemy in front 
 of Price's corps had been driven into the tow^n at 
 
FROM DES ARC TO CORINTH. 123 
 
 every point along our whole front, and these troops 
 had established their line close up to Corinth." 
 
 The next morning there was a long delay in 
 opening the battle. '^But as soon as we began to 
 hear the rolling fire of musketry on the left, Mau- 
 ry's division broke through the screen of timber 
 and into the town, and into the enemy's works. 
 We broke his center; the Missourians moved in 
 line with us. Within twenty minutes from the 
 time we began our movement our colors were 
 planted in triumph upon the ramparts of Oorinth. 
 But it was a brief triumph, and won at a bloody 
 cost. No charge in the history of the war was 
 more daring or more bloody. 
 
 "The w^iole of Price's corps penetrated to the 
 center of the town of Corinth, and was in position 
 to swing around and take the enemy's left wing 
 in the rear and flank, for we were 1200 yards in 
 rear of the lines on College Hill, which formed the 
 enemy's left wing,, and against which our right 
 wing, south of the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, 
 had been arrayed. But since ten a. m. of the pre- 
 vious morning our right wing had made no decided 
 advance or attack upon the enemy in its front, and 
 when Eosecranz found his center broken by our 
 charge, believing the demonstration of our right 
 wing merely a ^feint,' he withdrew General Stan- 
 ley with a heavy force from his left and threw him 
 against us. 
 
 "Disarrayed and torn as our lines were, with 
 more than one-third of our men down, and with 
 
124 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 many of our best regimental officers killed and 
 wounded, the troops were not ready to meet and 
 repel the fresh troops that now, in fine array, came 
 upon our right flank from the left of the enemy's 
 works on College Hill and swept us out of the 
 place. Our men fell back in disorder, but sul- 
 lenly. * * * 
 
 "When, after all was over and the whole of the 
 Army of the West, now reduced to about 6,000 
 men, came out of town and into the woods through 
 which we had so confidently charged an hour be- 
 fore, generals, colonels, and staff officers in vain 
 endeavored to rally the men. They plodded dog- 
 gedly along toward the road by which we had 
 marched on the day before, and it was not in any 
 man's power to form them into line. We found 
 Generals Van Dorn and Price within a few hun- 
 dred yards of the place, sitting on their horses 
 near each other. Van Dorn looked upon the 
 thousands of men streaming past him with a min- 
 gled expression of sorrow and pity. Old General 
 Price looked on the disorder of his darling troops 
 with unmitigated anguish. The big tears coursed 
 down the old man's bronzed face, and I have never 
 witnessed such a picture of mute despair and grief 
 as his countenance wore when he looked upon the 
 utter defeat of those magnificent troops. He had 
 never before known them to fail, and they never 
 had failed to carry the lines of any enemy in their 
 front; nor did they ever to the close of their noble 
 career at Blakely, on the ninth of April, 1865, fail 
 
FROM DES ARC TO CORINTH. 125 
 
 to defeat the troops before them. I mean no dis- 
 paragement to any troops of the Southern Confed- 
 eracy when I say the Missouri troops of the Army of 
 the West were not surpassed hy any troops in the 
 world.^^ — Maury. 
 
 Bevier closes his quotation as to Corinth with 
 this paragraph: ^^No commander of the Federal 
 armies evinced more tenacity and skill than did 
 General Eosecranz during this battle. He was 
 one of the ablest of the Union generals, and his 
 moderation and humanity in the conduct of war 
 kept pace with his courage and skill. Our dead 
 received from him all the care due brave men who 
 fell in manly warfare, and our wounded and pris- 
 oners who fell into his hands attest his soldierly 
 courtesy.'' 
 
126 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 Chapter XIIL 
 
 FROM VICKSBURG TO PEACE. 
 
 General Price crossed to the Cis-Mississipi:>i 
 Department with an army of 8,000 Missourians. 
 Only 800 of these were alive when peace was made, 
 and half of these were languishing sick or wounded 
 in hospitals. Such mortality has never been re- 
 corded of any other army in all the range of his- 
 tory, ancient, medieval, or modern. These Mis- 
 sourians were always assigned to the chief posts 
 of danger because they were unwavering and of 
 exalted morale. Had General Price, the greatest 
 of Missouri warriors, been placed in chief com- 
 mand of all the forces operating in front of Grant, 
 the story of Vicksburg might be totally different. 
 Perhaps Grant would not have become com- 
 mander-in-chief of United States armies, nor have 
 reached the presidency. After the disastrous bat- 
 tle of Corinth and the extrication by General Price 
 of the army from the perilous position in which it 
 had been left by Van Dorn, it fell back to Holly 
 Springs and went into camp near that town. Here 
 theMissouri command was reorganized. Brigadier 
 General John S. Bowen was transferred with the 
 Missouri First to Price's corps. Several regiments 
 of Arkansans and Missourians were organized into 
 a brigade and placed under Colonel Gates. Gen- 
 
FROM VIGKSBURG TO PEACE. 
 
 127 
 
 eral Martin Green was given command of the Sec- 
 ond Brigade. F. M. Cockrell acted as brigadier 
 general. 
 
 Generals Lovell and Tighlman represented to 
 Jeff, Davis that "Price's urmy was an armed mob, 
 without drill or discipline, unsoldierl}^ in appear- 
 ance and equipments, and withal a disgrace to the 
 service." Van Dorn was ordered to review the 
 Missourians and report. In his report to Davis 
 and Price he said: '^I have attended reviews of 
 the armies of Generals Beauregard, Bragg, Albert 
 Sidney and Joseph E. Johnston, and also in the old 
 United States service, and T have never seen a finer 
 looking body of men, nor of more orderly appear- 
 ance and efficiency, nor have I ever witnessed bet- 
 ter drill or discipline in any army since I have be- 
 longed to the military service.'' 
 
 Soon after this report, but not in consequence 
 of it. Gen. Lovell was relieved of the command of 
 the Department of Mississippi and East Tennessee 
 by order of President Jeff. Davis. General John 
 C. Pemberton was appointed in his stead. The 
 disparity between the size of the man and the size 
 of his position was soon apparent. The greatness 
 of Jeff. Davis was not always displayed in his 
 selections of subordinates. The campaign in the 
 Mississippi Valley passed from failure to failure 
 in rapid succession under Beauregard, Bragg, 
 Hardee, Van Dorn, Lovell, Pemberton, Joe John- 
 ston, and Hood. 
 
 In January, 1863, General Price visited Rich- 
 
128 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOVRIANS. 
 
 mond for the purpose of inducing the Confederate 
 Government to sanction his return with his army 
 to Missouri. The interview between General Price 
 and Jeff. Davis was a stormy one. (See biography 
 of Price.) Davis at last consented, reluctantly, 
 that Price's army of Missourians should return at 
 the earliest practical date, to be determined by 
 General Bragg, a favorite of Jeff. Davis. General 
 Price returned to his camp and made a farewell 
 speech to his devoted followers. He told them 
 that he had sought and had obtained assignment 
 to the command of the Trans-Mississippi Depart- 
 ment, whither he would go at once. The^^ would 
 soon follow him, he said. Butthe time never came 
 when the Missourians could be spared from Missis- 
 sippi and Tennessee and they never marched again 
 under Price. General Grant now addressed all 
 his energies and his genius to the apparently hope- 
 less task of reducing Vicksburg. General Steele 
 was at Helena and the Confederates established 
 themselves at Grand Gulf. In April, Colonel 
 Cockrell crossed the river and led a perilous ex- 
 pedition into the SAvamps of Louisiana. Superior 
 skill and energy alone enabled him to get safely 
 back to Grand Gulf. At the battles of Grand 
 Gulf, Port Gibson, Champion Hills, and Big Black 
 the Missourians nobly fought to defend the weak- 
 est side of the great line of w^orks around Vicks- 
 burg. They were led by such wariors as Bowmen, 
 Cockrell, Maury, Green, Gates, Erwin, Bevier, 
 Gause, and others. The Missouri batteries did 
 
FROM YICK8BURG TO PEACE. 129 
 
 great execution and suffered much before Vicks- 
 burg under Colonel Hi Bledsoe, Captains Schuyler 
 Lowe, Landis, Guibor, Wash, etc. Some of these 
 batteries fought at Chattanooga. TheMissourians 
 were always in the vortex of destruction and their 
 losses were always heavy. As Grant slowly and 
 systematically drew his lines nearer to Vicksburg, 
 the Confederate armies retreated into the inner 
 works of the doomed city. Colonel Bevier, histo- 
 rian of the First and Second Brigades, says: "In 
 this beleaguered city of many hills the weary and 
 war-worn, but brave and undismayed Missourians, 
 of Bowen's division, came to a halt after their pro- 
 tracted and toilsome marches and battles, faced 
 to the front and dressed their lines, sadly thinned 
 out, and many a brave fellow missing forever, but 
 still as correct, prompt, and soldierly in formation 
 as the most exacting martinet could require." The 
 terrible weeks of the siege wore away, and famine 
 and disease invade the doomed city, great allies of 
 the besiegers. 
 
 General Martin E. Green and Colonel Eugene 
 Erwin were killed while defending the works. 
 Finally, when the last morsels of mule meat and 
 dog meat were in the haversacks. General Cock- 
 rell proposed to lead a charge with his Missourians 
 in an effort to cut through the coils drawn so 
 closely around them. But the time for fighting 
 had passed and on the Fourth of July Pemberton 
 surrendered. 
 
 President Jeff. Davis sent a telegram to Pern- 
 
130 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 berton thanking the Missourians "for their gal- 
 lantry and the discipline manifested by them in 
 the campaign just closed, and especially for the 
 prompt succor they rendered, as reserves, to every 
 weak point and to every doubtful position." Soon 
 after the surrender. General Bowen was taken sick 
 and died. 
 
 The Confederates were exchanged. Early in 
 September we find them settling in winter quar- 
 ters at Demopolis. Another reorganization was 
 now necessary. The Missouri army was small and 
 many regiments were consolidated in order to form 
 a few brigades. President Jeff. Davis visited the 
 camp and complimented the Missourians very 
 highly. 
 
 In the spring of 1864 the Missourians marched 
 to Cassville, Georgia, and became an integral part 
 of General Joseph E. eTohnston's army. Sherman 
 was pressing toward Atlanta, while Grant in- 
 vested Richmond. Johnston defended Atlanta 
 with a masterly skill, only second to the skill dis- 
 played by Lee in defense of the Confederate capital. 
 Suddenly an order came from Jeff. Davis relieving 
 Johnston of the command of the Army of the Ten- 
 nessee and naming as his successor General Hood. 
 When Sherman heard that Hood was in command, 
 he sprang to his feet and exclaimed: "I know 
 that fellow!'' Heavy fighting ensued, reckless, 
 massive, headlong charges by Hood and the ulti- 
 mate fall of Atlanta. Hood swung back to Sher- 
 man's rear, where Sherman most desired him; 
 Sherman then began his "march to the sea." 
 
FROM riGKSBURG TO PEACE. 181 
 
 Hood marched to Allatoona, which was un- 
 successfully attacked b^'^ French's division. Hood 
 now started on his disastrous expedition to Nash- 
 ville. Over muddy roads the army marched to 
 Franklin, defended by General Schofield. Here 
 was fought a battle, the story of which is as blood- 
 curdling as any in the annals of the Civil War. 
 The troops came to the attack most gallantly, car- 
 rying the outer works and in some places the inner 
 works also. Bevier quotes Anderson: ^^The or- 
 der to advance was general, and the line moved 
 forward with banners streaming and the band of 
 our brigade playing; the movement was executed 
 with perfect order, and the line, in solid and un- 
 broken ranks, charged on. ' A heavy battery from 
 a fort some distance in the enemy's rear poured a 
 destructive fire on our lines as they moved up. 
 Their infantry did not open upon the brigade until 
 it was within thirty steps of the works, when it 
 was met b^^ a deadly and terrific fire from troops 
 armed with the seven-shooting Spencer rifle; and 
 here the slaughter of the remainder of that gallant 
 band of Missourians Avas almost consummated; in 
 less than half a minute most of them went down. 
 One of the survivors says, Avhen he looked around 
 after the first shock, there were onl}' seven or eight 
 men of his company standing, and the ranks of the 
 brigade were proportionately thinned. Our lines 
 were too weak to carry the works in their front, and 
 the order was given to fall back; some, however, 
 rushed forward and gained the fortifications, but 
 
132 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 were there, with few exceptions, killed or made 
 prisoners." • 
 
 Bevier quotes again: "General Oockrell went 
 into the fight with all the vigor and vim of a Mar- 
 shal Ney. In a few minntes he returned, riding 
 his wearied horse, severely wounded in both arms 
 and in his leg, and unable to dismount until help 
 came. The horse of Colonel Gates, which had so 
 often followed Cockrell's over many a weary mile 
 — all along the tottering line of the Confederacy, 
 wherever the carnage was the deadliest — as if by 
 instinct, turned and followed him now. His rider 
 was powerless to guide him, both arms shot 
 through and hanging limp by his side. I shall 
 never forget the steady, calm gaze of this old hero 
 of many a battle-field, as he sat upon his horse, 
 erect as a statute, until I assisted him down and 
 he and the general were borne from the battle-field 
 through a shower of bullets and balls.'' Bevier 
 narrates: "The unfortunate wounded suffered 
 untold horrors, many of them remaining on the 
 field for ten or twelve hours without food or water, 
 in the freezing mud and amid the cries and groans 
 of three thousand suffering and dying fellow mor- 
 tals, and half that time exposed to the plunging 
 shot of both friend and foe." 
 
 Towards midnight Schofield abandoned the 
 works and retreated to Nashville, where Thomas 
 lay with the main army. 
 
 Bevier says: "When the brigade formed in 
 front of Franklin, a field report showed present 
 
' FROM YICKSBURG TO PEACE. ]33 
 
 687. After the charge, on duty, 240; being a loss 
 of nearly two-thirds, almost equal to that of 
 the Light Brigade at Balaklava." The battle of 
 Franklin occurred on November 30, 1864. 
 
 Hood marched on to Nashville, where the Mis- 
 sourians performed some skirmish duty, but before 
 the great disastrous battle was fought, they had 
 been sent to obstruct the Tennessee River; they 
 erected a pontoon bridge, over which Hood's for- 
 lorn army escaped south. Bledsoe's battery held 
 back most defiantly the pursuing squadrons. The 
 retreating men marched like a mob. The Missou- 
 rians alone "moved erect, soldierly, shoulder to 
 shoulder, with apparently not a single article of 
 equipment lost, with a style and bearing as if they 
 had never known defeat." 
 
 The army -rested at Tuinelo, the camp of two 
 years before; here Hood was relieved of his com- 
 mand, at his own request. About February 1, 
 1865, the army was ordered to Mobile. En route 
 the army was joined by Cockrell, still suffering 
 from his wounds, and by Colonel Gates, who had 
 lost an arm. The Missourians now numbered 
 about 400, all that were left of the 8,000, unless we 
 count some 400 languishing with sickness or 
 wounds. 
 
 From Mobile the worn veterans were soon or- 
 dered to Fort Blakely, whither came General Can- 
 by and besieged the works. On April 9th General 
 Liddil, first in command, and General Cockrell, 
 second in command, surrendered. The prisoners 
 
134 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 were taken to Meridian, where, on May 4th, they 
 were paroled and returned to their homes in 
 Missouri. About 150' Missourians escaped into 
 the water at Blakely and succeeded in evading 
 capture. 
 
THE BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE. 135 
 
 Chapter XIV, 
 
 THE BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 The attack on Independence was made at break 
 of day, with the rush and overwhelming sudden- 
 ness of a whirlwind. This battle was properly a 
 prelude to the battle of Lone Jack; more properly a 
 part of it. The battle of Independence greatly ex- 
 asperated the Federals all over the State; it was a 
 portentous renewal of the war in Missouri. Al- 
 though the battle was planned by Col. Hughes, 
 assisted by Thompson and Hays, the Federal 
 authorities for the moment charged the disaster 
 to Quantrell, and sent Major Foster out from Lex- 
 ington to punish him. Foster came to Lone Jack 
 on this mission, and was defeated in one of the 
 hardest battles of the war. After the fearful bat- 
 tle of Pea Ridge in March, the larger part of the 
 State Guards went with Price across the Missis- 
 sippi River. These all took service in the Confed- 
 erate Army, except Parsons' infantry which re- 
 turned in a few weeks to the Trans-Mississippi De- 
 partment. Fragments of companies, however, 
 lingered along the Southern outskirts of the State, 
 or in northern Arkansas. In midsummer, 1862, 
 there seemed to be a spr ntaneous, widespread, but 
 disconnected movement back into the State. 
 From beyond the Mississippi River and out of 
 Arkansas came captains, who expected to recruit 
 
136 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIAifS. 
 
 regiments, and colonels who expected to recruit 
 brigades, and lieutenants and privates who ex- 
 pected to raise companies. Among those who 
 passed beyond the Mississippi River and fought at 
 Corinth and then returned were Shelby, Huj^jhes, 
 and Thompson. Among those of the State Guards 
 who remained in Arkansas were Rains, Cock- 
 rell, GolTee, Jackman, Hunter, Tracy, and Hays. 
 Quantrell remained in the State. The above offi- 
 cers, who were expatriated after the battle of 
 Pea Ridge, began to reappear in the State in 
 July and August. During their absence the State 
 had not been wholly given up to undisputed Fed- 
 eral control. Missouri had never been without 
 numerous small commands of State Guards, 
 squads and companies of guerrillas or other organ- 
 izations of Southern sympathizers. These were 
 about over the State in independent bands in nu^l- 
 bers ranging from a few scores to several hun- 
 dreds. The Federal sympathizers were organized 
 in equal variety and in greater magnitude. The 
 chief difference between the two classes was this : 
 all the Confederate organizations were composed 
 wholly of Missourians; the Federal organizations 
 were composed of soldiers from Kansas, Iowa, Il- 
 linois, and Missouri. Such conditions prevailed 
 over the State during the entire period of the war, 
 and rendered the State at all times a fertile field 
 for recruiting. Such conditions resulted also in 
 frequent bloody conflicts. General Schofield, Fed- 
 eral commander of the Department of Missouri, 
 
THE BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE. 137 
 
 reported over one hundred battles in the State 
 between May 1 and September 20, 1862. Dur- 
 ing the four years of the Civil War there vrere 
 fought 487 engagements in the State of Missouri, 
 and reported at the War Department at Washing- 
 ton, an average of two a week. Virginia alone 
 had a greater number, over 600. 
 
 Among the first, if not the very first, to return 
 after the dreadful exodus following the battle of 
 Pea Ridge, was Colonel Upton Hays. About the 
 1st of eTuly, Colonel Hays came to Quantrell, in 
 Henry County, and remained w^ith his band of 
 ninety-six men most of the time until July 10th, 
 on which date they fought a battle on Walnut 
 Creek, in the northwest comer of Henry County. 
 Before QuantrelPs next battle, near Index, Cass 
 County, Hays said to Quantrell that he wanted 
 to get back into Jackson County to resume recruit- 
 ing, which he had already commenced, and asked 
 Quantrell for a guard of thirty men. Quantrell 
 gave Hays the guard, with Geo. Todd as com- 
 mander. About the 1st of August, 1862, Hayes 
 had recruited about 150 men at a camp on the 
 Charlie Cowherd farm, near Lee's Summit. The 
 camp was on the high prairie and a flag was raised 
 on a very tall pole to indicate the location of the 
 camp to all w^ho w^anted to enlist. The flag was 
 plainly visible from the top of the court-house in 
 Independence. 
 
 Independence was a Federal post, commanded 
 
 by Col. James T. Buel, of the Seventh Missouri 
 10 
 
138 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 Cavalry. Buel took command of the Independ- 
 ence post on the 7th of June. The troops under 
 his command consisted of three companies of 
 the Seventh Missouri Cavalry, two companies of 
 Colonel Newgent's battalion, provisional militia, 
 commanded by Captains Axline and Thomas, and 
 a company of the Sixth Ke^iment of militia, com- 
 manded by Captain W. H. Kodewald, of Independ- 
 ence, in all about 500 men. Colonel Buel deter- 
 mined to break up Hays' recruiting-camp on the 
 Cowherd farm, a very proper military step for him 
 to take. Accordingly he sent to Burris at Kansas 
 City and to Colonel Huston at Lexington to send 
 him some reinforcements. On Sunday, August 
 10th, Colonel Buel gathered up all the firearms in 
 the hands of the private citizens of Independence. 
 His object was to ^^prevent a fire in the rear," he 
 said. From this it is evident that he meditated an 
 immediate attack on the camp at the Cowherd 
 farm. Meantime, Cols. Hughes and Thompson had 
 arrived at Hays' camp with about seventy-five 
 men. Colonel Hughes was on his way to his old 
 home in Clinton County, north of the river. He 
 was recruiting a brigade, and Hays, we may sur- 
 mise, would have taken his regiment into Hughes' 
 brigade. On the night of August 10th Quantrell 
 who had been nursing a wounded leg, arrived at 
 the camp with twenty-five men. The little army 
 at the Cowherd farm now amounted to 250 men. 
 They had only two rounds of ammunition each, not 
 enough to enable them to resist the contemplated 
 
fHE BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE. I39 
 
 attack by BuePs well-armed and superior force. 
 The leaders decided, therefore, to attack and if pos- 
 sible capture Buel at Independence before he could 
 attack them and before he should be reinforced, 
 thus securing their own safety and providing them- 
 selves with ammunition. Acting Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral John T. Hughes was to have command of the 
 venture. 
 
 There was no free interchange of visits between 
 Independence and the camp. No one could leave 
 Independence without a passport from Colonel 
 Buel. All the roads were carefully guarded. Not- 
 withstanding, the leaders at the camp were 
 thoroughly informed as to Buel's plans and the ex- 
 act location of Buel's troops, his headquarters, his 
 commissary stores, the size of his force and the 
 number of Southern men confined in jail. Their 
 information was full and explicit. Buel's forces 
 were not disposed with any view to resisting an 
 attack. Headquarters were in the McCoy build- 
 ing, near the public square, on West Lexington 
 Street. On the opposite side of the street and a 
 little further down Captain Rodewald was quar- 
 tered with a company in the building now occupied 
 as a station by the Metropolitan Street Railway 
 Company. At the county jail on North Main 
 Street, and at the commissary store near it, were 
 stationed about twenty-five men under Lieutenant 
 Meryhew. The balance of the soldiers were living 
 in tents between Union and Pleasant Streets, south 
 of Lexington Street, and were nearly half a mile 
 
140 BATTLES AND BIOQBAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 from headquarters. Buel had about 500 men and 
 they were all present at the beginning of the bat- 
 tle. The old citizens of Independence, such men 
 as Judge James Peacock and L. M. Sea, have told 
 me that the Southern sympathizers knew on Sun- 
 day evening that an attack would in all proba- 
 bility be made at daylight next morning. Buel 
 ought to have known the imminence of his danger; 
 but he was over-confident. He heard alarming 
 rumors, but such rumors were common and easily 
 created at any time by a few guerrillas riding 
 through the countr^^ He had groAvn accustomed 
 to rumors. The recruiting-camp had no terror for 
 him; those composing it had no arms, no organiza- 
 tion, and were few in numbers. The idea of an 
 attack from them was simply preposterous. The 
 coming of Confederates from the South was not 
 suspected by any Federal commander in Missouri. 
 About four o'clock on Monday morning the dis- 
 charge of a gun broke the stillness of morning in 
 Independence. Those who the evening before had 
 received intimation of what might occur were 
 instantly awake. Perfect quiet followed; maybe 
 the gun was an accident; then nearer a volley broke 
 out, accomiDanied by loud yelling; then a fusillade 
 and the battle had opened and the whole town was 
 aroused. The attacking army came in on Spring r 
 
 Street. Captain Hart, of St. Joseph, was at the | 
 
 head of the column which was approaching the 
 public square, on East Maple Avenue. The Federal 
 guard at the jail fired and Captain Hart fell, mor- 
 
THE BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE. 141 
 
 tally wounded, the first of a long list of fatalities 
 among officers that day. The little army now 
 dashed up to the square and rode to the south side, 
 where Quantrell formed his men hastily into 
 platoons. Colonel Hughes had required of Quan- 
 trell but two duties, namely: (1) to pilot the com- 
 mand safely to Independence; (2) and to cut off 
 Buel from his regiment and hold him away, and 
 Hughes would do the balance. Quantrell went 
 past BuePs headquarters at full run, Hughes and 
 Thompson following. Rodewald's guard fired into 
 the passing troops and Kit Chiles fell dead in the 
 street, but no halt was made until the Confederates 
 ran into the Federal encampment. The first vol- 
 ley was deliA^ered with terrible effect upon the 
 Federals sleeping in their tents. Captain Breck- 
 enridge exclaimed: "Boys, we are surrounded 
 and we had better surrender,'^ but Captain Axline 
 called out in a loud voice : "Boys, rally behind the 
 rock fence." Axline's order was obeyed. The 
 tents were abandoned and the battle at once as- 
 sumed the form of a regular siege and defense. At 
 almost the first Federal volley Colonel Hughes was 
 shot in the forehead and died instantly. Colonel 
 Hays assumed command and for four or five hours 
 the fighting was incessant. Five times Hays led 
 his command against that impregnable rock fence 
 and five times lie was beaten back. Colonel Gid. 
 Thompson was badly wounded in the leg and 
 he turned his command over to Captain Bohanon. 
 Colonel Hays was wounded in the knee, but con- 
 
142 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIANS. 
 
 tinued in the fight. Mortality among the officers 
 was heavy. The Confederate officers who fell 
 were: Colonels Hughes and Boyd; Major Wortle 
 and Major Hart, alread}^ mentioned; Captain 
 Chambers, of Independence; Captains Brown and 
 Clark; and Lieutenants Jones and Johnson. The 
 Federals were well protected, but both sides suf- 
 fered. There was no dearth of courage on either 
 side. The Federals might have escaped to Kan- 
 sas City at any time. The rock fence extended for 
 half a mile westward. Captain Axline ordered 
 Lieutenant Herrington to take forty men and re- 
 port to Buel at headquarters. Herrington went 
 straight to John McCoy's house in the northwest 
 part of town, from which a few shots were fired at 
 a little squad of Quantreirs men, who twitted them 
 for being poor marksmen. Herrington and his 
 forty men then retreated in safety to Kansas City. 
 The men behind the rock fence could see BuePs 
 fiag floating over headquarters. Finally a mes- 
 senger arrived with orders to surrender. 
 
 After QuantrelPs men had done the parts as- 
 signed them, they scattered over town in squads 
 of three to five. They were among many of their 
 friends in Independence. 
 
 When a squad of QuantrelPs men arrived at 
 the jail about 9 o'clock, they found that Lieutenant 
 Meryhew with fifteen or twenty men had gone up 
 North Main Street immediately after Major Hart 
 had been killed. These escaped to Kansas City. 
 Captain Wm. H. Gregg took possession of the jail, 
 
THE BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE. 143 
 
 and, being the strongest man in his squad, he took 
 a sledge-hammer and broke the locks on the cell 
 doors. A number of Southern men were released 
 and also a few Federal inmates. James Knowles 
 was in jail for killing a Southern man. He was 
 shot and his cell was not molested. Meantime 
 Buel was beleaguered in the bank building by 
 sharp-shooters. Captain Eodewald had repaired 
 to BuePs headquarters with his company. The win- 
 dows of the building were used as port-holes when- 
 ever they could be used at all. The Confederates 
 kept up a steady fire at the windows, but Buel was 
 not suffering and he showed no disposition to sur- 
 render. The besiegers held a consultation. Quan- 
 trell said to Hays: "Give me thirty men and 
 plenty of guns and ammunition and I will take 
 Buel out of that bank." In twenty minutes Buel 
 surrendered. Quantrell took position in the 
 building across the street near where the First 
 National Bank now stands, shooting over the roof 
 of a low building, beside BueFs building. A fire 
 was started by the side of this low building; the 
 bullets were sent like hail into Buel's windows. A 
 white flag was raised and Buel asked for a parley. 
 He surrendered unconditionally and sent a mes- 
 senger to his troops under Axline to surrender. 
 The battle lasted for more than five hours. 
 
 Notes. 
 Buel had made unnecessary boasts as to the 
 manner in which he would deal with Quantrell 
 should he ever meet the guerrilla chief. Perhaps 
 
144 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 for this reason Quantrell was sent into the bank 
 building to receive BuePs surrender. Quantrell 
 treated his prisoner with great magnanimity. 
 This fact, couj^led with the fact that Buel had 
 made a poor defense of Independence, caused the 
 Federal authorities to have Buel put under arrest 
 for betraying the post into the hands of Quantrell. 
 Buel, however, was acquitted, as he should have 
 been. Colonel Gideon Thompson, though severely 
 wounded, paroled the prisoners. Colonel Thomp- 
 son was the senior officer of the command. 
 
 The number of killed was between thirty and 
 forty on each side. Britton says: "After gather- 
 ing up the captured property, such as they did not 
 burn, the Confederate forces marched out of Inde- 
 pendence, in the direction of Blue Springs, about 
 five o'clock in the afternoon. The arms, ammuni- 
 tion, quartermaster, and commissary stores cap- 
 tured made a train of fifteen to twenty wagons. 
 The ordnance and quartermaster\s stores were 
 much needed b}^ the Confederates to arm and equip 
 new recruits. '^ 
 
 After the battle, Wm. Hallar and Captain 
 Breckenridge, who had fought each other fre- 
 quently during the summer, were in conversation 
 when a man rode along on Breckenridge's fine 
 horse. Breckenridge called to the man and made 
 him dismount, saying he wanted Bill Hallar to 
 have that horse. Upon hearing this, the soldier 
 yielded the animal willingly. 
 
 After QuantrelPs men had accomplished the 
 
THE BATTLE OF INDEPENDENCE. I45 
 
 work at the jail, they moved up to the commissary 
 department, first door south of the Commercial 
 Hotel. Here they captured Captain Thomas, who 
 had waylaid Geo. Todd, John Little, and Ed Koger 
 at a crossing on the Little Blue. Koger and Little 
 were killed, but Todd escaped unhurt out of the 
 very clutches of the Federals. Todd now asked 
 Thomas if he was in command of the waylaying 
 party, and Thomas acknowledged that the charge 
 was true. Todd at once ordered Thomas upstairs, 
 where he was loaded with about 200 pounds of 
 bacon and flour, which Todd said had been taken 
 from the farmers of Jackson County. On reach- 
 ing the street, an excited Confederate soldier came 
 from the battle around BueFs headquarters with 
 the report that the fight was to be abandoned. 
 There was nd time to be lost A prominent fol- 
 lower of Quantrell promptly shot Thomas down, 
 whereupon Todd was greatly offended, as he felt 
 entitled to do the killing himself out of revenge 
 for the waylaying episode. 
 
 W. L. Bryant, a prominent citizen of Inde- 
 pendence, Mo., who was quite a young man at the 
 time of the battle, relates an interesting conver- 
 sation which he at the time heard between Colonel 
 Buel and Cole Younger. The two were discussing 
 the events of the day. Younger said: "Colonel 
 Buel, did you put yonr head around the corner of 
 that building yonder during the fight?" Buel re- 
 plied : "Yes. I came there to look over the battle- 
 field, but remained only a moment It was too hot 
 
146 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880UR1ANS. 
 
 for me." Younger continued : "I shot at your head 
 with this revolver. Come and see how narrowly 
 you escaped.'' The}^ proceeded to the northwest 
 corner of the bank building, where Younger 
 pointed to a bullet-mark on the brick wall. The 
 bullet struck scarcely an inch from BueFs head. 
 The mark is still plainly visible. Bullet-holes are 
 numerous about the second story at the northeast 
 corner of the building; they are visible to this day. 
 
 Britton says: "The paroled Federal prisoners 
 stayed in Independence several days after the bat- 
 tle, gathering up and taking care of the wounded 
 of both sides and burying the dead. During all 
 this time no Federal troops from any quarter came 
 in, and on the morning of the third day Colonel 
 Buel, with his officers and enlisted men, somewhat 
 over 150 in number, started on foot for Kansas 
 City and Leavenworth to be exchanged.'' Of the 
 150 paroled, 90 belonged to Rodewald's comj)any. 
 Therefore, only 60 Federals surrendered at the 
 rock fence. What became of the balance of Buel's 
 army? They escaped to Kansas City. They be- 
 lieved Quantrell was in command of the attacking 
 force, and they believed he would have them all 
 shot if they surrendered. The rock fence extended 
 from the battle-field to where Lexington Street 
 crosses the Missouri Pacific Kailroad, half a mile 
 away. Two hundred and fifty Federals passed 
 down this fence, and escaped to Kansas City. 
 
 For other particulars, see biographies of Colo- 
 nel Thompson and Major Vivian. 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 147 
 
 Chapter XV. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 
 
 Cowards die many times before their deaths; 
 The valiant never taste of death but once. 
 Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, 
 It seems to me most strange that men should fear. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 The yearly course, that brings this day about, 
 Shall never see it but a holiday. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 This notable engagement may be accounted as 
 a type of all the battles of the Civil War. The 
 story of the Lone Jack battle is told whenever any 
 action of the war is recounted. This battle was 
 the culmination of a raid, and thus foreshadowed 
 Antietam, Gettysburg, and Westport. It is fur- 
 ther typical in the firmness of its ]*eld on the mem- 
 ory of men. "The yearly course that brings this 
 day about" brings indeed a holiday. Thousands 
 of people meet annually on the 16th of August, 
 near the noble shaft, standing guard over the 
 brave who fell in battle on that heroic day. The 
 keeping of a day is the true, the enduring monu- 
 ment of any event. Our Declaration of Independ- 
 ence has no monument, needs no monument but 
 the Fourth of July. We celebrate the birth of our 
 Savior with one day in the year and His resurrec- 
 tion with one day in the week. The battle of Lone 
 Jack was fought on the great national issues of 
 
148 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURI AN S. 
 
 the day. There were no Kansans at this battle; 
 the troops were Missourians on both sides and they 
 represented American manhood. They fought to 
 settle great national questions and were unmoved 
 by local animosities. The noblest side of our hu- 
 man nature was revealed at Lone Jack in the earn- 
 estness of death. There is no hypocrisy in a bat- 
 tle. Our liberties are safe forever, if from genera- 
 tion to generation and forever shall be cherished 
 and held dear the sacrifices and achievements of 
 such men as fought at Lone Jack. 
 
 The movement culminating in tliis battle be- 
 gafn in Arkansas at Frog Bayou, near Van Buren, 
 whence had departed, early in the spring, such of 
 Price's army as made records beyond the Missis- 
 sippi. Those who did not cross the Mississippi re- 
 mained here under General Eains, who hoped the 
 summer would not wane before recruits came 
 down from Missouri. But Colonels J. V. Cockrell, 
 S. D. Jackman, D. O. Hunter, and others of the 
 State Guards, under Eains, found that their com- 
 mands could not be brought up to regimental 
 standards without more abundant recruits than 
 were likely to arrive during Mie fall, and these 
 could be secured only by an invasion of Missouri. 
 
 General Eains assigned the command of the 
 expedition to Colonel Yard Cockrell, with instruc- 
 tions to penetrate the State as far as he could, but 
 not to sink the command. 
 
 The matchless Jo. Shelby, then a captain, just 
 returned from Corinth, whither he had gone with 
 
TEE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 14g 
 
 Price after Pea Kidge, was placed at the front with 
 his company of seventy gallant, daring men. 
 Marching orders were issued August 1, 1862, and 
 the "boys'' joyfully turned their faces toward Mis- 
 souri. They were tatterdemalians in appearance; 
 the}^ were poorly mounted; some had bridles of 
 rope or bark; many rode bareback or on sheep- 
 skins or blankets. Had they depended on the 
 graces, the equipments and soldierly appearance 
 of their ranks for the attraction of recruits, the 
 expedition had been doomed to failure. But if 
 dash and daring and perfect morale counted for 
 anything, they might hope for great results. As 
 to clothing and horses and accouterments, these 
 mi gilt be captured from the Federals in Missouri. 
 This part of their programme was not the least of 
 their purpose nor the least of their accomplish- 
 ment. General Jackman described the outfit as 
 "the most laughable and amusing body of cavalry 
 imaginable to start out on a recruiting and killing 
 expedition, when those who were to be killed were 
 the best mounted and best armed men in the 
 world, and backed by the strongest Government 
 in the world." 
 
 As Cockrell marched up from the South with 
 his expedition, his ranks were swelled by the ad- 
 dition of companies, squads, and individuals. In 
 Butler County the gallant Colonel Coffee, of the 
 State Guards, and Colonel Tracy, of the Confeder- 
 ate Army, joined him with their commands.. The 
 time was opportune for invasions of the State, 
 
150 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OE MI880URIANS. 
 
 and many fragmentary commands were coming up 
 from the South to get recruits. H. R. Gamble, 
 provisional governor of the State, was at this mo- 
 ment enforcing his famous order requiring all men 
 of military age to join the State militia or Home 
 Guards. This order sent thousands of men into 
 the woods, all of whom were anxious to reach the 
 Southern Army. Recruiting-camps were popular 
 resorts and CockrelPs standard was everywhere 
 welcomed. 
 
 On the night of August 14th the army camped 
 in Johnson County. Captain Shelby dashed away 
 with his company into Lafayette County, where his 
 home was and where were the homes of his men. 
 Shelby was acting by orders of the Confederate 
 Government. He was not subject to the orders 
 of Cockrell, except voluntarily. Shelby's purpose 
 w^as to raise a regiment at his old home. Thus it 
 happened that Shelby was not at the battle of 
 Lone Jack. Colonel Cockrell turned the command 
 over to Colonel Hunter and proceeded toward his 
 home at Warrensburg. On the morning of the 
 15th Hunter moved early and marched all day to 
 ward the northwest. At night he had arrived in 
 tlie neighborhood of Lone Jack. Colonels Coffee 
 and Tracy, who were independent of Colonel Cock- 
 rell and of each other, camped to themselves. Tracy 
 stopped two miles southeast of Lone Jack and 
 went into camp with his men on the Dave Arnold 
 farm. Coffee went into camp with his force at the 
 Graham farm, half a mile southw^est of Lone Jack. 
 
TEE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 151 
 
 Hunter proceeded through the village and went 
 on three miles and a half further and camped on 
 the George Kreeger farm. 
 
 Before Cockrell reached his home, and when 
 almost in sight of it, he learned that a large bod^^ 
 of Federals, probably Colonel Warren's Iowa 
 troops from the post at Clinton, was moving in the 
 direction his army had gone. He hurried toward 
 his command and arrived at Hunter's camp that 
 night. 
 
 Never had an army been in greater peril than 
 now threatened the little army scattered around 
 Lone Jack. Warren was coming up from the 
 southeast with 800 men; Blunt with 1500 was 
 coming up from Fort Scott and was near at hand 
 on the southwest; Major Foster had already ar- 
 rived and was bivouacked on the streets of Lone 
 Jack; from the northwest an unknoAvn number of 
 Kansans under Burris and Eansom were pouring 
 down to avenge the capture of Buel at Independ- 
 ence on the 11th inst. Colonel Cockrell had no 
 artillery; he expected no reinforcements except 
 from HaySj although Quantrell was near by, had 
 he but known where to find him; he had but slight 
 authority over the men about him — no authority 
 over part of them; he had but one wagon contain- 
 ing a small amount of ammunition, and he w^as 
 heavily encumbered with unarmed recruits. 
 
 The western terminus of the Missouri Pacific 
 Kailroad was at Sedalia. From that point Major 
 Emory S. Foster marched on the 13th with a con- 
 
152 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 siderable force across the country to Lexington, 
 then in command of Colonel Huston. At mid- 
 night of the 14th Foster was informed by wire 
 from General Totten at Jefferson City that he had 
 been selected to operate against the rebels sup- 
 posed to be near Lone Jack under Hays and 
 Quantrell. The presence of Cockrell, Hunter, and 
 Tracy was unsuspected. On the 15th, a dry, hot 
 day, two armies, ignorant of each other's exist- 
 ence, made a long, fatiguing march, approaching 
 each other at right angles at Lone Jack — Foster's 
 army from Lexington and CockrelPs army from 
 Johnson County. That night, a beautiful moon- 
 lit night, the Federals lay, in the streets of the lit- 
 tle village with their two cannon in their midst, 
 and rested — a ]3relude to the final rest for many. 
 Before the moon was up the rim of Coffee's 
 force was touched by the rim of Foster's. Some 
 shots were exchanged; Foster discharged his can- 
 non at Coffee's rapidly retreating columns. The 
 men at Hunter's and at Tracy's camps heard the 
 cannon's opening roar and were thus rudely ap- 
 prised of the presence of Federals in the neighbor- 
 hood. Foster would have fared better the next 
 day had he refrained from firing his cannon that 
 night. Those premature shots lost him the battle 
 and lost him his cannon. The boom of artillery 
 was a timely and fortuitous announcement to 
 Tracy and Hunter of impending danger. Cockrell 
 had arrived by this time and he supposed the can- 
 non belonf]fed to Warren's command from Clinton. 
 
 1 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 153 
 
 Tracy broke camp precipitately and making a wide 
 detonr arrived during the night at Hunter's camp. 
 Coffee disappeared in the darkness and did not re- 
 turn until after the battle next day. Cockrell was 
 informed by the citizens that Captain Geo. Webb 
 and Dr. Winfrey, of Lone Jack, had been organ- 
 izing a company during the week at the Ingram 
 farm, within a mile of Hunter's camp, and that 
 they had recently gone westward to join Hays. 
 
 Cockrell dispatched two swift horsemen to 
 find Hays. Upon the arrival of Colonel Tracy, 
 Cockrell called a council of war. The officers de- 
 bated whether it were wiser to steal away that 
 night in safety to the southward, or fight. The 
 debate was short; they would fight. Hays and 
 Coffee might come, or might not The Federals 
 in Lone Jack were evidently more than a mere 
 scout; the artillery proclaimed that. Cockrell, 
 Jackman, Tracy, Hunter, these determined to 
 make the attack at daylight next morning on 
 whatever force might lay before them. It was a 
 bold resolve. 
 
 After the battle of Independence, Colonel 
 Hays succeeded to the command of all the sol- 
 diers who came up from the south with Hughes. 
 Colonel Gid. Thompson was their rightful com- 
 mander after Hughes fell, but Thompson was suf- 
 fering from a wound in the leg received at In- 
 dependence and was unfit for duty. Captain 
 Bohanon acted in Thompson's place. Colonel 
 
 Ha3^s was camped on the Harbaugh farm, twelve 
 11 
 
154 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 miles northwest of Lone Jack. Toward midnight 
 CockrelTs messengers arrived witli news that 
 the Federals were in Lone Jack. The news was 
 enongh. Ha3's roused his sleeping men and or- 
 dered them to mount. The compan}^ recruited by 
 Webb and Winfrey had not been organized, but 
 many of the men lived in the neighborhood of Lone 
 Jack, and this company was placed at the front. A 
 rapid march was made to Hunter's camp. When 
 Hays arrived with his command at the lane lead- 
 ing up to the Kreeger farm, he found Cockrell 
 and Tracy on their horses waiting in the road. 
 A brief consultation was held. The night was 
 waning. Cockrell sent orders up to the camp for 
 Hunter to rouse his men quietly and to put his 
 columns in motion for Lone Jack. As tlie leadeis 
 rode forward they conferred together, and by the 
 time they reached Noel's farm the plan of battle 
 and the disposition of the forces had been agreed 
 upon. They would dismount for the battle and 
 approach the Federals stealthily and take them 
 by surprise. Captain David Shanks, of Hays' com- 
 mand, who was familiar Avith the topogra])hy of 
 the region, was to remain mounted and with forty 
 men was to ride around north and east to the rear 
 of the Federal camp, and was instructed to bring 
 on the battle and cut off retreat. In the confu- 
 sion among the Federals, occasioned by Shanks' 
 feint on the east of their camp, the main attack 
 would be instantly made by those lying ready on 
 the west of their camp. Hunter was to hold the 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. I55 
 
 extreme right, Trac}^ the center, and Hays the 
 left. Jackman was at the right of Hays. The 
 plan of battle was a good one. The leaders ex- 
 pected to repeat w^hat had been done at Independ- 
 ence five days since. Before day the Kebel forces 
 moved forward en masse to the Anderson Long 
 grove, a mile from the Federal camp. The men 
 dismounted. The companies were arranged for 
 the fight. Six rounds of ammunition were doled 
 out gingerly from the ammunition w^agon to those 
 with arms, about 1100 men out of possibly 1800 
 or more present. 
 
 Stealthily, lynx-like, in the dark before dawn, 
 these reapers of death crept into the weed-grown 
 field adjoining the battle-ground. They came into 
 position and stood for a moment expectant, alert 
 in the gray dawn. There was tragedy, mysterious 
 and inscrutable, froAvning darkly along that irreg- 
 ular, almost haphazard line of squirrel rifles and 
 shot-guns, weapons come for the first time from 
 the gentle chase of the woods to the stern, bitter 
 chase of men. These young soldiers, with young 
 wives at home or girlish sweethearts betrothed, 
 were fitter to build a shrine than to write a chap- 
 ter on the bloody pages of history; they did both 
 that day. A few veterans were among them, some 
 who had gone out the summer before with Price 
 and some had been with Doniphan in Mexico. 
 
 These veterans had been face to face with death 
 in all its forms and the mystery of dissolution no 
 longer appalled or terrified. Death was accepted 
 
156 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 as a fatality and was neither courted nor shunned. 
 Somewhere down the Coufederate line a gun 
 was discharged by accident; in an instant the Fed- 
 erals were in motion. It was well for them. In 
 a moment the attack was made; in a moment the 
 attack was met Here they fought it out in a 
 deadly grapple; for five hours the awful, awful 
 work went on. There were 1000 or 1200 Federals 
 in the street. On the east side of the street was a 
 bois d'arc fence, except where a long blacksmith 
 shop stood. On the west side of the street were a 
 few store buildings, residences, a hotel and some 
 other buildings. Back of these buildings were 
 garden plats, barns, and plank and rail fences sep- 
 arating the town property from the farm land, 
 overgrown with high weeds and scattered patches 
 of corn. Over this farm land the attacking party 
 moved cautiously and drew near the Federal camp 
 unobserved. A painful halt was made; daylight 
 was broadening and Shanks had not brought on 
 the fight The plan of battle was disconcerted. 
 The men were nervous and one man accidentally 
 discharged his gun. The Federals were aroused 
 and could be heard stiiTing in excitement and 
 alarm. Their bugle sounded to arjns. The time 
 for tlie attack liad come; the time for the surprise 
 had passed. A wild forward rush brought the 
 Rebels to the fences in rear of the buildings. A 
 perfect rain of lead now interchanged across the 
 forty or sixty yards of space between buildings 
 and rear fences. The battle was on in full blast 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 157 
 
 Colonel Hays, with the unerring instinct of a 
 great soldier, formed his 400 in line at a point 
 most advantageous for exploits startling and 
 heroic. Just in front of these brave 400 was the 
 Federal battery of two guns planted to enfilade 
 the street. Around the battery the Federals were 
 massing in some confusion, leading horses forth 
 and keeping up a desultory firing at Hays' men 
 as the latter moved nearer. Colonel Hays, always 
 cool, observant, of ready perception, noted that 
 the Federals were beginning to shield themselves 
 behind their horses and were firing from the sad- 
 dle-bows. Then he gave a command, piteous in 
 its execution, the first command and perhaps the 
 last of the day, for this was the privates' battle. 
 He called to his men above the roar of the con- 
 flict: "Shoot the horses." For many minutes 
 more horses fell than men. The poor animals, 
 wounded and dying, groaned piteously. The two- 
 cannon battery was not idle. These vicious instru- 
 ments of death manifested their horrible capa- 
 bilities by frightful roar and smoke. "Take the 
 battery!" the cry ran along Hays' line. Captain 
 Mart Rider, Captain Halloway, and Captains Webb 
 and Winfrey dashel across the street with their 
 companies and captured the battery in a hand-to- 
 hand melee. Here the captors stood and fought 
 and were not reinforced. A number of brave men 
 fell in this first contest over the battery. In the 
 excitement and enthusiasm of this momentary but 
 dearly bought success, a young man leaped on one 
 
158 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 of the guns aud, swiiigiug his hat over his head, 
 shouted: "Hurrah for Jeff. Davis!'' Before the 
 echo of his voice came back, his soul was speeding 
 away to eternity. The routed Federals returned 
 in a heavy charge and retook the battery, driving 
 Hays' men to right and left, a part falling back 
 to the line of their comrades across the street and 
 a part taking shelter behind the hedge on the east 
 side of the street. Colonel Hays and Captain 
 Webb were the officers behind the hedge. In a few 
 minutes Captain Long, with a company of Federal 
 cavalry, appeared in the standing corn east of the 
 hedge and a short but terrific fusillade occurred. 
 This was hardly noticeable, however, along the 
 street where the battle was raging as if the Pluto- 
 nian regions had sent internal fires to harass the 
 earth and to destroy the lives of men. On the west 
 side of the street a s])ontaneous and well-nigh uni- 
 versal impulse is gathering head to capture that 
 deadly battery again. It is evident that Hays' 
 men will now have support from many parts of the 
 field. The men move forward in a more sullen and 
 desperate temper than before. The Federals see 
 the storm coming and draw closer about the guns. 
 For a moment there is a lull, not quite a silence, 
 then the wild and frantic charge. Confederates and 
 Federals mingling, clubbing with guns, shouting, 
 cursing, men falling and dying; the Federals give 
 back almost in a moment and the guns are again 
 in Confederate hands. But they were not long 
 retained by their new masters. The Confederate 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. I59 
 
 forces were beaten back with heavy loss and in 
 great confusion. Captain Winfrey had now about 
 one hundred men, only five of Avhoni were of his 
 old company. These five were Alvis Noel, Jas. AV. 
 Noel, Dave Adams, Jacob Adams, and Wm. Lewis. 
 One of Hunter's men carried the flag over Win- 
 frey's comj^any. Other companies were equally 
 disarranged and disorganized. The battle was 
 raging from one end of the little town to the other. 
 Captain Winfrey, whose' home was here, led his 
 company in a charge against the Federals in his 
 own house and drove them from it and from his 
 drug store adjoining his dwelling. From the up- 
 per windows of the hotel Foster's fine riflemen 
 poured out a deadly, ceaseless fire on the Confed- 
 erates crouching behind fences, outbuildings and 
 whatever would afford shelter or concealment. 
 Colonel Hays rode up the line on a black horse, the 
 horse from which he was shot at Newtonia, and 
 ordered the hotel to be set on fire. Two or three 
 soldiers went forAvard — crept forward, gathering 
 combustibles as they went. In a few minutes the 
 building was in flames. It was a holocaust. The 
 charred bodies of one or two men and a horse were 
 discovered in the embers after the battle. Mrs. 
 Bart Cave, hostess of the hotel, fled throngh the 
 Confederate lines with her two small children and 
 lay down for safety in the standing corn. Before 
 the battle was over her babe muttered and cried. 
 She rose on her elbow to give it attention and a 
 ball penetrated her breast. She died two weeks 
 
160 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 after. South of the hotel was a large barn, which 
 the Confederates captured from the Federals. A 
 number of wounded Federals were calling for 
 water. They were supplied from the well in the 
 barn. Captain Long, Major Foster's favorite, lay 
 there, wounded through the body, and but one 
 limb unbroken. He said: ^'I have done my best, 
 but it is all over with me.-' A Confederate placed 
 a blanket beneath his head and gave him water. 
 The Confederates fired with such vigor and accu- 
 racy from this barn as to draAV upon them the at- 
 tention of the battery in the street. Cannon-ball 
 after cannon-ball ripped with great clatter througb 
 the clapboard siding. How many times the Fed- 
 eral battery changed masters that day will never 
 be known. The cannon were responsible for the 
 bitterest and bloodiest contests. Major Foster, 
 who was wounded in the battle and fell into the 
 hands of the Confederates, wrote many years after 
 the battle: 
 
 "Sergeant Scott handles his guns magnifi- 
 cently. With nothing but round shot, he finds 
 round shot amply sufficient. Ball after ball, 
 with unerring deadly aim, plunges through the 
 hotel, through the houses to the north and south 
 of it. Wherever a Confederate fusillade bursts 
 from a window, a cannon-ball crashes. * * * 
 
 "At half past six the engagement has become 
 general. The Confederates^ facing eastward, fight 
 with the August morning sun full in their eyes — 
 a serious disadvantage. But this is not so serious, 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 161 
 
 as they are armed with shot-guns, good to kill at 
 short range, even without accurate aim. This ac- 
 counts for the fact so often noted of this engage- 
 ment — there was no skirmishing at long range at 
 Lone Jack. The bloody work went on full five 
 hours across a street only sixty feet in width — 
 when it was not a hand-to-hand encounter. There 
 was not a cloud in the sky and the heat was ter- 
 rible. * * * 
 
 "Such a combat is full of incidents. There was 
 here no swaying back and forth before each other 
 of uncertain, wavering lines. From seven o'clock 
 till ten the opposing forces, like two wrestling ath- 
 letes, held each other in a horrible embrace, each 
 striving for advantage, neither seizing it. 
 
 "In such a struggle soldiers become their own 
 officers and seek adventure on their own account. 
 A bunch of weeds becomes the hiding-place of a 
 sharp-shooter, who makes the affair a personal 
 matter. A convenient shed conceals bloody men 
 waiting eagerly for opportunity to kill. A face at 
 a window is a signal for a shower of balls. A few 
 hours of such fighting bleeds the opposing forces 
 terribly. The final result of such a contest is only 
 postponed, not in anyway rendered uncertain. 
 That force will yield which first bleeds to death or 
 loses the power to bleed the other. * * 
 
 "About ten o'clock the deadly fire of the Con- 
 federate sharp-shooters posted in a small log 
 house, some distance north of our center, greatly 
 harassed our right. To make the artillery effect- 
 
162 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0VRIAN8. 
 
 ive against the house it must be dragged into the 
 street and there served. Sergeant Scott will do it. 
 Captain Brawner will support him with his rifle- 
 men. While preparation is making for this, the 
 roar of shot-guns on our front seems to decrease, 
 almost to cease. Are they out of ammunition? 
 Suddenly a man on horseback rides among the 
 men behind the houses west of the street, distrib- 
 uting cartridges from a basket, escaping unhurt. 
 The Federals gave him a rousing cheer in recogni- 
 tion of his nerve. He was a good one.'' 
 
 Major Foster narrates the final struggle over 
 the guns, as follows: "We fall upon the Rebels in 
 the middle of the street and struggle with them for 
 the guns. The carnage here is frightful. In less 
 time than is required for the telling of it, the sixty 
 Federals are forty, and of these all but a dozen are 
 disabled. Captain Long is mortally wounded. 
 Lieutenant Rodgers is sorely hurt. Others lie in 
 heaps — dead and dying. My brother and I, with 
 ten others, remain unhurt and the guns are in our 
 hands. We seize them and drag them eastw^ard 
 toward the shop." 
 
 Both sides momentarily expected reinforce- 
 ments during all the terrible morning. So nearly 
 equal were the contending forces that any rein- 
 forcement to either side would have brought vic- 
 tory on its banners. Major Foster says: "About 
 half past nine a force of perhaps 200 men appeared 
 near a mile south of us on the crest of a prairie 
 ridge. They were Federals. We sent to them 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 163 
 
 across the green expanse a ringing shont of wel- 
 come. But they came no nearer and in a few mo- 
 ments disappeared behind the hilltop. This was 
 a force sent out from Lexington after we left that 
 post. I never knew what pressing business pre- 
 vented them from joining our picnic." 
 
 Captain David Shanks captured sixty Federals 
 on the east side of the battle-field. Ten men were 
 detailed to report with these prisoners at head- 
 quarters. When they came to the road north of 
 Lone Jack they encountered a body of Federals. 
 The guards ran and the prisoners thus escaped to 
 their friends. These Federals did not go into the 
 battle. They were probably from Wellington. 
 Finally a great dust was seen rising away to the 
 west of the Noel farm, two miles away. The Con- 
 federates shouted, "Hurrah for Quantrell!" The 
 Federals thought they had been fighting Quantrell 
 all the morning; if he was yet to come into the ac- 
 tion, they would stay no longer. They retreated 
 precipitately and the Confederates were glad to 
 see them go. The battle was over. 
 
 Notes. 
 
 At the close of the battle the cannon were in 
 the possession of the Federals, who abandoned the 
 guns because all their artillery horses had been 
 killed ; otherw^ise the battery would not have fallen 
 into the hands of the Confederates. Noah Hunt, 
 of Lone Jack, says that 110 dead horses were 
 counted on the streets after the battle, all Federal 
 horses. 
 
164 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0UBIAN8. 
 
 QuantrelPs men were in camp at or near David 
 Dealy's farm, five miles northwest of Lone Jack, 
 on the morning of the battle. Qnantrell had orone 
 the day before to Independence, leaving Captain 
 Wm. H. Gregg in command, with orders not to 
 break camp under any circumstances. For sev- 
 eral hours Captain Gregg obeyed the order in plain 
 hearing of the battle. When his fighting propen- 
 sity could no longer be restrained, he gave the 
 order for his men to mount, and they went like 
 the wind. The dust they raised seems to have 
 frightened the Federals from the battle-field. 
 Some say Foster was whipped already, and that 
 before he was Avounded he Avould have surren- 
 dered, but, believing that he was fighting Qnan- 
 trell, he feared that his men would all be shot. 
 Major Foster says of Colonel Vard Cockrell: "I 
 conceive, therefore, that it is to his tenacity and 
 ability that we owe the pounding we received that 
 day.'^ , 
 
 As Captain Gregg's command dashed down the 
 rocky hill west of Lone Jack, the victorious Con- 
 federates were met returning for their horses. 
 They had not stopped to gather the booty from the 
 field, such as arms, etc., left by the retreating 
 Federals. 
 
 I could give the names of a dozen men who 
 are accredited with the daring deed of firing the 
 hotel. For this reason I refrain from giving any. 
 
 Many of Col. Hays' men did not know until 
 after the battle was over that any other Confed- 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK, 165 
 
 erate tropps were present. Hunter's and Tracy's 
 and Jackman's men fought like tigers. Hunter's 
 command probably suffered the heaviest loss in 
 killed. His men had seen some service, as had 
 also those of Jackman and Tracy. Hays expressed 
 dissatisfaction with the management of the battle 
 before the battle was over. 
 
 A citizen of Lone Jack, concealed near enough 
 to hear the battle, says the roar of guns was inter- 
 mittent. Sometimes the battle sound almost died 
 into silence, and then would break out anew. 
 There was much shouting and not a little profane 
 swearing. After the battle Colonel Hays marched 
 out to the west and resumed recruiting, and did 
 not go south for perhaps ten days. 
 
 Colonel Yard Cockrell departed southward 
 with his captured cannon. One of these guns is 
 accredited with firing the shot which crippled the 
 iron-clad Queen City, on White River. 
 
 General Jackman, in his version of the Lone 
 Jack battle, says that often the soldiers were com- 
 pelled to retire from the battle to replenish their 
 ammunition; many of these never returned, and 
 this so disgusted Cockrell that he fired seventeen 
 shots at the Federals from his revolver. Jackman 
 says he went into the fight with about 500 men; 
 Jas. W. Noel, of Lone Jack, who has greatly as- 
 sisted me in gathering data for this chapter, be- 
 lieves Jackman went in with only thirty-two men. 
 
 The Federal and the Confederate loss in killed 
 were about equal, about ninety each. These were 
 
166 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 buried near the old oak tree from which Lone 
 Jack took its name. Soon after the war the Con- 
 federates erected a fine monument at Lone Jack, 
 commemorative of their dead. 
 
 Eastham Allen, of Lone Jack, says the messen- 
 gers who notified Hays that the Federals were in 
 Lone Jack the night before the battle were Isaac 
 Arnold and David Yankee. Mr. Allen speaks pos- 
 itively as to Arnold's being one, and he believes 
 Yankee was the other. Switzler, in his history of 
 Misouri, has a foot-note which exhibits a very 
 common mixture of truth and error found in his- 
 tory. Colonel Yard Cockrell was in command at 
 Lone Jack. Colonel Coffee's command was not in 
 the battle at all. Coffee arrived with a body guard 
 just before the battle terminated. Here is Switz- 
 ler's foot-note: "Among the remarkable incidents 
 of the battle, the following is worthy of record: 
 When the Federal force had fallen back and taken 
 refuge in a large hotel, and were pouring from its 
 windows a death-fire upon the Confederates, caus- 
 ing them to lie down and take shelter behind the 
 plank fencing that surrounded the hotel, news came 
 to the headquarters of General Coffee that his men 
 had exhausted their cartridges. Yolunteers were 
 called for, to risk their lives in that terrible storm 
 of Minie balls, and supply the soldiers behind the 
 fencing with the needed ammunition. David R. 
 Boneton, a son of Jesse A. Boneton, of Boone 
 County, responded; and, filling a carpet-sack with 
 deadly missiles, mounted his fine charger (named 
 
THE BATTLE OF LONE JACK. 167 
 
 'Sterling Price'), and dashed forward on his mis- 
 sion. He sat on his horse and distributed the 
 cartridges amid a storm of bullets, coming out un- 
 scathed.'' Mr. Switzler is a good historian, but he 
 can find other claimants to the honor he gives Bon- 
 eton. I know a man who claims the honor for 
 himself, and I have heard veterans name others. 
 
 Eastham Allen was with Captain Shanks, who 
 made his headquarters at the old church northeast 
 of town. A lull occurred in the battle, and Cap- 
 tain Shanks, who was a brave and devoted man, 
 took fourteen of his forty men and went to the bat- 
 tle-field to ascertain why hostilities had ceased. 
 Presently the battle was resumed. Shanks 
 charged the Federals several times and was not 
 more than ten feet from them, the hedge fence 
 intervening. Captain Shanks, James Compton, 
 ITenry Snow, and A. C. Arnold jumped the hedge 
 with their horses and were right among the Fed- 
 erals. Shanks ordered his men to retreat south- 
 ward, and they passed out of range. 
 
 It is generally accepted as a fact that the battle 
 was precipitated by the premature discharge of a 
 gun in the hands of an excited Confederate. But 
 Captain Shanks droAv the fire of a Federal picket 
 in passing to the east side. Major Foster says the 
 picket gave the first alarm. 
 
168 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOUBIAtfS. 
 
 Chapter XVI. 
 
 NEWTONIA, CANE HILL, AND PRAIRIE GROVE. 
 
 The army of Missouri soldiers seemed to van- 
 ish from existence after the battle of Pea Ridge in 
 March, 18G2. From that date till past midsummer 
 the soldiers who for a year had taken part in so 
 many great and spectacular performances were 
 strangers to all operations in their own State. 
 But in August, captains, colonels, and generals at- 
 tended by small retinues, nuclei of future battal- 
 i(ms, brigaeles, and divisions, began to arrive at 
 different points in the State. The Federal victor}^ 
 at Pea llidge eliminated Curtis and his army from 
 the State as effectually as defeat had eliminated 
 Price and h^s army. But the dissipation of the 
 State Guards and the withdrawal of Curtis to the 
 swamps of Arkansas did not relieve the State of 
 hostilities. General Schofield, the Federal com- 
 mander of the Department of Missouri that year, 
 reported over one hundred battles in the State 
 from April 1st to September 20th. 
 
 Britton, in "The Civil War on the Border," dis- 
 cussing the unrest of this period, says at page 343: 
 "The surrender of Independence, the defeat of 
 Major Foster's forces at Lone Jack, and the report 
 that the combined Eebel forces in Jackson and 
 Lafayette Counties were four or five thousand 
 strong, created much anxiety in the minds of the 
 
NEWTONIA, CANE HILL, AND PRAIRIE GROVE. i69 
 
 people in the border counties of Kansas. And 
 there were good reasons for such anxiety. It was 
 known that a good many rebels in the border 
 counties of Missouri were smarting to avenge the 
 conduct of Colonel Jennison and the lawless bands 
 of Red Legs from Kansas. These Rebel sympa- 
 thizers alleged that Jennison's men and the Kan- 
 sas lied Legs robbed and plundered the people of 
 Missouri of personal property which could not in 
 au}^ manner be applied to military purposes, and 
 it was sometimes hinted that the Secessionists 
 would get even with General Lane for wantonly 
 burning Osceola. There was a general feeling 
 along the Kansas border that, on account of the 
 alleged depredations referred to as not justifiable 
 acts of war, the organized Rebels of Missouri 
 would, if an opportunity offered, retaliate with in- 
 teresf Britton, who was a Federal offtcer, here 
 foreshadows QuantrelFs raid on Lawrence the 
 following year. 
 
 General James G. Blunt, commanding the De- 
 partment of Kansas, including the Indian Terri- 
 tory, was at Fort Scott at the beginning of August, 
 18()2. lie learned from many sources that num- 
 erous detachments of Rebels were passing north- 
 ward out of Arkansas. His forces had just re- 
 turned from an Indian expedition and for a week 
 his men rested and his thin, grass-fed horses were 
 permitted to fatten. On August 9th he ordered 
 his cavalry to mount and his 2000 infantry to get 
 into one hundred Government wagons, drawn by 
 
 12 
 
170 BATTLE IS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 Government mules. With this outfit he started 
 toward Lone Jaclv. All along the route he saw 
 fresh trails through the long grass; the grass in 
 the trails bent to the north. Arriving in the vi- 
 cinity of Lone Jack, he heard that a great battle 
 had been fought and that his friends had been 
 discomfited. He found a trail with the grass 
 bending to the south. He followed it and chased 
 Cockrell to the Arkansas line, a bitter, unrelenting 
 race. General Hindman had organized an army 
 from the swamps and the mountains of Arkansas, 
 had reunited the scattered State Guards under 
 Kains, and was now moving toward Missouri to 
 welcome and assist Cockrell, and Shelby, and 
 Thompson, and all the recruits for the Southern 
 Army, and to lead them in a grand invasion of the 
 State. Blunt returned to Fort Scott and prepared 
 for long marching and heavy fighting. General 
 Schofield was at Springfield with a Federal army 
 of ten thousand men, prepared to resist Hindman's 
 aggressive movements. The signs portended a cam- 
 paign rife with many battles. 
 
 While Colonel Cockrell was fighting the battle 
 of Lone Jack, Captain Shelby was raising a regi- 
 ment in Lafayette County. Edwards says: "Wa- 
 verly was selected as the point of concentration, 
 and from every portion of the surrounding country 
 troops came pouring in for enlistment. Ten com- 
 panies Avere organized in a day, and the next Cap- 
 tain Shelby had a thousand men of the best blood 
 of Missouri. The struggle against surprise and 
 
 \ 
 
NEWTONIA, CANE HILL, AND PRAIRIE GROVE. 171 
 
 complete overthrow was terrible, for Federal gar- 
 risons and detachments were on every side; but 
 his old veterans nobly sustained him, and made up 
 by energy and incessant scouting what they lacked 
 in numbers. * * Captain Shelby gathered up 
 his new recruits and followed after Cockrell, on a 
 parallel and lower line, with speed as great and 
 anxiety as heavy/' 
 
 At Coon Creek, in Jasper County, Shelby's 
 wear}^ men were attacked by Blunt's Federals, un- 
 der Colonel Grano. A five-minute battle ensued, 
 in which several Federal soldiers and some Rebel 
 horses were killed. About the 12th of September 
 Colonel Shelby reached the Southern rendezvous, 
 on the skirt of a beautiful prairie, near Newtonia. 
 Simultaneously, Colonel Hays arrived with the 
 Jackson County regiment and Colonel Coffee with 
 the recruits from southwestern Missouri. These 
 three regiments were organized into one Missouri 
 cavalry brigade, and by orders of General Hind- 
 man were placed under the command of Colonel 
 Shelby, who was ordered to hold his position, 
 scouting well to the front in all directions while 
 giving his recruits necessary drill and discipline. 
 '^At an election held in the Lafayette County regi- 
 ment. Captain Shelby was unanimously chosen 
 colonel, B. F. Gordon lieutenant-colonel, and 
 George Kirtley major. The Jackson County reg- 
 iment in turn elected Upton Hays colonel, Beal 
 G. Jeans lieutenant-colonel, and Charles Gilkey 
 major. The Southwest Missouri regiment elected 
 
172 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 John T. Coffee colonel, John 0. Hooper lieutenant- 
 colonel, and George W. Nichols major. Thus the 
 organization was completed, and Colonel Shelby 
 assumed command of that immortal brigade which 
 afterward carried its flag triumphantly in a hun- 
 dred desperate conflicts, and poured out its blood 
 like water from Kansas to tlie Rio Grande." (Ed- 
 wards.) While the brigade was drilling at this 
 camp, a detachment of Federals occupied New- 
 tonia. Colonel Hays was ordered to take his reg- 
 iment and drive them out of town and back to 
 Mount Vernon. In executing this duty, Colonel 
 Hays was killed and Major Charles Gilkey was 
 promoted to the position of colonel. 
 
 Colonel Cooper, Eebel commandant of the In- 
 dian Territory, marched from the Cherokee Nation 
 with four thousand half-breeds, full-bloods, cow- 
 boys, Texans, etc., and camped near Shelby, as- 
 suming command, being the ranking officer. On 
 September 30th, General Sollaman advanced up- 
 on the town and gallantly drove everything be- 
 fore him. Even Bledsoe's battery could hardly 
 stay the Federal tide. Shelby sent Lieutenant 
 Gordon to the front and Cooper ordered up his In- 
 dians. The battle raged for hours, then there was 
 a lull. Toward nightfall the Rebels renewed the 
 attack with irresistible fury and the Federals 
 were driven away. General Schofleld was exasper- 
 ated at this defeat and came on himself in a few 
 days, determined to drive the Rebels out of the 
 State. On the 4th of October he arrived in front 
 
NEWTONIA, GANE HILL, AND PRAIRIE OROTE. 173 
 
 of Newtonia. He deployed his forces with con- 
 summate skill. The Rebel pickets were all driven 
 in at the same moment. Colonel Cooper had al- 
 ready determined not to fight. He retreated to- 
 ward the Indian Territory and Colonel Shelby re- 
 treated toward Pea Ridge, where Rains was en- 
 camped on the old battle-field of last March. In 
 a few days General Blunt was in full pursuit of 
 Cooper with a band of Pin Indians and a troop of 
 Kansans. The Indians were divided about equally 
 in their allegiance to the United States and to the 
 Southern Confederacy. The employment of the 
 Indians in the Civil War was not creditable to 
 either North or South. 
 
 Abowt this time, General Marmaduke, who quit 
 the State service after the Boonville affair, re- 
 turned from beyond the Mississippi, and was as- 
 signed by General Hindman to command the cav- 
 alry now in northern Arkansas. General Mar- 
 maduke advanced to Cane Hill, at the northern 
 foot of the Boston Mountains, and waited the ap- 
 proach of Blunt. He had not long to wait. Blunt, 
 who was equal to Shelby in his manipulation of 
 and reliance on artillery, opened on the Rebels 
 with a cannonade, long remembered for the ter- 
 rible accuracy of the work performed. For an 
 hour the battle raged; Blunt was unable to dis- 
 lodge Shelby until by a flank movement he ren- 
 dered Shelby's position untenable. Marmaduke 
 ordered a retreat. For fifteen miles, up and down 
 the mountain sides, through gorges, and along 
 
174 
 
 BATTLE IS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 streams, the battle raged until night. Wherever 
 there was a boulder, a clump of pines, or a crag, 
 Shelby posted a company, which, when routed, fell 
 back past other companies, similarly posted, and 
 again took up position far to the rear. Blunt 
 hurled his troops savagely against company after 
 company thus posted by Shelby. The Sixth Kan- 
 sas made the last charge, and lost its leader, 
 Colonel Jewell. Shelby's men were crouching in 
 ambuscade on the sides of a deep ravine. With 
 sabers drawn, hooting and yelling and hurrahing, 
 the brave Kansans rushed to repulse and certain 
 destruction. Edwards describes, in one of his 
 most eloquent passages, a scene at the close of this 
 battle: "With the darkness came a flag of truce 
 from General Blunt (which was received by the 
 heroic Emmet McDonald, who had been fighting 
 all day with the stubborn rear), asking for Colonel 
 Jewell's body, and asking permission to bury his 
 dead and take his wounded from the field of the 
 Confederates. It was cheerfully granted, and 
 General Marmaduke and Colonel Shelby met him 
 on neutral ground, and conversed as freely and 
 calmly as if but two hours before they had 
 not sought each other's life with fell tenacity. 
 ^Wliose troops fought me to-day,' asked General 
 Blunt. ^Colonel Shelby's brigade,' replied the gen- 
 erous Marmaduke. 'How did they behave. Gen- 
 eral?' 'Behave?' answered Blunt; 'why, sir, they 
 fought like devils. Two hundred and fifty of my 
 best men have fallen in this day's fight, and more 
 
NEWTONIA, CANE HILL, AND PRAIRIE GROVE. I75 
 
 heroic young officers than I can scarcely hope to 
 get again. I don't understand your fighting/ he 
 continued; Svhen I broke one line, another met 
 me, another, another, and still another, until the 
 woods seemed filled with soldiers and the very air 
 dark with bullets.' Just then the body of Colo- 
 nel Jewell was carried tenderly past by his sor- 
 rowful soldiers, and a frown passed swiftly over 
 the face of General Blunt, but it cleared instantly, 
 and he said in a troubled vMce: 'Ah! there goes a 
 model soldier — and far away in Kansas he leaves a 
 poor old mother who will look long for his return.' 
 *How many men did you fight us with to-day?' 
 asked Shelby. 'I am ashamed to tell,' replied 
 Blunt, evasively, 'but more than you had to meet 
 me.' After holding some further conversation, 
 the generals separated to their dreary bivouacs." 
 Blunt fell back to Cane Hill and began to gath- 
 er about him all the Federal forces in that region. 
 Hindman was concentrating, massing, counseling, 
 and preparing with the greatest alacrity for the 
 supreme effort to open the door into Missouri. The 
 one great battle of this campaign was now to be 
 fought. It was to decide again what the battle 
 of Pea Ridge, a few miles away, decided nine 
 months before. The issues at stake were the 
 same; the contestants were not the same. The 
 battles of Independence, Lone Jack, Newtonia, 
 Cane Hill, and a hundred hot, unrecorded skir- 
 mishes were parts of the campaign now to culmi- 
 nate in the battle of Prairie Grove. It was a bat- 
 
176 BATTLED AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 tie of the North and the South contending for Mis- 
 souri, an issue finally settled in favor of the North 
 at the battle of Westport. If some future Creasy 
 ever writes ^'The Fifteen Decisive Battle® of Our 
 Civil War/' he will name Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, 
 and Westport as the most important battles of the 
 number. And around these his pen will linger in 
 fond portraiture of all the noble exercises of 
 valiant war, the fi)ifsse of military maneuvering, 
 plans and counter-plfws, the wily, wary, skillful 
 generalship, and the undaunted courage of men. 
 Hindman determined to drive a wedge into the 
 center of Blunt's segregated forces. General Her- 
 ron was at Fayetteville, east of Cane Hill, coming 
 with six thousand to reinforce Blunt's ten thou- 
 sand. If quick enough work could be done, these 
 two forces might be destroyed in detail. Shelby 
 and Marmaduke and Fagan were sent to meet 
 Herron. They encountered him at Prairie Grove. 
 Meantime Blunt was to be given employment by 
 feint or fight. Colonel Monroe was detailed for 
 this work and attacked Blunt fiercely at Cane Hill. 
 For hours Blunt thought the entire Rebel Army 
 was in his front, and he sent couriers to Herron at 
 the same time that Herron sent couriers to Blunt, 
 each asking for aid. At Prairie Grove, Colonel 
 Shanks opened the battle. Herron was an intelli- 
 gent, energetic, and fearless fighter, who was as de- 
 voted to artillery as either Shelby or Blunt. Herron 
 had forty splendid guns; with these he played for 
 time. His cannonade was unsurpassed; its work 
 
NEWTONIA, VAJSE HILL, AND PRAIRIE QROTE. 177 
 
 was insatiate butchery. After two hours of artil- 
 lery practice, Herron ordered a charge on the right 
 against Shelby and Fagan. The attack was re- 
 pulsed, and Shelby's men charged the retreating 
 Federals to IleiTon's very guns, both suffering 
 terribly. Again Ilerron came to the attack and 
 again was repulsed. Herron prayed that Blunt 
 or night would come, as Wellington at Waterloo 
 prayed that Bltlcher or night would come. 
 
 Suddenly wild and frantic cheering to the west 
 on the Federal right drowned the roar of battle. 
 Blunt had aiTived. The dreadful conflict was now 
 renewed. Both armies knew the fatal hour was 
 about to strike; both armies stripped and like sin- 
 ewey athletes grappled for the mastery. "For 
 four dreadful hours the red waves of battle ebbed 
 and flowed around the hill, in and out amid the 
 beautiful woods of Prairie Grove, and almost upon 
 the sacred altar of the quiet country church, point- 
 ing its tall spires heavenward, as if praying God's 
 mercy on the infuriated combatants. Blunt, grim 
 and stubborn as a bull-dog, threw himself upon 
 General Parsons, and dealt him ponderous blows 
 for an hour and more, when Parsons closed sud- 
 denly upon him and bore him back, bleeding, 
 through a large orchard to the timber beyond, 
 where he had massed thirty pieces of artillery in 
 one solid park. * * Herron on the right had 
 less success than Blunt, and was driven back at 
 all points with greater loss. Night alone closed 
 the battle, leaving the Confederates in possession 
 
178 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 of the field and believing in victory, though some- 
 what scattered and demoralized/' 
 
 That night Hindman retreated back to the 
 mountains of Arkansas, and Missouri was again 
 saved to the North. That cold, bleak December 
 night was spent by burial parties and relief corps 
 from both armies caring for the dead and the 
 wounded. The piteous groans of dying men and 
 wounded horses made the night dismal. The 
 scenes of that battle-field will never be forgotten 
 by participants in the battle or the charitable wit- 
 nesses present next day. 
 
THE RAIDS OF MARMADUKE AND SHELBY. 179 
 
 Chapter XYII. 
 
 THE RAIDS OF MARMADUKE AND SHELBY. 
 
 The War of the Eebellion was a war of raids. 
 Witness the great raids of Lee, Sherman, Morgan, 
 Price, Marmaduke, and Shelby. Perhaps Shelby 
 was the most restless and indefatigable raider 
 that the war produced. He was never known to 
 remain contented!}^ in camp more than a few days. 
 Not even winter quarters could hold him. There 
 was no better cavalry commander in the war on 
 either side than General Shelby. While General 
 Price was drilling his new army at Cowskin 
 Prairie in 1861, Capt Shelby returned to Lafayette 
 County to recruit and to harass the enemy. The 
 count}^ was well occupied by Home Guards, whom 
 Shelby with his company kept in turmoil for two 
 weeks. He captured a steamboat, Sunshine, he 
 made and used wooden cannon, burned bridges, 
 dug rifle-pits, and fought the Home Guards and 
 regulars, then returned to Price in time for the 
 Wilson Greek battle. After the AYilson Creek 
 fight, while Price reorganized his army, Shelby 
 made another dash into Lafa^^ette County, where 
 he met the Home Guards in many skirmishes and 
 battles, preludes to the siege of Lexington. 
 
 Shelby's next raid to Missouri was with Cock- 
 relPs expedition after Corinth, marked by the bat- 
 tle of Lone Jack. 
 
180 BATTLE 8 AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 The stately Marmaduke was a great cavalry 
 leader. He was a West Pointer and his cam- 
 paigns and raids were characterized and modeled 
 by all the tenets of strict military science. Mar- 
 madnke was su])erb on horseback. After Blunt 
 had driven Shelby and Marmaduke back from 
 Cane Hill and Prairie Grove far into Arkansas, 
 the Confederate Army rested in cantonment at 
 Lewisburg. Blunt followed on to the Arkansas 
 Elver, which he proposed to cross and attack Lit- 
 tle Bock, Confederate headquarters. Blunt's line 
 of communication reached down from Holla, Mo., 
 railroad terminus, whither supplies came from St. 
 Louis. General Hindman, perhaps the ablest 
 general ever in charge of the Trans-Mississippi 
 Department, ordered Marmaduke to take his divi- 
 sion of cavalry and march into Missouri, sever 
 Blunt's communication and force him by starvation 
 to retreat out of Arkansas. General Marmaduke 
 selected for this hazardous service the Missouri 
 brigades, commanded by General Shelby and by 
 General Porter. On the last day of December, 
 1862, this army broke camp at Lewisburg and 
 turned to the north, to face not only the Federal 
 enemy, but also the blasts of a Missouri winter. 
 In a week the eager, swift-riding Missourians were 
 nearing Springfield, already famous in the annals 
 of the war. The place was defended by General 
 Brown, a brave and generous Federal commander. 
 Springfield was fortified by formidable works. 
 On the morning of January 8, 1863, Marmaduke 
 
THE RAIDS OF MARMADUKE AND SHELBY. Igl 
 
 dismounted his command, two miles from the city, 
 and marched to the attack with Thompson on his 
 right, Gordon or his left, and Gilkey (Hays' old 
 regiment) in the center. The front of the town 
 was guarded by an extensive and strong stockade, 
 which surrounded the large brick female college. 
 As the Confederates aj^proached the stockade the 
 fighting became furious. A charge was now or- 
 dered and the stockade was carried by assault. 
 From the embrasures of the earthworks the Fed- 
 eral cannon swept the street, but the Confederates 
 took possession of the first line of rifle-pits and 
 carried back a Federal gun, which was added to 
 Collins' battery. The fighting continued through 
 the day; at night Marmaduke withdrew, taking 
 the road toward Eolla, unmolested by pursuit. 
 General Porter was off toward Rolla and the 
 divided forces reunited at Sand Springs. Marma- 
 duke lingered along the Rolla road, capturing a 
 few supply trains and preventing others from set- 
 ting out, until Blunt returned with his whole army 
 to Springfield. Marmaduke now retreated into 
 Arkansas, having full}^ accomplished his purpose. 
 The return was marked by hardships and battles. 
 At Ilartsville a ferocious battle was fought. It 
 was here that Colonel Emmet McDonald fell. This 
 eccentric and chivalrous young man had vowed 
 not to cut his hair until the Confederacy was es- 
 tablished. Here also fell Colonel Wymer and 
 many others. 
 
 At Batesville the remainder of the winter, 
 
182 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 about two months, was passed, and before turning 
 again to invade Missouri, Shelby gave a sham bat- 
 tle for the benefit of the ladies. 
 
 In April, General Marmaduke returned from 
 Little Rock, w^hither he had gone to meet General 
 Price. At this conference the "Cape Girardeau 
 Expedition'' was decided upon. Cape Girardeau, 
 on the Mississippi Kiver, was a depot of supplies 
 for a por-tion of Grant's army, now operating 
 against Vicksburg. The capture of Cape Girar- 
 deau would have greatly weakened Grant. It was 
 understood that General John McNeil commanded 
 the place — McNeil, whose name is forever linked 
 in history with the Palmyra massacre. Marma- 
 duke captured some Federal dispatches containing 
 an order for McNeil^ then in Stoddard County, to 
 proceed to Pilot Knob, but McNeil disobeyed the 
 order and hastened back to Cape Girardeau. Had 
 McNeil obeyed his orders, he would have been 
 captured. Two days after McNeil reached Cape 
 Girardeau, Marmaduke arrived with his entire 
 division, known as "Price's First Corps of the 
 Trans-Mississippi Department." The Confeder- 
 ates prepared for immediate attack; before doing 
 so, Marmaduke summoned McNeil to surrender, 
 giving him but thirty minutes to consider the mat- 
 ter. McNeil refused and the battle opened with a 
 tremendous fusillade. The heavy boom of artillery 
 and the incessant crash of small-arms reverberated 
 over the Father of Waters, on whose bosom scur- 
 ried to and fro hundreds of steamboats screeching 
 
TEE RAIDS OF MAEMADUKE AND SBELBY. 183 
 
 out their dismay. Again McNeil was summoned 
 to surrender, but reinforcements were now disem- 
 barking, and his reply was defiant. 
 
 The Confederates made a gallant but unsuc- 
 cessful assault. Marmaduke was repulsed with 
 heavy loss, and he returned toward Arkansas, fol- 
 lowed hard, not by McNeil, but by Colonel Vandi- 
 ver from Pilot Knob. Vandiver was cautious, 
 even to timidity, but he forced the Confederates to 
 fight at Jackson, Bloomfield,and St. Francis Eiver. 
 Had McNeil joined Vandiver in the pursuit and 
 had the pursuit been conducted in a soldierly, en- 
 terprising manner, Marmaduke's army might have 
 been eliminated from the service at the St Francis 
 River. 
 
 The next effort to relieve Vicksburg was the 
 attack on Helena, July 4th, the day Vicksburg 
 surrendered. Immediately after this. General 
 Frederick Steele received orders to proceed from 
 Helena against Price at Little Rock. He obeyed 
 the order with energy and alacrity, sending com- 
 motion and consternation throughout the Rebel 
 strongholds in Arkansas. The Confederates were 
 justly discouraged. The Arkansas River was held 
 by the Federals at all imijortant points. At this 
 gloomy hour Shelby came forward with a unique 
 plan to revive the spirits of the army. He de- 
 sired to lead an expedition to the Missouri River. 
 His superiors demurred at first and attempted to 
 check his ambition for such a perilous under- 
 taking. Shelby had been severely wounded in the 
 
184 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURI AN S. 
 
 hand at Helena. It was argued that the wound in- 
 capacitated him for such a long and arduous jour- 
 ney. He replied that he would rather go and lose 
 both hands than to remain idle in Arkansas. As 
 to the dangers, he courted them. Shelby was mas- 
 terful not only in camp and field, but also in coun- 
 cil. His knightly bearing won for his Quixotic and 
 presumptuous project the reluctant endorsement 
 of both Marmaduke and Price. General " Kirby 
 Smith was constrained to issue the requisite order. 
 On September 23, 1863, Shelby set out with 800 
 Missouri "boys,'' all shouting joyously as they 
 started. The little army might never come back. 
 They were going five hundred miles into the ene- 
 my's country. Shelby had with him Shanks and 
 Langhorne and Gordon and Elliott and Thorp. He 
 had two pieces of artillery and twelve wagons 
 heavily loaded with ammunition. Fighting be- 
 gan long before Missouri was reached. On the 
 way Hunter and Coffee joined the expedition. 
 They reported that the summer had been a sad one 
 for Missouri, the darkest season of her mournful 
 history. The State was infested with guerrillas. 
 At every hamlet and cross-roads were garrisons^ of 
 militia. Tliat summer the black fiag waved over 
 Missouri; killing and burning had been indiscrim- 
 inate. Quantrell had raided Lawrence in August, 
 and Ewing in retaliation had issued and enforced 
 Order No. 11. Shelby met fugitives under this or- 
 der from Jackson, Cass, and Bates counties, down 
 as far as the Arkansas line, women and children 
 
THE RAIDS OF MARMADUKE AND SHELBY. Jg^ 
 
 and old men, in rickety wagons, drawn by teams 
 too shabby for army service. This summer was 
 truly awful for Missouri. The Home Guards and 
 militia were kept in perpetual turmoil by the guer- 
 rillas, who by this time were almost perfect in 
 their craft. 
 
 Shelby entered the State at a point from which 
 he might threaten Springfield. His route lay 
 through Neosho, Greenfield, Humansville, on to 
 the Osage River at Warsaw, then to Cole Camp, 
 and on to Tipton and Boonville. Battles and skir- 
 mishes occurred daily, almost hourly. At Boon- 
 ville, Gen. Brown, then stationed at Jefferson City, 
 attacked Shelby's army, which retreated toward 
 Marshall, where Gen. Ewing was stationed with a 
 large force. With Brown in the rear and Ewing in 
 front, both commanding forces superior to Shel- 
 by's, the bold raiders were face to face with de- 
 struction, quick and terrible. Shelby ordered 
 Shanks to defend the rear with two hundred men, 
 while he, with the main army, fought Ewing in 
 front. Two hot engagements were now fought 
 simultaneously not half a mile apart. Very 
 quickly both Shanks and Shelby were completely 
 surrounded. Shelby cut his way through, escap- 
 ing with thinned ranks to the west Shanks cut 
 his way through, escaping to the east Then be- 
 gan two races for safety in Arkansas, Shanks on 
 one road with all that were left of his two hundred, 
 and Shelby on another road with his decimated 
 
 ranks, each ignorant of the other's fate, Some- 
 13 
 
)gQ BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MlSSOURIANS. 
 
 where south of Springfield, on the wire road, 
 Shanks and Shelby camped Avithin five miles of 
 each other, and their scouts met. At midnight a 
 joyful reunion took place. 
 
 Shelby marched on leisurely toward White 
 Kiver, almost without ammunition. General Mc- 
 Neil dropped in behind and followed on to the 
 Arkansas River. There was no fighting between 
 Shelby and McNeil. 
 
 The raid ended at Washington, Arkansis. 
 
 1 
 
BATTLES OF MISSOURIANS IN ARKANSAS. 187 
 
 Chapter XVIII. 
 
 BATTLES OF MISSOURIANS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 {Helena.) 
 
 An account of the battles fought by Missouri 
 ans in Arkansas wouhl fill a volume. The Mis- 
 souri Confederate soldiers spent by far the larger 
 part of the time of the war in Arkansas. I shall 
 content myself with a fair outline of the move- 
 ments, campaigns, and battles of the Missourians 
 in our neighboring State. The custom among our 
 leading citizens, who become absorbed in either 
 civil or military affairs east of the Mississippi, has 
 been to disregard the importance of the western 
 half of the continent. No able general was sent 
 during the war by either of the contending govern- 
 ments to take charge of the respective forces in the 
 West. The failure to do so w^as a mistake on the 
 part of the United States, and a blunder on the 
 part of the Southern Confederacy. 
 * The operations in Missouri and Arkansas were 
 not always independent of the operations beyond 
 the Mississii)pi. A clear conception of the war in 
 the West can be attained only by noting the move- 
 ments of Beauregard, Bragg, Hood, and Lee, and 
 of McClellan, Grant, Sherman, and Kosecrans. 
 
 After General Price had begun a great career 
 in the country above Yicksburg, Jeff. Davis, in- 
 stead of promoting that career by giving the great 
 
188 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOVRIANS. 
 
 Missourian larger powers, permitted him to return 
 to the West, and there submerged him in subordi- 
 nate positions, under men not his equal in great- 
 ness. Vicksburg fell. The Trans-Mississippi Ar- 
 my fought to give relief to its beleaguered friends. 
 The belated and ill-starred assault on Helena was 
 made for no other purpose than to weaken Grant's 
 terrible grasp on Vicksburg. Price and Shelby 
 and Marmaduke each advocated the move on Hel- 
 ena long before General Holmes could be brought 
 to see the importance of such action. It was too 
 late to benefit Vicksburg when Holmes — "old 
 Granny Holmes,'' the soldiers called him — arrived 
 in front of Helena with his Trans-Mississippi Army. 
 Vicksburg was about to fall; the last blow in its 
 defense was about to be delivered on Helena. The 
 battle here was modeled, on a larger plan, after the 
 battle at Gape Girardeau. The river, the boats, 
 the cannonade, the object of the battle, and the re- 
 pulse were all repetitions of what had been wit- 
 nessed and experienced at Cape Girardeau. 
 
 In the latter part of May, General E. Kirby 
 Smith ordered General Holmes to move toward 
 Helena, and Holmes directed his forces to con- 
 centrate at Jacksoni^oii: on the White Eiver. 
 Thither came by June 22d Price's division of infan- 
 try, consisting of one thousand in Parsons' Mis- 
 souri brigade, and McEea's brigade of four hun- 
 dred Arkansans; Fagan's brigade of Arkansas in- 
 fantry, numbering fifteen hundred; and Marma- 
 duke's division of Missouri and Arkansas cavalry, 
 
BATTLES OF MISSOURI AN 8 IN ARKANSAS. 189 
 
 numbering two thousand; making a total of four 
 thousand nine hundred. This army made one of 
 the most extraordinary marches in the history of 
 the war. The route hiy through the low, swampy 
 White RiA^er bottom. The rain was incessant. 
 The infantry were generally in water up to the 
 waist. The men dragged the cannon and the sup- 
 ply wagons through bogs and bayous. There was 
 no pontoon train and the swollen streams were 
 bridged with logs. The march from Jacksonport 
 to Helena occupied twelve days, and men and 
 animals were exhausted by the excessive labor. 
 Napoleon's passage of the Alps was hardly more 
 arduous than the march of this army from Jack- 
 sonport to Helena. 
 
 On July 3d the army arrived in front of Helena. 
 A council of war was held at General Holmes' 
 headquarters. Price was not in favor of an attack 
 now. The place had doubtless been strengthened 
 against their coming by troops from around Vicks- 
 burg; an attack could draw from Grant no more 
 troops. If Helena were taken, the garrison would 
 escape to transports lying then at the wharf, and 
 Vicksburg would thus be strengthened by the cap- 
 ture of Helena. But Holmes would not listen to 
 Price now, as he had never listened to him in the 
 past. Holmes replied: "General Price, t|iis is 
 my fight and I am going to attack Helena; if I fail, 
 I will bear the odium; if I succeed, I want the 
 glory." 
 
 Helena, commanded by General Prentis, was 
 
190 BATTLE IS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 defended in the rear by the Mississippi Eiver and 
 its gunboats, by Fort Hindnian at the southern 
 suburbs, by Fort Solomon at the northern sub- 
 urbs, by the Graveyard fort on the west, and by 
 a strong citadel at the center of the city. General 
 Holmes, who was a hero and a skillful tactician at 
 this battle, assigned General Fagan to attack on 
 the south. General Price to attack on the west, 
 and General Marmaduke to attack on the north. 
 General Walker was to march down the river to 
 the assistance of Marmaduke. All attacks were 
 to be made at sunrise on July 4th. At the appoint- 
 ed hour Fagan and Price made a simultaneous 
 charge, driving straight forward, in face of wither- 
 ing storms of shot from boats and batteries, from 
 embrasures and rifle-pits. Fagan was utterly re- 
 pulsed, while Walker and Marmaduke failed even 
 to make an attack. General Price carried the fort 
 in front of him and his men charged into the center 
 of the town, led by Colonel Lewis, who at Lone 
 Jack received a wound in the head. General Shel- 
 by brought forward the two cannon captured at 
 Lone Jack, but used them ineffectually, owing to 
 the nature of the ground. These cannon were 
 costly ordnance that day; many a brave Missou- 
 rian fell in manual effort to save them. The fail- 
 ure of Marmaduke and Walker and the repulse of 
 Fagan left tlie advance of Price's division unsup- 
 ported and in precarious surroundings, the center 
 of fire from all tlie forts. The object now was to 
 save Price's division, not to capture Helena. The 
 
BATTLES OF MT880URIAN8 IN ARKANSAS. ig^ 
 
 safe withdrawal of Price Avas doubtful; superior 
 generalship of the leaders and the bravery of the 
 men alone saved the army. When the smoke hung 
 heaviest over Helena, Vieksburg surrendered, and 
 ,while the surviving Missourians at Vieksburg 
 were being paroled, the surviving Missourians who 
 fought at Helena were retreating toward Little 
 Rock. The Southern Confederacy, triumphant 
 until now, was tottering and leaning to its fall. 
 General Steele pushed after the flying Confeder- 
 ates, but had many a hard battle before he took 
 Little Rock. 
 
 General Marmaduke failed to make the attack 
 at Helena because General Walker failed to march 
 to his support. The two men were not friendly 
 thereafter. Estrangement grew with multiplied 
 failures in the retreat before Steele. After the re- 
 treat from Brownville and after the battle at 
 Bayou Metre, General Marmaduke asked that his 
 division be removed from General Walker's com- 
 mand or that his resignation be accepted. He 
 was permitted to withdraw his division. General 
 Walker felt that in some way his bravery had been 
 impugned by Marmaduke's peremptory withdraw- 
 al of his division. General W^alker, therefore, 
 challenged General Marmaduke for a duel. Colo- 
 nel John C. Moore, now of Kansas City, acted as 
 Marmaduke's second and named as weapons Colt's 
 navy revolvers, at fifteen paces. At the second 
 shot Walker fell, mortally wounded, and was con- 
 veyed back to Little Rock in Marmaduke's ambu- 
 
192 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 lance. Marmaduke was put under arrest, but was 
 soon released and resumed command of his divi- 
 sion. Steele was pressing hard on Little Rock. 
 Somewhere down the river, below Little Rock, 
 Colonel Gilkey, commanding Hays' old brigade, 
 lost his life in a fight with one of Steele's gunboats. 
 Major Shanks, suffering from a wound received at 
 Helena, became colonel by promotion. General 
 Slielb}' had been unable for service owing to a 
 wound received at Helena, and Dr. Webb had or- 
 dered him to forego all military effort. But Shel- 
 by was under higher orders, the orders of military 
 ardor, and he went to the front amid tremendous 
 enthusiasm of his soldiers. A great battle was 
 deemed inevitable. Steele threw pontoon bridges 
 across the river below the capital, and the Federals 
 swarmed over. On September Ttli the Confeder- 
 ates evacuated Little Rock, and General Steele 
 took possession. Price retreated leisurely to Ark- 
 adelphia, and Avas not pursued and was not at- 
 tacked in his new position. 
 
 In two weeks Shelby was weary of rest and 
 sought permission to lead an expedition to Mis- 
 souri, an account of which see elsewhere in this 
 volume. 
 
 In five or six weeks after the fall of Little Rock, 
 General Marmaduke conducted his division down 
 the river to Pine Bluff, occupied by Colonel Clay- 
 ton, of Kansas, and a force of Kansas troops. Pine 
 Bluff was probabl^^ of no more importance than 
 
BATTLES OF MIS80URIANS IN ARKANSAS. 193 
 
 any other point on the Arkansas River held by the 
 Federals. This point was selected for the reason 
 that it might be easily surprised. On Sunday 
 morning, while Clayton's troops were at dress 
 parade, Marmaduke dashed up and peremptorily 
 demanded of Clayton the surrender of the place. 
 Clayton, taken completely by surprise, would not 
 even receive the flag of truce. He remembered 
 General Jackson's breastworks at New Orleans, 
 and there Avere more cotton-bales at Clayton's com- 
 mand than Jackson ever saw. While Marmaduke 
 waited for a reply to his demand, Colonel Clayton 
 constructed an impregnable fort of cotton-bales. 
 When Marmaduke made his assault thirty minutes 
 later, he was received with such warmth that he 
 decided to retreat, but not until the battle lasted 
 five hours. 
 
 General Holmes, whose spirit was broken at 
 Helena, if not his heart, had no more fight in him. 
 He was a disconsolate man, and as he turned his 
 back on Little Rock he said to Marmaduke: 
 "Steele will not pursue us. His Government will 
 not seek to disturb us now. W^e are an army of 
 prisoners, and self-supporting at that.'' Holmes 
 was correct. Grant saw the situation in the same 
 light, and therefore scarcely approved the expedi- 
 tions, now to be related, of Banks to Shreveport, 
 Steele to- Camden, and Porter with his fleet up 
 the Red River. Sherman quite approved the Red 
 River and Camden expeditions, but this only re- 
 
194 BATTLE IS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 veals the difference in the perception of Grant and 
 Sherman. 
 
 At Camden the "boys" fought a great sham 
 battle. Here General Holmes relinquished his 
 command over the District of Arkansas, and was 
 succeeded by General Price. 
 
BATTLES OF MISSOURIANS IN ARKANSAS. I95 
 
 Chapter XIX. 
 
 BATTLES OF MISSOURIANS IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 [Steele's and Banks^ Fiasco.) 
 Generals Sherman and Banks met at New Or- 
 leans and agreed on a plan of campaign up the Ked 
 Kiver. Shreveport was to be converted into a 
 Federal stronghold and a loyal State government 
 was to be established in Texas. French operations 
 in Mexico were creating disquietude and uneasi- 
 ness at Washington City. The immense possibility 
 of a new republic in the Southwest, heretofore a 
 dream, moving first in the brain of Burr, might 
 be realized now. So thought Shelby when, at the 
 close of the war, he marched to join the French 
 in Mexico. 
 
 Shreveport was a great cotton emporium; it 
 was at the head of navigation for large steamers; 
 its fortifications, depots, arsenals, and shops, its 
 proximity to Texas and Arkansas, and its com- 
 manding position over Louisiana, marked it as a 
 point of stategic importance. Sherman believed 
 the possession of Shreveport would be highly ad- 
 vantageous to his government. General Grant 
 was never in favor of the Ked River expedition. 
 With the true insight of a great soldier, he in- 
 sisted that the winning of victories in Georgia and 
 Virginia were vastly more important; he gave a 
 reluctant endorsement to the expedition and stip- 
 ulated that it should be abandoned if not com- 
 
196 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 pleted in thirty days. After a tentative move 
 from the Gulf at Sabine Pass, in obedience to Lin- 
 coln's order, the Ked River route was decided to 
 be the more practical one. Porter was to run up 
 the Mississippi River with his squadron of iron- 
 clads to the mouth of Red River, where 10,000 of 
 Sherman's troops would be placed on transports 
 and where other arrangements would be perfected 
 for the ascent; Steele was to come down from Lit- 
 tle Rock and capture Camden on his way down to 
 join Porter and Banks at Shreveport. The plan 
 was magnificent. There were men enough and 
 boats enough; there was time enough and money 
 enough to win success. Even Grant did not antici- 
 pate failure, but he doubted whether any great ad- 
 vantages w^ould accrue from certain victory. But 
 
 "The best laid schemes o' mice and men 
 Gang aft a-gley, 
 And leave us naught but grief and pain 
 For promised joy." 
 
 Porter i)roceeded up Red River with a fleet 
 more imposing and powerful than had hitherto 
 ever assembled on any river of this or any other 
 continent. Banks concentrated an army of 30,000 
 troops at Alexandria to co-operate with the fleet. 
 Porter reached Coushatta, where he first met Con- 
 federate resistance. Banks pushed on without 
 opposition to Natchitoches, one hundred miles 
 from Shreveport. 
 
 To meet this formidable invasion of Confed- 
 erate territory, General E. Kirby Smith, one of 
 
BATTLES OF MI8S0URIANS IN ARKANSAS. I97 
 
 the purest men the South had, ordered General 
 Magruder, commandant of the Texas District, to 
 send all the available troops in that State, leaving 
 the Gulf coast open to invasion. General Colton 
 Green came up in command of the Texans. Gen- 
 eral Smith ordered General Price, commandant of 
 the Arkansas District, to dispatch in haste his in- 
 fantry, consisting of Parsons' and Churchiirs divi- 
 sions. These reported to Smith at Shreveport and 
 were hurried forAvard to meet Banks. General 
 Maxey with his Indians was to reinforce Price for 
 the loss of Parsons and Churchill. General Dick 
 Taylor, son of President Taylor, was assigned to 
 the command of all the forces operating in front of 
 Banks and against Porter's fleet. Banks was as- 
 sisted by Generals A. J. Smith, Lee, Franklin, 
 Mower, and others. On March 8, 18G4, Banks' ad- 
 vancing army met the Confederates at Mansfield, 
 and was beaten back with terrible slaughter. 
 The rout of the Federals was complete and the 
 scene baffles all description. General Ransom 
 said afterward that "Bull Eun was nothing in 
 comparison." Banks fell back to Pleasant Hill, 
 where on the 12th he was attacked by General 
 Taylor, avIio was following up his advantage gained 
 on the 8th inst Another great battle ensued, in 
 which Ta3dor lost many of the cannon and wagons 
 captured at Mansfield. Banks converted the vic- 
 tory of this day into virtual defeat by retreating 
 in consternation to Pleasant Hill Landing, thirty- 
 five miles aAvav, where Porter had arrived. Banks 
 
198 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 now saw plainly that the expedition was too large 
 an undertaking for him. The fleet had passed up 
 with great difficulty over the rapids. The water 
 w^as low and was steadily falling. Dams were 
 constructed across the river with vast labor in or- 
 der to secure water deep enough to float the iron- 
 clads down to the Mississippi. General Kirby 
 Smith now threw away the greatest opportunity 
 of his life — the opportunity of annihilating an 
 arm}^ of 40,000 men and a great fleet. But stead- 
 fastness of purpose was not one of Smith's vir- 
 tues. His attention was divided between Banks 
 and Steele. His divided attention manifests it- 
 self in his post-bellum writing. The Confeder- 
 ates harassed the demoralized Federals and chased 
 the fleet for some days before they were re- 
 called to turn against Steele. Speaking of the 
 retreat inaugurated at Pleasant Hill, Wilson says 
 in his "Pictorial History of the Great Civil War": 
 '^The Shreveport expedition ought to have been a 
 success. As it was, the National Army had lost 
 alreadj' eighteen guns, small-arms in large num- 
 bers, 5,000 men., 130 wagons, and 1,200 horses and 
 mules, and had accomplished nothing. '^ 
 
 The chief actors in this campaign on both sides 
 were accused, no doubt falseh , of conspiracy to 
 speculate in cotton. General Dick Taylor was re- 
 lieved of his command, owing to a spirited corre- 
 spondence with General E. Kirby Smith. General 
 Banks was overslaughed, and General Canby suc- 
 ceeded to his place. Meantime how fared Steele, 
 
BATTLE T OF MISSOURI AN S IN ARKANSAS. IQQ 
 
 who, on March 23, 1864, marched out of Little 
 Rock with 12,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry? 
 Price was to hold this vast army in check with 
 only 6,000 or 8,000 men. His infantry, under Par- 
 sons and Churchill, were absent fighting Banks. 
 The greater part of Price's army, now in winter 
 quarters at Camden, consisted of new and untried 
 recruits. The lusty young Missourians who com- 
 posed Price's army at the beginning of the war, 
 three years before, were all in their graves, save 
 some 3,000, distributed under Shelby, Marmaduke, 
 Parsons, and Churchill. The great majority of 
 Price's troops were from Arkansas and Texas. 
 General Steele ordered General Thayer to march 
 from Fort Smith with his 5,000 troops to Arkadel- 
 phia and there join the main army. General Clay- 
 ton, who repulsed Marmaduke at Pine Bluff, and 
 who afterwards successfully encountered Shelby 
 when the latter was foraging in the region about 
 Pine Bluff, and who had never been defeated, was 
 ordered to form a junction with Steele at Camden. 
 Steele's army was large enough and it was handled 
 skillfuly enough to go whither it pleased. Steele 
 saw no Confederates until he reached Arkadelphia, 
 two-thirds of the distance to Camden. Gen. Shelby 
 inaugurated at Arkadelphia that remarkable sys- 
 tem of harassment which in six weeks sent Steele 
 ingloriously back to Little Rock. Shelby, who at 
 this moment became a brigadier-general on ac- 
 count of his raid to Missouri the previous autumn, 
 attacked and captured Steele's rear guard of two 
 
200 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 companies. Steele's communication with Little 
 Hock was effectually severed and from now on the 
 Federals were annoyed continually from attacks 
 on both flanks and in the rear; their supi)ly trains 
 were captured; their foraging parties were de- 
 stroyed, and starvation met Steele at Camden. 
 Fr(mi Arkadelphia the road to Camden traversed 
 the Washita lliver bottom. Along this road skir- 
 mishes were frequent, implacable, deadly. The 
 Confederates fought with the bitterness of out- 
 raged local pride. The Missourians had been ex- 
 patriated and fought for revenge; the Arkansans 
 were defending their invaded State; the Texans 
 anticipated subjugation and fought desperately. 
 Steele was a disciplinarian and held his army well 
 in hand. At the LittleMissouri River, Marmaduke 
 contested the crossing, and the delay gave Shelby 
 time to pass from the rear to the front, where he 
 took position on the plain of Prairie d'Ann, bor- 
 dering on the marshy river bottom. For two or 
 three days Steele lay in position waiting to be 
 attacked, while Price lay ten miles away, be- 
 hind hastily constructed works. Finally General 
 Thayer, belated, arrived with his 5,000 troops from 
 F(H't Smith. Steele now had 20,000 troops, minus 
 his losses since leaving Little Hock. The two days' 
 waiting had not been wholly devoid of action; bit- 
 ter skirmishes had occurred. On the third day 
 Steele advanced his batteries and a terrific artil- 
 lery duel took place. Finally Steele moved in 
 force, determined, as he said, to break "the infernal 
 
BATTLES OF MI8S0URIANS IN ARKANSAS. 201 
 
 tenacity of Shelby's bloodhounds.'' Marmaduke 
 and Shelby held him in check for a time and the 
 fighting was desperate. Price ordered a with- 
 drawal from Steele's front, and Steele marched on 
 toward Camden. At Poison Springs, Shelby and 
 Marmaduke again took position and fought an- 
 other hard battle, after which Steele pushed on 
 and entered Camden. Here General Steele ex- 
 pected to capture Confederate supplies. He found 
 instead gaunt famine. His distress of mind was 
 not assuaged by intelligence from Banks. He 
 learned with dismay that Banks had failed in- 
 gloriously. 
 
 General Price skillfuly circumvalated Camden 
 and waited for Steele to starve, or come out. The 
 tedium was relieved by desultory and repeated 
 dashes at Steele's position. On April 20th hard ne- 
 cessity compelled the Federal commander to send 
 out a foraging force up the river along the road be- 
 yond Poison Springs. The foragers had 250 wag- 
 ons, escorted by an ample cavalr^^ force, including 
 a regiment of negroes. They gathered up a gen- 
 eral assortment of everything produced in the 
 State of Arkansas and were returning. At Poison 
 Springs, Marmaduke intercepted the train, assisted 
 by General Maxe}^ and his Indians and General 
 W. L. Cabell, known among the privates as "Old 
 Tige," on account of his fighting qualities. The 
 battle w^as a hard one, but resulted in a complete 
 victory for Marmaduke and the capture of the en- 
 tire train. 
 14 
 
202 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 ^^When the Indians reached the captured train, 
 they were enchanted; as far as they were con- 
 cerned, the battle was over. They considered that 
 the greatest victory of the war had been achieved, 
 the power of the Yankee nation hopelessly broken, 
 and the independence of the Confederacy placed 
 beyond a doubt. Marmaduke, however, restrained 
 them with stern orders. But the battle-field of- 
 fered a brilliant o])portunity for the display of 
 their skill; and many a mountain of useless plun- 
 der was seen, beneath which reeled and swayed an 
 invisible Indian.'' (Edwards.) 
 
 Steele was in dire distress. A train of 300 
 wagons was sent out toward the Saline River and 
 carefully guarded by a much larger force than the 
 one destroyed at Poison Springs. General Fagan 
 discovered this train by chance. Operating under 
 General Fagan w^ere the brigades commanded by 
 Shelby, Cabell, and Dockery. Shelby was sent to 
 make a detour in order to gain the Federal front, 
 while Fagan brought on the attack at a place 
 immortalized in history as Mark's Mill. Cabell 
 brought on the fight and stood his ground with 
 tenacity justifying his sohriquet. The Federals 
 defended their train with desperation. CabelFs 
 punishment was almost unendurable and his men 
 were on the point of giving away, which meant a 
 rout; Cabell begged his men to fight ten minutes 
 longer — he knew Shelby Avould not fail him; in less 
 than ten minutes Shelby, with a few of his fleetest 
 cavalrymen, dashed up on the opposite side of 
 
BATTLES OF MIS80VRIAN8 IN ARKANSAS. 203 
 
 the Federals. Terror and demoralization spread 
 through their line, and when Shelby's main force 
 came into action the scene was sickening, inde- 
 scribable; the negroes slain fell in windrows and 
 the white soldiers were slaughtered in large num- 
 bers; 357 wagons were taken; over 1,300 prisoners; 
 twenty ambulances; nine pieces of artillery. This 
 crushing defeat bespoke the utter extirpation of 
 Steele's army. Late in the afternoon of the day 
 following the battle at Mark's Mill, Steele evac- 
 uated Camden. Mr. Wilson, special war corre- 
 spondent of the New^ York Herald, w^hom I have 
 quoted elsewhere, says in his histors : ^'On the 
 night of April 26th Steele threw his army across 
 the Washita River; and at daylight on the 2Tth he 
 began to fall back, by way of Princeton and Jenk- 
 ins' Ferry, on the Saline River. The roads were 
 in the most wretched condition, and the rain fell 
 in torrents. At Jenkins' Ferry he was attacked 
 by an overwhelming force, led by Kirby Smith in 
 person. Steele got his men quickly into position, 
 and the battle at once became general. The Con- 
 federates fell on the National lines with tremen- 
 dous energy; again and again they came up in full 
 force, now on the left, and now on on the right, and 
 finally made a desperate effort to crush the left 
 and center. More than once the National lines 
 yielded to the tremendous pressure and fierce on- 
 sets of the enemy ; but nothing could cool the cour- 
 age or relax the energies of those brave ^Vestern 
 regiments. Every charge of the enemy was sue- 
 
204 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 cessfully repelled. The battle had commenced at 
 early dawn. It was now near noon. The critical 
 moment of the fight had arrived. The National 
 left, which was held by the Thirty-third Iowa, 
 whose ammunition was exhausted, was yielding 
 to the pressure of the heavy masses of the enemy. 
 Four companies of the Fortieth Iowa hastened to 
 its support, formed under a terrible fire, and re- 
 stored the line. The tide of battle now turned. 
 The Confederates, not prepared for this fresh ad- 
 vent of strength and heroism, began to fall back. 
 For one whole hour the Nationals pressed on their 
 front, the Confederates slowly but steadily yield- 
 ing up the ground. At noon the victory was com- 
 plete, and the Nationals remained masters of the 
 field. In this fierce struggle Steele lost 700 men 
 in killed and wounded. The Confederate loss 
 must have exceeded 3,000 men, including three 
 general officers. Leaving a burial party behind, 
 Steele crossed the Saline Eiver and continued the 
 retreat. He was not further molested. On the 
 2d of May, after a weary march, over a swampy 
 country, his half-famished troops, broken and 
 dispirited, were safe in Little Rock. The battle at 
 Jenkins' Ferry did credit to Steele and to his brave 
 soldiers; but the expedition, like that of which it 
 was intended to form a part, was ill-omened and 
 disastrous.'*' 
 
 To recapitulate Steele's great fiasco: The chief 
 battles and skirmishes occurred at Arkadelphia, 
 Rocheport, Spoonersville, Okolona, Antoine, Wolf 
 
BATTLES OF MIS80URIAN8 IN ARKANSAS. 20") 
 
 Creek, Elkins' Ferry, Moscow, Prairie d'Ann, Poi- 
 son Springs, Mark's Mills, and Jenkins' Ferry. 
 Steele lost over 2,000 prisoners, 500 wagons and 
 teams, fourteen pieces of artillery, and an un- 
 known loss in killed and wounded. He regained 
 Little Kock in a rout His losses largely made up 
 the supplies which enabled Price to invade Mis- 
 souri the following September. 
 
 The Confederates reported their loss at 1,000 
 men killed, and they estimated an equal loss on the 
 other side. Estimates of losses are notoriously in- 
 correct in all histories so far written. On this ac- 
 count, I have refrained, as a rule, from giving such 
 estimates. After the battle of Jenkins' Ferry, the 
 Confederates rested awhile at different points, 
 some at Arkadelphia and some at Camden. 
 
 General Marmaduke was commissioned as a 
 major-general, the commission dating from Jenk- 
 ins' Ferry. A like commission rewarded General 
 Fagan, dated Mark's Mills. From this time until 
 the inauguration of Price's great raid, Marmaduke 
 and Fagan operated in Chicot County, in the ex- 
 treme southeastern part of Arkansas, harassing 
 the Federal shipping on the Mississippi River. 
 Shelby went to White River and had many battles. 
 At Clarendon, on White River below Des Arc, he 
 captured and blew up the Federal iron-clad Qmen 
 Citif. One of the cannons captured at Lone Jack 
 has been credited with firin,£r the shot that crippled 
 the Queen. The next day General Carr sent four 
 other gunboats from Duvall's Bluff. The larger 
 
206 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS^URIANS. 
 
 of these, the Tyler, was disabled, but escaped. 
 Carr arrived with a large army and the fighting 
 continued for three days. 
 
 The summer of 1864 was an active one for the 
 Missourians in Arkansas. However, on the 30th 
 of August the divisions of Fagan and Marmaduke 
 concentrated at Tulip, Dallas County, Arkansas, 
 under Price, preparatory to the invasion of Mis- 
 souri. By the IGth of September these two divi- 
 sions had arrived at Batesville, where the third 
 division, under Shelby, was waiting. Here began 
 Price's great raid. 
 
 jii 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 207 
 
 Chapter XX, 
 
 PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 
 
 FROM DARDANELLE TO LEXINGTON. 
 
 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better 
 than all the waters of Israel? — II. Kings v. 12. 
 
 With great reluctance General Price relin- 
 quished his hold upon the Missouri Kiver at the 
 beginning of the war. His one unquenchable 
 ambition was to return to the river and establish 
 his army on its banks. Twice he did return to the 
 river in brilliant ^'raids'' that attracted, respect- 
 ively, the apprehension of the North and the ad- 
 miration of the South. The first ^'raid" followed 
 his victory at Wilson Creek; the second followed 
 his victory over Steele in Arkansas. 
 
 Richard J. Hinton, a Federal officer, author 
 of ^^Rebel Invasion of Missouri and Kansas,'' says 
 of Price's last great raid : "In distance from base, 
 extent of country traversed, and objects aimed at, 
 it was hardly less stupendous in character to those 
 whose magnificent success have illumined with 
 new lustre the name of General Sherman. The 
 similitude ends, however, when success is named. 
 * * For months rumors were rife that General 
 Price was coming. Rosecrans deemed such a 
 thing nearly impossible. Steele ought to have 
 known. Curtis at Leavenworth ^deemed it both 
 monstrous and impossible that a rebel army could 
 
208 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 march unchecked in the sli2^htest degree, for over 
 200 miles beyond our advanced line, into the very 
 heart of our territory ; not only without resistance, 
 but almost unknown to the commanding officer of 
 the department immediately concerned.' '' 
 
 General Lee's army was bleeding to death 
 around Petersburg; Sherman was operating in 
 front of Atlanta preparatory to his great march 
 through Georgia; a mistake had been made in the 
 Army of the Tennessee in the removal of conserva- 
 tive Joseph E. Johnston and the promotion of the 
 dashing but less able Hood. Missouri Federals 
 might be ordered en massv to the decisive battle- 
 fields east. General E. Kirby Smith, by no means 
 the ablest man in the Southern Army, was in su- 
 preme control of the Trans-Mississippi Depart- 
 ment. His besetting sin was indecision. At this 
 juncture he was perplexed as to the best disposi- 
 tion to make of the large army in his department 
 — whether to send it to Lee or Hood, or to send 
 Price on a raid to Missouri. Price, Marmaduke, 
 Shelby, Fagan, and Cabell advocated the raid to 
 Missouri. These argued that the raid would not 
 only give employment to the Federals in the West, 
 and so prevent their departure for the East; if the 
 raid were fully successful, detachments of troops 
 from Sherman, Thomas, or Grant might be ordered 
 West. General Dick Taylor and others warmly ad- 
 vocated the policy of concentrating all forces East. 
 Taylor had even secured from the Confederate Gov- 
 ernment the command of the Trans-Mississippi Ar- 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 209 
 
 my when it should arrive on the other side, and he 
 stood anxiously waiting. Taylor and Smith were 
 not on good terms; who shall say this fact had no 
 influence with General Smith in deciding for the 
 Missouri raid? But there were ample and valid 
 reasons for retaining the army on this side of the 
 great river. The Southern soldier preferred to 
 fight each for his own section. Herein was seen 
 the lack of a strong central power in the South. 
 In the minds of these Western leaders there was a 
 vague idea that the fall of the Southern Confeder- 
 acy in the East would not involve necessarily the 
 fall of the Confederacy in the West or in the South- 
 west. If Eichmond fell, perhaps assistance from 
 the French in Mexico would come and a very de- 
 sirable new republic might rise without the Cis- 
 Mississippi States. Again, the army had everything 
 necessary to make a great and successful raid, and 
 the fruits of a successful raid could not be over- 
 estimated. All things considered. General Smith 
 concluded to risk something on the Missouri raid. 
 His policy, however, was a sort of compromise; he 
 sent only a small detachment to Missouri. A man 
 more determined and decisive than Smith would 
 have sent the entire army. 
 
 Steele's disastrous campaign to Camden and 
 the Red River expedition under Banks and Porter, 
 in the spring, supplied Price's army with transpor- 
 tation, small-arms, artillery, camp equipage, and 
 ammunition enough to load 300 wagons. He had 
 several Parrott guns: two captured by General 
 
210 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 Dick Taylor at Pleasant Hill, La.; two captured 
 by Marmaduke at Poison Springs, near Camden; 
 four captured by Fagan at Mark's Mill ; a number 
 of mountain howitzers, and a wicked little one-inch 
 gun used very effectively in picking off artillery- 
 men at long range^ — about thirty guns in all. 
 While Price was thus openly prepared to come to 
 Missouri, the State was clandestinely and surrep- 
 titioush^ prepared to receive him. Secret organi- 
 zations among Southern sympathizers had been 
 established all over the State. These lodges prom- 
 ised large recruits to Price's army. General W. 
 L. Cabell has recently filed a paper with Camp 
 Sterling Price, at Dallas, Texas, in which occurs 
 this reference to such lodges: 
 
 ^^Both General Price and General Kirby Smith 
 had received messages and couriers from the lead- 
 ers of a secret organization called the 'Order of the 
 American Knights of the State of Missouri,' who 
 represented that as soon as he came into the State 
 with his strong command that he would receive a 
 great number of this order who were good and true 
 men and who would make Al soldiers, and which 
 would enable him to get possession of and to re- 
 main in the State of Missouri during the winter. 
 I knew nothing of this order myself, but in a con- 
 sultation with Generals Smitli and Price, both of 
 them seemed perfectly satisfied with the reliability 
 of the messages received. I was informed of the 
 purported strength of this order, and also informed 
 that they would rally to our standard as soon as 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 211 
 
 we got a foothold in the State; that I was to be 
 promoted and placed in command of this accession 
 to our Rrmj. Such were General Price's written 
 instructions from General Smith. General Price 
 was under the impression that this 'Order of the 
 Knights of Missouri/ as well as numbers of South- 
 ern men outside this order, would join the Confed- 
 erate Army as soon as tliey knew he was in the 
 State with his corps, and that would increase his 
 army b}^ at least 20,000 men. But we found that 
 our increase would be but a few thousand men of 
 all ages, and that the F'ederals had complete con- 
 trol of the State of Missouri.'' 
 
 In addition to the lodges in Missouri there were 
 the "Golden Circles" of Illinois. These also prom- 
 ised great aid to Price, if only he came to Missou- 
 ri. Missouri had a large "Pawpaw^" militia, men 
 pressed unwillingly into the Federal service by the 
 "Gamble order." There was a groundless fear 
 among the Federals that the "Pawpaw" militia 
 had an understanding with the "Knights" and that 
 a general revolt was in process of incubation. No 
 intimation had reached Rosecrans that Price had 
 any information of the volcanic conditions in Mis- 
 souri. He had not heard even a whisper of Price's 
 coming. He raised a number of provisional regi- 
 ments, to serve for one year, not to meet Price, but 
 to resist the "Pawpaw" militia insurection and the 
 threatened uprising of the "Knights." He deemed 
 the danger of so grave a nature that he ordered the 
 arrest of the Belgian consul atSt. Louis, who was 
 
212 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 at the head of the order of "Knights/' together 
 with some forty other members, including the sec- 
 retary and the treasurer of the order. 
 
 General Price crossed the Arkansas Elver at 
 Dardanelle, and entered Missouri with three divi- 
 sions, under Marmaduke, Shelby, and Fagan. Pa- 
 gan's troops were mainly Arkansan veterans, com- 
 manded by Brigader Generals Cabell, McKae, 
 Slemmons, and Colonel Dobbins; among the regi- 
 mental commanders were Colonels Munroe, Hill, 
 Gordon, Reeves, Baker, Crandall, Crawford, Witts, 
 McGee, and Anderson. This division had two 
 rifled guns made in Texas. Marmaduke's division 
 was commanded by Generals Clarke, Graham, 
 and Tyler, and Colonels Freeman, Lowe, Bristow, 
 Green, Jeffries, Burbridge, Fauthers, and Kitchen. 
 Shelby's division was commanded by Generals 
 Jeff. M. Thompson and Jackman ; Colonels Smith, 
 Slayback, Hunter, Coleman, Coffee, Crisp, and 
 Schnable; Lieutenant-Colonels Irwin and Elliott; 
 and Major Shaw. With these forces Price marched 
 into the State. Rosecrans thought that Price had 
 about 5,000 men and that he would turn west along 
 the Osage River and join the Indian commanders, 
 Cooper, Maxey, and Gano, and might attempt 
 to invade Kansas. Rosecrans made many mis- 
 takes. His fame suffered at Chickamauga in his 
 contact with Bragg, and it was further dimmed by 
 his experience with Price in Missouri. Rosecrans 
 first heard of the presence of Price's army in But- 
 ler and Stoddard counties. He then revised his 
 
PRICES GREAT RAID. 213 
 
 former conclusion; he thought St. Louis must be 
 the objective point of the expedition and was con- 
 sequently greatly alarmed. Reports were conflict- 
 ing and sensational. General A. J. Smith, on his 
 way down the river to Memphis, was ordered to 
 disembark with his command at Jefferson Bar- 
 racks, and he reported for duty toKosecrans. Gen- 
 eral Ewing, who two years before issued "Order 
 No. 11,'' was ordered to Pilot Knob. This place 
 was attacked by Fagan and Marmaduke, while 
 Shelby proceeded from Fredericktown to Potosi, 
 fighting battles and driving before him or captur- 
 ing everything as he went. A hard day's fight at 
 Pilot Knob was necessary to convince Ewing that 
 he must retreat or be captured. The battle con- 
 tinued all day with severe losses to the Confeder- 
 ates. During the night a force of carpenters made 
 ladders with which the Federal walls were to be 
 scaled next day. About four o'clock in the morn- 
 ing a loud explosion shook the earth and awakened 
 every sleeping soldier. The ladder-makers all 
 threw down their hammers. The Confederates 
 felt a sense of relief. Everybody knew what had 
 happened. Ewing had evacuated the fort and had 
 blown up the magazine. The three divisions now 
 marched toward Jefferson City, which Price pro- 
 posed to take. Thos. C. Reynolds, who had been 
 elected lieutenant-governor of the State of Mis- 
 souri in 1860, was to be inaugurated governor of 
 the State, vice Governor Jackson, deceased. He 
 was present with the army, on Shelby's staff, for 
 
214 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIANS. 
 
 the purpose of being inaugurated. The Federals 
 hurried forward heavy forces to defend the capital 
 of the State. General Sanborn came in from 
 Springfield; McNeil arrived from Rolla; General 
 Brown came from Warrensburg; General Fisk 
 came up from St. Louis, each with his command. 
 
 At the Osage River, not far from Jefferson City, 
 where the Confederates crossed. Colonel Shanks 
 was dangerously but not mortally wounded, in one 
 of the innumerable skirmishes that marked the 
 progress of the expedition. 
 
 It was now October 8, 1864. The day before. 
 Price's army gathered like a cloud of destruction 
 about the capital of the State. Governor Reynolds 
 looked at the great dome of the capitol from the 
 adjacent hills and longed for the hour of his inaug- 
 uration. In after days, Reynolds, w^ho was a 
 scholar and a smooth, finished writer, attacked 
 General Price in a letter which charged the great 
 Missouri leader with incompetency and with mis- 
 management of the expedition. Perhaps Rey- 
 nolds' bitterness had its inception that morning, 
 October 8th. On that morning Price turned his 
 back on Jefferson City, his own capital, where a 
 decade before he abode as the civil ruler at the 
 head of the commonwealth. He turned his army 
 square to the left and marched westAvard in a sort 
 of triumph across the State; and, as he went, drove 
 Federals before him, gathered recruits, tore up 
 railroads, burnt bridges, destroyed telegraph lines, 
 captured towns and garrisons, increased his train 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 215 
 
 from 300 to 500 wagons, and in doing all this ac- 
 complished somewhat the purpose for which he 
 left Arkansas, by drawing after him in pursuit all 
 the Federal soldiers in the eastern part of the 
 State. 
 
 General Fiske reported by wire to General Cur- 
 tis at Kansas City that on the fith and 7th se- 
 vere fighting had occurred around Jefferson City. 
 Then the wires ceased to work, and Curtis heard 
 no more until Blunt and Lane met Price at Lex- 
 ington on October 20th, and retreated before him. 
 
 General Pleasonton arrived at Jefferson City 
 on the day Price marched away westward. Here 
 he remained until about the 20th to expedite the 
 movement forward of General A. J. Smith's in- 
 fantry and artillery from St. Louis. He assigned 
 General Sanborn to the command of the forces to 
 go in immediate pursuit of Price. The first brig- 
 ade of Federals was composed of the First, Fourth, 
 and Seventh Missouri State Militia, and a battal- 
 lion of the First Iowa Cavalry, commanded by 
 Colonel John F. Philips, now United States judge 
 in Kansas City. The second brigade was com- 
 posed of the Third, Fifth, and Ninth Missouri 
 State Militia, and the Seventh Illinois Cavalry, 
 commanded by Colonel Beveridge. Colonel J. J. 
 Graverly commanded a regiment. McNeil, Brown, 
 Catherwood, Winslow, and others, accompanied 
 by General Pleasonton, reinforced Sanborn with 
 their commands at Waverly on the 20th, at the 
 time Smith arrived at Sedalia, These forces ag- 
 
216 BATTLEi^ AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 gregated an army larger than the Confederate 
 forces whom they were closely following. 
 
 After leaving Jefferson City, Price's army came 
 on leisurely toward Lexington with Pleasonton's 
 immense army rolling in his rear. He was joined 
 en route by Quantrell, Todd, Anderson, and all the 
 guerrillas in the State. These did service as 
 scouts and they participated in all the battles, suf- 
 fering many losses. Anderson was killed as he 
 marched up the north side of the river, and Todd 
 fell near Independence. An army, as it marches, 
 throws out many feelers in all directions. Gen- 
 eral Clark was ordered to cross the river and to 
 recruit from the northern side as he passed up. 
 General Jackman also crossed the river, and 
 marched his men through the neighborhood of 
 their homes. General Jeff. Thompson, who had 
 Shanks' regiment, marched to Sedalia, terminus of 
 the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and occupied the 
 place. At California, Marmaduke faced about and 
 administered severe punishment to the Federals 
 hanging on his rear; at Tipton, Fagan charged 
 back on Pleasonton; while Shelby and Jackman 
 made flank movements. 
 
 Pleasonton's impetuosity was here converted 
 into timidity. But if Pleasonton learned a lesson 
 at California and Tipton, so did Price. The latter 
 hastily dispatched couriers to Jeff. Thompson at 
 Sedalia, and to Clark beyojad the river, with orders 
 to rejoin the main army. With a large, aggressive 
 army behind him, and a force of unknown magni- 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 217 
 
 tude ahead of him, Price must keep his own army 
 compact and well in hand. General Clark cap- 
 tured Glasgow and Shelby forced the surrender of 
 Boonville. All the commanders in Price's army 
 captured and paroled many prisoners. 
 
 By the time Price reached Dover and Waverly 
 all of his large forces scouting off to the right and 
 to the left had been brought together. If Price's 
 army had been enlarged by the accretion of raw 
 recruits, it had also suffered a depletion by the 
 withdrawal of hundreds and hundreds of seasoned 
 veterans, who dropped out to spend a few days or 
 a few hours with their families, whom they might 
 
 15 
 
2lS ByXTTLEH AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MiSSOURlA^S. 
 
 Chapter XXL 
 
 PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 
 
 FROM LEXINGTON TO WESTPORT. 
 
 Ez fer war, I call it murder, — 
 There you hev it, plain an' flat; 
 I don't want to go no furder 
 Than my Testyment fer that. 
 
 — LoicvU, Bi(/h)ir PaprvR. 
 
 When Price arrived at Lexington he found his 
 old camp at the fair grounds occupied by Blunt, 
 who I'iij across his pathway ready to dispute his 
 further progress towards Kansas. Shelby, lead- 
 ing the advance as usual, precipitated the battle 
 in a furious charge, and was as furiously met by 
 Blunt. These two had met before — in bivouac 
 and battle, at Cane Ilillj Ark. Blunt was a stub- 
 born fighter. His position was invariably at the 
 front. In this battle he personally directed the 
 action of his artillery, while ^'Jim'^ Lane, Senator 
 from Kansas, stood in the ranks and used a Sharp's 
 carbine. Shelby knew in a general way that the 
 men confronting him were Kansans. It was 
 enough to know. He had marched all the way 
 from Arkansas for such an opportunity. The bat- 
 tle raged for some time when Blunt retreated and 
 Price came up and occupied for a few hours his old 
 camp of the days of Mulligan. 
 
 There was intense and reciprocal hatred be- 
 tween Price's army and the Federal army gather- 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 219 
 
 iug ominously in Price's front All Federal sol- 
 diers encountered in or near the border counties 
 were loatliingly denominated "Jayliawkers,'' or 
 ^'lled-Legs" by Price's men, while among the Fed- 
 erals Price and all his followers were reproach- 
 fully designated ^^J^ushwhackers'' and ^^guerril- 
 las/' Such epithets in those days were used with 
 the bitterest animosity. Kansans and Missouri- 
 ans had alike suffered since the beginning of the 
 war in '61. Crimes had been committed in both 
 States and revenge was rife in the hearts of men. 
 The veterans of the two armies had seen their com- 
 rades fall on many a hard-fought field. The final 
 reckoning was now to be made. Those on both 
 sides who fought from Lexington to Westport 
 thought less perhaps of the great national issues 
 they were assisting to determine than of the local 
 scores so long uppermost in their minds. The war 
 period of our State cannot be understood without 
 a full comprehension of the feelings existing be- 
 tween the people of Missouri and Kansas. The 
 old troubles died with the termination of the war, 
 and the people of the two States are ornaments to 
 the nation's life and to our human race. 
 
 When Curtis heard of the westward movement 
 of Price from Jefferson City, he was thoroughly 
 alarmed for the State of Kansas, over which he 
 established martial law. He urged Governor Car- 
 ney to call out the entire State militia to check the 
 "unscrupulous marauders and murderers." Hinton 
 says: "Peril waited at every man's door and in- 
 
220 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 vasion was the skeleton at many a farmer's fire- 
 side.'' In three days the entire fighting poulation 
 of Kansas seemed to be marching toward the Mis- 
 souri line. The men came without a change of 
 clothing; each had a blanket or buffalo robe and a 
 haversack and each was expected to be self-sup- 
 porting, according to the instructions contained in 
 the call. Curtis stopped all boats from running 
 down the river past Kansas City; only one boat 
 came up, and it had been fired on by Mart Rider 
 and a hundred scouts. 
 
 Price halted but briefly at Lexington. There 
 was a maiftfest eagerness among his officers and 
 his men to strike the Kansans in front. Blunt 
 hurried away from Lexington and by two o'clock 
 that night reached Little Blue, east of Independ- 
 ence five miles. He attempted to burn the bridge, 
 but Marmaduke arrived in time to extinguish the 
 flames and save the structure for immediate Con- 
 federate use. After the Rebel army and train had 
 safely crossed, the bridge was destroyed and the 
 pursuing Federals were compelled to ford the 
 stream, and were thus delayed several hours. 
 Marmaduke, who was now in the lead, promptly 
 attacked Blunt The Federal commander skill- 
 fully deployed Jennison's "Red-Legs" and Moon- 
 light's Kansas militia to the right and left in the 
 shelter of the woods and behind stone fences; he 
 was able to hold Marmaduke's extreme advance; 
 reinforcements soon arrived from Independence 
 and Kansas City. General Curtis himself came 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 221 
 
 down and assumed management of the battle. 
 Marmaduke, feeling new distress in front, dis- 
 patched a swift horseman to the rear for reinforce- 
 ments, and Price sent him Shelby, who was now at 
 the extreme rear, guarding the train. Fagan was 
 marching in the center and his forces might have 
 been more quickly brought to Marmaduke's aid. 
 But Fagan's men had no personal feeling against 
 these Kansans, as had Shelby's. Fagan's men, 
 therefore, stood aside while Shelby thundered by, 
 every man in his command impatient for the fray. 
 Meantime the Federals were receiving constant 
 additions of fresh troops. Shelby massed his 
 troops on Marmaduke's left. The battle had raged 
 from early morning until nearly twelve without 
 intermission and with multiplied arms. As the 
 fight grew fiercer the Federals were driven back. 
 Nearly every inch of ground between Little Blue 
 and Independence was hotly contested. The losses 
 were heavy on both sides. Finally, after eight 
 hours of constant battle and slow retreat, the Fed- 
 erals broke into a run, and, dashing away from In- 
 dependence, sought rest and shelter behind the 
 works on the west bank of the Big Blue. A halt 
 was made in Independence long enough for Curtis 
 to read to his troops a dispatch of Sheridan's vic- 
 tory at Fisher Hill, Va. Hinton says, as the Fed- 
 erals were leaving Independence, "citizens ap- 
 peared on the streets to scoff at our retiring troops, 
 and welcome their congenial traitors.'' The peo- 
 ple of Independence knew their "boys" were com- 
 
222 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 ing home. The ''boys'' were then coming up the 
 hill east of town, and in a few moments Captain 
 Maurice Langhorne dashed into the streets at the 
 head of his company. The Rebel army camped in 
 and around Independence that night, October 21, 
 1864 
 
 It was the duty of General Cnrtis to select the 
 field of the battle in which Price was to be met and 
 overthrown. Obviously Little Blue and not We^t- 
 port was the field for the great battle, but Curtis 
 could not induce the Kansans to leave their own 
 State. They came to its boundary, but would not 
 penetrate into Missouri, for fear of being away 
 from home on election day. They wanted to vote 
 for Lincoln. The pending November election was 
 in evidence throughout this campaign. Price 
 hoped to prevent the election of Fletcher to the 
 governorship of Missouri, and Governor Reynolds 
 fought like a Turk at Little Blue, w^here he prob- 
 ably expected the final contest. At Little Blue, 
 Pleasonton was in nearer proximity with his main 
 army to Price's main army than he ever was after- 
 ward. Price might here have been ground to 
 atoms between the upper and nether millstones, 
 even without the Kansas militia. The Federals 
 had easily three times as many men as Price had, 
 and Price was surrounded and cooped in a valley, 
 where such a man as Grant would have crushed 
 him like an egg-shell. But Curtis was not a great 
 general and he failed signally at Little Blue; he 
 threw away his first, his only opportunity to bag 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 223 
 
 Price's entire army. The Federal eommander-in- 
 cliief was disgusted. In his report General Grant 
 said: ''The impunity with which Price was en- 
 abled to roam over the State of Missouri for a long 
 time shows to how little purpose a superior force 
 may be used.'' 
 
 General Curtis decided that the Big Blue 
 should be the scene of the great battle, lie forti- 
 fied that stream for fifteen miles with rifle-pits and 
 breastworks, defended everywhere in front by 
 abattis. At all the crossings troops were massed 
 in heavy forces and Curtis believed he could de- 
 fend his long line against Price's comparatively 
 small army. But Price had fought too many big 
 generals to be deterred by a few "Jayhaw^kers"and 
 ''Red-Legs" under a man of the Curtis caliber; he 
 had crossed too many large rivers to be much de- 
 layed by a stream no larger than the Big Blue. He 
 expected Curtis to get out of his way and let him 
 pass on to Leavenworth. On Saturday, after he 
 had crossed the Big Blue, General Price sent word 
 to Leavenworth that he w^ould take six o'clock din- 
 ner there Sunday evening. 
 
 Curtis w^as something of an engineer — a skill- 
 ful engineer, said his partisans — and his prepara- 
 tions along the Big Blue were elaborate. General 
 Deitzler was placed on the left at the crossing be- 
 tween Independence and Kansas City, near the 
 Missouri River. To the ri<»ht of Deitzler, up the 
 stream at Simmons' ford, Curtis stationed Colonels 
 Moonlight and Pennock. Above this a force was 
 
224 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 stationed at Hinkle's cattle ford. Still further up 
 the stream was Byrom's ford, occupied by Colonel 
 Jennison and his ^'Ked-Legs.'' The next ford 
 above this was the Eussell or Hickman Mills 
 crossing, held by General Blunt. All these fords 
 were fortified. Curtis established his headquar- 
 ters a mile west of Byrom's ford. 
 
 On Saturday morning Sanborn and McNeil 
 charged into Independence, captured two of Ca- 
 bell's guns, and a number of prisoners. General 
 Marmaduke, who the day before lost two horses in 
 battle, barely escaped capture at the hands of Mc- 
 Neil. Early that morning Shelby had sent Jack- 
 man forward and followed quickly himself toward 
 Byrom's ford and Hickman Mills crossing. Cap- 
 tain C. W. Rubey, of Sanborn's staff, says: ^'On 
 the 22d the Confederates, with a portion of Shel- 
 by's division, attacked the two fords named, which 
 were the keys to General Curtis' position, forced 
 them and sent the defenders in retreat westward. 
 Colonel Jennison's force, after a resistance of an 
 hour or two, was driven from Byrom's ford and 
 pursued to the Kansas line at Westport. General 
 Blunt, owing, as he said, to the misconduct of some 
 of his men, was speedily sent flying from Hickman 
 Mills, after a rather serious loss, and did not stop 
 until he reached Olathe, well into Kansas. Then, 
 of course, finding his right flank completely 
 turned. General Curtis, with the remainder of his 
 forces, fell back to Kansas City and Westport" 
 
 Shelby crossed the Big Blue at Byrom's ford 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 225 
 
 and pushed straight on for Westport. At dusk, 
 Westport lay just before him, almost within range 
 of his guns. Two Federal brigades came out to 
 resist his entrance into the town. A short, sharp 
 engagement took place. The Federals lost two of 
 their guns and 217 of their men were killed. Shel- 
 by remained right there until morning. When 
 night came, Saturday, October 22d, Curtis' mag- 
 nificent line along the Big Blue had been driven 
 back five miles, and all of Curtis' fortifications 
 along the stream had been passed and left in the 
 rear, unoccupied by the advancing and triumphant 
 Confederates. Price had brought across the Blue 
 his entire army and his splendid train of 500 wag- 
 ons and 5,000 head of cattle, accompanied by 
 thousands of unarmed recruits. The dreams that 
 night were of conquests on the morrow. Price 
 knew that some forces were operating against his 
 rear, but he did not suspect that Pleasonton, with 
 an army of 20,000 troops, double his own army, 
 would leap upon him in the morning. He gave 
 those in his rear scarcely a thought and those in 
 front concerned him but little. He would march 
 almost unchecked to Leavenworth. 
 
226 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 Chapter XXII, 
 
 PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WE ST PORT. 
 
 Our bugle sang truce — for the night cloud had lowered, 
 And the sentinel stars set their watch in the sky; 
 And thousands had sunk on the ground overpowered, 
 The weary to sleep and the wounded to die. 
 
 The Federals at Kansas City used to count five 
 seasons for Missouri: sprinc:, summer, autumn, 
 Price's raid, and winter. Price came every sum- 
 mer, or a part of his army. The people of Kansas 
 learned to fear Price after the battle of Wilson 
 Creek in 1861, when he marched to Lexin^on and 
 besieged and captured Mulligan in the face of 
 50,000 Federal troops* Since 1854 Kansans had 
 lived in almost hourly fear of armed invasions 
 from Missouri, and when they saw the intrepid 
 Price marching northward from Wilson Creek 
 with banners of victory held high, they believed 
 that he was coming to them and that their day 
 of doom had dawned. From that fearful hour 
 Price became the bugbear, the hefe noire of Kan- 
 sas. Now as he approached their border with a 
 mighty army, whose course from the South and 
 through Missouri had been unchecked, a cry of 
 terror almost shook the petals from the sunflow- 
 ers. A flood of angry, dismayed Kansans poured 
 down to resist the advance of the fearful Price. 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 227 
 
 Never did a people act with greater promptitude 
 and determination tlian did the people of Kansas 
 at this time. They came to Westport, the point 
 threatened, and beat back the foe so long feared. 
 This battle was the last between Missouri and 
 Kansas. At Westport lie buried the animosities 
 that precipitated, through a series of 3- ears, many 
 a gory conflict botAveen two erring peoples. Over 
 the bloody graves at Westport the Missourians and 
 Kansans shook hands and swore undying friend- 
 ship. Sunday morning dawned cool and clear. 
 The Confederate cliieftains had apparent reason 
 to be satisfied with the prospect. The night had 
 been peaceful, "and over all in front of Westport 
 there, the glad, bright sky sj^read a tearless man- 
 tle; the wind blew itself to silence; the night 
 waned slowly; and sweet sleep put its sickle in 
 among the soldiers and reaped tenderly a soft har- 
 vest of harmonious dreams.'' Strange that Ed- 
 wards should have said this — Edwards, who puts 
 himself to trouble to blame Gen. Price for the disas- 
 ters, impending but unseen. Edwards was a prose 
 poet, not a war critic. He essays to criticise Price 
 for not turning south at Independence; blames him 
 bitterly for camping south of Westport on Satur- 
 day night, instead of escaping southward with his 
 train. It is evident that Price had no expecta- 
 tion that retreat would become necessarv^ neither 
 had Shelby any such expectation, nor Marma- 
 duke, nor Cabell, nor Fagan. Let Edwards testify 
 
228 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 against himself while describing the situation on 
 Saturday night: 
 
 "The chieftains uuder Price had marched far 
 and fought little for this night's bivouac upon 
 the plains of Missouri. The fleet of horsemen 
 had anchored in mid-ocean, and the sails were 
 all furled and the pennons were still. In the 
 dead calm of the admiral's slumber there was no 
 white line of breakers seen to the westward; and 
 the hollow mutterings of the storm rolled no angry 
 waves from the north. Confidence spread a great 
 sleep-hunger over all the soldiers and they ban- 
 queted until sunrise. A fitful, gusty, moaning 
 night was half of it, too, when the elements por- 
 tend calamity and death. Grouped around the 
 dead Kansans were Shelby's warriors, indifferent, 
 tired, and hungry. They neither knew nor dread- 
 ed their danger. ^Shelby takes us in and Shelby 
 can take us out,' they argued ; ^so sleep, boys, while 
 you may.' Poor fellows, in the utterance of this 
 simple confidence they knew not the sorrow it gave 
 the impatient leader, lying among his guns and 
 peering out through the darkness toward West- 
 port. Away over to the left yonder, where a few 
 fickle grass fires leaped like ignes fatui into light, 
 is couched the wary Marmaduke, anxious, nerv- 
 ous, but prepared for great things to-morrow. He, 
 too, has seen, and felt, and argued; but noth- 
 ing came of it at all. That great fused, welded 
 mass of shadows around him is his old brigade; 
 farther away a little, the long, irregular, zigzag 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 229 
 
 fire-line marks the borderers under Freeman; and 
 nearer than both, with its little blue, silken ban- 
 ner, fringed and fabricated by one of the whitest, 
 queenliest hands in Arkansas, is his escort, under 
 the intrepid Stollard — Shelby's gift toMarmaduke. 
 In the rear of these two folded, dormant wings, 
 two miles off, stands a large frame house, jubilant 
 with lights and moving figures, the headquarters 
 of the commander-in-chief. The handsome caval- 
 ier, Fagan, is there with his tried Arkansans, and 
 the wind toys with the long locks of the soldier and 
 ruffles the gold lace on his elegant uniform. Fagan 
 had ever a keen eye for nature, and he enjoyed the 
 delightful scene^ — a land ocean, with armies for 
 fleets and stars for beacons. The brave, proud 
 Cabell is uneasy in his massive repose, yet he 
 thought only, as the smoke curled up from his 
 bivouac pipe, how he would fight to-morrow, and 
 how he would hurl his splendid brigade back to 
 regain his battery." 
 
 Perhaps in all the range of American literature 
 there is not another such a mixture of fact and 
 fancy as this quotation discovers. The fancy is 
 harmless, save where it stoops to innuendo against 
 Price. 
 
 Price's army was most admirably disposed for 
 a Sunday march to Leavenworth. The immense 
 train of 500 wagons and a band of 5,000 cattle, ac- 
 companied by the necessary teamsters and herd- 
 ers, had crossed the Big Blue during the day, Sat- 
 urday. The train was also accompanied by 2,000 
 
230 BATTLED AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 or 3,000 unarmed recruits, unfortunate impedi- 
 menta in event of lieavy ligliting-. The train 
 lialted south of Westport for the night, after an 
 easy, ten-miles journe}^ from Independence, inter- 
 rupted some hours at the Big Blue. In the rear of 
 the train were Marmaduke and Fagan. Shelby 
 was between the train and the Federals at West- 
 port. These Federals at Westport had been se- 
 verely punished and beaten at sundown on Satur- 
 day evening, and little ai^prehension was felt from 
 that quarter. The march westw ard and into Kan- 
 sas would hardly be checked. Neither Price nor 
 Shelby could know what a furor their coming had 
 created all over Kansas; they did not know that 
 practically the entire fighting population of Kan- 
 sas had concentrated to dispute their crossing the 
 State line. Neither could Price nor Marmaduke 
 know that Pleasonton was massing such an over- 
 whelming force in their rear. 
 
 Early on Sunday morning, October 23, 1864, 
 General Pleasonton, who took personal charge of 
 the pursuing Federals at Waverly, ordered Colonel 
 John F. Philips forward from Independence to 
 clear the fords of the Big Blue, guarded by Marma- 
 duke and a part of Fagan's divisions. For hours 
 the crossing was contested with unabated and de- 
 termined fury. The Federals came up in force 
 and Marmaduke fell slowly back. In an hour the 
 entire Federal army, except A. J. Smith's in- 
 fantry, debouched upon the high and spacious 
 plain extending between the Blue and Westport. 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RATD. ' 23 1 
 
 The great battle of Westport was fought on this 
 enchanting pastoral landscape. The scene was 
 inspiring; 35,000 troops could be seen with a single 
 sweep of the glass, moving in the picturesqueness 
 of battle and the regularity of parade. Marmaduke 
 stood doggedly across the ^'oad, and Pleasonton 
 hurled forward brigade after brigade. Soon Mar- 
 maduke was losing ground, inch b}' inch; he could 
 neither withstand the onsets of Pleasonton nor 
 could he retreat; one horn of the dilemma meant 
 destruction, the other meant a rout. In this ex- 
 tremity he appealed to Shelby. But Shelby was 
 struggling near Westport in very much the same 
 predicament. Again and again Marmaduke sent 
 messengers impatiently to Price and to Shelby witli 
 orders to say that he must give way if not rein- 
 forced. Marmaduke held back the Federals until 
 their impact became irresistible. Time had been 
 gained and Price was moving southward. The 
 Federal forces released by the withdrawal of Mar 
 maduke now came into action against Shelby. 
 Price had sent an order for Shelby also to retreat^ 
 but Shelby could not retreat; he was grappling in 
 a death struggle with Curtis and could not break 
 away without destruction, immediate and terrible. 
 But let General Shelby tell his own story: 
 
 ^'The 23d of October dawned upon us clear, 
 cold, and full of promise. My division moved 
 squarely against the enemy at eight o^clock, in 
 the direction of Westport, and very soon became 
 fiercely engaged, as usual. The enemy had re- 
 
232 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIANS. 
 
 gained all the strong positions taken from them 
 the day before b}^ General Thompson, and it be- 
 came imperatively necessary to force that flank of 
 the enemy back. Inch by inch and foot by foot 
 they gave way before my steady onset. Regiment 
 met regiment and opposing batteries draped the 
 scene in clouds of dense and sable smoke. 
 
 "While the engagement w^as at its height, Col- 
 lins burst one of liis Parrotts, but fought on with 
 his three guns as if nothing had happened. Again 
 were the Federals driven within sight of West- 
 port, and here I halted to re-form my lines, natu- 
 rally brolvcn and irregular by the country passed 
 over, intending to make a direct attack upon the 
 town. 
 
 "About twelve o'clock I sent Jackman's brig- 
 ade back to the road taken by the train, for it was 
 reported that General Marmaduke had fallen back 
 before the enemy — although he had never notified 
 me of the fact, or I never saw his couriers, which I 
 learned afterward were sent — and thus my whole 
 flank and rear w^ere exposed. Jackman had 
 scarcely reached the point indicated when he met 
 an order from General Fagan to hasten to his help 
 at a gallop, for the entire prairie in his front was 
 dark with Federals. 
 
 "Jackman dismounted his men in the broad 
 and open plain and formed them in one long, thin 
 line before the huge wave that threatened to en- 
 gulf them. Collins, with one gun, hurried forward 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 233 
 
 to help Jackman and opened furiously upon the 
 advancing enemy. 
 
 ^'On and on, their great line overlapping Jack- 
 man by one-half, they came to within eighty yards. 
 Down went that line of gray, and a steady stream 
 of bullets struck them fairly in the face, until they 
 reeled, scattered, and fled. But the wing that ex- 
 tended beyond and around Jackman's left rode on 
 to retrieve the disaster of their comrades, and 
 came within thirty paces at full speed. Again a 
 merciless fire swept their front; again Collins 
 poured in double charges of grape and canister, 
 and they, too, were routed and driven back, when 
 General Fagan thanked Colonel Jackman on the 
 Afield of his fame, fresh and gory.' It was a high 
 and heroic action, and one which shines out in our 
 dark days of retreat like a ^cloud by day and a pil- 
 lar of fire by night.' 
 
 '^There on an open prairie, no help or succor 
 near, no friendly reserves to cover and protect a 
 retreat, Jackman dismounted with almost the for- 
 lorn determination of Cortez, who burnt his ships, 
 resolved to conquer or die. Fresh lines of Feder- 
 als forced Jackman to mount his horses and he fell 
 back after the train, fighting hard. 
 
 "Now my entire rear was in possession of the 
 enemy, and the news was brought when Thomp- 
 son was fighting for dear life at Westport. With- 
 drawing him as soon as possible, and with much 
 difficulty, for he was hard pressed, I fell back as 
 
 rapidly as I could after the retiring army, the force 
 16 
 
234 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0VRIAN8. 
 
 I had been fighting at Westport coming up just be^ 
 hind, when, reaching the road, the prairie in my 
 rear was covered almost by a long line of troops, 
 which at first I supposed to be our own men. This 
 illusion w^as soon dispelled, and the two great 
 waves, uniting, came down upon one little brigade 
 and Colonel Slayback's regiment The prospect 
 was dark and desperate. 
 
 "Not a tree or bush was to be seen for weary 
 miles and miles, and no helping army could be seen 
 anywhere. I knew the only salvation w^as to 
 charge the nearest line, break it if possible, and 
 then retreat rapidly, fighting the other. The or- 
 der was given. Thompson and Slayback fell upon 
 them with great fury, mixed in the melee, and un- 
 clasped from the deadly embrace weak and stag- 
 gering. In attempting to re-form my lines, which, 
 after breaking through and through the Federals, 
 were much scattered, an enfilading battery of six 
 guns swept the whole line and another in front 
 opened with terrific effect At the same time the 
 column which followed me from Westport came 
 down at the charge, and nothing was left but to 
 run for it, w hich was now commenced. 
 
 ''The Federals, seeing the confusion, pressed on 
 furiously, yelling, shouting, and shooting, and my 
 own men, fighting every one on his own hook, 
 would turn and fire and then gallop away again. 
 Up from the green sward of the waving grass two 
 miles off a string of stone fences grew up and 
 groped along the plain — a shelter and protection. 
 
PRICE'S GRiJAT RAID. 235 
 
 The men reached it. Some are over; others are 
 coming up, and Slayback and Gordon and Black- 
 well and Elliott are rallying the men, who make a 
 stand here and turn like lions at bay. The fences 
 are lines of fire, and the bullets sputter and rain 
 thicker upon the charging enemy. They halt, face 
 about, and withdraw out of range. My command 
 was saved and we moved off after the army, trav- 
 eling all night." 
 
 The people at Leavenworth could hear the in- 
 cessant din of battle of the forenoon. They were 
 in consternation. Late in the afternoon the bat- 
 tle roar grew fainter and then the wires quivered 
 with news that Price was retreating south. The 
 people could hardly give credence to such happy 
 news until Curtis wired that martial law had been 
 abolished. 
 
 During the battle General Curtis had his head- 
 quarters on the roof of the Harris Hotel in West- 
 port. From here a view of nearly the entire bat- 
 tle-field could be obtained. J udge W. R. Bernard, 
 still a resident of Westport, was called first lieu- 
 tenant of the Home Guards. On the day of the 
 battle he was appointed aid to General Curtis, and 
 was with Curtis all day on the roof of the hotel. 
 
 Judge Bernard says of the battle: "With 
 powerful field-glasses I could see little bunches 
 of men skirmishing about. I had never seen a 
 battle before, and it did not look much like war 
 to me. Away off to the south I could see a cloud 
 of white smoke which told of a battery at work, 
 
236 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 and the faint boom of the cannon would come 
 to us when the wind was in the right direction. 
 Nearer at hand, right across Brush Creek, were 
 Shelby and his men. We could see them plainly 
 at times and the bullets from their guns came into 
 the town. General Curtis was fighting to keep 
 Shelby out of the town. His adjutant was Colonel 
 Cloud. Every once in a while Colonel Cloud would 
 go down to the street and send a regiment against 
 Shelby. The men would cross Brush Creek, climb 
 the hill, fire a volle}^ and come scampering back. 
 Then Colonel Clond would come up and take an- 
 other look. We could see little squads of men 
 kicking up the dust off to the south and hear vol- 
 leys of shots. It was not very exciting, and I 
 asked the colonel if that was the way battles were 
 fought. I did not see many men killed and it 
 looked as if a lot of lead was being wasted. The 
 colonel said that battles were fought in that 
 manner. 
 
 ^'After several regiments had been sent against 
 Shelby and had come tumbling back, Colonel Cloud 
 came up on the roof and said to Curtis : ^General, 
 that 's the third time those regiments have gone 
 up there and come back. I propose to send them 
 up next time dismounted, and they '11 have to stay 
 and fight' The general said, ^All right,' and a reg- 
 iment was dismounted, every fifth man taking 
 charge of the horses, which were taken back up 
 Penn Street out of the way. That regiment didn't 
 come back in a hurry. 
 
PBICE'8 GREAT RAID. 237 
 
 "Shelby was making things pretty lively out on 
 the Wornall road. The bulk of the fighting was 
 at the Ward place, where the Country Club is. 
 The Ward pasture, which is part of the Country 
 Club golf links, was the scene of some pretty hot 
 fighting. A big old tree stands in this pasture, 
 and around it Shelby had a lively fight After the 
 battle we picked -up several dead Confederate 
 soldiers there. There was fighting all around 
 the Ben Simpson house, and a cannon-ball went 
 through the front gable of it. The hole was there 
 for some time, but it has been covered up. Farther 
 along the road, at tlie Wornall house, which w^as 
 used by the Confederates as a hospital, there was 
 some lively fighting, and I was told that one of the 
 prettiest contests of the day took place there be- 
 tw^een a squad of Shelby's cavalry and a Federal 
 battery. The cavalry charged, the battery using 
 their pistols, and drove the gunners away. 
 
 "Along in the middle of the afternoon a shell 
 from Shelby's battery fell almost within the town, 
 scaring the people and alarming General Curtis. 
 It struck on the high land just north of Brush 
 Creek, about what would be Forty-third and Penn 
 streets if Penn were cut through — Bunker Hill it 
 is called. At that General Curtis ordered a re- 
 treat. He sent word to Colonel Tom Moonlight, 
 w^ho was at the Shawnee Mission and didn't see 
 much of the fighting, to come in, but Moonlight 
 went the other way and did not pass through 
 
238 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0VRIAN8. 
 
 Westport. Then, with his staff, General Curtis 
 retired to Wyandotte." 
 
 General Pleasonton said, among other things, 
 in his report : 
 
 "Brigadier General E. B. Brown was ordered 
 to move his brigade forward and attack the enemy 
 at daylight and keep pushing him vigorously^ as 
 he would be well supported. Not finding any at- 
 tack being made, I went to the front I found 
 Brown's brigade on the road, so disordered as to be 
 in no condition for fighting, and General Brown 
 himself had made no provisions for carrying out 
 my order. I immediately arrested him and also 
 Colonel McFerran, of the First Missouri State Mili- 
 tia, whose regiment was straggling all over the 
 country, and he was neglecting to prevent it, and 
 placed Colonel Philips, of the Seventh Missouri 
 State Militia, in command of Brown's brigade. 
 
 "The night previous, at Independence, I had 
 ordered General McNeil to proceed with his brig- 
 ade from that point to Little Santa Fe, and to 
 reach that latter point by daylight. General Mc- 
 Neil failed to obey this order, but came up to the 
 Big Blue, some five or six miles above the point at 
 which the rest of the division was fighting, about 
 12 m. on the 23d, and instead of vigorously attack- 
 ing the enemy's wagon train, which was directly 
 in front of him, with but little escort, he contented 
 himself with some skirmishing and cannonading, 
 and the train escaped. The Rebel general Marma- 
 duke stated after he was captured that had Mc- 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 239 
 
 Neil attacked at this time, they would have lost 
 their whole train. I trust that this conduct upon 
 the part of General McNeil will meet the marked 
 disapprobation of the major-general commanding, 
 as it has mine. 
 
 ^'Finding that General Brown had not attacked 
 the enemy on the morning of the 23d of October at 
 the Big Blue, I immediately ordered Winslow's 
 and Philips' brigades into action, with Sanborn 
 supporting, and after a very obstinate battle the 
 enemy were driven from their position to the prai- 
 rie on the Harrisonville road beyond the Big Blue. 
 It was then about one o'clock in the day, and the 
 enemy, in very heavy force, were fighting the Kan- 
 sas forces at Westport under General Curtis. My 
 appearance on the prairie caused them to retreat 
 from before Curtis on the Fort Scott road, and in 
 passing they formed to attack my position. A 
 brigade of their cavalry charged the right of San- 
 born's brigade and shook it considerably, but I or- 
 dered up six pieces of artillery and by means of a 
 double-shotted canister soon caused them to halt 
 and finally beat a hasty retreat." 
 
 Major John N. Edwards estimated the loss to 
 Shelby alone, who bore the heaviest fighting, at 
 over 800 in killed. 
 
 The battle of Westport was an important en- 
 gagement. It had an important bearing on the 
 great national contest. Price having departed 
 from the State, the Federal soldiers were with- 
 drawn to the east side of the Mississippi River, 
 
240 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIAN^S. 
 Chapter XXIIl. 
 
 PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 
 THE RETREAT. 
 
 For the third time General Price was forced to 
 turn his back on the Missouri Eiver: once at Boon- 
 ville, when Lyon came up the river with soldiers in 
 boats; once at Lexington, after Mulligan had sur- 
 rendered; and finalh^ at Westport, where he was 
 defeated by Curtis and Pleasonton. He departed 
 with great hope the first time; he went with both 
 hope and defiance the second time; but the third 
 time he rushed away at panic speed, fully con- 
 vinced that he would never again visit Missouri as 
 a warrior. He had failed. Nor had he fought all 
 the Federals brought forward to be thrown against 
 him. General A. J. Smith's infantry were at In- 
 dependence w^hen the thunder of artillery came 
 from Westport. Smith marched to Harrisonville 
 and was in no battle during Price's raid. There 
 is nothing so pitiful as the retreat of a vanquished 
 army; nor so pitiless as the pursuit of the victors. 
 The flight of Price from Westport to Fayetteville, 
 Arkansas, was marked by misery; the pursuit by 
 Blunt was relentless; the skirmishes and battles 
 were implacable. The rout of retreat was strewn 
 with wrecks of wagons, scattered camp equipage, 
 abandoned tents, clothing, guns, dead horses — and 
 dead men, both Federal and Confederate. The line 
 
 \ 
 
 I 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 241 
 
 of retreat was well marked by other evidences of 
 warfare. Shelby, according to Edwards, "was 
 leaving Kansas and taking terrible adieus. He 
 was fighting the devil with fire and smoking him to 
 death. Haystacks, houses, barns, produce, crops, 
 and farming implements were consumed before 
 the march of his squadrons, and what the flames 
 spared the bullet finished. On those vast plains 
 out west there, the jarring saber-strokes were un- 
 heard and the revolvers sounded as the tapping of 
 woodpeckers. Shelby was soothing the wounds 
 of Missouri by stabbing the breast of Kansas." 
 But in spite of Shelby's prowess, and of Fagan's 
 watchfulness, and of Cabell's hard fighting, and of 
 Price's fatherly solicitude, the retreat was calam- 
 itous. At Mine Creek, just beyond the Marais des 
 Cygnes, occurred the greatest misfortune of the 
 raid. Generals Marmaduke and Cabell were made 
 prisoners of war, carried triumphantly back to 
 Kansas City, thence to Sedalia, and from there to 
 St. Louis, and thence to Boston Harbor. Marma- 
 duke and Cabell were at the rear covering the re- 
 treat. The Federal advance in two brigades, un- 
 der Colonel Benteen and Colonel John F. Philips, 
 succeeded in crossing somewhere above Marma- 
 duke's position, while the main Federal army 
 charged straight ahead with accustomed impetu- 
 osity. Marmaduke sent away, one at a time, the 
 members of his staff, all seeking to bring reinforce- 
 ments, for the peril was imminent and the very 
 existence of the Confederate army was at stake, 
 
242 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOVRIANS. 
 
 The Federals, who had crossed above, came on 
 firing and yelling. Marmaduke, who was near- 
 sighted, mistook them for the expected reinforce- 
 ments coming to his assistance, and he shouted to 
 them to stop shooting. But the Federals knew 
 what they were doing and bore down on Mar- 
 maduke, surrounding him instantly. Marmaduke 
 yielded up his stainless sword. Cabell, "old 
 Tige,'' was captured at the same time. It was a 
 fearful hour for the Confederates. "Marmaduke's 
 staff, in the hot, swift moments preceding his cap- 
 ture, had been dispatched everywhere over the 
 field with orders, entreaties, threats, and com- 
 mands. There was deep grief on E wing's bright 
 3^oung face, as he rode back from the fatal field. 
 Price's handsome features were wet Avith tears; 
 and the peerless Moore [Colonel John C. Moore, of 
 Kansas Qity], cool and grim outwardly as a Pala- 
 din, felt sick at heart and sorrowful." (Edwards.) 
 At this battle the Confederates lost heavily of 
 arms, equipage, wagons, and cannon, besides the 
 irreparable loss of men, captured and killed. 
 Shelby had gone on ahead in order to secure a lit- 
 tle rest for his worn soldiers, after fighting for 
 days in the rear. Price sent for Shelby to come 
 back and save tlie army. He faced about and 
 again confronted the advancing Federals and for 
 a brief period stayed their progress, then resumed 
 his march after the retreating army. 
 
 The pursuit was continued, Sanborn leading. 
 The Confederates were overtaken again at the 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 243 
 
 Marmiton as tliey-had been at the Little Osage 
 and the Marais des Cygnes. Heavy fighting oc- 
 curred again, but after a brief but stubborn resist- 
 ance the Confederates passed over and proceeded 
 south in the darkness. Arkansas was finally 
 reached. The march had been unprecedented for 
 courage, speed, endurance. In six days 204 miles 
 had been traversed. At Newtonia, Blunt had 
 charged upon the exhausted Confederates; Shelby, 
 as usual, ordered his veterans to the rear, accom- 
 panied by Jackman, and a terrific battle was 
 fought. Blunt was so severely j)unished, although 
 ultinuitely victorious, by aid of reinforcements, 
 that he grew circumspect and cautious. He there- 
 after refrained from provoking heavy engage- 
 ments. Price reached the Arkansas Biver on the 
 6th of November. Winter now overtook the army 
 and the worst stage of misery was now encoun- 
 tered. There were no rations and the desolate 
 army staggered on without hope. Small-pox — 
 an ally of winter — carried off hundreds. Shelby 
 sought and obtained permission of Price to turn 
 off on the Canadian Biver with his command, 
 where a profitable week was spent in hunting and 
 feasting. Finally Price reached Clarksville, a lit- 
 tle village in Northern Texas, and the great raid 
 was at an end. 
 
 In military circles Price's great raid was pro- 
 claimed one of the most brilliant campaigns of the 
 war. Price wanted to spend the winter on the 
 Missouri Biver, For years he had been the most 
 
244 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 colossal figure in Missouri, whether in civil or mil- 
 itary life. He believed he could raise an arm;^ in 
 Missouri by stamping his foot. If his great raid 
 fell short of the expectations which animated him 
 at its beginning at Camden, he nevertheless lived 
 and died believing it more a success than a failure. 
 Doubtless the verdict of history will conform to 
 his belief. The "Pawpaw'' militia failed him ut- 
 terly; the "Knights" and the "Golden Circle" failed 
 him; perhaps in his heart of hearts he expected 
 these to fail him. But from the body of the peo- 
 ple he did gather recruits, and in satisfactory num- 
 bers, judging from his report to General Smith. 
 Doubtless he found the Federals more strongly en- 
 trenched in the State and more numerously posted 
 than he expected to find them. He reported on 
 December 28, 1864, to General E. Kirby Smith, the 
 commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department: 
 "I traveled 1434 miles; fought 43 battles and skir- 
 mishes; captured and paroled 3,000 officers and 
 men, captured 18 pieces of artillery, 3,000 stands 
 of small-arms, 16 stands of colors which I brought 
 out, at least 3,000 overcoats, large quantities of 
 blankets, shoes, and ready-made clothing for sol- 
 diers; destroyed miles of railroad; burned bridges 
 and depots; destroyed property to the amount of 
 110,000,000. * * * * I lost 10 pieces of artil- 
 lery, 2 stands of colors, 1,000 small-arms, while 
 I do not think I lost 1,000 prisoners. * * * I 
 brought with me at least 5,000 recruits." 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, he was liberally crit- 
 
PRICE'S GREAT RAID. 245 
 
 icised for not doing more. Governor Kejnolds 
 wrote a scathing letter "to the public/' in which 
 General Price was soundly abused and in language 
 so elegant that Major John K Edwards found oc- 
 casion subsequently to adopt bodily many of its 
 sentences and all of its philosophy. Before clos- 
 ing his long letter, Governor Keynolds says: 
 
 "Though the expedition has failed to accom- 
 plish the grander objects aimed at, yet the good 
 results inevitable under even the worst man- 
 agement have been obtained. It produced some 
 diversion in favor of Forest, and enabled thous- 
 ands of our citizens to join our ranks; some 
 came out with the army, and others are gradu- 
 ally finding their own way to our lines. Thus the 
 army of the department is really stronger than 
 ever. The old troops will, with proper discipline, 
 soon again be the magnificent brigades which in 
 September crossed the Missouri line. * * * 
 
 "The moral power of our State in the Confeder- 
 acy is vastly increased by the fact that thousands 
 from our sister States, for the first time visiting 
 our populous central counties, have heard the pul- 
 sations of the great heart of Missouri, and cheer- 
 fully testified that it is sound and true to our cause, 
 even after three years of oppression by the en- 
 emy and imagined desertion by their Southern 
 brethren." 
 
 The fact is worth noting, though not mentioned 
 by either Reynolds or Edwards, that a heavy 
 majority of troops in Price's army, at the time of 
 
246 BAfTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF 3II8S0URIAN8. 
 
 the great raid, were not Missourians. Price's vast 
 army of young men slept beneath the sod. The 
 graves of his young soldiers of three years before 
 billowed the earth throughout the South, on both 
 sides of the Mississippi River. Perhaps those who 
 came with Price, visiting, as Keyuolds says, our 
 central counties for the first time, fought as val- 
 iantly as Missourians could have fought; perhaps 
 Price comanded these strangers as skillfully as he 
 could have commanded Missourians; yet these in- 
 vading soldiers, fighting like veterans, were not all 
 veterans. Reynolds and Edwards, and some still 
 living whom I could name, believed Price should 
 have marched straight to St. Louis, occupied the 
 place, subjugated the State of Missouri, marched 
 into Illinois, and from thence proceeded eastward 
 and northward until utterly destroyed by Federal 
 forces drawn off from the armies of Thomas in 
 Tennessee and Grant in front of Richmond. Mor- 
 gan's raid was to be repeated on a grander scale. 
 All those who have since regretted that Price did 
 not make this really wild raid, admit with great 
 unanimity that the army would have been de- 
 stroyed. Price knew tliat such a campaign would 
 be suicidal. History will not condemn Price for 
 saving his army. 
 
ORDER No. 11. 247 
 
 Chapter XXIT. 
 
 ORDER No. 11. 
 
 If tell'st this heavy story right, 
 Upon my soul the hearers will shed tears; 
 Yea, even my foes will shed fast-falling tears, 
 And say, — Alas! it was a piteous deed. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 History is a voice sounding up from the past 
 with no whisper of the future. History repeats 
 itself in nothing save in teaching over and over 
 the doctrine of the old Hebrew prophets, that a 
 moral force and a divine purpose govern the affairs 
 of men. One writer defines histoi'y as an "epic 
 conceived in the spirit of God." Another writer 
 says: "All history is an imprisoned epic — nay, an 
 imprisoned psalm and prophecy.'' But the histo- 
 rian's task may well cease when he has presented 
 the facts in their proper relation to each other. 
 Such is the limit here assigned to the treatment of 
 Order No. 11. 
 
 On the 19th of August, 1863, Quantrell and his 
 men broke camp on the Blackwater in Johnson 
 County, Mo., and marched into Kansas; two days 
 later, they made the famous raid on Lawrence, the 
 home of Jim Lane. On August 25th the famous 
 Order No. 11 was issued. Order No. 11 was issued 
 avowedly on account of the Lawrence raid. 
 
 Kansas and Missouri had been at war along 
 the border since 1854. Slavery extension and 
 
248 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 squatter sovereignty originated with these two 
 when, as territories, they advanced respectively 
 toward Statehood. Bad men, clothing themselves 
 with the contentions of patriotic citizens, crossed 
 the boundary line from either State to the other 
 and committed crimes of every kind from petit 
 larceny to foul murder. Professor Spring, of the 
 Kansas University, says that while the Missouri- 
 ans committed crimes black enough, the "Jay- 
 hawkers'' were the sapeiicr devils. When the war 
 came up, some of the best men of Missouri, such as 
 Generals Frost and Bowen and Colonel Up. Hays, 
 were standing guard with armed forces to prevent 
 incursions of Kansas marauders. After the great 
 Civil War was well on, the guerrillas of Missouri 
 undertook to checkmate these marauders and to 
 retaliate upon Kansas for the misdeeds in Missouri 
 of such men as Pennock, Jennison, and others. 
 Jim Lane burned Neosho, Missouri, and Quantrell 
 burned Lawrence, Kansas. 
 
 General Schofield, who, with headquarters at 
 St. Louis, commanded the x\rmy of the Frontier 
 from April 1 to September 20, 1863, held that the 
 border counties of Kansas could be immuned 
 against the Missouri guerrilas if the border coun- 
 ties of Missouri were depopulated. He explained 
 that the guerrillas would quietly assemble at a 
 point agreed upon, then boldly ride over the coun- 
 try, harassing Union men, attacking detachments 
 of Federal troops and occasionally making forays 
 into Kansas. If chased by superior forces, they 
 
ORDER No. 11. 249 
 
 dispersed and scattered in the border counties of 
 Missouri and were reabsorbed by the peaceable 
 portion of the community or were safely harbored 
 by non-combatants, from whom they became in- 
 distinguishable. General Schofield determined, 
 therefore, to remove all the inhabitants, loyal and 
 disloj al alike, from certain counties, and to seize 
 all the proAdsions and provender which the citi- 
 zens in departing might be forced to abandon. 
 
 '^General Order No. 11. 
 "Headquarters District of the Border, 
 
 ''Kansas City, August 25, 1863. 
 
 "1. All persons living in Jackson, Cass, and 
 Bates counties, Missouri, and in that part of Ver- 
 non included in this district, except those living 
 within one mile of the limits of Independence, 
 Hickman's Mills, Pleasant Hill, and Harrisonville, 
 and except those in that part of Kaw Township, 
 Jackson County, north of Brush Creek and west of 
 Big Blue, are hereby ordered to remove from their 
 present places of residence within fifteen days 
 from the date hereof. 
 
 "Those who within that time establish their loy- 
 alty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer 
 of the military station near their present place of 
 residence will receive from him a certificate stat 
 ing the fact of their loyalty, and the names of the 
 witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who re- 
 ceive such certificates will be permitted to remove 
 to any military station in this district, or to any 
 
 17 
 
250 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOVRtANS. 
 
 part of the State of Kansas, except the counties of 
 the eastern border of the State. All others shall 
 remove out of the district. Ohicers commandinoj 
 companies and detachments serving in the coun- 
 ties named will see that this paragraph is promptly 
 obeyed. 
 
 "2. All grain and hay in the field or under 
 shelter, in the district from which inhabitants are 
 required to remove, within reach of military sta- 
 tions after the 9th day of September next, will be 
 taken to such stations and turned over to the 
 proper officers there and report of the amount so 
 turned over made to district headquarters, speci- 
 fying the names of all loyal owners and amount of 
 such product taken from them. All grain and hay 
 found in such district after the 9th day of Septem- 
 ber next, not convenient to such stations, will be 
 destroyed. 
 
 ^'3. The provisions of General Order No. 10 
 from these headquarters will be at once vigorously 
 executed by officers commanding in the parts of 
 the district and at the station not subject to the 
 operations of paragraph 1 of this order, and espe- 
 cially the tow^ns of Independence, Westport, and 
 Kansas City. 
 
 "4. Paragraph 3, General Order No. 10 is re- 
 voked as to all who have borne arms against the 
 Government in the district since the 20th day of 
 August, 18G3. 
 
 ^'By order of Brigadier General Ewing. 
 
 "ZT. Hannahs, Adjt-Gen'l." 
 
ORDER No. 11. 251 
 
 / The news of the order quickly reached the re- 
 motest corners of the district aft'ected. In a fcAV 
 days the highways of the land were rife with fuj;i- 
 tives, courageous Avoinen and little children, de- 
 crepit old men and young boys. They drove sniall 
 herds of cattle, or a few flocks of sheep, belonging 
 to three or four families, which for mutual assist- 
 ance usually went together. The household goods 
 went in rickety wagons drawn by oxen or super- 
 annuated, horses, exempted from army service be- 
 cause too feeble to carry a soldier. 
 
 The wisdom of Order No. 11 has been very ably 
 attacked by General Geo. C. Bingham. The ne- 
 cessity and righteousness of the order has been 
 ably presented by General Schofleld. Let these 
 two be heard. General Bingham was the artist 
 from whose painting our illustration is taken. He 
 was a Federal officer, but such was his antipathy 
 to the Kansans that he refused to march to the re- 
 lief of Mulligan at Lexington, where he might have 
 to associate with Kansas troops. General Ewing, 
 who was in command at Kansas City, issued Order 
 No. 11. Upon him fell the bitter condemnation of 
 General Bingham. When General Ewing was the 
 Democratic candidate after the war for the gov- 
 ernorship of Ohio, General Bingham visited that 
 State, exhibited his famous painting, made speech- 
 es, and with relentless antagonism contributed to 
 Swing's defeat. General Ewing asked General 
 Schofleld for a letter in defense of Order No. 11. 
 The letter follows: 
 
252 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 "West Point, N. Y., Jan. 25, '77. 
 ''General TJiomas E icing ^ Lancaster, 0,: 
 
 "My dear General, — I avail myself of the first 
 opportunity that has presented itself to reply in 
 detail to your letter of the 30th of December last. 
 
 "It was in May, 1863, that the command of the 
 Department of the Missouri devolved upon me, 
 and you were soon after assigned to command the 
 district which embraced Missouri and Kansas. 
 The condition of that border at once became the 
 subject of earnest consideration. The guerrilla 
 warfare, which had been waged in that district, 
 with only temporary intermissions, for two years, 
 had finally degenerated, as all such contests are 
 liable to do, into revolting barbarism. Civiliza- 
 tion and humanity demanded its prompt suppres- 
 sion, whatever might be the means necessar^^ to 
 that end. 
 
 "A large majority of the people had already 
 been driven from their homes, or had voluntarily 
 left them. None remained beyond the immediate 
 protection of the military posts, except such as 
 were, whether voluntarily or not, useful to the 
 guerrillas. Those who remained were simply pur- 
 veyors for these border warriors, furnishing them 
 with provisions, forage, and temporary shelter 
 necessary for their operations. 
 
 "There were two, and only two, possible ways 
 by which this border war could be stopped. The 
 one was to permanently station in that region 
 troops enough to protect all the people, drive out 
 
ORDER No. 11. 253 
 
 all the guerrillas, and prevent their return. The 
 other was to remove the source from which the 
 guerrillas obtained their supplies. The latter was 
 proposed by you, and at once admitted by me as a 
 measure absolutely necessary to be adopted, if the 
 former was impracticable, but I preferred the for- 
 mer, and hence hesitated to adopt the latter. But 
 I had the States of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and 
 Nebraska, and Colorado and the Indian Territory 
 — over four hundred thousand square miles of dis- 
 tributed territory — to take care of, and operations 
 against the Confederate Army in Arkansas to be 
 prosecuted. It was difficult to spare even a small 
 force to guard the border of Kansas and Missouri. 
 There had already come a demand upon me from 
 Washington to send all possible reinforcements 
 to General Grant, who was besieging Vicksburg. 
 To this, all minor considerations had to yield. The 
 preservation of a few farms, with their crops, in 
 Western Missouri, or anywhere else, could not be 
 considered for a moment in comparison with the 
 success of Grant's army in opening the Mississippi 
 to the Gulf. Of course, I had sent to General 
 Grant all the troops I had in reserve, and had at 
 that time none left to reinforce you on the borders 
 of Kansas. 
 
 "Soon after, the guerrilla operations culmina- 
 ted in the fiendish massacre of the defenseless peo- 
 ple of Lawrence. There was no longer any ques- 
 tion what must be done, and you promptly issued 
 the order, which had before been considered and 
 
254 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 discussed. A few days thereafter, I Adsited you at 
 Kansas City and went to Independence. I spent 
 several days in investigating the subject and con- 
 versing wuth the people who had left their homes 
 in obedience to your order. There was left no 
 room for doubt of the necessity of the measure that 
 had been adopted; hence, after a comparatively 
 unimportant modification, I approved your order 
 and thus assumed the whole, or at least my full 
 share, of the responsibility for it. Upon returning 
 to St. Louis, I made a full report of the matter - 
 
 to President Lincoln, explaining the necessity of ij 
 
 what had been done and assuming the responsibil- 
 ity therefor. Neither that humane President nor 
 any other officer of the Government ever uttered 
 one word dissent as to the wisdom, justice, or 
 humanity of that policy, and I now repeat that the 
 responsibility for the policy was fairly shared with 
 you by the President and by me in proportion to 
 our respective rank and authority. 
 
 "You understand that I have no desire in this 
 to throw responsibility on President Lincoln, nor 
 to defend mvself. I have never re^rarded that act ! 
 
 as requiring exculpation. On the contrary, it was i 
 
 an act of wisdom, courage, and humanity, by ^vhich 
 the lives of hundreds of innocent people were saved 
 and a disgraceful conflict brought to a summary 
 close. Not a life was sacrificed, nor any great dis- 
 comfort inflicted in carrying out the order. The 
 necessities of all the poor people were provided for 
 and none was permitted to suffer. 
 
ORDER No. 11, 255 
 
 "A few unthinking people have no doubt sup- 
 posed that the order was an act of retaliation for 
 the massacre at Lawrence. Nothing could be 
 more absurd. The farmers of western Missouri 
 were not regarded in anywise responsible for 
 Quantrell's acts. Whether they were willing or 
 not made no difference. If they raised crops, his 
 men lived upon them, as did also our troops when 
 they had occasion. A larpe proportion of these 
 citizens who were in good circumstances had vol- 
 untarily ceased this unprofitable purveying and 
 had gone elsewhere. It was simply an act of dis- 
 passionate wisdom and humanity to stop it alto 
 gether. To call your order an act of inhumanity 
 or of retaliation upon the people of Missouri is like 
 accusing the Kussian commander of similar crimes 
 against the people of Moscow when he ordered the 
 destruction of that city to prevent its occupation 
 as winter quarters by the army of Napoleon. 
 
 ^^For my own part I have been and am still en- 
 tirely content to leave to impartial history the ap- 
 proval or condemnation of each of my official acts 
 during the late war. But it is simply justice that 
 you, who have been censured by some for your cel- 
 ebrated order, have this statement of the facts in 
 regard to it, for such use as 3^our just vindication 
 may require. 
 
 "I am. General, very truly your friend and 
 obedient servant, /. M. Schofield, 
 
 "Major-General." 
 
256 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 "Jefferson City, Feb. 22, 1877. 
 '^Editor Repiihlican: 
 
 '^Dear Sir, — We, the undersigned members of 
 the Missouri Legislature, representing counties em- 
 braced in the desolating order of General Thomas 
 Ewing issued in 1863, in justice to our constituents 
 who were sufferers therefrom respectfully request 
 that the enclosed communication from General 
 Bingham, in reply to the recent letter from Gen- 
 eral Schofield vindicating said order, may be given 
 a place in 3- our paper. 
 
 "(7. N. Nolan, Jackson County. 
 
 "Henry H. Craig, Jackson County. 
 
 "/?. F. Wallace, Jackson County. 
 
 "Stephen P. Twish, Jackson County. 
 
 "Senator 0. T. Ballingiil, Jackson County. 
 
 "Wm. Hall, Vernon County. 
 
 "John JI. Snllens, Bates County. 
 
 "J. F. Brookhart, Cahs County. 
 "Editor RepuhUcan : 
 
 "My attention has been called to a letter which 
 appeared in your paper yesterday, written by 
 Major-General Schofield, now in charge of the Mil- 
 itary Academy at West Point, and addressed to 
 General Thomas Ewing, of Lancaster, Ohio, for 
 the purpose of relieving that gentleman from the 
 odium which he has justly incuri'ed by the well- 
 known and infamous military order issued by him 
 in 1863, in the enforcement of which a large and 
 populous district of our State, embracing several 
 counties bordering on the State of Kansas, was 
 
ORDER No. 11. 257 
 
 utterly desolated — its inhabitants driven from 
 their homes, their dwellings committed to the 
 flames, and their farms laid waste. 
 
 ^'The general has exercised a caution, charac- 
 teristic of all great military commanders, in allow- 
 ing nearly fourteen years to transpire before ven- 
 turing upon the defense of a measure which for 
 heartless atrocity has no parallel in modern an- 
 nals. He will be apt to discover, however, that 
 there are those yet surviving who will be able to 
 confront him in this prudently delayed effort to 
 subordinate history to the service of tyrann}^ 
 
 ^'He ventures to assert that ^the order was an 
 act of wisdom, courage, and humanity, by which 
 the lives of hundreds of innocent people were saved 
 and a disgraceful conflict brought to a summary 
 close.' That ^not a life was sacrificed, nor any 
 great discomfort inflicted in carrying out the or- 
 der,' and that ^the necessities of the poor people 
 were provided for and none w^ere permitted to suf- 
 fer.' Never did an equal number of words embody 
 a greater amount of error. The order was, soon af- 
 ter it was issued, denounced by the late Gen. Blair, 
 as an act of imbecility. Upon the supposition that 
 it was intended to aid the cause of the Union and 
 weaken the Rebellion, his denunciation was cer- 
 tainly just. In view, however, of its purpose as 
 revealed by its actual results, in the ruin of thous- 
 ands of our citizens and the speedy transfer of their 
 movable w^ealth to their dishonest neighbors in 
 Kansas, it must be confessed that it exhibited the 
 
258 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 consummate wisdom of the serpent. Never was a 
 robber}^ so stupendous more cunningly devised or 
 successfully accomplished, with less personal risk 
 to the robbers. As an act of purely arbitrary \- 
 
 power, directed against a disarmed and defenseless 
 population, it was an exhibition of cowardice in 
 its most odious and repulsive form. As outraging 
 every principle of justice and doing violence to 
 every generous and manly sentiment of the human 
 heart, its title to be regarded as an act of human- 
 ity can only be recognized by wretches destitute of 
 every quality usuall}^ embraced under that appel- 
 lation. It did not bring ^a disgraceful conflict to 
 a summary close.' It, indeed, put an end to pred- 
 atory raids of Kansas ^Red-Legs and Jayhawkers,' 
 by surrendering to them all they coveted, leaving 
 nothing that could further excite their cupidity; 
 but it gave up the country to the bushwhackers, 
 who, until the close of the war, continued to stop 
 the stages and rob the mails and passengers, and 
 no one wearing the Federal uniform dared to risk 
 his life within the desolated district, 
 
 ^^I was present in Kansas City when the order 
 was being enforced, having been drawn thither by 
 the hope that I would be able to have it rescinded, 
 or at least modified, and can affirm, from painful 
 personal observation, that the sufferings of the un- 
 fortunate victims were in many instances such as 
 should have elicited sympathy- even from hearts of 
 stone. Bare-footed and bare-headed women and 
 children, stripped of every article of clothing 
 
ORDER No. 11, 259 
 
 except a scant covering for their bodies, were ex- 
 posed to the heat of an August sun and compelled 
 to struggle through the dust on foot. All their 
 means of transportation had been seized by their 
 spoilers, except an occasional dilapidated cart, or 
 an old and superannuated horse, which were neces- 
 sarily appropriated to the use of the aged and 
 infirm. 
 
 '^It is well-known that men were shot down in 
 the very act of obeying the order, and their wagons 
 and effects seized by their murderers. Large 
 trains of wagons, extendins: over the prairies for 
 miles in length, and moying Kansasward, were 
 freighted with eyery description of household fur- 
 niture and wearing apparel belonging to the exiled 
 inhabitants. Dense columns of smoke arising in 
 eyery direction marked the conflagrations of dwell- 
 ings, many of the evidences of which are yet to be 
 seen in the remains of seared and blackened chim- 
 neys, standing as melancholy monuments of a 
 j'uthless military despotism which spared neither 
 age, sex, character, nor condition. There was 
 neither aid nor protection afforded to the banished 
 inhabitants by the heartless authority which ex- 
 pelled them from their rightful possessions. They 
 crowded by hundreds upon the banks of the Mis- 
 souri Kiver, and were indebted to the charity of 
 benevolent steamboat conductors for transporta- 
 tion to places of safety where friendly aid could be 
 extended to them without danger to those who 
 ventured to contribute it. General Schofield repre- 
 
260 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 sents the counties embraced in the order as having 
 been nearly depopulated by *a savage guerrilla 
 warfare,' which for two years had been waged 
 therein, thus attempting to make it appear that 
 the order operated only on a few remaining far- 
 mers, who, ^whether they sympathized with the 
 guerrillas or not, were mere furnishers of supplies 
 to these outlaws.' 
 
 '^It is true that such w^arfare had been waged, 
 but the largest portion of the guerrillas engaged 
 in this warfare were the well-known Mayhawkers 
 and Ked-Legs' of Kansas, acting under the author- 
 ity of no law, military or civil, yet carrying on 
 their nefarious operations under the protection 
 and patronage of General Ewing and his predeces- 
 sors from the State of Kansas. The others, consti- 
 tuting the more determined and desperate class, 
 were chiefly outlawed Missourians, known as bush- 
 whackers, and claiming to act under Confederate 
 authority. Their members, however, were at all 
 times insignificant in comparison with the Federal 
 troops stationed in these counties. 
 
 ^^As the inhabitants had all been disarmed by 
 Federal authority, they were powerless to resist 
 these outlaAVS, and, as General Schofield admits, 
 were compelled to yield to their demands, whether 
 willingly or unwillingly. Yet they were not, as 
 General Scofield's affirms, mere furnishers of sup- 
 plies to these outlaws. On the contrary, it may be 
 safely asserted that the supplies furnished by them 
 to the Federal forces, if properly estimated, would 
 
ORDER No. 11. 261 
 
 reach twenty times, if not fifty times, the amount 
 forced from them by bushwhackers. These des- 
 perate characters could at any time have been ex- 
 terminated or driven from the country had there 
 been an earnest purpose on the part of the Federal 
 forces in that direction, properly braced by a will- 
 ingness to incur such personal risks as become the 
 profession of a soldier. 
 
 ''But the guerrilla warfare in these counties 
 had not, at the date of this order, nearl}^ depopu- 
 lated them, as alleged by General Schofield. The 
 inhabitants possessed fertile and valuable lands. 
 Many of them had become wealthy, and all pos- 
 sessed comfortable homes, from which neither the 
 tyranny of their military rulers nor the frequent 
 depredaticms of Kansas 'Red-Legs' and Confed- 
 erate bushwhackers had succeeded in expelling 
 them. The sweeping and indiscriminate order, 
 therefore, operated in all its diabolical and ruinous 
 force upon a population quite as numerous as then 
 inhabited an equal number of any other border 
 counties of our State. I was present when an offi- 
 cer reported to General Ewing that several hun- 
 dred citizens, in obedience to the order, had re- 
 ported to the military post at Harrisonville, Cass 
 County, had proved their loyalty to the satisfaction 
 of the officers in command there, and earnestly re- 
 quested that they might be armed in order to de- 
 fend themselves and their property. This reason- 
 able request was refused, it being doubtless in- 
 
262 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 tended that their property should supply other 
 wants than those of its owners. 
 
 "If it shall become necessary, I feel confident 
 that it can be easily shown that not a reason given 
 by General Schofield in justification of this crime 
 against humanity has any just basis in fact relat- 
 ing thereto. His efforts to make it appear as the 
 result of a necessity analogous to that which w^ar- 
 ranted the conflagration of Moscow is sufficient to 
 excite the risibility of any one familiar with the 
 two cases. Napoleon was entering Moscow with 
 a victorious and overwhelming force in the midst 
 of a Russian winter, during which his only reliance 
 for subsistance would have been upon the supplies 
 stored within the limits of the city. The destruc- 
 tion, therefore, of these was the salvation of the 
 Russian empire. In the case of the measure which 
 he undertakes to defend the overwhelming force 
 was with General Ewing, whose duty it was to 
 protect the people and exnel the bushwhackers 
 who infested their country. In doing this, how- 
 ever, he would necessarily have exposed himself 
 and command to a few casualties incidental to 
 war. He therefore adopted the policy, safest to 
 himself, of expelling the disarmed and defenseless 
 people, leaving the country in possession of their 
 enemies, who had no difficulty in procuring all the 
 supplies they needed in the counties immediately 
 adjoining. 
 
 "Such an order could scarcely be justified as 
 directed against communities on a level in deprav- 
 
ORDER No. 11. 263 
 
 ity with the ancient denizens of Sodom and Gom- 
 orrah. Yet those whom it embraced in its ruinous 
 swoop, in all the virtues Avhich characterized a 
 Christian community, Avould not have suffered in 
 comparison with any other rural population. 
 Their political character may best be determined 
 by a few facts of their history. In the election for 
 members of our State Convention early in 1861, in 
 which the question of secession was distinctly in- 
 volved, not a single vote in the entire district des- 
 olated by this order was cast for a secession candi- 
 date, and those charged with being inclined in that 
 direction were defeated by overwhelming majori- 
 ties. During the entire period of the war, out- 
 raged and oppressed as they were, they furnished, 
 at every call for troops to replenish the forces of 
 the Union their full quota b}^ volunteers, thus re- 
 sponding to the necessities of their Government 
 without the compulsion of a draft. 
 
 "General Schofield ungenerously attempts to 
 make President Lincoln jointly responsible with 
 himself and General Ewing for the execution of 
 this order. It is evident, however, that the assent 
 and approbation of the President were predicated 
 solel}' on the representations of his general, and 
 not upon the actual facts relating to the matter, of 
 which he could have had no personal knowledge. 
 It can be proved that he went up to Kansas City 
 from his headquarters in St. Louis for the purpose 
 of rescinding this order, from the execution of 
 which purpose in harmony with the noble instincts 
 
2B4 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 of humanity, he was likely deterred by the same 
 commanding influence which has induced him to 
 attempt its defense. 
 
 ^^General Ewing has doubtless discovered that 
 this, his crowning- military achievement of 1863, 
 was not of a nature as well calculate<i to secure the 
 favor of the Democracy with whom he is now asso- 
 ciated, as it was to win to his support the ^Jay- 
 hawkers' and corrupt rabble of Kansas, through 
 whose aid, there is reason to believe, he then 
 looked for political preferment, and thence his ef- 
 fort arising from necessities of his shifted aspira- 
 tions, to secure for it a gloss, which his associate 
 in responsibility therefor has endeavored to put 
 upon it, at the sacrifice alike of justice and truth. 
 
 ''G. a Bingham, 
 
 "Jefferson City, Feb. 22.'' 
 
QUANTRELL AND HIS MEN. 265 
 
 Chapter XXV. 
 
 QUANTRELL* AND HIS MEN. 
 
 Know thou this, that men are as the time is. 
 
 — ShalccsiKarc, 
 
 After the expulsion of Price's army from Mis- 
 souri, the guerrillas alone kept up the tumult 
 and turmoil with the Federals. Sometimes Price, 
 Shelby, or Marmaduke "raided'' the State. These 
 raids, however, were spasmodic and infrequent. 
 But Quantrell and his men were a sort of perpet- 
 ual motion. At first blush, the guerrilla warfare 
 seems anomalous, but a slight analysis discovers 
 that it w as transmitted from direct and unequiv- 
 ocal antecedents. The guerrilla was an offspring 
 of monstrous conditions prevailing among the 
 early settlers of Missouri and Kansas. He came 
 of the best and gentlest blood, and the true guer- 
 rilla was never a coward or poltroon. 
 
 Edwards says of the guerrilla: "He believed 
 that the patriotism of Jennison and Lane was 
 highway robbery transformed from darkness to 
 dawm. Desperate and remorseless as he undoubt- 
 edly was, the guerrilla saw^ shining down upon 
 his pathway a luminous patriotism, and he fol- 
 lowed it eagerly that he might kill in the name 
 of God and his country." 
 
 William Clark Quantrell w^as the greatest 
 guerrilla the world ever produced, and as such he 
 
 'This name, according to Capt. W. H. Gregg, should be spelled Quantrill. 
 18 
 
266 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 has his place in universal history. This strange, 
 taciturn, undemonstrative leader was born of ex- 
 cellent parentage at Hagerstown, Maryland, July 
 20, 1836. He received a good English education. 
 After leaving school, he joined an older brother 
 in Kansas, and the two started in wagons for 
 Pike's Peak. They were overtaken by a band of 
 thirty-two Kansas Jayhawkers, who seized the 
 mules and the wagons, and left the two Quan- 
 trells weltering in their own blood, and supposed 
 to be dead. The younger one, William Clark 
 Quantrell, lived. For two days and nights he lay 
 watching and swooning by his dead brother. An 
 old Indian and his squaw were the good Samar- 
 itans who saved the future guerrilla chief. Quan- 
 trell went to Lawrence, joined the Kansas State 
 Militia, became an expert with a pistol, learned 
 the names of his assailants and his brother's as- 
 sassins, and, as opportunity offered, shot every 
 one of them through the temple, except two who 
 had moved to California. He was known simply 
 as Charles Hart, and was patient, grave, uncom- 
 municative, well dressed, and he stood high 
 among his acquaintances; he was given import- 
 ant duties in the command, and was generally 
 regarded as a capable man. 
 
 Quantrell organized at Lawrence an Under- 
 ground Eailroad expedition into Missouri for the 
 purpose of running off the negroes belonging to 
 Morgan Walker, who lived near Blue Springs. 
 Quantrell apprised the Walkers of the intended 
 
QUANTRELL AND HIS MEN. 267 
 
 raid, and arranged to assist in the extirpation of 
 the band. There were four men with Quantrell, 
 and he led them into Walker's house, where they 
 were all killed. Three of these, according to 
 Edwards, belonged to the thirty-two above 
 mentioned. 
 
 After this, Quantrell remained in Jackson 
 County. He assisted Colonel Gill, father of Judge 
 Turner A. Gill, and Mr. Lipscomb, of Little Santa 
 Fe, in transporting their negroes to Texas, where 
 they were out of the reach of the Kansas Jay- 
 hawkers. Returning from Texas, Quantrell 
 joined Price's army at Cowskin Prairie, and took 
 part as a private in the battle of Wilson Creek. 
 When Price marched against Mulligan at Lexing- 
 ton, Quantrell came to Jackson County and be- 
 gan unconsciously the slow and tedious process 
 of organizing the band which under his leader- 
 ship became famous. Quantrell was not at the 
 battle of Lexington, although Edwards gives the 
 following graphic account of his presence there: 
 
 "Mounted on a splendid horse, armed with a 
 Sharp's carbine and four navy revolvers, for a 
 uniform a red shirt, and for oriflamme a sweep- 
 ing black plume, he advanced farthest, fell back 
 with the last, and was always omnipresent Gen- 
 eral Price — himself notorious for being superbly 
 indifferent under fire — remarked his bearing and 
 caused mention to be made of it most favorable." 
 
 Edwards never permits any of his heroes to 
 suffer for the want of a good word. Edwards was 
 
268 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 an advocate, not a judge. He has fallen into 
 many errors in his history of Quantrell and his 
 men. Hence I make specific mention of him 
 wherever I have occasion to use him as authority. 
 The material for this chapter comes largely from 
 Captain Wm. H. Gregg, of Kansas City, Mo., a 
 brave and enterprising soldier, a leader upon 
 v^hom Quantrell often imposed the most arduous 
 duties, and who was always ready and capable. 
 
 QuantrelFs original band consisted of Will 
 Hallar, Geo. Todd, John Little, Jas. Little, John 
 Hampton, and Joe Vaughn. Closely associated 
 with this band — closely enough, indeed, to be 
 regarded as original integral parts of it — were 
 A. J. Liddil, Ed. Koger, the Walker boys, James 
 Kelley, and Solomon Basham. The objects of this 
 band were to recover stolen property, to catch 
 thieves, and to protect property from organized 
 despoilers. 
 
 Quantrell was a modest man, and did not seek 
 to lead the band at first. He was unconscious of 
 his vast capability as a leader. There was imme- 
 diate and pressing work for the young organiza- 
 tion. The band began operations by catching 
 and hanging a man by the name of Searcy, a 
 wholesale horse-thief and all-round robber. The 
 band recovered from this great thief over seventy 
 head of horses, many wagons, and much other 
 property taken from people in Jackson, Cass, and 
 Johnson counties. Many of these people still 
 live, some of whom I know. The property was 
 
QUANTRELL AND EI8 MEN. 269 
 
 all returned to the rightful owners, who willingly 
 paid small sums in remuneration for the seryices 
 of recovery. The Kansas Jayhawkers instantly 
 raised the hue and cry that Quantrell's band 
 stole horses from Union men, who were forced to 
 recover tlieir property by i3urchase. 
 
 Jennison^s Jayhawkers came down, ostensibly 
 to protect Union men. They plundered the citi- 
 zens and burned houses. Quantrell's band am- 
 bushed Jennison, and killed five of his men. Bur- 
 ris came down with his freebooters on the same 
 mission which brought Jennison; he also burned 
 and plundered, and was ambuscaded, losing four 
 or five of his men. Jennison and Burris both car- 
 ried the Federal flag. 
 
 Soon after the band hung Searcy, it received 
 three able recruits, John Koger, James Hend- 
 ricks, and Wm. H. Gregg. In a short time the 
 band numbered thirty men; it continued to grow, 
 and, before the war was over, it contained 400 
 desperate fighters, and the leader bore a commis- 
 sion from the Confederate Government. Quan- 
 trell's first application for a commission was 
 refused on account of his peculiar method of 
 fighting. 
 
 On the 22d of February, 1862, Quantrell rode 
 into Independence, Mo., with less than a score of 
 men, believing the place to be unoccupied by 
 troops. An Ohio cavalry regiment was there, and 
 a battle was fought in which Quantrell lost in 
 killed Gabriel George and Hopp Wood. 
 
270 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 Wm. H. Greggs says of this little fight: "I 
 got my arm blackened with a saber in the hands 
 of a sturdy, brave Ohio cavalryman." 
 
 The Federals lost four or five men. About a 
 month after this, March 20th, Quantrell camped 
 with forty men in the Little Blue church, four 
 miles northeast of Blue Springs, He sent out 
 foragers, one of whom brought in a copy of the 
 St. Louis Republican, in which was published an 
 order by General Halleck, then in command of 
 the Department of Missouri, directing his troops 
 to shoot or hang Quantrell or his men wherever 
 caught or found. This might well have meant 
 the black flag. But Quantrell never carried the 
 black flag, all the books so far written to the con- 
 trary notwithstanding. On the other hand, I saw 
 a black flag carried at the head of a Federal 
 company, which marched past our camp at sun- 
 down of the first day after leaving our home 
 under Order No. 11. The meaning of the flag 
 was discussed in my presence. The flag and the 
 discussion made a lasting impression on my child- 
 ish mind. 
 
 In a few days after Halleck^s order was pub- 
 lished, Quantreirs band captured a ^^Dutch" Fed- 
 eral sergeant who was guarding a bridge over 
 the Big Blue. Quantrell remarked, "Boys, they 
 issue the order, but we draw first blood"; where- 
 upon he drew his revolver and killed the ser- 
 geant. They burned the bridge. Night overtook 
 them near Little Santa Fe. Quantrell and twen- 
 
QUANTBELL AND ni8 MEN. 271 
 
 ty-one men put up at a Mr. Tate's house; the 
 others were quartered at farm-houses in the neigh- 
 borhood. A Kansas regiment swooped down on 
 the Tate house, scattered QuantrelPs men, and 
 captured all their horses. On two other occa- 
 sions, during tlie summer of 1862, Quantrell and 
 his men lost their horses — at Clark's and Lowe's 
 houses. The encounter at Clark's house was 
 within a mile of my boyhood home; it was a mere 
 scrimmage with considerable shooting, but in no 
 sense coming up to Edwards' description of it. 
 
 The Federals captured Perry Hoy at the Tate 
 house affair; he was taken to Leavenworth and 
 shot, in spite of Quantrell's offer to exchange a 
 lieutenant for him. Quantrell released the lieu- 
 tenant, who went home, saying he would not 
 fight for a government that would not exchange 
 a private for him, an officer. 
 
 About July 1, 1862, we find Quantrell in 
 Henry County with ninety-five men. Colonel Up- 
 ton Hays, on his way from the south, joined him 
 here for a few days and they repulsed an attack 
 of a Federal company under Captain Keynolds, 
 from Clinton, Mo., who came out to capture Quan- 
 trell. Hays proceeded afterwards toward Jack- 
 son County with thirty of Quantrell's men as an 
 escort. In a few days, Quantrell, with only sixty- 
 five men, marched into Cass County on his way 
 to Jackson, fighting frequently as he marched, 
 and always against heavy odds. The next six 
 weeks, according to Captain Gregg, made a pe- 
 
272 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 riocl the most thrilling in the history of border 
 warfare. 
 
 Major Jas. O. Gower commanded the Federal 
 post at Clinton. After the rough experience of 
 Eeynolds with Qnantrell, Gower marched out 
 with 65 men and sent couriers to Gapt. Ankenj, 
 who came next morning from Butler with 65 men; 
 and to Capt. W. A. Martin, who came from Harri- 
 sonville with 65 men; and to Capt, Miles Kehoe, 
 who came from Warrensburg with 61 men. Gower 
 thus had 266 men with which to capture Quan- 
 trelPs 65 guerrillas. A long and terrific battle oc- 
 curred a few miles west of Pleasant Hill, on the 
 Searancy farm. A number of men were killed. 
 The Federals seemed absolutely devoid of fear. 
 QuantrelPs ammunition gave out, and his men 
 snccessfully defended themselves for a time by 
 pelting their assailants with stones. This was 
 possible, inasmuch as there was inebriation 
 among the Federals. Captain Gregg, with his 
 22 men, cut through the Federal lines, and so 
 enabled the band to escape into Jackson County. 
 Major Gower reported the guerrilla force at 250 
 strong. 
 
 The next battles were at Independence and 
 Lone Jack, treated in appropriate chapters. 
 
 After the battle at Lone Jack, Quantrell and 
 his men marched to Olathe, Kansas, for the pur- 
 pose of killing ten men to avenge the killing of 
 Perry Hoy at Leavenworth. This purpose they 
 fully accomplished before reaching Olathe, which. 
 
QUANTRELL AND HIS MEN. 273 
 
 place they captured with 120 troops; the latter 
 were paroled. After Olathe, they raided Shaw- 
 neetown, killing* ten or twelve Kansans. Before 
 going south for the winter they engaged in nu- 
 merous small affairs. As they retreated south, 
 they captured, near llarrisonville, a train of fif- 
 teen or twenty Federal wagons, which they 
 burned. The guards, about twenty in number, 
 were killed. They made an unsuccessful attack 
 on the Federal post at Lamar. When Quantrell 
 arriyed at Van Buren, Ark., his command was 
 attached to Shelby's brigade, and it took part in 
 the battles of Prairie Grove, Springfield, Harts- 
 ville, and others. 
 
 After the leaves came out in the spring of 
 1863, Quantrell returned with his men from the 
 South, and soon had a small army under his com- 
 mand. He was joined by Todd, Pool, Blunt, An- 
 derson, and Jarrett, each with a company, and 
 there were numerous other leaders with small 
 detachments of men, all willingly acknowledg- 
 ing the authority of Quantrell, and coming under 
 his leadership when required. These men, rank 
 and file, were as brave as men could be, and all 
 were true comrades. If any man faltered, he was 
 disowned xind jeered out of the ranks. 
 
 During the summer of 1803, these various com- 
 panies and detachments operated over a wide 
 range of country, annoying and terrifying the 
 Federals. While Pool was operating in Saline 
 or Lafayette counties, Blunt would be in Jackson 
 
274 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 on the Sni or the Little Blue; Todd would be hang- 
 ing around Westport or Kansas Oit}^; Jarrett 
 might be in Cass County; Anderson maybe in 
 Eay or Carroll County, or in Kansas. In June 
 Captain Gregg took ten men into Clay County. 
 He sent word to Missouri City that two bush- 
 whackers were lying drunk in Uncle Jerry Pee- 
 bly's yard. Captain Sessions, who was regarded 
 by Gregg's men as an informer — even a murderer, 
 came out with twelve men. These came into the 
 trap, and at the first round eight fell dead and the 
 ninth was severely wounded. The three others 
 were pursued and slain before they got back to 
 town. 
 
 The Federals hastil.y evacuated Missouri City, 
 and Gregg's little force took possession of the 
 place. The ten camped the next day in the 
 northern part of the county, where they learned 
 from some school-children that a body of troops 
 had j)assed down toward Missouri City. Gregg 
 knew intuitively that the troops were from Platts- 
 burg, and that they were bent on avenging the 
 death of Sessions and his men. Gregg at once 
 marched with his daring band straight to Platts- 
 burg and captured the place after a severe bat- 
 tle with twenty Federals, who surrendered; 300 
 loaded guns and |6,000 of ^^Gamble" money were 
 seized. Colonel James H. Birch, aid-de-camp of 
 Governor Gamble, was made a prisoner. The 
 whole northern part of the State was intensely 
 excited, and 10,000 troops were put in motion to 
 
QUANTRELL AND HIS MEN. 275 
 
 capture or chase away the ten, who, after many 
 escapades, recrossed the river at Blue Mills Land- 
 ing. Not one of the ten was even wounded. 
 
 Those comprising this daring band were Cap- 
 tain Wni. H. Gregg, Lieutenant Scott, Jas. A. 
 Hendricks, James Little, John Jackson, Joe Hart, 
 Henry CoAvherd, Fletcher Taylor, and Frank 
 James. 
 
 On the 15th of August, 1863, Quantrell called 
 a council of war at the Garrol farm south of Oak 
 Grove, Mo. Here they determined upon the raid 
 on Lawrence. The rendezvous was in Johnson 
 County, Mo. Captain Gregg was QuantrelPs adju- 
 tant and aid-de-camp. He counted the men, 291, 
 who took part in the raid at Lawrence. The trip 
 was in every sense a terrible one. Quantrell and 
 his men were on horseback almost constantly for 
 four days and five nights, and for three days and 
 nights were without food. The burning of Law- 
 rence, the killing, the retreat, the pursuit, and the 
 running fights make up one of the most exciting 
 stories of the war. 
 
 Professor Spring, of the Kansas University, 
 w^rites: "In the destruction of Lawrence, August 
 21, 18G3, the irregular, predatory hostilities of the 
 border reached a shocking climax. The crimes 
 which brought about that event Avere various, and 
 have been in the main already indicated — the 
 campaign of Lane's brigade, the depredations of 
 Eed-legs, enmities of the settlement of Lawrence 
 in 1854, as well as ordinary bushwhacking mo- 
 
276 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 tives of plunder. ^Jennison lias laid waste our 
 homes/ was the declamation of more than one 
 Missourian on the day of the massacre, ^and Red- 
 legs have perpetrated unheard-of crimes. Houses 
 have been plundered and burned, defenseless men 
 shot down, and women outraged. We are here 
 for revenge — and we have got it.' " 
 
 The raid on Lawrence so horrified and exas- 
 perated the Federals that General Ewing imme- 
 diately issued Order No. 11. 
 
 It was fitting that the Lawrence raid should 
 close the career of Quantrell. He continued in 
 the saddle for more than a year after that event, 
 but we hear very little more of him. The guer- 
 rilla school which he had trained for two years 
 now sent forth graduates destined to perform 
 bloody work in the summer of 1864. As Quantrell 
 disappears slowly from sight, the prodigious fig- 
 ures of Anderson and Todd gather on the view. 
 From the ranks of these leaders rose after the 
 war the James boys and the Youngers. In the 
 autumn after the Lawrence raid Quantrell went 
 south for the winter. The next summer he came 
 again to Missouri, visited his old familiar haunts, 
 and roamed over the region desolated by Order 
 No. 11. He was here in the autumn of 1864, when 
 Price made his great raid. But Quantrell had lost 
 his enterprise and ambition, or had permitted his 
 men to slip from him; they were massing around 
 other leaders, and he murmured no regret 
 
 After Price's great raid, Quantrell and a few 
 
QUANTBELL AND HIS MEN, 277 
 
 companions crossed over into Kentucky, where 
 he was killed. His death was not consequential. 
 The tragic end must be classed among the smaller 
 items of his biography. Every life begins in song 
 and ends in tragedy; between the two look for 
 history. 
 
278 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 Chapter XXYI. 
 
 THE STORY OF DONIPHAN. 
 
 One comfort is, that great men, taken up in any way, are 
 profitable company. We cannot look, however imperfectly, 
 upon a great man without gaining something by him. — Garlylc^ 
 
 No one conversant with Missouri history will 
 deny that General Alexander W. Doniphan was 
 one of Missouri's greatest men. He was as re- 
 markable for the honors in his grasp and declined 
 as for any of his actual achievements. He could 
 have been elected to the United States Senate 
 instead of Louis Y. Bogy in 1877, but he refused 
 to allow his name to be presented to the caucus. 
 In 1876 the National Democratic Convention met 
 in St. Louis. At one time it was doubtful whether 
 Tilden could be nominated. In the event of such 
 failure, it was proposed to give the nomination to 
 Doniphan. But he was indifferent to office in civil 
 life. He was moved to his highest capabilities 
 only by military action. It is remarkable that he 
 found no field for the exercise of his genius in the 
 Civil War. 
 
 The meager part enacted by Doniphan in the 
 great Civil War is explained in two ways. On the 
 one hand it has been intimated that he was piqued 
 by the promotion of General Price to the position 
 of major-general of the State Guards, and on the 
 other it is claimed that Governor Jackson offered 
 
TEE STORY OF DONIPEAN. 279 
 
 him tlie appointment and that he declined it. 
 
 I am able to set this question at rest forever. 
 Mr. M. P. Lietz, an old and highly esteemed citizen 
 of Fulton, Mo., who is now beyond eighty years of 
 age, who in his early manhood accompanied Doni- 
 phan to Mexico and who is accredited by John T. 
 Hughes as author of a part of the latter's "Doni- 
 phan's Expedition to Mexico," writes me the fol- 
 lowing in a letter: 
 
 "In the troubles that grew out of seceding 
 States, a peace congress was appointed to meet in 
 Washington City, and the governor appointed Col, 
 Doniphan the peace commissioner from Missouri. 
 By accident I was in Washington City at that time 
 and by chance met Col. Doniphan on Pennsyl- 
 vania Avenue, and while we were together the 
 first troops, a body of 1500, came in a gallop up 
 the street. I said to Col. Doniphan: ^What do you 
 think of the policy of the Government to overrun 
 us with soldiers?' He answered: ^I will tell you 
 what I think; if I had my old regiment here, I 
 would whip them out in thirty minutes.' 
 
 "Now for the Missouri command: I was at 
 Boonville, Mo., in June, 1861, the day before the 
 battle; was sitting in front of the hotel in the 
 shade. Governor C. F. Jackson came along and 
 took the vacant chair by me. As I was anxious to 
 know what was intended, I asked him several 
 questions in regard to future action. He then 
 told me that he had appointed Col. Doniphan com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Missouri forces and that 
 
280 BATTLES AND BIOOBAPHIES OF MI^SOVRIANS. 
 
 after keeping the commission two weeks, he had 
 declined to accept it; and then he pulled Doni- 
 phan's letter of non-acceptance from his pocket 
 and read it to me. Col. Doniphan's reasons were 
 that he had had two children,both boys, and before 
 this one was drowned and the other accidentally 
 killed by gun-shot. This loss had shattered his 
 wife's health and he could not get her to consent 
 to let him go to battle, as she had suffered much 
 while he was in Mexico. Doniphan was com- 
 mander-in-chief [major-general] of the Missouri 
 forces for two weeks, only lacking the will to ac- 
 cept. The remarks that Jackson made at the time 
 are no part of history, and I will not repeat them. 
 At this time the governor had appointed Gleneral 
 Sterling Price commander-in-chief of the Missouri 
 forces, and Price was in a bed sick in the hotel less 
 than fifty feet from where we were sitting." 
 
 General Doniphan was a member of the State 
 convention, and voted with Price against taking 
 Missouri out of the Union. At the July meeting 
 of the convention he voted against deposing Gov- 
 ernor Jackson; he refused to attend the November 
 meeting. Meantime he attended the Peace Con- 
 gress at Washington, D. C, as the delegate from 
 Missouri. 
 
 While in Washington, he w^as introduced to 
 President Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln, struck by the 
 magnificent presence and courtly bearing of his 
 visitor, exclaimed: "And this is Colonel Doni- 
 phan, who made the wonderful march from Santa 
 
THE 8T0R7 OF DONIPHAN. ' 281 
 
 Fe to Monterey against both Indians and Mexi- 
 cans. Now, Colonel, permit me to say you are the 
 only man connected with any great military en- 
 terprise who ever came up in his looks to my 
 expectations." 
 
 While General Price lay at Springfield in the 
 winter after the battle of Lexington, Colonel John 
 T. Hughes was sent back to the Missouri River on 
 an expedition which proved a signal failure, owing 
 to the quick intervention of Doniphan. Doniphan 
 learned in some way of the proposed expedition, 
 and he hastened to Plattsburg to convey the infor- 
 mation to Colonel James H. Birch, Federal com- 
 mander at that place. Colonel Birch, writing in 
 the summer of 1899 of this episode, quotes Doni- 
 phan as saying: ''Colonel, I have ridden all the 
 way from Liberty to place in your possession a 
 very grave military secret. I might have gone 
 to Independence, but you are the only member 
 of the Hxamble dynasty' whom I trust, having 
 known you since boyhood. My information is 
 that John T. Hughes has left camp at Osceola 
 and with his regiment is coming home. His men 
 want to see their families; but this is not what 
 is bringing John home- I know John Hughes; 
 he was in my regiment in Mexico, and there is 
 not a more daring or ambitious officer in Price's 
 army. I am informed that he intends to cross 
 the river at xllbany, six miles above Lexing- 
 ton. He will tear up the Hannibal & St Joseph 
 
 Bailroad from Macon Cit}^ to St. Joseph and 
 19 
 
282 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 burn the bridges; he will recruit a regiment; he 
 will attack the militia by squads, and before 
 the railroads can be rebuilt and reinforcements 
 brought in he will have retreated south. Now all 
 this w^ould not trouble me, for he would take out of 
 northwest Missouri many whose absence would 
 leave us in peace; but w^hen his brigade left, every 
 soldier would be mounted on some Union man's 
 horse and his every team would be from some 
 Union man's barn, and when the Federals got in 
 again, every Union man would charge his s )uth?in 
 neighbor with piloting them to his barn, and the 
 devil would be in supreme command and hell 
 w^ould be a pleasure resort to wiiat w^ould take 
 place then. Now to prevent all this I have made 
 this trij). You must go to-night to Bt, Louis and 
 lay this information before ITalleck." Col. Kirch 
 proposed to telegraph the information, but Doni- 
 phan said it would not do. Colonel Birch mount:^d 
 a young thoroughbred horse and rode to Osborn, 
 fourteen miles, in an hour and thirteen minutes, 
 reaching there just in time to catch the train for 
 St Louis. Halleclv acted promptly and orderedl 
 General Prentiss to repair with a strong force to 
 Albany. Hughes was just about to cross when 
 Prentiss arrived; a few shots were exchanged 
 across the river. Hughes retreaterl south and 
 reached Price in time to take part in the battle of 
 Pea Eidge. 
 
GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 283 
 
 Chapter XXVII. 
 
 GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 
 
 Also, the hero from of old has had to cramp himself into 
 strange shapes; the world knows not well at any time what to 
 do with him. — Carli/lc. 
 
 To none of our heroes have the people of this 
 State accorded snch a generous and unstinted par- 
 tiality as they have to General Price. The Gov- 
 ernment at Iiichmond never knew what to do with 
 Price. The people of Missouri were wiser; they 
 believed in him, and followed him and loved him. 
 
 Price was a stern, y^t gentle man. Many a 
 time his rugged face was streaked with tears in 
 battle when his ^^boys" were cut to pieces. To him 
 his troops were always his ^'boys"; to them he was 
 '^old Pap." Price w^as stern almost to harshness 
 when men forgot their dut^\ After the battle of 
 Corinth, one of the Missouri companies decided to 
 leave the service and return home. The term of 
 enlistment had expired. The whole company was 
 put under arrest and taken to General Price. 
 Scarcely had the case been stated when Price 
 roared out: ^*A11 of you who want to re-enlist, 
 step forward; all who want to be shot, stand still." 
 There was an instant shuffling of feet as the men 
 moved forward; even the caj^tain signified his de- 
 sire to re-enlist then and there by stepping to the 
 front — a little slower, however, than the others. 
 
284 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 Price believed in duty as he believed in God. 
 To him there was no stronger word than the word 
 "duty.'' During all the four years of the war he 
 was overslaughed and held back by the mistrust 
 or jealousy of Jeff. Davis. If Davis was jealous 
 of Price, and he might not have been, he was the 
 living definition of Ruskin's observation: "And 
 take also your great English vice, European vice, 
 vice of all the world, vice of all other worlds that 
 roll or shine in heaven, bearing with them yet 
 the atmosphere of hell — the vice of jealousy, which 
 brings competition into your commerce, treachery 
 into your councils, and dishonor into your wars." 
 Price uttered no word of complaint; like a true, 
 great man, he accepted subordinate positions and 
 his zeal suffered no diminution. In adherence to 
 duty. Price was the American Duke of Wellington. 
 
 In "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War," Vol. 
 2, a stormy scene between Price and Jeff Davis is 
 described by an eye-witness. After the battle of 
 Corintli, General Price wanted to return to Mis- 
 souri with his Missouri troops. He went to Rich- 
 mond to secure an order to this effect President 
 Davis was cold and formal. At the first interview 
 Davis requested Price to submit his proposition in 
 writing, which Price did. At the next interview 
 Davis informed Price that the order could not be 
 issued; the Missourians could not be returned to 
 the Trans-Mississippi Department. Price replied 
 with the utmost respect and courtesy of manner: 
 "If you will not let me serve you, I will neverthe- 
 
GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 285 
 
 less serve my country. You cannot prevent me 
 from doing that. I will send 3^ou m^^ resignation, 
 and go back to Missouri and raise another army 
 there without your assistance, and fight again un- 
 der the flag of Missouri and win new victories for 
 the South in spite of you.'' Davis was frigid in 
 manner, and he replied in cutting, measured, icy 
 tones: ^'Yonr resignation will be promptly ac- 
 cepted, General, and if you do go back to Missouri 
 and raise another army and win victories for the 
 South, no one will be more pleased than myself — 
 or surprised.''^ Then Price rose to his full height 
 and brought his heavy fist down upon the table 
 with a force that scattered the papers and up- 
 set the inkstand: "Then I'll surprise you, sir." 
 Whereupon Price strode furiously out of tlie room 
 without looking back. He went to his hotel, wrote 
 out his resignation, and prepared to leave for Mis- 
 souri. The next day he received notice that in- 
 stead of accepting his resignation, the President 
 w^ould accede to his request. He could return 
 to the Trans-Mississippi Department, and the Mis- 
 souri troops would follow when Bragg could spare 
 them Avith safety. This was probably the great- 
 est victory Price ever won. He returned to his 
 command and bade farewell to his "boys," prom- 
 ising them that soon they should follow him back 
 to Missouri. They never saw Price again. 
 
 Jeff. Davis was a West Pointer, while Price had 
 not received a military education. Davis was a 
 man of strong convictions and strong prejudices; 
 
286 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 he believed that only the graduates of West Point 
 could be efficient soldiers. Hence the President 
 of the Southern Confederacy never could see any 
 commendable military qualities in General Price. 
 Davis was a good soldier himself and he had 
 served with distinction in the war with Mexico. 
 Price also had served in the Mexican War. But 
 Price was a lax disciplinarian and at Santa F^ 
 had permitted his men to separate into foraging 
 parties, while a dangerous conspiracy was hatched 
 against him among the Mexicans. Price brought 
 his army safely out of the difficulty, but Davis 
 probably attributed this final success to Price's 
 good fortune, and not to Price's genius as a soldier. 
 Possibly this was the beginning of the distrust 
 which was never dislodged from Davis' mind. 
 
 While General Price was in the vicinity of 
 Springfield, after his victory over Mulligan at Lex- 
 ington, Fremont ordered forward Major Zagonzi, 
 of his body guard, and Major White, of the "Prairie 
 Schooners," with forces. They surprised a detach- 
 ment of Price's army under Major Lee Cloud, many 
 miles away from Price. The men under Cloud fled 
 in disorder to a skirt of timber, where they rallied 
 and repulsed their assailants with heavy loss, 
 eighty-five Federals being killed. One of Major 
 Cloud's men fled in dismay to Price and reported 
 that his comrades had all been massacred; he 
 alone had escaped. Afterwards a courier arrived 
 with news of a great victory. Price hung his head 
 a moment and then said epigrammatically: "Damn 
 
GENERAL STERLING PRICE. gS? 
 
 a man witli six legs!" referring to the four legs of 
 the horse and the two of the man who brought the 
 false story of disaster. 
 
 Sterling Price was born in Prince Edward 
 County, Virginia, in 1809. He came of a good, in- 
 telligent, and well-to-do family. At an early age 
 he was sent to the neighborhood schools, later to 
 Hampden-Sidney College; afterwards he finished 
 his education by studying law. In 1831 he moved 
 with his father's family to Missouri and settled on 
 a farm in Chariton County, which remained his 
 home as long as he lived. In 1810 he was chosen 
 to represent his county in the Legislature. He 
 was made speaker of the House, a rare honor for 
 a man of thirty-one and unknoAvn outside of his 
 own county. He was an ideal presiding officer and 
 at the next term he was chosen speaker again. 
 From this he grew to be the most colossal figure 
 in the civil and military affairs of the State. In 
 1846 he was elected to Congress, but soon resigned 
 on account of some adverse and unjust criticism. 
 About this time it became manifest that w^ar be- 
 tween the United States and Mexico was inevit- 
 able. He returned to Missouri and raised a regi- 
 ment, chiefly in the central counties of the State. 
 At the same time Colonel A. W. Doniphan, of Clay 
 County, had also raised a regiment. Doniphan's 
 was the First and Price's the Second Missouri 
 Mounted Volunteers. These constituted the main 
 body of an expedition which, under General Kear- 
 ney of theKegular Army, marched across the plaihs 
 
288 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0VRIAN8. 
 
 and took possession of New Mexico and other Mex- 
 ican provinces. The troops marched from Leaven- 
 worth to Santa Fe, a distance of over 900 miles, in 
 two detachments, for the better advantages of for- 
 age, the first nnder Doniphan and the second 
 under Colonel Price. A few days before Price 
 arrived at Santa Fe, General Kearne}^ started with 
 his 200 dragoons for California, leaving Colonel 
 Doniphan in command. Toward the close of the 
 year, Doniphan, after subduing the Navajo In- 
 dians, set out for Chihuahua, and Colonel Price 
 was left in sole military command. Now it was 
 that the conspiracy above mentioned was formed. 
 In a day the whole province was in turmoil and 
 excitement, and desultory fighting occurred in 
 many places. Wni. Bent, a Missourian who had 
 been appointed governor, was murdered. Colonel 
 Price acted promptly, and with 500 brought the 
 conspirators to bay at Canada, at Moro, and at 
 other places. At Taos the Mexicans took refuge 
 in a large adobe church. Price's men cut through 
 the walls with axes. In ten days the insurrection 
 was crushed. The Missourians lost IT, and the 
 Mexicans 285. The next year, I8I7, Colonel Price 
 was commissioned a brigadier general. The fol- 
 lowing summer General Price marched to Chihua- 
 hua, Here he was informed by a deputation of 
 Mexicans that peace had been made. He did not 
 credit the report and occupied the place. He was 
 appointed military governor of the province of 
 Chihuahua. From the city of Chihuahua he 
 
GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 289 
 
 marched to Santa Cruz de Resales, where he again 
 heard that peace had been made. Again he gave 
 the report no credence. He waited in vain a few 
 days for its confirmation; then reduced the place 
 by force, killing and wounding 300 Mexicans and 
 losing 45 of his own men. 
 
 At the close of the war General Price returned 
 with his troops to Missouri. They were welcomed 
 everywhere with great demonstrations of joy by 
 the people. At the next general election, 1852, 
 General Price was elected governor of the State 
 of Missouri by a sweeping majorit}^ His oppo- 
 nent was James W. Winston, a grandson of Patrick 
 Henry, and a very distinguished lawyer. At the 
 close of his four years' tranquil service as gov- 
 ernor, Gen. Price retired peacefully to his farm in 
 Chariton County, apparently satisfied with public 
 life and Avith the civil and military honors he had 
 achieved. For four years he led the contented and 
 satisfj'ing life of a farmer. Then the great Civil 
 War arose and drew him again into the vortex of 
 public activity. General Price was a strong Union 
 man, but he was not an unconditional Union man, 
 as Blair was. Price had fought and shed his blood 
 for the United States; he loved his Government; 
 but he Avas Virginia born, and State dominion was 
 one of the strongest tenets of his political doctrine. 
 He supported Douglass for the Presidency in 1860, 
 and he was not in sympathy with secession until 
 the Camp Jackson affair. He was elected to the 
 convention called into being by the Legislature for 
 
290 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 the purpose of determining whether Missouri 
 should secede. He was made president of the 
 convention, which promptly resolved that the 
 State of Missouri should remain in the Union. 
 
 The capture of Camp Jacksorf was an intoler- 
 able obtrusion of Federal force into the autonomv 
 of the State. Price instantly offered his sword to 
 Governor Jackson, not in the interest of secession, 
 but for the specific purpose of driving from the 
 soil of Missouri such invaders as Lyon, and to pre- 
 vent outside interference with the operation of the 
 government of Missouri. 
 
 Price began to assemble an army at Boonville. 
 Before an army could be mobilized, Lyon appeared 
 on the scene, and Price fled to the remote south- 
 west corner of the State. Here he organized his 
 Missouri army, called the State Guards. This was 
 not a Confederate army; it was a Missouri army, 
 and it marched under the flag of Missouri; its ob- 
 ject was to make good the political tenets of Gen- 
 eral Price — namely, to prevent outside interference 
 with the State government of the State of Mis- 
 souri. Seven chapters of this volume are devoted 
 to a review of the achievements of the Army of 
 Missouri, under the general caption, "Campaign of 
 the Missouri State Guards." This army fought 
 the battles of Wilson Creek, or Oak Hill, Drywood, 
 Lexington, Pea Kidge, and a score of others. Gen- 
 eral Price was wounded at the battle of Pea Eidge. 
 After this battle the State Guards folded the flag 
 of Missouri, and hoisted for the first time the Stars 
 
GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 291 
 
 and Bars. General Price became a Confederate 
 soldier, and went to fight east of the Mississippi 
 Kiver for a time. AA^hen he left that department 
 to return west, he furnished occasion for Ander- 
 son to give him this farewell : ^^I have done with 
 this great and magnanimous captain, this stain- 
 less, undefiled, and devoted patriot — Missouri's 
 brightest star and purest jew^el. He is to-day 
 looked upon proudly by the mass of her people, 
 and loved, honored, and admired by every one of 
 her true-hearted sons that marched under his 
 command.'' 
 
 In 1862, General Van Dorn was appointed to 
 command the Trans-Mississippi Department, and 
 General Maury, of Virginia, came on from the 
 Potomac as his chief of staff. The battle of Pea 
 Eidge, or Elk Horn Tavern, was about to be 
 fought. Van Dorn and Maury proceeded together 
 and joined Price, who, with his army, had recently 
 fled from Missouri, but had now turned and was 
 confronting Curtis. Writing of the Pea Ridge 
 campaign. General Maury said: 
 
 "We took a steamer for Jacksonport, whence, 
 on February 23d, we mounted our horses and 
 started upon our ride across the State to Van 
 Buren. We rode into that place on the evening of 
 February 28th, and next morning, March 1st, left 
 Van Buren for Price's camp in Boston Mountains, 
 distant about thirty miles. The weather was bit- 
 ter cold, and all day we traveled over an ascend- 
 ing mountain road until dark, when we came to 
 
292 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIANS. 
 
 the little farm-house in which the leader of the 
 Missourians had made his headquarters. I was 
 much impressed by the grand proportions and the 
 stately air of the man who, up to that time, had 
 been the foremost figure of the war beyond the 
 Mississippi. General Price was one of the hand- 
 somest men I have ever seen. He was over six 
 feet two inches in stature, of massive proportions, > 
 but easy and graceful in his carriage and gestures; 
 his hands and feet were remarkably small and 
 well-shaped; his hair and whiskers, which he wore 
 in the old English fashion, were silver white; his 
 face was ruddy and very benignant, yet firm in its 
 expression ; his profile was finely chiseled, and be- 
 spoke manhood of the highest tj^pe; his voice was 
 clear and ringing, and his accentuation singularly 
 distinct. A braver or a kinder heart beat in no 
 man's bosom; he was wise in counsel, bold in ac- 
 tion, and never spared his own blood on any bat- 
 tle-field. No man had greater infiuence over his 
 troops, and as he sat on his superb charger with 
 the ease and lightness of one accustomed all his 
 days to ride a thoroughbred horse, it was impos- 
 sible to find a more magnificent specimen of man- 
 hood in his prime than Sterling Price presented to 
 the brave Missourians, who loved him with a fer- 
 vor not less than we Virginians felt for Lee.'' 
 
 After peace was made. General Price went to 
 Mexico for a year, where he was a member of the 
 board of emigration. He returned to his Chariton 
 
GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 293 
 
 County farm, where he lived out the brief remain- 
 ing da3^s of his life. 
 
 In 1867 the cholera appeared in St. Louis. 
 General Price, with characteristic disregard of 
 personal danger, went to St. Louis to look after 
 some business interests of a commission house with 
 which he was connected. He was stricken down 
 and 'died September 27, 1867. 
 
294 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 Chapter XXYIII. 
 
 CLAIBORNE F. JACKSON. 
 
 His life was gentle; and the elements 
 So mixed in him., that Nature might stand up, 
 And say to all the world, Thla is a nian. ^ 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 History has done less for this man than it has 
 for some smaller men. Claiborne Jackson has 
 been scantily recognized by all who have essayed 
 to write the history of his time. His was a strong, 
 robust, manly nature. He scorned subterfuge 
 and was open, direct, and honest He was ar- 
 dently devoted to the welfare of the State, and 
 was devoid of any shred of selfish ambition. He 
 had been a successful business man and was es- 
 teemed wealthy when called by his fellow-citizens 
 to the governorship of the State. He cheerfully 
 sacrificed his fortune on the altar of duty. In 
 one year he was an exile from home and suffering 
 the pinch of penury. He was hardly able to 
 "make tongue and buckle meet," as he expressed 
 it in the colloquialism of the day. But his poverty 
 was an honorable one. At the moment of mak- 
 ing the above remark, he was the guardian and 
 the possessor of vast stores and large sums of 
 money belonging to his beloved State. But he 
 was puritanically honest and upright; not a cent 
 nor a piece of provision would he touch for per- 
 sonal use. These same stores were later divided 
 
CLAIBORNE F. JAGK80N. 295 
 
 in a rude, soldierly way among the Missouri 
 troops, to whom they belonged as much as to any- 
 body, and Jackson died in poverty far from his 
 home and among strangers. To write a complete 
 biography of Governor Jackson would be tanta- 
 mount to writing a history of the State for a pe- 
 riod of a quarter of a century. He was in the 
 Missouri Legislature, House and Senate, for many 
 years; he was a member of the Constitutional Con- 
 vention of 1845; he was bank commissioner for 
 four years under Governor Stewart, from which 
 position he succeeded to the governorship. As a 
 legislator, he served as speaker of the House and 
 was otherwise and always a useful and influential 
 member. He was author of the banking law of 
 the State; he was also author of the famous Jack- 
 son Eesolutions, which had the effect of retiring 
 Senator Benton to private life. He became gov- 
 ernor at the most stormy period of the State's his- 
 tory. His public career was long and useful. 
 
 Claiborne Fox Jackson was born in Kentucky, 
 April 4, 1807. His grandfather, Joseph Jacks m, 
 was a native of Ireland, who settled at an early 
 day in Virginia. Dempsey Jackson, father of 
 Governor Jackson, was a Virginia Revolutionary 
 soldier, and distinguished himself at the battle 
 of Cowpens under General Morgan. Dempsey 
 Jackson married Miss Mary Pickett, and in 1792 
 moved to Fleming County, Kentucky, where he 
 died in 1832. His widow moved to Howard 
 County, Missouri, and died at the home of her 
 
296 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 son, Judge Wade M. Jackson, father of John 
 Pickett Jackson, of Independence, Mo. The young 
 future governor of Missouri left his Kentucky 
 home without parental consent at the age of 18. 
 He came to Missouri on horseback and settled 
 near his brother. Judge Wade M. Jackson, at Old 
 Franklin in Howard County. He was an active, 
 enterprising young man, fond of cock-fighting, 
 horse-racing, and fox-hunting. From the position 
 of clerk in a general mercantile store, he worked 
 his way up until he was proprietor of a large and 
 lucrative business. He was a man of financial 
 ability and soon amassed a fortune. He became a 
 banker and politician. In early manhood he was 
 chosen to represent his county in the Legislature. 
 Here he found the sphere of his public career. 
 The young and rapidly growing State needed at 
 the helm such clear-headed and progressive men 
 as "Claib" Jackson and Sterling Price. These 
 two men w^ere nearly the same age, and they were 
 life-long friends. 
 
 In every epoch of our State, prominent and 
 influential men have been unknown to Congress. 
 Jackson was never a member of the national Leg- 
 islature, although he was the Democratic congres- 
 sional nominee at one time; he was defeated by 
 Jas. Linley, Whig. Jackson had defeated a cer- 
 tain railroad j)roject in the Legislature; this fact 
 was turned against him by Linley at the last 
 moment. Jackson was not an orator, although a 
 good public speaker; he was a debater and a man 
 
GOVERNOR C. F. JACKSON. 
 
CLAIBORNE F. JACKSON. 297 
 
 to be feared on the hustings. In one of his speeches 
 he referred sarcastically to the bad spelling of 
 John B. Clark, Sr. Mr. Clark took umbrage at 
 what ite considered an unmerited stricture, and 
 promptly challenged Jackson to fight a duel. 
 Jackson accepted the challenge, and named rifles 
 as the weapons, at 80 yards' distance. Jackson 
 was an expert with a rifle. He had been known 
 to bring down with his rifle a deer that he was 
 chasing at full speed on horseback. Judge Abial 
 Leonard bore Clark's challenge to Jackson. Leon- 
 ard w^as a friend to both men, and he used his 
 influence to prevent' the duel; he was finally suc- 
 cessful on the day preceding the date of the duel. 
 Jackson afterwards appointed Clark brigadier 
 general of the State Guards. 
 
 Governor Jackson was married three times, 
 and the three wives w^ere sisters, daughters of 
 Dr. John Sappington. No children w^ere born of 
 the first marriage; two sons w^ere born of the sec- 
 ond, and tw^o daughters and one son of the third- 
 Jackson's wives w^ere aunts of General John Sap- 
 pington Marmaduke. This fact acccmnts for Mar- 
 mad uke's middle name. Why was not Marmaduke 
 appointed by his distinguished uncle to the com- 
 mand of the Missouri State Guards, instead ot 
 General Price or General Doniphan? Evidently 
 nepotism was not one of Jackson's weaknesses. 
 
 In 1849 Jackson was in the State Senate. The 
 
 war with Mexico had eventuated in our acquisi- 
 
 ti(m of large tracts of Spanish territory. Con- 
 20 
 
298 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 gressman Wilmotj of Pennsylvania, had intro- 
 duced his famous Proviso, which sought to ex- 
 clude slavery forever from all our newly acquired 
 Western territory. The Wilmot Proviso did not 
 prevail in Congress, but its presence there re- 
 vealed and asserted the depth of the Northern 
 sentiment against the institution of slavery. Sen- 
 ator Jackson introduced a set of resolutions 
 which were as defiant and in effect as far-reach- 
 ing as was the Wilmot Proviso, against which 
 they were directed. The Jackson Resolutions were 
 adopted by the Missouri Legislature, and they 
 remained on the statutes of the State until they 
 were annulled by the upheaval of the Civil War. 
 They retired Senator Benton to private life after 
 an unbroken service of thirty years in the upper 
 house of Congress. The Jackson Resolutions were 
 passed in January, 1849. They averred that the 
 Constitution of the United States was the result 
 of a compromise between the conflicting interests 
 of the States which formed it; that Congress had 
 no power not delegated to it; that the right to 
 prohibit slavery in any territory belonged to the 
 people thereof, and not to the general Govern- 
 ment; that the General Assembly regarded the 
 conduct of the Northern people on the subject of 
 slavery as releasing the slave-holding States from 
 the Compromise of 1820; that '^iu the event of 
 any act of Congress which conflicts w^tli the sen- 
 timents herein expressed, Missouri will join the 
 
CLAIBORNE F. JACKSON. 299 
 
 slave states against the encroachments of North- 
 ern fanaticism." 
 
 The State was soon in a foment Senator Ben- 
 ton came on from the national capital, and in May, 
 1849, delivered an address in the Hall of Kepre- 
 sentatives at Jefferson City which set the State 
 ablaze. He appealed from the action of the Leg- 
 islature to the people. He maintained that the 
 Jackson Resolutions were in conflict with the 
 Missouri Compromise and also in conflict with a 
 previous Missouri resolution wherein it was de- 
 clared that the peace, permanence, and welfare of 
 the National Union depended upon a strict adher- 
 ence to the letter and spirit of that compromise, 
 and which instructed senators and representa- 
 tives to vote in accordance with its provisions. He 
 denounced the Jackson Resolutions as entertain- 
 ing a covert purpose of ultimate disruption of the 
 Union. Benton was a great man and a gTeat 
 statesman. He had been the political autocrat of 
 Missouri politics for thirty years. He held that 
 eminence by right of superior ability. But his 
 sun was setting. He was in advance of the public 
 thought of his State. He saw that slavery must 
 be discontinued, and he rejoiced that it was so. 
 He made a brilliant campaign all over the State, 
 advocating principles which the war made good. 
 
 Mr. B. F. Switzler, in his history of Missouri, 
 says: '^It must not be inferred, however, that 
 Colonel Benton prosecuted this canvass, able and 
 distinguished as he was, without strong oppo- 
 
300 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 sition and resistance, for all over the State there 
 were gentlemen of great ability and influence 
 who controverted his position and denounced his 
 course. Among the most distinguished and tal- 
 ented of his opponents, gentlemen who ably ad- 
 dressed the people in various places in condemna- 
 tion of his views of j)ublic duty and policy, and 
 his refusal to obey the instructions of the Legis- 
 lature, we may mention James S. Green, David 
 E. Atchison, James H. Birch, Louis V. Bogy, John 
 B. Clark, Sr., Trusten Polk, Claiborne F. Jackson, 
 Robert M. Stewart, Carty Wells, Robt. E. Acock, 
 Wm. Claude Jones, and others — men whom it 
 must be admitted had a strong hold upon the pub- 
 lic confidence and wielded immense power over 
 the State/' 
 
 In 1860 Jackson was elected governor of the 
 State. The Jackson Resolutions, passed eleven 
 years before, were still a part of his political 
 creed. The clouds of war were lowering around 
 him when he took the oath of office. The princi- 
 ples of the Jackson Resolutions were leading State 
 after State to secede from the Union. The time 
 had almost arrived when "Missouri will join the 
 slave States against the encroacliments of North- 
 ern fanaticism.'' In view of these old and settled 
 convictions of the governor, the tone of his inaug- 
 ural message is singularly dispassionate. Ex- 
 tracts from the governor's message and from 
 proclamations are published elsewhere in this 
 volume. 
 
CLAIBORNE F. JACKSON. 301 
 
 After the election of delegates to the State 
 convention on February 18, 1861, when the people 
 registered 80,000 majority against the known 
 position of Governor Jackson, only a handful re- 
 mained true to the executive. A few months 
 later, after Blair's fiery patriotism and Lyon's 
 martial impetuosity had done what Jackson fore- 
 saw would be done and vainly tried to forestall, 
 thousands of old friends renewed their loyalty to 
 the governor, and from that time on stood with 
 him. This renewed loyalty of old adherents was, 
 by his own confession, the proudest period of 
 Jackson's life. Incorruptible and faithful him- 
 self in all things, he Avas touched by the candor 
 of others. 
 
 Not only did his old friends return; many of 
 those Avho had heretofore opposed his policies now 
 stood Avitli him. But there was a time when the 
 State swung aAvay from him and he stood alone; 
 he was calm and unyielding. The spectacle was 
 heroic. 
 
 Governor Jackson was the impersonation of the 
 State rights doctrine in its last age. He believed 
 in the sovereignty of the State, as did Calhoun, or 
 Toombs, or Yancey, or Stephens, or Davis. But 
 Jackson was preeminently a man of the State and 
 not of the nation. His messages to the Legisla- 
 ture, his treatment of Lincoln and of Lyon, and 
 his execution of the military bill all proclaim his 
 limits to State boundaries and his lofty concep- 
 tion of State dignity. In "Missouri of To-day," 
 
302 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 issued by the Confederate Soldiers' Home of Mis- 
 souri, occurs this farewell notice of Governor 
 Jackson: "Heroic old governor! All unconscious 
 that the tide of advancing civilization v^as forcing 
 another great world change, and that an institu- 
 tion older than history was about to disappear, in 
 his rugged honesty he would have defied that 
 world with arms. He had ^made his case' and 
 lost his State.'- 
 
 Jackson had served the State long, and he 
 loved old Missouri. It must have wrung his heart 
 to quit his capital. He fled before Lyon to Boon- 
 ville; here he essayed to make a fight, but was 
 forced to retreat southward. At Cowskin Prai- 
 rie he relinquished to General Price all authority 
 over the State Guards- He went to Memphis to 
 induce General Polk and the Richmond authori- 
 ties to send an army to assist him in reclaiming 
 his State. But Missouri had not formally seceded. 
 What claim had a neutral State on the Southern 
 Confederacy? Yet he secured encouraging prom- 
 ises. He returned and was with Price at the bat- 
 tle of Lexington in September. After the surren- 
 der of Mulligan, Governor Jackson issued from 
 Lexington on September 26, 1861, a call conven- 
 ing the Legislature in extra session at Neosho, 
 October 21, 1861. Special messengers were sent 
 out from Lexington to notify the members. Mean- 
 time, the State convention, the "Gamble conven- 
 tion," had declared in July that the office of gov- 
 ernor was vacant Judge Gamble became pro- 
 
CLAIBORNE F. JACKSON, 303 
 
 visional governor. According to Governor Jack- 
 son's proclamation, the Legislature convened at 
 Neosho, in Masonic Hall. It is said that only 
 thirty-nine members of both houses were present 
 The records have perished, save those that sur- 
 vive in the memory of Colonel John T. Crisp, who 
 was secretary of the Senate. An ordinance of 
 secession was passed, and senators and represent- 
 atives were elected to the Confederate Congress. 
 Governor Jackson's work was about done. 
 ITe returned once more to the borders of his be- 
 loved State, a forlorn, desolate, and lonely figure, 
 but yet as defiant as Caius Marius among the 
 ruins of Carthage. He issued from New Madrid 
 his last proclamation, wherein he declared the 
 State of Missouri to be a free and independent 
 republic. He recited the outrages and usurpa- 
 tions of Federal military and civil authorities. 
 He declared that "the State of Missouri as a sov 
 ereign, free, and independent republic, has full 
 power to levy war, conclude peace, establish com- 
 merce, contract alliances, and do all other acts 
 and ^things which independent States may of 
 right do.'' 
 
 He then repaired to Little Rock, Ark., where 
 he died of cancer of the stomach, December 7, 
 1862. After the war, his remains were exhumed 
 and brought to Saline County, where they were 
 reinterred in the family burying-ground of his 
 father-in-law, Dr. John Sappington, near Arrow 
 Kock. Our cut of Governor Jackson was taken 
 
304 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 from a tin-type belonging to John Pickett Jack- 
 son, of Independence, Mo., nephew of the gov- 
 ernor. The long, flowing hair is a wig. The sig- 
 nature beneath the cut was taken from a bill of 
 "Jackson money," or Missouri script, printed on 
 a hand press at Neosho, Mo. The printing was on 
 the b[^.ck of a blank report used by banks. 
 
 Note — Mr. J. P. Jackson, of Indepeiideuce, Mo., believes 
 his famous Uncle > Gov. Jackson, did not leave his Kentucky 
 home without parental consent, inasmuch as he rode a fine 
 horse, and soon after his arrival in Missouri a negro slave was 
 sent to him from home. 
 
;See page 305.) 
 
1 
 
GENERAL JO. 0. SHELBY. 305 
 
 Chapter XXTX. 
 
 GENERAL JO. O. SHELBY. 
 
 Missouri gave to tlie service of the Southern 
 Coufederacy over 100,000 sokliers and to the serv- 
 ice of the Union 109,000 soldiers— over 200,000 
 soldiers on both sides. Among the greatest of 
 these v^^as General Joseph Orville Shelby. Around 
 his fame v^ill ever linger the aroma of the en- 
 clianting and chivalric deeds of the Middle Ages. 
 Shelby possessed every high quality ascribed to 
 great captains in the histor^^ of ever^^ epoch. 
 
 General Shelby was a strong man, a great 
 man. Greatness and strength — these go together. 
 He was strong in his convictions and tactful in 
 enforcing them. He was magnetic, and so drew 
 men to him; his intuitions were correct, his per- 
 ceptions clear, his judgment reliable, and so men 
 believed in him. He was a youthful general. His 
 seniors misinterpreted his ardor, never dreaming 
 that his impetuosity was born of genius, not of 
 youthful exuberance. His activity was ceaseless; 
 he was never weary, never sick; he was never in- 
 capacitated by loss of sleep, resembling in this 
 the first Napoleon. 
 
 Shelby had no military education as had Mar- 
 maduke, but he had something better, the gifts of 
 Nature. Courage, enthusiasm, unfaltering 7nor' 
 ale, devotion, dash — these were the implements 
 
306 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 which Shelb^^ skillfully used in winnin<? victories. 
 General S. D. Jackman seems to have resembled 
 Shelby very much in magnanimity, intrepidity, 
 rapid movements, and quick perception in the 
 moment of peril. Shelby's higher military powers 
 are found only in the best generals. Shelby is re- 
 garded by many of his men as in every way a 
 superior general to Price. 
 
 General Shelby might have had any office in 
 Missouri. He could easily have been governor of 
 the State. He was a diplomat and a man of fine 
 address. He went to Washington, D. C, in 1893, 
 and called on President Cleveland, who was very 
 much impressed by his visitor. Soon after this 
 visit, Shelby was appointed United States mar- 
 shal for the Western District of Missouri. He was 
 holding this office at the time of hi.^ death, in Feb- 
 ruary, 1897. W^hile United States marshal he suc- 
 cessfully protected some railroad property during 
 a strike. Governor Stone addressed him a note 
 inquiring why he so used his office. Shelby re- 
 garded this inquiry as an unwarranted interfer- 
 ence with the administration of his office, and 
 made this reply: "I am acting under the orders 
 of Uncle Sam; ask him." There was no question 
 of General Shelby's loyalty to the United States 
 Government. 
 
 In "Five Famous Missourians" is recorded the 
 following incident, which occurred after the re- 
 treat from Westport in 1864: 
 
 "The suffering of the army was great, and, as 
 
GENERAL JO. 0. SHELBY. 307 
 
 one soldier has since put it, 'hard ridin^^ and hard 
 fighting made a hard appetite, and they were no 
 respecters of other people's pigs and poultry.' 
 One day Shelby was standing on the White River, 
 watering his horse. A gallant private was simi- 
 larly engaged in a group of soldiers just below 
 Shelby, while slung across his saddle was a sack 
 carefully tied and bleeding at one end- 
 
 " 'What have you got there?' Shelby demand- 
 ed of him. 
 
 " 'Been havin' my clothes washed,' answered 
 the private, with a grin. 
 
 " 'You 'd better get back to camp,' said Shelby, 
 'or your clothes will bleed to death.' 
 
 "The private was put into the guard-house, 
 but when that night a quarter of fresh pork was 
 found in the general's tent, Shelby, with a sense 
 of humor, and after eying the pork hungrily, said: 
 I have no idea where this came from; but go 
 'round to the guard-house, orderly, and tell 'em to 
 turn Gentry loose. There 's no use in shutting a 
 man up for life for a little laundry.' " 
 
 General Shelby was born at Lexington, Ky., 
 December 12, 1830. The Shelby family was an 
 aristocratic one, springing from the same patri- 
 cian source as the Prestons, Bledsoes, Brecken- 
 ridges, Marshals, Blairs, Bentons, Browns, Hamp- 
 tons, etc. These families are all related. The 
 Bentons and Blairs were closely related. Jo. O. 
 Shelby, Gratz Brown, and Francis P. Blair were 
 cousins and play-fellows. General Shelby and 
 
308 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 General John Morgan were in school together. 
 General Shelby's ancestors were in the Revolu- 
 tionary War; his grandfather was the first gov- 
 ernor of Kentucky and an intimate friend of An- 
 drew Jackson's, as was also the elder Blair. 
 
 General Shelby was educated at Transylvania 
 University in his native town and at college in 
 Philadelphia. He was an orphan at five years of 
 age, and came to Lafayette County, Missouri, at 
 the age of nineteen. He married Miss Elizabeth 
 Shelby, a very distant relative. 
 
 Hemp-raising was a great industry in Missouri 
 before the war, and young Shelby set up a rope 
 factory on the river at Waverly, Mo. He was rap- 
 idly acquiring wealth when the war broke out; he 
 owned a great deal of land and many slaves. He 
 was an active participant with other Missourians 
 in the election at Lawrence in 1856. 
 
 When the war cloud appeared on the horizon, 
 and while yet no larger than a man's hand, Fran- 
 cis P. Blair, one of the first men in the nation to 
 discern the coming storm, sent for Shelby, who 
 went by boat to St. Louis. The two cousins held 
 an interview; Blair proposed to find military em- 
 ployment for Shelby, who rejected the idea with 
 disdain. He returned to Waverly, and in a few 
 months w^as engaged in organizing a company of 
 State Guards. Captain Shelby fought under the 
 flag of Missouri at Wilson Creek, Lexing-ton, and 
 Pea Eidge. After Pea Ridge, he joined the Con- 
 federate Army and accompanied Price to Missis- 
 
GENERAL JO. 0. SHELBY. 309 
 
 sippi, where he fought at Farmington, Oorinth, 
 and Iiika. Returning to Missouri, he raised a reg- 
 iment, and thence to the close of the war he was 
 a conspicuous figure in nearly every battle, cam- 
 Ijaign, and raid in the Western Department. 
 
 At the close of the great war General Shelbj 
 called around him several hundred veterans of 
 the "Iron Brigade'^ and marched across Texas to 
 Mexico. When they arrived at the Rio Grande 
 the Cyonfederate flag was buried in the turbid 
 waters. It was done with pathetic ceremony, 
 July 4, 1865. At Piedras Negras the army was 
 met by Governor Biesca, a leader of Juarez, who 
 offered Shelby full command of the Liberal arm- 
 ies of the States of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila. 
 Shelby would have accepted, but his officers voted 
 to sustain the Emperor Maximilian. At Ohapul- 
 tepec Shelby offered his sword to the Emperor; it 
 was declined. 
 
 Shelby believed he could call to him an army 
 of 40,000 veterans, late of the Confederate Army. 
 Maximilian soon discovered that his empire was 
 falling to pieces, and then he sent for Shelby, but 
 it Avas too late. Shelby said he could not then 
 raise a corporal's guard. Maximilian was shot at 
 Queretaro, and from that day to this his queen 
 has lived in a mad-house. The Emperor was kind 
 to Shelby, and gave him and the exiles with him 
 a grant of land for a colony, called Garlotta, after 
 the Empress. The colonists returned one by one 
 to their native land. For awhile General Shelby 
 
glO BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MTSSOUBIANS. 
 
 was a freighter; later he had management of a 
 line of ships plying between Vera Cruz and Cuba. 
 In a few years General Shelby returned to Mis- 
 souri. He took up his residence in Bates County. 
 
 General Shelby lies buried in Forest Hill Cem- 
 etery, Kansas City, Mo., among his comrades who 
 fell at the battle of Westport. His wife, a daugh^ 
 ter, and several sons survive him. 
 
 A project is on foot to erect a monument at 
 Shelby's grave, commemorative of his achieve- 
 ments and the achievements of the seventy-five 
 veterans who slumber with him. 
 
GENERAL JOHN S. MARMADUKE. gH 
 
 Chnpfcr XXX, 
 
 GENERAL JOHN S. MARMADUKE. 
 
 Pie was the Bayard of Missouri, the soul of 
 honor and generosity. ITis energy was regnlated 
 and directed by the highest learning in the art of 
 war. Ilis schoLarship in all branches of learning 
 was surpassed by few men in the service of the 
 Southern Confederacy. He was a modest man, 
 and singularly free from vanity; no promotion 
 ever came to him as the result of any parade of his 
 personal claims. His equipose was superb, and 
 his readiness to sacrifice himself for others in 
 rank or file announced the greatness of his soul. 
 He was the most unselfish of men. 
 
 Few of the heroes who attained renown in the 
 war period of our State were natives of Missouri. 
 Marmaduke w^as one of the few. Senator Oockrell 
 w^as another. These two men, whose lives are in- 
 tegral parts of the State's history, were not only 
 born in Missouri, but were educated in a famous 
 pioneer Missouri school — Chapel Hill College, lo- 
 cated on the western border of Lafayette County. 
 The college building was destroyed by fire during 
 the war, and the ruins are marked to this day by 
 masses of unsightly rubble. 
 
 John Sappington Marmaduke was born in 
 Saline County, March 22, 1833. His father was 
 a wealthy farmer and a prominent citizen. John 
 
312 BATTLES AND BIOORAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 was the second son; when eleven years of age he 
 witnessed the inauguration of his father as gov- 
 ernor of the State. His entire life was spent in 
 the refining circles of high official life. Through- 
 out life his advantages were of the best and his 
 opportunities were never lightly tossed aside. In 
 early life he had wealth and social position. His 
 mind readily took the polish of education. He 
 attended the Chapel Hill College and the Masonic 
 College at Lexington. Afterwards he attended 
 both Yale and Harvard; then he finished at West 
 Point, from which he graduated in 1857. He was 
 assigned to duty in the United States Army as 
 second lieutenant in the Seventh Infantry. At 
 this time and for several years previously the 
 MoruKms of Utah were and had been in defiant 
 attitude against the United States. General Al- 
 bert Sidney Johnston led an expedition across the 
 plains to Salt Lake City, and succeeded in reduc- 
 ing Brigham Young and his polygamous follow- 
 ers to subjection without bloodshed. Lieutenant 
 -Marmaduke left West Point and went immedi- 
 ately into Albert Sidney Johnston's Utah expedi- 
 tion. It was a valuable experience for the young 
 lieutenant. He formed a strong attachment for 
 the commanding general, w^ho had been in the 
 military service for thirty years. It is not strange, 
 therefore, that Marmaduke went to Johnston in 
 1861. He saw the great general fall in the bat- 
 tle at Shiloh. The death of Johnston was a heavy 
 loss to the Southern Confederacy;" Marmaduke 
 
. GENERAL JOHN 8. MARMADUKE. 313 
 
 lost a personal friend and his first great teacher 
 in the actual art of war. 
 
 Early in 1861 Captain Nathaniel Lyon and 
 Francis P. Blair organized a military campaign 
 against the legal authorities of the State of Mis- 
 souri. Such a movement was intolerable to those 
 holding to the State rights theory of government. 
 Marmaduke looked upon all military aggression 
 against the State as outrageous, if not treasonable. 
 
 Immediately after Lyon captured Camp Jack- 
 son, and as a result of that military movement, 
 Marmaduke resigned his commission in the Uni- 
 ted States Army and offered his services to Gov- 
 ernor elackson. The governor commissioned him 
 to raise a regiment in the counties contiguous to 
 JelTerson City, to be knoAvn as the First Regiment 
 of Rifles. 
 
 His regiment was in the process of formation, 
 and had been partly organized, when the Price- 
 Harney agreement suspended all military activ- 
 ity. Marmaduke's troops and all the State Guards 
 over the State were dispersed and sent to their 
 respective homes. Shortly after this, Harney was 
 relieved of command at St. Louis, and Lyon was 
 appointed in his place. Tlie Price-Harney agree- 
 ment was repudiated by the ncAV commander, who 
 declared war against the State, and prepared to 
 march against the State capital. This was all 
 done so quickly that Marmaduke had no time to 
 reassemble his parth^ organized regiment of rifles. 
 
 The public property at Jefferson City was hastily 
 21 
 
314 BATTLES AWD BIOGRAPHIES OF MlSSOURIANS. 
 
 removed by boat to Booiiville, whither Marma 
 duke repaired, in company Avith Governor Jack- 
 son and General Price. Lyon occupied Jefferson 
 City, and, leaving a garrison under Colonel Boer- 
 stein, whose men had done the shooting at Camp 
 Jackson, pushed on to Boonville, well knowing 
 that not a moment could be safely lost. Mar ma- 
 duke was placed in command of the gathering 
 army at Boonville. He was the best educated 
 soldier in the State. He clearly apprehended the 
 folly of making a stand against Lyon, who was 
 also an educated soldier and who commanded a 
 well-organized and well-equipped army of some 
 2,000 men. Governor Jackson ordered Marma- 
 duke to tiglit, and so well did he obey the order 
 that Lyon was re]nilsed at first. 
 
 After the retreat from Boonville, Marmaduke 
 left the State and reported to liis old commander, 
 Albert Sidney Johnston, in Kentucky. If Marma- 
 duke was offended at Jackson, no hint of it was 
 ever dropped. Marmaduke was rapidly promoted 
 under Johnston; lie was commissioned first lieu- 
 tenant of cavalry, and soon after lieutenant-cqlo 
 nel; then colonel, and w^as assigned to the com- 
 mand of the Third Confederate Infantry. In the 
 battle of Shiloh his regiment captured the first 
 prisoners taken. In the second day's battle he 
 was wounded, and after his recovery was given 
 command of a brigade and recommended for pro- 
 motion to brigadier general. 
 
 After the battle of Corinth there was an exo- 
 dus of Missourians to the Trans-Mississippi De- 
 
GENERAL JOHN 8. MABAIADUKE. 3I5 
 
 partment. All through the West recruiting was 
 in progress, and able commanders were in de- 
 mand. The battles of Independence and Lone 
 Jack had been fought. General Hindman was in 
 command of all the region west of the Mississippi 
 River. Hindman was a stern man and was con- 
 centrating an army in the Boston Mountains of 
 Arkansas. Thither Shelby came out of Missouri 
 with a brigade. Hindman asked the Confederate 
 Government at Richmond to send him General 
 Marmaduke to take command of the cavalry west 
 of the river. On October 22, 1862, Marmaduke 
 arrived and took command of a division composed 
 of Shelby's Missouri brigade and a brigade of Ar- 
 kansans. The division was about 4,000 strong; 
 Blunt came down with 7,000 Federal veterans, 
 and was fought to a standstill at Cane Hill. The 
 subsequent military movements of General Mar- 
 maduke are recounted in appropriate chapters of 
 this book. 
 
 After the war General Marmaduke was editor 
 of an agricultural paper in St. Louis. He was 
 appointed and then elected railroad commissioner. 
 
 In 1884 he was elected governor of the State, 
 forty 3^ears after his father had occupied the same 
 office. Before the expiration of his term, in 1887, 
 he died at the executive mansion in Jefferson City. 
 
 The General Assembly of the State has or- 
 dered a monument of Missouri syenite granite to 
 be erected over Marmaduke's grave at Jefferson 
 City. The monument is to be erected during the 
 summer of 1900, and it will be 20.5 feet in height. 
 
316 BATTLES AND BIOQRAPHIEB OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 Chapter XXXI. 
 
 BLEDSOE, OF MISSOURI. 
 By Captain Jo. A. Wilson. 
 
 Colonel Hiram Miller Bledsoe (^'Old Hi Bled 
 soe'^), the hero and ideal of Missourians, died at 
 his home, Pleasant Hill, Cass County, Mo., Febru- 
 ary 7, 1899, aged 73 years. Born in Kentucky, he 
 came to Missouri when young, and settled near 
 Lexington, where he was early identified with 
 political and other important events. He served 
 in the Mexican War with Doniphan's famous cav- 
 alry, whose prodigious marches and dashing com- 
 bats adorn the brightest pages of American his- 
 tory. In 185G, being, like most of our prosperous 
 farmers in the river counties, a slave-holder, he 
 was deeply interested in the struggle over the 
 fate of Kansas. In those stirring scenes prelimi- 
 nary to the irrepressible conflict he took an active 
 part, leading a company from his county to the 
 seat of war on the plains of Kansas. In 1861, 
 when Federal troops occupied St. Louis, and Gov- 
 ernor Claiborne F. Jackson called for volunteers 
 and militia to guard the State capitol, Bledsoe, 
 with thirteen men, took passage on a steamboat 
 for the scene. On the boat he got three recruits, 
 and, picking up others along the river, organized 
 a company of mounted rifles of some sixty men at 
 Jefferson City. They drew Mississippi rifles from 
 
BLEDSOE, OF MISSOURI. 3I7 
 
 the 8tate, and some had pistols and knives. He 
 set to work to drill and discipline his men, but 
 they had no horses. 
 
 At this time Governor Jackson and General 
 Sterling Price, commanding the Missouri militia, 
 returned from St. Louis, after concluding a kind 
 of .truce with General Harney, who was at the 
 head of the Union forces. In this matter our offi- 
 cers overreached the Union leaders, and made 
 terms very favorable to the Secession cause. But 
 Jefferson City was then filled with Secessionists, 
 nascent warriors ready for battle, and hearing 
 that the fight was off, tJiey conceived the idea that 
 General Price had betrayed them and the cause. 
 They swarmed about the capitol by thousands, 
 with cries of "Traitor!'^ "Sold out!" "Hang him!" 
 etc. General Price, who never seemed to have 
 any idea of personal danger, was facing the mob 
 almost alone, when Bledsoe, hearing the tumult, 
 came down at double-quick, and forming his com- 
 pany, held the crowd at bay while Price made 
 them a red-hot speech. This same crowd after- 
 wards formed a part of the army which followc^d 
 "Old Pap" Price to victory, to defeat, and to death. 
 
 From Jefferson City our "army" came to Lex- 
 ington, where we found three pieces of artillery: 
 a bronze 9-pounder captured by Missourians in 
 Mexico, an iron 6-pounder cast in Lexington, 
 and a brass 6-pounder taken from the arsenal at 
 Liberty, Missouri. The 9-pounder, "Old Sacra- 
 mento," was bored out and converted into a 12- 
 
318 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880VRIANS. 
 
 pounder howitzer. The chase was turned off 
 smooth, thus reducing the thickness of the metal, 
 which gave the piece a peculiar sound when fired, 
 and soon it became familiar to "Rebs" and "Feds" 
 alike. The gun had been lying around in Lexing- 
 ton for years, used for Fourth of July salutes, etc. 
 It is said that the Mexicans used a quantity of §il- 
 ver in casting it. Bledsoe was with some diffi- 
 culty persuaded to take temporary charge of these 
 guns, and thus came into being one of the most 
 famous and effective batteries of the war. His 
 men were sworn in for the war; some said for life. 
 At Dug Springs, Oarthage, Drywood, Oak Hill, 
 Lexington, Sugar Oreek, and Elk Horn, that three- 
 gun battery was an object of special interest to 
 the enemy, who made many attempts to capture 
 or silence it. Except when a supply was cap- 
 tured, their ammunition was home-made. Oart- 
 ridge-bags were sewed, canisters cut, and fixed 
 ammunition prepared by men and officers. Who- 
 ever had the skill and could get the tools did hie 
 share. In lieu of grape-shot, canisters were filled 
 with iron slugs, trace-chains — anything a country 
 blacksmith shop could supply. This was called 
 "scrap-shot.'^ Some of the boys had heard of 
 shrapnel, and thought it was the same. Most of 
 the shells and solid shot were spoils of battle, 
 nearly every engagement furnished a supply for 
 the next. I have seen them prime with a powder- 
 horn and fire with a heated nail-rod or a live coal. 
 And they shot to kill. 
 
BLEDSOE, OF MISSOURI. Sjg 
 
 Mustered into the Confederate service at Mem- 
 phis in March, 1862, Bledsoe received four new 
 guns with caissons and equipment. He served 
 under Beauregard at Corinth, and was mentioned 
 in general orders for distinguished services in cov- 
 ering the retreat. Under Bragg it was made a 
 six-gun battery, but again reduced to four, as 
 were all others. At luka, Corinth, Chickamauga, 
 Chattanooga, and all through that long series of 
 bloody engagements, night vigils, heart-breaking 
 work in the trenches, and toilsome "marching 
 through Georgia,'' Bledsoe Avas ever at the post 
 of danger. Prompt, energetic, full of resource, 
 every general under whom he served placed im- 
 plicit reliance on his skill, fortitude, and judg- 
 ment to execute any plan or to hold any post, if 
 within the limits of human power. On Hood's 
 disastrous campaign the battery suffered severely 
 at Altoona, Nashville, and Franklin, but was able 
 to do good service with Forrest's Cavalry in cov- 
 ering the retreat. To follow their career in detail 
 would make this article too long. A history of 
 Bledsoe's battery would be a history of the war, 
 at least so far as the armies of Tennessee and Mis- 
 sissippi are concerned, to say nothing of earlier 
 work in Missouri and Arkansas. 
 
 Some late writers and talkers seem proud of 
 representing Bledsoe as an ignorant rough-and- 
 tumble fighter. He was not that. A born soldier 
 he was, but, trained under skilled officers, he read 
 history and studied war as a science. In theoret- 
 
320 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 ical instruction commissioned and non-commis- 
 sioned officers of the Army of Tennessee had to 
 be proficient. We studied the same tactics the 
 Federals did, and I have seen Bledsoe and his lieu- 
 tenants conning in their books the lessons in 
 which daily practice on drill-ground and battle- 
 field made them all but perfect. An ignorant man 
 could not have drilled a battery as he did, nor 
 made the men so proficient as to fire six effective 
 shots a minute from each piece, as they did. He 
 sometimes had a listless air in camp, and was 
 prone to relax discipline or leave its details to 
 subalterns, but in action he was alert and ener- 
 getic always. Ilis tall figure, rather ungainly on 
 foot, made a splendid appearance on horseback, 
 and in his voice of command there was no uncer- 
 tain sound. Trailing along in column of pieces 
 with the skirmish line at Elk Horn, defending 
 his cotton-bale breastworks at Jackson, ch-irgino; 
 with the infantry, or holding a sodden mud fort 
 at Atlanta, he was always the same — the self- 
 confident, skillful master of his work. 
 
 His company — composed of boys from his old 
 home, toughs from the cities, polished gentle- 
 men, scholars, farmers, merchants, boatmen, bull- 
 whackers, from north, south, east, west — required 
 firm, judicious management. But Bledsoe was 
 equal to the task. He could be kind and sociable, 
 yet maintain liis authority, and all his men were 
 attached to him. In the presence of his superior 
 officers he was dignified and courteous, without 
 
BLEDSOE, OF MISSOURI. 321 
 
 servility. In his society you felt the presence of 
 a geutleman^ — a gentle man. 
 
 Bledsoe was a colonel in the State Guards, 
 coniniaudiug the artillery of Price's army. He 
 Avas a captain in the Confederate service. He sur- 
 rendered at Hamburg, S. C, May 1, 1865. The bat- 
 tery then consisted of four 12-pounder Napoleon 
 guns. After the war he served one term in the 
 State Senate, and could have had almost any 
 office in the gift of his people, but he loved a quiet 
 life on his farm, where his home w<\s the favorite 
 rendezvous of his old soldiers and other friends; 
 and he never turned away even the idle and shift- 
 less, who sometimes imposed on him. He had 
 many warm friends among the Union veterans, 
 and often discussed old times with them. He was 
 appointed by Governor Stone and served as com- 
 missioner to locate the positions of the different 
 commands at Chickamauga National Park. 
 
 The writer belonged to another battery, but 
 sometimes had the honor of being in action at 
 Bledsoe's side. His very presence seemed to be an 
 incentive to good conduct under fire. — Confederate 
 Veteran. 
 
322 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 Chapter XXXII, 
 
 COLONEL UPTON HAYS. 
 
 He was a man, take him for all in all, 
 I shall not look upon his like again. 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 The war brought few losses more sincerely 
 mourned than the loss of Colonel Upton Hays. 
 He was a born leader of men and a brilliant mili- 
 tary career was opening before him when, after 
 the battle of Lone Jack, he was killed by a Fed- 
 eral cavalryman near Newtonia, Mo. 
 
 Upton Hays was the youngest of a family of 
 thirteen children, five boys and eight girls. At 
 the sunset of the nineteenth century, these are all 
 dead except the oldest, Amazon Hays, who lives 
 with his wife and daughter, Mrs. Booth, at West- 
 port, and Linville Hays, who lives at the old Hays 
 homestead two miles south of Westport. These 
 brothers are very old and infirm, the former being 
 nearly 80 years of age. 
 
 Upton Hays was born in Callaway County, 
 Mo., March 29, 1832. His father was Boone Hays, 
 grandson of the famous pioneer, Daniel Boone. 
 
 While Upton was still a small boy, the family 
 moved to Jackson County and settled near West- 
 port. This was in 1837. The elder son, Amazon, 
 then 18 years of age, spent that summer in Inde- 
 pendence, Mo., and worked in the plow factory 
 
COLONEL UPTON HAYS. 323 
 
 owned by Robert Weston (whose funeral occurred 
 to-day, November 28, 1899). 
 
 In 1849 Boone Hays, accompanied by his eld- 
 est and youngest sons, went "across the plains'* 
 to California, where he died the following year. 
 Meantime, Amazon had returned to Missouri and 
 was driving a band of 500 cattle through to Cali- 
 fornia. The two boys returned to Westport, then 
 on the western rim of civilization and the start- 
 ing-point for travelers across the plains. After 
 the war with Mexico, a large freighting business 
 sprang up between points on the Missouri River 
 and Santa F^, New Mexico, conducted overland 
 by wagon-trains. 
 
 After Amazon and Upton Hays returned to 
 Westport, it was arranged for Upton to enter 
 school. He attended school one week. A Mexi- 
 can Avho had left Westport with a wagon-train 
 for Santa F^ made such slow progress that he 
 returned and induced the youthful Upton to go 
 with him as captain of the train. This suited the 
 adventurous school-boy far better than the school- 
 room, and he conducted the Mexican's train to its 
 destination safely and in good time. This trip 
 demonstrated that Upton Hays, boy as he was, 
 possessed marked executive ability. ^* 
 
 The Government sent out annually long wagon- 
 trains of supplies under contractors. These con- 
 tractors usually made a great deal of money, but 
 a great deal of money had to be first invested in 
 animals, wagons, hire of men, etc. Amazon and 
 
324 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 Upton Hays formed a company with Henry C. 
 Chiles and Mr. Hunter, each of the four putting 
 in 125,000. The company secured large Govern- 
 ment contracts, and equipped 101 wagons and 
 sent them out under the management of the com- 
 pany. This train was insufficient, and so subcon- 
 tractors were employed. One of Jennison's first 
 exploits was the capture of a train belonging to 
 Upton Hays. Soon after this, Jennison burned 
 Upton Hays' house, a very fine, new building; cat- 
 tle, horses, carriages, and negroes were carried 
 off. Then Upton Hays organized a company to 
 resist these predatory raids. The company soon 
 had work to do. Jennison came down again, plun- 
 dering and burning. At one time sixteen burn- 
 ing farm-houses could be seen from the Hays' 
 homestead. Jennison's men came on to the home 
 of Sam Hays, brother of Upton. While they were 
 ransacking the house, Upton Hays arrived sud- 
 denly with his company. His men fired upon tjie 
 marauders before they were ordered to do so, and 
 Sam Hays, a prisoner in his own house, fell badly 
 wounded by his own friends and rescuers. Quite 
 a battle ensued. The house was punctured and 
 variously marked by bullets. The bullet-holes 
 are there to this day and are shown with great 
 interest by Mr. and Mrs. Asbury. Mrs. Asbury 
 is a daughter of Sam Hays. She remembers the 
 battle distinctly, though but a child at the time. 
 Jennison retreated toward Kansas. Afterwards 
 he came upon Hays' company encamped at White 
 
COLONEL UPTON HATS. 325 
 
 Oak, on the Big Blue Kiver. A severe battle was 
 fought on this occasion. Jennison retreated to 
 Kansas again, leaving a number of his men dead 
 on the field. Hays lost one man, Private* Wells. 
 Upton Hays was very fond of hunting, and he 
 kept a large pack of dogs. On his last visit home, 
 he arrived stealthily after dark. His favorite dog 
 made a disturbance, and he slew the animal with 
 his saber. That night he kissed his wife and chil- 
 dren, one a new-born babe, good-bye — as it proved, 
 forever. He went to the recruiting camp near 
 Lee's Summit, and a few days later the battle of 
 Independence was fought. In this battle Colonel 
 Hughes was killed and Colonel Thompson was 
 wounded. Colonel Hays then took command. He 
 led five different assaults against the rock fence 
 occupied by the Federals. Elsewhere is givei^an 
 account of his gallantry at the battle of Lone 
 Jack, and an account of his death. After the war, 
 his body was taken to Westport. 
 
326 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 Chapter XXXIII, 
 
 OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 
 
 Major John N. Edwards. 
 
 His life was short, but full — more full of works than days. 
 This powerful and indefatigable worker, this philosopher, this 
 poet, this genius has lived among us that life of storm, strug- 
 gle, quarrel, and conflict common in all ages to all great men. 
 — Hugo, at the <jrave of Balzac. 
 
 The warrior and the poet — these are the great- 
 est of earth. This man was both warrior and 
 poet; his prose is poetic. lie loved the heroic as 
 he loved honor. Shelby was his ideal man and 
 soldier. 
 
 Edwards added much to history and much to 
 American literature. There is a smooth flow of 
 language, a rhythmic, lilting movement, an idyllic 
 tone remarkable in all his writings. Sometimes 
 his imagination is riotous, but his sentences are 
 always graceful. 
 
 Edwards was more than a fine writer; he was 
 also a soldier and a hero; who shall say the sol- 
 dier and hero is not better always than the poet? 
 He fought side by side with the great Shelby. He 
 was often wounded; on one field he lay all night, 
 bleeding from a wound made by a jagged piece of 
 shell. He lost more horses shot under him in bat- 
 tle than any other man in Shelby's brigade. His 
 personal courage was equal to Shelby's. He was 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 327 
 
 as grand on the field as he was enchanting in the 
 editor's sanctum. But you will find no hint of 
 personal adventure in his writings. He was a 
 modest man and a lovable man. His affection 
 was a deep, perennial well. Mark how he loved 
 Dr. Morrison Munford. 
 
 In 1862 Shelby and Edwards discovered each 
 other. Shelby had returned from Corinth to La- 
 fayette County. He issued an eloquent appeal for 
 recruits. He used this sentence: ''We missed you 
 in Mississippi, after Shiloh's bloody sunset embers 
 died from the Southern sky." Edwards opens one 
 of his chapters in "Shelby and His Men" with this 
 sentence: "Shiloh's bloody sunset ember.^ had not 
 faded from the Southern sky when an appeal 
 came to the army near Van Buren asking for aid 
 at Corinth." If Edw^ards did not write both of 
 these, then it were as easy to prove that Shelby 
 wrote Edwards as to prove that Bacon w^rote 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 John Newsman Edwards was born in Virginia, 
 January 4, 1838. He came to Missouri in 1855, 
 and at the beginning of the war was editing a 
 newspaper at Lexington, Mo. In 1862 he joined 
 Shelby's command at Waverly, Mo., and was ap- 
 pointed brigade adjutant with the rank of major. 
 When Shelby was promoted to the command of 
 a division, EdAvards took the rank as colonel. 
 After the close of the war Edwards went with 
 Shelb}^ to Mexico, where he was the special friend 
 of Maximilian and his queen, Carlotta. While in 
 
328 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 Mexico he edited the Mexican Times, half in En- 
 glish and half in Spanish. Keturning to Missouri, 
 he and Colonel John C. Moore established the 
 Kansas City Times. In 1871 he was married to 
 Mary Virginia Plattenburg, of Dover, Mo. He 
 died in 1889. 
 
 Dr. Calch Winfrey. 
 
 At the beginning of the war Dr. Winfrey was 
 a merchant and practicing physician at Lone 
 Jack. Geo. B. Webb, who had served with Doni- 
 phan in Mexico, was a prominent citizen in the 
 same neighborhood. Webb and W^infrey were 
 David and Jonathan over again. In the summer 
 of 1862 these two men called their mutual friends 
 together and organized them into a Confederate 
 company. Dr. Winfrey was elected captain and 
 Webb lieutenant. In a few days the company 
 had its baptism of fire at the battle of Lone Jack. 
 After the fight Dr. Winfrey was made surgeon of 
 the Second (Hays') Regiment, with the rank of 
 major. Lieutenant Webb became captain and 
 served in this capacity until he fell mortally 
 wounded at the battle of Byrum's Ford, near 
 Westport, in 1864. As Captain Webb languished 
 with his death wound on the field, Dr. Winfrey 
 took him up and cared for him for two weeks until 
 he died, then buried him beside his comrades. The 
 body was afterwards reinterred at Forest Hill 
 Cemetery. 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 329 
 
 Dr. Caleb Winfrey was born December 8, 1823, 
 in Surry County, North Carolina. At the age of 
 nineteen he came west and located near Chapel 
 Hill, famous for its college. Young Winfrey 
 taught school for awhile, and then attended the 
 Medical Department of the St. Louis University, 
 from which he graduated in 1847. In June of that 
 year he married Miss Elizabeth Shore and settled 
 at Lone Jack for the practice of his profession. In 
 1861 he had a lucrative practice, owned a large 
 farm, and was proprietor of a drug and general 
 store at Lone Jack. He enlisted as surgeon in the 
 State Guards, and accompanied Colonel Gideon 
 W. Thompson to Cowskin Prairie. At the battle 
 of Wilson Creek his skill as a surgeon was inval- 
 uable, lie was present at the battle of Lexing- 
 ton. He spent a part of the winter of 1862 with 
 his family at Lone Jack — a time full of danger 
 .and narrow escapes. In the spring he and Webb 
 organized Company C, which fought its first bat- 
 tle at Lone Jack. At the beginning of the battle 
 Dr. Winfrey found the Feilerals entrenched in his 
 store and in his dwelling adjoining. He led his 
 company against them, but was repulsed in a 
 bloody conflict. After falling back, he rallied his 
 men and in a second charge dislodged the enemy 
 and held the buildings to the end of the fight. 
 
 After the battle of Lone Jack, Dr. Winfrey 
 
 went south with Hays' command. He was senior 
 
 surgeon of Shelby's brigade, and was present at 
 
 the battles of Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, and New- 
 22 
 
330 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIAN8. 
 
 tonia. He was at the second battle of Springfield 
 (January 8, 1863). He remained here after the 
 Confederates withdrew, in char^^e of the hospital 
 until the wounded were able to travel, when he 
 accompanied them as prisoners of war to City 
 Point, Virginia, where they w^ere exchanged. 
 
 From City Point he set out to rejoin his com- 
 mand, and on his way arrived at Vicksburg just 
 before the beginning of the siege. He saw the 
 battles of Champion Hill and Big Black, was in 
 Vicksburg during the siege, and remained there 
 until the place capitulated. He met and con- 
 versed with General Grant. The return trip 
 across the Mississippi Eiver was a dangerous one, 
 but he arrived safe at Price's army, in camp at 
 Camden. He was at the principal battles in the 
 operations against Steel, and in the autumn of 
 1864 came with the command on Price's great 
 raid. 
 
 The wounded at the battle of Westport re- 
 quired many surgeons and Dr. Winfrey, at the 
 request of General Price, remained to care for his 
 soldiers and dying comrades. He arrived at St. 
 Louis on his way back to the army, when news 
 came that Lee had surrendered. 
 
 After the war. Dr. Winfrey enjoyed a very 
 large practice for years at Pleasant Hill, Mo. In 
 1879 he moved to Kansas City, where he still lives. 
 
OTHER BiOGRAPHIES. 331 
 
 Judge R. L. Yeager. 
 
 R L. Yeager, whose professional life has been 
 spent in Kansas City, was born in Kentucky, Aug- 
 ust 26, 1843. His parents died when he was but 
 nine years of age, and he was brought to Missouri, 
 where he grew to manhood on a farm in Marion 
 County. He entered St. Paul Episcopal College 
 at Palmyra, from which he graduated in 1861, as 
 the war clouds were lowering over our unhappy 
 country. The young graduate hastened from Com- 
 mencement to join Kneisley's battery, in which he 
 served for a year and a half, when he was trans- 
 ferred to PrindalFs battalion of sharpshooters, in 
 Parsons' division of Price's corps. 
 
 During the summer of 1861 the turmoil and 
 distress in northeastern Missouri was not exceed- 
 ed in any other part of the State. General Harris 
 organized his army of State Guards under great 
 difficulties and hardships. The youthful Yeager 
 enlisted at Palmyra under Captain Owens. His 
 ardent spirit was soon gratified with stirring war 
 experiences. He, was in, the hand-to-hand fight 
 against an Illinois command posted at Kirksville; 
 he was in the affairs at Shelbina, Alexandria, and 
 other places; he took conspicuous part in all the 
 battles and skirmishes which occurred in north- 
 eastern Missouri that summer. He was in Colonel 
 Green's regiment which marched under General 
 Harris to join Price in front of Lexington in Sep- 
 tember. The college boy assisted in the capture 
 
332 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 of Mulligan, and was in the battle of Pea Ridoe. 
 He went across the Mississippi Iliver, and after 
 the battle of Corinth returned west with the State 
 Guards under General Parsons. He was in the 
 battles of Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, and Helena. 
 
 In the operations against Banks and Steele 
 he was constantly with his battalion. He surren- 
 dered at Shreveport. After the war, he went to 
 Texas and read law for one year with ex-Go vemor 
 Throckmorton. Afterwards he graduated from 
 the law school at Louisville, K}^ He then came 
 to Kansas City, where he entered upon a success- 
 ful practice of his profession. He was elected 
 prosecuting attorney of Jackson County in 1872, 
 and again in 1874. He is director of the First Na- 
 tional Bank and president of the Safety Building 
 and Loan Association. He has served for years as 
 school director. 
 
 Professor J. M. Greenwood says of Judge Yea- 
 ger: "The ambition of his life has been to make 
 the public schools the crowning glory of Kansas 
 City. To this end he has worked night and day. 
 His qualities of mind and heart are of that ster- 
 ling character which shirks at no responsibility 
 and never hesitates in the performance of a duty.'' 
 
 He was married in 1870 to Miss Leonora 
 Forbis, of Independence, Mo. They have five 
 children. 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 333 
 
 Major BlaJce L. Woodson. 
 
 In the United States, as elsewhere, the coun- 
 try boy has many drawbacks in early life. He 
 rarely achieves social success in later life, but in 
 physique, will-power, and darini; he is more than 
 peer to his city-bred brothers. He is a temperate, 
 hard-working, and successful business man. 
 
 To this class belongs Blake L. Woodson. He 
 was born and reared on a farm in old Virginia; 
 the second son of William Woodson and Martha 
 Gilbert Haythe. In his seventh year he lost his 
 father. 
 
 As he grew up, the ambition to accoimplish 
 something in life began soon to stir in the boy's 
 heart. He became a great reader and student. 
 The pine knot and tallow dip did duty for light; 
 but a sound mind in a sound body absorbed the 
 thought. There are to-day few better read men 
 in Missouri. 
 
 Of English stock, Puritan bred, dark hair, 
 deeply set gray eyes, prominent nose, and strong 
 features, he looks the typical American of old 
 colonial type. Men think kindly thoughts and 
 love charity until these virtues show in their faces. 
 They show in his. 
 
 He graduated from Lynchburg College in 1858, 
 with the degree of A.B. Then a law course at the 
 University of Virginia and at the law school of 
 John W. Brooksborough at Lexington. This was 
 his equipment in his chosen profession, the law. 
 
834^^^^^^'^ ^^^ BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOUBIANS. 
 
 He entered the Confederate Army as first lieu- 
 tenant in May, 1861, and was disbanded as major 
 and brevet lieutenant-colonel, in May, 1865. He 
 came to Missouri in 1871, and has ever since lived 
 in Kansas City. Twice married, he has three liv- 
 ing children, by his second wife, Nora Delany — 
 viz., Constance, Mary Blake, and Nora G. 
 
 As a lawyer he is courteous, honest, and fair, 
 and a thorough master, especially of the criminal 
 law, ancient and modern. As a citizen, he is an 
 intense lover of his country, of his Government, 
 and of his fellow-man; a man not afraid to speak 
 out for God and the right; a man who loves jus- 
 tice and hates sham and fraud; a man free from 
 hypocrisy in act, conduct, and speech. 
 
 He was born May 25, 1835, and when the mus- 
 ter comes to the old soldier and citizen, the coun- 
 try boy may feel that he has achieved something 
 in life. 
 
 Henry Y. P. Knhrich. 
 
 Our portrait of Captain Kabrick shows him in 
 the uniform of a Confederate soldier at the close 
 of the war. He entered the service August 14, 
 1862, and two days later was given his baptism 
 of fire at the battle of Lone Jack. He belonged 
 to Company C, 2d Missouri Cavalry, Marmaduke's 
 Division. There was no truer soldier and there 
 is no truer friend than Henry Kabrick. He is 
 proud of his war record, as every real soldier 
 should be. He was in the battles at Lone Jack, 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 335 
 
 Newtonia, Cape Girardeau, Osage Elver, Lexing- 
 ton, Westport, Mine Creek, and all the battles 
 and skirmishes of his command. He was still a 
 young man when the war closed and he returned 
 to his home near Oak Grove, Mo., where he has 
 resided ever since, following the vocations of 
 farmer and carpenter. He is one of the substan- 
 tial citizens of the county, and is captain of Up. 
 Hays Camp, United Confederate Veterans, at Oak 
 Grove. 
 
 Captain Kabrick has a son, Lee Kabrick, serv- 
 ing in the United States Army in the Philippine 
 Islands. 
 
 Francis Marion Webh. 
 
 F. M. Webb, of Jackson County, Mo., was a 
 mere boy when he joined the Army. On January 
 1, 1863, he attached himself to Company C, 2d 
 Missouri Cavalry, Shelby's Division, and from 
 that time until he surrendered at Shreveport, 
 June 14, 1805, he never left the field nor faltered 
 in support of the Southern cause. He delights in 
 recounting his adventures. His first battle was at 
 Springfield, Mo., January 8, 1863. He fought at 
 the battles of Cape Girardeau, Little Rock, Mark's 
 Mills, and many others, including the battles 
 and heavy skirmishes of Price's raid in 1864. He 
 was with his command in front for five weeks, 
 harassing the rear of Steele's army as it eagerly 
 retreated from Little Eock to connect with Banks 
 at Shreveport, the only refuge from annihilation. 
 
336 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI880URIAN8. 
 
 Although a dashing young soldier, ready for raid, 
 or fight, or frolic, he settled down after the sur- 
 render to the quietude of a happy domestic life, 
 and is the father of a large family of bright boys 
 and girls, ten in all. He is a successful farmer 
 near Oak Grove, Mo. 
 
 Captain Wm. H. Gregg. 
 
 Captain Wm. H. Gregg, of Kansas City, was 
 sworn into the State Guards June 1, 1861, and 
 marched at once for rendezvous at Rock Creek 
 school-house, near Independence, Mo., where he 
 saw the killing of Colonel Ilalloway by his own 
 men. Gregg's company, of which he was captain, 
 was attached to Colonel Rosser's regiment, Rain's 
 division. At the expiration of the term for which 
 Captain Gregg enlisted, he returned home on ac- 
 count of sickness. Before regaining health he was 
 forced to seek a place of safety. The avenues to 
 Price's army were carefully guarded, and he cast 
 his lot with Quantrell. Captain Gregg %recounts 
 sixt^^-five battles and skirmishes in which he took 
 part, and he is able to give the names of the places 
 and the dates. Captain Gregg was never known 
 to decline an opportunity to engage in a battle. 
 He was a dashing, fearless, enterprising soldier. 
 He joined Quantrell as a private, and was success- 
 ively promoted, by election, to first sergeant and 
 third lieutenant, but often he commanded a com- 
 pany. He joined Shelby's brigade December 25, 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 337 
 
 1863, at noon, as first lieutenant, and at one 
 o'clock the same day he was in command of Com- 
 pany I, Shank's regiment. 
 
 Lieutenant Hopkins Hardin. 
 
 Hopkins Hardin was a Confederate soldier 
 and served in the 19th Virginia, Pickett's Divis- 
 ion. He was lieutenant of Company C. 
 
 Lieutenant Hardin entered the Army in April, 
 1861, at the age of 23, enlisting at Scottville, Al- 
 bemarle County, Virginia. He fought in all the 
 principal battles and skirmishes of his division, 
 taking part in such actions as those at Bull Kun, 
 first and second battles, Williamsburg, Freder- 
 icksburg, Boonsborough, and, last of all, he was 
 in that great decisive battle which determined 
 the fate of the Southern Confederacy, the battle 
 of Gettysburg. In this battle he was wounded 
 three times. He had been wounded previously at 
 both Fredericksburg and Boonsborough. There 
 was no question as to his bravery, his ardor, his 
 enthusiasm in battle. Young Hardin was a typ- 
 ical Virginia soldier. 
 
 At Gettysburg he was unfortunately captured, 
 after an active service of over three years. From 
 that time until his release at Ft Delaware in 
 June, 1865, nearly two years, he suffered the hard- 
 ships of a prisoner of war. Some of his privations 
 and sufferings wei^ unusual. He saw the inside 
 of the Federal prisons at Ft. McHenry, Point 
 Lookout, Ft. Delaware, Morris Island, and Ft, 
 
338 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIAN8. 
 
 Pulaski. At the latter place the prisoners were 
 fed on bread and pickles for forty-nine days in re- 
 taliation for the treatment of Federal prisonerg 
 at Andersonville. Many died and few were able 
 to walk at the end of the time. Lieutenant Har- 
 din was one of the 600 Rebel prisoners who were 
 placed outside the Federal breastworks at^ Mor- 
 ris Island, where for weeks they were exposed to 
 the shot and shell of their friends who were bom- 
 barding the place. 
 
 Lieutenant Hardin's life was saved once by a 
 note-book. It arrested the flight of a Minie ball 
 speeding straight for his heart. A jagged hole 
 was torn through a number of the leaves. The 
 bullet stopped when it reached an old yellow 
 paper, which it cracked in four parts without 
 penetrating. The yellow paper was a document 
 authorizing Hopkins Hardin to exhort in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 Lieutenant Hardin has long been a resident of 
 Missouri, and he has been a successful farmer and 
 business man. He resides with his family in Inde- 
 pendence, Mo. 
 
 Colonel John B. Stone. 
 
 John Bestor Stone, who served the people of 
 Jackson County, Missouri, as presiding judge of 
 the county court from 1894 to 1898, was born in 
 Perry County, Alabama, on D^ember 5, 1842. He 
 grew up and was educated in the South. He was 
 but 19 years of age when the war broke out, but 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 339 
 
 with the fiery impetuosity of youth he enlisted as 
 soldier in the Southern Arni}^, joining Company 
 A, 4th Alabama Infantry. At the second battle of 
 Manassas he was severely wounded, having his 
 thigh broken. Undaunted, he rejoined his com- 
 mand when able to march. At Chickamauga he 
 was again wounded. But his ardor was unabated. 
 In the battle of the Wilderness he was wounded 
 the third time, and in the seven days' fight near 
 Richmond he was wounded the fourth time. He 
 was captured at Ft, Blakely and made a prisoner 
 of war on Ship Island, where he was held until 
 peace was made. He was second lieutenant of his 
 company, and participated in some of the most 
 hotly contested engagements of the war. 
 
 After the war, he returned to his old home at 
 Selma, Ala., and became a merchant Afterward 
 he went to a different part of the State and en- 
 gaged in farming. He went to Dallas, Texas, and 
 erected many large buildings there, including the 
 capitol building, which he gave to the State ten 
 years free of charge. He closed out his real estate 
 business at Dallas and went to Colorado, where 
 he engaged in mining. He returned to Texas and 
 remained there until 1885, when he moved to Kan- 
 sas City and engaged in the real-estate business 
 for several years. 
 
 Judge Stone has been a successful man. His 
 affairs have always prospered on account of his 
 strict business methods. He is a man of sterling 
 honesty and strong convictions. 
 
340 BATTLES AND BIOaRAPHIES OF MI880UBIANS. 
 
 Joseph M. Lowe, 
 
 Our great Civil War was fought generally by 
 young men. Witnesses of the war often remarked 
 that a sturdy, enterprising, ambitious boy made 
 the best possible soldier. If this was true, then 
 Joseph M. Lowe, the Kentucky soldier boy, may 
 be regarded as a hero. He enlisted at the age of 
 sixteen in the Confederate Army under General 
 Humphrey Marshall, in Colonel Giltner's regi- 
 ment, Captain Thos. E. Moore's company. On ac- 
 count of his youthfulness, he was made a courier, 
 and, being an active youth and of strong determi- 
 nation, he performed his duties in a highly satis- 
 factory manner. He once carried an important 
 dispatch from Richmond to Cumberland Gap. 
 The dispatch was written on tissue paper and was 
 concealed in the finger of his glove. In all his 
 adventures, many of them thrilling, he was never 
 captured. When in the enemy's lines, he con- 
 ducted himself with such discretion as to attract 
 no special notice. 
 
 In 1868 young Lowe left his native State and 
 came to Missouri. Having by this time acquired, 
 by his own efforts, a good education, and having 
 prepared himself for the practice of law, he lo- 
 cated at Plattsburg, Clinton County, Mo., for the 
 practice of his profession. Two years after arriv- 
 ing at Plattsburg he was nominated for prosecut- 
 ing attorney by the Democratic party. The Peo- 
 ple's party also nominated him; then the Repub- 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 341 
 
 lican party nominated him. He therefore received 
 at the general election every vote in the county. 
 He held the office of prosecuting attorney for four 
 consecutive terms, the only office he ever held or 
 ever aspired to hold until the citizens of Kansas 
 Oity issued a call for him to become a candidate 
 for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant- 
 governor. Mr. Lowe's success as prosecuting 
 attorney caused his party to offer him the Demo- 
 cratic nomination for Congress, which he declined. 
 
 In 1883 Mr. Lowe moved to Kansas City, 
 where he practiced his profession for several 
 years. In recent years he has spent most of his 
 time in looking after his large property interests. 
 Mr. Lowe belongs to a prominent American fam- 
 ily. Seth Lowe, of New York, and ex-Governor 
 Lowe, of Maryland, are kinsmen of his. Mr. Lowe 
 was married at Plattsburg to Miss Mary E. Mc- 
 Williams, daughter of Dr. John Q. A. McWill- 
 iams, formerly of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Lowe 
 have two children, now grown : John Rodger Lowe 
 and Florence Marian Lowe. 
 
 Wm. Lowe is a man of marked ability, a pro- 
 found thinker, and a distinguished orator. His 
 public addresses are not delivered with the view 
 of spectacular or picturesque effects, but rather 
 with the view of adding something permanent to 
 American literature and American statesmanship. 
 
342 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MtSSOURIANS. 
 
 Colonel John T. Hughes. 
 
 There fell at the battle of Independence a man 
 who, if he had lived, would have made his impress 
 upon the times ; a brave, masterful man, scholarly 
 and ambitious — Colonel John T. Hughes. Colonel 
 Hughes w^as near of kin to General Sterling Price, 
 and enjoj^ed the full confidence and trust of that 
 great captain. Hughes had been with General 
 Price through the Mexican War, and the tw^o 
 men understood and loved each other as brothers. 
 At the battle of Pea Ridge, when Slack fell, mor- 
 tally wounded. Price, who seldom made mistakes 
 in choosing men for arduous duties, assigned 
 Hughes to the place of the fallen general. Price 
 saw^ in Hughes the coming man, and in this Price 
 and Doniphan saw alike. 
 
 But Hughes was more than a rising general. 
 He tvas a graceful writer as w ell, and, had he live.l, 
 would have done for Price's army what Edwards 
 did for Shelby's division — chronicled in classic 
 English its achievements. Hughes was already 
 an author of note when the war began. After the 
 battle of. Pea Ridge, Hughes followed his great 
 kinsman to assist in the operations against Grant 
 and Halleck at Corinth. In one month he was di- 
 rected by the Confederate Government at Rich- 
 mond to return to Missouri and raise a brigade, 
 which meant a generalship to him. He was 
 on this mission, making his way to northwestern 
 Missouri, when he brought together, near Lee's 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 343 
 
 Summit, the forces of Thompson, Hays, and 
 Qiiantrell, and planned so skillfully the battle of 
 Independence. 
 
 Colonel Hughes was one of the leaders of polit- 
 ical sentiment in northwestern Missouri, in the 
 years preceding the war between the States. He 
 had been a Whig all his life, until the Whig party 
 became dominated by Knownothingism, when he 
 acted with the Democrats, because the violent and 
 radical assaults of the leaders of the then form- 
 ing Republican party on the Constitution, as be- 
 ing "a league with hell and a covenant with the 
 devil,'' because it recognized the institution of 
 slavery, made it impossible for him to act with 
 them. He was a member of the State convention 
 that sent delegates to the National Democratic 
 Convention in 1860, the most stormy political 
 assemblage, perhaps, that ever met in Missouri — 
 one which none but the master hand of Sterling 
 Price could control. He had strong, positive, and 
 clearly defined views on all the questions then 
 agitating the public mind, and expressed them 
 with great force and energy, but was at all times 
 perfectly courteous and considerate of the sensi- 
 bilities of those who held different views, and ^o 
 thoroughly was he master of his own spirit 
 that, no matter where he maintained his cause, 
 whether on the street, at the fireside, on the hust- 
 ings, or in the forum, he was never known to over- 
 step the bounds of courtesy, or to make use of any 
 language that could justly wound the feelings or 
 
344 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 startle the self-respect of those who did not agree 
 with him. He was a strong and ardent advocate 
 of the Union, and opposed every attempt made in 
 the direction of taking Missouri out of the Union. 
 He opposed calling a convention to consider the 
 question, and when it was called, he advocated 
 with all his strength and energy the election of 
 the delegates, who opposed secession. 
 
 He held a commission as colonel in the Mis- 
 souri State Guards, which was the State Militia 
 at that time. When the convention which was 
 called under the just and concurrent resolution 
 introduced into and carried through the Missouri 
 Legislature by Geo. G. Vest, to consider the ques- 
 tion of secession, after deciding that Missouri 
 would stay in the Union, usurped the whole power 
 of the State Government and entered upon the 
 revolutionary scheme of ousting from office not 
 only the governor, but the members of the Legis- 
 lature and Senate, the supreme judges and circuit 
 judges, and all other State officers, and thus over- 
 turn the State Government which had been regu- 
 larly elected by the people under the laws and 
 Constitution, and being called on by the governor, 
 he moved the troops under his command and took 
 his place alongside of that brave and noble band 
 of patriots who fought for the maintenance of 
 good order, and resisted to the uttermost the rev- 
 olution inaugurated by the Gamble convention, 
 and supported by the Federal troops stationed in 
 Missouri, and who were used by designing poli- 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 345 
 
 ticians to precipitate a conflict between the State 
 and Federal troops. Up to the time of his death, 
 he had achieved many brilliant successes and had 
 earned for himself and his men an enviable repu- 
 tation for daring courage and hard fighting; and 
 he was universally loved by his men for his jus- 
 tice and humanity. 
 
 Captain TF. F. Wilkins, A.M., M.D. 
 
 If success is measured by varied and useful ex- 
 periences and if classical scholarship is the adorn- 
 ment of a career, we shall find a model by review- 
 ing the life of William F. Wilkins. Dr. Wil- 
 kins is a scholar, a writer, an orator, and a shin- 
 ing light in the medical profession. He has stood 
 at the head of schools and colleges; he has found- 
 ed medical institutes; he has made eminent dis- 
 coveries in medical science; he has received de- 
 grees from universities and colleges; he is a lin- 
 guist, a scientist, a doctor of law, and a doctor 
 of medicine; he wears the scars of a veteran of 
 our Civil War, 'and he is the originator of the 
 Blues and Grays. 
 
 It was in keeping with modern progress that 
 a man of his broad attainments and liberal views 
 should originate the Blues and Grays. When Dr. 
 Wilkins was a young man, the great Civil War 
 arose to harass our unhappy land; he saw the 
 North and South clutch at each other's throats 
 and struggle frantically for each other's undoing 
 
 23 
 
346 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 through four bloody years. After peace came, 
 the hot passions of strife still rankled and ruled 
 in the hearts of men. ' The great captain of the 
 conquering hosts in that terrible war said, as he 
 threw down his sword: ^'Let us have peace.'' 
 But full and perfect peace comes only in the 
 hearts of men. As the years rolled away and the 
 shadows lengthened, those who had worn the blue 
 and those who had worn the gray softened toward 
 each other. The old enemies were friends once 
 more. Why not bring them together in a formal 
 and fraternal association? Dr. Wilkins took th's 
 to heart and evolved a great plan. The central 
 idea was an amalgamation of all the camps of the 
 Confederate Association with all the posts of the 
 G. A. R, as the States had been reunited. The 
 Daughters of the Confederacy and the Sons of 
 Veterans were to be absorbed also into the Blues 
 and Grays. The new order was to accomplish 
 more for the veterans of both sides than could be 
 accomplished separately by the respective but 
 independent organizations. Dr. Wilkins called 
 around him a few veterans in Kansas City, liberal- 
 minded men, who had fought — some for the North 
 and some for the South. They issued a call for a 
 meeting of the "Veterans of the War of the Rebel- 
 lion." The meeting was held at Lab )r Hall, June 
 22, 1898. Major Blake L. Woodson presided at 
 this meeting. Permanent organization was ef- 
 fected by electing Major W. F. Winfield, president 
 of the association; Captain R. D. Bledsoe was 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 347 
 
 elected vice-president, Captain H. Clay Nichols 
 secretary, Capain N. P. Laforge treasurer. A 
 committee, consisting of W. F. Wilkins, N. P. La- 
 forge, Thos. B. Turner, and I. T. Elmore, was ap- 
 pointed to draft a constitution and by-laws. At 
 the next meeting a large number of veterans pre- 
 sented themselves for membership, and in a short 
 time the number of names on the roster reached 
 into the thousands. 
 
 This sketch is meant to be a short biography 
 of Dr. Wni. F. Wilkins, and not a history of the 
 Blu^s and Grays, founded by him. Dr. Wilkins 
 was born in Branch County, Michigan, in 1848. 
 He moved with his parents at the age of seven to 
 Illinois, where he lived on a farm and attended 
 district schools in the winter. He attended the 
 High School at Danville, 111., spent a year at 
 Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Mich., and com- 
 pleted his literary education in 1869 by graduat- 
 ing from Miami University, Oxford, O. He then 
 took up the study, of law in Chicago, and, advanc- 
 ing rapidly in this study as he did in all studies, 
 he was soon admitted to the bar. Afterwards he 
 turned his attention to teaching and traveling. 
 He holds life certificates of the highest grade in 
 ten States, in all of which he has lived and held 
 positions in high schools, seminaries, and colleges. 
 
 During the great Civil War both Dr. Wilkins 
 and his father were members of the 125th Illinois 
 Infantry, and served for three years and four 
 months. His father was surgeon of his regiment, 
 
348 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 and the son became assistant to the brigade sur- 
 geon. Dr. William F. Wilkins entered the service 
 as a private, and was several times wounded. At 
 the battle of Chickamauga he received a wound in 
 the thigh, and at Buzzard's Eoost, Georgia, in the 
 head. He was taken to the hospital, and, upon 
 his recovery, was made assistant to the brigade 
 surgeon, and continued to act in that capacity 
 until the close of the war. 
 
 Dr. Wilkins won his shoulder-straps during 
 the war, and a long and fulsome story might be 
 written of him. I am content, however, to close 
 this review by adopting the subjoined excerpt 
 from the "History of Jackson County," prefacing 
 the quotation with the remark that Dr. Wilkins is 
 a man of vast learning: 
 
 "Since 1887 he has been numbered among the 
 most progressive of the profession in Kansas City. 
 He is now professor of the principles and practice 
 of medicine in the College of Physicians and Sur- 
 geons of Kansas City, Kas., having, with nine oth- 
 ers, founded that college in 1894-5; is professor of 
 physiology and histology in the Kansas City Col- 
 lege of Dental Surgery, and acting presicfent of 
 the same; and is a charter member of the Kansas 
 City Society of Physicians and Surgeons. The 
 degrees of B.A., B.S., A.M., M.S., and M.D. have 
 been conferred upon him. In 1887 he received the 
 degree of Master of Arts from the Miami Univer- 
 sity, of Oxford, Ohio, of which R. W. McFarland, 
 A.M., LL.D., is president; and in June, 1894, he 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 349 
 
 received notice that the faculty of Miami Univer- 
 sity had conferred upon him the degree of Master 
 of Science, in recognition of the merit of the thesis 
 presented in an article on ^The Effects of Alco- 
 hol on Man,' which was published by the New 
 York Medical Journal in September, 1894. 
 
 "On the 25th of September, 1878, Dr. Wilkins 
 was united in marriage with Miss Josephine Wil- 
 hite, daughter of Captain J. H. Wilhite, of the 
 bloody 7th Kansas Cavalry, and Elizabeth Wil- 
 hite, of Ottawa, Kas. They haVe two children, 
 Mary E. and Edith. The doctor and his wife are 
 members of the Baptist Church. He is a Master 
 Mason, an Odd Fellow, Knight of Pythias, and 
 medical examiner in the Knights and Ladies of 
 Honor. He is also surgeon in the Grand Army of 
 the Eepublic, an officer in the Sons of Veterans, 
 court physician of the Ancient Order of Forest- 
 ers, and medical examiner in the Ancient Order of 
 United Workmen. In politics he is a free- trade 
 Democrat, and in favor of attending to the affairs 
 of the United States and letting the rest of the 
 world take care of themselves.'' 
 
 Colonel W. F. Cloud. 
 
 The hero of two wars who bears this cogno- 
 men first saw the light in Ohio in 1825, being 
 of combined Virginia and Maryland parentage. 
 Running the gauntlet of backwoods and unen- 
 dowed conditions, he had but- a common-school 
 education; and, at the age of fifteen, entered the 
 
^^0 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MI8S0URIANS. 
 
 ranks of the bread-winners as apprentice to a 
 tailor, which art had attained an excellence hard- 
 ly expected when p]ve in the garden first fash- 
 ioned a garment. When the Mexican War was 
 on, Colonel Cloud volunteered and became a sol- 
 dier for Uncle Sam; being a sergeant in Company 
 K, 2d Ohio Infantry. 
 
 He served with General Taylor on the Rio 
 Grande line, and performed garrison and escort 
 duty up to Buena Vista, which ended fighting on 
 that line. 
 
 That service in Mexico qualified Colonel Cloud 
 for duty as a soldier when the great struggle for 
 the right of secession began in 1861. Colonel 
 Cloud at that time was a citizen of Kansas, resid- 
 ing in Emporia. When President Lincoln called 
 for 75,000 volunteers. Colonel Cloud organized a 
 company and entered the 2d Kansas Infantry. 
 His tender for service was made to Governor Rob- 
 inson in advance of any other company; but the 
 First Kansas completed its regimental organiza- 
 tion before Colonel Cloud could report for duty. 
 Before the Second had its ranks full and before 
 equipments were furnished, it was called into the 
 field by General Lyon, and as part of that gener- 
 al's force entered the campaign in Missouri. Col. 
 Cloud, then major, took part in the battle of Wil- 
 son Creek and received special mention in the 
 reports. Of the results of that battle there are 
 various views, reports, and claims. The Confed- 
 erates finally held the field, but how and when? 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 351 
 
 Colonel Cloud's command held the extreme rio^ht 
 of the line, fought in the very hist of the scattered 
 attacks of that very peculiar battle, and re])ulsed 
 the last attack. Then, when everything was quiet 
 and the Second, with detachments from other 
 commands, w^ere victors for the time, an order 
 came from Major Sturgis, who had succeeded to 
 the command at the death of Lyon, which was: 
 "You will retire from the field when you can do 
 so with safety." Under this order the command 
 fell back, without molestation, and joined Sturgis 
 in his retreat to Springfield. 
 
 Colonel Cloud was promoted to the command 
 of the 10th Kansas Infantry, and transferred to 
 the 2d Kansas Cavalry, and in the summer of 1865 
 he commanded the 15th Kansas Cavalry against 
 the Indians, having headquarters at Fort Larned, 
 and was finally discharged in October, 1865, after 
 four and a half years of service. During these 
 years he had the duties of commanding troops in 
 the field, of commanding a brigade of the district 
 of southwestern Missouri, of the district of north- 
 Avestern Arkansas, with headquarters at Fort 
 Smith, and of the district of the upper Arkansas 
 in Kansas. Commencing his battle experience at 
 Wilson Creek, he engaged in the fights at Cane 
 Hill, Prairie Grove, DeviPs Backbone, Darda- 
 nelle, Camden, and Jenkins' Ferry in Arkansas, 
 and in mau}^ skirmishes and raids in Missouri, and 
 finishing with the battle of Mine Creek in Kansas. 
 His services were entirely in the Trans-Missis- 
 
352 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 sippi Department. He came into conflict with 
 many of Missouri's distinguished officers and sol- 
 diers, giving and receiving hard blows, each 
 respectively for his confirmed convictions. He 
 makes no complaint of discourtesy shown his men 
 when prisoners of war with Missourians, and has 
 no fear of censure for the spirit and practice of 
 his administration in any of the rather extensive 
 jurisdictions which he held. 
 
 Though at the front and exposed, he never was 
 wounded, and while mainly acting on the aggres- 
 sive, he yet found himself so far to the front in 
 some of his raids that a judicious retreat became- 
 a military necessity. 
 
 Of this man it has been justly remarked that 
 he carried his religion into practical life, and that 
 an oath or any irreverent or blasphemous or vul- 
 gar word or expression never marred his influ- 
 ence, and that no spirits or intoxicants were in- 
 dulged in. 
 
 At the age of seventy-five he has remarkable 
 vitality of body and mind, and, with a satisfaction 
 which is almost an exuberant joy, looks upon the 
 completely reunited people of the United States 
 as reward for any inability to name himself a 
 coupon-clipper. 
 
 Colonel Cloud has published a book, ^^Mexico 
 under X-Kays; or, Mexican Politics from Cortez 
 to Diaz," which displays an excessive research 
 and a wonderful ability of condensation of all the 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 353 
 
 important facts in the historic tragedies of the 
 Mexican national existence. 
 
 General Gideon W. Thompson. 
 
 General Thompson entered the service as a 
 private. His neighbors, near Barry, on the county 
 line between Platte and Clay, organized into a 
 company and he enlisted. Only one name was 
 proposed for captain, and Gideon W. Thompson 
 was surprised to find himself unanimously elected 
 to the head of the company. He accepted the 
 responsibility without hesitation. He marched 
 straight to Lexington, and in the three-days siege 
 he and his followers became veterans and fully 
 prepared for the stern work ahead of them. 
 
 Captain Thompson had been a successful farm- 
 er and trader; he knew nothing of the practical 
 science of Avar. But the battle of Lexington re- 
 vealed his aptitude for military service, and after 
 the surrender of Mulligan he took the rank of 
 major. 
 
 During the winter of 1861-2 Price's army was 
 reorganized, and Major Thompson became colonel 
 in the State Guards. He participated in all the 
 battles and skirmishes on the retreat from Spring- 
 field to Cross Hollows and in the great battle of 
 Pea Bidge. Then he went to the Cis-Mississippi 
 Department, but saw no service there. Kecross- 
 ing the river, accompanied by Major Hart, he 
 arrived at Van Buren, Ark., on his way back to 
 
354 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES ^OF MISS0VRIAN8. 
 
 Missouri. General Hindman sent for him and 
 gave him a commission in the Confederate serv- 
 ice. Then he proceeded to Missouri. At Eureka 
 Springs he was joined by Colonel Hughes with 17 
 men. This addition swelled his small force to 
 100 men. These arrived at the Cowherd farm, 
 near Lee's Summit, Mo., where the capture of 
 Buell at Independence was decided upon. In this 
 engagement Colonel Thompson received a wound 
 which shattered one of the bones of his leg. He 
 was dragging himself painfully off the field when 
 one of his neighbors came to his assistance. A 
 Federal horse was secured and the colonel was 
 lifted to the saddle. He rode slowly back to the 
 public square. Here a bullet whizzed near him, 
 shot from the roof of the bank building occupied 
 by Buell. Col. Thompson directed Private Green, 
 of Clay County, to station himself advantageously 
 for picking off the marksman on the roof when he 
 should again appear. The duty was well per- 
 formed; after the battle, a dead Federal was 
 brought down from the roof. 
 
 The battle had now raged for many hours. 
 Colonel Hughes had fallen, and nearly a dozen 
 other Confederate officers were dead or dying. 
 Still the Federals behind the rock fence held out 
 and Buell could not be dislodged. At this dark 
 moment Colonel Thompson saw one of his pri- 
 vates, who had been captured, emerge from Bu- 
 ell's headquarters with a sheet of white paper 
 stuck on a ramrod. It was a flag of truce and a 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES, 355 
 
 message from Buell. Terms were quickly agreed 
 upon, and Buell came out and surrendered to 
 Colonel Thompson, actually weeping as he offered 
 his sword. The prisoner was then required to 
 sign an order, Avliich was dispatched to the Fed- 
 erals still fighting behind the stone fence. In a 
 few minutes BuelPs entire force was in line before 
 Colonel Thompson. At his command every Fed- 
 eral threw his gun to the ground. 
 
 Colonel Thompson says he paroled 240 Feder- 
 als, about 15 of whom came out of BuelPs head- 
 quarters. 
 
 Colonel Thompson was unable to take part in 
 the battle of Lone Jack, on account of his wound. 
 He was the ranking Confederate officer in the 
 State at this time. He enlisted men and officers 
 as rapidly as possible, traveling about in the 
 ambulance captured from Buell. In about two 
 weeks after the battle of Lone Jack, Colonels 
 Thompson and Hays proceeded southward to 
 Newtouia. 
 
 From now on Colonel Thompson's command 
 took a conspicuous part in nearly all the bat- 
 tles, campaigns, and raids of Shelby's division of 
 Price's armj^ fighting at Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, 
 Springfield, Hartsville, Cape Girardeau, Helena, 
 Little Bock, Pine Bluffs, and in the remarkable 
 and bloody battles with Steele as the latter went 
 to and returned from Camden in the summer of 
 1864. In the fall of 1804, Colonel Thompson with 
 his regiment of veterans marched and fought 
 
356 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. ^ 
 
 from beginning to end in Price's great raid. He 
 surrendered at Shreveport, La. 
 
 Colonel Thompson was born in Todd County, 
 Kentucky, February 28, 1823. At the age of two 
 and a half years he came with his parents to 
 Howard County, Missouri. In early manhood he 
 settled in Platte County, near Clay County, where 
 he still lives. He has been prosperous and has 
 accumulated considerable wealth. 
 
 General Thompson, for he is entitled to this 
 rank, is at this time the brigadier general com- 
 manding the Western Department of the Missouri 
 Ex-Confederate Association. 
 
 W. A. Knight 
 
 W. A. Knight, always known as Gus Knight, 
 was born in Henry County, Kentucky, February 
 19, 1843. He came with his parents to Kansas 
 City in 1849. He was in Rosser's regiment, Mis- 
 souri State Guards, at the battle of Lexington. 
 After the regiment was divided into infantry 
 and cavalry, he was with Colonel Bill Martin's 
 regiment of Rains' "Blackberry Cavalry." After- 
 wards he entered the Confederate service, at the 
 organization of Shelb^^'s brigade, as a private of 
 Company B, 2d Missouri Cavalry, better known as 
 Shanks' regiment; was in all the fighting around 
 Newtonia, Neosho, and Prairie Grove; was in 
 Marmaduke's raid to Springfield, Mo., where the 
 battle of the 8th of January, 1863, was fought; 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 357 
 
 also at Marshfield, Mo., and Hartsville, Mo.; was 
 with Marmaduke's raid to Cape Girardeau, when 
 they fought at Patterson and over the entire re- 
 treat, ending at St. Francis River; was next at the 
 battle of Helena, Ark., on July 4, 1863; was at 
 Bayou Meto and Little Rock; was with General 
 Jo. Shelby on the raid from Arkadelphia, Ark., to 
 the Missouri River, and was continually fighting 
 from the Boston Mountains in Arkansas through 
 to the Missouri River, at points like Warsaw, Tip- 
 ton, Boonville, Arrow Rock, and Marshall, where 
 he was captured with Lieutenant Boarman of 
 Company A and George Nelson of Kansas City; 
 was in Gratiot Street Prison, St. Louis, for seven 
 mouths, at Alton, 111., four months, and at Camp 
 l)<mglas, Chicago, seven months; was exchanged 
 at City Point in February, 1865. 
 
 He then went to Mobile, Ala. On evacuation 
 of that place, went to Bob McCulloch's regiment 
 under Forrest, at Baldwin, Miss. After the sur- 
 render of Lee and Johnson, with fourteen of Shel- 
 by's men, crossed the Mississippi sixteen miles 
 below Memphis, Tenn.; from there went to Texas 
 to go with Shelby to Mexico, but was too late to 
 catch up with him; meeting the old brigade on 
 their way to Shreveport to surrender, fell into 
 ranks with their old companies and returned to 
 Kansas City, being gone just four years to a day; 
 was never wounded, but thinks he has seen bul- 
 lets fall around him thicker than hail. 
 
358 ^^^^^^'^^ ^^D BIOGRAPHIES OF MIS80URIANS. 
 
 Smmiel H. Chiles. 
 
 Samuel H. Chiles was only sixteen years of age 
 when the war broke out. He enlisted as one of 
 the Fort Osage Rangers and fought for three 
 months under Kains in the State Guards service. 
 His father then took him home and put him in 
 school. But the militar^^ ardor of young Chiles 
 had been aroused, and he ran away from hdme 
 and enlisted in Shelby's brigade. He was soon 
 transferred to Kuffner's battery, John B. Clark's 
 brigade, Parsons' division. He was pleased with 
 the artillery service and continued in it to the end. 
 
 Mr. Chiles fought in the battles of Wilson 
 Creek, Drywood, Lexington, Pea Ridge, Cane Hill, 
 and Prairie Grove. He was in the battles of 
 Pleasant Hill and Mansfield, in Louisiana, when 
 Banks Avas driven back. His command then 
 moved up against Steele, who was retreating 
 from Camden to Little Rock. 
 
 At the battle of Jenkins' Ferry, Mr. Chiles was 
 wounded. Out of 26 men who served the battery, 
 20 were killed and 6 wounded. Mr. Chiles fell 
 into the hands of the Federals, and for eleven 
 months was a prisoner of war, most of the timg at 
 Rock Island, 111. He was paroled after Lee sur- 
 rendered; when released, he joined Shelby's expe- 
 dition to Mexico. 
 
 Mr. Chiles was about the youngest soldier in 
 the Western armies. He was always ready for 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 359 
 
 duty and never failed to be on hand when there 
 was fighting to be done. 
 
 Mr. Chiles remained but a short time in Mex- 
 ico, and returned to his native place in Jackson 
 County, Missouri, where he became a successful 
 farmer and stock-raiser. 
 
 In 1896 Mr. Chiles was chosen marshal of Jack- 
 son County. His administration of the office was 
 satisfactory to the people, and he was reelected 
 in 1898 for another term of two years. 
 
 Wm. E. Cas,<icll 
 
 Wm. Cassell saw some of the heaviest battles 
 of the war. He was at the Rock Creek affair, 
 near Independence, Mo., and fought through the 
 campaign of Missouri State Guards, closing this 
 service at the great battle of Pea Ridge or Elk 
 Horn Tavern. Then he went across th Mississippi 
 River and was one of the 800 out of 8,000 who 
 w^ere alive at the end of the war. He fought at 
 all the great battles of his command, 6th Missouri 
 Infantry, Company B, Corinth, luka, the great 
 battles around Yicksburg and through the siege 
 of Yicksburg. During the siege Company B lost 
 27 men in a mirle explosion. Mr. Cassell had 
 charge of throwing 6-pound shells with a 5-second 
 fuse over the works into the Federal lines. He 
 used to light the fuse with a cigar, while Wm. 
 Muir tossed the shells (^^er. General Grant of- 
 fered a reward for the man who lit the fuse and 
 
SQO BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISS0URIAN8. 
 
 for the man who threw the shells. At the siej^e 
 Mr. Oassell was severely wounded. After the war, 
 Mr. Cassell returned to Jackson County. He is a 
 prosperous farmer near Leeds. 
 
 Captain Schuyler Lowe. 
 
 Captain Lowe was born in Kentucky in 1834. 
 He came to Independence, Mo., in 1855, which has 
 been his home ever since. When the war broke 
 out, he was captain of the Jackson Guards. With 
 his company he entered the State service and 
 fought at Wilson Creek, Lexington, and Pea 
 Ividge. Then he went across the Mississippi River 
 and fought at Corinth and Holly Springs. He 
 commanded a battery at the siege of Vicksburg, 
 where his guns were in action forty-seven days 
 without intermission. One of his guns was the 
 famous "Crazy Jane,'' mentioned in Grant's Mem- 
 oirs for its deadly work. Captain Lowe was 
 wounded at the siege of Vicksburg, which dis- 
 abled him for a long time. He was captured after 
 being exchanged, and was one of the unfortunate 
 600 prisoners placed in front of the works at Mor- 
 ris Island, where they were exposed, from day to 
 day, to Confederate bullets. 
 
 Captain Turner A. GUI. 
 
 Captain Gill was born in Kentucky, but has 
 made Jackson County his home since his thir- 
 teenth year. At the age of twenty, at the very 
 beginning of the war, he was in the Missouri State 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 3(31 
 
 Guards. He was in the unfortunate affair at Rock 
 Creek, near Independence, where Colonel Hollo- 
 way was killed by his own men. Captain Gill was 
 a private in the battles of Carthage, Wilson Creek, 
 and Lexington. He went with Price across the 
 Mississippi, was wounded at the battle of Corinth, 
 fought at Port Gibson and Champion Hill, and 
 throughout the long siege of Yicksburg. After the 
 fall of Yicksburg, he was paroled and went to 
 Texas, whither his father had gone to escape the 
 conditions prevailing in Jackson County, Mis- 
 souri. In three months Captain Gill was ex- 
 changed; he reported to General Shelby and was 
 assigned to duty as adjutant of the 2d Missouri 
 Cavalry. Soon after he was made captain of Com- 
 pany K, in which capacit}- he served to the end 
 of the war. He was through all the campaigns 
 and raids of Shelby's division, including Price's 
 great raid in 1864. Captain Gill was wounded 
 many times: at Corinth, at Yicksburg, Wilson 
 Creek, and once at a skirmish in Arkansas. 
 
 After the war, he returned to Kansas City and 
 resumed his studies. He began the practice of 
 law in 1888 and rose rapidly in his profession; he 
 served as mayor of Kansas City, as city counsel- 
 or, and as circuit judge. In 1888 he was elected 
 judge of the Court of Appeals for a term of twelve 
 years. He has declined to be a candidate for 
 reelection. 
 
 -24 
 
^Jg2 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURIANS. 
 
 Colonel John C. Moore. 
 
 Colonel John Courtney Moore, of General Mar- 
 maduke's staff, resident now in Kansas City, Mo., 
 was born in Tennessee, August 18, 1834. At the 
 age of six years he came with his parents to St, 
 Louis and was reared there. He attended the 
 State University at Columbia, Mo., and was ad- 
 mitted to practice law in St. Louis. In 1859 he 
 went to Pike's Peak. He Avas elected to the Colo- 
 rado Legislature, and was the first mayor of 
 Denver. 
 
 When the war broke out, he hastened back to 
 Missouri and enlisted in the State Guards under 
 Price. He was in Captain Emmet McDonald's St. 
 Louis batter}^, in which he served until after the 
 battle of Pea Eidge. He went with Price's army 
 across the Mississippi Kiver. After some service 
 there he returned to the Trans-Mississippi Depart- 
 ment in time to take part as voluntary aid on the 
 staff of Colonel Shaver, in the battle of Prairie 
 Grove. In the spring of 1863 he was invited to a 
 position on the staff of his old friend and school- 
 fellow. General Marmaduke. This position he 
 held until the battle of Mine Creek, when his chief 
 was captured. After the termination of Price's 
 raid, General Magruder appointed Colonel Moore 
 to the position of judge advocate general of the 
 district of Arkansas, a position he held for six 
 months. Early in the spring of 1865 he was sent, 
 with the rank of colonel, into northern Arkansas 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 363 
 
 to raise a force for another invasion of Missouri. 
 He had raised one regiment and parts of others, 
 when news came that Lee had surrendered. Gen- 
 eral Jeff Thompson announced that he would sur- 
 render northern Arkansas and everything in that 
 region the next day. Colonel Moore did not want 
 to be included, and therefore hastened beyond the 
 Arkansas Kiver. After leaving the Arkansas 
 Eiver he was informed that the '^Mountain Boom- 
 ers," or Union bushwhackers, were in ambuscade 
 at a place called The Narrows. He divided his 
 force and surprised the "Boomers,-' whom he pun- 
 ished in a severe battle. This was late in June, 
 18G5, and the battle was probably the last one 
 fought by regular Confederate soldiers. Colonel 
 Moore tried ineffectually to join Price and Shelby 
 in Mexico. He returned to Missouri, and in ISG'B 
 he and Charles Dougherty founded the Kansas 
 City Times. 
 
 Colonel John Nelson Southeni. 
 
 Colonel John N. Southern, the well-known at- 
 torney of Independence, Mo., was born in Tennes- 
 see in 1855. His first service in the war was in 
 1861, when he furnished supplies to the Confeder- 
 ate soldiers in his native State. In April, 1862, he 
 enlisted as a private in Company I, 59th Tennes- 
 see Infantry. He saw service under Generals 
 Kirby Smith, Bragg, Pemberton, and Longstreet, 
 and he took part in the principal campaigns con- 
 ducted by these leaders. He was assigned special 
 
364 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF .MISSOURI AN 8. 
 
 command in front of the trenches at Vicksbnr^, 
 but was a non-commissioned officer. He was gen- 
 erally detached on special duty. 
 
 In 1864, by order of General Longstreet, he 
 was scouting in the rear of Schofield's corps when 
 he was captured. He attempted to escape and 
 was shot in the hip. The wound disabled him for 
 life. He was in the hospital at Bristol, Tennessee, 
 when the war closed. 
 
 Colonel Southern came to Independence in 
 1868, and for more than ten years was editor and 
 manager of the Independence Sentinel. He after- 
 wards spent some time as special editorial writer 
 for the Kansas City Times, and then took up his 
 profession, the law, in which he had been edu- 
 cated before the war. Since then he has enjoyed 
 an extensive and lucrative practice. 
 
 He lives in a fine residence east of Independ- 
 ence, and has an interesting family of grown-up 
 boys and girls. One of his sons, John Southern, 
 Jr., M.D., is a practicing physician; another son, 
 the youngest, Allen Southern, has just been ad- 
 mitted to the bar; while still another son, Wm. N. 
 Southern, Jr., is editor and manager of the Jack- 
 son Examiner, published at Independence, Mo. 
 
 Captain A. A, Lesueur. 
 
 Captain Lesueur was born in St. Louis in 1842. 
 At the age of eighteen he entered the State Guard 
 service at Camp Jackson, in Captain Kelly's com- 
 pany. Two days before the camp was captured 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 365 
 
 by Lyon, this company had been ordered to Jeffer- 
 son City to guard the undistributed portion of the 
 120 tons of powder which had been stored there. 
 His company, therefore, was not captured, and 
 was probably the very first company in the State 
 on duty after hostilities actually began. The com- 
 pany became a part of General Parsons' division 
 of Price's army soon after the Boonville affair. 
 Young Lesueur rose to the rank of sergeant-major 
 of his battalion. At Cassville he was the prime 
 mover in organizing an artillery company; he was 
 soon at the head of this organization, which 
 became famous as Lesueur's battery. Captain 
 Lesueur fought at Boonville, Carthage, Wilson 
 Creek, Lexington, Pea Eidge, Cane Hill, Prairie 
 Grove, and Helena. At the latter battle he was 
 wounded. He was with his command at the bat- 
 tles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and at all the 
 other battles and skirmishes against Banks' expe- 
 dition up I\ed River. After Banks retreated, Cap- 
 tain Lesueur's command arrived in front of Cam- 
 den, opened the battle against Steele, and other- 
 wise assisted in driving that commander back to 
 Little Rock. 
 
 After the w^ar. Captain Lesueur settled at 
 Lexington, Mo., and engaged in the newspaper 
 business. He served one term in the Legislature, 
 and in 1888 was elected Secretary of State; was 
 reelected in 1892, and again in 1896. 
 
 Captain Lesueur is an able writer. He is edi- 
 
366 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OF MISSOURI AN S. 
 
 tor of the Kansas City Times, being one of the pro- 
 prietors of that journal. 
 
 Captain Stephen Carter Bagan. 
 
 Captain Ragan was born in Kentucky, but was 
 reared at Kansas City, Mo. Just before the war 
 broke out he moved to Texas. He enlisted in the 
 Texas State Militia and was elected captain of 
 Company A, in Colonel Griffin's regiment. After 
 serving about one year, he resigned and raised a 
 company for the Confederate service, and pro- 
 ceeded to the Cis-Mississippi Department. He 
 declined a promotion in order to remain with the 
 ^'boys.-' He led his company through some of the 
 greatest battles of the war, and fought at Farm- 
 ington, Corinth, Chickamauga, and in the opera- 
 tions against Sherman. Captain Eagan's war 
 record is one worthy of any man's pride. In 1864 
 he returned to Texas and was made adjutant of 
 the post at Dallas, a position he was holding at 
 the close of the war. 
 
 In 1866 he returned to Jackson County, and 
 for a time engaged in farming. He was elected to 
 the Legislature in 1878, and again in 1882. He 
 was appointed deputy county marshal in 1896 by 
 County Marshal Samuel H. Chiles, a position he 
 still holds. 
 
 Major II. J. Yivian. 
 
 Among the few who went to the front from 
 Kansas City and stood with the S luth were Major 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 3g7 
 
 Jack Vivian, Giis Knight, Wash Thompson, Spen- 
 cer McCoy, Jim Fisher, Geo. Nelson, and Wm. 
 Todd. These made up a part of the Kansas City 
 mess. 
 
 Major Vivian took part in such stirring en- 
 gagements as the battles of Pea Eidge, Independ- 
 ence, Lone Jack, Cane Hill, Helena, Mark's Mills, 
 etc. He was on all of Shelby's raids to the Mis- 
 souri River, and in all the battles and skirmishes 
 against Steele in his Camden expedition; and, fi- 
 nally, was on Price's great raid in 1864. 
 
 After the battle of Pea Eidge, which ended the 
 services of the Missouri State Guards,*Major Viv- 
 ian went with Price's command to Memphis. He 
 and Wash Thompson, brother of Colonel Gideon 
 Thompson, and who fell at Lone Jack, obtained 
 permission of General Price to return to the 
 Trans-Mississippi Department, where the.];, joined 
 Colonel G. W. Thompson, wh(/was about to start 
 with a small force on a recruiting expedition to 
 Missouri, marked by the battles of Independence 
 and Lone Jack. ^ 
 
 At the battle of Independence the major had 
 his horse shot from under him just as the com- 
 mand was ordered to dismount at the public 
 square. After the battle had raged for five hours 
 at the rock fence west of town, the troops were or- 
 dered to remount, the horses having been brought 
 doAvn for that purpose. Vivian, being afoot, 
 looked about for a Federal horse, and found one 
 tied by a rope to a tree, without bridle or saddle, 
 
368 BATTLES AND BIOGRAPHIES OE 3IISS0VRIANS. 
 
 which he mounted. As the troops rode toward 
 town a Federal volley frightened his horse, which 
 ran away and back in among the Federals. He 
 asked a Federal to place the rope in the horse's 
 mouth for him, and then he rode coolly away, 
 Before reaching the square, he came across a Fed- 
 eral cavalryman and took a bridle and saddle 
 from him. 
 
 In the battle of Lone Jack he was captured, 
 together with two or three comrades who were 
 instantly shot, a fate which Major Vivian escaped 
 by failure of a Federal pistol to fire and by the 
 timely arrival of a Federal officer. He informed 
 his captors that such treatment of Confederate 
 prisoners would soon be avenged, as Col. Coffee 
 was momentarily expected to arrive with rein- 
 forcements. This was possibly the first intimation 
 the Federals had as to whom they were fight- 
 ing. The prisoner was ordered to headquarters 
 at double-quick, a pace he refused to go. At this 
 moment a Kebel fusillade afforded him an oppor- 
 tunity to escape. He ran into the cornfield east 
 of where he had been fighting all the morning, 
 receiving a bullet in the arm as he ran. He found 
 a Federal horse running loose, which he mounted. 
 This brought him into prominent view of the Fed- 
 erals. Amid a shower of bullets he escaped to his 
 friends. After the battle. Colonel G. W. Thomp- 
 son ordered him to take command of Captain 
 Grooms' company, as Grooms had been disabled 
 by a wound. He succeeded regularly in a short 
 
OTHER BIOGRAPHIES. 369 
 
 time to the captaincy of Grooms' company, a posi- 
 tion he held until he became major in Shanks' 
 regiment At the battle of Lone Jack, Captain 
 Grooms' company lost 42 out of 65, killed or se- 
 verely wounded. 
 
 At the battle of Cane Hill the major was se- 
 verely wounded in the running fight of that day. 
 He refused to dismount for fear of falling into the 
 hands of the Federals. He continued in the sad- 
 dle for two hours and then traveled all night in 
 an ambulance to Van Buren. His wound was not 
 dressed until next morning. The surgeon said he 
 could not live. When the wounded who were able 
 to travel were ordered removed upon the approach 
 of the Federals, Major Vivian was considered un- 
 able to go. But he was determined not to fall 
 into the enemy's hands. Against the advice of 
 his surgeon, he was removed with the others to 
 the hospital at Dardanelle. He was wounded 
 again at the battle of Helena. 
 
 Major Vivian was born in Howard County, 
 Missouri, but was reared partly in Saline County 
 and partly in Platte County. He came to Kansas 
 City in 1857, whither he leturned after the war. 
 He resided there until about 1872, when he was 
 married to Miss Lewtie Summers, after which he 
 lived in Clay County on his farm until a few years 
 ago, when he again removed to Kansas City, 
 where he still lives. 
 
 He lost a brother in the Confederate Army — 
 Paul Vivian — who was wounded in a skirmish at 
 Granby and died two weeks later at Springfield. 
 
THE UNSUNG HERO. 
 
 Oh, they sing of the brave 
 
 On the foam-capped wave | 
 
 And the deeds he did at sea, 
 When he fought with his might 
 In a bold sea-fight 
 
 And vanquished the enemy. 
 
 And they sing the song 
 Of the soldier strong 
 
 And his prowess upon the land, 
 How his sword he would wield 
 On the battle-field. 
 
 In quelling a rebel band. 
 
 But the victory 
 Of the brave at sea. 
 
 With his dauntless heart and bold, 
 And the war he waged 
 While the tempest raged 
 
 Was no greater than that untold. 
 
 Of the hero who fell 
 'Mid the rattling hell 
 
 Of shot and burning flame — 
 Whose life went out 
 With the battle-shout, 
 
 But who left no sounding name. 
 
 But the glories of war 
 For the living are, — 
 
 And not for the dead who fail! 
 What matter, though 
 Brave hearts lie low? 
 All glory and praise and honor go 
 
 To the living who tell the tale. 
 
 Mrs. W. L. Webb. 
 
 I 
 I 
 
CAPT. A. A. LESUEUR 
 (See page 366.) 
 
COL. \V. F. CLOUD, 2d KANvSAS CAVALRY. 
 (See page M9.) 
 
JOSHPII M. LOWE. 
 (See page 340.) 
 
MAJOR CALKH WINFREY, M.D. 
 (See Pap'e ;>28,) 
 
C.1;n. G. W. THOMPSON. 
 (See page C53.) 
 
CAl'T \V. K. WILKIN-S, A.M., MD- 
 (See page 345 ) 
 
m^p^-' 
 
 MAJOR H. J, VIVIAN. 
 (See page 367.) 
 
CAPT. S. C. RAG AN, 
 (See page 367.) 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
COL. UPTON HAYS. 
 (See page 322.) 
 
i 
 
CAPT. HKNRY V. P. KABRICK. 
 (See page 334.) 
 
CAPT. R. L. yeagf;r. 
 
 ( vSee page oSl.): 
 
I 
 
 MAJOR B L. WOODSON. 
 (See page 333.) 
 
? 
 
 w^-. 
 
 ^ 
 
 I^IKUT. HOPKINS HARUIN 
 (See page 337.) 
 
SAM'L H. CHIIvES. 
 (See page 358.) 
 
I 
 
 
COI,. JOHN N. SOUTHKKN. 
 (See page ot34.) 
 
I 
 
I 
 
 GEN. JOHN T. HUGHES. 
 (See page 348 
 
1 
 
COL. JOHN B. STONK. 
 See page oAS. ) 
 
COL. HI BIvKDSOH, 
 (See page 316 ) 
 
r -