The Fight for Missouri 
 
 / 
 
 FROM THE ELECTION OF LINCOLN 
 TO THE DEATH OF LYON 
 
 / 
 
 >^ 
 
 THOMAS L. SNEAD 
 
 A. D. C. OF THE GOVERNOR : ACTING ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF THE MISSOURI 
 
 STATE GUARD ; CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE ARMY OF THE WEST 
 
 MEMBER -OF THE CONFEDERATE CONGRESS 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 1888 
 

 Copyright, iSS6 
 Bv CHARLES SCRIBNER-s SONS. 
 
 
 Press of J. J. Li^^,^ 
 Astor Place, New York 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I HAVE written this book because it was my duty 
 to write it ; because, too, I fancy that I know more 
 about the events that are narrated in it, than does 
 any one who will ever take the trouble to write 
 about them ; and because I am the only living 
 witness to many facts the remembrance of which 
 ought to be preserved. 
 
 That the reader may know whereon I ground 
 these assertions, and that he may, before reading 
 my testimony, be aM^'-td^- decide whether it be 
 worth his attention, I will tell him frankly how I 
 happen to know about these things. 
 
 In the elections of i860 — for Governor of Missouri, 
 and for President of the United States — I took 
 an active, though inconspicuous part, chiefly in the 
 political management of the St. Louis Bulletin, 
 which was owned and edited by one of my friends, 
 Mr. Longuemare. In its columns and elsewhere I 
 advocated earnestly the election of Breckinridge to 
 the Presidency, and of Claiborne F. Jackson to the 
 Governorship. But when the latter, in obedience to 
 the manifest will of a majority of the Democratic 
 
iv Preface. 
 
 Party of Missouri whose candidate he was, an- 
 nounced his determination to support Mr. Douglas 
 for the Presidency, we Breckinridge Democrats re- 
 fused to support him any longer, and nominated a 
 candidate of our own, Hancock Jackson, We did 
 this because we believed that the slave-holding 
 States could not remain in the Union, with either 
 safety or honor unless the North should consent to 
 give them Constitutional guarantees that their 
 rights as coequal States of the Union should be 
 both respected and protected by the Federal Gov- 
 ernment, and because we thought that this ques- 
 tion should be plainly submitted to the North in 
 the then pending Presidential election, and a posi- 
 tive answer demanded. As Mr. Douglas' candi- 
 dacy, with his policy of equivocation, prevented this 
 question from being put fairly to the North, we op- 
 posed him and every body who supported him. 
 Claiborne F. Jackson was, nevertheless, elected 
 Governor, in August, and Missouri, alone of all the 
 States, cast her electoral vote in November for 
 Douglas. 
 
 On assuming the of^ce of Governor just after the 
 formal secession of South Carolina, Governor Jackson 
 declared in his Inaugural Address that, in his opinion, 
 it was both the interest and the duty of Missouri 
 to make common cause with the other slave-holding 
 States in the impending conflict. This declara- 
 
Preface. v 
 
 tion brought the Bulletin, which had meanwhile 
 fallen under my absolute control, to his zealous sup- 
 port. The great interest which I felt in the matter 
 caused me to spend most of the time at Jefferson 
 City, where measures looking to the secession of 
 Missouri, and to arming her militia, and getting the 
 State ready otherwise for the emergency, were 
 pending before the General Assembly ; and finally, 
 toward the middle of February, I disposed of the 
 Bulletin, and took up my abode at Jefferson City, 
 and remained there as the guest of the Governor 
 till we were all driven thence by Blair and Lyon, in 
 June. During this time I assisted Governor Jack- 
 son in conducting his correspondence and in other 
 confidential matters, and upon the enactment of the 
 military law in May was commissioned as one of his 
 aides-de-camp. General Price had asked me to ac- 
 cept the position of adjutant-general of the State 
 forces, to the command of which he had just been 
 appointed, but I introduced to him, and got him to 
 appoint instead, Captain Henry Little who had just 
 resigned his commission in the United States Army 
 and was a thousand times better fitted than myself 
 to discharge the duties of the place. 
 
 I therefore remained with the Governor ; followed 
 him when he left Jefferson City ; was with him at 
 Booneville, and Carthage ; and went with him to 
 Cowskin Prairie, in the south-western corner of the 
 
 "X. 
 
vl Preface. 
 
 State. When, however, on arriving there, he relin- 
 quished the command of all the State forces to 
 General Price, and was about to go East, I got his 
 permission to remain with the army, and was the 
 next day assigned to duty by General Price as his 
 chief of ordnance. A few days later Colonel Little 
 left for Richmond in order to secure his commission 
 in the regular army of the Confederate States, and 
 I was then assigned to duty as Acting Adjutant- 
 General of the State Guard. This position I held 
 during all of the eventful campaign, in which were 
 won the Battles of Wilson's Creek, Fort Scott, and 
 Lexington. 
 
 During this time — from the election of Lincoln in 
 November i860, to the death of Lyon at Wilson's 
 Creek on the loth of August 1861 — occurred all the 
 events that I have narrated in this volume ; but I 
 remained with General Price till the last year of the 
 war, as adjutant-general and sometimes as chief of 
 staff, of the commands that he held, except that for 
 brief periods I was entrusted with special duties. I 
 left him in the summer of 1864, in order to attend a 
 meeting of the Confederate Congress, of which I 
 was a member, and did not return to the army. 
 
 When the war ended General Price took to 
 Mexico the records of the several commands which 
 he had held, and also other important papers relat- 
 ing to the war. On returning to this country he 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 brought these records and papers with him and 
 gave them to me, with the understanding that I 
 would one day write the story of his campaigns. I 
 turned over most of them to the War Department 
 several years ago, and many of them have been, 
 and the rest will be, published in the Official Records 
 of the War of the Rebellion. 
 
 In preparing the political part of this volume, I 
 have relied chiefly upon the Journals of the General 
 Assembly of Missouri, and of the State Convention, 
 and on the ofBcial reports of their debates, and 
 upon contemporaneous publications, particularly 
 the Missouri Republican ; and upon the original 
 documents published in Peckham's Life of Lyon — a 
 book whose glaring faults are more than compen- 
 sated by the important facts the remembrance 
 whereof it has preserved. 
 
 For military details I am indebted above all to 
 the Official Records, which the Government is pub- 
 lishing. The zeal, the fairness, the intelligence, the 
 care, and the ability with which they have been col- 
 lected, compiled, arranged, and edited by Lieuten- 
 ant-Colonel Robert N. Scott, U. S. A., entitle that 
 gentleman to the gratitude of every one who took 
 an honorable part in the war, and of all \v\\o shall 
 ever desire to learn its true history. Valuable as 
 these Records are to the student, they need neverthe- 
 less the elucidation of those, who, by reason of their 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 personal knowledge of the men, and in other ways, 
 are competent to sift the statements of those wit- 
 nesses — most of them now silent forever — whose 
 testimony they perpetuate. As it was my fortune 
 to know personally most of the men who took a 
 prominent part in the struggle for Missouri, and 
 something about the character and credibility of 
 every one of them, I feel sure that my little book 
 will for that reason be a useful guide to those who 
 may wish to comprehend that struggle aright. 
 
 I have been greatly assisted in my search after 
 the truth by many of the survivors of the war, 
 who have furnished me important documents and 
 valuable reminiscences, all which I have freely used. 
 I would, perhaps, win favor for this volume if I were 
 to mention their names, but higher considerations 
 induce me to be silent. I must, however, express 
 my great obligations to Mr. R. I. Holcombe, author 
 of An Account of ilic Battle of Wilsons Creek, (or 
 much valuable information. 
 
 I have doubtless made many trifling mistakes and 
 may have made some that are important, but no 
 man ever labored more earnestly to ascertain the 
 truth and to tell it plainly and impartially, than I 
 have done, in preparing to write, and in writing, 
 this account of the fight that was made for Mis- 
 souri in 1861. 
 
 New York, fanuary, 18S6. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GOVERNOR. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Election of Lincoln — Meeting of Congress — Buchanan's Mes- 
 sage — He Denies the Right of Congress to Prevent Secession 
 by Force, and Urges Concessions to the Soutli — The North 
 Objects— The Crittenden Proposition — Tacit Agreement 
 between the President and South Carolina as to Reinforcing 
 Sumter — South Carolina Secedes — Major Anderson retires 
 to Fort Sumter — South Carolina sends Commissioners to 
 Washington — Failure of Negotiations — Meeting of the 
 General Assembly of Missouri — Message of Governor Stew- 
 art — Claiborne F. Jackson — His Inaugural 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 
 
 The President breaks off Negotiations with South Carolina, and 
 Orders Fort Sumter to be Secretly Reinforced — Southern 
 Senators advise their States to Secede — Lieutenant-Gover- 
 nor Reynolds — His Advice to Missouri — The General As- 
 sembly takes the First Steps towards Secession^— The Cotton 
 States Seize Federal Forts, Arsenals, etc. — The President's 
 Special Message — He Promises to Enforce the Laws 
 Everywhere — The Star of the West off Charleston — The 
 First Gun of the War — Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama 
 Secede— The North offers Men and Money to the President 
 — Union Meetings in Northern Cities — The Border Slave- 
 holding States Declare that they will Resist the Invasion of 
 the South — Great Union Meeting in St. Louis — It De- 
 nounces Coercion — The General Assembly Calls a Conven- 
 tion ; Receives a Commissioner from Mississippi ; and 
 Pledges the State to Resist Coercion 27 
 
X Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Canvass for the Convention —Secessionists, Union Men, Uncon- 
 ditional Union Men — Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas Secede 
 — Organization of the Confederate Government — Peace 
 Conventions : They Distract the Border States, and Divide 
 the Southern Men of Missouri — Rollins — Hall — Blair and 
 the Wide Awakes — The Union Men and Submissionists 
 carry the State — The Secession Majority in the Legislature 
 gives way — Postponement of the Bill to arm the State — The 
 Convention meets ; Sterling Price its President— Governor 
 Jackson, Parsons, and Vest still defiant — The Commissioner 
 from Georgia — Vest's Speech-^-The North and the South 
 prepare for War — The General Assembly Submits— Failure 
 of the Military Bill— The Debate in the House 53 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CONVENTIOX. 
 
 The State Convention — Gamble's Report and Resolutions — 
 Amendments Proposed — Debates — William A. Hall — John 
 B. Henderson — Prince L. Hudgins — John T. Redd — James 
 O. Broadhead— Adoption of the Report and Resolutions 
 — The General Assembly — Election of United States Sena- 
 tor — Defeat of James S. Green — Blaine's Opinion of Him — 
 The Metropolitan Police Bill — Vest's Adverse Report on the 
 Action of the Convention —His Speech — The Legislature 
 Rejects the Recommendations of the Convention and Ad- 
 journs — The Revival of Secessionism — Defeat of the Coer- 
 cionists in St. Louis — Election of a Conservative Mayor 78 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FRANK KI.AIR REliELS AGAINST THE STATE. 
 
 The Department of the West — General William S. Harney — The 
 St. Louis Arsenal — Major William H. Bell— Isaac H. 
 Sturgeon — Federal Troops brought to St. Louis — Frank 
 Blair organizes Rebellion against the State — The Home 
 Guards — The Minute Men — Basil W. Duke — Frost's Bri- 
 
Contents. xi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 gade — Daniel M. Frost — His Negotiations with Major 
 Bell — General Scott removes Bell — Major Hagner in com- 
 mand , gg 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NATHANIEL LYON. 
 
 Nathaniel Lyon — A Sketch of the Man and of his Career — He is 
 ordered to the St. Louis Arsenal — Asserts his Right to the 
 Command there — The President Sustains Hagner — Lyon 
 wins Blair's Confidence — Drills and Disciplines the Plome 
 Guards — Renews his Contest with Hagner — Reinforcement 
 of the Arsenal — The State Election — Overwhelming defeat 
 of the Secessionists — Their Momentary Submission — Lyon 
 and Blair again urge Hagner's Displacement — Lyon de- 
 nounces Hagner's " Lnbecility or Damned Villainy," and 
 General Scott's "Sordid Partisanship and Fondness for 
 Toadies" — What He would do — The Minute Men try to 
 Provoke a Riot in St. Louis — Lyon Assigned to Command 
 of all the Troops at the Arsenal, but not over Hagner 
 and the Arsenal — The St. Louis Election — Defeat of the 
 Union Men — Their Alarm — Lyon in Command at St. Louis 
 — He distrusts Lincoln, but has faith in " Almighty Truth. " iig 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 THE ARSENAL. 
 
 Bombardment of Fort Sumter — The President calls for Seventy- 
 five Thousand Troops — The Response of the North — Its 
 effect at the South and in the Border States — The Missouri 
 Republican — Governor Jackson's Reply — Frost's Advice — 
 The Legislature Convened — A plan to Capture the Arsenal 
 — Commissioners sent South for Siege Guns — Frost's Brigade 
 Ordered into Encampment — The plan divulged to Harney 
 and Lyon — Lyon Calls on the Governor of Illinois for 
 Troops, and occupies the Hills around the x'Vrsenal — Bowen 
 ordered to Report with his Command to Frost — Lyon author- 
 ized to Arm the Home Guards — Harney Countermands the 
 Order — Seizure of Liberty Arsenal by Secessionists — Har- 
 ney ordered to Washington City— Lyon arms the Home 
 Guards, and sends the Surplus Arms to Alton 139 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CAMP JACKSON. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Douglas and the Northern Democrats Declare for the Union — 
 The North Unanimous — Missouri Threatened on Three 
 Sides by Federal Armies and St. Louis full of Federal Sol- 
 diers—The Border States Hesitate — The Confederacy Does 
 Nothing — Missouri Helpless and Submissive — The Govern- 
 or still Resolute — He Purchases Arms and Powder— Camp 
 Jackson— Lyon Authorized to Enlist Ten Thousand Men 
 and to proclaim Martial Law in St. Louis— Elected Briga- 
 dier-General of the Home Guards — Arms from the Confed- 
 eracy taken to Camp Jackson — Lyon Visits the Camp in 
 Disguise— Capture of Camp Jackson and the State Troops 
 — Rioting and Bloodshed — The General Assembly Enacts 
 the Military Bill and Confers Dictatorial Powers on the Gov- 
 ernor — A Panic in St. Louis — Harney Resumes Command 
 and Establishes Order in the City — Missourians see the 
 Danger of Seceding and begin to Submit 158 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BOTH SIDES PREPARE FOR W.AR. 
 
 Harney approves the Capture of Camp Jackson — Occupies St. 
 Louis — Asks for Troops from Iowa and Minnesota " for 
 Operations in Missouri " — Adjournment of the Legislature 
 — Sterling Price offers his service to the State — Is appointed 
 Major-General— Appointment of Brigadier-Generals — Vol- 
 unteers at Jefferson City — Marmaduke — McCulloch and Mc- 
 Intyre — Organization of the State Guard begun — The Price- 
 Harney Agreement — Dissatisfaction of Blair and Lyon — 
 They Procure Harney's Removal — Lyon in Command of 
 Missouri 177 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LYON DECLARES WAR. 
 
 Blair and Lyon outline their Plan of Campaign— Federal Forces 
 in and around Missouri— Defenceless Condition of the State 
 — The Governor and Price prepare for War — Attempts to pre- 
 
Contents. xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 serve the Neutrality of the State — The Planters' House Con- 
 ference — Lyon Declares War against the State — The Gov- 
 ernor's Proclamation — He calls out the Militia — Determines 
 to make a stand at Booneville and to hold the Missouri — 
 Abandons Jefferson City and retires to Booneville — Gen- 
 eral Price goes to Lexington 193 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 BOONEVILLE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 Lyon sends Sweeny and Sigel to the South-west — Pursues the 
 Governor — Occupies Jefferson City — Advances on Booneville 
 — The Engagement at Booneville — Important Consequences 
 — General Price at Lexington — Orders Rains to retreat 
 southward towards Lamar— Hastens to meet McCulloch — 
 Governor Jackson retreats toward Warsaw — The Cole Camp 
 Affair — Guibor and Barlow — Burbridge — The Governor 
 reaches Lamar — Is joined by Rains and Slack — Temporary 
 Organization of the State Guard — Lyon gets ready to Pur- 
 sue — Sturgis ordered to co-operate — Lyon and Sturgis move 
 toward Clinton — Sigel tries to intercept the Governor — The 
 Battle of Carthage — Defeat of Sigel 210 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATES ENTER MISSOURL 
 
 Ben McCulloch assigned to defence of the Indian Territory — 
 Concentrates his force, including Pearce's Brigade, near 
 Fort Smith — Governor Jackson, before leaving Jefferson 
 City, asks him to enter Missouri — McCulloch asks the Presi- 
 dent's consent — Advances to Maysville — Joins Price — 
 Marches with him to rescue the Governor and the Missouri 
 troops — Meets them — Price Assumes Command of the State 
 Guard — Cowskin Prairie — Reorganization of the State Guard 
 — Price's Difficulties — He surmounts them — Governor Jack- 
 son, Price, and McCulloch try to secure the co-operation of 
 Polk and Hardee — Polk sends Pillow to New Madrid, but 
 Hardee refuses to co-operate — Price, McCulloch, and 
 Pearce move against Springfield — They concentrate their 
 armies at Cassville 229 
 
xiv Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LYON MOVES OUT TO ATTACK. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Junction of Lyon and Sturgis near Clinton — They pursue the 
 (Governor — Lyon learns of Sigel's Defeat — Hurries to Spring- 
 field — Begs for Reinforcements — Denounces General Scott 
 — Fremont assumes Command of the Western Department — 
 Fails to reinforce Lyon — Lyon marches out to prevent the 
 Junction of Price and McCulloch — The Skirmish at Dug 
 Springs — Lyon retires to Springfield — Price induces Mc- 
 Culloch to Advance by i-elinquishing the Command to him 
 — The Confederates Camp on Wilson's Creek — McCulloch 
 hesitates to Advance — Price's Urgency — A Council of War 
 — A Night March Ordered and Countermanded — Lyon's 
 Perplexity and Despair — He cannot Retreat — He Orders an 
 Attack — His Last Letter to his Government 248 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK. 
 
 Lyon marches out by Night, and Surprises the Confederates — 
 —The Fight in the Cornfield— The Rout of Sigel— The Bat- 
 tle on Bloody Hill — The Death of Lyon — His Army re- 
 treats — The Dead and the Wounded 268 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 MCCULLOCH, PRICE, AND LYON. 
 
 McCulloch lets the Union Army Escape — Its Flight to Rolla — 
 The Confederate Government and McCulloch — His Mistak- 
 en Estimate of the Missouri Troops — Their Condition and 
 their true Character — Sterling Price — Lyon wins the Fight 
 for Missouri 239 
 
 Appendix 305 
 
 Index. 
 
 317 
 
I. POLITICAL. 
 
THE FIGHT FOR MISSOURI. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE GOVERNOR. 
 
 Election of Lincoln — Meeting of Congress — Buchanan's Message — 
 He Denies the Right of Congress to Prevent Secession by Force, 
 and Urges Concessions to the South — The North Objects — The 
 Crittenden Proposition — Tacit Agreement between the President 
 and South Carolina as to Reinforcing Sumter — South Carolina 
 ^scedes — Major Anderson retires to Fort Sumter — South Carolina 
 sends Commissioners to Washington — Failure of Negotiations — 
 Meeting of the General Assembly of Missouri — Message of Gov- 
 ernor Stewart — Claiborne F. Jackson — His Inaugural. 
 
 The enactment in 1850 of a Fugitive Slave 
 Law, some of whose provisions were not only 
 inconsistent with the civilization of the age, but 
 required citizens of Massachusetts, New York, and 
 Ohio to do what no self-respecting Virginian could 
 have been forced to do ; together with the repeal, 
 in 1854, of the Missouri Compromise, brought about, 
 in i860, the election of Abraham Lincoln to the 
 Presidency, and the transfer of the Federal Govern- 
 ment to a party which was pledged to prevent the 
 extension of slavery beyond the limits of the 
 States in which it was then established by law, and 
 
4 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 whose ablest and most influential leaders were 
 known to be in favor of using all lawful means to 
 abolish it even within those States. 
 
 Thoroughly frightened by this fact, for they 
 firmly believed that their well-being, and indeed 
 their safety, were involved in the continued ex- 
 istence of slavery, all of the Cotton States, except 
 Texas (whose action was hindered by her governor, 
 Gen. Houston), took instant steps to secede from 
 the Union, and to establish a slave-holding Con- 
 federacy ; and when Congress met on the 3d of 
 December, it had become certain that one, at least, 
 of these States would secede before the end of the 
 year. 
 
 President Buchanan, in calling the attention of 
 Congress to this fact, in his annual message, im- 
 plored it to consider carefully what the Government 
 must do ; to consider whether it had the power by 
 force of arms to compel a State to remain within 
 the Union ; and whether, if it had the power, it 
 would be expedient to exercise it. For his own 
 part he did not believe that the Constitution dele- 
 gated any such power to Congress, or to any other 
 department of the Government ; but, on the con- 
 trary, that to make war against a State was at vari- 
 ance with the whole spirit and intent of the Consti- 
 tution. " Congress," said he, " possesses many 
 means of preserving the Union by conciliation, but 
 
TJie Governor. 5 
 
 the sword was not placed in its hand to preserve it 
 by force." The best way to preserve it was, in his 
 Dpinion, to satisfy the just demands of the South 
 by adopting a Constitutional amendment which 
 should not only protect slavery in the States where 
 it was already established, but in all of the Terri- 
 tories, so long as they remained Territories ; and 
 which should also compel the Northern States to 
 restore fugitive slaves to their owners. He prom- 
 ised that while Congress was considering this all- 
 important matter he would, to the extent of his 
 ability, defend the public property, and take care 
 that the Federal laws should be enforced, in all the 
 States. 
 
 The President's recommendations were referred 
 In both Senate and House to special committees, 
 but it soon became manifest that the North would 
 not give heed to them. Mr. Crittenden, therefore, 
 submitted what became known as the Crittenden 
 Proposition. It differed from the President's 
 chiefly in this, that, while requiring Congress to en- 
 force the rendition of fugitive slaves, and to protect 
 slavery in the States where it then existed, it de- 
 clared that slavery should never exist north of the 
 Missouri Compromise line, but should be protected 
 in all the territory south of that line (36° 30' north 
 latitude). 
 
 As the South claimed that it had the right to de- 
 
6 The Fight fo?- Missouri. 
 
 mand protection for its slave property in all oi the 
 common territory of the Union, it felt that it would 
 be yielding a great deal for the sake of peace, and 
 the preservation of the Union, if it consented to 
 accept Mr. Crittenden's proposition. But every 
 Southern State, with the exception of South Caro- 
 lina, manifested its willingness to accept it. Most 
 Northern Democrats quickly showed their willing- 
 ness to sustain it, and the President, abandoning his 
 own proposition, urged the country to adopt Mr. 
 Crittenden's. 
 
 Many Republicans, too, averse to strife and 
 bloodshed, consented to it, while others, like Hor- 
 ace Greeley, were ready to let the Cotton States go 
 in peace, if they thought that they could do better 
 out of the Union than in it. But the great majority 
 of Republicans were not willing either to concede 
 to the South the right to establish slavery in the 
 Territories, or to let any State secede. They would 
 not abandon, in the hour of victory, the principles 
 for which they had manfully contended through 
 forty years of defeat and disaster ; nor would they 
 let those, whom they had just vanquished, destroy 
 the Union in the very hour that it was about to 
 be dedicated, as they believed, to a wider freedom 
 and a higher humanity. They were content to await 
 the fast-coming 4th of March. 
 
 Meanwhile the Cotton States were all hastening 
 
The Governor. y 
 
 towards secession. This brought the President to 
 the consideration of the most important question 
 that had ever been submitted to any President : 
 Whether he should attempt to reinforce the Fed- 
 eral forts in those States which were preparing to 
 secede. 
 
 While denying his own right, and the right of Con- 
 gress, to n^ake war upon a State, he had expressly 
 said in his message that it was his duty and his 
 determination to protect the public property, and 
 to enforce the laws, in all the States. On the other 
 hand, he knew that, if he attempted to reinforce the 
 forts at Charleston, the attempt would be regarded 
 by the South Carolinians as a threat of subjuga- 
 tion, and would be resented by them as an act of 
 war. 
 
 Happily the Representatives of South Carolina in 
 Congress came to his assistance by giving him the 
 strongest assurances that South Carolina would 
 neither attack nor molest the forts, until her State 
 Convention had met and decided to withdraw the 
 State from the Union ; nor until she had sent com- 
 missioners to treat with the Federal Government 
 as to the forts and other matters ; provided the 
 Government of the United States would not, mean- 
 while, send any reinforcements to the forts, or 
 change the military status in Charleston harbor. 
 
 The President, while accepting these assurances 
 
8 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 " as a happy omen that peace might still be pre- 
 served, and time be thus gained for reflection," 
 replied that, whilst he could not promise not to rein- 
 force the forts, it was his then determination not to 
 reinforce them until they should be actually at- 
 tacked, or until he had certain evidence that they 
 were about to be attacked. 
 
 Upon this tacit understanding both the President 
 and the State continued to act in good faith until 
 after the State had seceded. 
 
 General Scott, who had been detained in New 
 York by sickness, came to Washington on the I2th 
 of December, and, being ignorant of the assurances 
 which had been given to the President by the 
 South Carolina representatives, urged him, at an 
 interview on the 15th, to send a reinforcement of 
 300 men to Major Anderson, at Charleston. The 
 President, knowing that Major Anderson was in 
 no danger of attack, and that an attempt to reinforce 
 him would needlessly " impair the hope of compro- 
 mise, provoke collision, and disappoint the country," 
 refused to send the reinforcements. General Cass, 
 who had insisted upon the President's compliance 
 with General Scott's advice, thereupon resigned the 
 Secretaryship of State (December 15th). The res- 
 ignation was rather gladly accepted, and Judge 
 Black became Secretary of State, while Edwin M. 
 Stanton succeeded Black as Attorney-General. 
 
The Governor. o 
 
 Howell Cobb had already resigned the Secretary- 
 ship of the Treasury (December 8th) and returned 
 to Georgia. 
 
 On the 20th of December the South Carolina 
 Convention adopted an ordinance of secession, and 
 sent commissioners to Washington to treat with the 
 United States Government as to the forts within 
 her limits, and as to other matters. 
 
 These commissioners reached Washington on the 
 26th of December; but the very next morning — be- 
 fore they had had time to present their credentials 
 to the Secretary of State — they were themselves 
 startled, and the whole country electrified, by the 
 news that, during the preceding night. Major Ander- 
 son had secretly dismantled Fort Moultrie, spiked 
 its guns, burnt the gun-carriages, and removed his 
 command to Fort Sumter, which occupied a more 
 tenable, and a more commanding, position in the 
 harbor. 
 
 The Secretary of War, Governor Floyd, of Vir- 
 ginia, protested against Major Anderson's conduct 
 in a paper which he read, on the 27th of December, 
 to the President, in presence of the Cabinet. In 
 this paper he insisted that Major Anderson had, by 
 removing his command to Fort Sumter, changed 
 the military status at Charleston, and had thereby 
 violated a solemn pledge of the Government ; that 
 there was now but one way to vindicate the honor 
 
lO TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 of the Administration and to prevent civil war ; 
 and that was to withdraw the garrison from the 
 harbor of Charleston altogether. He accordingly- 
 asked the President to authorize him to make that 
 order at once. The President refused to do this, 
 and on the 29th of December the Secretary of War 
 tendered his resignation, saying that he could no 
 lon":er hold the office " under his convictions of 
 patriotism, nor with honor; subjected as he was to 
 the violation of solemn pledges and plighted faith." 
 His resignation was instantly accepted, and Post- 
 master-General Holt was transferred to the War 
 Department. 
 
 The South Carolina commissioners had presented 
 their credentials to the President on the 28th. He 
 said at once that he " could only recognize them as 
 private gentlemen, and not as commissioners from 
 a sovereign State," but would communicate to Con- 
 gress — " the only competent tribunal " to which 
 they could appeal — any proposition which they 
 might have to offer. 
 
 To this the commissioners replied that they could 
 not offer any proposition, nor even enter upon the 
 negotiations with which they had been entrusted, 
 until Major Anderson's conduct had been satisfac- 
 torily explained, nor until the United States troops 
 had been removed not only from Fort Sumter, but 
 away from the ha/bor of Charleston. These de- 
 
The Cover }ior. 1 1 
 
 mands were formally repeated in a written com- 
 munication which they sent to the President the 
 next day. 
 
 While considering the reply which he should 
 make to this communication the President learned 
 that the authorities of South Carolina had, on the 
 day after Major Anderson's removal to Sumter, 
 seized Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, the Custom- 
 House, and the Post-Ofifice, and had raised the 
 Palmetto flag over them all ; that every cfificer of 
 the Customs — collector, naval ofificer, surveyor, and 
 appraiser — together with the postmaster, had re- 
 signed their appointments; and that, on Sunday, 
 the 30th of December, the State had seized the 
 Arsenal of the United States, containing $500,000 
 worth of munitions of war, and had expelled the 
 United States Government from all its property 
 except Fort Sumter. 
 
 Distressed and angered by these facts, the Presi- 
 dent replied to the South Carolina commissioners 
 that he would not withdraw the Federal troops 
 from Fort Sumter ; but would, on the contrary, 
 defend that fort by all the means in his power, 
 against all attacks from whatever quarter they might 
 proceed. This reply was delivered to the commis- 
 sioners on the 31st of December. 
 
 On that day the Senate Committee of Thirteen 
 reported that they could not agree upon any settle- 
 
12 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 ment of the questions at issue between the North 
 and the South. 
 
 In the midst of the great excitement that was 
 caused by these momentous events, the General 
 Assembly of Missouri met at Jefferson City on the 
 last day of December, i860. 
 
 At the presidential election Lincoln had received 
 in the entire State barely seventeen thousand of the 
 one hundred and sixty-five thousand votes which 
 were cast, and most of these were given to him by 
 the German inhabitants of the State. Fifty-eight 
 thousand eight hundred and one had been given to 
 Douglas ; fifty-eight thousand three hundred and 
 seventy-two to Bell, and thirty-one thousand three 
 hundred and seventeen to Breckinridge. 
 
 The General Assembly reflected the sentiment of 
 the people as expressed in the presidential election. 
 In the Senate there was only one Republican ; in 
 the House there were twelve Republicans, thirty- 
 seven Bell men, and eighty-three Democrats. 
 
 The outgoing Governor, Robert M. Stewart, trans- 
 mitted his message to the two Houses on the 3d of 
 January. 
 
 Stewart was a typical Northern Democrat. He 
 believed that the Southern people had the constitu- 
 tional right to take their slaves into all the Territo- 
 ries and to hold them there, under the protection 
 of the territorial and Federal laws, and that this 
 
The Governor. 1 3 
 
 right ought to be assured to them. Not that he 
 loved slavery, for he did not ; but because he loved 
 the Union and revered the Constitution. 
 
 Himself a native of New York, though long time 
 a resident of Missouri, he felt none of that humilia- 
 tion which most Southern men felt in view of the 
 fact that the long political struggle between the 
 North and the South had at last ended in the defeat 
 of the South, and in the triumph of the abolitionized 
 North ; none of that blended anger and apprehen- 
 sion, which they felt, in contemplation of the fact 
 that the South was thenceforth to be ruled by a 
 party hostile to their institutions and unfriendly to 
 their people. 
 
 The right of secession he not only denied, but he 
 denied it utterly ; and believed too that South Caro- 
 lina was acting with consummate folly in attempt- 
 ing to destroy a Union, which was the source of all 
 her prosperity, and her surest bulwark and defence. 
 
 As to Missouri, site certainly had no right to 
 secede. For she belonged to the United States by 
 right of purchase— had been bought by the Federal 
 Government, and paid for out of its treasury. What- 
 ever other States might do, it was her plain duty, 
 and her interest, too, to remain within the Union. 
 
 His message set forth clearly and strongly his own 
 feelings and opinions at the beginning of the New 
 Year, and it expressed in great measure the senti- 
 
14 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 ments of a majority of the people of Missouri, at 
 that time. 
 
 " Missouri occupies a position in regard to these 
 troubles that should make her voice potent in the 
 councils of the nation. With scarcely a disunionist 
 per se to be found in her borders, she is still deter- 
 mined to demand, and to maintain, her rights at every 
 hazard. She loves the Union while it is the pro- 
 tector of equal rights, but will despise it as the in- 
 strument of wrong. She came into the Union upon 
 a compromise, and is willing to abide by a fair com- 
 promise 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 all 
 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 the abduction of slaves, as all the rest of 
 the Southern States. At this moment several of the 
 western counties are desolated, and almost depopu- 
 lated, from fear of a bandit horde, who have been 
 committing depredations — arson, theft, and foul 
 murder — upon the adjacent border. 
 
 " Missouri haa a right, too, to be heard by reason 
 
TJic Governor. 15 
 
 of her present position and power, as well as from 
 the great calamities which a hasty dissolution of the 
 Union would bring upon her. She has already a 
 larger voting population than any of the slave States, 
 with prospective power and wealth far bej'ond any 
 of her sister States. . . . 
 
 "Indeed, Missouri and the other border Slave 
 States should be the first instead of the LAST, to 
 speak on a subject of this kind. They have suf- 
 fered the evil and the wrong, and they should be 
 the first to demand redress. . . . 
 
 *' 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 
 extreme South. If those, who should be our 
 friends and allies, undertake to render our property 
 worthless by a system of prohibitory laws, or by re- 
 opening the slave trade in opposition to the moral 
 sense of the civilized world, and at the same time 
 reduce us to the position of an humble sentinel to 
 watch over and protect their interests, receiving all 
 of the blows and none of the benefits, Missouri will 
 hesitate long before sanctioning such an arrange- 
 ment. She \v'ill rather take the high position of 
 
1 6 Tlie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 armed neutrality. She is able to take care of her- 
 self, 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 persist 
 in secession she will desire to see them go in peace, 
 with the hope that a short experience at separate 
 government, and an honorable readjustment of the 
 Federal compact, will induce them to return to 
 their former position. In the mean time Missouri 
 will hold herself in readiness, at any moment, to 
 defend her soil from pollution and her property 
 from plunder by fanatics and marauders, come 
 from what quarter they may. The people of 
 Missouri will choose this deliberate, conservative 
 course, both on account of the blessings they have 
 derived from the Union, and the untold and un- 
 imagined evils that will come with its dissolution. 
 
 "... Whilst I would recommend the adop- 
 tion of all proper measures and influences to secure 
 the just acknowledgment and protection of our 
 rights, and in the final failure of this, a resort to 
 the last painful remedy of separation ; yet, regard- 
 ing, as I do, the American Confederacy as the 
 source of a thousand blessings, pecuniary, social, 
 and moral, and its destruction as fraught with in- 
 calculable loss, suffering, and crime, I would here, 
 in my last public official act as Governor of Mis- 
 
TJic Governor. 17 
 
 souri, record my solemn protest against unwise and 
 hasty action, and my unalterable devotion to the 
 Union so long as it can be made the protector of 
 equal rights." 
 
 In the evening Claiborne F. Jackson took the 
 oath of ofifice as Governor, in the presence of both 
 Houses. 
 
 Born in Kentucky, of Virginia parents, he had 
 come to Missouri in his boyhood and found em- 
 ployment in a country store in Howard County. 
 By the time that he was thirty he hj;d acquired a 
 sufificient fortune to retire from business and to de- 
 vote himself to politics, for which he had a natural 
 aptitude and great fondness. Saline County sent 
 him to the Legislature in 1836. He was one of 
 the delegates from Howard County to the State 
 Convention of 1845, ^'^<^ one of its representatives 
 in the Legislature in 1846. He was a member of 
 the State Senate in 1848-9, and, as Chairman of 
 the Committee on Federal Affairs, reported the 
 Resolutions which bear his name. These resolutions 
 took high Southern ground on the matter of slavery 
 in the territory then just acquired from Mexico, and 
 instructed Colonel Benton and his colleague in the 
 United States Senate to conform their action to the 
 doctrines therein laid down. Benton refused to obey, 
 and appealed from the Legislature to the people of 
 Missouri. In the angry contest v/hich ensued Jack- 
 
1 8 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 son bore a conspicuous part, and was ever after rec- 
 oernized as one of the ablest leaders of the anti- 
 Benton, or Southern Rights' Democrats. 
 
 His election as Governor had devolved upon him 
 the gravest responsibilities. He now assumed the 
 office with becoming modesty, but with an unshak- 
 able determination to defend the honor and the in- 
 terests of Missouri against all assailants whatever. 
 
 He was fifty-five years of age ; tall, erect, and 
 dignified; a vigorous thinker, ^ and a fluent and 
 forcible speaker, always interesting, and often elo- 
 quent ; a well-informed man, thoroughly conversant 
 with the politics of Missouri and of the Union ; 
 with positive opinions on all public questions, and 
 the courage to express and uphold them ; courteous 
 in his bearing towards all men, for he was kind- 
 hearted, and by nature a democrat ; and a truthful, 
 honest, and honorable gentleman. He loved the 
 Union, but not with the love with which he loved 
 Missouri, which had been his home for forty years, 
 nor as he loved the South, where he was born, and 
 where his kindred lived. 
 
 In his inaugural address to the General Assembly, 
 he said, after rapidly commenting upon the growth 
 of the antislavery party : 
 
 " The prominent characteristic of this party . . . 
 is that it is purely sectional in its locality and its 
 principles. The only principle inscribed upon its 
 
TJie Governor. 19 
 
 banner is Hostility to Slavery; ... its object, 
 not merely to confine slavery within its present 
 limits ; not merely to exclude it from the Terri- 
 tories, and prevent the formation and admission of 
 any slave-holding States ; not merely to abolish it in 
 the District of Columbia, and interdict its passage 
 from one State to another ; but to strike down its 
 existence everywhere ; to sap its foundation in pub- 
 lic sentiment ; to annoy and harass, and gradually 
 destroy its vitality, by every means, direct or indi- 
 rect, physical and moral, which human ingenuity 
 can devise. The triumph of such an organization is 
 not the victory of a political party, but the domina- 
 tion of a Section. It proclaims in significant tones 
 the destruction of that equality am>ong the States 
 which is the vital cement of our Federal Union. It 
 places fifteen of the thirty-three States in the posi- 
 tion of humble recipients of the bounty, or sullen 
 submissionists to the power, of a government, which 
 they had no voice in creating, and in whose coun- 
 cils they do not participate. 
 
 " It cannot, then, be a matter of surprise to any 
 — victors or vanquished — that these fifteen States, 
 with a pecuniary intei*est at stake reaching the 
 enormous sum of $3,500,000,000 should be aroused 
 and excited at the advent of such a party to power. 
 . . . Would it not rather be an instance of un- 
 precedented blindness and fatuity, if the people and 
 
20 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 governments of these fifteen slave-holding States 
 were, under such circumstances, to manifest quiet 
 indifference, and to make no effort to avoid the de- 
 struction which awaited them ? . . . 
 
 "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 dan- 
 ger, and the extent of the interest at stake. The 
 cotton-growing States, having a larger and more 
 vital interest in jeopardy than the Border States, 
 arc the first to awaken to a sense of insecurity. 
 The sagacious Southern statesman is fully aware 
 that his section, although necessarily the last vic- 
 tim, will be the greatest sufferer ; that when the out- 
 posts yield, the citadel will not long afford safety. 
 With them the alternative is the maintenance of 
 that institution which Great Britain forced upon 
 their ancestors, or the conversion of their homes 
 into desert wastes. With them it is not a mere 
 question of property, but, what is to them dearer 
 than property or life, a question of duty and of 
 honor. 
 
 " It has been said to be quite easy to bear the 
 calamities of our neighbors with philosophical 
 equanimity. Let us not illustrate this maxim by 
 criticising the precipitancy of the South. They are 
 
The Governor. 2 1 
 
 not the aggressors. They only ask to be let alone. 
 If some have regarded their action as hasty, has not 
 the occasion been extraordinary ? I do not stand 
 here to justify or to condemn the action of South 
 Carolina in withdrawing her allegiance to the Fed- 
 eral Government. She is a gallant State, and will 
 not forfeit that renown which a long list of distin- 
 guished dead has conferred on her history. When 
 she unrolls that list — when she points to her Mar- 
 ions and Sumters, and Jaspers and Moultries, and 
 Laurenses and McDonalds, to her Pinckneys, and 
 Rutledges, and Middletons, to her Lowndeses and 
 Chevises, and McDufifies and Hamiltons, to her 
 Haynes and Legares, to her Prestons and her But- 
 lers, and to that pre-eminent statesman v/ho divided 
 the public esteem with Webster and Clry — her sis- 
 ter States, blessed with larger and more fertile terri- 
 tory, may well covet the glory of having given birth 
 to such citizens, and may at least safely leave the 
 honor of the State in the hands of their descend- 
 ants. If South Carolina has acted hastily, let not 
 her error lead to the more fatal one — an attempt at 
 coercion. 
 
 " The destiny of the slave-holding States of this 
 Union is one and the same. . . . The identity, 
 rather than the similarity, of their domestic institu- 
 tions ; their political principles and party usages ; 
 their common origin, pursuits, tastes, manners, and 
 
22 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 customs ; their territorial contiguity and commer- 
 cial relations — all contribute to bind them together 
 in one sisterhood. And Missouri will in my opinion 
 best consult her own interests, and the interests of 
 the whole country, by a timely declaration of her 
 determination to stand by her sister slave-holding 
 States, in whose wrongs she participates, and with 
 whose institutions and people she sympathizes. 
 
 " These views are advanced, gentlemen, not upon 
 a belief that all hope of the present Union is lost, 
 but upon a conviction that the time has arrived 
 when a further postponement of their consideration 
 would be unwise and unsafe. The issue of present 
 embarrassments depends entirely upon the senti- 
 ments and action of the North. I trust that there 
 is patriotism enough left in our common country to 
 harmonize the conflicting views now in agitation, 
 and to/ place the Union on a basis consistent with 
 the honor and safety of its constituent members. 
 So far as Missouri is concerned, her citizens have 
 ever been devoted to the Union, and she will remain 
 in it so long as there is any hope that it will main- 
 tain the spirit and guarantees of the Constitution. 
 
 " But if the Northern States have determined to 
 put the slave-holding States on a footing of inequal- 
 ity, by interdicting them from all share in the Ter- 
 ritories acquired by the common blood and treasure 
 of all ; if they have resolved to admit no more slave- 
 
The Governor. 23 
 
 holding States into the Union ; and if they mean to 
 persist in nulHfying that provision of the Constitu- 
 tion, which secures to the slave-holder his property 
 when found within the limits of States which do 
 not recognize it, or have abolished it ; then they 
 have themselves practically abandoned the Union, 
 and will not expect our submission to a government 
 on terms of inequality and subordination. 
 
 " We hear it suggested in some quarters that the 
 Union is to be maintained by the sword. Such 
 suggestions, it is to be hoped, have sprung from 
 momentary impulse, and not from cool reflection. 
 The project of maintaining the Federal Government 
 by force may lead to consolidation or despotism, 
 but not to Union. . . . That stands upon the 
 basis of justice and equality, and its existence can- 
 not be prolonged by coercion. . . . The first 
 drop of blood shed in a war of aggression upon a 
 sovereign State will arouse a spirit which must 
 result in the overthrow of our entire Federal sys- 
 tem, and which this generation will never sec 
 quelled. 
 
 " As the ultimate fate of all the slave-holding 
 States is necessarily the same, their determination 
 and action in the present crisis should be the result 
 of a general consultation. To produce united ac- 
 tion there must be united counsel ; and as the 
 wrong is common to all, the redress for the wrong 
 
24 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 should be submitted to the consideration and judg- 
 ment of all. It may not become me, therefore, to 
 suggest what ought to be the ultimatum to be in- 
 sisted upon by the slave-holding States. Candor 
 compels me to say, however, that a mere Congres- 
 sional compromise is not to be thought of. . . . 
 Experience shows that such compromises only lay 
 the foundation for additional agitation. They are 
 but laws, and like all other laws, liable to be re- 
 pealed ; and their duration depends altogether upon 
 the fluctuations of public opinion, operating through 
 the representatives of that opinion at Washington. 
 The object of Constitutional guarantees is to protect 
 the rights of minorities, and it is to such guarantees, 
 and not to Legislative compromises, that the South 
 must look for protection and security. 
 If the Northern States are willing to remain with 
 the South under a general government, where do- 
 mestic slavery is entitled to the protection of that 
 government, instead of being the object of its hos- 
 tility, they can have no reasonable objection so to 
 declare in terms, and in a form which will leave no 
 ground for cavil or misunderstanding. If they are 
 not content with such an association, it is due to 
 their own character, as well as to the rights of their 
 associate States, that their determination should be 
 made known. 
 
 '' I am not without hope that an adjustment 
 
The Governor. 25 
 
 alike honorable to both sections may be effected, 
 . . . but in the present unfavorable aspect of 
 public affairs it is our duty to prepare for the 
 worst. We cannot avoid danger by closing our 
 eyes to it. The magnitude of the interests now in 
 jeopardy demands a prompt but deliberate consider- 
 ation ; 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 this way the whole subject will be brought di- 
 rectly before the people at large, who will determine 
 for themselves what is to be the ultimate action of 
 the State. . . . 
 
 " In view of the marauding forays which continue 
 to harass our borders, as well as of the general un- 
 settled condition of our political relations, a due re- 
 gard to our honor and safety requires a thorough 
 organization of our militia." 
 
 Both Stewart and Jackson held the North solely 
 responsible for the deplorable condition of the 
 country ; both of them maintained that the only 
 way to prevent the dissolution of the Union was for 
 the North to give to the South Constitutional guar- 
 antees against the threatened aggressions of the 
 Abolitionists; and both insisted that if the North 
 should refuse to give these guarantees, and the 
 Southern States should thereupon attempt to with- 
 
26 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 draw from the Union, the Federal Government 
 ought not to undertake to coerce them to remain 
 within it, but should let them go in peace. 
 
 Thus far they agreed, and thus far nine-tenths of 
 all the people of Missouri agreed with them. 
 
 But when they came to consider what Missouri 
 ought to do, in case the Federal Government 
 should undertake to maintain the Union by force 
 of arms, Governor Stewart, true to his Northern 
 birth and Northern associations, insisted that Mis- 
 souri must adhere to the Union ; while Governor 
 Jackson, true to his Southern birth and sympathy 
 with the South, insisted with equal earnestness that 
 she should stand by her sister slave-holding States, 
 and share their destiny. 
 
 But most men — nearly all men — still believed 
 that a compromise would be agreed upon; that 
 secession would be stayed ; that even South Caro- 
 lina would resume her place in the Union ; and that 
 Missouri would never be called upon to choose 
 between the North and the South! 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 
 
 The President breaks off Negotiations with South Carolina, and Or- 
 ders Fort Sumter to be Secretly Reinforced— Southern Senators 
 advise their States to Secede — Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds — 
 His Advice to Missouri — The General Assembly takes the First 
 Steps towards Secession — The Cotton States Seize P'ederal Forts, 
 Arsenals, etc. — The President's Special Message — He Promises to 
 Enforce the Laws Everywhere — The Star of the West off Charles- 
 ton — The First Gun of the War — Mississippi, Florida, and Ala- 
 bama Secede — The North offers Men and Money to the President 
 — Union Meetings in Northern Cities— The Border Slave-holding 
 States Declare that they will Resist the Invasion of the South — 
 Great Union Meeting in St. Louis — It Denounces Coercion — The 
 General Assembly Calls a Convention ; Receives a Commissioner 
 from Mississippi ; and Pledges the State to Resist Coercion. 
 
 The President's declaration to the South Caro- 
 h'na commissioners, that he not only would not 
 withdraw the United States troops from Fort Sum- 
 ter, but would, on the contrary, defend that strong- 
 hold to the best of his ability, elicited from the 
 commissioners, on the 2d of January, a reply which 
 was, in the opinion of the President and his Cabi- 
 net, " so violent, unfounded, and disrespectful," that 
 he could not receive it. He therefore sent it back 
 to the commissioners, and, the negotiations having 
 
28 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 been thus angrily terminated, they returned to 
 South Carolina. 
 
 This incident left no doubt in the minds of those 
 who were made acquainted with its details, that the 
 President would take prompt measures to repossess 
 those forts which had been seized, and to reinforce 
 and hold those over which the flag of the Union 
 still floated. 
 
 He had, in fact, already acted. For while negoti- 
 ations with South Carolina were still pending — 
 on the very Sunday, indeed, that Jie prepared the 
 communication in which he announced to the com- 
 missioners his purpose to hold Fort Sumter — he 
 had concerted with General Scott and the Secre- 
 tary of War plans for reinforcing and provision- 
 ing Fort Sumter, and had that day ordered them 
 and the Secretary of the Navy to secretly de- 
 spatch to Sumter a fast-sailing steamer laden 
 with men and supplies for the fort. General Scott 
 insisted at first upon the immediate execution of 
 this order, but finally assented to the President's 
 suggestion that it would not be " gentlemanly and 
 proper" to reinforce the fort till after the negotia- 
 tions had been terminated. The order was ac 
 cordingly withheld from execution until the com- 
 missioners had left Washington. 
 
 Friday, the 4th of January, had been set apart by 
 the President, and hy the Governors of most of the 
 
TJic General Assembly. 29 
 
 States which had not seceded, as a " Day of Na- 
 tional Humiliation, Fasting, and Pra)^r." In no 
 part of the Union was it more devoutly observed 
 than in Missouri. 
 
 Hardly, however, had the people risen from their 
 supplications, when, with the coming of the next 
 day's sun, salvos of artillery, reverberating from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, proclaimed the grim ap- 
 proval with which the loyal North regarded Major 
 Anderson's warlike act. 
 
 On the same day the Star of the West, by order 
 of the President, crept stealthily out of the harbor 
 of New York, bearing men and munitions of war 
 southward towards Sumter. 
 
 On the same fateful day the Senators of Georgia, 
 Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and 
 Arkansas, satisfied that the Federal Government was 
 making ready to coerce their States by force of 
 arms to remain within the Union, and that the 
 President was even then sending troops to overawe 
 them into submission, met at Washington and sol- 
 emnly advised their respective States to secede at 
 once and organize a slave-holding Confederacy. 
 
 Missouri, awakened from her dreams of peace by 
 the swelling din of the approaching conflict, seemed 
 for a moment about to respond to the wise counsels 
 of her chief magistrate, and to arm herself for in- 
 evitable war. 
 
30 The Fig/it for Missouri. 
 
 Among those who most urgently besought her 
 people to follow these counsels, was the Lieutenant- 
 Governor of the State, Thomas Caute Reynolds. 
 He was then nearly forty years of age, a man of 
 medium height and compact mould, with regular 
 features, that were at once refined and strong — a 
 rather handsome man. His jet-black hair and beard 
 were always closely cut, and his dark eyes always 
 shaded by gold-rimmed glasses, which served a two- 
 fold purpose. A South Carolinian by birth, he was 
 a Virginian by race, and in full sympathy wdth the 
 conciliatory disposition of the Virginia people. He 
 was a man of many accomplishments and of grace- 
 ful manners, for he had been accustomed from child- 
 hood to the usages and refinements of good society, 
 and his active intellect had been highly cultivated 
 both at home and abroad. Latin and Greek were 
 almost as familiar to him as his own tongue, and he 
 spoke French and German and Spanish fluently 
 and gracefully. He was well taught in all the 
 learning of the Schools, and an adept in the myste- 
 rious ways of diplomacy, for which he had a strong, 
 natural predilection, that had been strengthened 
 by some service as Secretary of Legation and 
 Charge d'AfTaires ad interim, near the Court of 
 Madrid. Though he was a good speaker, it was 
 in counsel and in action that he excelled ; for his 
 busy intellect delighted to devise schemes, which it 
 
TJie General Assembly. 31 
 
 pleased his tireless energy to carry out ; and the 
 more difficult and the more intricate the pathway 
 to success, the more did it fascinate his diplomatic 
 brain, and the more command his unwearied efforts 
 to thread its mazes and overcome all its difficulties. 
 
 He was a man of tried courage, and had borne 
 his part in several " affairs," in one of which he had 
 wounded Gratz Brown. No one ever doubted his 
 integrity, and he had always discharged with scru- 
 pulous fidelity the duties of the various public 
 offices which he had held. A somewhat diligent 
 letter-writer, his letters were alike remarkable for 
 their admirable style and chirography, and generally 
 for their substantial good sense. He was wont to 
 number them after the manner of diplomatists, and 
 to keep a careful record of their contents. He 
 sometimes wrote what he had better have left un- 
 written, but his prudence and reticence, and a pas- 
 sionless judgment, generally controlled his pen, as 
 they always controlled his tongue. 
 
 He had sought the nomination for Lieutenant- 
 Governor, because of the actualities and the possi- 
 bilities of that position in the troublous times, 
 whose rapid approach he clearly foresaw. Prefer- 
 ring Breckinridge to Douglas, he had, nevertheless, 
 like Jackson, prudently — and fortunately, too, for 
 the glory of Missouri — supported the candidacy of 
 the gifted Illinoisan, and had thereby made his own 
 
32 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 election sure. Chosen Lieutenant - Governor in 
 August, he began at once to prepare himself for the 
 role which he proposed to enact. Diligent and 
 painstaking at all times, he was doubly so now ; for 
 he comprehended the vastness of the stage on which 
 he was to appear, and the grandeur of the tragedy 
 in which he proposed to play a conspicuous part. 
 When Congress met in December, he hurried to 
 Washington, and put himself in accord with the 
 most thoughtful Southern leaders. Returning to 
 Missouri, he anticipated both the message of Gov- 
 ernor Stewart, and the inaugural of Governor Jack- 
 son, by publishing, on the day that the Legislature 
 met, a letter in which he expounded his own views, 
 and advised Missouri what course to pursue in the 
 grave crisis that was already at hand. 
 
 In this letter he urged the General Assembly to 
 forthwith declare the determination of Missouri to 
 resist all attempts on the part of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment to coerce any State to remain in the Union 
 against her will, whether such coercion were at- 
 tempted by the exhibition and use of force, or by 
 peaceful efforts to collect the Federal revenues and 
 enforce the Federal laws within her limits after she 
 had seceded ; and pointed out very clearly " the 
 transparent sophistry " of drawing a distinction, as 
 President Buchanan had done, between " coercing a 
 State," and " compelling the citizens of a seceded 
 
TJic General Assembly. 33 
 
 State to obey the laws of the United States." " In 
 our system," he said, " a State is its people, citizens 
 compose that people, and to use force against cit- 
 izens acting by State authority is to coerce the 
 State and to wage war against it. To levy tribute, 
 molest commerce, or hold fortresses, are as much 
 acts of war as to bombard a city,' 
 
 He also advised the State that to make her de- 
 termination to oppose coercion effective, she must 
 without delay organi ze her militia thoroughly, and 
 make other pr^j5Sfatl®5-^Q<^ j^^teyer contingency 
 might happen. While this w^ "^ng done she 
 ought to cal\;a convention of alL_,-tne States, to 
 devise, if poss?bIe?'somc final adjiKgtmcnt of all con- 
 troversies. If she should fiiil to secure such adjust- 
 ment before the 4th of March, she "should not 
 permit Mr. Lincoln to exercise any act of govern- 
 ment " within her borders. 
 
 In appointing the Senate committees, the Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor, who was cx-officio President of the 
 Senate, took good care to so constitute them that 
 they should be favorable to the policy which he had 
 thus proposed. 
 
 Bills were immediately introduced (January 5) to 
 provide for calling a State Convention ; to arm and 
 equip the militia ; and one which was intended to 
 take away from the Republican Mayor of St. Louis 
 the power to call out the Wide-Awakes of that city 
 3 
 
34 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 in the event of political disturbances there. These 
 Widc-Awakcs were a semi-military organization, 
 composed almost exclusively of anti-slavery Ger- 
 mans, and it was feared that the Mayor would, if an 
 opportunity occurred, invest them with the panoply 
 of the law, and use them to subdue the Southern 
 sympathizers and to hold the city for Lincoln. 
 
 The prompt and almost unanimous favor with 
 which the General Assembly received these meas- 
 ures shows the strength of the feeling which was 
 then forcing Missouri onward towards secession. 
 To the casual observer it seemed to be irresistible, 
 and the Southern Rights people were exultant and 
 even defiant. 
 
 Nor was fuel to feed the flames of passion want- 
 ing in those early days of 1861. The Governors of 
 all the Gulf States, except Texas, taught by the 
 experience of South Carolina and warned by the 
 President's declaration that he was determined to 
 reinforce and hold all the Southern forts, resolved 
 to forthwith seize and occupy the forts within their 
 several States, without waiting, as South Carolina 
 had unwisely done, for their own formal secession. 
 
 The vigilant Governor of Georgia, Joseph E. 
 Brown, with that courage and common sense which 
 have distinguished his whole career, disdaining those 
 forms which are useful in peace but mischievous in 
 war, sent a detachment of State troops under Colo- 
 
TJie General Assembly. 35 
 
 nel Alexander R. Lawton to seize and occupy Fort 
 Pulaski, which commands the approach to Savannah 
 from the ocean ; and this order was executed on the 
 3d of January. 
 
 On the 4th, Governor Moore, of Alabama, seized 
 the United States Arsenal at Mt. Vernon, and on 
 the 5th occupied Forts Morgan and Gaines, which 
 guard the approach to Mobile. In announcing the 
 fact to the President, he said that he had seized 
 these forts because " it would have been an unwise 
 policy, suicidal in its character, to have permitted 
 the Government of the United States to make, 
 undisturbed, preparations within the State to en- 
 force by war and bloodshed an authority which it 
 was the fixed purpose of the people of Alabama to 
 resist to the uttermost of their power." 
 
 Florida for like reasons seized the United States 
 Arsenal at Apalachicola on the 6th, and Fort ]\Iar- 
 ion at St. Augustine on the 7th. 
 
 On the 9th of January the President laid before 
 Congress the correspondence which had taken place 
 between himself and the South Carolina commis- 
 sioners. He also informed that body that forts, 
 arsenals, and magazines of the United States had 
 been seized by several of the States which had not 
 yet seceded, and declared that the fact could no 
 longer be disguised that the country was " in the 
 midst of a great revolution." 
 
36 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 The responsibility for this condition of affairs 
 rested, he said, upon Congress alone, and it was for 
 Congress to adopt such measures as would secure 
 peace and union to a distracted country. He there- 
 fore implored them, in heaven's name, to submit the 
 Crittenden Compromise to a vote of the people, so 
 that the people might, as they surely would, " redress 
 the serious grievances which the South have suffered," 
 and bring back peace and harmony to the country. 
 
 While reiterating the opinion which he had ex- 
 pressed in his annual message, that neither he nor 
 Congress had any right to make aggressive war 
 upon any State, he now asserted the " clear and 
 undeniable right " of the Federal Government " to 
 use military force defensively against those who re- 
 sist the Federal officers in the execution of their 
 legal functions, and against those who assail the 
 property of the Government." 
 
 But while admitting that it was Jiis duty, and de- 
 claring that it was Jiis purpose, to collect the public 
 revenues and to protect the public property every- 
 where, so far as might be practicable, he said that 
 it was for Congress to enact the laws which would 
 give him the power to execute this duty ; and that 
 it should do this promptly. 
 
 He would take care meanwhile that the peace 
 of the District of Columbia should not be disturbed 
 during the remainder of his term of office. 
 
The General Assembly. ^y 
 
 Neither Congress nor the country paid any atten- 
 tion to the peaceful recommendations of the Presi- 
 dent ; for on that very day the first gun of the war 
 was fired, and the Star of the West, which had been 
 sent to the rehef of Sumter, was driven back to sea 
 by the batteries which South CaroHna had erected 
 for the defence of the harbor of Charleston. 
 
 The news sped over the land with the rapidity of 
 thought. The President's message was read by the 
 light of the lurid glare of that Southern cannonade. 
 Northern men thought, not of conciliation, but of 
 resenting the insult to the flag of the Union. 
 Southern men were enraged by what they believed 
 to be the President's duplicity, and his attempt to 
 overawe them. Both read the message to see what 
 the President would do. Both saw in it his fixed 
 purpose to make war upon the South, reluctantly, 
 sadly, and almost in despair, but to make war, nev- 
 ertheless, because he believed that it was his duty 
 to execute the laws and to protect the property of 
 the Federal Government. 
 
 Louisiana, warned by her senators at Washington 
 that reinforcements were on the way to Fort St. 
 Philip and Fort Jackson, which guard the entrance 
 to the Mississippi and are the only defences of 
 New Orleans in that direction, took possession of 
 the arsenal at Baton Rouge on the loth of January 
 and occupied the forts the next day. 
 
38 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Mississippi had seceded on the 9th. Florida se- 
 ceded on the loth, and as her troops were already- 
 gathering at Pcnsacola, Lieutenant Slemmer, com- 
 manding the forts in that harbor, transferred his 
 forces from the mainland to Fort Pickens. Florida 
 immediately occupied the abandoned barracks, forts, 
 and navy-yard. 
 
 On the nth (January) Alabama seceded and in- 
 vited all of the slave-holding States to meet the 
 people of Alabama by their delegates in convention 
 on the 4th of February at the city of Montgomery, 
 for the purpose of consulting with each other as to 
 the most effectual mode of securing concerted and 
 harmonious action in whatever measures might be 
 deemed most desirable for their common peace and 
 security. 
 
 Such was the reply of the Cotton States to the 
 President's attempt to reinforce Fort Sumter, and 
 to his threat to coerce the South into obedience to 
 the Federal laws. 
 
 The North was just as prompt and decisive in re- 
 senting the insult to the flag of the Union, and in de- 
 claring its determination to sustain the Government. 
 On the nth of January the Legislature of New York 
 adopted the following preamble and resolutions: 
 
 " IVhereas, treason, as defined by the Constitution 
 of the United States, exists in one or more of the 
 States of this Confederacy; and whereas, the insur- 
 
The General Assembly. 39 
 
 gent State of South Carolina, after seizing the post- 
 offices, custom house, moneys, and fortifications 
 of the Federal Government, has, by firing into a 
 Government vessel, ordered by the Government to 
 convey troops and provisions to Fort Sumter, virtu- 
 ally declared war ; and whereas, the forts and prop- 
 erty of the United States Government in Georgia, 
 Alabama, and Louisiana have been unlawfully seized 
 with hostile intention ; and whereas, further. Sena- 
 tors in Congress avow and maintain these treason- 
 able acts ; therefore, 
 
 '■'■ Resolved, That the Legislature of New York, pro- 
 foundly impressed with the value of the Union, and 
 determined to preserve it unimpaired, hail with joy 
 the recent firm, dignified, special message of the 
 President of the United States ; and that we tender 
 to him through the Chief Magistrate of our own 
 State whatever aid in men and money he may re- 
 quire to enable him to enforce the laws and uphold 
 the authority of the Federal Government ; and that 
 in defence of ' the more perfect Union,' which has 
 conferred prosperity and happiness on the American 
 people, renewing the pledge given and redeemed by 
 our fathers, we are ready to devote ' our fortunes, 
 our lives, and our sacred honor' to upholding the 
 Union and the Constitution." 
 
 The Legislatures of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Minne- 
 sota, Wisconsin, and Illinois spoke out in similar 
 
40 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 tones, and made it plain that every Northern State 
 would exert its whole power to maintain the Union 
 by force. 
 
 There were, however, in every Northern State 
 many men who shrank from the thought of a bloody 
 war, and who believed that the Union could not be 
 preserved by violence. 
 
 On the 31st of January a great meeting was held 
 in the city of New York to consider the condition 
 of the country. At this meeting James S. Thayer, 
 an old line Whig, made a speech, in which he said : 
 
 " We can, at least, in an authoritative way and in 
 a practical manner, arrive at the basis of a peaceable 
 separation (cheers). We can, at least, by discussion, 
 enlighten, settle, and concentrate the public senti- 
 ment of the State of New York upon the question, 
 and save it from that fearful current which, circui- 
 tously but certainly, sweeps madly on through the 
 narrow gauge of 'the enforcement of the laws 'to 
 the shoreless ocean of civil war ! (Cheers.) Against, 
 this under all circumstances and in every place and 
 form we must now, and at all times, oppose a reso- 
 lute and unfaltering resistance. . . . 
 
 " It is announced that the Republican Adminis- 
 tration will enforce the laws against, and in, all the 
 seceding States. . . . 
 
 " You remember the story of William Tell. . . . 
 Let an arrow winged by the Federal power strike 
 
The General Assembly. 41 
 
 the heart of an American citizen, and who can 
 number the avenging darts that will cloud the 
 heavens in the conflict that will ensue? (Prolonged 
 applause.) What then is the duty of the State of 
 New York? What shall we say to our people 
 when we come to meet this state of facts ? That 
 the Union must be preserved ! But if that cannot 
 be, what then ? Peaceable separation. (Applause.)" 
 
 Ex-Chanccllor Walworth said : 
 
 " It would be as brutal, in my opinion, to send 
 men to butcher our own brothers of the Southern 
 States, as it would be to massacre them in the 
 Northern States. We are told, however, that it is 
 our duty to enforce, and that w^e must enforce, the 
 laws. But why ? And what laws are to be enforced ? 
 There were laws that were to be enforced in the 
 time of the American Revolution. Did Lord Chat- 
 ham go for enforcing those laws? No ! he gloried 
 in the defence of the liberties of America. He 
 made that remarkable declaration in the British Par- 
 liament : 'If I were an American citizen, instead of 
 being, as I am, an Englishman, I never would sub- 
 mit to such laws, never, never , never!'" 
 
 Edward Everett, speaking at Faneuil Hall on 
 February 2d, said : 
 
 "To expect to hold fifteen States in the Union 
 by force is preposterous. The idea of a civil war 
 accompanied, c.s it would be, by a servile insurrec- 
 
42 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 tion, is too monstrous to be entertained for a mo- 
 ment. If our sister States must leave us, in the 
 name of Heaven let them go in peace ! " 
 
 The border slave-holding States were outspoken 
 against coercion. 
 
 On the 6th of January, Governor Hicks, in an 
 address to the people of Maryland, assigning his 
 reasons for refusing to convene the Legislature, 
 said : " Maryland is with the South in sympathy and 
 feeling. She demands from the North the repeal of 
 its offensive unconstitutional statutes, and appeals 
 to it for new guarantees. She will wait a reason- 
 able time for the North to purge her Statute Book, 
 so as to do justice to her Southern brethren, and if 
 her appeals are vain, she will make common cause 
 with her sister States in resistance to tyranny, if 
 need be." 
 
 The Virginia Legislature met on the 7th. Gov- 
 ernor Letcher, while condemning the action of 
 South CaroHna, insisted that the North had brought 
 about the present condition of affairs, and that it 
 was for it to end the rising strife. He declared 
 that he would regard any attempt of Federal troops 
 to pass across Virginia for the purpose of coercing a 
 Southern State as an act of invasion to be repelled 
 by force. On the 19th the Legislature resolved: 
 That if all efforts to reconcile the differences be- 
 tween the two sections of the country should prove 
 
The General Assembly. 43 
 
 abortive, then, every consideration of honor and in- 
 terest demanded that Virginia should unite her des- 
 tinies with those of her sister slave-holding States." 
 This resolution was unanimously adopted, and 
 $1,000,000 were appropriated for arming and equip- 
 ping the militia. 
 
 The Legislature of Tennessee called a State Con- 
 vention on the I2th of January, and on the i8th 
 adopted these resolutions: 
 
 " That this General Assembly has heard with pro- 
 found regret of the resolutions recently adopted by 
 the State of New York, tendering men and money 
 to the Presid-ent of the United States, to be used in 
 coercing certain sovereign States of the South into 
 obedience to the Federal Government. 
 
 " That this General Assembly receives the action 
 of the Legislature of New York as the indication 
 of a purpose on the part of the people of that State 
 to further complicate existing difficulties by forcing 
 the people of the South to the extremity of submis- 
 sion or resistance ; and so regarding it, the Governor 
 of the State of Tennessee is hereby requested to 
 inform the Executive of the State of New York, 
 that it is the opinion of this General Assembly that 
 whenever the authorities of that State shall send 
 armed forces to the South for the purpose indicated 
 in said resolutions, the people of Tennessee, unit- 
 ing with their brethren of the South, will, as one 
 
44 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 man, resist such invasion of the soil of the South at 
 all hazards and to the last extremity." 
 
 On the 17th, Governor Magofifin said to the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of Kentucky that though Kentucky 
 disapproved of the hasty and inconsiderate action of 
 the seceding States, Kentuckians would never stand 
 by with folded arms while those States were strug- 
 gling for their Constitutional rights, and were being 
 subjugated by an antislavery Government. On the 
 2 1st, the Legislature adopted the Tennessee Reso- 
 lutions. 
 
 Missouri seemed to be on the very verge of se- 
 cession. Even St. Louis denounced the coercion of 
 the South. At a great Union m.eeting held there 
 on the 1 2th of January, a meeting composed of 
 men who " believed that the rights and property of 
 all sections of the country could be better protected 
 within the American Union than by destroying the 
 Government " — a meeting called and controlled by 
 such staunch loyalists as Nathaniel Paschall, Hamil- 
 ton R. Gamble, James E. Yeatman, and Robert 
 Campbell — resolutions were unanimously adopted 
 declaring that 
 
 " 6. The possession of slave property is a Consti- 
 tutional right, and, as such, ought to be recognized 
 
The Genci'al Assembly, 45 
 
 by the Federal Government. And if the Federal 
 Government shall fail and refuse to secure this 
 right, the Southern States should be found united 
 in its defence, in which event Missouri will share 
 the common duties and common dangers of the 
 South. 
 
 "8. . . . We cordially approve of the prin- 
 ciples of adjustment contained in what are known as 
 the Crittenden Propositions. . . . 
 
 " 10. In the opinion of this meeting, the employ- 
 ment of the military forces of the Government to 
 enforce submission from the citizens of the seceding 
 States will inevitably plunge the countr}' in civil 
 war. . . . We therefore earnestly entreat, as well 
 the Federal Government as the seceding States, to 
 withhold and stay the arm of military power, and 
 on no pretext whatever to bring on the nation the 
 horrors of civil war until the people themselves can 
 take such action as our troubles demand. 
 
 *' II. The people of Missouri should meet in con- 
 vention for the purpose of taking action in the 
 present state of the nation's affairs, at the same 
 time to protect the Union of the States and the 
 rights and authority of this State under the Consti- 
 tution." 
 
 On the 14th The Republican^ the great conserva- 
 tive journal of the State, the mouth-piece of her 
 rich men and merchants, in a leader addressed to 
 
46 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, urging him to save the Union by 
 advising his followers to assent to the re-enactment 
 of the Missouri Compromise, said : 
 
 '' Six States have already gone out of the Union 
 so far as their own action is concerned, hastily, and 
 without sufficient cause, as we believe, but still they 
 have assumed an attitude of independence of the 
 Government of the United States, and what is to 
 be done ? To attempt to coerce them back by mili- 
 tary force will bring ruin upon every State in this 
 Union. One-half of your own State will resist any 
 attempt to organize or march an army for the sub- 
 jugation of Missouri or any of the revolting States; 
 and Kentucky and Tennessee, when the worse 
 comes to the worst, will again become ' the dark and 
 bloody ground,' before they will suffer their soil to 
 be polluted by the tread of armed hosts marching 
 to the slaughter of their neighbors and friends and 
 kinsmen in the Southern States." 
 
 The General Assembly was not slow to respond 
 to the feeling of the people. 
 
 The bill to call a Convention to consider whether 
 Missouri should secede, and to adopt measures for 
 vindicating the sovereignty of the State, and the 
 protection of her institutions, was reported back to 
 both Houses on the 9th of January, and passed both 
 Houses on the i8th. In the Senate only two votes 
 were recorded against its passage. In the House 
 
TJie General Assembly. 47 
 
 105 members voted for it and only eighteen against 
 it. Of these latter, eleven were from St. Louis. 
 
 The passage of the bill by such a majority was a 
 great triumph for the Southern Rights men, and 
 they, in order to emphasize the fact, now determined 
 to proclaim the sympathy of the State with the 
 South, by a bold act, which should intensify the en- 
 thusiasm of their own adherents, and rally to their 
 support the timid and irresolute, of whom there were 
 not a few in every county. The opportunity to do 
 this in a marked way had been afforded them by the 
 arrival at the capital of a commissioner, whom the 
 State of Mississippi had sent to ask the co-opera- 
 tion of Missouri in the adoption of " measures for 
 the common defence and safety of the slave-holding 
 States." Accordingly, Governor Jackson, immedi- 
 ately upon the passage of the bill, notified the Legis- 
 lature that this commissioner, Mr. Russell, would be 
 pleased to confer with them as to the objects of his 
 mission. A joint committee was at once appointed 
 to wait upon him, and invite him to address the 
 General Assembly ; and the ceremony was arranged 
 for that very evening. 
 
 At the appointed hour the Senate, preceded by 
 its officers, entered the hall of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and took the seats which had been as- 
 signed to them. And then the Governor and other 
 chief officers of the State, and the Judges of the 
 
48 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Supreme Court were announced, and took their 
 seats within the bar. 
 
 And now a Httle scene was enacted, which, trifling 
 in itself, iUustrates the temper of the time, and the 
 then disposition of the Legislature and the people. 
 
 The committee being about to bring in the com- 
 missioner, the President of the Joint Convention 
 (Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds) said : 
 
 " When the Commissioner from the State of Mis- 
 sissippi is announced, the members of the General 
 Assembly will rise to receive him." 
 
 John D. Stevenson, a Republican representative 
 from St. Louis, sprang to his feet. 
 
 "Are we here, Mr. President, to do homage to the 
 ambassador of some foreign potentate? " 
 
 President. — " I understand, sir, that this is a joint 
 session of the General Assembly, to listen to an ad- 
 dress from the Commissioner of the State of Missis- 
 sippi, and I hope, for the honor of all parties, that 
 the member from St. Louis will take his seat." 
 
 Stevenson. — " Shall I have a chance ? " 
 
 President. — "Take your scat." 
 
 A voice. — " Good ! " 
 
 Stevenson. — " I desire to have a chance." 
 
 President.— " Take your seat." 
 
 A voice. — " Better ! " 
 
 Stevenson. — " Mr. President, I can read, sir, the 
 rules that govern this body, and I suppose, if I am 
 
The General Assembly. 49 
 
 well informed, that when the President rides me out 
 of order, it is his duty to state why he so rules." 
 
 President. — " The business of this session is to 
 hear a speech from the Commissioner from Missis- 
 sippi, and all other business is out of order." 
 
 Stevenson. — " I understand that the President 
 commands the members to rise." 
 
 President. — " I will change it to a request, and I 
 hope that no member of this General Assembly 
 will have the indecency to refuse to rise." 
 
 Stevenson. — " Oh ! that will do, sir." 
 
 The commissioner was thereupon introduced, the 
 members rising from their seats to receive him. 
 
 He made a long address, the substance of which 
 was that he had been charged by the General 
 Assembly of Mississippi to inform the people of 
 Missouri that Mississippi had formally dissolved 
 her connection with the United States, and, in con- 
 junction with other slave-holding States, was about 
 to organize a Southern Confederacy ; that the old 
 Union had even now ceased to exist, and could 
 never be reconstructed ; that war between the 
 North and the South was inevitable, and would be 
 begun within ninety days; that the guns which had 
 driven back the Stai' of the West from the harbor 
 of Charleston had already given the signal for the 
 strife; and that in view of all these facts the people 
 4 
 
50 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 of Mississippi earnestly invited the people of Mis- 
 souri to unite with their Southern kindred for their 
 common defence and their common safety. 
 
 This address was listened to with the greatest 
 attention, and received with every manifestation of 
 approval and sympathy. At its conclusion the 
 joint session was dissolved ; but the demonstration 
 in favor of an alliance with the South was noisily 
 kept up till almost dawn. 
 
 Mr. Halliburton had already (i6th January) 
 offered in the Senate a resolution against coercion, 
 similar to that which Virginia had adopted. But 
 the matter was brought more formally before the 
 General Assembly, on the 28th, by Mr. Vest (the 
 Patrick Henry of resistance in Missouri), who then 
 reported from the Committee on Federal Relations 
 a preamble and resolutions, which, while following 
 for the most part those of the Tennessee Legislat- 
 ure, differ from them in some important particu- 
 lars. 
 
 " Whereas we have learned with profound regret 
 that the States of New York and Ohio have recently 
 tendered men and money to the President of the 
 United States for the avowed purpose of coercing 
 certain sovereign States of the South into obedi- 
 ence to the Federal Government, 
 
 " Therefore, Resolved, That we regard with the 
 utmost abhorrence the doctrine of coercion, as in- 
 
TJie General Assembly. 51 
 
 dicated by the action of the States aforesaid, believ- 
 ing that the same would end in civil war, and 
 forever destroy any hope of reconstructing the Fed- 
 eral Union. So believing, we deem it our duty to 
 declare that, if there is any invasion of the slave 
 States for the purpose of carrying such doctrine 
 into effect, it is the opinion of this General As- 
 sembly, that the people of Missouri v/ill instantly 
 rally on the side of their Southern brethren to re- 
 sist the invaders at all hazards, and to the last ex- 
 tremity. 
 
 " Resolved, That the Governor of this State be 
 requested to transmit to the Governors of New 
 York and Ohio the above resolutions." 
 
 These resolutions were ably supported by Vest, 
 
 Harris, and Cunningham, and opposed vigorously 
 
 ,by Partridge and Peckham. They were adopted on 
 
 the 29th, eighty-nine members voting for them and 
 
 fourteen against them. 
 
 The Senate, having been notified of the passage 
 of these resolutions by the House, accepted them as 
 a substitute for the less vigorous resolutions of Sen- 
 ator Halhburton, and finally took them up and 
 concurred in them (February 15th), only one Sen- 
 ator (Dr. Morris of St. Louis) voting against them. 
 
 By this action of her General Assembly, Missouri 
 was solemnly pledged, so far as her Representatives 
 could pledge her, to resist the coercion of the 
 
52 The Fight for Missoitri. 
 
 seceding States, at all hazards, and to the last ex- 
 tremity. 
 
 But behind all this remained the yet unanswered 
 question, whether the General Assembly expressed 
 the feelings and pronounced the purpose of the 
 people of Missouri. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Canvass for the Convention — Secessionists, Union Men, Uncondi- 
 tional Union Men — Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas Secede — Organ- 
 ization of the Confederate Government — Peace Conventions : They 
 Distract the Border States, and Divide the Southern Men of Mis- 
 souri— Rollins— Hall— Blair and the Wide Awakes— The Union 
 Men and Submissionists carry the State — The Secession Majority 
 in the Legislature gives way — Postponement of the Bill to arm the 
 State — The Convention meets ; Sterling Price its President — Gov- 
 ernor Jackson, Parsons, and Vest still Defiant — The Commissioner 
 from Georgia — Vest's Speech — The North and the South prepare 
 for War — The General Assembly Submits — Failure of the Military 
 Bill — The Debate in the House. 
 
 The Act calling a State Conv^ention provided 
 that the delegates should be chosen on the i8th of 
 February, and that they should convene at Jeffer- 
 son City on the last day of that month. 
 
 The canvass was straightway opened by each of 
 the three parties into which the people of the 
 State were divided — Secessionists, Conditional 
 Union men, and Unconditional Union men. 
 
 Conspicuous among the Secessionists were the 
 Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of the State, a 
 majority of the Members of the General Assembly, 
 both United States Senators (James S. Green and 
 Trusten Polk), and General David R. Atchison. 
 
54 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 They were earnestly supported by the Jefferson 
 City Examiner, the St. Louis Bulletin, and other 
 journals. They did not desire the disruption of 
 the Union. Few of them beHeved in the rig-ht of 
 secession. All of them deplored the precipitate 
 action of South Carolina, and the now apparent de- 
 termination of the other Cotton States to follow 
 in her footsteps. But believing that the withdrawal 
 of all those States from the Union would soon be 
 an accomplished fact ; that they would establish 
 a Southern Confederacy ; that all of the other 
 slave-holding States would eventually be forced to 
 enter this Confederacy ; and that war between it 
 and the Government of the United States would 
 necessarily follow ; they thought that it was the 
 duty of Missouri to declare emphatically that in 
 that event she would take her stand with the South, 
 to which she was bound by every tie that holds a 
 people together — race, sympathy traditions in com- 
 mon, a common history, like institutions, and like 
 interests — and with it fight against the North. 
 
 The only formidable opponents of the Secession- 
 ists were the Conditional Union men. These grad- 
 ually fell under the leadership of Hamilton R. 
 Gamble, Alexander W. Doniphan, James S. Rollins, 
 William A. Hall, John S. Phelps, ex-Governor 
 Stcv/art, Sterling Price and the St. Louis Republican, 
 then conducted by Nathaniel Paschall, a man of 
 
The People. 55 
 
 mature age, great experience, strong intellect, and 
 consummate common sense. Under the guidance 
 of these astute managers the Conditional Union 
 men assumed a position which, from the moment 
 of its adoption, began to divide the Secessionists. 
 Few of these, as has been said, were primarily in 
 favor of secession. All of them regarded the disso- 
 lution of the Union with sorrow and apprehension. 
 They would have gladly persuaded the seceding 
 States to return into the Union, and to trust to 
 peaceful methods for the protection of their rights 
 and the maintenance of their honor. They were not 
 particularly devoted to the institution of slaver\', 
 nor were they deeply interested in the maintenance 
 of that system. They were Secessionists, only be- 
 cause they believed that the Union had been dis- 
 solved, that its reconstruction was impossible, that 
 war was inevitable, and that in war the place of Mis- 
 souri was by the side of the Southern States, of 
 v.-hich she was one. But all around them were 
 Southern-born men and many Northern-born citi- 
 zens, who, wliile ready to declare that jMissouri 
 would resist every attempt on the part of the 
 United States Government to coerce the seced- 
 ing States back into the Union, believed that the 
 North, rather than involve the country in a dis- 
 astrous v.-ar, would concede to the South her clear 
 Constitutional rights, and thus re-establish the 
 
56 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Union upon a firmer basis than it had ever rested 
 upon. 
 
 This behef, or rather this hope, was the foundation 
 on which Gamble and Hall and Paschall builded 
 their party. In their resolutions, and speeches 
 and addresses, they declared that Missouri was 
 firmly attached to the Union, and would adhere to 
 it so long as there was reason to hope that the 
 North would adopt th.e Crittenden Proposition, or 
 give other Constitutional guarantees to the South 
 that the United States would protect slavery wher- 
 ever it lawfully existed ; but that if the North re- 
 fused to give such guarantees within a reasonable 
 time, it would be the duty of Missouri to secede 
 from the Union and to unite with the South for 
 the protection of Slavery and the defence of their 
 common interests. They also declared that if the 
 North, pending attempts to adjust matters peace- 
 ably, should make v/ar upon any Southern State, 
 Missouri would at once take up arms in defence of 
 such State. By this wise action the Conditional 
 Union men won the sympathy of the slave-holders 
 of Missouri, and of her mercantile and manufactur- 
 ing classes, and rich land owners, all of whom re- 
 garded war as the greatest of evils. The zeal, the 
 earnestness, and the ability with which they con- 
 ducted the canvass, together with the course of 
 events outside of the State, soon brought into their 
 
The People. 57 
 
 ranks many Secessionists, who had taken hope 
 again. 
 
 The Unconditional Union men, still calling them- 
 selves Republicans, took the ground that they would 
 support the Government in whatever measures it 
 might adopt to maintain the Union and to force the 
 Southern States to obey its laws. The one leader 
 of this party was Francis P. Blair, Jr. Up to this 
 time it had been composed almost exclusively of 
 Germans, a few antislavery men of New England 
 origin, and the personal followers of Blair, Bates, and 
 Brown. The Presidential election had shown that 
 they numbered only one-tenth of the voters of the 
 State. Blair saw in the action of the Conditional 
 Union men an opportunity to greatly increase his 
 own following, by drawing to it those supporters of 
 Bell, Douglas, and Breckinridge who were unwilling 
 to vote for the secession of Missouri, even if the 
 North should refuse to adopt the Crittenden Com- 
 promise. There were many such men ; but they 
 looked upon the Republicans as the cause of all the 
 troubles in which the country was involved, and 
 felt an unconquerable repugnance to joining that 
 party. They were Union men, but they would not 
 be Republicans. 
 
 Blair determined to make their co-operation with 
 the Republicans easy, by organizing both as the 
 Unconditional Union party. In this he was violently 
 
58 The Fig] it for Missouri. 
 
 opposed by the less intelligent of the Republicans, 
 but, with the support of Broadhead, Glover, Filley, 
 and How, he carried his point, and when the time 
 for selecting candidates for the Convention came, 
 the call for the meetings which were to choose 
 members of the nominating conventions was ad- 
 dressed to "all Unconditional Union men." In 
 these meetings a great many anti-Republicans took 
 part, and united in the selection of delegates to the 
 nominating conventions. 
 
 When the St. Louis convention met, " the Irrec- 
 oncilables " renewed their opposition to Blair's wise 
 course, and contended that no one should be nomi- 
 nated as a candidate for the State Convention who 
 had not voted for Lincoln. Blair said in reply 
 that he cared little to what party men had be- 
 longed. What he wanted was men who were noiv, 
 and who would hereafter, under all circumstances, 
 and in every emergency, be for the Union ; that 
 he himself intended to stand by it to the end ; 
 to oppose in every way the secession of Missouri ; 
 and if Missouri should secede, to still try to hold St. 
 Louis fast to the Union, and that he desired the 
 help of every man who was resolved to do likewise ; 
 that this was no time to struggle for a party ; but 
 it was now the first and chief duty of every man 
 to struggle for the Union. His counsels prevailed, 
 and a composite ticket was nominated — seven 
 
The People. 5q 
 
 Douglas Democrats, three Union men who had 
 voted for Bell, and four that had voted for Lincoln. 
 
 The canvass, being thus opened, was conducted 
 with great zeal, and in the midst of ever-increasing 
 excitement, for during its progress events of the 
 gravest importance were occurring every day both 
 within and without the State. 
 
 Georgia seceded on the i8th of January, Louisi- 
 ana on the 26th, and Texas on the 1st of February ; 
 and on the 4th of February, delegates from these 
 three States, and from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi 
 and South Carolina met in Convention at Mont- 
 gomery and began to create the Government of the 
 Confederate States. 
 
 Sane men had long foreseen that war between the 
 North and the South was inevitable unless some 
 plan of conciliation acceptable to both sections could 
 be devised and agreed upon before the 4th of March, 
 on which day Lincoln would become President, with 
 a Republican Congress to sustain him in whatever 
 measures he might adopt to preserve the Union. 
 The scheme which had met with the most favor in the 
 border slave-holding States was that these should 
 hold a convention at Nashville on the 4th of Feb- 
 ruary to formulate the conditions upon vvdiich they 
 would themselves remain in the Union and try to 
 bring the seceded States back into it ; and that these 
 conditions should then be submitted to a Convention 
 
6o The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 of all the States, to meet at Wheeling on the nth 
 of February. 
 
 This scheme was abandoned, however, in favor of 
 a proposition made by Virginia. The General As- 
 sembly of that State (January 19) invited all the 
 other States to send commissioners to a convention 
 which was to meet in Washington on the 4th of 
 February, in order " to consider, and, if practicable, 
 to agree upon some suitable adjustment " of the 
 difficulties between the slave-holding and the non- 
 slave-holding States, and to report the same to Con- 
 gress. The Legislature at the same time sent 
 ex-President Tyler to Washington, and Judge John 
 Robertson to South Carolina to procure from the 
 United States Government and from that of South 
 Carolina a mutual agreement to abstain, pending 
 the deliberations of the Convention, from the doing 
 of any act which would produce a collision of 
 arms. 
 
 South Carolina readily acceded to this request of 
 Virginia ; but the President, conceiving that he had 
 no power to make such an agreement, submitted 
 the matter to Congress. That body treated it with 
 the utmost indifference. Nevertheless, all the bor- 
 der slave-holding States, and most of the Northern 
 States, appointed commissioners to the convention. 
 Missouri sent Alexander W. Doniphan, Waldo P. 
 Johnson, Harrison Hough, John D. Coalter, and A. 
 
TJic People. 6 1 
 
 H. Buckner. It met at Washington on the 4th of 
 February. 
 
 The Conditional Union men of Missouri made the 
 most of this convention, and of the hopes that it 
 held out to those who were in favor of "peace at 
 any price." 
 
 James S. Rollins used his persuasive eloquence 
 and great poj^ularity to bring the wavering to the 
 side of the Union. He appealed to them in speeches 
 and in letters to stand by it as long as there was 
 any hope of preserving it. " There was every rea- 
 son," he said, " to believe that the Peace Conven- 
 tion would bring about a settlement, and even if it 
 failed to do this, it would still be the duty of the 
 Border States to stick together till every other hope 
 of adjustment had failed." To win their confidence, 
 and hold them fast, he told them again and again 
 that whilst he was himself alwa}'S " in favor of the 
 Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of the 
 Laws," he was unalterably opposed to the doctrine 
 of coercion, and would to his very utmost resist the 
 sending of Federal troops into any State that had 
 seceded, with the purpose to force it back into the 
 Union. He was the more willingly listened to be- 
 cause he was known to be one of the greatest slave- 
 holders in Missouri, and had always been faithful to 
 her institutions. 
 
 Listening; to the honied words of Rollins made 
 
62 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 those who heard him more willing to listen to the 
 stern logic of a man of stronger intellect and more 
 earnest convictions than he — William A. Hall — one 
 of those honest, hard-headed, plain-speaking men 
 whom New England had sent to Missouri. He told 
 them in his earnest, sensible way that the question 
 which they had to decide was " not one of senti- 
 ment, but of sense. We hold our power," said he, " as 
 a trust for others. We hold it for the benefit of our 
 wives and our children ; for the protection of the 
 aged, the infirm, and the helpless. We have no right 
 to consult our feelings when the interests of others 
 are in our keeping, and when their happiness is de- 
 pendent on our action. . . . 
 
 " What are we to gain by dissolving the Union? 
 The Fugitive Slave Law is a law of the United 
 States. To destroy the Union is to annul the Fugi- 
 tive Slave Law, bring Canada to our borders, and 
 make our slave property valueless. But this is not 
 the worst of it. While sacrificing our property by 
 an attempt to save it, we will bring upon ourselves 
 war, which, if it come, will destroy all our property 
 and expose us and our families to miseries such as, 
 happily, we have never known, but of which the 
 pages of history are full, . . . The geographical 
 position of Missouri makes her essential to the 
 North, and even if the North should consent to the 
 secession of every other slave-holding State, it will 
 
TJie People. 63 
 
 never consent to the secession of Missouri. She lies 
 in its pathway to the' West. She commands the 
 navigation of the Missouri and all its tributaries, of 
 the Upper Mississippi, the Illinois, the Ohio, the 
 Tennessee, and the Cumberland. . . . Never will 
 the North and the North-west permit the naviga- 
 tion of these great rivers to be controlled by a pow- 
 erful foreign nation, for their free navigation is 
 essential to the prosperity of those regions. They 
 might let the mouths of the Mississippi be held by 
 a weak Confederacy of Cotton States, but never by a 
 powerful people of which Missouri would form 
 part. 
 
 " Our feelings and our sympathies strongly in- 
 cline us to go with the South in the event of a sep- 
 aration ; but passion and feeling are temporary, in- 
 terest is permanent. The influence of geographical 
 position will continue so long as the face of the 
 Earth remains as it is, and the position of Missouri 
 and the navigation of the Mississippi will be great 
 and important interests long ages after the feelings 
 and passions which now dominate the country shall 
 have passed away and been forgotten." 
 
 The Conditional Union men had already lowered 
 their tone. They no longer threatened war against 
 the United States if the Government should refuse 
 to protect slavery, or even if it should dare to lead 
 its armies into the secedino- States in order to co- 
 
64 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 ercc them into obedience to the laws of the Union. 
 Their entreaties grew stronger every day ; their 
 threats grew weaker. Many of them — most of the 
 rich land owners, and of the great slave-holders — 
 were fast learning the duty of submission. It is an 
 old saying that " Nothing is so timid as wealth." 
 The war demonstrated that of all wealth, property 
 in slaves was the most timid and the most cow- 
 ardly. Nor was it only the rich Union man who now 
 began to cower in the horrid presence of war ; but 
 many a blatant Secessionist, who owned neither 
 land nor negroes, many a one who had for years 
 been stirring up strife between the North and 
 South, and boasting that " One southern man could 
 whip half a dozen Yankees," now saw that to stand 
 in the way of those " Yankees " meant danger to the 
 limbs and to the life of him who should be brave 
 enough to dare to do it ; and they put up their bowie- 
 knives and bridled their tongues till the war was 
 ended, and they could again safely loosen the one 
 and brandish the other. 
 
 The changed tone of the Conditional Union 
 party, and its ever-increasing tendency toward sub- 
 mission, kept within its ranks thousands of voters 
 who would otherwise have gone over to the Uncon- 
 ditional Union men. Blair saw this, but it did not 
 disturb him, for he knew that sooner or later they 
 would come to him. He went on busily organizing 
 
The People. 65 
 
 and consolidating his forces, preparing systemati- 
 cally, earnestly, and intelligently for war, and doing 
 everything that a statesman and soldier coidd do to 
 hold Missouri loyal to the Union, which he believed 
 to be the source of all her prosperity. 
 
 The Germans wxre the nucleus of his power. 
 They were — every one — unconditionally for the 
 Union. Knowing nothing of the peculiar relations 
 of the States to the Federal Government, nothing 
 of the circumstances of its formation, nothing 
 about the Constitution, they could not comprehend 
 that South Carolina had any more right to secede 
 from the Union than St. Louis had to secede from 
 Missouri. Knowing nothing of the causes \\hich 
 endeared Virginia to her sons ; feeling none of that 
 State pride which a New Englander or a South 
 Carolinian felt ; owing his own citizenship to the 
 United States and not to any State, he could not 
 comprehend that to a Virginian loyalty and patriot- 
 ism meant devotion to Virginia, and not to the 
 Union. Hating slavery, he was anxious to destroy 
 it rather than to protect it ; and having neither 
 kindred nor friends in the South, he could not sym- 
 pathize with its people in their unequal contest 
 with the Union, nor feel that it was his duty to 
 stand by them in the hour of danger. 
 
 During the Presidential election they had been 
 organized as Wide-Awakes. Blair had since been 
 5 
 
66 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 converting them into semi-military companies of 
 Home Guards. He now redoubled his exertions in 
 this direction, drilled and disciplined the men, and 
 armed them as fast as his means permitted. In ob- 
 taining funds for this purpose he was greatly helped 
 by Isaac Sherman of New York, and other Eastern 
 men. These companies had, before the day of 
 election (February i8), become so numerous and 
 arrogant as to arouse the fear that they might, by 
 interfering with the election, provoke a riot that 
 day. Governor Jackson was appealed to by many 
 prominent citizens for protection. Having no au- 
 thority to call out the militia during the session of 
 the General Assembly, he submitted the matter to 
 that body. The Senate at once, by a vote of i8 
 to 4, authorized him to call out the militia, but the 
 proposition was vigorously opposed in the House 
 by John D. Stevenson, the leader there of the Un- 
 conditional Union men, himself a Virginian, and it 
 was, despite the fervid appeals of Vest, defeated. 
 
 The election passed off quietly. Not a single 
 avowed Secessionist was chosen. In St. Louis the 
 Unconditional Union candidates were elected by 
 over 5,000 majority, and the State declared against 
 secession by a majority of 8o,000. 
 
 The result was a surprise to every one, and a bit- 
 ter disappointment to the South. 
 
 The immediate and all-important effect which the 
 
TJie People. 6"/ 
 
 election had upon the course of affairs in Missouri, 
 was the overthrow of the Secession majority in the 
 House of Representatives, and the consequent de- 
 feat of all measures for organizing, arming, and 
 equipping the militia, and for getting the State 
 ready for war. Bills having those objects in view 
 had been reported to both Houses early in Febru- 
 ary, and were under discussion on the day that the 
 election took place. When they were taken up the 
 next day, Senators and Representatives, who had 
 up to that time been clamorous for arming the 
 State, announced that they interpreted the late 
 vote as declaring that the people of Missouri were 
 overwhelmingly opposed to the enactment of any 
 warlike measures, and that consequently they would 
 themselves vote against these bills. 
 
 It was in vain that the Governor and his adherents 
 urged that war was inevitable, and that the first duty 
 of the General Assembly to the people of the State 
 was to prepare her for it ; that if they were them- 
 selves willing to falsify their repeated pledge to re- 
 sist the coercion of the seceding States, they should 
 at least arm the State for her own defence, for the 
 maintenance of peace within her own borders, and 
 for the safety of her own people ; in vain it was that 
 Churchill, and Parsons, and Rains in the Senate, and 
 Vest, Freeman, and Claiborne in the House, taunted 
 them with cowardly '' submission to a Black Repub- 
 
68 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 lican potentate;" in vain that Harris, still a Union 
 man, begged them to at least discuss his carefully 
 prepared bill, so as to understand its provisions and 
 to see that it contained nothing for which the most 
 loyal of Union men ought not to vote — nothing 
 could overcome the terror that had taken posses- 
 sion of their souls. ' Panic-stricken, they sought 
 safety in the ranks of the Submissionists, and 
 turned Missouri over, unarmed and defenceless, to 
 Frank Blair and his Home Guards. 
 
 In spite of all this, Governor Jackson maintained 
 the same bold attitude which he had taken on the 
 day of his inauguration, and was sustained in it by 
 Parsons and a majority of the Senators, and by 
 Vest and nearly one-half of the Representatives. 
 They could do nothing, but they lost no opportunity 
 to revive the courage of their followers, and to hold 
 them in readiness for the conflict that was sure to 
 begin sooner or later. 
 
 The convention met at Jefferson City on the 28th 
 of February. 
 
 The next day (March ist) an opportunity was 
 offered to the Secessionists to make a demonstra- 
 tion, and they took advantage of it. The State of 
 Georgia had sent a commissioner— Luther J. Glenn 
 — to Missouri to ask her to secede and become one 
 of the Confederate States. Arriving at JefTerson 
 City on the 1st of March, he presented his creden- 
 
TJic People. 69 
 
 tials to the Governor the same afternoon. The city 
 was crowded with Unionibts, all of them exulting 
 over their great victory at the polls and the meet- 
 ing of a Convention to which not a single Secession- 
 ist had been elected. Nearly every distinguished 
 Union man in the State was there, either as a mem- 
 ber of the Convention or to witness its delibera- 
 tions, and to hold the vacillating firm in their 
 loyalty to the Union. To all appearance, Missouri 
 was about to commit herself irrevocably to the 
 maintenance of the Union, and to assume a position 
 which would eventually force her to make Vv^ar upon 
 the Southern people. Had Governor Jackson now 
 wavered in his devotion to the South, had he in that 
 hour of great trial proved recreant to the principles 
 which had always controlled his actions, that posi- 
 tion would have been surely taken. But, with a 
 courage as great as was ever shown upon any battle- 
 field, Jackson raised aloft the banner of the State, 
 and called upon the Southern men of Missouri to 
 rally under its folds, fearless of the gathering forces 
 of those who were rebelling against her, and careless 
 of the deserters that were flocking to their camp. 
 
 The Secessionists determined to serenade the 
 Commissioner from Georgia. When he stepped 
 upon the balcony to thank them for their sym- 
 pathy, the Governor of the State stood beside him, 
 and presented him to the people in a defiant 
 
70 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 speech, in which he reiterated that the honor and 
 the interests of Missouri both required her to stand 
 firmly with the Confederate States " in resistance to 
 the abohtionized North," and to instantly secede and 
 entei the Confederacy if Lincoln should undertake, 
 as he surely would, to make war upon the South. 
 
 The next day, Saturday, March the 2d, the Gov- 
 ernor notified the General Assembly that the commis- 
 sioner desired to confer with that body upon the sub- 
 ject of his mission. Some opposition being made in 
 the House to the adoption of a resolution which the 
 Senate had passed inviting him to address both 
 Houses that evening in joint session, Harris and Vest 
 supported the resolution warmly. The latter said : 
 
 " I stand here to-day, come weal, come woe, sink 
 or swim, survive or perish, to cast my political for- 
 tunes for all time, to give all that I have, and all that 
 I am, to that people which is mine by lineage, by 
 birth, and by institutions — the people of the South; 
 and should the time come for battle, for storm, or 
 for wreck, I will be with that Southern people. 
 Coerce them back? Representatives of Missouri! 
 let me tell you now, sneer at them as you may ! let 
 me tell you now, that the God who protected our 
 forefathers, will protect that Southern people. 
 
 " Thrice have we to Clan Alpine come in friendship's guise, 
 When next \vc come 'twill be with banner, brand and bow, 
 As clansman meets his mortal foe." 
 
TJic People. 71 
 
 " Sirs ! we have appealed to the North, begged it, 
 and besought it. We might as well have prayed to 
 the winds. You talk of peace. There is no peace. 
 The Republican party must cease its eternal and 
 everlasting warfare upon our property, or in the red 
 glare of battle, and in the shock of contending 
 armies, we will appeal to the God of Battles, and 
 ask Him to protect us. 
 
 " I say here to-day in face of a dominant majority 
 of 80,000 Submissionists, I say to you and I say to 
 these Submissionists, that if they intend to justify 
 the coercion of the seceded States, I shall myself 
 be in favor of the instant separation of Missouri 
 from the North, and will stake my life on the result. 
 
 "We, who live on the broad prairies of Missouri, 
 with but few slaves around us, cannot appreciate the 
 dangers that environ the men of the South, their 
 wives and their children ; the horrors of a servile 
 insurrection ; their fear, and their hatred of a party 
 Avhich has elected to power a man who declares 
 that slavery must be confined to the slave States, 
 so that it may, like a scorpion, sting itself to death. 
 How? In the blood and carnage of African lust 
 and African rage. And yet we are told that these 
 people must stand still and allow all these terrors to 
 be brought upon them ! . . . I would rather — 
 a hundred times rather — settle this question now, 
 upon the battle-field. If I were a citizen of one of 
 
72 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 those Southern States, I would do as they have 
 done, and as a Missourian, I am willing and ready 
 to follow Old Virginia, wherever she may lead, and 
 no one can doubt that she will go with the South." 
 
 The resolution was adopted, and that evening the 
 Commissioner for Georgia addressed the General 
 Assembly, explaining the causes which had im- 
 pelled Georgia to secede, and urging Missouri to 
 unite with her and the other slave-holding States in 
 the formation of a Southern Confederacy. 
 
 While matters were thus drifting towards civil 
 strife in Missouri, the only State in which the con- 
 test did, during the first year or two, or at any time, 
 assume that character, the North and the South 
 were both getting ready for war. 
 
 Jefferson Davis had been inaugurated President 
 of the Confederate States on the i8th of February ; 
 measures to organize an army were adopted on the 
 28th of February, and provision was made for the 
 transfer to the Confederate Government of the 
 troops that had been raised by the several States, 
 for their own defence. South Carolina had already 
 occupied all the forts in Charleston Harbor, except 
 Sumter, and was erecting powerful batteries to 
 command and reduce that fortress when the time 
 should come, and was enlisting, organizing and drill- 
 ing men in every county and in every neighborhood. 
 General McCuUoch had, with an overwhelming 
 
The People. 73 
 
 force, surrounded the United States troops at San 
 Antonio, and by authority of the State of Texas 
 compelled General Twiggs, the commander of the 
 United States forces in that department, to sur- 
 render to the State all the United States property 
 within her limits, and to agree to withdraw every 
 Federal soldier from her territory. Georgia had 
 called her militia into active service under the com- 
 mand of those veterans, Twiggs, Hardee and 
 Walker. Bragg and Beauregard were mustering 
 an army in Louisiana, and the streets of New Or- 
 leans were crowded with enthusiastic volunteers. 
 Van Dorn had succeeded Jefferson Davis in com- 
 mand of the army that Mississippi was raising, and 
 its ranks were rapidly swelling. Florida had been 
 in arms since the beginning of the year, and was 
 still strengthening her forces in all directions, while 
 throughout Alabama there was not a Federal 
 soldier, and everywhere the enlistment of volunteers 
 was hurrying. Even Arkansas had risen in over- 
 whelming force, and driving Captain Totten and 
 his command out of the State, had taken posses- 
 sion of the United States Arsenal at Little Rock. 
 The Northern States were no less active. Massa- 
 chusetts had already tendered to the President 
 twenty-six regiments for the defence of the capi- 
 tal, and nearly every other loyal State was emu- 
 lating her example. Even Congress had begun to 
 
74 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 discuss the employment of force in order to compel 
 the seceding States to restore the property which 
 they had captured and to obey the laws of the 
 United States. 
 
 And most important of all, the whole power of 
 the Government of the United States, its army 
 and navy, together with its treasury and all its 
 great resources, had passed out of the unwilling 
 hands of Buchanan, into the firm grasp of Abraham 
 Lincoln ; out of the control of the South and its 
 Northern friends into that of the anti-slavery North, 
 and was thenceforth to be wielded for the preser- 
 vation of the Union and the enforcement of its laws 
 and the conquest of all its enemies. 
 
 Encouraged by the brave attitude of Jackson, 
 and incited by the preparations for war that were 
 making all around them, the Southern Rights' 
 members of the Missouri Legislature made a su- 
 preme effort to pass the bill for arming the State. 
 It was taken up on the 5th of March. 
 
 L. M. Lawson, of Platte, the youngest member of 
 the House, and a native of the State, spoke against 
 the bill. It was unnecessary, he said, because no 
 one was proposing to attack Missouri, or to assail 
 her honor, or to do any injury to the persons or 
 property of her people ; it was oppressive, because 
 it would burden the State with enormous taxation 
 
The People. 75 
 
 at a time when the troubled condition of the coun- 
 try and the fear of war was bankrupting every one ; 
 it was dangerous, because it would place in the 
 hands of the Governor the power and the means to 
 involve the State in war and to bring upon her in- 
 habitants the unspeakable horrors of fratricidal strife. 
 Missouri had no cause to secede from the Union, no 
 ground upon which to arm herself against the Fed- 
 eral Government ; no reason to apprehend war un- 
 less she should, by her own folly, bring it upon her- 
 self and her people. Let her be loyal to the Union, 
 and the Union would still protect her, as it had al- 
 ways done, 
 
 Conrow, replying to Lawson, said that Lincoln's 
 inaugural had removed from his mind the last hope 
 for the safety of the Union. If he carried out his 
 threat to coerce the South into obedience to the 
 laws of the Federal Government, the country would 
 soon blaze with the flames of civil war. Missouri 
 would not submit to Lincoln's domination. If she 
 did, he would never again call himself a Missou- 
 rian. 
 
 N. C. Claiborne said: '' The gentleman from Platte 
 (Lawson) thinks that we are appealing to the fears 
 of members. There are times when the brave fear. 
 The universal gloom, which hangs like mourning 
 drapery around our once happy country, deepened 
 by Lincoln's inaugural, which plainly sets forth the 
 
76 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 plan of coercion, will cause every patriot heart to 
 quail with fear. His determination to hold, occupy, 
 and possess the Southern forts strangles the hopes 
 of all those who have prayed for the preservation 
 and reconstruction of the Union. He means war. 
 Long before the echo of the first cannon fired by 
 his minions against a Southern city shall have died 
 away, those who have been seeking to compromise 
 our difficulties on just and honorable terms, will 
 have buckled on their armor and planted themselves 
 upon the ramparts of the Constitution, in defence 
 of Southern rights. ... It has been said that 
 Missouri will submit, that her Convention will sub- 
 mit. He v/ho says so slanders the members of that 
 Convention, and outrages the people of Missouri. 
 Tell me not that this State v/ill tolerate the odious 
 doctrine of coercion. Never, NEVER will she toler- 
 ate it. Seventeen thousand Republicans, nine- 
 tenths of them foreigners living in the city of St. 
 Louis, cannot warp the judgment of 150,000 free- 
 men and control the destinies of this State. The 
 thing is absurd. Missouri v/ill share the destinies 
 of the South. For my own part, I will never aban- 
 don the home of my adoption, I will remain upon 
 the western border of Missouri, and will battle there 
 for her honor and her rights." 
 
 Harris again urged the House to pass the bill. It 
 was no longer a question of policy, but of duty, and 
 
TJie People. 77 
 
 a necessity to put the State in condition to protect 
 her people and their possessions ; and to secure to 
 her that influence among the other States to which 
 she was entitled by reason of her greatness and her 
 position, so that she might use this influence to 
 stay the hand of violence and war, and to preserve 
 the peace and maintain the Union. ''If she failed 
 to do this, humiliating disaster and dire ruin would 
 come upon her, and she ought therefore to set 
 about it at once." His anxiety was not inspired, 
 he said, " by sympathy v/ith the seceded States. 
 They had withdrawn from the Union without ade- 
 quate preparation to maintain their independence, 
 and in doing this had shown more temper than 
 statesmanship. What he desired was not so much 
 to defend tJieiii against the consequences of their 
 own rashness and folly as to maintain the dignity 
 of Missouri, and to protect the persons and prop- 
 erty of her citizens." 
 
 The House refused to pass the bill. In this the 
 South sustained a defeat more disastrous to its 
 independence than any which thereafter befell its 
 arms, down to the fall of Vicksburg. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CONVENTION. 
 
 The State Convention — Gamble's Report and Resolutions — Amend- 
 ments Proposed — Debates — William A. Hall — John B. Hender- 
 son — Prince L. Hudgins — John T. Redd — James O. Broadhead — 
 Adoption of the Report and Resolutions — The General Assembly 
 — Election of a United States Senator — Defeat of James S. Green 
 — Blaine's Opinion of Him — The Metropolitan Police Bill — Vest's 
 Adverse Report on the Action of the Convention — His Speech — 
 The I^egislature Rejects the Recommendations of the Convention 
 and Adjourns — The Revival of Secessionism — Defeat of the Co- 
 ercionists in St. Louis — Election of a Conservative Mayor. 
 
 The State Convention met at Jefferson City on 
 the last day of February. Ex-Governor Sterling 
 Price, a Union man, was chosen President, receiving 
 the votes of seventy-five Union men, while the votes 
 of fifteen Southern Rights' men were given to 
 Nathaniel W. Watkins, a half-brother of Henry 
 Clay. As soon as the Convention completed its 
 organization it adjourned its session to St. Louis, 
 whose loyal atmosphere it preferred to that of the 
 capital. 
 
 Of its ninety-nine members fifty-three were na- 
 tives of either Virginia or Kentucky ; and all but 
 seventeen had been born in the slave-holding States. 
 
TJie Convention. yg 
 
 Only thirteen were natives of the North. Three 
 were Germans, and there was one Irishman. The 
 President of the Convention, the Chairman of the 
 Committee on Federal Relations Judge Gamble, the 
 leader of the Unconditional Union men on the floor 
 James O. Broadhead, and the most conspicuous op- 
 ponent of Secession John B. Henderson, were all 
 Virginians. 
 
 The Convention reassembled at St. Louis on the 
 4th of March, the day of Lincoln's inauguration, 
 and went straight to work. On the 9th the Com- 
 mittee on Federal Relations made a long report 
 through its chairman. Judge Gamble. Li this re- 
 port, after reviewing the condition of the country, 
 they said : 
 
 " To involve Missouri in revolution, under the 
 present circumstances, is certainly not demanded by 
 the magnitude of the grievances of which we com- 
 plain ; nor by the certainty that they cannot be 
 otherwise and more peacefully remedied, nor by the 
 hope that they would be remedied, or even dimin- 
 ished by such revolution. 
 
 "The position of Missouri in relation to the ad- 
 jacent States, which would continue in the Union, 
 would necessarily expose her, if she became a mem- 
 ber of a new Confederacy, to utter destruction 
 whenever any rupture might take place between 
 the different republics. In a military aspect seces- 
 
8o The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 sion and connection with a Southern Confederacy 
 is annihilation for Missouri. 
 
 "The true position for Missouri to assume is that 
 of a State whose interests are bound up in the main- 
 tenance of the Union, and whose kind feeHngs and 
 strong sympathies are with the people of the 
 Southern States, with whom we arc connected by 
 the ties of friendship and blood. . . . To go 
 with those States — to leave the government our 
 fathers builded — to blot out the star of Missouri 
 from the constellation of the Union is to ruin our- 
 selves without doing them any good. We cannot 
 follow them, we cannot give up the Union, but we 
 will do all in our power to induce them to again take 
 their places with us in the family from which they 
 have attempted to separate themselves. For this 
 purpose we will not only recommend a compromise 
 with which they ought to be satisfied, but we will 
 endeavor to procure an assemblage of the whole 
 family of States in order that in a General Conven- 
 tion such amendments to the Constitution may be 
 agreed upon as shall permanently restore harmony 
 to the whole nation." 
 
 The committee also submitted to the Conven- 
 tion resolutions conformable to these opinions, and 
 which in substance were, 
 
 I. That there was no adequate cause for the with- 
 drawal of Missouri from the Union. 
 
TJie Coiiveiitioji. 8i 
 
 2. That believing that the seceded States would 
 return to the Union if the Crittenden Proposition 
 were adopted, the Convention would request the 
 General Assembly to call a Convention of all the 
 States to consider that proposition. 
 
 3. That they would entreat the Federal Gov- 
 ernment not to employ force against the seceding 
 States, and the latter not to assail the Government, 
 while this proposition v.-as under consideration. 
 
 Mr. Bast moved that the Convention should 
 further declare that if the Northern States should 
 refuse to assent to the Crittenden Compromise, and 
 the other border slave States should thereupon se- 
 cede, Missouri would not then hesitate to take a firm 
 and decided stand in favor of her sister States of the 
 South. 
 
 For this proposition only twenty-three members 
 voted. Among them were Sterling Price, Robert 
 A. Hatcher, Harrison Hough, Prince L. Hudgins, 
 John T. Redd, and Nathaniel W. Watkins. Among 
 the seventy who voted against it were General 
 Doniphan, Judge Gamble, James H. Moss, William 
 A. Hall, John B. Henderson, and James O. Broad- 
 head. 
 
 While Mr. Moss, who was, by the way, a man of 
 
 ability and character, would not vote to declare that 
 
 Missouri would, under any circumstances, secede, he 
 
 was opposed to coercion, and therefore offered a 
 
 6 
 
82 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 resolution declaring that Missouri would ''never 
 furnish men or money for the purpose of aiding the 
 General Government in any attempts to coerce a 
 seceding State." 
 
 In advocating this resolution he said : 
 " I submit to every man of common sense in this 
 Assembly to tell me whether Missouri will ever fur- 
 nish a regiment to invade a Southern State for the 
 purpose of coercion. Never ! Never ! And, gentle- 
 men ! Missouri expects this Convention to say so. 
 . . . I believe it to be the duty of Missouri to 
 stand by the gallant men of southern Illinois, who 
 have declared that they will never suffer a Northern 
 army to pass the southern boundary of Illinois for 
 the purpose of invading a Southern State." 
 
 To this William A. Hall replied with unanswer- 
 able argument that if Missouri remained in the 
 Union it would be her duty to furnish both men and 
 money to the General Government when properly 
 called upon for them, whether to coerce a State into 
 submission, or for any other purpose. To say that 
 she would not do this, would be an idle threat at 
 best, and a mischievous one. Threats on the part 
 of Northern men or communities might have a good 
 effect by showing the willingness of some men at the 
 North to be just to the South. But such threats 
 coming from a Southern State would only encour- 
 age the seceding States and enrage the North. 
 
TJie Convention. 83 
 
 The Convention voted down the proposition of 
 Mr. Moss ; and " the pitiless logic of facts " forced 
 him afterwards to raise and command a regiment 
 for the subjugation of the South ! 
 
 While acting consistently with their new-born de- 
 termination to stand by the Union, the Conditional 
 Union men still talked as they had been wont to 
 talk when they were soliciting the votes of the 
 Southern people of Missouri. Even John B. Hen- 
 derson, daring and reckless as he had become in his 
 newly awakened zeal and loyalty, opposed Moss's 
 resolution only because it was useless. 
 
 " Does any man suppose," said he, " that the 
 President of the United States will so far disre- 
 gard his duties under the Constitution, or forget 
 the obligation of his oath, as to undertake the subju- 
 gation of the Southern States by force ? Will the 
 abstract principle of the enforcement of the laws 
 ever be carried by the President to the extent of 
 military subjugation? If so, this Government is at 
 an end. Will you tell me that Mr. Lincoln will send 
 Don Quixotes into the Southern States with military 
 force to subjugate those States? Certainly not. 
 . . . He who dreams that this Government was 
 made or intended to subjugate any one of the States 
 dreams certainly against the spirit, against the in- 
 tent, and against the whole scope of our institutions. 
 . . . The President has no more power^to use 
 
84 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 force than you or I. Why, then, should Missouri 
 declare that she will under no circumstances lend 
 means or money to the enforcement of the laws by 
 the Federal Government ? " 
 
 There were a few who still dared to speak as 
 Southern men in a Missouri Convention, and to ex- 
 press in the presence of Blair's Home Guards and of 
 United States troops and in the centre of the loyal 
 city of St. Louis, the opinions which they had ex- 
 pressed during the canvass to their Southern-born 
 constituents. Among these were Prince L. Hudgins 
 and John T. Redd. The former, in the course of an 
 able and impassioned argument in support of Moss' 
 proposition, said : 
 
 " I do not believe that a State has a constitutional 
 right to secede ; but seven States claim to have se- 
 ceded, and I, for one, am anxious to bring them 
 back. You cannot do this by threats, nor by force, 
 nor by abuse. They have done what they thought 
 best for themselves, for their children, and for their 
 children's children. They have done it deliberately 
 and after great consideration. ... If Missouri 
 wishes to bring them back, she must remember that 
 they are our brethren ; that they must be treated 
 not as traitors, but as patriots; and that they can 
 only be brought back upon fair and honorable 
 terms. . . . The Federal Government has no 
 right to force them back; and if it had such a 
 
The Convention. 85 
 
 right, this Convention should say that it ought not 
 to be, and in the language of Virginia and Ken- 
 tucky, must not be, used. It has been settled be- 
 yond the power of refutation that the Government 
 has no right to march an armed force into a State in 
 order to subjugate it. If this be so, cannot Mis- 
 souri have the courage to say that, if Abraham 
 Lincoln, in violation of the Constitution, and in 
 violation of his oath, march an army into the South, 
 she will not aid him with men and money ? 
 
 " It is strange that any man who lives in Missouri, 
 and believes in her institutions, should hesitate to 
 declare that she will not engage in such a war. It 
 would be a dreadful thing to do, even if the Con- 
 stitution, and the flag of our country, and our 
 own honor required us to do it — to make war 
 upon the land in which we were born, and whose 
 churchyards are filled with the graves of our an- 
 cestors ; to desolate the homes and to shed the 
 blood of our kindred. It is too horrible to con- 
 template. Missouri never will do it. . . . 
 
 " Nor can I believe for one moment that Mis- 
 souri intends, or that this Convention will say that 
 is her duty, to submit to Northern aggression, to 
 give up her institutions, and to sacrifice her honor. 
 Let our slaves go if they must, let all our property 
 be sacrificed, but let us maintain our honor — the 
 honor of freemen. If ever the President command 
 
86 The Fig] it for Missouri. 
 
 Missourians to shed the blood of their Southern 
 brothers, they should take the halter in one hand 
 and the sword in the other and tell him that 
 when he had taken the one he might use the 
 other. I have no submission blood in my veins. 
 If I had I would let it out with a knife." 
 
 John T, Redd, of Marion, was even more em- 
 phatic than Hudgins. They were both men of 
 ability, and of high standing, and their words had 
 weight with the people of Missouri. It is a pity 
 to offer the reader only a dry summary of their 
 speeches. They ought to be read in full by every 
 one who wishes to comprehend the motives which 
 governed the conduct of the men who took up 
 arms against the Federal Government. 
 
 " If the General Government send troops upon 
 Southern soil to retake the forts now in the hands 
 of those States, to retake the custom-houses for 
 the purpose of collecting the revenue, or for any 
 other purpose, the Union is gone. If it be once 
 dissolved it can never be reconstructed, because be- 
 tween the sundered sections there will be a gulf of 
 blood. 
 
 " It is my opinion that if the General Government 
 will not w^it till the country can, by conciliation and 
 compromise, save the Union, Missouri should and 
 will tckc the stand with her Southern sisters ; and 
 
The Convention. 87 
 
 that, having failed to obtain their rights, having 
 failed to obtain any guarantee from that great anti- 
 slavery party which has so long trampled the Con- 
 stitution under foot, she and they should take their 
 stand outside of the Union, taking with them the 
 Constitution, and that glorious banner which they 
 have baptized in the blood of a hundred battle- 
 fields, and fight, if need be, for their rights and insti- 
 tutions, as their fathers fought, and until the last drop 
 of blood be spilled. ... If she is to remain in 
 the Union at the sacrifice of her institutions and her 
 rights, she should change the device of her coat-of- 
 arms, remove from it the grizzly bears, whose rug- 
 ged nature was never animated by a craven spirit, 
 and substitute in their place a fawning spaniel, cowing 
 at the feet of its master, and licking the hand that 
 smites it. 
 
 Even Broadhead, an Unconditional Union mem- 
 ber from St. Louis, did not believe that the Federal 
 Government had a right to coerce a State; but he 
 found in the power which it had to call out the 
 militia in order to execute the laws, to suppress in- 
 surrection, and to repel invasion, abundant authority 
 to use force for the preservation of the Union. 
 
 Argument and declamation had, however, little 
 to do with the settlement of the question, and with 
 determining the action of the Convention. It was 
 2l fact which decided the matter ^.nA persuaded 'didX 
 
88 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 body to declare that Missouri would adhere loyally 
 to the Union. TJiis fact was bluntly announced 
 to the Convention and to the people of the State 
 by Broadhead, who was not only a delegate to the 
 Convention but a member of the Union Safety 
 Committee of St. Louis and a trusted counsellor of 
 Mr. Lincoln, at the conclusion of his speech, in 
 these words : " Missouri cannot go out of the 
 Union if she would. I think I know what I say 
 when I speak it, Missouri has not tJie poiver to go out 
 of the Union if she would!' What he meant will 
 appear in the sequel. He did know what he was 
 saying. 
 
 The Convention adopted Gamble's report and 
 resolutions, and a few days afterwards (March 21) 
 adjourned subject to the call of a committee, which 
 it named. 
 
 Early in the session, the General Assembly 
 had refused to elect a United States Senator in 
 place of James S. Green, whose term was to ex- 
 pire on the 3d of March. It had done this upon 
 the ground that it was better to learn first whether 
 Missouri would remain in the Union or not. It 
 being now obvious that the State would not secede, 
 the General Assembly proceeded to the election 
 of a Senator (March 12th). The Democrats nom- 
 inated Green for the place, but found it impossible, 
 after several days' balloting, to elect so pronounced 
 
TJcc Convention. 89 
 
 a Secessionist as he. Waldo P. Johnson was there- 
 upon elected. It is a noteworthy fact that Green, 
 who was relegated to private life because he was a 
 Secessionist, did not raise his hand or his voice in 
 behalf of the South during the war, while Johnson, 
 who had been elected because he was a good Union 
 man, quickly resigned his seat in the Senate, en- 
 tered the army, and fought for the Confederacy till 
 the end of the war. 
 
 Of Green, Mr. Blaine, who rarely permits himself 
 to write justly or fairly about any Southern man 
 says: "No man among his contemporaries had 
 made so profound an impression in so short a time. 
 He was a very strong debater. He had peers, but no 
 master, in the Senate. Mr. Green on the one side, 
 and Mr. Fessenden on the other, were the Senators 
 whom Douglas most disliked to meet, and who were 
 best fitted in readiness, in accuracy, and in logic to 
 meet him. Douglas rarely had a debate with either 
 in which he did not lose his temper, and to lose one's 
 temper in debate is generally to lose one's cause. 
 ( Green had done more than any other man in Mis- 
 1 souri to break down the power of Thomas H. Bcn- 
 Vton as a leader of the Democracy. His arraignment 
 of Benton before the people of Missouri in 1849, 
 when he was but thirty-two years of age, was one of 
 the most aggressive and most successful warfares in 
 our political annals." 
 
90 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 After serving several years in the House of Rep- 
 resentatives, he had been elected to the United 
 States Senate in January 1859, and became the 
 leader of the pro-slavery men in the Congressional 
 contest for the possession of Kansas. He bore 
 himself there with so much dignity and courtesy, 
 and was so able in argument and brilliant in debate, 
 that he won the admiration of every one and de- 
 served even higher praise than that which Mr. 
 Blaine accords to him. 
 
 Although the Secessionists had, through defec- 
 tion of some of their number, lost control of the 
 House of Representatives, and could not conse- 
 quently enact any measure looking toward the se- 
 cession of the State, they could, nevertheless, bring 
 to their support a majority of the House, whenever 
 they attacked the Republican party and not the 
 Union; for many men who were devoted to the 
 Union were bitterly hostile to the Republicans, and 
 especially hostile to that party as it was constituted 
 in St. Louis. In that city, it consisted almost 
 wholly of Germans, though their leaders were chiefly 
 Kentuckians and Virginians. They were in posses- 
 sion of the City Government, and their Mayor was 
 a stern and uncompromising partisan, a member 
 of the Union Safety Committee, and a man who 
 would not hesitate to use the police force and all 
 the power and resources of the city to repress any 
 
The Co)ivcntion. 
 
 91 
 
 movements on the part of the Secessionists. He 
 was sustained also by the powerful semi-military or- 
 ganization of Home Guards, and could, in the mo- 
 ment of need, call them to his aid as special consta- 
 bles and, by investing them with the panoply of the 
 law, thrice arm them for the fight. These compa- 
 nies, as has already been told, had, previous to the 
 election of the i8th of February, become so turbulent 
 and aggressive as to alarm the peaceful residents of 
 the city, and recent events had made them more ar- 
 rogant and more dangerous still. It had therefore be- 
 come a matter of supreme importance to the Seces- 
 sionists to take these great powers from the Mayor, 
 and accordingly a law was now enacted for creating 
 a Board of Police Commissioners and authorizing a 
 police force for the city of St. Louis. This bill, which 
 passed the Senate on the 2d of March, and the House 
 on the 23d, authorized the Governor, with the con- 
 sent of the Senate, to appoint four commissioners, 
 who, along with the Mayor of the city, should have 
 absolute control of the police, of the Volunteer Mili- 
 tia of St. Louis, and of the sheriff and all other con- 
 servators of the peace. This act summarily took 
 away from the Republican Mayor and transferred 
 to the Governor through his appointees, the whole 
 police power of the city of St. Louis. This v/as its 
 expressed intention. It had other and more impor- 
 tant purposes which were carefully concealed. 
 
92 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 On the 22d of March, the President of the Con- 
 vention transmitted to the General Assembly the 
 resolution requesting that body to take the proper 
 steps for calling a Convention of all the States to 
 propose amendments to the Constitution. 
 
 Mr. Vest reported (March 27th) from the com- 
 mittee to whom the resolution was referred, that 
 " Going into council with our oppressors before we 
 have agreed among ourselves, can never result in 
 good. It is not the North that has been wronged, 
 but the South, and the South can alone determine 
 what securities in the future will be sufificient. The 
 interests of Missouri, all her sympathies and the af- 
 fections of her people render her destiny the same 
 with that of the Border Slave States. Mediation 
 by one State alone will amount to nothing. Let us 
 first agree with those whom God and Nature have 
 made our associates in council, and then, in a tem- 
 perate but firm manner, make known our united de- 
 cision to the people of the North. If such a de- 
 mand, coming from the people of eight sister States, 
 swelling in a tone of grandeur and power which 
 should sway the destinies of the universe, shall 
 be disregarded, then, indeed, all hopes of reconstruc- 
 tion would be ended, and appealing to the civilized 
 world a united South, with common lineage, com- 
 mon feelings and common institutions, would take 
 their place among the nations of the earth. With 
 
TJic Convention. 03 
 
 these opinions the committee beg leave to repoi-t 
 that it is inexpedient for the General Assembly to 
 take any step towards calling a National Conven- 
 tion." 
 
 In the course of the debate upon this report, Vest 
 said: "The Convention has been guilty of falsehood 
 and deceit. It says that there is no cause for sep- 
 aration. If this be so, why call a Convention ? In 
 declaring that if the other Border Slave States se- 
 ceded Missouri would still remain within the Union, 
 these wiseacres have perpetrated a libel upon Mis- 
 souri. So help me God ! if the day ever comes 
 when Missouri shall prove so recreant to herself, so 
 recreant to the memories of the past and to the 
 hopes of the future, as to submit tamely to these 
 Northern Philistines, I will take up my household 
 gods and leave the State. Make another Constitu- 
 tion and these Northern Vandals will trample it 
 under foot. ... I appeal to the people of Mis- 
 souri to maintain their rights. I defy the Conven- 
 tion. They are political cheats, jugglers, and char- 
 latans, who foisted themselves upon the people by 
 ditties and music and striped flags. They do not 
 represent Missouri. They have crooked the pliant 
 hinges of the knee that thrift might follow fawning. 
 As for myself, two grandfathers who fought for our 
 liberties rest in the soil of Virginia, and two uncles 
 who fought in the Revolution, sleep in the land of 
 
94 The Fight for Misso2iri. 
 
 the Dark and Bloody Ground. With such blood in 
 my veins, I will never, never, NEVER submit to 
 Northern rule and dictation, I will risk all to be with 
 the Southern people, and, if defeated, I can with a 
 patriot of old exclaim, 
 
 ' More true joy an exile feels, 
 Than Caesar with a Senate at his heels.'" 
 
 The Legislature, having adopted the report, ad- 
 journed the next day, March the 28th. 
 
 The Secessionists now began to gather strength 
 again. The Governor had never wavered in his de- 
 termination to hold the State firm to her pledge to 
 resist the coercion of the South. And now many of 
 those who had in January and February and in the 
 early days of March been deluded into the belief 
 that it was still possible to prevent war had at last 
 come to the conclusion that war was inevitable, that 
 a collision would sooner or later take place between 
 the Federal Government and the South, and that 
 Missouri would have to take part in the conflict ; 
 and they were now taking sides with the Governor. 
 In St. Louis, particularly, a strong revulsion of feel- 
 ing had set in against Blair and his followers. 
 Their open preparation for war alarmed the great 
 land owners and rich merchants of St. Louis, who 
 preferred peace to everything else, and it fright- 
 ened thousands of others whose prosperity de- 
 
The Convc7ition. 95 
 
 pended on the continuance of Southern trade, 
 which would be instantly stopped by war. It was 
 plain now that the South was for peace, and the 
 North for war, > The Secessionists had thus be- 
 come the party of peace, and they were joined by 
 every man who wanted that above all things. It 
 was useless for Mr. Lincoln to say that he was 
 averse to war. All men knew that, but they also 
 knew that it was only by war that he could main- 
 tain the Union. The common sense of the people 
 recognized this fact, and that they acted upon it 
 was abundantly proven when the Municipal Elec- 
 tion took place in St. Louis on the 1st of April, 
 and the Unconditional Union men, who had carried 
 the city in February by a majority of 5,000, were 
 defeated by a majority of 2,600. 
 
 This was a declaration in favor, not of secession, but 
 of peace, and against making war upon the South; 
 and there were still men — thousands of men — in St. 
 Louis, and throughout Missouri — who continued to 
 believe that war might yet be averted ; and there 
 were others who foolishly fancied that, even if war 
 raged from the Lakes to the Gulf and from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, Missouri could, in the midst 
 of the bloody strife, remain neutral and enjoy un- 
 broken peace. 
 
 There were, however, two classes of men in Mis- 
 souri who had never indulged in these baseless 
 
96 TJtc Fight for Missouri. 
 
 hopes; who had seen at the outset that war was 
 inevitable, and had then begun to prepare for war. 
 At the head of the one stood the Governor of the 
 State, Claiborne F. Jackson ; at the head of the 
 other Francis P. Blair, Jr. Never did either of them 
 quail in the presence of any danger, nor shrink from 
 the performance of any duty, however difficult or 
 perilous, which he was called upon to encounter, or 
 to undertake, in defense, or in maintenance, of the 
 principles to which he had devoted his life. Under 
 the banner -of the State upheld by the one or 
 under the flag of the Union uplifted by the other, 
 all earnest men had at last begun to rally. What 
 these men did is what must now be told. 
 
II. MILITARY. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 FRANK BLAIR REBELS AGAINST THE STATE. 
 
 The Department of the West — General William S. Harney — The St. 
 Louis Arsenal — Major William H. Bell — Isaac H. Sturgeon — 
 Federal Troops brought to St. Louis — Frank Blair organizes Re- 
 bellion against the State — The Home Guards — The Minute Men 
 — Basil W. Duke — Frost's Brigade — Daniel M. Frost — His Nego- 
 tiations with Major Bell — General Scott removes Bell— Major 
 Hagner in Command. 
 
 At the beginning of 1861 that part of the United 
 States west of the Mississippi was divided into five 
 MiHtary Departments — TJie West, Texas, New Mex- 
 ico, Utah, and The Pacific. 
 
 The most important of these, The Department of 
 the West, embraced all the country lying between 
 the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, 
 except Texas, New Mexico, and Utah. It was 
 under the command of Brigadier-General William 
 S. Harney, and its head-quarters were at St. Louis. 
 
 Harney was an ofificer of large experience and 
 great gallantry. Appointed to the army from civil 
 life in 181S, he had done hard and conspicuous ser- 
 vice in the Florida War, and had fought under Scott 
 in Mexico, and won distinction on many fields ; had 
 been brevettcd bricjadier-gencral for his conduct at 
 
lOO TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Cerro Gordo, and had been promoted to that full 
 rank in 1858. Though more than sixty years old 
 he was still in the vigor of his robust manhood, 
 very tall, broad-shouldered, and as straight as an 
 arrow, and his bronzed features were flushed with 
 the glow of an exuberant vitality. He had mar- 
 ried long before in St. Louis, and was living there 
 in luxury; for he was a man of wealth, fond of so- 
 ciety and addicted to its pleasures. Possessed of no 
 great intellect, he had, nevertheless, what often sup- 
 plies its place among soldiers, energy, courage, and a 
 high sense of honor. He was, moreover, devoted to 
 the service, adventurous and fearless — was, in fact, 
 an ideal dragoon. Though a Louisianian by birth, 
 and himself a slave holder, though his family and 
 intimates were Southern people and slave holders, 
 and 'though he himself sympathized vv'ith the South 
 in its struggle against the North, he loved the 
 Union, and knew no other country, and was abso- 
 lutely loyal to the flag under which he had served 
 so many years and so gallantly. 
 
 In the southern part of the city, on the shore of 
 the Mississippi, was the St. Louis Arsenal. It con- 
 tained about sixty thousand stand of arms and a 
 large supply of other munitions of war, and the 
 workshops were extensive and well equipped. In 
 addition to the artisans employed in these shops 
 there were at the post several ordnance officers 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. loi 
 
 and a few men detailed from the troops at Jef- 
 ferson Barracks. These barracks were ten miles 
 farther down the river, and were occupied by a 
 small force, mostly recruits, commanded by Major 
 Macrae. 
 
 The commandant of the arsenal was Major Wil- 
 liam H. Bell, a North Carolinian. On graduating 
 at West Point in 1820, he had been assigned to 
 ordnance duty, and had ever since belonged to 
 that branch of the service. St. Louis was virtu- 
 ally his home; for, in the course of his long service 
 in the army, he had been stationed there many 
 years, and by prudent investments had amassed a 
 considerable fortune in town lots and suburban 
 property; and there, too, he had formed the chief 
 friendships of his life. He was a capable officer, 
 and bore a high character both in the army and 
 among his friends in civil life. 
 
 The seizure by the seceding States of the Fed- 
 eral forts and other public property within their 
 limits during the last days of December, and in the 
 early days of January, had naturally turned the 
 thoughts of every man in Missouri to this arsenal, 
 whose great stores of arms and ammunition were of 
 incalculable value at that juncture. There was also 
 gold to the amount of $400,000 in the vaults of the 
 Assistant Treasurer at St. Louis. That official, 
 Isaac H. Sturgeon, a Kentuckian, had lived many 
 
I02 TJlc Fig] it for Missouri. 
 
 years in St. Louis, and was well known there as an 
 active, shrewd, and cunning politician, of no mean 
 ability. He had always been identified with the 
 Southern Rights wing of the Missouri Democracy; 
 had resisted the mild free-soilism of Colonel Benton ; 
 had vigorously opposed the squatter sovereignty 
 theories of Stephen A. Douglas ; was a follower of 
 President Buchanan, who had appointed him to 
 office ; and had earnestly supported Breckinridge 
 during the late canvass. He generally consorted 
 with Southerners, and was believed by the semi-se- 
 cessionists of the city and State to be one of them- 
 selves. From them he learned what were the 
 plans, or rather the talk, of the more reckless mem- 
 bers of that party, and fancied that an attack was 
 about to be made by them not only upon the ar- 
 senal, but upon the Government funds in his own 
 custody. 
 
 He accordingly wrote on the 5th of January a 
 guarded letter to the President (of whose senti- 
 ments he was not quite sure), and in it said that he 
 was greatly concerned for the safety, not only of 
 the public funds in his own hands, but of the muni- 
 tions of war at the arsenal, as it was plain that 
 " boiJi parties had their eyes fixed upon those two 
 points;" and that he would, therefore, "venture to 
 suggest " to the President the propriety of concen- 
 trating troops at the arsenal, for the protection of 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. 103 
 
 the property there, and of the " treasure " in his 
 own custody. 
 
 This letter having been referred by the President 
 to General Scott, the latter forthwith sent Lieuten- 
 ant Robinson with a detachment of forty men, from 
 Newport Barracks to St. Louis, " to be placed by 
 the department commander at the disposal of the 
 Assistant Treasurer." This detachment reached 
 St. Louis on the morning of the nth of January, 
 and was quartered in the Government Building, 
 wherein were the custom house, the post office, 
 the Federal courts and the Assistant Treasury. 
 
 This absurd display of force by the Government 
 provoked the intensest excitement throughout the 
 city. Extras were issued by the papers; great 
 crowds began to gather around the post ofifice ; 
 and an outbreak would have followed, had not 
 General Harney wisely ordered the troops to the 
 arsenal, and thereby quieted the people. No one 
 seemed to be able to explain the coming of these 
 Federal soldiers. The Assistant Treasurer kept 
 himself prudently out of view. 
 
 As soon as the fact had been telegraphed to Jef- 
 ferson City, the Governor called the attention of 
 the General Assembly to it, and Senator Parsons 
 oiTered these resolutions : 
 
 '■'Resolved, That we view this act of the adminis- 
 tration as insulting to the dignity and patriotism 
 
104 ^^^^ ^^S^^^ f^^ Missouri. 
 
 of this State, and calculated to arouse suspicion and 
 distrust on the part of her people towards the Fed- 
 eral Government. 
 
 " Resolved, That the Governor be requested to in- 
 quire of the President what has induced him to 
 place the property of the United States within this 
 State in charge of an armed Federal force." 
 
 The removal of the troops from the post office to 
 the arsenal caused the General Assembly to drop 
 the matter. But the incident had important conse- 
 quences nevertheless, the very reverse, however, of 
 what had been intended by Mr. Sturgeon ; for it set 
 both Union men and Secessionists to making seri- 
 ous and diligent preparation to get possession of 
 the arms in the arsenal. 
 
 It was now that Blair first began to convert the 
 Wide-Awakes into Home Guards, and to drill, dis- 
 cipline, and arm them. He saw that the time for 
 action had come. The State Government had, 
 with the new year, passed into the hands of a 
 Governor, who was an avowed sympathizer with the 
 seceding States, and was pledged to resist all at- 
 tempts of the Federal Government to enforce its 
 laws within those States, and he was supported by a 
 General Assembly, one House of which was almost 
 unanimously, and the other very decidedly, in 
 accord with him. A law had already passed the 
 Senate, and was pending in the House, to take 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. 105 
 
 away from the Republican Mayor of St. Louis all 
 authority over the Volunteer Militia of that city, 
 and to confer that power upon the Governor in- 
 stead ; and Blair knew that the object of this law 
 was not only to deprive the Mayor of the means 
 with which to help the Federal Government, in 
 case of disturbances in St. Louis, but also to range 
 the military companies of the city on the side of 
 the Secessionists, if the latter should undertake to 
 seize the arsenal, or if any conflict should take 
 place between them and the Union men. 
 
 Blair did not hesitate. He never did. But, avail- 
 ing himself of the excitement produced by the 
 bringing of Federal troops to St. Louis, he began 
 the formation of companies of Home Guards, that 
 self-same night. The work, once begun, was carried 
 on actively by him, with the assistance of a commit- 
 tee of safety of which Oliver D. Filley, Mayor of 
 the city, was chairman, and James O. Broadhead, 
 secretary. Its other members were Samuel T. 
 Glover, a Kentuckian, John How, a Pennsylvanian, 
 and Julius J. Witzig, a German. Filley was a New 
 Englander and Broadhead a Virginian. 
 
 The first company which they enrolled was com- 
 posed of both Germans and Americans, and Frank 
 Blair was elected captain. Eleven companies, ag- 
 gregating about seven hundred and fifty of^cers and 
 men, nearly all of them Germans, were soon drilling 
 
io6 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 and getting ready for active service. Some of them 
 were armed (partly by Governor Yates of Illinois, 
 and partly by private contributions), but most of 
 them were still unarmed, at the time that the elec- 
 tion of delegates to the State Convention took 
 place. 
 
 The Governor and other Southern Rights men 
 viewed these Home Guards with just apprehension ; 
 and consequently they put into the military bill, 
 then before the Legislature, a clause which was 
 intended to disband them. This clause required the 
 commanding officer of each of the several military 
 districts into which the State was divided to dis- 
 arm every organization within his district, which 
 had not been " regularly organized and mustered 
 into the service of the State ; " and to confiscate the 
 arms of such organizations to the use of the State. 
 Had this bill become a law in February, the course 
 of events in Missouri might have been essentially 
 changed. 
 
 The St. Louis Secessionists were no less active than 
 the Union men. They were few in number ; but 
 most of them were young, ardent, and full of zeal. 
 They regretted the determination of the Cotton 
 States to secede. They would rather have had 
 them remain within the Union, and fight within it 
 Jor their constitutional rights. But they believed 
 nevertheless that these States had the rijjht to se- 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. 107 
 
 cede and to establish a separate Government if they 
 chose to do so. Whether this was a constitutional 
 right, or a revolutionary right they did not care ; 
 nor ought they to have cared. For the God-given 
 right of revolution is a higher and a more sacred 
 right than any which is based upon the mere bar- 
 gainings and concessions of men. The people who 
 abandon it or fear to assert it alv/ays lose their free- 
 dom sooner or later and sink surely to the condition 
 of serfs or slaves. To the exercise of this natural 
 right in 1776 the Republic owes its existence. To 
 the assertion of it by the South in 1861 the Repub- 
 lic owes its present grandeur, and its perfect unity. 
 
 When South Carolina seceded these young St. 
 Louisians no longer doubted that all the Cotton 
 States would secede and form a Southern Con- 
 federacy, that between this Confederacy and the 
 Union war would ensue, and that in this war 
 the whole country would take part. For them- 
 selves they were resolved to fight with and for the 
 South, among whose people and upon whose soil 
 most of them had been born. 
 
 Throwing aside all vain regrets and bravely ac- 
 cepting the inevitable, they began at once to fit 
 themselves for war ; began to learn the rudiments 
 of the art in the school of the soldier. They were 
 very few, however, till Sturgeon's folly set fire to 
 the passions of men and lit the flames of civil war 
 
io8 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 on the soil of Missouri. Many then joined their 
 ranks — many who had hitherto held aloof for love 
 of the Union or for the sake of peace, but who now 
 despaired of both. 
 
 Among these was Basil Wilson Duke, a young 
 
 lawyer from Kentucky. He was about twenty-five 
 
 years of age, able, enterprising, and bold ; giving 
 
 promise, even then, of those soldierly qualities 
 
 which eventually made him John Morgan's most 
 
 trusted lieutenant and the brilliant commander of 
 
 a Confederate cavalry brigade. In the presidential 
 
 election he had supported Douglas with great zeal 
 
 and some eloquence, and since then had earnestly 
 
 deprecated disunion and striven to stay the current 
 
 that was setting toward secession in Missouri. Now 
 
 he awoke suddenly to the conviction that the North 
 
 was going to make war upon the South. That was 
 
 enough for him. To go with his people when they 
 
 were attacked ; to stand by them wdien they were in 
 
 danger, uncaring whether they were right or wrong ; 
 
 to share their perils, and to fight with them against 
 
 tJicir foes, was with him an instinct and a duty. He 
 
 at once joined the small band of secessionists and 
 
 became their most conspicuous leader. Among 
 
 them he found men as brave and as earnest as he ; 
 
 some of them with ability equal to his own, and 
 
 talents as useful, perhaps, though not so brilliant 
 
 and attractive. 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. 109 
 
 One of these, Colton Greene, was a prosperous 
 young merchant, hardly as old as Duke. A South 
 Carohnian by birth, he sympathized earnestly with 
 the people of that State and justified their conduct 
 in seceding. With a rather delicate physical organ- 
 ization, and of a retiring disposition, he possessed 
 fine sensibilities, a cultivated intellect which was 
 both sharp and strong, courage, and determination. 
 He was, withal, painstaking, laborious and earnest, 
 upright and honorable. 
 
 These two, with Rock Champion a great-hearted 
 young Irishman, and a few others as daring, were as 
 quick to organize the Secessionists into Minute Men 
 as Blair had been to organize his Wide-A wakes into 
 Home Guards; and they did it boldly and openly, 
 beginning it the very day that the Federal troops 
 arrived at St. Louis. 
 
 Never was there a finer body of young fellows 
 than these Minute Men. Some were Missourians ; 
 some from the North ; some from the South ; and 
 others were Irishmen. Among them all there was 
 hardly a man who was not intelligent, educated, and 
 recklessly brave. Some who had the least education 
 were as brave as the bravest, and as true as the truest. 
 Most of them fought afterwards on many a bloody 
 field. Many of them died in battle. Some of them 
 rose to high commands. Not one of them proved 
 false to the cause to which he then pledged his faith. 
 
no TJic Fight for Missom'i. 
 
 They established their head-quarters at the old 
 Berthold mansion, in the very heart of the city, at 
 the corner of Fifth and Pine Streets, and also formed 
 and drilled companies in other parts of the city, 
 against the time that they could arm and equip 
 themselves. They were hardly three hundred in 
 all, but they were so bold and active, so daring and 
 ubiquitous, that every one accounted them ten 
 times as numerous. 
 
 Like Blair and the Home Guards, they had their 
 eyes fixed upon the arsenal, and expected out of its 
 abundant stores to arm and equip themselves for the 
 coming fight. In that arsenal were sixty thousand 
 good muskets, while in all the Confederate States 
 there were not one hundred and fifty thousand 
 more. They were barely three hundred men, and 
 more than ten thousand stood ready to resist them ; 
 but for love of the South, and for love of the right, 
 and for the honor of Missouri, they were willing to 
 peril their lives any day to get those muskets. And 
 they would have gotten them or perished in the at- 
 tempt but for the advice of their leaders at Jeffer- 
 son City. 
 
 These counseled delay. They believed that it 
 was better to wait till the people should, in their 
 election of delegates to the Convention, declare 
 their purpose to side with the South. They never 
 doubted that the people would do this ; never 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. 1 1 1 
 
 doubted that they would elect a Convention which 
 would pledge Missouri to resist the subjugation of 
 the South, and would put her in position to do it. 
 Sustained by the voice of the people, and instructed 
 by their votes, the Governor would then order Gen- 
 eral Frost to seize the arsenal in the name of the 
 State, and he, with his brigade and the Minute Men, 
 and the thousands that would flock to their aid, 
 could easily do it. 
 
 In anticipation of all this and of the passage of 
 the military bill, one of whose provisions required, 
 as has been told, the disbandment of all unauthor- 
 ized military companies, the Minute Men were now 
 organized, according to law, and five companies duly 
 mustered into the State service by General Frost on 
 the 13th of February. 
 
 These companies — Captains Barret, Duke, Shaler, 
 Greene and Hubbard — were then formed into a bat- 
 talion, of which Captain James R. Shaler was elected 
 major, and were assigned to Frost's Brigade. They 
 afterwards formed part of Bowen's Regiment. 
 
 Daniel M. Frost was a native of New York. 
 Graduating at West Point, in 1844, he had served 
 creditably in the Mexican War, and afterwards on 
 the frontier. Marrying in St. Louis, in 185 1, he 
 soon afterwards resigned his commission in the 
 army and engaged in business in that city. Turn- 
 ing his attention to politics, he was elected to the 
 
112 The Fig] it for Missojiri. 
 
 State Senate, and, as a member of that body, pro- 
 cured the enactment of the law under which the 
 mihtia of the State was now organized. Under the 
 provisions of that law he enlisted in 1 858-9 the 
 troops which constituted the First Brigade of Mis- 
 souri Volunteer Militia, and, having been appointed 
 brigadier-general, was assigned to the command of 
 it. This brigade consisted of a regiment of infan- 
 try and some separate companies, and aggregated 
 about five hundred and eighty officers and men. 
 
 It had recently returned from the western border 
 of the State, whither it had been sent in November 
 to repel the incursions of a band of Kansas despera- 
 does, who, under lead of a Captain Montgomery, 
 were ravaging the frontier counties of Missouri. 
 On this expedition the men had learned something 
 of the duties of an army in the field, and, unevent- 
 ful as the campaign was, had acquired much of the 
 spirit and bearing of regular troops, and looked 
 upon themselves and were regarded by others as 
 veterans, which, indeed, many of them in fact were. 
 
 Frost, in view of the threatening aspect of affairs, 
 took every means to foster and strengthen this 
 soldierly spirit of his men, and to prepare them 
 thoroughly for war. In all this, he was zealously 
 aided by both of^cers and men ; and towards the 
 1st of February, his little brigade — a complete 
 army in itself, with infantry, artillery and dra- 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. 1 1 3 
 
 goons — was fully equipped, well drilled and dis- 
 ciplined, and ready to take the field. 
 
 Neither he nor his men had any very precise idea 
 of the part which they would be called upon to 
 take in the event of war between the North and the 
 South. Like himself, they were, for the most part, 
 Union men, but opposed to the subjugation of the 
 South. Few of them expected to use their arms 
 against the United States ; fewer still to use them 
 against the South. They were citizens and soldiers 
 of Missouri and were ready to fight for her. Fur- 
 ther than that they did not then look, or care to 
 look. 
 
 The Governor trusted Frost fully, and he 
 trusted him rightly. For Frost was not only an ac- 
 complished soldier, well instructed in the art of war 
 and experienced in all of its lesser duties, and one 
 of the best of organizers and disciplinarians, but he 
 was also perfectly true to the State, whose officer 
 he was, and ready to defend her against all assail- 
 ants, whoever they might be, and under whatever 
 guise they might appear. It was for her to decide, 
 in Convention, what position she would take if war 
 should happen. Till then, it was his duty to obey 
 the orders of his commander-in-chief, her Gov- 
 ernor. One thing, however, he would not do. He 
 would not make war upon the South. Virginians 
 like Gamble and Bates and Broadhead, and Ken- 
 
 8 
 
114 
 
 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 tuckians like Blair and Brown and Glover, might, 
 under the influence of a sublime patriotism, and 
 a Brutus-like devotion to the Union, send down 
 armies to lay waste their native land, and slay their 
 brothers, and widow their sisters, and drive them far 
 away from their ruined homes, but he. Northern- 
 born though he was, would not help them to do it. 
 
 Whatever judgment history shall, in the distant 
 future^ pass upon the conduct of those Northern 
 men, who, living in the South, like Frost, stood by 
 the South in her hour of great peril, and bared 
 their swords in her defence, fighting for the weak 
 against the strong, the people for whom these men 
 fought should always hold them in honor, and in 
 the most grateful remembrance. 
 
 No one comprehended more clearly than General 
 Frost the necessity which compelled Missouri to 
 keep the arsenal and its stores within her grasp, if 
 she would arm and equip her people ; as arm them 
 she must, sooner or later, whether to fight for the 
 Union, or against it, or to maintain her own neutral- 
 ity. This necessity he made manifest to the Gov- 
 ernor, and was by him authorized to seize the ar- 
 senal, whenever the occasion might require such 
 decisive action. 
 
 In the performance of the duty thus entrusted to 
 him, Frost came to an understanding with Major 
 Bell, the commandant of the arsenal. In com- 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. 115 
 
 municating this fact to the Governor the General 
 wrote on the 24th of January: ' 
 
 " I have just returned from the arsenal. 
 I found the Major everything that you or I could 
 desire. He assured me that he considered that 
 Missouri had, whenever the time came, a right to 
 claim it as being on her soil. He asserted his 
 determination to defend it against any, and all ir- 
 responsible mobs, come from whence they might, 
 but at the same time gave me to understand that 
 he would not attempt any defence against the 
 proper State authorities. 
 
 " He promised me, upon the honor of an officer 
 and a gentleman, that he would not suffer any arms 
 to be removed from the place without first giving 
 me timely information ; and I promised him, in re- 
 turn, that I would use all the force at my command to 
 prevent him being annoyed by irresponsible persons. 
 
 " I, at the same time, gave him notice that, if 
 affairs assumed so threatening a character as to 
 render it unsafe to leave the place in its compara- 
 tively unprotected condition, I might come down 
 and quarter a proper force there to protect it from 
 the assaults of any persons whatsoever, to which he 
 assented. In a word the Major is with us, where he 
 ought to be, for all his worldly wealth lies here in 
 St. Louis (and it is very large), and then again, his 
 sympathies are with us. . . . 
 
Ii6 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 " I shall be thoroughly prepared with the proper 
 force to act as the emergency may require, but the 
 use of force will only be resorted to when nothing 
 else will avail to prevent the shipment or removal of 
 the arms. 
 
 " . . . The arsenal, if properly looked after, 
 will be everything to our State, and I intend to 
 look after it ; very quietly, however. I have every 
 confidence in the word of honor pledged to me by 
 the Major, and would as soon think of doubting the 
 oath of the best man in the community. ... Of 
 course I did not show him your order, but I in- 
 formed him that you had authorized me to act as I 
 might think proper to protect the public property." 
 
 It must be remembered that though Missouri was 
 at that time within the Union, the right of the 
 several States to the Federal property within their 
 limits had not then been as clearly defined as it has 
 since been by the high court of war, the supremest 
 of all earthly tribunals. 
 
 But the United States Government was now get- 
 ting ready to defend the arsenal against Home 
 Guards, Minute Men, and the State. 
 
 Sturgeon, elated by the success of his first at- 
 tempt to direct the movements of the United 
 States army, and encouraged by the less pacific 
 attitude which the President had latterly assumed 
 toward the South, wrote again, and less guardedly, 
 
Frank Blair Rebels Against the State. 1 1 7 
 
 to the President, on the day after Lieutenant Rob- 
 inson's arrival at St. Louis (January 12). 
 
 "The secession paper of the city," said he, "and 
 those who follow it seemed to think it highly im- 
 proper that the Government should send troops 
 here to guard its public property from seizure. All 
 Union men, however, are gratified that the Govern- 
 ment has taken this precautionary measure. I wish 
 it was about two hundred instead of forty men." 
 
 To General Scott he wrote the same day, and, as 
 was becoming, wrote somewhat as one soldier might 
 write to another: 
 
 "About two hundred (200) men, well officered 
 and well armed, should be kept in the arsenal to 
 furnish a nucleus around which the Union-loving, 
 law-abiding, and conservative elements of the city 
 might rally to prevent any unlawful proceeding." 
 
 These letters from Sturgeon, and perhaps others 
 from other people, turned General Scott's attention 
 to St. Louis, and a few days later Major Peter V. 
 Hagner was ordered to relieve Major Bell as com- 
 mandant of the arsenal, and the latter was ordered 
 to New York. Instead of obeying this order, Major 
 Bell resigned his commission in the army and retired 
 to his farm in St. Charles County, Missouri. Major 
 Hagner assumed command of the post on the 24th 
 of January. 
 
 Hagner was a native of Washington city. He 
 
ii8 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 graduated at West Point in 1836, and during the 
 Florida War served in the artillery. He was trans- 
 ferred to the ordnance department in 1838. In the 
 war with Mexico he was brevetted captain for gal- 
 lant and meritorious conduct at Cerro Gordo. For 
 his conduct at Chapultepec he was brevetted major. 
 At the St. Cosme gate he was wounded while gal- 
 lantly fighting. His commission as captain of ord- 
 nance was dated July 10, 185 1. His brevet rank of 
 major dated from September 13, 1847. The signifi- 
 cance of these dates will appear in the course of 
 this story. He v/as now about forty-eight years of 
 age, and was recognized by every one as an officer 
 of ability, experience, integrity, and honor, and 
 worthy of all confidence. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 NATHANIEL LYON. 
 
 Nathaniel Lyon — A Sketch of the Man and of his Career — He is or- 
 dered to the St. Louis Arsenal — Asserts his Right to the Command 
 there — The President Sustains Hagner — Lyon wins Blair's Confi- 
 dence — Drills and Disciplines the Home Guards — Renews his 
 Contest with Hagner — Reinforcement of the Arsenal — The State 
 Election — Overwhelming defeat of the Secessionists — Their Mo- 
 mentary Submission — Lyon and Blair again urge Hagner's Dis- 
 placement — Lyon denounces Hagner's " Imbecility or Damned 
 Viliany," and General Scott's "Sordid Partisanship and Fondness 
 for Toadies" — What He would do — The Minute Men try to Pro- 
 voke a Riot in St. Louis — Lyon Assigned to Command of all the 
 Troops at the Arsenal, but not over Hagner and the Arsenal — The 
 St. Louis Election — Defeat of the Union Men — Their Alarm — 
 Lyon in Command at St. Louis — He distrusts Lincoln, but has 
 faith in " Almighty Truth." 
 
 Nathaniel Lyon was born in Ashford, Con- 
 necticut, on the I4tli of July, i8i8. He entered 
 West Point in 1837, ^^X*^ graduating in 1841 was as- 
 signed to the Second Infantry. With that regiment 
 he served in Florida till 1842, and with it he took 
 part in the war with Mexico. On the march from 
 Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico he was promoted 
 to the first lieutenancy of his company and as such 
 commanded it during that campaign. At Cerro 
 Gordo he was with Harney. For his gallant con- 
 
I20 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 duct in the battles of Churubusco and Gontreras, he 
 was, with three other officers, commended to the 
 "special notice" of his brigade commander, and was 
 brevetted captain on the 20th of August, 1847. Oi^ 
 entering the city he was slightly wounded. 
 
 From 1849 to 1853 he was on duty in California, 
 and while there made a successful campaign against 
 the Clear Lake Indians of Northern California. 
 General Persifor F. Smith, in his report to the War 
 Department, says, " That all the officers in the ex- 
 pedition united in awarding the highest praise to 
 Captain Lyon for his untiring energy, zeal, and 
 skill, and attribute his success to the rapidity and 
 secrecy of his marches, and to his skilful disposi- 
 tions on the ground." 
 
 Many stories are told of his adventures in this 
 wild region. On one occasion when all alone, 
 he was attacked suddenly by three mounted \n- 
 dians. His presence of mind and quickness of 
 movement saved him. With a bullet he emptied 
 the saddle of the foremost. Turning upon the next 
 with his sabre, he buried its blade in the Indian's 
 body. The third savage was glad to get away un- 
 harmed. 
 
 Returning to Benicia toward the end of Septem- 
 ber, 185 1, Captain Lyon enjoyed a much-needed rest. 
 He pictures himself, at this time, as continuing in 
 his " usual and long established customs, grow- 
 
Nathaniel Lyon. 121 
 
 ing old, indeed, but not ashamed to own it ; proud, 
 perhaps, but not haughty ; prudent, it may be, in 
 worldly affairs, yet not crafty for wealth ; desirous 
 enough of fame, but not infatuated with blind ambi- 
 tion ; and, in general, taking the world as it comes, 
 enjoying richly its many blessings, sympathizing 
 with the unfortunate, and laughing with the indif- 
 ference of cool philosophy at the sore disappoint- 
 ments with which selfishness and cupidity are ever 
 torturing their victims." 
 
 During the greater part of 1852 he was on leave 
 of absence in the Eastern States, and took great 
 interest in the then pending presidential election. 
 He was at that time a staunch Democrat, and so 
 enthusiastic an admirer of Franklin Pierce, that on 
 his way back to California he made a speech in his 
 favor to his fellow-passengers on the steam-ship. 
 
 The next year he returned to the East with his 
 regiment and spent a part of the winter at Washing- 
 ton. While there he listened eagerly to the debates 
 in Congress on the question of slavery in the Terri- 
 tories, for the Kansas-Nebraska bill was then under 
 consideration. His earnest nature was deeply im- 
 pressed by what he heard, and his sympathies were 
 aroused in behalf of the negro. 
 
 The next year (1854) he was sent with his com- 
 pany to Fort Riley, some 120 miles west of Kansas 
 City, and there he got into the very midst of that 
 
122 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 bitter contention and savage v/arfare, with which 
 North and South were then struggHng for the pos- 
 session of Kansas — for supremacy in the Union, and 
 for freedom or slavery. 
 
 Lyon was not slow to espouse the cause of the 
 slave, and to maintain it with all the earnestness of 
 his Puritan disposition ; and he did all that an ofificer 
 of the army dared do for the success of the party of 
 freedom, and for the triumph of the Free-State men. 
 
 Extracts from letters which he wrote about this 
 time show how he was being educated for the work 
 that he was to do in Missouri. 
 
 In March, 1855, he writes that ''preparations are 
 now in progress to resist the arrogant and insolent 
 imposition of Missourians. Whether they will prove 
 effective may be seen in the result. Indeed it is 
 fully apprehended that the aggressions of the pro- 
 slavery men will not be checked till a lesson has 
 been taught them in letters of fire and blood." 
 
 In December, " I have seen so much of the over- 
 bearing domination of the pro-slavery people in 
 Kansas toward the Free-State men that I am per- 
 suaded that the latter have either to fight in self- 
 defence or submit ignobly to the demands of their 
 aggressors. ... I despair of living peaceably 
 with our Southern brethren without making dis- 
 graceful concessions, but rest assured that this will 
 not always be, and in this view I foresee ultimate 
 
Nathaniel Lyon. 123 
 
 sectional strife, which I do not care to delay." And 
 about the same tin^e he speaks of the then Secretary 
 of War, as "that heartless villain, Jefferson Davis." 
 
 In 1856, he seriously considered whether it were 
 not better to resign his commission, and quit the 
 army, than, as one of its ofifiicers, aid in enforcing 
 the laws of the United States in Kansas. He 
 looked upon *' the course of the General Govern- 
 ment as selfish, partial and corrupt," and " could not 
 submit to the self-debasement and humiliation of 
 being employed as a tool in the hands of evil rulers 
 for the accomplishment of evil ends." From the 
 necessity of resigning he was saved by being or- 
 dered out of Kansas. 
 
 But he was in Kansas again in 1859, '^^'^^ taking 
 as active an interest as ever in the contest between 
 slavery and freedom ; was with General Harney, in 
 December i860, when Frost's Brigade was sent by 
 the Governor of Missouri to co-operate with Har- 
 ney in arresting Montgomery, and protecting the 
 country adjacent to Fort Scott ; and was left by 
 Harney at Fort Scott, after Montgomery and his 
 band had dispersed and escaped. 
 
 From that post he wrote, January 27, 1861 : 
 
 " I do not consider troops at all necessary here, 
 and should much prefer to be employed in the 
 legitimate and appropriate service of contributing 
 to stay the idiotic fratricidal hands now at work to 
 
124 ^/^^ FigJit for Missouri. 
 
 destroy our Government. . . . It is no longer 
 useful to appeal to reason, but to the sword, and 
 trifle no longer in senseless wrangling. I shall not 
 hesitate to rejoice at the triumph of my principles, 
 though this triumph may involve an issue, in which 
 I certainly expect to expose, and very likely shall 
 lose, my life. I would a thousand times rather incur 
 this, than recall the result of our presidential elec- 
 tion. We shall rejoice, though, in martyrdom if 
 need be." 
 
 Four days later he was ordered to St. Louis, with 
 his company. 
 
 He was now in the forty-third year of his age ; 
 of less than medium height ; slender and angular ; 
 with abundant hair of a sandy color, and a coarse 
 reddish-brown beard. He had deep-set blue eyes ; 
 features that were rough and homely ; and the 
 weather-beaten aspect of a man who had seen 
 much hard service on the frontier. What manner 
 of soldier he was will soon be seen. 
 
 His first act on reaching the arsenal was charac- 
 teristic of the man, of his contentious spirit, and 
 aggressive disposition, of his resolute purpose to 
 have his own way, of his distrust of all conservative 
 men, like Major Hagner. Though the latter was 
 five years his senior in the service, his commission 
 as captain was twenty days junior to Lyon's ; for 
 promotion in the ordnance was slower than in the 
 
Nathaniel Lyon. 125 
 
 infantry, to whiclt Lyon belonged. But he had 
 been assigned to duty at the arsenal according to 
 his brevet rank of major, and that made him 
 senior to Lyon. 
 
 No regard for Hagner's greater age, or longer ser- 
 vice ; no feeling of courtesy towards an older 
 brother in arms, weighed with Lyon for a moment 
 against the fact that Hagner was not an Aboli- 
 tionist, that his wife v/as the daughter of a slave- 
 holder, and himself the friend and associate of 
 Southern sympathizers. Such a man was not, in 
 his opinion, to be trusted with so important a com- 
 mand as the St. Louis arsenal ; such a man was 
 not fit to have authority over a true and loyal 
 soldier like himself. He at once asserted his own 
 right to the command, by virtue of his senior com- 
 mission as captain. The question was submitted 
 to General Harney. He sustained Hagner, and 
 Lyon thereupon appealed to the President. He, 
 too, sustained Hagner, and Lyon had to submit for 
 the time. 
 
 This struggle with Hagner had not diverted his 
 attention from what was happening around him, nor 
 had it kept him out of the greater struggle to which 
 it was merely subsidiary. He at once established 
 the closest relations with Blair, and the other influ- 
 ential Union men of St. Louis, and by his zeal, in- 
 telligence and bcldness won their instant and per- 
 
126 The Fight for ]\Iissou7'i. 
 
 feet confidence. They saw that' he was the very- 
 man that they needed ; that he had been sent to 
 them, as it were, by Providence or by Fate to save 
 Missouri to the Union. 
 
 Practical always, he went straight to work to or- 
 ganize, drill and discipline the Home Guards, and to 
 convert them into soldiers upon whom he could rely 
 to defend the arsenal and to fight the Secession- 
 ists. He frequented their drill-rooms and armories; 
 instructed the officers and men ; inspired them with 
 confidence in himself ; taught them too to have faith 
 in themselves and in the cause for which they were 
 going to battle; fired their enthusiasm ; and inflamed 
 their patriotism. 
 
 The election of delegates to the State Conven- 
 tion w^as to take place on the i8th of February. 
 The whole Commonwealth was profoundly agitated. 
 In St. Louis the wildest excitement prevailed. The 
 Secessionists were confident of success, and openly 
 boasted that if they carried the State they would 
 seize the arsenal, and out of its stores arm equip 
 and supply the State Guard, which the General 
 Assembly would then authorize to be enlisted, and 
 called into active service. 
 
 Blair and Lyon appreciated the danger, and re- 
 doubled their efforts to meet it. They believed 
 that if they could get absolute control of the 
 arsenal and its storeS; they need not fear any force 
 
NatJianiel Lyon. 127 
 
 which the State or the Secessionists could bring 
 against it ; for they could then arm and equip 
 the Home Guards and their other adherents, with 
 these stores, and send what was left to Illinois wliere 
 they would be safe. 
 
 Under no circumstances would Hagner distribute 
 the arms to the Home Guards. He could not do it 
 without violating the laws of his country and his 
 oath as an ofificer ; and these were things that he 
 could not do. He had not yet learned that ivcrr 
 silences iaw and burns up in its flames all formal 
 oaths. 
 
 Lyon had learned this, and he knew that the 
 country was on the verge of war; that armed men were 
 gathering at the North and at the South to begin 
 the deadly conflict; and he had made up his mind 
 to issue the arms to the Home Guards in case of 
 need, despite both Hagner and Harney. He would 
 not let a law, which was intended for the safety of 
 the Union, be used for the destruction of the 
 Union ; he would not stand idly by and let the arms 
 which belonged to the Union be turned against the 
 Union by its worst enemy. But he did not wish to 
 be forced into an unlawful course, if it could be 
 avoided; not that he cared much about it himself, 
 but there were a great many law-abiding Union men 
 in Missouri, whom it would be unwise to offend or 
 to alarm. Their feelings and their prejudices must 
 
128 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 be consulted, or they might take part with the State 
 and against the Federal Government. He and Blair 
 resolved, accordingly, to try again to have himself 
 placed in command of the arsenal. This would 
 be accomplished if the President would order Hag- 
 ner to be assigned to duty, without reference to 
 his brevet rank. 
 
 "I should care nothing," said Lyon," for the deci- 
 sion against me, as I have told Major Hagner, if he 
 would take proper precautions for defence. The 
 place is in imminent danger of attack, and the Gov- 
 ernor of Missouri will no doubt demand its sur- 
 render if the State shall pass an ordinance of seces- 
 sion. The prospect is gloomy and forebodes an un- 
 necessary sacrifice of life, in-case of hostile demon- 
 strations. But I do not despair of an effective de- 
 fence, and I hope to administer a lasting rebuke to 
 the traitors who have thus far had their own way." 
 
 As the Buchanan administration would not listen 
 to Blair and himself, they got Sturgeon to write 
 again, on the 9th of February, to General Scott, and 
 to advise him to reinforce the arsenal with all the 
 troops that were at Jefferson Barracks, and to place 
 Lyon in command of both them and the arsenal. 
 
 Scott ordered the troops to the arsenal, but he 
 left Hagner in command; and on the i6th of Feb- 
 ruary — two days before the election — 203 ofificers 
 and men were, in obedience to this order, brought to 
 
NatJianicl Lyon. 129 
 
 the arsenal, which was further reinforced a few 
 days later, by 102 ofificers and men. These rein- 
 forcements increased the troops at the post to nine 
 officers and 484 men. General Harney now informed 
 the War Department in a report made on the 19th 
 of February that there never had been any danger 
 of an attack upon the arsenal, and that if one should 
 be made " the garrison would be promptly rescued 
 by an overwhelming force from the city." 
 
 Whatever danger may have existed had in fact 
 passed. For the State had, in the election of dele- 
 gates to the Convention, declared against secession 
 by an overwhelming m.ajority, and had affirmed the 
 loyalty of her citizens to the Union. The Secession- 
 ists were for the moment utterly disheartened. The 
 General Assembly sullenly submitted to the will of 
 the people, and postponed the consideration of 
 every measure looking to the preparation of the 
 State for war, or for the maintenance even of her 
 own neutrality. 
 
 Lyon and Blair were not deceived by these delu- 
 sive signs of peace, nor did they relax their efforts 
 to get ready for war. They knew that it would 
 break out sooner or later, and that whoever then 
 held the arsenal would hold St. Louis, and that 
 whoever held St. Louis and the arsenal would in 
 the end hold Missouri. 
 
 They did not even wait for the inauguration of 
 9 
 
130 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Lincoln, now only a few days off, but Blair himself 
 hastened to Washington in order to beg Mr. 
 Buchanan to immediately assign Lyon to the com- 
 mand of the arsenal ; stopping, however, at Spring- 
 field to explain the condition of affairs to Mr. Lin- 
 coln, and to prepare him to act promptly on assum- 
 ing ofifice. But neither Mr. Buchanan nor General 
 Scott would give heed to Blair's entreaties. For they 
 distrusted both him and Lyon, and would not give 
 them the power to inaugurate civil v/ar in Missouri. 
 Moreover, they had implicit confidence in both 
 Harney and Hagner, and felt sure that they would 
 do all that could be done for the safety of the 
 arsenal, and for the maintenance of the Federal 
 authority in Missouri, 
 
 Lyon meanwhile kept urging Hagner to strengthen 
 the defences of the arsenal, and suggested many 
 ways in which this could be done. Hagner paid no 
 attention to his suggestions. Lyon, losing all pa- 
 tience, wrote to Blair on the 25th of February: 
 
 " Major Hagner refuses to do any of these 
 things and has given his orders not to fly to the 
 walls to repel an approach, but to let the enemy 
 have all the advantages of the wall to lodge himself 
 behind it, and get possession of all outside buildings 
 overlooking us, and to get inside, and under shelter 
 of our outbuildings, which we are not to occupy be- 
 fore wc make resistance. TJiis is eitJicr imbecility or 
 
Nathaniel Lyoit. 131 
 
 damned villany ; and in contemplating the risks we 
 run, and the sacrifices that we must make in case of 
 an attack, in contrast to the vigorous and effective 
 defence we are capable of, and which (in view of the 
 cause of our country and humanity, and the disgrace 
 and degradation to which the Government has been 
 subjected by pusillanimity and treachery) we are 
 now called upon to make, I get myself into a most 
 unhappy state of solicitude and irritability. With 
 even less force and proper dispositions I am confi- 
 dent we can resist any force that can be brought 
 against us ; by which I mean such force as would 
 not be overcome by our sympathizing friends out- 
 side. These needful dispositions, can, with proper 
 industry, be made within twenty-four hours. There 
 cannot be, as you know, a more important occasion, 
 or a better opportunity to strike an effective blow 
 at this arrogant infatuation of secessionism than 
 here ; and must all this be lost by either false no- 
 tions of duty, or covert disloyalty ? 
 
 " As I have said. Major Hagner has no right to 
 the command, and, under the Sixty-second Article of 
 War, can only have it by a special assignment of the 
 President, which I do not believe has been made ; 
 but that the announcement of General Seott that the 
 command belongs to Major Hagner is his oion decision 
 and done in his usual sordid spirit of partisanship, 
 and favoritism to pets, and personal associates, and 
 
132 The Fig] it for Missouri. 
 
 toadies ; nor can he, even in the present straits of 
 the country, rise above this in earnest devotion to 
 justice and the wants of his country. If Mr. Lin- 
 cohi chooses to be deceived in this respect, as I fear 
 he will be, he will repent it in misfortune and sorrow ; 
 for neither supercilious conceit nor unscrupulous 
 tyranny was ever a veil for patriotism or ability. 
 Major Hagner is not accustomed to troops, and 
 manages them here awkwardly, but this is nothing 
 compared to the great matter on hand, and this, as 
 I have plainly told him, is of much more importance 
 than that either he, or I, should conduct it. A 
 simple order, countermanding that assigning him to 
 duty according to brevet ranlc, would give me com- 
 mand. With a view to defence here, it would, how- 
 ever, be well to add that I should assume control, 
 and avail myself of all means available for the pur- 
 pose. ... If I should have command I v/ould 
 have no trouble to arm any assisting party, and 
 perhaps, by becoming responsible for the arms, etc., 
 I might fit out the regiment we saw at the Garden 
 the other day." 
 
 An event which happened on the day that Lincoln 
 was inaugurated, and on which the State Convention 
 began its sessions at St. Louis (March 4th), came very 
 near precipitating the conflict in Missouri, and gave 
 Blair and Lyon good cause to press their demands 
 upon the Government. 
 
Nathaniel Lyon. 133 
 
 During the preceding night some of the Minute 
 Men (Duke, Greene, Ouinlan, Champion, and McCoy) 
 raised the flag of Missouri over the dome of the 
 Court-house, and hoisted above their own head- 
 quarters a nondescript banner, which was intended 
 to represent the flag of the Confederate States. 
 The custodian of the Court-house remov^ed the 
 State flag from that building early in the morning ; 
 but the secession flag still floated audaciously and 
 defiantly above the Minute Men's head-quarters, in 
 the very face of the Submissionists' Convention, of 
 the Republican Mayor, and his German police, of 
 the department commander, and of Lyon and his 
 Home Guards ; and under its folds there was gath- 
 ered as daring a set of young fellows as ever did a 
 bold, or a reckless deed. They were about a score 
 at first, but when an excited crowd began to 
 threaten their quarters, and the rumor to fly that 
 the Home Guards were coming to tear down their 
 flag, the number of its defenders grew to about one 
 hundred. They all had muskets of the latest and 
 very best pattern. On the floors of the upper 
 rooms were heaps of hand grenades. In the wide 
 hall was a swivel, double-shotted, and so planted as 
 to rake the main entrance if any one should be 
 brave enough to try to force it. At every window 
 there were determined men, with loaded muskets, 
 and fixed bayonets ; behind them were others, ready 
 
134 '^^^^ Fight for Missouri. 
 
 to take the place of any that might fall ; and in all 
 the building there was not a man who was not 
 ready to fight to the death, rather than submit to 
 the rule of Abraham Lincoln ; nor one who would 
 have quailed in the presence of a thousand foes, 
 nor one of them that survives to-day, who would not 
 fight just as willingly and just as bravely for the flag 
 of the Union. Outside, too, throughout the ever- 
 growing crowd, other Minute Men were stationed, 
 to act as the emergency might require. 
 
 Before the hour of noon had come all the streets 
 in the vicinity were thronged with excited men, 
 some drawn thither by mere curiosity and by 
 that strange magnetism which mobs always exert ; 
 some to take part with the Minute Men, if "the 
 Dutch " should attack them ; some to tear down 
 " the rebel flag," and to hang " the traitors," who 
 had dared to raise it on the day of Lincoln's inau- 
 guration. 
 
 Everything betokened a terrible riot and a bloody 
 fight. The civil authorities were powerless. It was 
 to no purpose that they implored the crowd to dis- 
 perse ; in vain that they begged the Minute Men to 
 haul down their flag. The police could do nothing. 
 The Home Guards did not dare to attack, for their 
 leaders knew that the first shot that was fired would 
 bring Frost's Brigade, which was largely composed 
 of Minute Men, to the aid of their friends, and that 
 
Nathaniel Lyon. 135 
 
 they would also be reinforced by the Irish, between- 
 whom and the German Home Guards there was the 
 antipathy of both race and rehgion. Only once did 
 any one venture to approach the well-guarded portals 
 of the strong-hold. The rash fools that did it were 
 hurled back into the street, amid the jeers and 
 laughter of the crowd. Blair and the Republican 
 leaders, unwilling to provoke a conflict, kept their 
 followers quiet, and finally towards midnight the 
 crowd dispersed. The next day's sun shone upon 
 the rebel flag still flying above the roof of the Min- 
 ute Men's quarters. But Duke and Greene were 
 unhappy, for they had hoped to bring on a fight, in 
 which they would have been reinforced by Frost's 
 Brigade, and the Irish and many Americans, and in 
 the confusion to seize the arsenal, and hold it till 
 the Secessionists of the State could come to their 
 aid. They were, nevertheless, greatly elated because 
 the people believed more than ever that there were 
 thousands of Minute Men, instead of hundreds. 
 
 Blair used the incident with effect at the War 
 Department, and a few days later (March 13) 
 Lyon was assigned to the command of all the 
 troops at the arsenal and of its defences. General 
 Harney, however, still thwarted the desires of Blair 
 and Lyon, by instructing the latter that the order 
 of the War Department did not confer upon him 
 any authority over Major Hagncr, or any control 
 
136 TJlc Fight for Missouri. 
 
 over the arms and other material of war in the 
 arsenal, which was the very thing that Blair and 
 Lyon needed in order to issue arms to the Home 
 Guards. For the full consummation of their desires 
 they had still to wait. 
 
 Various causes which have been set out in a pre- 
 vious chapter, and among these the enactment of 
 the law which placed the police, and all other con- 
 servators of the peace, and also the volunteer mili- 
 tia of St. Louis, under the orders of commissioners 
 appointed by and in sympathy with the Governor, 
 wrought a complete change in the political status 
 of that city ; and at the Municipal Election, which 
 was held on the ist of April, Daniel G. Taylor, the 
 candidate of those who were opposed to Lincoln's 
 administration and to war against the South, was 
 chosen mayor by a majority of 2,658 votes, over 
 John How, the candidate of the Unconditional 
 Union men. 
 
 As Mr. How was an exceptionally popular man, a 
 leading member of the Union Safety Committee, 
 and a devoted supporter of Blair and Lyon, his 
 defeat by so large a majority was in itself enough to 
 alarm the Union men. But the matter was made 
 worse for them by the fact that through this elec- 
 tion the whole organized power of the city was 
 taken from the Union men, and given to their 
 enemies. The Governor had already put the police 
 
Natha)iicl Lyon. 137 
 
 under the control of Duke, the leader of the Minute 
 Men, James H. CarHsle and Charles McLaren, two 
 avowed Secessionists, and John A. Brownlec, who, 
 though a Northern man, was strongly opposed to 
 the subjugation of the South. 
 
 This new danger only caused Lyon, who fully 
 realized its magnitude, to become more resolute, 
 and to work more earnestly. To some Union men, 
 who expressed to him their fears that the Southern 
 men would now try to seize the arsenal, he said 
 that in that event he would issue arms to the Home 
 Guards and Union men, law or no law ; and that if 
 Major Hagner interfered he would " pitch him into 
 the river." To Blair, who was again in Washington, 
 he wrote on the 6th of April that the Government 
 should forthwith give him entire control of every- 
 thing at the arsenal without exception of men or 
 means. His desire had been already realized and in 
 a way which was unexpected, for General Harney, 
 who seems to have at last begun to recognize the 
 fact that there was at least a possibility of war, had 
 that very day made an order which virtually placed 
 Hagner and the arsenal and everything in it under 
 his command. 
 
 Lyon was now master of St. Louis. But, far- from 
 being content with the vantage that he had gained, 
 he was only anxious to use it for the accomplish- 
 ment of greater things. Lnpatient, earnest, and 
 
138 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 eager to get at the throats of " the traitorous slave- 
 holders," he ill-brooked the slowness with which 
 Lincoln seemed to be moving. He feared " that 
 the President lacked the resolution to grapple with 
 treason and to put it down forever ; " that " he was 
 not the man for the hour," and that " our political 
 triumph had been in vain. If matters go on as they 
 do, we shall soon have " (so he wrote) '' a formidable 
 array of hostile troops upon us. When this comes, 
 it will, I trust, arouse the supine and timid North to 
 a patriotic resolution, which shall, in spite of Execu- 
 tive tamperings, do something to retrieve her pres- 
 ent degradation. If Mr. Lincoln does one tithe of 
 his duty, as he has promised, we must have hostili- 
 ties with the South. ... I do not see how war 
 is to be avoided. Under quack management it may 
 be long and bloody, yet I have no apprehensions 
 about the final triumph of Alm.ighty Truth, though 
 at the cost of many unnecessary sacrifices. But let 
 them come! I would rather sec the country 
 lighted up with flames from its centre to its re- 
 motest borders, than that the great rights and hopes 
 of the human race should expire before the arro- 
 gance of Secessionists. Of this, however, there is 
 no danger. They are at war with nature and the 
 human heart, and cannot succeed." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ARSENAL. 
 
 Bombardment of Fort Sumter — The President calls for Seventy-five 
 Thousand Troops — The Reponse of the North — Its effect at the 
 South and in the Burder States — The Missouri Republican — 
 Governor Jackson's Reply — Frcst'o Advice — The Legislature Con- 
 vened — A plan to Capture the Arsenal — Commissioners sent South 
 for Siege Guns — Frost's Brigade Ordered into Encampment — The 
 Plan Divulged to Harney and Lyon — Lyon Calls on the Governor 
 of Illinois for Troops, and occupies the Hills around the Arsenal — 
 Bowen ordered to Report with his Command to Frost — Lyon 
 authorized to Arm the Home Guards — Harney Countermands 
 the Order — Seizure of Liberty Arsenal by Secessionists — Harney 
 ordered to Washington City — Lyon arms the Home Guards, and 
 sends the Surplus Arms to Alton. 
 
 While these things were being done in Missouri, 
 delegates from South Carohna, Georgia, Florida, 
 Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, had met at Mont- 
 gomery Alabama, on the 4th of February ; had 
 adopted a Provisional Constitution for " the Con- 
 federate States of America" on the 8th; and had 
 elected Jefferson Davis to be President and Alexan- 
 der H. Stephens Vice-President of this Provisional 
 Government on the 9th. 
 
 Mr. Davis, who was at that time in command of 
 the army which Mississippi was raising for her de- 
 
140 The FigJit for Missouri. 
 
 fence, seems to have been reluctant to accept the 
 Presidency. For he had at last come to believe, 
 contrary to the common opinion of the Southern 
 people, that war was at least likely to ensue; and, 
 fancying himself better fitted for the field than for 
 the Cabinet, preferred the command of an army to 
 the Presidency. He and Mr. Stephens were, never- 
 theless, inaugurated on the i8th of February. 
 
 The Provisional Congress had already (February 
 12) taken under its charge the questions and dififi- 
 culties then existing between the several Confeder- 
 ate States and the Government of the United 
 States, relating to the occupation of forts, arsenals, 
 navy yards, and other public establishments; and 
 had also (February 15) requested the President elect 
 to send three commissioners to Washington city to 
 treat with the Federal Government as to those mat- 
 ters, and to establish friendly relations with the 
 United States. 
 
 These commissioners opened informal negotia- 
 tions with the Administration on the 12th of March, 
 with relation chiefly to the evacuation of Fort 
 Sumter), and succeeded at last in getting from the 
 Government an assurance that it would not un- 
 dertake to supply that fort without first giving 
 notice to the Confederates. On the 8th of April 
 this notice was given to General Beauregard, who 
 had been assigned (March i) to the command of all 
 
TJie Arsenal. 141 
 
 the troops, near Charleston. The fact having been 
 communicated to his Government by Beauregard, he 
 was ordered (April 10) by the Secretary of War to 
 demand the evacuation of the fort. This demand 
 was made the next day. The negotiations which 
 followed were, at 3.30 o'clock on the morning of the 
 1 2th, terminated by a notice from General Beaure- 
 gard that unless the fort were surrendered within an 
 hour, he would open fire upon it. At 4.30 A.:\I. a 
 signal shell was accordingly thrown into Sumter, 
 and a few moments later fire was opened from all the 
 Confederate batteries. Major Anderson returned 
 the fire about 7 A.M. It was then kept up contin- 
 uously by both sides for nearly thirty-four hours 
 until, at about two o'clock in the afternoon of the 
 13th, the fort was surrendered. 
 
 "The effect of the assault on Fort Sumter," says 
 Mr. Blaine, " and the lowering of the national flag 
 to the forces of the Confederacy acted upon the 
 North as an inspiration, consolidating public senti- 
 ment, dissipating all differences, bringing the whole 
 people to an instant and unanimous determination 
 to avenge the insult, and to re-establish the author- 
 ity of the Union. Yesterday there had been divi- 
 sion. To-day there w^as unity." 
 
 The President issued a proclamation on the 15th, 
 calling on the militia of the several States to the 
 number of seventy-five thousand, to " suppress 
 
142 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 combinations in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, 
 Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, too 
 powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course 
 of judicial proceedings ; ... to maintain the 
 honor, the integrity, and the existence of our Na- 
 tional Union, and the perpetuity of popular govern- 
 ment ; . . . and to repossess the forts, places, 
 and property which have been seized from the 
 Union." 
 
 On the same day the Secretary of War tele- 
 graphed to the governors of all the States which 
 had not seceded, requesting them to detail from the 
 militia of their several States enough men to make 
 up the total of seventy-five thousand troops called 
 for by the President, " to serve as infantry, or rifle- 
 men, for a period of three months." The quota to 
 be furnished by each State was set forth in these 
 telegrams. 
 
 " The proclamation," to use once more the pic- 
 turesque words of Mr. Blaine, " was responded to in 
 the loyal States with an unparalleled burst of enthu- 
 siasm. On the day of its issue hundreds of public 
 meetings were held from the eastern border of 
 Maine to the extreme western frontier. Work was 
 suspended on farm and in factory, and the whole 
 people were aroused to patriotic ardor, and to a de- 
 termination to subdue the Rebellion and restore the 
 Union, whatever might be the expenditure of treas- 
 
The Arsenal. 
 
 143 
 
 ure or the sacrifice of life. Telegrams and congratula- 
 tions of sympathy fell upon the White House like 
 snow flakes in a storm." 
 
 Northern Democrats talked no more of " resistino- 
 the march of a Black Republican army to the 
 South," nor of "offering their dead bodies as an 
 obstruction to its progress." They became instantly 
 and earnestly " loyal," and their great leader, Stephen 
 A. Douglas, promptly waited on Mr. Lincoln, and 
 expressing his deepest sympathy, tendered his ac- 
 tive co-operation. 
 
 The effect upon the South was no less instanta- 
 neous and decisive. 
 
 Throughout the seceded States the wildest en- 
 thusiasm took possession of every one. They had 
 fought the United States, and had won the fight. 
 They had, after a bombardment the like of which 
 few living men had ever seen, taken the strongest 
 Federal fortress in all the Confederacy. They sud- 
 denly awoke " to a sense of power and became wild 
 with confidence in their ability to defy the authority 
 of the United States." 
 
 In the border slave-holding States, which till 
 now had remained steadfast in their allegiance to 
 the Union, the sympathy of the people with their 
 Southern kindred was carried to the highest pitch, 
 and their Governors, in responding to Mr. Lincoln's 
 call for troops to invade the South, gave utterance 
 
]44 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 to this universal feeling : Virginia would furnish no 
 militia " to the powers at Washington for the sub- 
 jugation of the Southern States." North Carolina 
 " would be no party to the wicked violation of 
 the laws of the country, and to the war upon the 
 liberties of a free people." *' Tennessee would not 
 furnish a single man for coercion, but would raise 
 fifty thousand men for the defence of her rights and 
 those of her Southern brethren." " The people of 
 Arkansas would defend to the last extremity their 
 honor and their property against Northern men- 
 dacity and usurpation." Kentucky " would furnish 
 no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her 
 sister States of the South." 
 
 Missouri was intensely excited. The Secession- 
 ists were exultant, and even the Submissionists took 
 heart again and became defiant. The St. Louis Rc- 
 piiblican, whose columns reflected with wonderful 
 fidelity the ever-varying phases of public opinion, 
 the wishes, the fears and the hopes of the rich men 
 of Missouri, of her slave-holders, of the owners of 
 her great landed estates, of the proprietors and 
 managers of her banks and railways and other great 
 corporations, of her merchants and of her manufac- 
 turers, said the day after the surrender of Sumter 
 and before the President had called out the militia : 
 
 " No matter what may be the expenditure of life 
 and money, the seceding States never can be con- 
 
TJic Arsenal. 145 
 
 quered. A more unrighteous and unpopular war 
 was never inaugurated. And we look to the people 
 of the free States, now, on the instant, to put forth 
 their solemn protest against the prosecution of this 
 unnatural war. ... If the Union is to be riven 
 asunder by the mad policy of Mr. Lincoln, all they 
 have to do is to encourage him in the war which he 
 has commenced. No one doubts, we apprehend, 
 the ability of the Confederate States to defend them- 
 selves against any force which Mr. Lincoln may send 
 to attack them. But this calamity should be averted 
 before it spreads and takes in, as it will, the border 
 free States, as well as the slave States." 
 
 The Columbia Statesman, edited by another emi- 
 nent conservative, William F. Switzler, was equally 
 outspoken. It said on the 15th of April : 
 
 " Let them (the border States) stand as a wall of 
 fire between the belligerent extremes, and with their 
 strong arms and potential counsel keep them apart. 
 Let them stand pledged, as they now are, to resist 
 any attempt at coercion, plighting their faith, as we 
 do not hesitate to plight the faith of Missouri, that 
 if the impending war of the Northern States against 
 the Southern shall, in defiance of our solemn protest 
 and warning actually occur (which God in his mercy 
 forefend !) we shall stand by Virginia and Kentucky 
 and our Southern sisters — sharing their dangers, and 
 abiding their fortunes and destiny — in driving back 
 
146 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 from their borders the hostile feet of Northern in- 
 vaders. (9/ the South, we ^re for the South." 
 
 The Republican, commenting the next day (April 
 16) on the President's proclamation, said : 
 
 " We make no doubt that there are fanatics, and 
 fools, and vagabonds enough in the North, who if 
 collected together, might make a good-sized army in 
 point of numbers ; but how far they will be ready to 
 encounter the dangers of a march through any of 
 the border slave States of the Union is a question 
 which admits of easy solution. Not one of those 
 States, whether in or out of the Union, will ever 
 permit an army, mustered in the free States, to pass 
 over its territory with the design of invading cither 
 of the States now in rebellion against the Federal 
 Government. If Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania 
 wishes to test it, let him put himself at the head of 
 his troops and attempt to march through Virginia. 
 
 "And so, Mr. Lincoln may as well understand at 
 once, will it be with all the hordes that he may send 
 into the field for this purpose. Their track will be 
 marked with their own blood, shed by the people of 
 the slave States, in defence of their own territory, 
 and of what they conceive to be the rights of the 
 South, and in anticipation that the same fate is in- 
 tended for themselves, if this war shall be successful. 
 
 " We need not wait for the answer of the Governor 
 of Missouri to this demand upon the State for her 
 
TJic A rscnal. 1 47 
 
 quota of troops. The people are ready to respond 
 noiv^ that they will not contribute one regiment, nor 
 one company for any such purpose. They will not 
 make war upon the South, nor aid in the attempt to 
 retake Fort Sumter, or any other fort in the posses- 
 sion of any one of the States, which have asserted 
 their independence. ' 
 
 Governor Jackson had never wavered in his deter- 
 mination to place Missouri on the side of the South 
 in the impending war, and had done and was still 
 doing all that could possibly be done with the in- 
 significant means at his command to prepare the 
 State for hostilities. As soon after the adjourn- 
 ment of the General Assembly as his duties at the 
 capital would permit, he had gone to St. Louis to 
 confer with General Frost and others as to what was 
 best to be done. At the conferences which they 
 held some of the most active Secessionists of the 
 city were present. Among them were John A. 
 Brownlee, President of the Police Board, Judge Wil- 
 liam M. Cooke, and Captains Greene and Duke. 
 They all agreed that the most important and the 
 first thing to be done was to seize the arsenal, so as 
 to obtain the means for at once arming and equip- 
 ping the State Militia. How this could be done 
 was to be shown by General Frost in a memorial 
 which he promised to draw up forthwith and pre- 
 sent to the Governor. 
 
148 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Events moved more rapidly than any one antici- 
 pated, and General Frost had not yet completed his 
 memorial^ when the fall of Fort Sumter changed the 
 aspect of affairs, and compelled him to consider other 
 matters in connection with the seizure of the ar- 
 senal. Consequently on the 15th of April he sub- 
 mitted to the Governor, with the indorsement of 
 Mr. Brownlee, a written memorandum, in which he 
 pointed out the strategic importance of St. Louis, 
 and the fact that Lyon had not only greatly 
 strengthened the defences of the arsenal, but was 
 erecting batteries and mounting heavy siege guns 
 and mortars with which to command the river ap- 
 proaches to the city, and the city itself, and would 
 soon have St. Louis at his mercy, and be able to 
 dictate the course of the State. 
 
 " I fully appreciate," he went on to say, "the very 
 delicate position occupied by your Excellency, and 
 do not expect you to take any action, or to do any- 
 thing that is not legal and proper to be done, under 
 the circumstances, but I would nevertheless suggest 
 the following as both legal and proper." 
 
 1. Convene the General Assembly at once. 
 
 2. Send an agent to the South to procure mortars 
 and siege guns. 
 
 3. Prevent the garrisoning of the United States 
 arsenal at Liberty. 
 
 4. Warn the people of Missouri " that the Presi- 
 
The Arsenal. 149 
 
 dent has acted illegally in calling out troops, thus 
 arrogating to himself the war-making power, and 
 that they are, therefore, by no means bound to 
 give him aid or comfort in his attempt to subjugate 
 by force of arms a people who are still free, but, on 
 the contrary, should prepare themselves to maintain 
 all their rights as citizens of Missouri." 
 
 5. Order him (Frost) " to form a military camp 
 of instruction at or near the city of St. Louis; to 
 muster military companies into the service of the 
 State ; and to erect batteries and do all things neces- 
 sary and proper to be done in order to maintain the 
 peace, dignity, and sovereignty of the State." 
 
 6. Order Colonel Bowen to report with his com- 
 mand to him (Frost) for duty. 
 
 It was intended that the camp of instruction 
 should be established on the river bluffs below the 
 arsenal in such position that, with the aid of the 
 siege guns and mortars which were to be brought 
 from the South, Frost, and his brigade reinforced 
 by Bowen's command and by volunteers would be 
 able to force Lyon to surrender the arsenal and all 
 its stores to the State. 
 
 While considering these matters the Governor re- 
 ceived (April 16) the requisition of the Secretary of 
 War for four regiments of infantry — Missouri's quota 
 of the seventy-five thousand men called for by the 
 President. To this requisition he replied (April 17): 
 
K 
 
 150 T/ic FigJit for Missouri. 
 
 "Your dispatch of the 13th instant making a call 
 upon Missouri for four regiments 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 requi- 
 sition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, 
 and revolutionary in its objects, inhuman and dia- 
 bolical, and cannot be complied with. Not one man 
 will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on such 
 an unholy crusade." 
 \\ Commenting upon this reply the next day the 
 
 Republican said : " Nobody expected any other re- 
 sponse from him, and the people of Missouri will in- 
 dorse it. They may not approve the early course of 
 the Southern States, but they denounce and defy the 
 action of Mr. Lincoln in proposing to call out seventy- 
 five thousand men for the purpose of coercing the 
 seceding States. Whatever else may happen, he 
 gets no men from the Border States to carry on 
 such a war." 
 
 On the same day that the Governor refused to 
 comply with the requisition for troops, he sent Cap- 
 tains Greene and Duke to Montgomery, with an 
 autograph letter to the President of the Confede- 
 rate States, requesting him to furnish those ofificers 
 with the siege guns and mortars which General 
 Frost wanted for the proposed attack upon the ar- 
 
The Arsenal. 151 
 
 senal; and Judge William M. Cooke was sent to 
 Virginia upon a similar errand. 
 
 He also summoned the General Assembly to 
 meet at Jefferson City, on the 2d of May, " for 
 the purpose of enacting such measures as might be 
 deemed necessary and proper for the more perfect 
 organization and equipment of the militia, and to 
 raise the money, and provide such other means as 
 might be required to place the State in a proper 
 attitude of defence." 
 
 To have ordered General Frost to establish a 
 military camp of instruction at St. Louis, and 
 given him the extraordinary powers which he asked 
 for, would have been too open a defiance of the 
 United States Government, and would have also 
 disclosed prematurely the purpose of the encamp- 
 ment, and justified Lyon in taking whatever meas- 
 ures h2 pleased to prevent the accomplishment of 
 that purpose. The Governor, therefore, adopted 
 the more prudent and strictly legal expedient of 
 ordering the commanding ofificers of the several 
 militia districts of the State to assemble their 
 respective commands, in obedience to a law enacted 
 in 1858, at some convenient place, each within his 
 own district, on the 3d of May, and to go with them 
 into encampment for six days, to the end that the 
 officers and men might attain a greater degree of 
 efficiency in drill and discipline. This order of 
 
152 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 course authorized General P^rost to establish his 
 camp wherever he pleased within the city or county 
 of St. Louis. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Bowen was then ordered to 
 disband the South-west Battalion (which was still 
 guarding the western counties of the State against 
 marauders from Kansas), with the exception of a 
 light battery and one company of mounted rifle- 
 men, and to report v.'ith these and all ofiflcers and 
 men belonging to the St. Louis Militia District, to 
 General Frost, at his encampment in St. Louis. 
 
 The United States arsenal at Liberty, in the 
 western part of the State, had already been taken 
 (April 2c) by the Secessionists, and its munitions of 
 war, among which were four brass guns, had been 
 appropriated to their own use. 
 
 The plans of Governor Jackson and General Frost 
 for the capture of the arsenal came to the knowl- 
 edge of General Harney almost as soon as they were 
 formed, and on the i6th of April he wrote to Gen- 
 eral Scott : 
 
 " The arsenal buildings and grounds are com- 
 pletely commanded by the hills immediately in 
 their rear, and within easy range, and I learn from 
 sources which I consider reliable that it is the in- 
 tention of the Executive of this State to cause 
 batteries to be erected on these hills, and also upon 
 the island opposite to the arsenal. I am further in- 
 
The Arsenal. 153 
 
 formed that should such batteries be erected, it is 
 contemplated by the State authorities, in the event 
 of the secession of the State from the Union, to de- 
 mand the surrender of the arsenal. 
 
 '■'■ The command at the arsenal at present consists 
 of nine officers and about four hundred and thirty 
 enlisted men. . . . While this force would prob- 
 ably be able to resist successfully an assaulting party 
 greatly superior to itself in numbers, it could not 
 withstand the fire of batteries situated as above in- 
 dicated. Under these circumstances, I respectfully 
 ask instructions for my guidance." 
 
 Lyon did not ask, or wait for, instructions. He 
 wrote that very day (April 16) by a trustworthy mes- 
 senger to Governor Yates of Illinois and asked 
 him to obtain authority from Washington to hold 
 in readiness for service at St. Louis the six regi- 
 ments which Illinois had been called upon to furnish. 
 There were, he said, quarters for 3,000 men at Jef- 
 ferson Barracks, and 1,000 or 2,000 could be quar- 
 tered at the arsenal. He also suggested to Gov- 
 ernor Yates that, as the arms at the arsenal were 
 the main object of the threatened attack upon that 
 post, it might be well for him to make requisition 
 for a large supply of arms, and get them shipped 
 thence to Springfield. Governor Yates submitted 
 the matter immediately to the President, and was 
 
154 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 on the 20th of April instructed to send two or 
 three regiments of the Ilhnois quota " to support 
 the garrison of the St. Louis arsenal." Lyon was, 
 at the same time, ordered to equip these troops 
 with arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, "and 
 moreover to issue ten thousand additional stands 
 of arms and accoutrements to the agent of the 
 Governor of Illinois, together with a corresponding 
 amount of ammunition." 
 
 Blair returned from Washington to St. Louis on 
 the i/th of April. He comprehended the situation 
 clearly, and acted with his accustomed wisdom, 
 boldness, and decision. By his advice Colonel 
 Pritchard and other anti-secession officers of Frost's 
 Brigade resigned their commissions, and were fol- 
 lowed out of that organization by all the positive 
 Union men. On the 19th he telegraphed to the 
 Secretary of War : " Send order by telegraph at 
 once for mustering men into service to Captain N. 
 Lyon. It will then be surely executed, and we will 
 fill your requisition" (that which had been made 
 upon Missouri for four regiments) " in two days. 
 Relieve Hagner. Answer immediately." 
 
 He had already procured from the War Depart- 
 ment an order placing five thousand stand of arms at 
 the disposal of Lyon for arming " loyal citizens " — 
 that is to say the Home Guards — in case of necessity, 
 and now hastened, by his counsels and encourage- 
 
The A rscnal. 1 5 rj 
 
 ment, the recruitment of the four regiments which 
 he had tendered to the Government, and which he 
 was resolved to have ready by the time that the 
 order for mustering them into the service could be 
 received. An incident which occurred at this time 
 came opportunely to his aid. 
 
 Lyon, with that utter disregard of the mere letter 
 of the law, which was one of his most marked char- 
 acteristics, had for the better security of the arsenal 
 and also for the convenience of the men, occupied 
 with his patrols the streets adjacent to the arsenal. 
 This was a clear violation of the city ordinances, 
 and a direct interference with the duties of the 
 Board of Police Commissioners. The Board com- 
 plained of it to Captain Lyon, and demanded that 
 he should obey the laws. He refused to comply. 
 As the Board could not enforce his obedience, the 
 matter was referred to General Harney. The 
 Commissioners at the same time protested against 
 the issue of United States arms by Lyon to men 
 not in the military service, as these men might 
 thereby be made dangerous to the peace of the 
 city, which it was the duty of the Board to main- 
 tain. 
 
 Harney immediately (April i8th) ordered Lyon to 
 withdraw his patrols into the limits of the arsenal, 
 and forbade him to issue arms to any one without 
 his own (Harney's) previously obtained sanction. 
 
156 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 This determined Blair to demand the removal of 
 Harney from the command of the Department of 
 the West, and he accordingly wrote the following 
 letter (April 19th) to his brother, Judge Montgomery 
 Blair, Postmaster-general, and forwarded it by a 
 special messenger : 
 
 " Dr. Hazlitt will hand you this letter. He goes 
 to Washington for the purpose of urging the re- 
 moval of General Harney from this post, and giving 
 us some one to command who will not obstruct or- 
 ders of the Government intended for our assistance. 
 Harney has issued orders, at the instance of the 
 Secessionists, refusing to allow us to have the guns 
 which the Government had ordered to be given 
 to us. We also want an order to Captain Lyon 
 to swear in the four regiments assigned to Missouri. 
 If you will send General Wool, or some one who 
 is not to be doubted, to take command of this dis- 
 trict, and designate an officer to swear in our volun- 
 teers ; and arm the rest of our people who are will- 
 ing to act as a civic or home guard, I think that we 
 shall be able to hold our ground here. I consider 
 these matters of vital importance, . . . and ask 
 you to see Cameron (Secretary of War), immedi- 
 ately, in regard to the business." 
 
 The seizure of the United States arsenal at Lib- 
 erty hastened the action of the Secretary of War 
 upon Blair's requests. Harney was (April 21) re- 
 
The Arsenal. 157 
 
 lieved of the command of the Department of the 
 West and ordered to repair to Washington city and 
 report to the General-in-chief. On the same day 
 I.yon was instructed to " immediately execute the 
 order previously given to arm loyal citizens, to pro- 
 tect the public property, and execute the laws," 
 and v;as also ordered to " muster into the service 
 the four regiments which the Governor had refused 
 to furnish." 
 
 These orders were received at St. Louis on the 
 23d of April. Harney relinquished the command 
 of the department the same day, and left the next 
 for Washington city. The command was to devolve 
 upon the senior officer in the department ; but Cap- 
 tain Lyon, strange to say, acted and was recog- 
 nized by the Government as commanding the de- 
 partment. 
 
 He proceeded quickly to organize the four regi- 
 ments, and, while doing this, sent away from St. 
 Louis all the surplus munitions of war which were 
 still there. This last was done on the night of the 
 26th of April, when the steamer City of Alton, drop- 
 ping unnoticed down to the arsenal, took the arms 
 and other munitions aboard, and transferred them 
 to Illinois. This ended the contest for the arsenal. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CAMP JACKSO^^ 
 
 Douglas and the Northern Democrats Declare for the Union — The 
 North Unanimous — Missouri Threatened on Three Sides by Fed- 
 eral Armies, and St. Louis full of Federal Soldiers — The Border 
 States Hesitate — The Confederacy Does Nothing — Missouri Help- 
 less and Submissive — The Governor still Resolute — He Pur- 
 chases Arms and Powder — Camp Jackson— Lyon Authorized to 
 Enlist Ten Thousand Men and to Proclaim Martial Law in St. 
 Louis — Elected Brigadier-General of the Llome Guards — Arms 
 from the Confederacy taken to Camp Jackson — Lyon Visits the 
 Camp in Disguise — Capture of Camp Jackson and the State 
 Troops — Rioting and Bloodshed — The General Assembly Enacts 
 the Military Bill and Confers Dictatorial Powers on the Govetnor — 
 A Panic in St. Louis — Harney Resumes Command and Estab- 
 lishes Order in the City — Missourians See the Danger cf Seceding 
 and Begin to Submit. 
 
 The enthusiasm of the Southern Rights' people 
 of Missouri quickly subsided in view of the una- 
 nimity with which the North was responding to the 
 President's call for troops, and in contemplation of 
 the dangers which they would have to encounter 
 who should dare to take up arms against the Federal 
 Government. 
 
 The North had become united, while the South 
 was still divided. For more than a generation the 
 Democrats of the North had stood bv the South 
 
Camp Jackson. 159 
 
 with a constancy and a courage that deserve all 
 praise. In obedience to the Constitution, which 
 they revered, and for the sake of the Union which 
 they loved, they had maintained the rights of 
 slave-holders under the Constitution long after the 
 enjoyment of those rights had come into conflict with 
 the humane spirit of the age and with the civiliza- 
 tion of the North ; they had maintained those rights 
 even when they led to the enactment of a law whose 
 requirements were abhorrent to their feelings ; and 
 they had continued to maintain them even when 
 the South, appealing to those rights, broke the 
 compact whereby a part of the national domain had 
 been consecrated to freedom forever. They had 
 stood by the South even then ; and throughout all 
 the savage struggle for Kansas, and during the 
 Presidential election of i860, and until they had 
 themselves been swept out of power in every non- 
 slave-holding State because of their obedience to 
 the Constitution, and their friendship for the South. 
 And even after South Carolina and other States 
 had seceded, they still felt kindly towards them, 
 and sought to bring them back into the Union, not 
 by force, but by assuring to their people the enjoy- 
 ment of every right to which they could justly lay 
 claim under the Constitution. But when the South, 
 in the exercise of the right of secession or of revo- 
 lution or whatever else one may choose to call it, 
 
i6o TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 established a separate government and took up 
 arms against the Union, they could no longer stand 
 by it, but rallied, as they ought to have done, under 
 the flag of their own country. 
 
 That the North was thoroughly united, Missouri- 
 ans did not have to look far to see. Just across the 
 river, that State with which their own was most 
 closely bound, not only by geographical contiguity, 
 but by community of origin, by common interests, 
 by daily intercourse, and by every tie which holds 
 two States together, was rushing to arms in re- 
 sponse to the appeals of her Douglas, no less than 
 to the call of her Lincoln, and was assembling armies 
 all along the eastern boundary of Missouri ; while 
 on her northern border Iowa was gathering her 
 volunteers to attack her, if she should venture to 
 rebel against the Government ; and on her western 
 frontier the free-State men of Kansas were mus- 
 tering under the leadership of desperadoes like 
 Montgomery, and of soldiers like Dietzler, to renew 
 on the soil of Missouri their bitter war against the 
 " border ruffians " of the South. The Government 
 vv'as also concentrating its regulars at Fort Leaven- 
 worth under Sturgis and Steele, within sight of the 
 richest and most populous counties of the State : 
 and Blair and Lyon had at St. Louis more than 
 five hundred regulars, and five thousand well armed 
 volunteers, many of them veterans. Worse than all, 
 
Camp Jackson. i6r 
 
 the State was divided against herself, and one-fourth 
 of her own people were ready to take up arms 
 against their Governor ; who, to resist all these 
 gathering armies, had no troops but Frost's frac- 
 tional brigade, many of whose officers and men 
 would throv/ down their arms rather than use them 
 against the Union ; and a fev/ widely scattered com- 
 panies of militia, some of which were composed 
 chiefly of " loyal " men. 
 
 The Southern Rights' men of Missouri saw all 
 this, and that there was no one to help them if they 
 should resist the Government. Their own State 
 seemed to be powerless. The Confederacy had 
 shown no disposition to aid them. Virginia had 
 seceded, but North Carolina and Tennessee were 
 hesitating; Arkansas still clung to the Union, Mary- 
 land had been subjugated, and Kentucky was about 
 to submit without striking a blow, without even 
 raising her arm to strike. To resist, thus circum- 
 stanced, the Federal Government, was to provoke 
 its wrath ; to involve their State in civil war ; to 
 ruin their own fortunes ; to impoverish their families ; 
 and to expose themselves to all the hazards of war. 
 What could they do ? The RcpiLhlican which felt 
 as they felt, advised them to do that which they 
 wanted to do. Like them, it had been defiant on 
 the i8th of April; like them it was submissive on 
 the 22d. Missouri, it now said, must take her 
 
1 62 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 stand, not with South, but with Kentucky : " Let 
 us take the same position that Kentucky has 
 taken — that of armed neutrality. Let us declare 
 that no military force levied in other States, shall 
 be allowed to pass through our State, or camp 
 upon our soil. Let us demand of the opposing sec- 
 tions to stop further hostile operations until reason 
 can be appealed to in Congress, and before the 
 people ; and when that fails it will be time enough 
 for us to take up arms. Why should we, all unpre- 
 pared, rush out of the Union, to find a doubt- 
 ful and reluctant reception in the Confederate 
 States?" 
 
 As soon as the Governor learned that the arms 
 with which he had been hoping to equip the State 
 troops had been removed from the arsenal, he di- 
 rected General Harding, the Quarter-master Gen- 
 eral, to proceed to St. Louis, and procure for the 
 State all the arms and ammunition that he could 
 find in that city. That officer had in February 
 reported to the Governor that the only munitions 
 of war which the State owned, except a few muskets 
 in the hands of the militia, were two 6-pounder 
 guns, without limbers or caissons ; about one thou- 
 sand muskets ; forty sabres ; and fifty-eight swords. 
 The latter were, he said, of an antique Roman 
 pattern and "would not be as useful in war as so 
 many bars of soap." In St. Louis he now pur- 
 
Camp Jackson. 163 
 
 chased, partly by force, several hundred hunting 
 rifles, some carnp and garrison equipage, and about 
 seventy tons of gunpowder ; all which were shipped 
 to Jefferson City on the 7th of May under guard of 
 Captain Kelly's company, detailed for that duty by 
 General Frost. 
 
 Though the removal of the arms from the arsenal 
 had taken away the motive which caused the Gov- 
 ernor to order the militia into camp at St. Louis, 
 it was determined to hold that encapment, never- 
 theless. The intention of holding it on the hills 
 near the arsenal, was, however, abandoned. For to 
 camp there now would be an idle threat at best, 
 and besides, and this was a still more potent reason, 
 those very hills had been quietly occupied by Lyon 
 with both infantry and artillery. Frost, therefore, 
 selected a camp in a wooded valley, known as Lindell 
 Grove, near the intersection of Olive Street and 
 Grand Avenue, in the western part of the city, and 
 called it Camp Jackson, in honor of the Governor. 
 And there his brigade, aggregating a little more 
 than seven hundred men, went into encampment on 
 Monday, the 6th of May. 
 
 Besides the officers and the men of the brigade, 
 there were a number of young men in the camp, who 
 had come from all quarters of the State to learn 
 something of the art of war, and to take part in any 
 hostile movement vv-hich Frost mieht undertake. 
 
164 The FigJit for JSIlssouri. 
 
 From this little force one company. Captain Kelly's, 
 was detached on the 7th and ordered to Jefferson 
 City, leaving Frost about six hundred and thirty 
 men. 
 
 Blair and Lyon, who had been kept well informed 
 as to everything that the Governor and Frost were 
 doing, had been meanwhile quietly getting ready to 
 capture the camp, together with Frost and all his 
 command. No longer obstructed by Harney, they 
 had, by the 30th of April, mustered into the service 
 five regiments of infantry, all of them well armed 
 and fully equipped. On that day (April 30) Lj'on 
 wrote to the Secretar}' of \\"ar : " The State is 
 doubtless getting ready to attack the Government 
 troops with artillery. I have sent three volunteer 
 companies with Captain Totten's battery to occupy 
 buildings outside of the arsenal, hired for this pur- 
 pose both to give them shelter and to occupy com- 
 manding positions which the Secessionists had in- 
 tended to occupy themselves, and upon which they 
 openly avowed that they would plant siege bat- 
 teries to reduce this place, the arsenal. This exas- 
 perates them and has given rise to a singular corre- 
 spondence which, when convenient, I will lay before 
 the War Department." 
 
 On the same day (April 30'! the following extra- 
 ordinary paper was transmitted to St. Louis, ad- 
 dressed by " Simon Cameron, Sccretar\- of \\'ar,'" to 
 
CiDHp Jackson. 165 
 
 " Captain Nathaniel Lyon, commanding- Depart- 
 ment of the West." 
 
 "The President of the United States directs that 
 you enroll in the military service of the United 
 States loyal citizens of St. Louis and vicinity, not 
 exceeding, with those heretofore enlisted, ten thou- 
 sand in number, for the purpose of maintaining the 
 authority of the United States and for the the pro- 
 tection of the peaceable inhabitants of Missouri, 
 and you will, if deemed necessary for that purpose 
 by yourself and Messrs. Oliver D. Filley, John How, 
 James O. Broadhead. Samuel T. Glover, J. J. 
 Witzig, and Francis P. Blair, Jr.. proclaim martial 
 law in the city of St. Louis." 
 
 This remarkable document was indorsed, " It is 
 revoIutionar\- times, and therefore I do not object 
 to the irregularity of this. \V. S." (Winfield Scott.) 
 It bore this indorsement besides, " Approved April 
 30. 1 861. A. Lincoln," 
 
 Upon receiving this authorit}- L)'on mustered into 
 the service on the 7th and 8th of Ma}' four more 
 regiments of infantry, which, with a fifth that was 
 mustered in on the i ith, constituted what became 
 known as the United States Reserve Corps, or Home 
 Guards. The five regiments that had been organ- 
 ized in April were known as Missouri \'olunteers. 
 The First Regiment of ?kIissouri Volunteers was 
 composed largeh' of natives of this countr\- and 
 
1 66 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Irishmen. Francis P. Blair, Jr., was its colonel, 
 George L. Andrews, its lieutenant-colonel ; and John 
 M. Schofield (now major-general), its major. The 
 other nine regiments were composed almost exclu- 
 sively of Germans. The officers of the five regi- 
 ments of Missouri Volunteers urged Blair to accept 
 the command of that brigade, but he insisted upon 
 their electing Lyon instead, and of course, his 
 wishes were obeyed. Lyon was thenceforth known 
 as Brigadier-general Lyon, though he was not com- 
 missioned as such till the 17th of May, to rank from 
 the 1 8th. Chester Harding was made adjutant-gen- 
 eral of the brigade. Captain Thomas W. Sweeny 
 of the Second Infantry was chosen brigadier-gen- 
 eral of the brigade composed of the five regiments 
 of Home Guards, and was commissioned as such on 
 the 20th of May. He had served in the Mexican 
 War as captain of a company of New York volun- 
 teers, and at the close of that war had entered the 
 regular army. 
 
 Blair and Lyon were now ready to strike. They 
 had more than 7,000 well armed men, and within 
 two miles of them lay encamped nearly all the 
 militia of the State — less than 700 men. Capture 
 these men, and take away their arms, and the Gov- 
 ernor would have no organized force, no arms, noth- 
 ing with which to resist the occupation of the State 
 by Federal troops, and within a week they would 
 
Camp Jackson. 1 67 
 
 hang " the traitor," or drive him out of the State. 
 There was no time to waste, for not only would 
 the mihtia disperse to their homes on the last day 
 of the week, but by that time Harney would be 
 back in St. Louis, and again in command of the de- 
 partment, and nothing would then be done to harm 
 the Secessionists. It was therefore agreed on the 
 7th of May between Blair, Lyon, Harding, and 
 Franklin A. Dick, to take the camp at once. 
 
 A thing now happened which gave them a good 
 pretext to do what they wanted. Such things are 
 always happening to those who know how to take 
 advantage of them. 
 
 It will be remembered that Governor Jackson 
 had sent Captains Duke and Greene to Mont- 
 gomery for siege guns and mortars, with which 
 Frost was to take the arsenal. On reaching the 
 Confederate capital they laid their requests before 
 the President and his Cabinet, and explained to 
 them the purpose for which they wanted the guns 
 and mortars. Mr. Davis, who had, at one time, 
 been stationed at St. Louis, and was familiar with 
 the ground, approved the plan, and ordered the 
 commandant of the Baton Rouge Arsenal to sup- 
 ply the requisition. He also wrote to the Governor 
 of Louisiana, and asked him to render such assist- 
 ance as he could to the Missouri officers. 
 
 To Governor Jackson he wrote (April 23) : 
 
1 68 T]ic Fight for Missojiri. 
 
 " . . . After learning, as well as I could, from 
 the gentlemen accredited to me, what was most 
 needful for the attack on the arsenal, I have di- 
 rected that Captains Greene and Duke should be 
 furnished with two 12-pounder howitzers and two 
 32-pounder guns, with the proper ammunition for 
 each. These, from the commanding hills, will be 
 effective against the garrison, and to break the en- 
 closing walls of the place. I concur with you as to 
 the great importance of capturing the arsenal and 
 securing its supplies, rendered doubly important by 
 the means taken to obstruct your commerce, and 
 render you unarmed victims of a hostile invasion. 
 
 " We look anxiously and hopefully for the day 
 when the star of Missouri shall be added to the 
 constellation of the Confederate States of America. 
 
 " With the best wishes, I am, 
 
 ''Very respectfully yours, 
 
 " Jefferson Davis." 
 
 The arms and ammunition were procured at 
 Baton Rouge and shipped to St. Louis as merchan- 
 dise, and consigned to well-known Union men. At 
 St. Louis they were turned over (May 8) to Major 
 Shaler, of Frost's Brigade, and taken to Camp Jack- 
 son. The fact was made known to Blair and Lyon 
 as soon as the thing was done, and they determined 
 to act at once. The next day Lyon, disguised as 
 an old woman, drove through the camp, and 
 
Camp Jackson. 169 
 
 satisfied himself, by personal inspection, that the 
 men had in their possession arms and ammunition 
 which had been taken from the United States 
 Arsenal at Baton Rouge, and which, therefore, right- 
 fully belonged, in his opinion, to the Federal Gov- 
 ernment. Returning to the arsenal, he summoned 
 the Committee of Safety to meet him there at 
 once, and told them that it was " necessary to seize 
 the camp, and every man in it, and to hold them as 
 prisoners of v/ar." Blair, Broadhead, Filley, and 
 Witzig, concurred with him; but Glover and How 
 objected that the camp had a legal existence for 
 six days, and should not be attacked during that 
 time ; that those in command of it recognized the 
 authority of the United States Government and 
 kept the national flag flying over the encampment, 
 and had not committed any breach of the peace ; 
 and that, if there was any property there of the 
 United States, the proper way to reach it was 
 through a writ of replevin, which the United States 
 Marshal could enforce, if necessary, by calling on 
 General Lyon for troops. 
 
 Lyon replied that he knew the camp to be a nest 
 of traitors ; that the Legislature was in secret 
 session, and might have already put a new military 
 law in operation, or certainly would do so in a day 
 or two ; that advices from all parts of the State 
 were discouraging to the Union men ; that the 
 
i^o The Fight for Missou7-i. 
 
 rebels were gathering strength ; that Harney would 
 arrive on Sunday, and no one could tell what he 
 would do; and that Camp Jackson must, therefore, 
 be taken forthwith. Glover and How yielded at 
 last, with the understanding that the United States 
 Marshal should head the column which was to 
 march against the camp. Lyon had, nevertheless, 
 made up his own mind to use no subterfuge. He 
 meant "to capture the camp and the men in it, 
 both the officers and the enlisted men, with all its 
 material of war ; to demand a surrender, with his 
 men in line of battle and his cannon in position, and 
 if the demand Avere not complied with at once to 
 fight for it." And he got ready to do this the next 
 morning Friday the loth of May. 
 
 Frost, who had during the last day or two heard 
 frequent rumors that Lyon was going to capture 
 the camp, received positive information Friday 
 morning that the attack was to be made that day. 
 He thereupon addressed to Lyon a letter in which 
 he positively denied that cither he, or any part of 
 his command, had any hostile intentions towards 
 the United States Government, or its property, or 
 representatives. " I trust," said he, " after this ex- 
 plicit statement, we may be able by fully under- 
 standing each other to keep far from our borders 
 the misfortunes which unhappily afflict our common 
 country." This communication was sent to Lyon 
 
Cajiip Jackson. 1 71 
 
 through Colonel Bowen. Lyon refused to receive 
 it, and immediately put his column in motion. After 
 surrounding the camp he sent one of his st;iff to Frost 
 with a demand for the immediate and unconditional 
 surrender of his whole command. As his force was 
 more than ten times as great as Frost's, the latter 
 had to surrender. Both Grant and Sherman saw all 
 these things. 
 
 The militia having stacked their arms, were formed 
 into line, and conducted out of the camp on their 
 way to the arsenal. They had moved but a short 
 distance when they were halted, and kept standing 
 in a line parallel with and a few yards from Olive 
 Street, which was occupied by Lyon's troops. Dur- 
 ing the halt, which lasted several hours, great 
 numbers of men, women, and children gathered 
 around the prisoners and their captors. They were, 
 of course, intensely agitated and, as the excitement 
 grew, began to jeer at and abuse •' the Dutch Black- 
 guards " (so called in derision because one of the 
 German companies called itself die Sclnvartzc Garde). 
 Suddenly a few shots were fired, and were followed 
 almost immediately by volley after volley, extending 
 in regular succession down the line of troops, until 
 apparently a full regiment had thus fired by com- 
 pany. Twenty-eight people lay dead or mortally 
 wounded. Among them were three prisoners and 
 an infant in tlie arms of its mother. The march was 
 
1/2 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 quickly resumed, and the prisoners were safely se- 
 cured within the grounds of the arsenal. The next 
 night (May^ ii) all of them except Captain Emmett 
 Macdonald were released on their parole not to bear 
 arms against the United States. Macdonald refused 
 to give his parole, but was, after many adventures, 
 released through the intervention of the courts. 
 
 The General Assembly had met on the 2d of 
 May. The Governor, after calling its attention to 
 the state of the country, repeated, what he had 
 often said, that the interests and sympathies of Mis- 
 souri were identical with those of the other slave- 
 holding States, and that she must therefore unite 
 her destiny with theirs ; that while she had no war 
 to prosecute, she would be faithless to her honor, 
 and recreant to her duty, if she hesitated a moment 
 to make the amplest preparation for the protection 
 of her people against all assailants ; and that, there- 
 fore, the General Assembly should " place the State 
 at the earliest practicable moment in a complete 
 state of defence." 
 
 Both Houses went into secret session, and began 
 to consider bills to carry out these recommenda- 
 tions. They had, however, made but little prog- 
 ress, when, during the afternoon of the lOth of 
 May, the Governor, entering hastily the Hall of 
 Representatives, informed som.e of the members 
 that Lyon had captured Camp Jackson, and was 
 
Camp Jackson. , 173 
 
 holding the State troops as prisoners of war. The 
 MiHtary Bill was under discussion at the mo- 
 ment, its passage resisted at every step by the op- 
 ponents of secession. In an instant all resistance 
 gave way and within less than fifteen minutes the 
 bill had passed both Houses and was awaiting the 
 Governor's signature. 
 
 Towards midnight all Jefferson City was aroused 
 by the ringing of the church bells. The Legisla- 
 ture met and was notified by the Governor that 
 he had been informed that " two of Mr. Blair's 
 regiments were on the way to the capital." In the 
 midst of the wildest excitement an act was rushed 
 through both Houses authorizing " the Governor to 
 take such measures as he might deem necessary or 
 proper to repel invasion or put down rebellion," and 
 $30,000 were appropriated to enable him to execute 
 the dictatorial powers thus conferred upon him. 
 Other acts intended to prepare the State for war 
 were also introduced. 
 
 The Governor meanv/hile sent detachments of 
 men in all haste to hold the railroad bridges over 
 the Gasconade and the Osage, over which " Mr. 
 Blair's two regiments" would have to pass on their 
 way from St. Louis. In the excitement of the hour 
 the detachment which was sent to guard the Osage 
 Bridge set it on fire and partially destroyed it. 
 
 The powder which the Governor had purchased 
 
174 * • The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 in St. Louis and stored at Jefferson City was hur- 
 riedly removed to various hiding places, more or less 
 remote ; and the funds in the State treasury were 
 secreted. Every man armed himself as best he 
 could with shot-guns, rifles, sabres, and ancient 
 swords, and there was much talk of " resisting the 
 invaders." The story is told of one ardent patriot, 
 a " cockade man " (a cockade on the hat of a Seces- 
 sionist meant, in those days, what a chip on the 
 shoulder of an Irishman is supposed to mean when 
 his blood is up), who declared that he was going to 
 the Moreau, all alone if no one would go with him, 
 and would fight Lyon and his " Dutch cut-throats " 
 there, all by himself. It is said, however, that he 
 did not go to the Moreau either then or the next 
 day, and, what is more, that he never left home 
 during all the war. 
 
 While these things were going on at Jefferson 
 City, the excitement at St. Louis grew apace. Dur- 
 ing the afternoon of the loth and the evening of 
 that day the streets were crowded with anxious 
 and angry people. The capture of Camp Jackson ; 
 the detention of Frost and his men as prisoners of 
 war ; the cruel shooting down of unoffending wo- 
 men and children by Lyon and his German Home 
 Guards, had aroused Americans and Irish to a state 
 of frenzy. Towards morning the crowds grew 
 denser and more dangerous, particularly in the cen- 
 
Camp Jackson. 175 
 
 tral part of the city, where the people of native birth 
 chiefly-resided, and, as the day advanced, evinced 
 a determination to put an end to the domination 
 of the Germans. 
 
 Late in the afternoon as a regiment of Home 
 Guards was returning from the arsenal to its barracks 
 in the northern part of the city, it encountered near 
 Walnut Street a crowd, which had gathered there to 
 see it pass. Halting for a moment as if to resent 
 the hooting of the multitude, it had resumed its 
 march, when some one fired a shot into its ranks. 
 The head of the column turned and poured a volley 
 into the crowd, and into its own rear ranks. Eight 
 men were killed, two of them soldiers, and many 
 were wounded. The people fled, and the regiment 
 continued on its way. This occurrence inflamed 
 the Germans to such a degree of fury, that they 
 now made open threats to exterminate the Seces- 
 sionists, and on Sunday, the 12th of May, these 
 threats became so loud as to alarm the American 
 population, whose only organized defenders, the 
 Volunteer Militia, had been disarmed, and were 
 prisoners of war. What could unarmed men do 
 against Lyon and his ten thousand German soldiers 
 thoroughly armed and equipped? 
 
 The Mayor and the Police Commissioners were 
 powerless. In their fright the people begged General 
 Harney, who had resumed command at St. Louis, 
 
176 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 to send the Home Guards out of the city. This he 
 promised to do ; but Blair soon convinced him that as 
 these regiments had been enHsted to serve ivitJiin 
 St. Louis, they could not be sent away. 
 
 When the people learned that Harney could not 
 send the Home Guards away, they inferred that it 
 was because these regiments had revolted against 
 him, and were going to carry out their threats to ex- 
 terminate the " Secesh." A panic took possession 
 of the city. Thousands of women and children were 
 sent across the Mississippi, and other thousands were 
 getting ready to follow, when Harney brought two 
 companies of United States Artillery, and two com- 
 panies of Regular Infantry into the city, and issued 
 a proclamation wherein he pledged his " faith as a 
 soldier," to preserve the public peace, and to protect 
 the lives and property of the people. This wise and 
 timely proceeding quieted the apprehensions of 
 every one, and most of the fugitives returned to 
 their homes. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BOTH SIDES rPKPARE FOR WAR. 
 
 Harney approves the Capture of Camp Jackson — Occupies St. Louis 
 — Asks for troops from Iowa and Minnesota " for Operations in 
 Missouri."— Adjournment of the Legislature — Sterling Price offers 
 his services to the State — Is appointed Major-General — Appoint- 
 ment of Brigadier-Generals — Volunteers at Jefferson City — Mar- 
 maduke — McCulIoch, and Mclntyre — Organization of the State 
 Guard Begun — The Price-Harney Agreement — Dissatisfaction of 
 Blair and Lyon — They procure Harney's Removal — Lyon in Com- 
 mand of Missouri. 
 
 Harney soon made it plain to every one that, 
 while he was anxious to maintain peace within the 
 State, and to abstain from all acts of violence, he 
 was resolved to hold her faithful to the Union, and 
 to compel her people to obey the laws of the United 
 States. 
 
 On the 13th of May he wrote to General Scott 
 that " Captain Lyon's conduct in capturing the 
 State troops " met with his own entire approval ; 
 and the next day he published a Proclamation to the 
 People of Missouri, in which he denounced the Mili- 
 tary Bill, which had just been enacted by the 
 General Assembly, as " an indirect secession ordi- 
 nance ignoring even the forms resorted to by other 
 
178 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 States," and declared that, inasmuch as " its most 
 material provisions were in conflict with the Con- 
 stitution and laws of the United States, the act was 
 itself a nullity, and not by any means to be obeyed 
 by the people of Missouri," and that " in any event 
 the whole power of the United States would, if 
 necessary, be exerted to maintain the State in her 
 present position in the Union." 
 
 As to Camp Jackson, he said that its " main avenue 
 had the name of Davis, and a principal street the 
 name of Beauregard ; that a body of men " (the 
 Minute Men) " had been received into the camp by 
 its commander, which had been notoriously organ- 
 ized in the interests of the Secessionists, the men 
 openly wearing the dress and the badge distinguish- 
 ing the army of the so-called Southern Confederacy; " 
 and that a quantity of arms '' unlawfully taken from 
 the United States Arsenal at Baton Rouge," had 
 also been taken there ; that there could therefore be 
 no doubt " as to the character and ultimate purpose 
 of that encampment ;" and that " no government in 
 the world would be entitled to respect that would 
 tolerate for a moment such openly treasonable prep- 
 arations." 
 
 The proclamation closed with this remarkable dec- 
 laration : 
 
 " Disclaiming, as I do, all desire or intention to 
 interfere in any way with the prerogatives of the 
 
BotJi Sides Prcpm-c for War. 179 
 
 State of Missouri or with the functions of its Execu- 
 tive, or other authorities, yet I regard it as my plain 
 duty to express to the people in respectful but at 
 the same time decided language that within the field 
 and scope of my command and authority the su- 
 preme law of the land must and shall be maintained, 
 and that no subterfuges, whether in the form of 
 legislative acts " (the Military Bill) " or otherwise, can 
 be permitted to harass or oppress the good and law- 
 abiding people of Missouri " (that is to say the Union 
 men and Submissionists). " I shall exert my au- 
 thority to protect tJicir persons and property from 
 violations of every kind, and I shall deem it my duty 
 to suppress all unlawful combinations of men" 
 (the State Guard), " whether formed under pretext 
 of military organization or otherwise." 
 
 He had already taken military possession of the 
 city of St. Louis, by stationing troops at all impor- 
 tant points. 
 
 The Republican, commenting the next day on this 
 Proiuinciaincnto, and on the occupation of the city 
 by Federal troops, had the courage to say, with the 
 last free breath that it drew in four long years : 
 " We are bound hand and foot ; chained down by 
 a merciless tyranny ; are subjugated and shackled." 
 
 Having made up his mind to subjugate the State 
 of which he was a citizen and to fight against the 
 people among whom he was born, and of whom he 
 
l8o TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 was one, General Harney did not content himself 
 with publishing proclamations, but began to get 
 ready, like the true soldier that he was, to compel 
 obedience to them. On the i/th of May he tele- 
 graphed to General Scott for ten thousand stand of 
 arms, "for issue to reliable Union men" in other 
 counties than St. Louis, and asked that the Govern- 
 ors of Iowa and Minnesota (which States were within 
 the Department of the West) should be called upon 
 to furnish him nine thousand men " for operations in 
 Missouri." He wanted, besides, authority to enlist in 
 St. Louis a regiment consisting exclusively of Irish- 
 men. The scent of the blood with which the streets 
 of the city were reeking, had aroused the spirit of 
 " the bold dragoon," and, as in the days of his youth, 
 he was eager to fight, and ready to strike whomever 
 he was ordered to strike, whether it were Indian or 
 Mexican, Northman or Southman, stranger or kins- 
 man. 
 
 The General Assembly had adjourned on the 15th 
 of May after creating a military fund into which 
 the school fund and all other available moneys of 
 the State were ordered to be paid, together with 
 a loan of $1,000,000, which the banks were expected 
 to subscribe, and also the proceeds of $1,000,000 
 State bonds, which the Governor was authorized to 
 sell. 
 
 It had also passed tinanimoiisly resolutions de- 
 
BotJi Sides Prepare for War. i8i 
 
 nouncing bitterly the conduct of Blair and Lyon ; 
 requesting the Governor to instantly call out the 
 militia ; and declaring that " the people of Missouri 
 would rally as one man, to perish, if necessary, in de- 
 fending their Constitutional rights." 
 
 The unanimity with which these resolutions were 
 adopted attests the almost universal indignation and 
 anger with which the capture of the State troops 
 and the shooting down of unoffending men, 
 women, and children had filled the hearts of the 
 people of Missouri. Many who till now had never 
 wavered in their fidelity to the Union, now deter- 
 mined to stand with their State, and to resist the 
 government of Abraham Lincoln. Conspicuous 
 among these were ex-Governor Sterling Price, 
 President of the State Convention, and John B. 
 Clark, They both hastened to Jefferson City, and 
 tendered their services to the Governor. Their ac- 
 cession was hailed with unbounded delight by the 
 Secessionists and it helped in a great degree to check 
 the tendency to submit, which was spreading from 
 St. Louis all over the State. 
 
 Sterling Price was born of a good family in 
 Prince Edward County, Virginia, in 1809. He was 
 carefully educated in the schools near by, and at 
 Hampden Sidney College, and afterwards attended 
 the law school of one of the most eminent of Vir- 
 ginia's jurists, her venerable chancellor. Creed Taylor. 
 
1 82 TJie FigJit for Missom-i. 
 
 Moving with his father's family to Missouri in 183 1, 
 he had resided ever since on the same farm in Chari- 
 ton County. Elected to the Legislature in 1840, he 
 was at once chosen Speaker of the House, a dis- 
 tinction rarely conferred upon a man so young and 
 wholly unused to deliberative assemblies. But he 
 was a born leader of men. Tall, handsome, well 
 educated and accomplished ; a gentleman of com- 
 manding presence and dignified manners ; a man of 
 character and worth, and richly endowed with that 
 best of all mental gifts — common sense — he was also 
 instinctively a parliamentarian, comprehended as by 
 intuition the rules that govern legislative- bodies, 
 and enforced them with promptness and vigor. 
 After serving four years as Speaker, he was 
 elected to Congress. But hardly had he taken his 
 seat when in the spring of 1846 war was declared 
 against Mexico. Resigning his place in Congress 
 he returned instantly to Missouri, raised a mounted 
 regiment, and led it to New Mexico, to the com- 
 mand of which he had been assigned. The next 
 year, the President, in recognition of his services and 
 of his civic and military ability, promoted him to 
 brigadier-general. At the close of the war he re- 
 turned to Missouri, and in 1852 w^as elected Gov- 
 ernor of the State, and occupied that office till the 
 beginning of 1857. 
 
 In i860, he had supported Douglas for the Presi- 
 
Both Sides Prepare for War. 183 
 
 dency, because he was himself devoted to the 
 Union, and did not like the threat of secession, 
 which was involved in the candidacy of Breckin- 
 ridge. In the late election of delegates to the State 
 Convention he had taken ground against the seces- 
 sion of Missouri, and had been elected with great 
 unanimity, as he would have been, had he taken the 
 contrary position, for his neighbors had unbounded 
 confidence in his patriotism and good sense. He 
 was made President of the Convention, and had 
 throughout its entire session borne himself as a sin- 
 cere friend of the Union, opposed under all circum- 
 stances to its dissolution, and just as earnestly op- 
 posed to making war upon the South. To this 
 position he had continued to adhere even after 
 the President's call for seventy-five thousand men 
 to invade the South. But the attack of Blair and 
 Lyon upon Camp Jackson, their capture of the 
 State troops, and their killing of helpless women 
 and children, aroused within him the deepest indig- 
 nation, and determined him to draw his sword 
 against the men who had dared to do such things, 
 and against the Government which sustained them. 
 I He was unquestionably the most popular man in 
 Missouri. With none of Doniphan's splendid tal- 
 ents and brilliant wit ; with none of Gamble's pas- 
 sionless logic ; with none of Green's power in de- 
 bate, and none of Rollins' persuasive speech ; with 
 
184 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 none of that rare blending of Christian graces with 
 stahvart strength of mind, which gave Trusten Polk 
 the victory over Benton in 1856 ; with none of Ed- 
 ward Bates' bland eloquence, and with little of Gover- 
 nor Jackson's devotion to abstract principles, and still 
 less of his fiery zeal; he was more trusted by Mis- 
 sourians than any of them, more than ail of them 
 noiv, when Missouri wanted a warlike leader. 
 
 The recently enacted Military Bill provided for 
 the enlistment of the Missouri State Guard, and au- 
 thorized the Governor to appoint eight brigadier- 
 generals to command the military districts into 
 which it divided the State. The Legislature also 
 empowered the Governor to appoint a major-gen- 
 eral, who should have command of this entire force 
 when called into active service. To this office Gen- 
 eral Price was, as the Legislature intended, ap- 
 pointed on the 1 8th of May. 
 
 On the 2 1st the Governor announced the appoint- 
 ment of the following brigadier-generals, Alexander 
 W. Doniphan, Monroe M. Parsons, James S. Rains, 
 John B. Clark, Merriwether Lewis Clark, Nathaniel 
 W. Watkins, Beverly Randolph, William Y. Slack, 
 and James H. McBride, all of them men of high 
 character and known ability and devoted to Missouri. 
 Doniphan, Parsons, M. L. Clark, and Slack had all 
 distinguished themselves in the war w^ith Mexico. 
 Their commissions were forthwith transmitted to 
 
BotJi Sides Prepare for War. 185 
 
 all, with orders to enroll at once the men within 
 their respective districts, and get them ready for 
 active service. 
 
 In all that part of the State west of Jefferson 
 City, and particularly in the counties bordering on 
 the Missouri (whose population was composed al- 
 most entirely of Southern people), the work of en- 
 rolment was pushed vigorously. Volunteers had 
 indeed begun to flock to the capital as soon as it 
 was seen that the Governor and the General Assem- 
 bly intended to resent '' the outrages " that had been 
 perpetrated at St. Louis, and that men like Sterling 
 Price and John B. Clark were drawing their swords 
 in defence of the State. 
 ( By the i8th of May more than a thousand of 
 these volunteers had gathered at Jefferson City, and 
 were impatiently waiting to be mustered into the 
 State Guard, and to take the field under the com- 
 mand of Price. Among them were some com- 
 panies from Cooper brought thither by Captain Rob- 
 ert McCulloch, and some from Callaway brought by 
 Captain D. H. Mclntyre. The Independence Grays 
 came from Jackson, with full ranks, bringing with 
 them the four brass 6-pounders, which had been taken 
 from the United States Arsenal at Liberty ; guns, 
 which, after many strange adventures, were gallantly 
 fought against the Government to which they be- 
 longed. Kelly's St. Louis company was still there. 
 
1 86 Tlic Fight for Misscuri. 
 
 The regiment first organized was composed of eight 
 
 companies from Parsons' district, which embraced 
 
 the counties adjacent to Jefferson City. It was 
 
 known as the First Regiment of Rifles, and John 
 
 S. Marmaduke was its colonek 
 
 I- 
 
 ' Marmaduke was a native of Missouri, a son of one 
 
 of her former Governors, and a nephew of Governor 
 Jackson. He had graduated at West Point in 1857, 
 and was a heutenant of infantry when the President 
 called for troops. Resigning his commission at once, 
 he began to enlist the regiment which he now of- 
 fered to the State. He was a young man of very 
 decided ability and a fine soldier. It is a noteworthy 
 fact that he is now Governor of the State, that Mc- 
 Culloch is Treasurer, that McGrath who was a pri- 
 vate in Kelly's company is Secretary of State, and 
 that Mclntyre was recently Attorney-General of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 The active preparations for war which General 
 Harney was making at St. Louis, and which the 
 Governor and General Price were making at Jeffer- 
 son City and throughout the State, alarmed some 
 very conservative citizens, who still believed that 
 the neutrality of Missouri might be maintained if 
 General Price and General Harney would consent 
 to it. They accordingly induced General Harney 
 to invite Price, in whom he and they justly had 
 great confidence, to meet him at St. Louis, in order 
 
Both Sides Prepare for War. 187 
 
 to ascertain whether they could not agree upon some 
 plan for preventing a conflict. As the State was 
 wholly unprepared for war, General Price, with the 
 Governor's approval, readily accepted General Har- 
 ney's invitation, and on the 2ist of May these two 
 ofificers made what is known as the Price-Harney 
 Agreement, wherein, avowing that the object of 
 each was " to restore peace and good order to the 
 people of the State in subordination to the laws of 
 the General and State governments," General Price, 
 as Major-General of the Missouri State Guard, un- 
 dertook, with the Governor's express sanction, " to 
 maintain order within the State, among the people 
 thereof;" and General Harney declared that if this 
 were done he could have no occasion (as he had no 
 wish) to make any military movements within the 
 State. 
 
 While General Price was still in St. Louis, Gen- 
 eral Harney said to him through a friend, that as 
 the State Guard might come within the meaning of 
 the President's proclamation requiring officers of 
 th2 United States Army to disperse all armed 
 bodies hostile to the supreme law of the land, he 
 hoped that General Price would discover some way 
 to suspend the organization of the State Guard 
 until the constitutionality of the act creating it could 
 be passed upon by some competent authority. 
 
 General Price replied that he had no right to nul- 
 
1 88 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 lify or to disobey a law of the State, and could not, 
 of course, suspend the organization of the State 
 Guard. But upon returning to Jefferson City he or- 
 dered (May 24) all of the troops which had come 
 thither from other military districts to return to 
 their homes, there to be organized by their respec- 
 tive district commanders into companies and regi- 
 ments as required by law. Captain Kelly's com- 
 pany alone was excepted from the operation of this 
 order. 
 
 The action of General Harney in this matter 
 gave great offence to Blair and Lyon. His inter- 
 ference with their plan for overrunning the State 
 immediately after the capture of Frost's Brigade, 
 had already decided them to insist upon his re- 
 moval from the command of the Federal forces in 
 Missouri, and Blair had sent his brother-in-law 
 Franklin A. Dick, and Lyon had sent Dr. Bernays, 
 the editor of the Anzeigcr dcs Wcstens, to Wash- 
 ington city to urge the matter upon the President. 
 
 In a written memorandum which he gave to Dr. 
 Bernays for his guidance Lyon said: "Tell him 
 all about our situation here. I have no confidence 
 whatever in Harney, or in Major McKinstry " 
 (quarter-master of the department). " I feel that 
 they are against us, and that they will throw all 
 kinds of difficulties in our way. They already do 
 so. I never can obtain in time what I need from 
 
Both Sides Prepare for War. 189 
 
 the quarter-master's department, and all the pre- 
 cautions that I take against the rebels are frustrated 
 by the proceedings of General Harney. Tell the 
 President to get my hands untied, and I will war- 
 rant to keep this State in the Union." 
 
 Dick reached Washington city on the i6th of May, 
 and obtained, that very day, an order for the ap- 
 pointment of Lyon as brigadier-general of volun- 
 teers; and also persuaded the President, against the 
 advice of Attorney-General Bates, Judge Gamble, 
 and other influential citizens of St. Louis, to make 
 an order relieving General Harney of the command 
 of the Department of the West, Not wishing, 
 however, to offend his attorney-general, who was a 
 St. Louisian, the President directed Postmaster- 
 General Montgomery Blair, a brother of Frank, to 
 inclose the order to the latter with instructions that 
 it was to be delivered, at his discretion, to General 
 Harney ; adding, however, that it v/as " better to 
 mortify Harney than endanger the lives of many 
 men, and the position of Miszouri in the present con- 
 flict." The President also wrote a private letter to 
 Colonel Blair (May 18) saying that he was doubtful 
 of the propriety of the order, and therefore wished 
 him to withhold it, unless, in his judgment, the 
 necessity to the contrary was very urgent. " But," 
 said he, " if in your judgment it is indispensable, let 
 it be so." Blair, after consulting with Lyon, decided 
 
1 90 TJlc Figlit for Missouri. 
 
 to let Harney retain command until he could satisfy 
 the President that he ought to be removed ; and 
 straightway went to work to accomplish that result. 
 Inspired by him, the Safety Committee forwarded 
 to Washington city a vigorous protest (written by 
 James O. Broadhead), against the continuance of 
 the Price-Harney agreement (May 22). 
 
 " It seems," they say, " to leave the Union men 
 in the hands of the very power which imperils their 
 safety ; " it does not repudiate secession : it im- 
 pliedly recognizes the right of the State authorities 
 to arm the State under the provisions of the mili- 
 tary law, which law sets at defiance the Constitution 
 of the United States, and the authority of the Gen- 
 eral Government : it does not require the disband- 
 ment of the military companies which have been 
 organized under that law : and it only " puts off the 
 evil day until such time as the enemy shall be better 
 prepared to make resistance." It would be better, 
 they said, that the General Government should 
 maintain its authority by the stern enforcement of 
 military rule. For its enforcement the Government 
 had suf^cient troops in the State, if it would only 
 instruct the commanding general to distribute them 
 at various points, where they could be used to pro- 
 tect loyal citizens, and to prevent the organization 
 of the State Guard. 
 
 Two days later (May 24) Blair wrote to the Sec- 
 
Both Sides Prepare for War. 191 
 
 retary of War denouncing Governor Jackson as a 
 "traitor;" and declaring that the agreement be- 
 tween Price and Harney had disgusted himself, and 
 was giving great dissatisfaction to all Union men. 
 The newspapers were flooded with letters and 
 telegrams from all parts of the State, giving accounts 
 of " outrages " that were pretended to have been 
 committed by the Secessionists, with the counte- 
 nance of Governor Jackson and General Price, 
 upon the " loyal " inhabitants of the State. These 
 accounts were all sedulously collected, embellished, 
 and multiplied, and then laid with the indorse- 
 ment of " strong " men before the President ; who, 
 believing them, wrote to Harney (May 27) through 
 the adjutant-general that it was " his duty sum- 
 marily to stop, with the force under his command, 
 and siich troops as he might require from Kansas, 
 loiva, and Illinois, the outrages which were being 
 perpetrated on loyal citzens. The professions of 
 loyalty to the Union by the State authorities of 
 Missouri are not to be relied upon. They have 
 already falsified their professions too often, and are 
 too far committed to secession to be entitled to 
 your confidence : and you can only be sure of 
 their desisting from their wicked purposes, when 
 it is out of their power to prosecute them. 
 The a?(thority of the United States is paramount, 
 and zuhencver it is apparent that a movement, ivhcther 
 
192 TJie Fig] it for Missouri. 
 
 by color of State aiitJiority or not, is Jiostilc, you zuill 
 not hesitate to put it doiuny 
 
 Before these instructions reached St. Louis, Blair 
 had already delivered to General Harney the order 
 relieving him of the command of the Department of 
 the West. In explaining his action to the President 
 he wrote on the 30th of May, that he had become 
 satisfied that unless the Government occupied the 
 State in force without further delay, the Union men 
 would be crushed, or driven out, entirely, " and the 
 State itself be completely given over to the hands 
 of the rebels ; " that Harney, by reason of his agree- 
 ment with Price, could do nothing ; and that it had, 
 consequently, become indispensable to remove him. 
 
 Harney, upon receiving the order, relinquished 
 command of the Department (May 30), and it was 
 the next day assumed by Brigadier-General Lyon. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 LYON DECLARES WAR. 
 
 Blair and Lyon outline their plan of Campaign — Federal Forces in 
 and around Missouri — Defenceless Condition of the State — The 
 Governor and Price prepare for War — Attempts to preserve the 
 Neutrality of the State — The Planters' House Conference — Lyon 
 Declares War against the Stats — The Governor's Proclamation — 
 He calls out the Militia — Determines to make a stand at Booneville 
 and to hold the Missouri — Abandons Jefferson City and retires to 
 Booneville — General Price goes to Lexington. 
 
 There was nothing now to prevent Blair and 
 Lyon from executing the plan of campaign upon 
 upon which they had agreed before the capture of 
 Camp Jackson. 
 
 Blair outlined this plan to the President in the 
 letter which he addressed to him on the 30th of 
 May. He said therein that the blow struck at Camp 
 Jackson, had '' greatly intimidated the leaders of the 
 rebellion," and that if it had been followed up then, 
 as he and Lyon had intended, by blows struck in 
 other parts of the State, the rebellion would have 
 been speedily and effectually crushed, in Missouri, at 
 small cost of life and treasure ; but that under Har- 
 ney's policy the Government had been losing ground 
 so rapidly, and its enemies becoming so active and 
 13 
 
194 The Fight fo?' Missouri. 
 
 formidable, that the Union men were now in danger 
 of being driven out of the State ; that to prevent 
 this and to meet the force with which the Confeder- 
 ates were preparing to invade the State from Arkan- 
 sas and the Indian Territory, the President ought 
 to authorize the enhstment in Missouri of a suf- 
 ficient number of troops to hold Jefferson City, 
 Lexington, St. Joseph, Hannibal, Macon City, 
 Springfield, and other points, and should at the 
 same time order the United States troops at Fort 
 Leavenworth and the regiments that were being 
 raised in Kansas to co-operate with General Lyon 
 in resisting any invasion of the State from the South- 
 west. "We are well able," he said, " to take care of 
 this State without assistance from elsewhere, if au- 
 thorized to raise a sufficient force within the State ; 
 and after that work is done we can take care of the 
 Secessionists from the Arkansas line to the Gulf, 
 along the west shore of the Mississippi." 
 
 Lyon, less confident than Blair that the Union 
 men of Missouri could hold the State without the 
 aid of a force from other States, urged the Secre- 
 tary of War also to direct the Governors of Illinois 
 and Iowa to furnish him the troops which they had 
 been instructed to send to Harney, and said that if 
 this were done and the Government would look 
 after Cairo, he would himself move into the South- 
 west to meet McCulloch, who was said to be ad- 
 
Lyon Declares War. 195 
 
 vancing into Missouri from Arkansas with a large 
 army. Orders conformable to these suggestions were 
 instantly made by the President, and Lyon found 
 himself early in June at the head of a considerable 
 force, thoroughly organized, well armed, and equip- 
 ped for active service. 
 
 At St. Louis besides about five hundred Regulars, 
 including Totten's Battery, he had of Missouri 
 Volunteers, ten regiments of infantry, a battalion of 
 artillery, one company of sappers and miners, and 
 one company of rifles, aggregating about ten thou- 
 sand officers and men. He had also several thousand 
 Home Guards in different parts of the State, where 
 the Germans were numerous and the Union senti- 
 ment predominant, and they were generally well 
 armed and equipped. At Fort Leavenworth there 
 were four companies of infantry, four of cavalry, two 
 of dragoons, and a number of recruits, the whole 
 aggregating about one thousand men, all belonging 
 to the United States Army. There were also in the 
 same vicinity two regiments of Kansas Infantry, 
 Dietzler's and Mitchell's, nearly two thousand strong. 
 Two Iowa regiments (Bates' and Curtis') were on the 
 northern border of the State and ready to invade it 
 at a moment's notice ; and Illinois was concentrat- 
 ing troops at Quincy, Alton and Cairo, whence they 
 could enter Missouri in an hour. 
 
 To oppose this formidable force the State had 
 
196 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 scarcely one thousand partially organized troops, 
 and most of these were armed with shot guns and 
 rifles. Except a few muskets and half a dozen field- 
 pieces and some powder, it had no munitions of 
 war, nor any supply of food, nor any transporta- 
 tion, nor any military stores of any kind, nor any 
 money. 
 
 But all this did not dism.ay either the Governor or 
 General Price. On the contrary, as soon as they 
 learned that Harney had been removed and that 
 Lyon was in command. General Price published an 
 order to the brigadier-generals of the several 
 military districts, in which he said that, while it was 
 still the desire of the Governor and himself to 
 maintain the neutrality of Missouri and keep the 
 peace until her Convention should decide what 
 position the State would take in the impending 
 conflict, and were themselves still carrying out in 
 good faith the agreement made with General 
 Harney, the removal of that officer from the com- 
 mand of the Federal forces in Missouri and the 
 manifest intention of his successor. General Lyon, to 
 arm the Union men of the State, which was itself a 
 palpable violation of the Price-Harney agreement 
 and one that ought to be resisted to the last ex- 
 tremity, had aroused grave fears that the people 
 were to be forced by the terrors of a military in- 
 vasion to take a position not of their free choice ; 
 
Lyon Declares War. igy 
 
 that it was his own intention to prevent the con- 
 summation of such an outrage; and that they need 
 have no fear that a milHon such people as the 
 citizens of Missouri could be subjugated. 
 
 Secret orders were at the same time sent to them 
 to hasten the organization of the troops in their re- 
 spective districts, and to get them ready for active 
 service. Each regiment was instructed to adopt the 
 State flag, which was to be " made of blue merino 
 with the arms of the State emblazoned in gold gilt 
 on each side." ^ 
 
 The imminence of the danger led those v/ho still 
 hoped to save Missouri from the horrors of war to 
 make one more effort to prevent a conflict between 
 the Federal troops and the State. William A. Hall, 
 David H. Armstrong, and J. Richard Barret accord- 
 ingly persuaded Governor Jackson and General 
 Price to ask for an interview with Lyon. The 
 latter, upon the request of Mr. Hall and Colonel 
 Thomas T. Gantt, consented to the interview upon 
 condition that the Governor and General Price 
 would come to St. Louis and hold it there, and he 
 also stipulated in writing that if the Governor and 
 the General, or either of them " should -C-isit St. 
 Louis on or before the I2th of June, in order to 
 hold an interview with him for the purpose of 
 effecting, if possible, a pacific solution of the troub- 
 les of Missouri, they should be free from molesta- 
 
198 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 tion or arrest during their journey to St. Louis, and 
 their return from St. Louis to Jefferson City." 
 
 With this safe conduct Governor Jackson and 
 General Price left Jefferson City on the afternoon 
 of the loth, accompanied by one of the Governor's 
 aides-de-camp, the writer of this narrative. 
 
 The Governor notified General 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 General 
 Price at the arsenal instead. The Governor, rightly 
 considering this reply as impertinent, informed 
 General Lyon that he would confer with him at 
 the Planters' House, and at no other place. Lyon 
 accordingly came to the Planters' House, accom- 
 panied by Blair and Major Conant, his aide-de- 
 camp, and the conference took place there. 
 
 Lyon opened it by saying that the discussion on 
 the part of his Government " would be conducted 
 by Colonel 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 
 borders there were no men better fitted than they 
 to speak for Missouri on that momentous occasion. 
 
 But, despite the modesty of his opening, Lyon 
 
Lyo)i Declares War. 199 
 
 was too much in earnest, too zealous, too well in- 
 formed on the subject, too aggressive, and too fond 
 of disputation to let Blair conduct the discussion on 
 the part of his Government. In half an hour it 
 was he that w^as conducting it, holding his own at 
 every point against Jackson and Price, masters 
 though they were of Missouri politics whose course 
 they had been directing and controlling for years 
 while he was only captain of an infantry regiment 
 on the Plains. He had not, however, been a mere 
 soldier in those days, but had been an earnest 
 student of the very questions that he was now dis- 
 cussing, and he comprehended the matter as well 
 as any man, and handled it in the soldierly way to 
 which he had been bred, using the sword to cut 
 knots that he could not untie. 
 
 It was to no purpose that they all sought, or pre- 
 tended to seek, the basis of a new agreement for 
 maintaining the peace of Missouri. If they really 
 sought to find one, they did not. Finally, when 
 the conference had lasted four or five hours, Lyon 
 closed it, as he had opened it. " Rather," said he, 
 (he was still seated, and spoke deliberately, slowly, 
 and with a peculiar emphasis) " rather than con- 
 cede 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 troops at its own will into, 
 
200 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 out of, or through the State ; rather than concede 
 to the State of Missouri for one single instant the 
 right to dictate to my Government in any matter 
 however unimportant, I would " (rising as he said 
 this, and pointing in turn 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 for you and conduct you out of my lines." 
 And then, without another word, vvithout an inclina- 
 tion of the head, without even a look, he turned 
 upon his heel 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 kindly, and 
 separated — Blair and Conant to fight for the Union, 
 we for the land of our birth. 
 
 On the way to Jefferson City it was decided that 
 the Governor would forthwith issue a proclamation 
 calling the people to arms ; that General Price 
 should take field at the head of whatever force he 
 could muster, and make such resistance as he might 
 to the advance of Lyon; and that the Confederate 
 Government should be asked to send a co-operating 
 army into the State as quickly as possible. 
 
 It was past two o'clock in the morning (June 12) 
 when we reached Jefferson City. But there was no 
 
Lyon Declares War. 201 
 
 thought of sleep, for every one was sure that Lyon 
 would hasten to follow. By daybreak the Gov- 
 ernor's proclamation, which I had prepared in ac- 
 cordance with his instructions, was passing through 
 the press ; the State officers had packed the public 
 records and papers, which they wished to take 
 away ; and everything betokened the speedy evacu- 
 ation of the capital. 
 
 The Proclamation was published during the day 
 (June 12), and was sent to all parts of the State. 
 As it sets out fairly the matters which were then in 
 dispute between the State and the United States, 
 and the grounds upon which the Governor called 
 the people to arms, it may be quoted in full : 
 
 "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 unprin- 
 cipled men, professing to act under the authority of 
 the United States Government. The solemn enact- 
 ments of your Legislature have been nullified ; your 
 volunteer soldiers have been taken prisoners ; your 
 commerce with your sister States has been sus- 
 pended ; your trade with your own fellow-citizens 
 lias been, and is, subjected to the harassing control 
 of an armed soldiery ; peaceful citizens have been 
 imprisoned without warrant of law; unoffending 
 
202 TJic FigJit for Missouri. 
 
 and defenceless men, women, and children have been 
 ruthlessly shot down and murdered ; and other un- 
 bearable indignities have been heaped upon your 
 State and yourselves. 
 
 " To all these outrages and indignities you have 
 submitted with a patriotic forbearance which has 
 only encouraged the perpetrators of these grievous 
 wrongs to attempt still bolder and more daring 
 usurpations. It has been my earnest endeavor, un- 
 der all these embarrassing circumstances, to maintain 
 the peace of the State, and to avert, if possible, from 
 our borders, the desolating effects of a civil war. 
 With that object in view I authorized Major-Gen- 
 eral Price, several weeks ago, to arrange with Gen- 
 eral Harney commanding the Federal forces in this 
 State, the terms of an agreement by which the 
 peace of the State might be preserved. They came, 
 on the 2 1st of May, to an understanding, which was 
 made public. The State authorities have labored 
 faithfully to carry out that agreement. The Fed- 
 eral Government, on the other hand, not only mani- 
 fested its strong opposition to it by the instant 
 dismissal of the distinguished officer who, on its 
 part, entered into it, but it at once began, and has 
 uninterruptedly carried out, a system of hostile oper- 
 ations in utter contempt of that agreement, and 
 in reckless disregard of its own plighted faith. 
 These acts latterly portended revolution and civil 
 
Lyon Declares IVa?'. 203 
 
 war so unmistakably, that I resolved to make one 
 further effort to avert these dangers and sufferings 
 from you. I therefore solicited an interview with 
 Brigadier-General Lyon, commanding the Federal 
 army in Missouri. It was granted on the loth inst., 
 and, waiving all questions personal and official, I went 
 to St. Louis accompanied by Major-General Price. 
 
 " We had an interview on the nth inst. with Gen- 
 eral Lyon and Colonel F. P. Blair, jr., at which I sub- 
 mitted to them this proposition : That I would dis- 
 band the State Guard and break up its organization ; 
 that I would disarm, all the companies which had been 
 armed by the State; that I would pledge myself not 
 to attempt to organize the militia under the Military 
 Bill ; that no arms or other munitions of war should 
 be brought into the State; that I would protect all 
 citizens equally in all their rights, regardless of their 
 political opinions ; that I would suppress all insur- 
 rectionary movements within the State ; that I would 
 repel all attempts to invade it from whatever quar- 
 ter and by whomsoever made ; and that I would 
 thus maintain a strict neutrality in the present un- 
 happy contest, and preserve the peace of the State. 
 And I further proposed that I would, if necessary, 
 invoke the assistance of the United States troops 
 to carry out these pledges. All this I proposed to 
 do upon condition that the Federal Government 
 would undertake to disarm the Home Guards, which 
 
204 ^-^^^ Fight for Alissonri. 
 
 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, 
 
 '' Nothing but the most earnest desire to avert the 
 horrors of civil war from our State, could have 
 tempted me to propose these humiliating terms. 
 They were rejected by the Federal of^cers. 
 
 "They demanded not only the disorganization 
 and disarming of the State militia and the nullifica- 
 tion of th* Military Bill ; but they refused to disarm 
 their own Home Guards, and insisted that the Fed- 
 eral Government should enjoy an unrestricted right 
 to move and station its troops throughout the State, 
 whenever and wdierever that might, in the opinion 
 of its ofificers, be necessary for the protection of the 
 ' loyal subjects ' of the Federal Government, or for 
 the repelling of invasion ; and they plainly announced 
 that it was the intention of the Administration to 
 take military occupation, under these pretexts, of the 
 whole State, and to reduce it, as avowed by General 
 Lyon himself, to ' the exact condition of Maryland.' 
 
 " The acceptance by me of these degrading terms 
 vv'ould not only have sullied the honor of Missouri, 
 but would have aroused the indignation of every 
 brave citizen, and would have precipitated the very 
 conflict which it has been my aim to prevent. We 
 refused to accede to them and the conference was 
 broken up. 
 
Lyon Declares War. 205 
 
 " Fellow-citizens ! all our efforts toward concilia- 
 tion have failed. We can hope nothing from the 
 moderation or justice of the agents of the Federal 
 Government in this State. They are energetically 
 hastening the execution of their bloody and revolu- 
 tionary schemes for the inauguration of civil war in 
 your midst ; for the military occupation of your 
 State by armed bands of lawless invaders ; for the 
 overthrov/ of your State Government, and the sub- 
 version of those liberties which that Government 
 has always sought to protect ; and they intend to 
 exert their whole power to subjugate you, if pos- 
 sible, to the military despotism which has usurped 
 the powers of th^ Federal Government. 
 
 " Now, therefore, I, Claiborne F. Jackson, Gover- 
 nor of the State of Missouri, do, in view of the fore- 
 going facts and by virtue of the powers vested in 
 me by the Constitution and laws of this Common- 
 wealth, issue this my proclamation, calling the 
 militia of the State to the number of fifty thousand 
 into the active service of the State, for the purpose 
 of repelling said invasion, and for the protection 
 of the lives, liberties, and property of the citizens 
 of this State. And I earnestly exhort all good 
 citizens of Missouri to rally under the flag of their 
 State, for the protection of their homes and fire- 
 sides, and for the defence of their most sacred rights 
 and dearest privileges. 
 
2o6 TJis Fight for Missouri. 
 
 " In issuing this proclamation I hold it to be my 
 solemn duty to remind you that Missouri is still one 
 of the United States ; that the executive department 
 of the State Government 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 meanwhile it is your duty to obey all constitu- 
 tional requirements of the Federal Government. 
 
 " But it is equally my duty to advise you that 
 your first allegiance is due to your own State, and 
 that you are under no obligation whatever to obey 
 the unconstitutional 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. No brave and true-hearted 
 Missourian will obey the one or submit to the other. 
 Rise then and drive out ignominiously the invaders, 
 who have dared to desecrate the soil which your 
 labors have made fruitful, and which is consecrated 
 by your homes." ' 
 
 Immediately upon the removal of General Harney 
 from the command of the Federal forces in Mis- 
 souri, the Governor had, in anticipation of the 
 speedy opening of hostilities, directed the quarter- 
 master-general of the State to remove the armory 
 and workshop, which had been established at Jef- 
 ferson City, to the town of Boonevil'le, as General 
 
Lyon Declares War. 207 
 
 Price was of opinion that it was better to make a 
 stand at the latter place, which was in the midst of 
 a friendly population, and contiguous to the coun- 
 ties from which he expected the strongest support, 
 than at the Capital, whose population, consisting 
 largely of Germans, was unfriendly and hostile; 
 and had decided that when the State forces should 
 be compelled to retire from Jefferson City they 
 would hold Booneville and the Missouri River 
 above that point long enough to give the people of 
 North Missouri an opportunity to come to his help. 
 Both the Governor and General Price believed that, 
 if this were done, they could within a week or two 
 concentrate near Lexington an army stron'g enough 
 to hold the western counties of Missouri until the 
 Confederate States could send an army to their 
 support, and arms and equipments for the State 
 Guard. 
 
 Orders were accordingly issued on the 12th of 
 June to the commanding ofificers of the several mili- 
 tary districts to immediately assemble all of their 
 available men, each (except General John B. Clark) 
 at some convenient place within his own district, 
 and to get them ready for instant service in the 
 field. General Clark, whose district was north of 
 the Missouri, was ordered to rendezvous his men at 
 Booneville, and to organize them there as speedily 
 as possible. 
 
2o8 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 On Thursday the 13th the Governor learned 
 that Lyon was embarking his troops at St. Louis, 
 with the evident purpose to move against Jefferson 
 City. General Price, who had already caused the 
 railroad bridges across the Osage and the Gasconade 
 to be destroyed so as to prevent Lyon's approach 
 by rail, now ordered General Parsons, who had col- 
 lected a small force at Jefferson City, to retire with 
 it along the Pacific Railroad to a point south of 
 Booneville, and there to await orders. He, together 
 with the Governor, and their staff ofificers, and 
 some of the State officials, and Captain Kelly's com- 
 pany, embarked the same afternoon on the steamer 
 White Cloud, and reached Booneville during the 
 night. 
 
 General John B. Clark was already there with 
 several hundred men, who had eagerly answered the 
 Governor's call. They continued to arrive during 
 the next two days, Friday and Saturday, singly and 
 in squads, bringing with them their shot guns and 
 rifles. Most of them belonged to Colonel Marma- 
 duke's regiment, which had been hastily organized 
 at Jefferson City in May, but sent back to their 
 homes before they could be taught either drill or 
 discipline. 
 
 Rumors which greatly exaggerated the real facts 
 reached Booneville on Saturday (June 15) that a 
 skirmish had taken place on the 13th near Independ- 
 
Lyon Declares War. 209 
 
 ence between some State troops under Colonel 
 Edmunds B. Holloway, and a detachment of Federal 
 dragoons from Fort Leavenworth ; that Colonel 
 Holloway had been killed ; and that some State 
 troops, which were rendezvousing at Lexington, 
 were threatened by a large body of United States 
 cavalry, and several regiments of Kansas volun- 
 teers. General Price determined, in consequence of 
 these rumors, to proceed forthwith to Lexington 
 and assume personal command of the State forces 
 in that vicinity. He accordingly left the next 
 morning (Sunday) for Lexington, after ordering 
 General Clark, upon whom the command of the 
 men at Booneville devolved, to hold that place as 
 long as practicable, and then to effect a junction 
 with General Parsons. He was already satisfied 
 that, having no artillery with wdiich to obstruct the 
 navigation of the Missouri, he would have to aban- 
 don the line of that river, and to withdraw his force 
 southward to some place where he could organize, 
 
 arm and equip it. 
 14 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 BOONEVILLE AND CARTHAGE. 
 
 Eyon sends Sweeny and Sigel to the South-west — Pursues the Gover- 
 nor — Occupies Jefferson City — Advances on Booneville — The En- 
 gagement at Booneville — Important Consequences — General Price 
 at Lexington — Orders Rains to retreat southward towards Lamar 
 — Hastens to meet McCulIoch — Governor Jackson retreats towards 
 Warsaw — The Cole Camp Affair— Guibor and Barlow — Burbridge 
 — The Governor reaches Lamar — Is joined by Rains and Slack — 
 Temporary Organization of the State Guard — Lyon gets ready to 
 pursue — Sturgis ordered to co-operate — Lyon and Sturgis move 
 towards Clinton— Sigel tries to intercept the Governor — The Battle 
 of Carthage — Defeat of Sigel. 
 
 Hardly had Lyon left the Planters' House on 
 the afternoon of the nth of June when he tele- 
 graphed to the War Department for five thousand 
 additional stand of arms, and for authority to enlist 
 more troops in Missouri. His requests were in- 
 stantly complied with. 
 
 He issued orders the same night for the move- 
 ment of his troops. 
 
 Sigel, Salomon, and B. Gratz Brown were ordered 
 towards Springfield with their regiments. They be- 
 gan moving on the 13th, and had all left St. Louis 
 on the 15th, accompanied by two batteries (eight 
 
Booncville and Carthage. 211 
 
 guns) under Major Backoff. The command of this 
 expedition was given to Captain Thomas W. 
 Sweeny acting as brigadier-general by election, and 
 by assignment of General Harney. Its objects 
 were to occupy the south-western part of the State ; 
 to oppose the apprehended advance of a Confeder- 
 ate army under Ben. McCulloch ; and to cut off the 
 retreat of Governor Jackson, General Price, and the 
 State troops, all of whom Lyon proposed himself to 
 drive in that direction. 
 
 In execution of this purpose he embarked on the 
 13th of June at St. Louis, with Totten's Light Bat- 
 tery, Company F, Second United States Artillery ; 
 Company B of the Second United States Infantry; 
 two companies of United States Recruits ; Blair's 
 regiment of Missouri Volunteers ; and nine compa- 
 nies of Boernstein's regiment ; aggregating about 
 two thousand men, and advanced by way of the 
 Missouri River to Jefferson City. Arriving there on 
 Saturday the 15th, about two P.M., he took quiet 
 possession of the city, the State forces having 
 evacuated it on Thursday. 
 
 Leaving Colonel Boernstein and three companies 
 of his regiment at Jefferson City, Lyon himself 
 proceeded the next day (Sunday, June 16), with the 
 rest of his command — about seventeen hundred 
 men — towards Booneville. When within fifteen 
 miles of that city, the transports were ordered to 
 
212 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 lay by till daybreak ; about which time they moved 
 on to a point about eight miles below Booneville. 
 There Lyon debarked all of his men, except one 
 company of BJair's regiment, and a detachment of 
 artillery with one howitzer. These he ordered to 
 proceed up the river on the transports, in order to 
 deceive the State troops and to create a diversion 
 in favor of his real movement. Lyon himself ad- 
 vanced with his main body along the river road to- 
 vv^ards Booneville, moving very cautiously, as he had 
 been led to believe that he would have to encounter 
 at least " three or four thousand rebels." 
 
 Governor Jackson learned Sunday night that 
 Lyon was approaching Booneville by way of the 
 river. He at once ordered General Parsons who 
 was at Tipton, some twenty miles to the south, to 
 bring his whole command to Booneville forthwith. 
 As soon as it was known on Monday morning that 
 Lyon had debarked his force, and was advancing 
 upon the city by land, the Governor ordered Mar- 
 maduke to take his own regiment, and all other 
 armed men in the city, except Kelly's company, 
 and to move out against Lyon, and impede his ad- 
 vance as much as possible. This was done in order 
 to give Parsons time to come up, and also to give 
 to such citizens as might want to escape, the oppor- 
 tunity to arrange their affairs and leave ; and also 
 to enable General Harding to destroy his ordnance 
 
Booueville and Carthage. 213 
 
 shops, and the material which he had collected. 
 Colonel Marmaduke, who had already protested 
 against making any resistance at Booneville and 
 had advised the Governor to concentrate his forces- 
 behind the Osage in the neighborhood of Warsaw, 
 again represented to him that to meet Lyon now 
 could only result in disaster to the State troops. 
 The Governor, nevertheless repeated his order, and 
 Marmaduke went out with between 400 and 500 
 men to confront the enemy. 
 
 Lyon had advanced about two miles when his 
 skirmishers encountered Marmaduke, who at once 
 opened such a brisk fire as to compel Lyon to bring 
 up his artillery and deploy a part of his infantry. 
 Having accomplished this, Marmaduke withdrew 
 his men to a stronger position about a mile nearer 
 to the city. There, under cover of some buildings 
 and a dense wood, he made a stand, which appeared 
 so formidable to Lyon, who greatly overestimated 
 Marmaduke's strength, that he deployed his whole 
 force in line of battle. A sharp engagement now 
 took place, in the midst of which Colonel Marma- 
 duke received orders from the Governor to fall back 
 to the city, in order to form a junction with Gen- 
 eral Parsons, who was rapidly approaching. 
 
 It was no easy matter, however, to withdraw 
 four or five hundred raw troops from a field, on 
 which they were engaged with four times their own 
 
214 '^^^^ Fight for Missouri. 
 
 number of well armed and well disciplined soldiers 
 commanded by a man like Lyon. They neverthe- 
 less fell back in some order at first, taking ad- 
 vantage of every good point to deliver their fire at 
 the Federals; but they were in the end pretty 
 thoroughly dispersed. 
 
 Such was the trifling engagement which has been 
 called " the Battle of Booneville." The Federal loss 
 was two men killed, and nine wounded. Of the 
 State troops two were killed, and five or six were 
 slightly wounded. 
 
 Insignificant as was this engagement in a military 
 aspect, it was in fact a stunning blow to the South- 
 ern Rights' people of the State, and one which did 
 incalculable and unending injury to the Confederates. 
 It was indeed the consummation of Blair's states- 
 manlike scheme to make it impossible for Missouri to 
 secede, or out of her great resources to contribute 
 abundantly of men and material to the Southern 
 cause as she would surely have done had her people 
 been left free to do as they pleased. 
 
 It was also the crowning achievement of Lyon's 
 well-conceived campaign. The capture of Camp 
 Jackson had disarmed the State, and compelled the 
 loyalty of St. Louis and all the adjacent counties. 
 The advance upon Jefferson City had put the State 
 Government to flight, and taken away from it that 
 prestige which gives force to established authority. 
 
Booncville and Carthage. 215 
 
 The dispersion of the vohinteers who had rushed to 
 Booneville to fight under Price for Missouri and the 
 South, extended Lyon's conquest over all the coun- 
 try lying between the Missouri and the State of 
 Iowa ; closed all the avenues by which the Southern 
 men of that part of Missouri could make their way 
 to Price; made the Missouri an unobstructed Fed- 
 eral highway from its source to its mouth; and ren- 
 dered it impossible for Price to hold the rich, popu- 
 lous, and friendly counties in the vicinity of Lexing- 
 ton. Price had indeed no alternative now but to 
 retreat in all haste to the south-western corner of 
 the State, there to organize his army under the pro- 
 tection of the force which the Confederate Govern- 
 ment was mustering in north-western Arkansas 
 under General McCulloch, for the protection of that 
 State and the Indian Territory, ) 
 
 When Price reached Lexington on the i8th of 
 June, he found several thousand volunteers assem- 
 bled there and in the adjoining county of Jackson 
 under Brigadier-Generals Rains and Slack. His 
 first care was to organize them. But hardly had he 
 begun this work when news was brought of the dis- 
 aster at Booneville, and of the retreat of the Gov- 
 ernor, w'ith Generals Parsons and Clark, towards 
 Warsaw. Knowing that the unorganized force at 
 Lexington was now threatened not only by the 
 Federal troops at Fort Leavenworth and Kansas 
 
2i6 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 City, 2,500 strong, but by Lyon and his army also, , 
 Price ordered Rains to assume command of all the 
 State troops near Lexington and to move them as 
 expeditiously as possible towards Lamar in Barton 
 County. He, accompanied by his staff and a small 
 mounted escort, made his way in all haste to Ar- 
 kansas, in order to bring McCulloch to the rescue of 
 both the Governor and Rains. 
 
 The Governor was, meanwhile, hurrying towards 
 Warsaw, feeling that he would not be safe from 
 Lyon's pursuit till he had gotten behind the Osage. 
 He was met on the way by rumors that a well- 
 armed regiment of Home Guards under Colonel 
 Cook was at Cole Camp, on his line of march. On 
 approaching the place, however, he learned, to his 
 great relief, that the Home Guards had been sur- 
 prised and badly whipped on the morning of the 
 19th by a battalion of State troops raised near 
 Warsaw and led by two very dashing young sol- 
 diers, Lieutenant-Colonel Walter S. O'Kane and 
 Major Thomas H. Murray. The news was quickly 
 confirmed by the arrival of the battalion at the Gov- 
 ernor's camp, with three hundred and sixty-two 
 new muskets which they had taken from the Home 
 Guards. Thus reinforced, the Governor continued 
 his retreat to Warsaw, and across the Osage. 
 
 There he halted in order to ascertain the move- 
 
Booiicvillc and Carthage. 217 
 
 ments of General Price. During this time, two 
 men, who had been arrested as spies, were brought 
 before tlie Governor. They turned out to be 
 Henry Guibor and Wilham P. Barlow, lieuten- 
 ants of the light battery which had been serving 
 in the south-west under Bowen. They had been 
 captured with the rest of the State troops at Camp 
 Jackson and paroled. Holding that their capture 
 was unlawful, and that their paroles were therefore 
 not obligatory (as the courts subsequently decided), 
 they had made their way to the army, and were 
 eager to be placed on duty. They came very oppor- 
 tunely ; for Parsons was still dragging along the four 
 brass 6-pounders which had been captured at Lib- 
 erty Arsenal, but he had no men that knew how to 
 handle them. They were turned over to Guibor 
 and Barlow. But having been brought along with- 
 out equipments and without any fixed ammunition, 
 they would still have been of very little present use 
 but for the inventive genius and energy of the two 
 young officers, who, surmounting every difficulty, 
 enlisted a company, equipped the guns, prepared 
 ammunition, and got the battery ready for instant 
 service. 
 
 Another notable accession to the Governor's force 
 at this time was John Q. Burbridge and ten other 
 men from Pike County who came into camp, bring- 
 ing with them from that remote county about one 
 
2i8 Tlie FigJit for Missouri. 
 
 hundred and fifty muskets, which they had taken 
 by guile from a company of State mihtia mostly 
 loyal Germans, and had brought by force to the 
 Governor. Within thirty-six hours Burbridge had 
 enlisted and was in command of a well-armed com- 
 pany. 
 
 Having ascertained that General Price had gone 
 to McCulloch's head-quarters, and that Rains was 
 retreating southward, the Governor put his own col- 
 umn in motion, and a few days thereafter reached 
 Montevallo, in Vernon County, and thence moved 
 to Camp Lamar, on the right bank of Spring River, 
 some three miles north of the village of Lamar. 
 
 There he was joined by Rains and Slack on the 
 3d of July. The march of their column had been 
 greatly impeded and made laborious and fatiguing 
 by the high waters of the streams across which they 
 had to ferry their long-drawn, motley train of 
 vehicles of every description laden not only with 
 supplies for an army, but chiefly with household 
 goods and utensils of every sort, conspicuous 
 among which were feather-beds and frying-pans. 
 The Governor, therefore, determined to halt at 
 Camp Lamar for a few days in order to rest the 
 men ; and meanwhile to distribute them to the 
 commands to which they properly belonged. 
 
 Rains was found to have nearly three thousand 
 men, but many of them were unarmed. His efTec- 
 
Booncville and Carthage. 219 
 
 tive strength was about twelve hundred infantry 
 under Weightman, about six hundred mounted men 
 under Cawthon, and a three-gun battery under 
 Bledsoe. Parsons had about six hundred and fifty 
 armed men. His infantry were commanded by 
 Colonel Kelly, his mounted men by Colonel Brown, 
 and his four-gun battery by Guibor. Clark had 
 Burbridge's regiment of infantry, whose effective 
 strength was three hundred and sixty-five officers 
 and men. Slack's brigade consisted of about five 
 hundred mounted men under Colonel Rives, and 
 about seven hundred infantry under Colonel 
 Hughes, and Major Thornton. Parsons, Clark, and 
 Slack had also about eight hundred unarmed men. 
 
 Lyon was notified the day after the affair at Boonc- 
 ville (June 1 8th), that Missouri had been detached 
 from the Department of the West, and attached 
 to the Department of the Ohio, commanded by 
 Major-General George B. McClellan. This had been 
 done by the advice of General Scott, and through 
 the solicitation of Attorney-General Bates, Judge 
 Gamble and other St. Louisians, who did not like 
 Blair, and had no great confidence in " Captain " 
 Lyon. Fearing that this would interfere with 
 their campaign, Blair hurried to Washington City 
 to obtain a revocation of the order, and the 
 assigment of Lyon to the command of military 
 
220 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 operations in Missouri. This he could not accom- 
 phsh, but he finally persuaded the Administration 
 on the 3d of July to organize Illinois together with 
 Missouri and all the other States and Territories 
 lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky 
 Mountains into a separate military command to be 
 known as the The Wcsterii Department, under 
 Major-General Fremont, with head-quarters at St. 
 Louis. 
 
 McClellan did not interfere with Lyon during the 
 short time that his command extended over Mis- 
 souri, and the latter went on to execute the plans 
 which Blair and he had devised for the conquest of 
 the State, though he w^as severely crippled by the 
 loss of Blair, whose presence and counsels were of 
 inestimable importance to him. While procuring 
 transportation and supplies, and reinforcing and re- 
 organizing his army at Booneville, Lyon published 
 a proclamation to the people of Missouri, promising 
 not to molest any man who had taken up arms 
 against the Government, if he would return to his 
 home and remain there quietly. This wise measure 
 had the effect which he anticipated, and kept thou- 
 sands of men out of the ranks of the State Guard. 
 
 He next assigned Colonel John D. Stevenson to 
 the command of the Missouri River from Kansas 
 City to its mouth, and gave him a sufficient force to 
 garrison Jefferson City, Booneville and Lexington, 
 
Boonevillc and Carthage. 221 
 
 and ordered him also to protect the loyal inhabit- 
 ants of the adjacent counties ; to disperse all gath- 
 erings of men hostile to the Federal Government ; 
 and to prevent reinforcements from, crossing the 
 river to Price. All that part of the State north of 
 the Missouri was entrusted temporarily to the com- 
 mand of Colonel Samuel R. Curtis, who had already 
 occupied parts of it with the Second Iowa Infantry. 
 South-eastern Missouri was left to the care of 
 McClellan, who was for that purpose concentrating 
 at Cairo an ample force, under Brigadier-General 
 Prentiss. St. Louis and all the country within a 
 hundred and fifty miles of it, had been thoroughly 
 subjugated, and was occupied by sufficient garri- 
 sons. 
 
 Major Sturgis was already following Rains with 
 about nine hundred regulars from Fort Leav- 
 enworth, and two regiments of Kansas Volun- 
 teers about sixteen hundred strong. Lyon himself 
 moved from Booneville on the 3d of July v/ith 
 about two thousand three hundred and fifty men, 
 of whom two hundred and fifty were regulars. 
 The two columns had an effective strength of 
 about four thousand eight hundred and fifty men. 
 They were all well armed and equipped, and fully 
 supplied with everything that an army in the field 
 required. They were also officered by educated 
 soldiers, many of whom afterwards rose to distinc- 
 
222 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 tion. But Lyon had lost fifteen days of priceless 
 time at Booneville, and the State troops were more 
 than a week in advance of his own column, near 
 Lamar. 
 
 In front of the Governor, though he did not him- 
 self know it, was the force which Lyon, before leav- 
 ing St. Louis, had sent under Sweeney and Sigel to 
 the south-west to cut off the retreat of the State 
 troops, and to prevent McCulloch from succoring 
 them. Sweeny, who reached Springfield on the 
 1st of July, found at and near that post and on the 
 way thither from Rolla, about four thousand men, 
 including one thousand Home Guards. Sigel, who 
 had preceded him, had moved westward with his 
 own regiment and Salomon's, and taken position at 
 Neosho and Sarcoxie in order to intercept General 
 Price. Finding that Price and his escort had 
 already passed on to McCulloch's camp, he decided 
 to throw himself in front of Governor Jackson, and 
 to hold him north of Spring River till Lyon could 
 come up with his own and Sturgis' columns and 
 attack him in rear. In this determination he was 
 confirmed by an order from Sweeny, who directed 
 him to concentrate his force, and move toward 
 Carthage, which was in the direct line of the Gov- 
 ernor's retreat. Leaving one company of his own 
 recriment and some detailed men at Neosho under 
 
Booncvillc and Carthage. 223 
 
 command of Captain Conrad, he moved northward 
 with the rest of his force, except Captain Indest's 
 company, and encamped on the evening of the 
 4th of July on Spring River a httle south-east of 
 Carthage. 
 
 Just after the sun had gone down on the 4th of 
 July, and while the State troops were still encamped 
 near Lamar, resting from their fatigues, and getting 
 themselves into some semblance of an army, a man 
 rode hastily to General Parsons' quarters and told 
 the general that Colonel Monroe (his quarter- 
 master) who had gone to Carthage with a detach- 
 ment of ninety-five men to collect forage and sub- 
 sistence, was threatened there by a large force of 
 the enemy, and wanted reinforcements. Parsons 
 instantly ordered his whole command to get ready 
 to march toward Carthage at ten o'clock that 
 night, and then communicated the facts to the 
 Governor. 
 
 This was the first intimation that the State troops 
 had that an enemy was in their front with intent 
 to cut off their retreat. But before the hour fixed 
 by Parsons for the movement of his command had 
 arrived, other couriers had come from Monroe say- 
 ing that the Federals were approaching Carthage in 
 great force. Governor Jackson thereupon assumed 
 command in person of all his troops, and, counter- 
 
224 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 manding Parsons' order for the movement of his 
 own force, ordered the whole army to take up 
 the march at day break (July 5), with Rains in 
 front, and Captain Shelby's company in advance. 
 The Governor, accompanied by General David R. 
 Atchison and other volunteer aids and by some of 
 his own staff, rode at the head of the column with 
 General Rains. They had marched about five miles 
 beyond Lamar when they were met by Colonel 
 Monroe and informed by him that Sigel had al- 
 ready passed through Carthage, and was on the 
 way to meet them and give battle. The col- 
 umn was quickly halted on the ridge of a prairie, 
 which sloped gently down toward Coon Creek, an 
 affluent of Spring River. This creek, which was 
 heavily bordered on both sides by "timber" and 
 "brush," was about two miles in front of the State 
 troops. Hardly had they been halted when the 
 bayonets of the Federals were seen gleaming in the 
 sunshine as they descended the opposite declivity 
 in perfect order, before disappearing in " the timber" 
 on that side of the creek. 
 
 The Governor at once deployed his men in line of 
 battle, with Weightman's brigade on the right, and 
 on its left Slack's Infantry. Between these two 
 Bledsoe's three guns were thrown into battery. 
 Guibor took position with his four guns on the left 
 of Slack, and next to him came Parsons' Infantry, 
 
Boon evil Ic and Cartilage. 225 
 
 under Colonel Kelly. Clark's Infantry under Bur- 
 bridge occupied the left. The ric^ht flank of the 
 State troops was covered by Rains with the mounted 
 men of his division, and their left flank by mount- 
 ed men under Brown and Rives. The line thus 
 formed consisted of twenty-six hundred infantry 
 and artillery most of the former armed with shot 
 guns and rifles, and about fifteen hundred mounted 
 men similarly arrned. The unarmed men, of whom 
 there were about two thousand, all mounted, were 
 sent to the rear with the wagons. 
 
 Every one, officers and men, now looked on with 
 intense curiosity, as the Federals, with the precision 
 of veterans which most of them were, emerged from 
 " the brush " on the north side of the creek, and de- 
 ployed into line on the prairie some twelve hundred 
 yards away. They consisted of nine companies of 
 Sigel's Regiment and seven companies of Salomon's, 
 with an effective strength of nine hundred and fifty 
 men, and seven pieces of artillery (one hundred and 
 twenty-five men) under Major Backoff. 
 
 Sigel began the fight. Advancing his line about 
 three hundred yards, he opened upon the State troops 
 with all his guns, delivering a steady fire of round 
 shot, shell and grape. Guibor replied with his four 
 guns and was followed on the instant by Bledsoe. 
 The ineffective artillery practice thus begun had 
 been kept up nearly an hour, when the Governor 
 
226 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 ordered Rains to advance on the right with his 
 mounted men, and Rives and Brown on the left. 
 The unarmed men on horseback (about two tliou- 
 sand) were at the same time ordered to seek shelter 
 in- the heavy timber on the right of the State troops. 
 
 Sigel, seeing these movements, and that he was 
 about to be attacked on both flanks, and fancying 
 also that he was about to be taken in rear by the 
 heavy mounted force which was taking shelter in the 
 woods (for he did not know that they were not 
 armed) withdrew his men in good order first to the 
 timber, and then beyond the creek. Posting Essig's 
 Battery, with a support of five companies of infantry 
 on the high ground south of the creek in such way 
 as to command the approach to the ford, he retired 
 with the rest of his men to the defence of his train, 
 then threatened by some mounted Missourians who 
 had crossed the creek higher up. 
 
 The State troops following in some disorder were 
 brought to a halt within four hundred yards of 
 the ford by the well-directed fire of Essig's Battery. 
 But Weightman rapidly reforming his line, opened 
 fire with Bledsoe's guns, and under their cover and 
 that of " the timber," advanced his own brigade 
 along with Slack's toward the creek. It was now 
 and here that the serious fighting of the day took 
 place; for Essig continued to hold the ford with 
 great obstinacy. But General Clark and General 
 
Booncvillc and Carthage. 227 
 
 Parsons managed at last to cross the creek at an- 
 other ford and were endangering his retreat. Essig 
 thereupon gave the order to retire, and fell back to 
 the main body. 
 
 Sigel continued his retreat in good order, closely 
 followed by a rabble of State troops and harassed 
 on all sides by their mounted men, who did not, 
 however, dare to attack his compact ranks. Cross- 
 ing Spring River without opposition he held Car- 
 thage under cover of its houses and fences till his 
 train was well on the road to Springfield. He then 
 continued his retreat to Sarcoxie, fifteen miles away. 
 Reaching that place at three o'clock in the morning, 
 he rested his men there till daybreak, and then hast- 
 ened along to Mount Vernon. Finding that he was 
 no longer pursued, he halted there. As the engage- 
 ment took place about nine miles north of Carthage, 
 Sigel had on the 5th of July marched under a blazing 
 sun more than ten miles, had met and fought on 
 the same day an army four times as numerous as 
 his own, and had then withdrawn his men in good 
 order, first to Carthage nine miles from the field, and 
 then to Sarcoxie fifteen miles further, without halting 
 either to eat or to sleep. 
 
 The Federal loss in this " engagement near Carth- 
 age," generally called The Battle of Carthage, was 
 thirteen killed and thirty-one wounded. The State 
 troops lost ten killed and sixty-four wounded. The 
 
228 TJie Fight foi- Missouri. 
 
 Federal commander estimated Governor Jackson's 
 losses at " not less than from three hundred and 
 fifty to four hundred," and Confederate historians 
 have estimated Sigel's loss " at from one hundred 
 and fifty to two hundred killed, and from three hun- 
 dred to four hundred wounded ! " 
 
 The State troops occupied on the night of the 
 battle the ground on which Sigel had camped the 
 preceding night, and the next day (July 6) they 
 marched leisurely and in great good spirits toward 
 Granby. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE CONFEDERATES ENTER MISSOURI. 
 
 Ben McCulloch assigned to defence of the Indian Territory — Con- 
 centrates his force, including Pearce's Brigade, near Fort Smith — 
 Governor Jackson, before leaving Jefferson City, asks him to enter 
 Missouri — McCulloch asks the President's consent — Advances to 
 Maysville — Joins Price — Marches with him to rescue the Gover- 
 nor and the Missouri troops — Meets them — Price Assumes Com- 
 mand of the State Guard — Cowskin Prairie — Reorganization of 
 the State Guard — Price's Difficulties — He surmounts them — Gover- 
 nor Jackson, Price, and McCulloch try to secure the co-operation 
 of Polk and Hardee — Polk sends Pillow to New Madrid, but Har- 
 dee refuses to co-operate — Price, McCulloch, and Pearce move 
 against Springfield — They concentrate their armies at Cassville. 
 
 Ben. McCulloch, the well-known Texan ranji^er, 
 had been appointed on the 13th of May, brigadier- 
 general of the Provisional Army of the Confederate 
 States, and assigned to the command of the Indian 
 Territory with orders to guard it against invasion 
 from Kansas or elsewhere. A regiment of infantry 
 from Louisiana, a mounted regiment from Arkansas, 
 and another from Texas were ordered to report to 
 him, and he was also authorized to raise two regi- 
 ments of Indians. On the 25th of May he reached 
 Fort Smith and went a few days later into the In- 
 dian Territory to select a position for his command. 
 
230 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 He found a suitable one in the Cherokee country, 
 but discovered that John Ross, the Cherokee chief, 
 and a majority of that nation were opposed to the 
 occupation of their lands by any armed force. He, 
 therefore, decided not to occupy the Territory, but 
 to take a position at Fort Smith in western Arkansas 
 instead. This change of plan led him to ask the 
 Confederate Government to add north-western 
 Arkansas to his command. This request was not 
 granted. By the 12th of June he had, at and near 
 Fort Smith, the Third Louisiana Infantry Colonel 
 Louis Hebert, and seven companies of Churchill's 
 Regiment of Mounted Riflemen (Arkansas). There 
 was also in the same vicinity a brigade of Arkansas 
 Militia, about one thousand five hundred strong, 
 under command of Brigadier-General N. B. Pearce, a 
 graduate of West Point. 
 
 This was the force which had excited the ap- 
 prehensions of Blair and Lyon, and aroused the 
 hopes of Governor Jackson and the Missouri Seces- 
 sionists. 
 
 When the Governor, early in June, learned that 
 McCulloch was at Fort Smith, he sent Captain 
 Colton Greene to him with an urgent request that 
 he would advance into the State with his army, 
 in order to encourage the Southern Rights' people, 
 and give General Price time to enlist and organize 
 the State Guard. Greene reached Fort Smith on 
 
The Confederates Enter Missouri. 231 
 
 the 13th of June — the day that the Governor and 
 General Price left Jefferson City — and at once laid 
 the Governor's request before McCulloch, who 
 listened attentively though with that cautious reserve 
 which was one of his most noticeable characteristics. 
 But the adjutant-general of his brigade Captain Mc- 
 intosh, a very enterprising and intelligent young 
 ofificer who had just resigned from the United States 
 Army and been sent by Mr. Davis to Arkansas to 
 help McCulloch organize and handle his troops, ap- 
 preciated the importance of the movement which 
 Governor Jackson suggested, and advocated it so 
 earnestly that McCulloch promised to ask the Presi- 
 dent's permission to execute it. And he did, on the 
 next day, the 14th of June, write to the Secretary of 
 War as follows : 
 
 " I think the proposition made by the Governor 
 is one of great importance to the Confederate 
 Government, and I hope it may meet with your 
 favorable consideration. I will briefly lay before you 
 a plan of operations. The Chief of the Cherokees 
 is not willing to have a force marched into his 
 country, and he desires to remain neutral. The only 
 way to force his country into the Confederacy is to 
 throw a force into the north-western portion of this 
 State, take possession of Fort Scott on the Missouri 
 line, and subjugate that portion of Kansas. I am 
 satisfied that Lane has no force yet of any impor- 
 
232 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 tance, and the occupation of Fort Scott would not 
 only place Kansas in my power, but would give heart 
 and countenance to our friends in Missouri, and 
 accomplish the very object for which I was sent here 
 — preventing a force from the North invading the 
 Indian Territory. 
 
 " All the border counties on the western line of 
 Missouri are with us. We would therefore be able 
 to draw our supplies from them. After strengthen- 
 ing myself at Fort Scott; I could, by co-operating 
 with Missouri, take such a position on the Kansas 
 River as I might desire. In order to carry out this 
 plan I would again respectfully ask to have the 
 Western Military Division of Arkansas put under 
 my orders, with authority to muster the troops now 
 in it (about sixteen hundred) into the provisional 
 forces, and to accept such other regiments and bat- 
 talions until my force is at least seven thousand 
 strong." 
 
 He was opposed to employing Indians in Kansas, 
 or elsewhere outside of their own territory. 
 
 This plan of campaign was both wise and feasible, 
 and upon being outlined to the Governor of Arkan- 
 sas, a few days later, was so heartily approved by 
 him, that he telegraphed (June 21) to the Secretary 
 of War that Arkansas had eight thousand armed 
 men in the field, whom it would turn over to the 
 Confederate Government for the proposed move- 
 
TJic Confederates Enter Missouri. 233 
 
 ment, and suggested that " an active campaign in 
 Missouri would aid Virginia." But the policy of the 
 Confederate Government, which, acting strictly on 
 the defensive, did not then contemplate the invasion 
 of any " loyal " State, and least of all Missouri, which 
 it believed to be hopelessly subjugated ! And this 
 policy it observed so strictly that it would not now 
 manifest any disposition to help the Governor array 
 the State on the side of the South, or evince even a 
 desire to utilize her great resources for the good of 
 the Confederacy. But, on the contrary, under the 
 influence of unwise counsellors and through its own 
 unpardonable ignorance of the true condition of the 
 State, it declined to make any effort to prevent the 
 Federal Government from occupying her territory 
 and using her power to crush the South. 
 
 To McCulloch's proposition to assist the Missour- 
 ians the Secretary of War therefore replied coldly 
 that he might, if he thought proper, take position 
 at Fort Scott, and give such assistance to Mis- 
 souri as would subserve the main purpose of his 
 command, which was " to conciliate the Indian 
 Nations, and to obtain tlieir active co-operation in 
 prosecuting the war." 
 
 Missouri, with her hundred thousand men and 
 resources greater than those of all the Cotton States 
 together, was worth nothing to the Confederacy in 
 comparison with two or three regiments of semi- 
 
234 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 civilized Indians, who ought never to have been 
 allowed to cross the frontiers of their own terri- 
 tory ! 
 
 The Secretary did not even notice McCulloch's 
 request for the addition of north-western Arkansas 
 to his command. To have granted that request 
 might have inflamed McCulloch's ambition, and 
 v/ould have given him the opportunity, and along 
 with it the power, to make an active campaign in 
 Missouri. Fearing that he might do this any way, 
 the Secretary further admonished him, on the 4th 
 of July, that '' the position of Missouri, as a South- 
 ern State still in the Union, requires, as you will 
 readily perceive, much prudence and circumspec- 
 tion, and it should only be when necessity and pro- 
 priety unite that active and direct assistance should 
 be afforded by crossing the boundary and entering 
 the State." 
 
 Such was the military status in western Arkansas 
 when McCulloch learned that Governor Jackson and 
 General Price were retreating toward Arkansas, 
 closely pursued by Lyon and Sturgis, with a large 
 force of Federal troops. He "determined to march 
 against this force, to hold it in check, and if an 
 opportunity occurred, to strike it a blow in Mis- 
 souri," and set out at once for Maysville, in the 
 north-western corner of the State, orderinsf Hebert 
 
The Confederates E liter Missouri. 235 
 
 and Churchill to follow immediately with their 
 regiments. Pearce had already moved thither with 
 his brigade of Arkansas militia, for the protection 
 of his own State. McCulloch had not yet learned 
 that the Confederate Government did not approve 
 his proposed invasion of Missouri. 
 
 General Price, as has been told, left Lexington 
 with a small escort immediately after the affair at 
 Booneville, and hastened toward Fort Smith, in 
 order to persuade McCulloch to come to the rescue 
 of Missouri. On the way he was joined by a fine 
 mounted company, the Windsor Guards, from 
 Henry County, and by other companies, and men 
 in squads, until, when he reached Cowskin Prairie 
 in the extreme south-western corner of the State, 
 about twelve miles from Maysville, his force 
 amounted to nearly twelve hundred men, though 
 many of them had no arms at all. He there 
 learned, July the ist, that General Pearce was near 
 Maysville with his Arkansas brigade. As soon, 
 therefore, as he got his men into camp he pushed 
 on to Pearce, who told him that McCulloch was on 
 the march from Fort Smith, and would reach Mays- 
 ville the next day. 
 
 Pearce also loaned him six hundred and fifteen 
 muskets with which to arm his men. Returning to 
 Cowskin Prairie Price hastily organized his force, 
 
236 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 placing such as were well mounted and well armed 
 and fit for active service, under the immediate com- 
 mand of Alexander E. Steen, a promising young 
 Missourian who had resigned his commission in the 
 United States Army in order to serve his native 
 State. 
 
 The next day, McCulloch, who had reached 
 Maysville in advance of his men, rode over to 
 General Price's head-quarters. While he was there 
 they learned that the Governor and General Rains 
 were trying to effect a junction of their forces north 
 of Carthage, but were closely pressed by Lyon and 
 Sturgis. McCulloch at once agreed to move to the 
 assistance of the Missourians, and to persuade 
 Pearce to unite in the movement. This Pearce 
 gladly consented to do, and Churchill having 
 reached Maysville the next morning by a forced 
 march, McCulloch and Pearce entered Missouri the 
 4th of July, with Churchill's Regiment, Gratiot's 
 Arkansas Infantry, Carroll's Mounted Regiment, 
 and Woodruff's Battery. Reaching Price's camp 
 the same day, they were there joined by him and 
 continued their march northward. Hearing, the 
 next day, that the Governor was not only pressed 
 in rear by Lyon and Sturgis, but that Sigel had 
 thrown himself in his front, McCulloch left his in- 
 fantry behind, and he and Price then pushed for- 
 ward with their mounted men. 
 
The Confederates Enter Missouri. 237 
 
 On approaching Neosho (July 5), McCulIoch sent 
 forward two detachments of Churchill's Regiment — - 
 one under command of that officer, and the other 
 under Captain Mcintosh — to capture the company 
 which Sigel had left there. Making a forced march 
 they accomplislied this without firing a shot, and 
 found themselves in the unexpected possession of 
 one hundred and thirty-seven prisoners, and, what 
 they valued more highly, one hundred and fifty 
 stand of arms and seven wagons laden with sup- 
 plies. 
 
 During the night Price and McCulloch came up 
 with the rest of their mounted force. Resuming 
 the march at break of day on the 6th, they were 
 well on their way to Carthage when the glad 
 tidings came that the Governor, having effected a 
 junction of all the State forces, had fallen upon 
 Sigel and defeated him, and was marching toward 
 them, his men rejoicing in their victory, and confi- 
 dent in their prowess. 
 
 Jackson and his troops did, indeed, have abun- 
 dant cause to rejoice; for, though we had not won 
 a great victory as we foolishly fancied, or estab- 
 lished the independence of the Confederacy as 
 some believed, we had escaped a very great danger. 
 For Lyon had been close behind with an over- 
 whelming force, and, had he overtaken, would have 
 routed and dispersed, us. Now we were not only 
 
238 TJie Fight for Missojiri. 
 
 safe from pursuit and no enemy in our front, but we 
 would, within an hour, be under the protecting 
 folds of the Confederate flag, and side by side with 
 that Confederate Army, for whose coming we had 
 been so anxiously waiting. No wonder that we 
 burst into loud huzzas when the redoubtable 
 McCulloch came into sight, surrounded by his 
 gaily-dressed staff, and when accompanied by Gov- 
 ernor Jackson, General Price, and General Pearce, 
 he rode down our dust-stained ranks to greet the 
 men that had fought with Sigel and put him to 
 flight. 
 
 We were all young then, and full of hope, and 
 looked with delighted eyes on the first Confederate 
 soldiers that we had ever seen, the men all dressed 
 in sober gray, and their officers resplendent with 
 gilded buttons, and golden braid and stars of gold. 
 To look like these gallant soldiers ; to be of them ; 
 to fight beside them for their homes and for our 
 own, was the one desire of all the Missourians, who, 
 on that summer day, stood on one of their own 
 verdant prairies, gazing southward. 
 
 In all their motley array there was hardly a uni- 
 form to be seen, and then, and throughout all the 
 brilliant campaign on which they were about to 
 enter thers was nothing to distinguish their offi- 
 cers, even a general, from the men in the ranks, 
 save a bit of red flannel, or a piece of cotton cloth, 
 
TJic Confederates Entc7- Missouri. 239 
 
 fastened to the shoulder, or to the arm, of the former. 
 But for all that they were the truest and best of 
 soldiers. Many of them, when just emerging from 
 boyhood, had fought under Price or Doniphan in 
 Mexico ; many had been across the great plains, and 
 were enured to the dangers and privations of the 
 wilderness; and many had engaged in the hot strife 
 which had ensanguined the prairies of Kansas. 
 Among them there was hardly a man who could 
 not read and write, and who was not more intelli- 
 gent than the great mass of American citizens ; not 
 one who had not voluntarily abandoned his home 
 with all its tender ties, and thrown away all his 
 possessions, and left father and mother, or wife and 
 children, within the enemy's lines, that he might 
 himself stand by the South in her hour of great 
 peril, and help her to defend her fields and her fire- 
 sides. And among them all there was not a man 
 who had come forth to fight for slavery. 
 
 McCulloch and Pearce now returned with their 
 troops to Maysville, and General Price, assuming 
 command of the Missourians, led them by easy 
 marches to Cowskin Prairie, which they reached on 
 the 9th of July. Up to this time few of them had 
 been formed into regiments, or even into companies. 
 To organize, arm, and fit them somewhat for the 
 field, was the first care of General Price. The diffi- 
 culty of this task was greatly enhanced by the fact 
 
240 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 that he had no arms, no miHtary suppHes of any kind, 
 and no money with which to procure any, even if any 
 had been procurable. It mattered not at all that 
 he had no money to pay the men. There was not 
 one of them who expected or who wanted to be 
 paid for his services, or who ever was paid. But 
 men and horses must be fed ; and on Cowskin 
 Prairie there was for the men little but lean beef, 
 and for their horses nothing but the grass of the 
 prairie. To supply their more pressing wants 
 Quarter-master General Harding, and Colonel John 
 Reid, the chief commissary of the army, went first to 
 Fort Smith, and thence to Little Rock, and after- 
 wards to Memphis, but procured nothing in time for 
 use in the impending campaign, though they ob- 
 tained supplies which contributed greatly to the 
 efficiency and comfort of the army during the en- 
 suing fall and winter. 
 
 Another great difificulty which General Price had 
 to overcome was the want of experienced soldiers, 
 who could help him to organize his army aright 
 and equip it for the field. He had, it is true, an 
 abundance of officers fully competent to command 
 a regiment or a brigade, and many excellent com- 
 pany officers, but for the important duties of the 
 staff he had to rely upon men who had not been 
 trained to a military life, and who had everything 
 to learn. For instance, the chief of ordnance of his 
 
The Confederates Enter Missouri. 241 
 
 army was one of the Governor's aides who did not 
 know the difference between a siege gun and a 
 howitzer, and had never seen a musket cartridge in 
 all the days of his life. Fortunately he had some 
 administrative ability, and all around him were men 
 who had from boyhood been handling shot guns 
 and rifles, and were used to improvising just such 
 ammunition as was most needed then, and who 
 could act in an emergency. One of these, Major 
 Thomas H. Price, a man admirably fitted for the 
 work that had to be done, was put in charge of it. 
 Lead, thanks to the proximity of the Granby mines, 
 v/as abundant ; powder, too, thanks to the wise fore- 
 sight of Governor Jackson ; and the neighboring 
 forests were full of trees, which the major knew how 
 to convert 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 Guard. No educated soldier, no officer 
 of the Ordnance Departm.ent, could have done what 
 Major Price did. They are not educated for such 
 emergencies, nor could they have found precedents 
 or authority for anything that he did. 
 
 How the artillery was supplied with ammunition 
 has been well told by Lieutenant Barlow of Gui- 
 
 bor's Battery. " One of Sigel's captured wagons 
 16 
 
242 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 furnished a few loose, round shot. With these for 
 a beginning, Guibor estabhshed an " arsenal of con- 
 struction." A turning-lathe in Carthage supplied 
 sabots ; the owner of a tin-shop contributed straps 
 and canisters ; iron rods which a blacksmith gave and 
 cut into small pieces made good slugs for the canis- 
 ters ; and a bolt of flannel, with needles and thread, 
 freely donated by a dry-goods man, provided us 
 with material for our cartridge bags. A bayonet 
 made a good candle-stick; and at night, . . . the 
 men went to work making cartridges; strapping 
 shot to the 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 trim cylinders from the Fed- 
 eral 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 ammunition proved as effective as 
 the best." > 
 
 Generak Price's perplexities were greatly aug- 
 mented a few days later (July 19) by the departure 
 for Richmond of his able and accomplished adju- 
 tant-general. Colonel Little ; for it involved the 
 necessity of assigning to that position an officer 
 utterly without experience, his chief of ordnance, 
 the writer of this book. In spite of all these 
 embarrassments the work of organizing, equipping, 
 
The Confederates Enter Missouri. 243 
 
 and disciplining the State Guard progressed well, 
 for never had man seen better material for an army, 
 and every one did his best, under the wise guidance 
 of the able soldier who, unconsciously to himself, 
 was with a master's hand fashioning an army, which 
 was destined to win many a victory and never to 
 sustain a defeat. 
 
 Before tlie end of July it was ready to take the 
 field with an effective strength of nearly five thou- 
 and, while two thousand unarmed men were wait- 
 ing to pick up and use the arms of those who 
 might sicken in camp or on the march, or who 
 might fall in battle. 
 
 A few days after the troops had gone into camp 
 on Cowskin Prairie, Governor Jackson left (July 12) 
 for Memphis, in order to persuade General I^olk, to 
 whose command all the country west of the Missis- 
 sippi was attached, to send into Missouri a sufficient 
 force to repossess that State. For political, as 
 well as for military reasons, this was/ a thing 
 important to be done; for the State Convention 
 had been summoned to meet at Jefferson City 
 on the 22d of July, and it was known that one of 
 its first acts would be to depose Governor Jackson, 
 and that it would then organize a State Govern- 
 ment which would wield the power of the State 
 against the South. To prevent this great misfor- 
 
244 The Fight for Missojiri. 
 
 tunc, Governor Jackson, General Price, and the 
 State Guard were ready to risk their hves. If the 
 Confederate Government had comprehended the 
 situation it might, perhaps, have assisted them. 
 
 General Polk did appreciate the importance of 
 the movement, and, on the 23d of July, ordered 
 General Pillow to take six thousand men of various 
 arms from the Western District of Tennessee and 
 move with them into Missouri by way of New Mad- 
 rid. There he was to be joined by a force of Mis- 
 sourians under Jeff. Thompson, and would be fur- 
 ther reinforced till he should have an effective army 
 of eleven thousand men. Taking these he would 
 effect a junction with General Hardee, who was 
 to meet him with seven thousand men, whom he 
 was concentrating at Pocahontas in Arkansas. The 
 combined forces would then cither take Lyon in 
 rear while Price and McCulloch were attacking 
 him in front, or would march upon St. Louis, cap- 
 ture that city and thence sweep up the Missouri! 
 " Having driven the enemy from the State, I will 
 then enter Illinois," wrote the brave old soldier, 
 '* and take Cairo in rear on my return." The army 
 which was to execute this magnificent plan of cam- 
 paign was aptly called "The Army of Liberation." 
 Its advance under General Pillow entered Missouri 
 on the 28th of July, and occupied New Madrid. 
 The Battle of Bull Run had just been fought, and 
 
The Confederates Enter Missouri. 245 
 
 the South beh'eved itself to be invincible and irre- 
 sistible. 
 
 Having learned that General Hardee had been 
 assigned to the command of North Arkansas, and 
 that he was concentrating an army at Pocahontas 
 on the White River, McCulloch and Price sent spe- 
 cial messengers to him, on the 19th of July, begging 
 him to co-operate with them in a movement against 
 Lyon, who was then at Springfield. These messen- 
 gers found Hardee at Pittman's Ferry, within four 
 hundred yards of the Missouri line, whence he 
 might have easily co-operated in the movement 
 against Lyon, either by advancing on Springfield, 
 or by threatening to interrupt his communication 
 with Rolla, But Hardee, who had not yet out- 
 grown the '' little learning " of the schools, nor 
 emancipated himself from the tyranny of axioms 
 which did not apply in the circumstances wherein 
 he was called upon to act, replied: ". . . I have 
 actually under my command less than 2,300 men. 
 When all the forces in this part of the State are 
 transferred, I shall have less than 5,000 men, badly 
 organized, badly equipped, and wanting in discipline 
 and instruction. One of my batteries has no har- 
 ness and no horses, and not one of the regiments 
 has transportation enough for active field service. 
 . . . I am doing all in my power to remedy 
 these deficiencies, but it takes time to eet harness 
 
246 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 and transportation. I do not wish to march to 
 your assistance with less than 5,000 men, well-ap- 
 pointed, and a full complement of artillery. With 
 every desire to aid and co-operate with the forces in 
 the West, I am compelled at this time to forego 
 that gratification." There was then with these 
 troops a man not bred to arms, but endowed with 
 great good sense and enterprise, one who was quick 
 to see and prompt to act, and who would have taken 
 those men into Missouri, and, uniting with Price and 
 McCulloch, would have utterly destroyed Lyon's 
 army. But unfortunately for the Confederacy 
 Hindman was not in command. 
 
 Before Hardee's letter reached Price, the latter, 
 McCulloch and Pearce, were already on the march to 
 Springfield. Price left Cowskin Prairie on the 25th 
 of July, and reached Cassville on the 28th, Sunday. 
 There he was joined by Brigadier-General McBride 
 with two regiments of State troops and a company of 
 mounted men. This, reinforcement, about 650 men, 
 made Price's armed force over 5,000 men. McCul- 
 loch reached Cassville the next day with his brigade, 
 "amounting to about 3,200 men, nearly all well 
 armed." Pearce was within ten miles of Cassville 
 with his brigade of 2,500 Arkansas troops. With 
 these were two fine batteries, Woodruff's and Reid's. 
 The entire force amounted to nearly eleven thou- 
 
TJlc Confederates Enter Missouri. 247 
 
 sand men. Beside these there were nearly two 
 thousand unarmed Missourians. 
 
 As Price, McCulIoch, and Pearce had each an en- 
 tirely independent command, they agreed upon an 
 order of march, in conformity to which the com- 
 bined forces began their movement towards Spring- 
 field, fifty-two miles distant, on the 31st of July. 
 The advance guard consisting of ten companies 
 of mounted Missourians under command of Briga- 
 dier-General Rains, and the First Division of the 
 forces consisting of infantry and artillery under the 
 immediate command of McCulloch, left Cassville 
 that day. The other divisions, commanded by 
 Pearce and Steen, left the two following days. 
 General Price accompanied the Second Division 
 without, however, taking immediate command of 
 any force. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 LYON MOVES OUT TO ATTACK. 
 
 Junction of Lyon and Sturgis near Clinton — They pursue the Gover- 
 nor — Lyon learns of Sigel's Defeat — Hurries to Springfield — Begs 
 for Reinforcements — Denounces General Scott — Fremont assumes 
 Command of the Western Department — Fails to reinforce Lyon — 
 Lyon marches out to prevent the Junction of Price and McCuIloch 
 — The Skirmish at Dug Springs — Lyon Retires to Springfield — 
 Price induces McCulloch to Advance by relinquishing the Com- 
 inand to him — The Confederates Camp on Wilson's Creek — Mc- 
 Culloch hesitates to Advance — Price's Urgency — A Council of 
 War — A Night March Ordered, and Countermanded — Lyon's Per- 
 plexity and Despair — He cannot Retreat — He orders an Attack — 
 His Last Letter to his Government. 
 
 Lyon leaving Booneville on the 3d of July 
 marched rapidly toward Clinton, some eighty miles 
 to the south-west. On the evening of the 7th he 
 reached Grand River, at a point a few miles south 
 of Clinton. There he was joined by Sturgis, who 
 had been waiting for him three or four days. Cross- 
 ing Grand River with some difficulty, for it was 
 greatly swollen by constant rains, Lyon pushed 
 forward with his entire force in pursuit of the State 
 troops, not knowing that they had swept Sigel out 
 of their path and effected a junction with Price and 
 McCulloch. 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 249 
 
 These facts he learned on reaching the Osage at 
 a crossing nine miles above Osceola, on the after- 
 noon of the 9th. Fearing that Price and McCulloch 
 were pursuing Sigel, he ferried his army and his 
 trains across the river during the next day and night, 
 and, early on the morning of the nth, made in all 
 haste for Springfield, which lay eighty miles to the 
 south-east. After marching under a blazing July 
 sun twenty-seven miles without a stop, he halted 
 his column in the afternoon, that the men and horses 
 might get much-needed rest, and something to eat. 
 At sunset they were all again in motion, and be- 
 fore three o'clock in the morning of July the 12th 
 were within thirty miles of Springfield. They had 
 marched nearly fifty miles in one day ! Here he 
 learned that Price and McCulloch had gone toward 
 Arkansas, and that Sigel was safe. Moving more 
 leisurely now, he encamped that night within twelve 
 miles of Springfield, and, early the next morning, 
 went thither himself, leaving his army behind. 
 
 The chroniclers of the city still delight to tell of 
 the brave appearance that he made that day, as he 
 dashed through their streets " on his iron-gray 
 horse, under escort of a body-guard of ten stalwart 
 troopers enlisted from among the German butchers 
 of St. Louis for that especial duty," and how "the 
 fearless horsemanship and defiant bearing of these 
 bearded warriors, mounted on powerful chargers 
 
250 TJic Fight for Missouri. 
 
 and armed to the teeth with great revolvers and 
 massive swords, their heroic size and ferocious as- 
 pect," gave histre to the entry into the chief city of 
 the South-west 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 Booneville, and had forced 
 Jackson and Price and all their men to fly for safety 
 into the uttermost corner of the State. 
 
 The force which Lyon now had at and near 
 Springfield amounted to between 7,000 and 8,000 
 men. But the term of service of some 3,000 of them, 
 who had been enlisted for ninety days, would expire 
 before the middle of August. The force that was 
 confronting him, was, as we know, about 11,000, but 
 he estimated it at 30,000. Consequently, on the 
 day that he reached Springfield, he telegraphed to 
 Colonel Harding, whom he had left at St. Louis, in 
 charge of matters at department head-quarters : 
 " Governor Jackson will soon have in this vicinity 
 not less than 30,000 men. I must have at once an 
 additional force of 10,000 men, or abandon my posi- 
 tion." Two days later Major Schofield, his adjutant- 
 general, wrote to Harding, insisting that all the 
 disposable troops at St. Louis should be sent to 
 Springfield. The defence of St. Louis, he very justly 
 observed, might be left to the Home Guards and to 
 the troops which could in a few hours be brought 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 251 
 
 from Illinois and Indiana, as there was no danger 
 that any force would move up the Mississippi or 
 through south-eastern Missouri so long as a Federal 
 army held Cairo. 
 
 Instead of getting reinforcements, Lyon received 
 an order (July 16) from General Scott, directing him 
 to send eastward two of the companies of regular 
 infantry which he had with him, and three companies 
 that v/ere at Fort Leavenworth. To this order 
 he replied that the moral effect of the few regulars 
 in his command was doubtless the main considera- 
 tion which held the enemy in check ; that to with- 
 draw them would make his position imminently 
 hazardous; and that therefore he would hold on to 
 them until further instructed. In the same letter 
 he complained that the volunteers with him had not 
 been paid ; that their clothing was dilapidated, and 
 that they were " as a body, dispirited," and would 
 not re-enlist. 
 
 To Harding he wrote: ''If the Regulars leave 
 me I can do nothing, and must retire, in the absence 
 of other troops to supply their places. In fact, I 
 am badly enough off at the best, and must utterly 
 fail if my regulars all go. At Washington, troops 
 from all the Northern, Middle, and Eastern States 
 are available for the support of the Army of Vir- 
 ginia, and more are understood to be already there 
 than are wanted. It seems strange to me that so 
 
252 TJic Fig] it for Missouri. 
 
 many troops must go on from the West, and strip 
 us of the means of defence. But if it is the intention 
 to give lip the West, let it be so. It can only be the victim 
 of imbecility or malice. Scott ivill cripple us if he can. 
 Everything seems to combine against me at 
 this point. Stir up Blair." 
 
 Blair laid Lyon's entreaties before Fremont who 
 was at New York, and the latter feebly telegraphed 
 to the War Department that " General Lyon calls 
 for reinforcements." Blair then appealed to the 
 Cabinet, whereupon General Scott ordered Fre- 
 mont (July 18) to proceed straight to his command. 
 On the 25th Fremont reached St. Louis, and as- 
 sumed command of The Western Department. 
 
 Lyon had already sent Major Farrar, Captain Cav- 
 ender, Colonel John S. Phelps, and others to meet 
 him there and explain to him the state of affairs 
 in the South-west, and to impress upon him the 
 vital importance of forthwith reinforcing the army 
 at Springfield. He assured them that five thou- 
 sand men would be sent thither as soon as the 
 orders could reach them. But an expedition to 
 Cairo now occupied Fremont's attention to the 
 exclusion of everything else, and it was not until 
 the 4th of August that two regiments (Stevenson's, 
 at Booneville, and Montgomery's at Leavenworth), 
 were ordered to Springfield. Other messengers had 
 meanwhile come from Lyon with yet more urgent 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 253 
 
 entreaties " for soldiers, soldiers, soldiers," as Keltoii 
 telegraphed to Fremont, who was still at Cairo. 
 One of these messengers told him., when he got 
 back to St. Louis, that Lyon would fight at Spring- 
 field anywa}\ " If he fights," replied Fremont, " he 
 will do it upon his own responsibility." 
 
 Lyon learned on the 1st of August that Price, 
 McCulloch, and Pearce were advancing upon Spring- 
 field. As they had converged toward Cassville by 
 three different roads, he was deceived into believing 
 that they were marching upon S[)ringfield by three 
 different roads. He determined therefore to attack 
 them in detail, and started the same day to meet the 
 column which was advancing upon the road from 
 Cassville. His force consisted of over five thou- 
 sand men — infantry, cavalry, and artillery. That 
 night he encamped on Tyrcl's Creek about twelve 
 miles from Springfield ; and had moved some six 
 miles further the next day, Friday, when being 
 informed that the Confederates were strongly 
 posted some four or five miles farther on, he went 
 into camp for the night. 
 
 It was McCulloch's advance guard, under Rains, 
 that was in front of Lyon. McCulloch was him- 
 self encamped with the rest of his division on 
 Crane Creek, about twelve miles south of the spot 
 where Lyon was going into camp. 
 
254 ^-^^^ Fight for Missouri. 
 
 When he learned, Friday morning August the 2d, 
 that a Federal force was in his front he requested 
 Price and Pearce to move up to his own position on 
 Crane Creek. Pearce's divison came up during the 
 forenoon. Rains had meanwhile become slightly en- 
 gaged with the Federal advance consisting of Steele!s 
 battalion of regulars, Stanley's troop of cavalry and 
 a section of Totten's Battery. As soon as McCul- 
 loch was informed of this, he sent Colonel Mcintosh, 
 with one hundred and fifty men to ascertain the po- 
 sition and strength of the enemy. Mcintosh, after 
 reconnoitring the ground with Rains, concluded that 
 the Federals were not in force and started back to 
 camp with his men, ordering Rains at the same time 
 not to bring on an engagement. Hardly had he 
 left, however, when Steele attacked Rains vigor- 
 ously, opening upon him Vv^th two of Totten's guns, 
 and put the Missourians to flight in the utmost con- 
 fusion. The loss on either side was trifling, in this 
 skirmish at Dug Springs, but the conduct of Rains' 
 command on this occasion caused McCulloch and 
 Mcintosh to lose all confidence in the Missouri 
 troops, and laid the foundation for that distrust and 
 ill-feeling, which eventually separated the combined 
 armies, and frustrated all their hopes. 
 
 The next day, August the 3d, Lyon advanced to 
 McCulla's store, twenty-four miles from Springfield, 
 and within six miles of the Confederate position ; but 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 255 
 
 being unable, after lying there twenty-four hours, to 
 learn anything definite about the army in front of 
 him, and fearful that the Confederates might with 
 their superior force of mounted men flank him and 
 cut off his communication with Springfield, he de- 
 termined to return thither, and setting out on Sun- 
 day reached that place Monday evening. 
 
 Saturday the Confederates were all concentrated 
 on Crane Creek, and were reinforced that night by 
 Greer's South-Kansas-Texas Regiment. 
 
 While the two armies lay facing each other. 
 General Price begged McCulloch to attack, but 
 McCulloch, who had now made up his mind not to 
 co-operate with the Missourians any longer unless 
 Price would yield to him the command of the com- 
 bined armies, refused to advance any further, alleg- 
 ing as an excuse that the Confederate Government 
 had declined to give him leave to move into Mis- 
 souri except for the defence of the Indian Territory; 
 and that to advance further into the State mio;ht 
 endanger the safety of that Territory and subject 
 himself to the censure of his Government. While 
 this was a very good excuse, it was not McCul- 
 loch's real reason for refusing to attack Lyon. He 
 had in truth no confidence in the Missouri troops, 
 and none in General Price, or in any of his ofificers, 
 except Colonel Weightman. Rains he had disliked 
 
256 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 from the beginning, and now he was embittered 
 against him by an open quarrel which had taken place 
 between him and Mcintosh, for whose opinions and 
 soldierly accomplishments McCulloch had a venera- 
 tion, which made him distrustful of his own capacity 
 and which often hampered his action. Neither he nor 
 Mcintosh comprehended the serene wisdom of Price, 
 his unerring common sense, his magnificent courage, 
 and those great qualities which endeared him to his 
 troops, nor could they believe that " the undisci- 
 plined mob " which Price commanded would under 
 his eye fight as well as the veterans of Wellington 
 or Napoleon ever fought. He had, therefore, deter- 
 mined not to advance another mile except in chief 
 command of the entire force. 
 
 Price v/ho saw this clearly enough did not hesitate, 
 but went the next morning (Sunday) to McCulloch's 
 quarters, taking the writer with him. After vainly 
 trying once more to persuade McCulloch to attack 
 Lyon, the general said : " I am an older man than 
 you, General McCulloch, and I am not only your 
 senior in rank now, but I was a brigadier-general in 
 the Mexican War, with an independent command, 
 when you were only a captain ; 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 we are also upon the soil of our own State ; 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 257 
 
 but, General McCulloch, if you will consent to help 
 us to whip Lyon and to repossess Missouri, I will 
 put myself and all my forces under your command, 
 and Ave will obey you as faithfully as the humblest 
 of your own men. We can .whip Lyon, and we will 
 whip him and drive the enemy out of Missouri, and 
 all the honor and all the glory shall be yours. All 
 that we want is to regain our homes and to establish 
 the independence of Missouri and the South. If 
 you refuse to accept this ofTer, I will move with the 
 Missourians alone, against Lyon. For it is better 
 that they and I should all perish than Missouri be 
 abandoned without a struggle. 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 with our aid. I must have your answer before 
 dark, for I intend to attack Lyon to-morrow." 
 
 McCulloch replied that he was expecting dis- 
 patches from the East, but would, in any event, 
 make known his determination before sundown. 
 Toward sunset, accompanied by Mcintosh, he 
 came to Price's quarters and informed him that he 
 had just received dispatches from General Polk 
 saying that General Pillow was advancing into Mis- 
 souri from New Madrid with twelve thousand 
 men, and that in consequence of this information 
 he had concluded to accept command of the com- 
 bined armies, and attack Lyon. General Price at 
 17 
 
258 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 once published an order announcing to his troops 
 that he had turned over the command of the State 
 Guard to General McCulloch, reserving to himself, 
 however, the right to resume command at his own 
 pleasure. 
 
 Believing that Lyon was still at McCulla's farm, 
 McCulloch marched at midnight, expecting to sur- 
 prise and attack him at daybreak. He was already 
 some distance on the v/ay when he learned that 
 Lyon had left twenty hours previously and was 
 retreating to Springfield. Pushing on in great 
 haste, though the weather was intensely hot and the 
 dust almost unendurable, McCulloch kept up the 
 pursuit to Moody's Spring near Tyrel's Creek. See- 
 ing then that Lyon had escaped, he halted there ; 
 but moved the next morning (August 6) some two 
 miles nearer to Springfield, and took position on 
 Wilson's Creek, so as to be within reach of some 
 ripening fields of corn, which was to be the only 
 subsistence of his army for the next day or two. 
 
 Wilson's Creek, rising in, and around, Springfield, 
 flows westwardly some five miles and then, turning 
 to the south, flows nine or ten miles in that direc- 
 tion before emptying into the James, an affluent of 
 White River. A mile or so above its mouth it re- 
 ceives the waters of Tyrel's Creek, flowing into it 
 from the west ; and a mile and a half further north 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 259 
 
 a smaller stream, Skegg's branch, flowing likewise 
 from the west, empties into it. The road from Cass- 
 ville, on which McCuUoch was advancing toward 
 Springfield (known also as the Fayetteville, or Tele- 
 graph Road) crosses both Tyrel's Creek and Skegg's 
 Branch just above their mouths. After crossing the 
 latter, it runs northward along the western bank of 
 Wilson's Creek nearly a mile, and then, crossing the 
 creek at a ford, turns north-eastward toward Spring- 
 field, which is nine or ten miles beyond. 
 
 Between Tyrel's Creek and Skegg's Branch there 
 is a considerable valley, partly wooded, lying be- 
 tween the Fayetteville Road, and Wilson's Creek. 
 In this valley the mounted regiments of Greer, 
 and Churchill, and about seven hundred mounted 
 Missourians, under Lieutenant Colonel Major and 
 Colonel Brown, went into camp. 
 
 Between Skegg's Branch and the ford across Wil- 
 son's Creek, the valley through which the road 
 passes is quite narrow, and the road runs within a 
 few yards of the stream. Toward the west a hill, 
 since known as Bloody Hill, rises gradually from the 
 creek to the height of nearly a hundred feet, its sides 
 deeply seamed with ravines, and dinted here and 
 there with sink-holes. At this time it was densely 
 covered with undergrowth through which was inter- 
 spersed a species of scrub-oak (black-jacks), and near 
 its summit the rock cropped out in many places. In 
 
26o TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 the narrow valley between the base of this hill and 
 the creek were bivouacked all the infantry of Price's 
 command, except Weightman's Brigade. Price's 
 quarters were on the road, and about five hundred 
 yards south of the ford. McBride, Slack, Clark, and 
 Parsons occupied the ground between his quarters 
 and Skegg's Branch. 
 
 The hill on the eastern side of the creek rises 
 abruptly to the height of about seventy-live feet. 
 Upon this hill the infantry and artillery of Pearce's 
 Arkansas Brigade were encamped — Woodruff's Bat- 
 tery on its northern face near the ford, and Reid's 
 Battery on its southern declivity, opposite to Skegg's 
 Branch, and the infantry between them. McCul- 
 loch's head-quarters were on the hill near Woodruff's 
 Battery. The Third Louisiana and McRae's Bat- 
 talion, both belonging to McCulloch's Brigade, were 
 camped near by, and Weightman's Missouri Brigade 
 was half a mile away to the south-east. Mcintosh's 
 Regiment (for Mcintosh was colonel of a regiment, 
 as well as adjutant-general of the brigade), pitched its 
 tents on the east side of the creek just above the ford. 
 
 A mile further up the creek, on the northern 
 slope of Bloody Hill, was Rains, with Cawthon's 
 Brigade of mounted Missourians; his camps ex- 
 tending northward as far as Gibson's Mill. Rains' 
 quarters were on the eastern side of the creek, and 
 there a few of his men also bivouacked. 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 261 
 
 From Rains, on the extreme left of the Confeder- 
 ates, to Churchill and Greer, on their extreme right, 
 the distance was just three miles up and down the 
 creek. 
 
 While the army lay here waiting for its trains to 
 come up, McCulloch would every day sling his May- 
 nard rifle across his shoulder and reconnoitre towards 
 Springfield, sometimes in force, and sometimes al- 
 most alone. But adventurous, daring, and skilful as 
 he was, he could learn nothing positive as to either 
 Lyon's strength, or as to the defences of Springfield. 
 He could not even ascertain whether Lyon had for- 
 tified his position at all, or not. To all the entrea- 
 ties of Price and the Missourians that he would 
 advance he only replied that he " would not make a 
 blind attack upon Springfield ; " and, blaming them 
 for his own want of success in reconnoitring, told 
 them, at last, that he " would order the whole army 
 back to Cassville rather than bring on an engage- 
 ment with an unknown enemy." 
 
 On Thursday, the 8th, Price received information 
 that Lyon was greatly perplexed ; that he was in 
 constant expectation of being attacked ; that he 
 kept his men under arms all the time ; and that he 
 was getting ready to abandon Springfield. Com- 
 municating this information to McCulloch, and 
 vouching for the credibility of his informants, the 
 general again urged him, with great earnestness, to 
 
262 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 move straightway upon Springfield. McCulloch 
 having promised to consider the matter carefully, 
 and to make known his decision that evening, rode 
 ,once more to the front, rifle in hand, accom.panied 
 by Mcintosh and a considerable force. It was late 
 when he returned to camp, and he did not com- 
 municate his purpose to General Price that night, 
 as he had promised to do. 
 
 The general, waking at daybreak, directed the 
 writer to see McCulloch instantly, and to ask what 
 he had decided to do. I hastened to his quarters, 
 and was still talking with him when the general 
 himself rode up, his impatience no longer control- 
 able, and insisted with great vehemence that McCul- 
 loch should keep the promise which he had made at 
 Crane Creek, and lead the army out against Lyon. 
 
 McCulloch finally consented to meet all the gen- 
 eral officers of the command in council at Price's 
 quarters at noon, and then to determine upon some 
 plan of action. At this council McCulloch ex- 
 pressed great unwillingness to attack Lyon, or to 
 enter upon any aggressive campaign. But Price 
 declared emphatically that if orders were not forth- 
 with issued for a forward movement, he would re- 
 sume command of the Missouri troops, and himself 
 give battle to Lyon, be the consequences what they 
 might. He was warmly seconded by Generals 
 Clark, Parsons, Rains, Slack, and McBride that 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 263 
 
 McCulloch yielded at last, and ordered the army to 
 be in readiness to move that night (August 9), at 
 nine o'clock. Before that time a slight rain began 
 to fall, and the order to march was countermanded, 
 the ofificers being instructed, however, to hold their 
 men in readiness to move at any moment. This 
 was wisely done, for most of the Missourians, hav- 
 ing no cartridge-boxes, had to carry their ammu- 
 nition in their pockets, and if a rain had fallen upon 
 them during the march, it would have virtually dis- 
 armed three-fourths of them all. 
 
 The Confederates, therefore, lay upon their arms, 
 waiting for the order to march. About dawn Gen- 
 eral Price sent me to ask McCulloch what he pro- 
 posed to do. He and Mcintosh returned with me 
 to Price's quarters on the west side of the creek, at 
 the foot of Bloody Hill which sloped down toward 
 us from the north-west. As our breakfast of corn- 
 bread, lean beef, and coffee, was about to be 
 served, McCulloch and Mcintosh were invited to 
 share it. 
 
 When Lyon got back to Springfield on Monday, 
 the 5th of August, he was more embarrassed than 
 ever. Not a man had come to him from Fremont ; 
 not even a word. Two regiments — the one in Kan- 
 sas, and the other on the Missouri — had been or- 
 dered to him the day before, but they could not 
 
264 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 possibly 'reach him in less than a fortnight; and 
 before that time the enlistments of one third of his 
 men would have expired, and they would hav^e 
 returned to their homes. 
 
 ' Though he was convinced that he could not, with 
 the force at his command, resist the armies which 
 were gathering to attack him and whose strength he 
 constantly overestimated, he was, nevertheless, loth 
 to abandon Springfield and the South-west to the 
 Confederates. For he fully realized the great ad- 
 vantage which Price would gain by occupying that 
 region, which would not only feed and recruit his 
 army, but open to him the rich counties on the Mis- 
 souri, with their teeming resources and tens of thou- 
 sands of volunteers. He knew too that it would 
 encourage the Secessionists in every county, and 
 dishearten all loyal men, and that it might lose to 
 the Union every part of the State, except St. 
 Louis. 
 
 But if it were difficult to advance, or to remain 
 where he was, it was even more difficult to retreat ; 
 it was in fact impossible to retreat. The only road 
 open to him was that which led to Rolla, from 
 which place there was a railway to St. Louis. 
 Between Springfield and Rolla, lay a rough coun- 
 try, through which the road ran for one hun- 
 dred and fifteen miles over hills, and through 
 ravines, and across a hundred streams. How could 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 265 
 
 an army of six or seven thousand disheartened men, 
 encumbered by four hundred army wagons, and im- 
 peded by crowds of refugees, fleeing with their 
 famihes and household goods before the wrath of 
 their own fellow-countrymen, hope to retreat over 
 such a road, for such a distance, pursued by more 
 than twice their own number of men under Price 
 and McCuUoch, and harassed and hindered at every 
 step by an overwhehiiing force of mounted troops? 
 
 It were surely better to fight than to retreat. 
 
 Accordingly he called his principal ofificers to- 
 gether, on the evening of the 8th, explained the 
 situation to them, and announced that it was his de- 
 termination to move down the Fayetteville Road 
 with his whole force at night, surprise the enemy in 
 their camp on Wilson's Creek at daybreak, and 
 trust everything to the hazard of a battle. The 
 next day (Friday, August 9), after consultation with 
 Colonel Sigel, he changed this plan, and, instead of 
 advancing in a single column, and attacking the 
 Confederates in front, ordered Sigel to take the 
 Third and Fifth Regiments of Missouri Volun- 
 teers, six pieces of artillery, and two companies of 
 regular cavalry, the whole aggregating about twelve 
 hundred officers and men, and with them turn the 
 right flank of the Confederates; while he, with the 
 remainder of his force, about four thousand two 
 hundred men in all, would move out and turn their 
 
266 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 left flank. Sigel was to make the attack as soon as 
 he heard Lyon's guns. Both columns were to leave 
 Springfield that afternoon about sunset. Before 
 leaving, Lyon sent the following letter to General 
 Fremont, — his last : 
 
 " I retired to this place, as I before informed you, 
 reaching here on the 5th. The enemy followed to 
 within ten miles of here. He has taken a strong po- 
 sition and is recruiting his supply of horses, mules, 
 and provisions, by forays into the surrounding coun- 
 try ; his large force of mounted men enabling him 
 to do this without much annoyance from me. I 
 find my position extremely embarrassing, and am 
 at present unable to determine whether I shall be 
 able to maintain my ground, or be forced to retire. 
 I can resist any attack from the front, but, if the 
 enemy were to surround me, I must retire. I shall I 
 hold my ground as long as possible, though I may, 
 without knowing how far, endanger the sgiety of 
 my entire force, with its valuable material, being 
 induced, by the important considerations involved, 
 to take this step. The enemy showed himself in 
 considerable force yesterday five miles from here, 
 and has doubtless a full purpose of attacking 
 me." 
 
 Not one word about the desperate battle that he 
 was to fight on the morrow ; not one fault-finding 
 utterance ; not a breath of complaint ! 
 
Lyon Moves Out to Attack. 267 
 
 But, true to his convictions; true to his flag; true 
 to the Union men of Missouri who confided in and 
 followed him ; true to himself ; and true to duty, he 
 went out to battle against a force twice as great as 
 his own, with a calmness that was as pathetic as his 
 courage was sublime. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK. 
 
 Lyon marches out by Night, and surprises the Confederates — The 
 Fight in the Cornfield — The Rout of Sigel— The Battle on Bloody 
 Hill — The Death of Lyon — His Army retreats — The Dead and 
 the Wounded. 
 
 Leaving Springfield about five o'cloc4>: Friday- 
 afternoon August the 9th, Lyon moved out about 
 five miles on the road to Little York, and then 
 turning southward across the prairie came, about 
 one o'clock, in sight of Rains' camp-fires, which 
 extended northward as far as Gibson's Mill. He 
 had completely turned the Confederate left, and 
 was in rear of them. Halting his column till 
 dawn, he then resumed his march with Plummer's 
 battalion of regulars in advance, followed by Oster- 
 haus' battalion of Missouri volunteers and Totten's 
 battery. 
 
 The Confederates were not yet aware of his 
 approach, as they had withdrawn all their pickets 
 at midnight. About this time, however, Colonel 
 Cawthon, who was in immediate command of 
 Rains' mounted brigade, sent out a picket in the 
 direction from which Lyon was approaching. 
 
TJic Battle of Wilsons Creek. 269 
 
 This picket had not advanced more than a mile 
 and a half beyond Gibson's Mill, when they discov- 
 ered that an enemy was in their front. This fact 
 being made known to Cawthon, he sent Colonel 
 Hunter with "the effectives" of his regiment, 
 some three hundred men, to ascertain whether 
 this enemy was advancing in force or not. When 
 Hunter reached the picket, about five A.M., the 
 head of the Federal column was already in sight. 
 His first intention was to attack. But Lyon, 
 seeing that his approach was at last known to 
 the Confederates and that his further advance 
 would be contested, now deployed his men into 
 line, sending Osterhaus' battalion to the right 
 and Plummer's to the left as skirmishers, and 
 bringing the First Missouri up to the support of 
 Totten's battery. Hunter thereupon retreated, 
 and Lyon moved forward as rapidly as the ground 
 would permit. 
 
 Cawthon was meanwhile forming the rest of 
 his brigade on the northern slope of Bloody Hill. 
 He had about six hundred dismounted men in line. 
 When Flunter, falling back before Lyon, reached 
 this position, Cawthon ordered him to retire fur- 
 ther down the creek and dismount his men, and 
 then to return to the field and take position on 
 his right. 
 
 But before this was done, Lyon appeared on the 
 
2/0 TJie F I gilt for Missouri. 
 
 brow of the opposite hill with the First Missouri, 
 the First Kansas, and Totten's battery. A brisk 
 skirmish took place, and Cawthon was driven back 
 over the brow of Bloody Hill, to its southern slope, 
 where he was safe for the time. Hunter and 
 McCown, who had been separated from him, did 
 not rejoin him again till late in the day. 
 
 While Lyon was thus getting into position, 
 Sigel had perfectly executed his part of the plan. 
 Leaving Springfield about sunset he moved down 
 the Fayetteville road about four miles, and then 
 making a dctoiir to the left came, about daybreak, 
 within a few hundred yards of Wilson's Creek, just 
 below the point at which Tyrell's Creek empties 
 into it. He had turned the Confederate right 
 just as completely as Lyon had turned its left ; 
 and at dawn of Friday August the loth the whole 
 Confederate force lay between Lyon and Sigel, and 
 utterly ignorant of their proximity. 
 
 Having discovered that Greer, Churchill, and 
 other mounted Confederates were encamped just 
 across the creek from his position, Sigel, in order to 
 keep his presence from their knowledge, so disposed 
 his men as to capture all stragglers from their 
 camp and to arrest every one that was moving 
 about. He then posted four of his guns on a hill 
 east of the creek in such way as to command 
 
TJie Battle of Wihoiis Creek. 271 
 
 Churchill's camp, which was hardly five hundred 
 yards away. Leaving with these guns a small 
 infantry support, he then crossed Wilson's Creek, 
 with the rest of his command, just below the mouth 
 of Tyrell's Creek ; and facing northward waited for 
 Lyon's signal gun. 
 
 Churchill and Greer had, like Rains, drawn in 
 their pickets during the night. 
 
 Rains, whose quarters were near his mounted 
 brigade (Cawthon's), but on the eastern side of the 
 creek, and some distance south of Gibson's Mill, 
 had learned, about the time that Hunter went to 
 the front, that some sort of a force was coming 
 toward him from the northwest. He accordingly 
 directed Colonel Snyder, of his staff, to go and 
 "see what was the matter." Snyder, on reaching 
 the prairie, saw the Federals approaching. Hurry- 
 ing back to Rains, he told him that the Federals 
 were advancing in great force, " their soldiers and 
 cannon covering the whole prairie." Rains ordered 
 him to report the facts instantly to General Price. 
 
 It was now nearly six o'clock, and still neither 
 Price nor McCulloch, who was then at Price's 
 quarters, had any cause to suspect that Lyon had 
 even left Springfield. 
 
 Snyder, coming up almost breathless with haste 
 and excitement, said that Lyon was approaching 
 
2/2 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 with twenty thousand men and lOO pieces of artil- 
 lery, and was then within less than a mile of 
 Rains' camp. McCulloch, believing that this was 
 "one of Rains' scares," told Snyder to say to that 
 officer that he would himself come to the front 
 directly. In two or three minutes another officer 
 came dashing up and said that Rains was falling 
 back before overwhelming numbers, and needed 
 instant and heavy reinforcements. 
 
 Looking up, we could, ourselves, see a great 
 crowd of men on horseback, some armed, and 
 others unarmed, mixed in with wagons and teams 
 and led horses, all in dreadful confusion, scamper- 
 ing over the hill, and rushing dov/n toward us — 
 a panic-stricken drove. In another instant, we saw 
 the flash and heard the report of Totten's guns, 
 which had gone into battery on the top of the hill, 
 not more than a thousand yards away, and were 
 throwing shot into the flying crowd. And then, in 
 quick response, came the sound of Sigel's guns, 
 as they opened upon Churchill, Greer, Major, and 
 Brown, and drove them in confusion out of the 
 valley in which they were encamped and into the 
 thick woods that fringed the banks of Skeggs' 
 Branch and covered the hills that rose on either 
 side of that little stream. 
 
 In a moment McCulloch, followed by Mcintosh, 
 was in the saddle and on his way to take com- 
 

 >■ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 < "'•« 
 
 
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 "\ 3 ^ 
 
 
 
 J -^^ 
 
 f • 
 f J 
 
 
 
 ,.»«♦* *"/f^ VA 
 
 ^5 * ^ t --.^ 
 
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 ^^ ■^^4li ^ 
 
 i -^ /^^ ^^ ^ 
 
 I -^7*?^^ ^ 
 
 
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 1 1 '-*' 
 
 
 
 
 
 THE BATTLE FIELD OF WILSON's CREEK. 
 
 Note. — Most of the ground was covered with a dense undergrowth whicli is not 
 depicted in the sketch. 
 
TJie Battle of Wilson s Creek. 
 
 ■^/i 
 
 mand of the troops on the eastern side of the 
 creek; and Price, having ordered his infantry and 
 artillery to follow, was galloping up Bloody Hill 
 to take command of Cawthon's brigade, which was 
 still falling back before Lyon, resisting him all that 
 it could. Price hoped with it to hold the Federals 
 in check till the rest of his Missourians could 
 come up. 
 
 These were already forming along the Fayette- 
 ville road, and were, within a few minutes, hasten- 
 ing up the hill at double-quick. Hardly had Price 
 gotten Cawthon's men into line under the brow of 
 the hill, where they were out of range of Totten's 
 guns, and under cover of the trees and dense under- 
 growth which shade that part of the field, when 
 Slack came up with Hughes' regiment and Thorn- 
 ton's battalion and formed on the left of Cawthon. 
 Clark followed immediately with Burbridge's regi- 
 ment, and took position on the left of Slack. Then 
 came Parsons, with Kelly's regiment and Guibor's 
 battery ; while on the extreme left of Price's line 
 McBride took position wdth his two regiments. 
 Slack's command was soon reinforced by Colonel 
 Rives, with about seventy dismounted men of his 
 regiment ; and half an hour later, Wcightman, 
 whose brigade had been encamped a mile or more 
 from the rest of Price's infantry, came up with 
 Clarkson's and Hurst's regiments, about seven hun- 
 iS 
 
274 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 dred strong, and fell in between Slack and Caw- 
 thon. 
 
 The line thus formed by Price in front of Lyon 
 aggregated, with Weightman's command, over 
 thirty-one hundred men, with four pieces of artil- 
 lery. He was greatly assisted from the beginning 
 by Woodruff, who had with true soldierly instinct 
 thrown his pieces into battery on the bluff east of 
 the ford, at the first sound of Totten's guns, and 
 opened upon Lyon a fire, which checked his ad- 
 vance and gave the Missourians time to reach Caw- 
 thon's position and form their line of battle there. 
 
 To Price's force Lyon opposed the First Missouri, 
 the First Kansas, Osterhaus' battalion of Missouri 
 volunteers, Totten's six-gun battery (regulars), and 
 Dubois' four-gun battery (regulars), aggregating 
 nearly nineteen hundred men. The rest of his force, 
 except Plummer's battalion, he held in reserve. 
 
 The two lines were not more than three hundred 
 yards apart, but they were entirely concealed from 
 each other by the intervening foliage. As Price's 
 men were armed almost exclusively with shot-guns 
 and common rifles, it was imperatively necessary for 
 him, near as the two forces already were to each 
 other, either to advance more closely to the Union 
 line, or to wait till it should approach his own. He 
 chose the latter alternative, and awaited Lyon's 
 advance. 
 
The Battle of Wilson s Creek. 275 
 
 He did not have to wait long, for in a few 
 minutes the word " Forward ! " was plainly heard, 
 and was quickly followed by the tramp of men, and 
 by the crackling of the brush through which they 
 were coming. When Lyon's Missourians and their 
 allies had come within easy range of Price's Mis- 
 sourians, out of the ranks of the latter there rang 
 upon the air the sharp click of a thousand rifles, 
 the report of a thousand shot-guns, and the roar of 
 Guibor's guns ; and the battle of Wilson's Creek had 
 begun in earnest. Missourians now fought to the 
 death against Missourians, on the leafy hill-side; 
 while from opposing heights, Totten, who had but 
 lately been stationed at Little Rock where his fam- 
 ily still resided, fought furiously against Woodruff's 
 Little Rock battery, which now turned against him 
 the very guns which they had taken from him a few 
 months before. 
 
 The battle thus joined upon the hill-side was now 
 waged for hours with intense earnestness. The lines 
 would approach again and again within less than 
 fifty yards of each other, and then, after delivering 
 a deadly fire, each would fall back a few paces to 
 reform and reload, only to advance again, and again 
 renew this strange battle in the woods. Peculiar in 
 all its aspects, strange in all Its surroundings, unique 
 in every way, the most remarkable of all its char- 
 acteristics was the deep silence which now and then 
 
276 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 fell upon the smoking field — fell upon it, and rested 
 there undisturbed for many minutes, while the two 
 armies, unseen of each other, lay but a few yards 
 apart, gathering strength to grapple again in the 
 death struggle for Missouri. 
 
 Meanwhile McCulloch, upon leaving Price, had 
 gone with Mcintosh to the eastern side of the creek, 
 where the infantry of his own brigade, and the infan- 
 try and artillery of Pearce's were both encamped. 
 His first object was to dispose these troops in 
 such way as to meet Sigel's attack, the strength and 
 meaning of which were not yet developed. In 
 order to do this he posted Reid's battery on the 
 bluff opposite to the mouth of Skegg's Branch, and 
 ordered Walker's regiment to support it. He then 
 placed Dockery's and Gratiot's regiments further 
 north, along the bluff which forms the eastern bank 
 of Wilson's Creek from Skegg's Branch northward, 
 to the ford. These dispositions gave him command 
 of the crossing of Skegg's Branch, over which Sigel 
 would have to advance, if he should undertake 
 to attack Price in rear. He then posted McRae's 
 battalion, the Third Louisiana, and Mcintosh's 
 regiment, of his own brigade, north of Gratiot, and 
 on the same bluff. It was upon the northern 
 extremity of this bluff that Woodruff had taken 
 position and gone into action. 
 
TJic Battle of Wihoiis Creek. 277 
 
 While McCulloch was still making these disposi- 
 tions Woodruff perceived that a part of Lyon's col- 
 umn, constituting the extreme left of his line, had 
 crossed to the eastern side of the Creek, and was 
 moving down its left bank towards the position oc- 
 cupied by his battery. As soon as this fact was 
 made known to McCulloch he ordered Gratiot to 
 the support of Woodruff, and sent Mcintosh with 
 his regiment dismounted, the Third Louisiana, and 
 McRae's battalion to meet the advancing Federals. 
 
 Mcintosh moved rapidly to the front, keeping on 
 the eastern side of the creek. Though covered 
 somewhat by Woodruff's guns he was greatly har- 
 rassed by Dubois, who hurled grape-shot and shell 
 against him from the eastern brow of Bloody Hill. 
 Crossing the Fayetteville road he led his men 
 through a dense thicket to a large cornfield behind 
 whose fence the Federals had taken position. They 
 turned out to be Plummer's battalion of United 
 States Infantry, supported at a safe distance by 
 Captain Wright's Squadron of Home Guards. A 
 fierce conflict ensued, the Confederates fighting 
 under cover of " the brush," and the Federals be- 
 hind the fence. Mcintosh finding that the enemy's 
 fire was playing havoc with his men ordered them 
 to charge, and leading the way leaped the fence. 
 The greater part of his own regiment, and of the 
 Third Louisiana, followed him, and they quickly put 
 
2/8 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Plummer to flight, and drove him back to and across 
 the creek to Lyon's main body. In the ardor of 
 pursuit the Confederates came within close range of 
 Dubois' battery, and Osterhaus' battalion, and were 
 themselves driven back in some confusion. In this 
 engagement, which began about seven o'clock and 
 lasted nearly an hour, Plummer, who had about 
 three hundred regulars, lost eighty officers and 
 men, and was himself severely wounded. Mcintosh 
 took about one thousand men into action. His 
 losses aggregated over one hundred. 
 
 While this fight was going on Sigel had advanced 
 leisurely through the camps out of which he had 
 driven the Confederates at sunrise, and had taken 
 position with his entire force, some twelve hundred 
 men, with six pieces of artillery, near Sharp's house 
 on the bluff south of Skegg's Branch. His battery 
 occupied a high plateau, and his infantry were 
 drawn up on both sides of the Fayetteville road, 
 with a company of United States cavalry on each 
 flank. It was his purpose to hold this position so 
 as to cut off the retreat of " the rebels " when they 
 had been put to flight by Lyon. 
 
 McCulloch, after sending Mcintosh to meet Plum- 
 mer, had returned towards Skegg's Branch in order 
 to look after Sigel. Finding that the further 
 advance of the latter was effectually barred by 
 
TJic Battle of Wilsoiis Creek, 279 
 
 Pearce's Brigade and by a considerable force which 
 was rallying under cover of the woods on the north 
 side of the branch, he hurried back toward the point 
 where Mcintosh was engaged with Plummer. On 
 getting there he found that the Confederates had 
 won that engagement, and that there was no longer 
 any danger in that direction. 
 
 Taking two companies of the Third Louisiana 
 that were nearest to him, and ordering Mcintosh to 
 bring up the rest, McCulloch now hastened again 
 towards Skegg's Branch, determined to attack Sigel. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Rosser had already taken posi- 
 tion with his own men, O'Kane's battalion, and 
 Bledsoe's battery, on the western side of the Fay- 
 etteville Road and north of the branch ; Bledsoe's 
 guns being so posted as to completely command 
 Sigel's position. 
 
 Sigel and his men were in blissful ignorance of all 
 that was happening in their front. For between 
 them and the valley, in which their foes were 
 gathering, stood a dense wood through whose lux- 
 uriant undergrowth no eye could pierce. Now and 
 then a skirmisher, or an adventurous officer, would 
 make his way to the bluff which overhung the little 
 stream, and catch sight of the smoke that darkened 
 Bloody Hill, and sometimes one more daring than 
 the rest would venture far enough to see indis- 
 tinctly what was going on in the upper part of the 
 
28o The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 valley, towards the ford. At last one of these saw 
 a gray-coated regiment hurrying down the road 
 toward Skegg's Branch. Knowing that the First 
 Iowa wore a gray uniform, he at once concluded 
 that this must be the First Iowa, and such was the 
 report that he bore back to Sigel. The latter com- 
 municated the glad news to his men, and warned 
 them not to fire upon their approaching "friends." 
 They waved their flags instead, in joyful welcome. 
 
 Just at this moment Reid on the east and Bledsoe 
 on the west opened fire upon them at point-blank 
 range. "It is impossible for me," says Sigcl, " to 
 describe the consternation and frightful confusion 
 which were caused by this unfortunate event. 
 'They are firing against us,' spread like wild-fire 
 through our ranks. l"he artillery men could hardly 
 be brought forward to serve their pieces. The 
 Infantry would not level their arms till too late." 
 The consternation and confusion deepened into a 
 panic when about four hundred of the gray-coated 
 Third Louisiana dashing up the steep bluff with Mc- 
 Culloch and Mcintosh at their head, and Rosser 
 and O' Kane's battalion following, broke through 
 the thick " brush," and charged right upon the 
 Federal Battery. Sigel's whole force took to in- 
 stant flight, abandoning five of their six guns, and 
 throwing themselves for safety into the bushes 
 which lined both sides of the Fayetteville road. 
 
The Battle of Wilsoiis Creek. 281 
 
 Here they got separated. Sigel and Salomon with 
 about two hundred of their Germans and Carr's 
 company of cavalry tried to n. ke their way back 
 to Springfield by the same route that they came, 
 but they were set upon by Lieutenant-Colonel Ma- 
 jor with some mounted Missourians and Texans, 
 and the Germans, being abandoned by Captain 
 Carr who made good his escape, were nearly all 
 either killed, wounded, or made prisoners. Sigel 
 himself got to Springfield with one man only. An- 
 other part of his column made its way to Little 
 York and thence to Springfield. 
 
 It was now nearly nine o'clock. Churchill, who 
 after being driven out of his camp in the early morn- 
 ing by Sigel had quickly rallied his men and taken 
 them to the north side of Skegg's Branch and gone 
 into the fight on Price's extreme left, was now 
 moving to the centre of Price's line, where it was 
 hardest pressed. After detailing enough men to 
 hold the horses of those that were dismounted for 
 the fight he had about five hundred " effectives." 
 Forming these in line on the Fayetteville road, 
 south of the ford, and within reach of the enemy's 
 shot, he led them gallantly up the hill and went 
 again into the fight on the left of Slack, and in the 
 very front of Lyon's attack. 
 
 The Missourians, thus strengthened where they 
 
282 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 most needed strengthening, advanced boldly, Gui- 
 bor's guns keeping in line with the Infantry, and 
 Woodruff throwing his shot high overhead into the 
 midst of Lyon's reserves. 
 
 Lyon, finding that his men were giving way, 
 brought forward a section of Totten's battery with 
 a strong support to the right and front of his own 
 line, and enfiladed the Confederates at two hundred 
 yards, Totten and Gordon Granger both helping to 
 work the guns. 
 
 McCulloch, who had gone with Churchill up 
 Bloody Hill, diverted this fire by returning in all 
 haste to the valley and sending Carroll's Arkansas 
 cavalry and five companies of Greer's mounted 
 Texans to turn Lyon's right and charge these guns 
 in rear. The ground was ill-adapted to the opera- 
 tions of cavalry, and Greer and Carroll were finally 
 driven back. But this movement relieved Price 
 nevertheless, and at the same time so increased 
 Lyon's anxiety that he ordered the First Iowa to 
 the front and brought Steele's battalion of regulars 
 to the further support of Totten. 
 
 Up to this time (ten o'clock) the infantry of 
 Pcarce's brigade, three fine regiments — Gratiot's, 
 Dockery's, and Walker's — more than 1.700 strong, 
 had not fired a shot, nor had Graves' Missouri 
 regiment, about three hundred strong, that ought 
 to have followed Weitjlitman into battle. There 
 
The Battle of Wilson s Creek. 283 
 
 they lay just across the creek, not half a mile away, 
 with nothinc;; to do and doinij nothinj^. 
 
 Price, seeing the absolute necessity of instant 
 and decisive action, for Lyon was now bringing 
 every available man to the front and doing prodi- 
 gies of valor, galloped over to Gratiot, during the 
 pause of the fight which occurred in his own front 
 while Greer and Carroll were attempting to f^ank 
 Lyon's right, and begged him to bring his regiment 
 to the help of the Missourians and Churchill. 
 Gratiot, who had served under Price in Mexico and 
 loved and honored him, did not hesitate an instant, 
 but, ordered his regiment to follow Price who was 
 already hastening back to his own men, and sent an 
 ofificer to tell General Pearce what he had done. 
 Pearce came forward at once and overtaking Price 
 and Gratiot rode with them at the head of the regi- 
 ment as it ran up Bloody Hill. When they drew 
 near to the position which they were to occupy, 
 Price said to the men : " You will soon be in a 
 pretty hot place, men ! but I will be near you, and 
 I will take care of you ; keep as cool as the inside 
 of a cucumber and give them thunder." Turning 
 to Gratiot he said : " That's your position, colonel; 
 take it and hold it whatever you do. I v/ill see 
 that you arc not too hard pressed. Don't yield an 
 inch." 
 
 Gratiot moved, on the instant, towards the posi- 
 
284 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 tion which the general had indicated. As he did so 
 his regiment came within range of Totten's guns. 
 The men passed safely, but the rear of the regiment 
 was swept of its field and staff. Gratiot's horse 
 was killed and his orderly's too. The lieutenant- 
 colonel was dismounted. The major's arm was 
 broken. The quarter-master was killed and the 
 regimental commissary severely wounded. But the 
 regiment kept on and took the position that it had 
 been ordered to take — took it, and held it under a 
 fire so furious that in less than thirty minutes a 
 hundred of its men were either dead or wounded — 
 one hundred out of five hundred. 
 
 From the summit of Bloody Hill Lyon could see 
 the entire field. It all lay before him, its outmost 
 limits hardly a mile away. He knew now that 
 Sigel had been defeated, and that the troops which 
 had put him to flight would soon be coming, all 
 flushed with victory, to join the force which Price 
 was getting ready to hurl again against his own dis- 
 heartened men. He could see Gratiot hurrying 
 even now with more than five hundred fresh troops 
 to give vigor to the assault that was about to be 
 made upon his own weary men, broken down as 
 these were by a long night-march, and by five hours 
 of the very hardest fighting ; could see him clamber- 
 ing up the hill-side now, himself and his men eager 
 to fight under the eye of the brave soldier that was 
 
Tlie Battle of Wilsons Creek. 285 
 
 leading them to death or to victory. He could also 
 see the rest of Pearce's brigade forming on the 
 opposite hill and about to bring their bright muskets 
 into the thickening fight, muskets that had not 
 yet been tarnished by the smoke of battle. And 
 all through the valley that lay beneath him he 
 could see Missourians, and Texans, and Arkansians 
 -^ men who had as yet taken no part in the des- 
 perate fight that had been raging since day-dawn, 
 — thousands of men, taking heart again as they got 
 used to the din of war, and clutching their shot- 
 guns and rifles, resolved to be " in at the death." 
 He saw all this and more ; and there Avas no hope 
 left within him but to dash upon Price with all 
 his might and crush him to the ground before 
 these gathering forces could come to his help. 
 
 He now brought every available battalion to the 
 front. "The engagement at once became general, 
 and almost inconceivably fierce along the entire line, 
 the enemy " (these arc the words of Schofield and 
 Sturgis) " appearing in front, often in three or four 
 ranks, lying down, kneeling, and standing, and the 
 lines often approaching to within thirty or forty 
 yards as the enemy would charge upon Totten's 
 battery and be driven back." 
 
 Neither line of battle was more than a thousand 
 yards in length. Price guarded carefully every part 
 of his own. Wherever the datigcr was greatest and 
 
286 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 the battle most doubtful, thither would he hasten 
 and there would he stay till the danger was all past. 
 In the intervals of the fight he would ride far to the 
 front among his skirmishers, and peer into the thick 
 smoke which tangled itself among the trees and the 
 bushes, and clung to the ground as though it wanted 
 to hide the combatants from each other; would 
 peer wistfully into it till through its rifts he could 
 discern what the enemy was doing, and then his 
 voice would ring down the whole length of his line, 
 and officers and men would quickly spring forward 
 to obey it : for long before the battle was over they 
 had all learned that they were fighting under one of 
 the best and truest of soldiers, under one who knew 
 how to fight them to the greatest advantage, one 
 who would expose them to no useless danger, nor to 
 any danger which he would not himself share. Many 
 a time did they cry out to him as with one voice : 
 " Don't lead us. General ; don't come with us ; take 
 care of yourself for the sake of us all ; we will go 
 without you." Several times his clothing was 
 pierced by bullets, one of which inflicted a painful 
 wound in his side. Turning with a smile to an 
 officer that was near him he said : " That isn't fair; 
 if I were as slim as Lyon that fellow would have 
 missed me entirely." No one else knew till the bat- 
 tle was ended, that he had been struck. One of his 
 aids, Colonel Allen of Saline, was killed while re- 
 
The Battle of Wilsons Creek. 287 
 
 ceiving an order; Weightman was borne to the rear 
 dying ; Cawthon and his adjutant were both mortally 
 wounded ; Slack was fearfully lacerated by a mus- 
 ket-ball, and Clark was shot in the leg. Colonel 
 Ben Brown was killed, Churchill had two horses 
 shot under him, Gratiot one. Colonels Burbridge, 
 Foster and Kelly, and nearly every other field 
 of^ficer, were disabled. But in spite of all these 
 losses Price grew stronger all the time, while Lyon's 
 strength was fast wasting away. 
 
 Walking along his line from left to right en- 
 couraging his men by his own intrepid bearing 
 and by a few well-spoken words ; rallying them 
 where they were beginning to give way; steadying 
 them where they still stood to their duty; inspiring 
 them with his own brave purpose to make one 
 more effort to win the day, while yet there was 
 time to try, Lyon had nearly reached the advanced 
 section of Totten's battery when his horse, whose 
 bridle he held in his hand, was killed, and himself was 
 wounded in the leg and in the head. Stunned and 
 dazed by the blow, and his brave soul cast down by 
 the shock, he said in a confused sort of way to 
 those that were nearest that he feared that the day 
 was lost. But he came quickly to his senses, and 
 ordering Sturgis to rally the First Iowa, which was 
 beginning to break badly, he mounted a horse that 
 was offered to him, and swinging his hat in the air, 
 
288 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 called out to his men to follow. A portion of Mitch- 
 ell's Second Kansas, which Lieutenant Wherry 
 had just brought again to the front, closed quickly 
 around him and together they dashed into the fight. 
 The next minute Mitchell was struck down se- 
 verely wounded, and almost instantly thereafter a 
 fatal ball pierced Lyon's breast. He fell from his 
 horse into the arms of his faithful orderly, who 
 had sprung forward to catch him, and in another 
 minute he was dead. 
 
 The command devolved upon Major Sturgis. 
 He called his chief officers together. Price had al- 
 ready been reinforced by Gratiot, and now Dock- 
 ery's Arkansas regiment and a section of Reid's 
 battery were getting into position, and with them 
 was the Third Louisiana, which, for the first time 
 since its encounter with Plummer in the early 
 morning, had been gotten together under its colo- 
 nel (Hebert), and was eager to add to the laurels 
 which it had already gathered in the fields on which 
 it had defeated Plummer, and routed Sigel. 
 
 Sturgis decided to retreat. The order was given, 
 and was silently obeyed, Steele's battalion of regu- 
 lars covering the retreat, and marching away from 
 the field in perfect order. 
 
 It was now half past eleven. Silence had again 
 fallen upon Bloody Hill, on whose rough surface 
 the dead of both armies lay in great heaps. The 
 
The Battle of Wilson s Creek. 289 
 
 Confederates, stretched out among the bushes in 
 which they had been fighting all day. were waiting 
 for the enemy's next onset, or for Price's order to 
 attack, and ready for either. Suddenly a cry rang 
 along their ranks that the Federals were retreat- 
 ing ; that they had already gotten away, and were 
 ascending the hill from which they had begun the 
 attack upon Rains at dawn of day ; that they had 
 at last abandoned the field for which they had 
 fought so bravely and so well against unconquer- 
 able odds. Springing to their feet they gave utter- 
 ance to their unspeakable relief and to their un- 
 bounded joy with that exultant cry which is never 
 heard except upon a battle- field whereon its victors 
 stand. It reached the ears of Weigh tm an — true 
 soldier and true gentleman — whose life was fast 
 ebbing away in the midst of the men that loved 
 him. " What is it? " he asked. " We have whipped 
 them. They are gone." " Thank God ! " he faintly 
 whispered. In another instant he was dead. Of 
 him General Price well said, in his report that : 
 
 "Among those who fell mortally wounded upon 
 the battle-field none deserve a dearer place in 
 the memory of Missourians than Richard Hanson 
 Weightman, Colonel commanding the first brigade 
 of the second division of this army. Taking up 
 arms at the very beginning of this unhappy contest, 
 he had already done distinguished service at the 
 19 
 
290 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 battle of Rock Creek, where he commanded the 
 State forces after the death of the lamented Hol- 
 loway, and at Carthage, where he won unfading 
 laurels by the display of extraordinary coolness, 
 courage and skill. He fell at the head of his bri- 
 gade, wounded in three places, and died just as 
 the victorious shouts of our army began to rise 
 upon the air." 
 
 Nothing could better attest the constancy, the 
 courage, and the devotion with which both armies 
 fought that day on the wooded summit of the 
 Ozark hills, than do the losses which each sus- 
 tained. 
 
 In the engagement between Mcintosh and Plum- 
 mer, in the cornfield east of the creek, the Federals 
 lost eighty of the three hundred men who took part 
 in the fight; and the Confederates, who were over 
 one thousand strong, lost one hundred and one. 
 
 In the final attack upon Sigel, which McCulloch 
 and Mcintosh led, the Confederate loss was trifling, 
 but Sigel, whose panic-stricken men were pitilessly 
 cut down by the Missourians and Texans who pur- 
 sued, lost two hundred and ninety-three men. Of 
 these, one hundred and sixty-seven were either 
 killed or wounded, and one hundred and twenty-six 
 were taken prisoners. These losses were confined 
 exclusively to Sigel's Infantry and Artillery, which 
 
TJic Battle of Wilson" s Creek. 291 
 
 aggregated about one thousand and fifty men. Cap- 
 tain Carr's squadron of United States Cavalry which 
 formed part of his column was not under fire and 
 did not sustain any loss. This fact did not, how- 
 ever, prevent Captain Carr from being brevetted for 
 gallant and meritorious conduct on the field. 
 
 But it was on Bloody Hill that the main battle 
 was fought, and the heaviest losses were suffered. 
 There Lyon and Price confronted each other, until, 
 after four hours of desperate fighting, Lyon was 
 killed ; and still the battle raged for a time, till, 
 overwhelmed by ever-increasing odds, Sturgis aban- 
 doned the unequal contest, and left the field. 
 Here the Union Army lost not only its general, and 
 so many of its field ofificers as to come out of the 
 fight under command of a major, but of the 3500 
 men that went into action nearly nine hundred 
 were either killed or wounded. The First Missouri 
 alone lost 295 men out of less than eight hundred, 
 the First Kansas 284, and Steele's Battalion of 
 regulars sixty-one out of 275 of^cers and men. 
 
 The Confederates lost in almost the same pro- 
 portion. Of the 4200 men who fought there under 
 Price 988 were either killed or wounded. Nearly 
 every one of his higher officers was disabled, and he 
 was himself wounded. Churchill had two. horses 
 shot under him, and lost 197 of his 500 men. 
 
 The total losses of the P^cdcrals during the day 
 
292 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 amounted to 1317 officers and men killed, wounded, 
 and missing ; that of the Confederates to 1230 killed 
 and wounded. 
 
 Never before — considering the numbers engaged 
 — had so bloody a battle been fought upon Ameri- 
 can soil ; seldom has a bloodier one been fought on 
 any modern field. 
 
CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 MCCULLOCH, PRICE, AND LYON. 
 
 McCulIoch lets the Union Army Escape — Its Flight to Rolla— The 
 Confederate Government and McCulloch — His Mistaken Estimate 
 of the Missouri Troops — Their Condition and their true Charac- 
 ter — Sterling Price — Lyon wins the Fight for Missouri. 
 
 As SOON as it was known that the Union Army 
 was retreating General Price urged McCulloch to 
 pursue ; but urged him in vain, for McCulloch had 
 made up his mind to advance no further into 
 Missouri. It was a grave mistake that McCulloch 
 made, for the Federals had barely three thousand 
 weary and disheartened men, while the Confeder- 
 ates had nearly twice that number of fresh troops. 
 Twenty-seven hundred of their mounted men, and 
 two thousand of their infantry had hardly fired a 
 shot, and Bledsoe's and Reid's batteries were both 
 intact. ( Besides these there was the Third Louisi- 
 ana, a splendid regiment, which could still muster 
 five hundred men flushed with their victories over 
 both Plummer and Sigel ; and there were McRae's 
 battalion, and O'Kane's, which, though they had 
 been under fire, had not been scathed. And in ad- 
 dition to all these there were two thousand un- 
 
294 ^/^^ Fight for Missouri. 
 
 armed Missourians, who could have been equipped 
 and sent in pursuit before sunset, for now there 
 were arms for all, and to spare. 
 
 Price was still entreating McCulloch to advance 
 when they were informed that Major Sturgis had 
 sent an ofificer under a flag of truce to ask for the 
 body of Lyon. They were still on that part of the 
 field, where the two armies had come together again 
 and again in the shock of battle, and where the 
 dead and the wounded of both lay thick under the 
 festering rays of an August sun. Even the fact — 
 now first made known to them — that the enemy 
 had lost their valiant leader did not shake McCul- 
 loch's fixed purpose. He would not pursue; but or- 
 dered the troops, instead, to care for the wounded 
 and bury the dead. 
 
 General Price thereupon directed me to identify 
 Lyon's body, and to deliver it to the bearer of the 
 flag of truce. It had been borne to the rear of the 
 Federal line of battle, and there under the shade of 
 an oak it lay, still clad in the captain's uniform 
 which he had worn just two months before, when, 
 relying upon the strength of his manhood, on the 
 might of his Government, and on the justice of his 
 cause, he had boldly defied the Governor of the 
 State and the Major-General of her forces, and in 
 their presence had declared war against Missouri 
 and against all who should dare to take up arms in 
 
McCjilloch, Price and Lyon. 295 
 
 her defence. Since that fateful day he had done 
 many memorable deeds, and had well deserved the 
 gratitude of all those who think that the union of 
 these States is the chiefest of political blessings, and 
 that they who gave their lives to perpetuate it 
 ought to be forever held in honor by those who live 
 under its flag. The body was delivered to the men 
 who had come for it — delivered to them with all 
 the respect and courtesy which were due to a brave 
 soldier and the commander of an army, and they 
 bore it away toward Springfield, whither the army 
 which he had led out to battle was sadly and sul- 
 lenly retreating. 
 
 The Confederates remained upon the field which 
 they had won, and ministered to the wounded, and 
 buried the dead of both armies. Before the unpity- 
 ing sun had sunk behind the western hills, all those 
 who had died for the Union, and all those who had 
 died for the South, had been laid to rest, uncoffined, 
 in the ground which their manhood had made mem- 
 orable and which their blood had made sacred 
 forever. 
 
 Sturgis, on reaching Springfield about five o'clock 
 in the afternoon, turned over the command of the 
 army to Colonel Sigel, who was believed to be the 
 senior officer. Sigel assumed command at once, 
 and, after consulting with his chief subordinates, de- 
 
296 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 cided to retreat instantly to Rolla, which was about 
 one hundred and twenty-five miles distant. As 
 there was a depot of supplies at that point, and a 
 railway thence to St. Louis, the discomfited army 
 would there be comparatively safe. The enormous 
 army train, consisting of over four hundred heavily- 
 laden wagons, among whose "spoils" were $250,000 
 in gold coin that had been " taken " from the State 
 Bank at Springfield, took the road at once under a 
 strong escort. The rest of the troops were ordered 
 to march at two o'clock in the night, but did not 
 begin to move till toward daybreak. They soon 
 became so inextricably mixed up with the multi- 
 tude of fugitives, who, with their wives and chil- 
 dren, their horses and cattle, their wagons and carts 
 and household goods, were flying before Ben 
 McCulloch, 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 or- 
 ganized troops." In this condition they scampered 
 along toward Rolla, and arrived there during the 
 evening of the 17th of August, seven days after the 
 battle. Sturgis had meanwhile resumed command, 
 it having been ascertained that Sigel's commission 
 had expired. 
 
 All this time, during all this disorderly retreat of 
 a defeated army over difficult roads and through a 
 
McCulloch, Price, and Lyon. 297 
 
 not friendly population, more than twice its num- 
 ber of well mounted, and willing, Southern soldiers 
 lay absolutely idle at Springfield. They might 
 have easily captured the entire force, and its richly 
 loaded train, worth more than $1,500,000, and with 
 the captured stores could have armed, equipped, 
 and supplied ten thousand Confederates. But 
 McCuIloch sulked in his tent, and his army melted 
 away. 
 
 Nothing excuses that brave soldier's conduct on 
 this occasion except the fact that the Confederate 
 Government was then opposed to an aggressive war, 
 and therefore objected to the invasion of any State 
 which had not seceded and joined the Confederacy. 
 In entering Missouri at all he had violated both 
 the orders under which he was acting, and the 
 wishes of the Confederate Secretary of War, who 
 had expressly cautioned him to remember that the 
 main purpose of his command was to protect the 
 Indian Territory, and had instructed him to assist 
 the Missourians only when such assistance would 
 subserve that " main purpose." But even these in- 
 structions hardly justify McCulloch's refusal to 
 gather the fruits of a victory which had been won at 
 the cost of so many lives and so much suffering, 
 fruits which would have have been so valuable to 
 the Confederacy, and which he could have gathered 
 so easily and so abundantly. , 
 
298 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 He would, perhaps, have pursued even at the risk 
 of displeasing his Government, had he not by this 
 time become so prejudiced against the Missourians 
 as to be wholly unable to recognize the skill with 
 which they had been commanded, and the courage 
 and constancy with which they had fought on 
 Bloody Hill, from the beginning to the end of the 
 battle. The distrust which he conceived the first 
 moment that he saw their unorganized condition, 
 and which had been increased by the behavior of a 
 few of them at Dug Springs, had gone on increas- 
 ing day by day ever since, and reached its height 
 when, through his own fault, his army was com- 
 pletely surprised by Lyon and Sigel on the morning 
 of the battle. "The fault was theirs;" he said to 
 the Secretary of War, " the two extremes of the 
 camp were composed of mounted men from Mis- 
 souri, and it was their duty to have kept pickets 
 upon the roads on which the enemy advanced." 
 Though he ought to have known that one of these 
 two extremes — the right — was composed of Texans 
 and Arkansians of his own brigade, and that in any 
 case it was his own duty to have kept his camp 
 properly guarded, he unjustly attributed the blun- 
 der to the Missourians alone, and distrusted and dis- 
 liked them more than ever. Nor could he keep con- 
 trasting their condition with that of his own well- 
 organized, well-disciplined, well-equipped, and finely 
 
McCuUocJi, Price, and Lyon. 299 
 
 uniformed brigade, with its full complement of 
 quarter-masters, commissaries and ordnance officers, 
 unlimited supplies of all kinds, and an overflowing 
 army-chest. Many of them had not even enlisted, 
 but had only come out to fight ; thousands of them 
 had not been organized into regiments ; many of 
 them were unarmed ; none of them were uniformed ; 
 very few of them had been drilled. Their arms 
 were mostly shot-guns and rifles, and they had 
 no other equipments of any kind ; no tents at all ; 
 no supplies of any sort, and no depots from which 
 to draw subsistence, or clothing, or ammunition, or 
 anything. They had no muster-rolls and they made 
 no morning reports. They bivouacked in the open 
 air, they subsisted on the ripening corn, and they 
 foraged their horses on the prairie-grass, McCul- 
 loch was not wise enough to see that they were, in 
 despite of all these drawbacks, true soldiers, as brave 
 as the bravest, and as good as the best, and he still 
 distrusted them, even after they had unflinchingly 
 borne the brunt of the battle for five hours, and 
 with the aid of Churchill, Gratiot, and Woodruff, 
 had v.'on the main fight on Bloody Hill. 
 
 Both Schofield and Sturgis say in their reports of 
 the battle that after the death of Lyon, '' the 
 fiercest jmd most bloody engagement of the day 
 took place ; " and that then " for the first time dur- 
 
300 TJie Fight for Missouri. 
 
 ing the day, the Union line maintained its position 
 with perfect firmness, till finally the enemy gave 
 way and fled from the field ; " that " The order to 
 retreat was then given by Sturgis," and the whole 
 column moved slowly to the high, open prairie, and 
 thence to Springfield. Though these statements 
 were doubtless believed at the time, the officers 
 who made them would hardly repeat them now. If 
 they had " driven the enemy precipitately from the 
 field," they themselves would not have fled in such 
 trepidation as to leave behind the dead body of 
 their heroic commander. 
 
 The Union Army did leave in good order, but it 
 left in a hurry ; and Price, instead of being driven 
 from the field, was still holding the line that he had 
 taken at the beginning of the battle, nor had he 
 been driven back one hundred yards from this line 
 at any time during the entire day. But it is very 
 easy to be mistaken as to what your enemy is doing 
 on a battle-field, as any one can see who will take 
 the trouble to study the reports of any hotly con- 
 tested fight. Federals and Confederates alike made 
 many such mistakes. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact that the little army which 
 fought under Lyon against Price and McCulloch fur- 
 nished at least seven major-generals and thirteen 
 brigadier-generals to the Union. Among the former 
 
McCidloch, Price, and Lyon. 301 
 
 were Schofield, Stanley, Steele, Sigel, Granger, Os- 
 terhaus, and Herron ; and among the latter were 
 Sturgis, Carr, Plummer, Mitchell, Sweeny, Totten, 
 Gilbert, and Powell Clayton. 
 
 Among the Confederates who became General 
 officers in their service were McCulloch, Mcintosh, 
 Churchill, Greer, Gratiot, Dockery, Hebert, and 
 McRae. Among the Missourians who rose to that 
 grade were Price, Parsons, Slack, Shelby, John B. 
 Clark, Jr., Colton Greene, and Cockrell. Clark, 
 who was one of the most gallant of soldiers, is now 
 Clerk of the United States House of Representa- 
 tives, and Cockrell is a Senator from Missouri. 
 . Out of the dust and smoke and out of the din 
 and carnage of the battle Sterling Price emerged 
 the leader of his people. Never till now had they 
 known him. That he was just and upright, that he 
 had been a successful general in the war with Mexi- 
 co, that he had governed Missouri wisely and well for 
 four years, and was a man to be trusted at all times 
 and in all circumstances they knew ; but not till now 
 had they seen him display that genius for war which 
 fitted him for the command of great armies. Calm, 
 quiet and unimpassioned in the affairs of every-day 
 life, and somewhat slow of thought and of speech, 
 the storm of battle aroused all the faculties of his soul, 
 and made him " a hero in the strife." When friends 
 and foes were falling fast around him, and Life and 
 
302 The Fight for Missouri. 
 
 Death waited upon his words, then it was that he saw 
 as by intuition what was best to be done, and did it 
 on the instant, with the calmness of conscious 
 strength, and with all a soldier's might. Of danger 
 he seemed to take no note, but he had none of that 
 brilliant dash, of that fine frenzy of the fight, which 
 men call gallantry, for he was great rather than bril- 
 liant. He was wise, too, and serenely brave, quick 
 to see, prompt to act, and always right. From this 
 time he was loved and trusted by his soldiers, as no 
 Missourian had ever been ; and never thereafter did 
 he lose their trust and devotion, for throughout all 
 the long years of war — years crowded with victories 
 and with defeats — the virtues which he displayed 
 that day grew more conspicuous all the time, while 
 around them clustered others which increased the 
 splendor of these — unselfish devotion to his native 
 land, unending care for the men who fought under 
 his flag, constancy under defeat, patience under 
 wrongs that were grievous, justice toward all men, 
 and kindness toward every one. 
 
 In its flight from Springfield the Union Army had 
 again left the body of its General to the care of his 
 foes. These caused it to be decently buried near 
 the home of one of his friends. 
 
 Lyon had not fought and died in vain. Through 
 him the rebellion which Blair had organized, and to 
 
McCullocJi, Price, and Lyon, 303 
 
 which he had himself given force and strength, had 
 succeeded at last. By capturing the State militia 
 at Camp Jackson, and driving the Governor from 
 the Capital, and all his troops into the uttermost 
 corner of the State, and by holding Price and 
 McCulloch at bay, he had given the Union men of 
 Missouri time, opportunity, and courage to bring 
 their State Convention together again ; and had 
 given the Convention an excuse and the power to 
 depose Governor Jackson and Lieutenant-Governor 
 Reynolds, to vacate the seats of the members of the 
 General Assembly, and to establish a State Govern- 
 ment, which was loyal to the Union, and which 
 would use the whole organized power of the State, 
 its Treasury, its Credit, its Militia, and all its great 
 resources, to sustain the Union and crush the South. 
 All this had been done while Lyon was boldly con- 
 fronting the overwhelming strength of Price and 
 McCuhoch. Had he abandoned Springfield instead, 
 and opened to Price a pathway to the Missouri; had 
 he not been willing to die for the freedom of the 
 negro, and for the preservation of the Union, none 
 of these things would have then been done. By 
 wisely planning, by boldly doing, and by bravely 
 dying, he had won the fight for Missouri. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK. 
 THE FORCES ENGAGED. 
 
 CONFEDERATES. 
 
 No ONE will ever be able to state with absolute certainty the 
 exact strength of the Confederate forces which were at Wilson's 
 Creek on the loth of August, iS6i, inasmuch as the records of both 
 McCuUoch's and Pearce's Brigades have been lost, and as no trust- 
 worthy enumeration of the Missouri State Guard was ever made 
 until after the battle. 
 
 The following tables may, however, be relied upon as stating with 
 sufficient accuracy the number of officers and men who were " pres- 
 ent for duty " on that day — that is to say the number that might 
 have been put into the fight. The computation excludes, of course, 
 all men without arms, all sick men, and all men detailed as team- 
 sters or for extra duty of any kind. 
 
 McCulloch's Brigade. 
 
 McCulloch reported on the 30th of July to the War Department 
 that his brigade aggregated about thirty-two hundred men. Whether 
 this included Greer's Regiment, which did not join him till the 3d 
 of August, I cannot discover ; but it probably did, as the brigade 
 reported only twenty-five hundred men "fit for duty" a few days 
 after the battle. We know that Churchill's Regiment aggregated 
 
3o6 Appendix. 
 
 seven hundred and sixty-eight officers and -men "present and ab- 
 sent." Of these, nearly two hundred were either absent, sick, or on 
 extra duty, and more than seventy-five were detailed to hold the 
 horses of those who were dismounted for the battle. This reduced 
 its effective strength to about five hundred men, at the time that it 
 went into action on Bloody Hill. Colonel Churchill (since then 
 Brigadier-general and Governor), informs me that it was hardly as 
 strong as that. The Third Louisiana aggregated eight hundred and 
 sixty-eight officers and men, but there were not more than seven 
 hundred " present for duty." 
 
 Pearce's Brigade. 
 
 The strength of this brigade was greatly weakened by the preva- 
 lence of a virulent form of measles. McCulloch said on the 30th of 
 July that it numbered about twenty-five hundred men. This is the 
 only trustworthy statement that I have seen about it, except that 
 Gratiot's Regiment aggregated six hundred and twenty-nine officers 
 and men. He tells me that his " effective strength " on the day of 
 the battle was less than five hundred. 
 
 The Missouri State Guard. 
 
 Immediately after the battle, I took great pains to ascertain accur- 
 ately how many officers and men of this command were " present for 
 duty " when the battle was fought. The results are stated in Gen- 
 eral Price's report, and in other contemporaneous recoixls, and there- 
 fore I am sure that the following Tables are essentially correct so far 
 as they relate to the strength and casualties of the State Guard. 
 They do not include the unarm.ed men of whom there were about 
 two thousand, many of them with their commands. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that in the Confederate Records, this 
 battle is known as the Battle of the Oak Hills, which was the name 
 given to it by McCulloch. In Price's report it was called the Battle 
 of Springfield. 
 
Appendix. 307 
 
 THE UNION FORCES. 
 
 General Lyon, in a report made to Major-General Fremont on the 
 4th of August, estimated his own forces as follows : 
 
 The First Missouri 900 
 
 Osterhaus' Battalion 200 
 
 The First Iowa 9°° 
 
 The First Kansas 800 
 
 The Second Kansas 600 
 
 Steele's Battalion 300 
 
 Plummer's Battalion 35° 
 
 Totten's Battery 84 
 
 Dubois' Battery 64 
 
 Four Companies United States Cavalry 250 
 
 Third Missouri 700 
 
 Fifth Missouri ^00 
 
 Second Missouri Artillery (Sigel) 120 
 
 5,863 
 And beside these there were of Home Guards about 1,250 
 
 7,138 
 
 From other Official Records it appears that the force with which 
 Lyon left Booneville consisted of 
 
 Brigadier-General and Staff 4 
 
 First Missouri Regiment 895 
 
 Osterhaus' Battalion 211 
 
 First Iowa Regiment 926 
 
 Regulars, Infantry 243 
 
 Regulars, Artillery 75 
 
 Aggregate 2,354 
 
3o8 Appendix. 
 
 Aggregate brought forward 2,354 
 
 And that Sturgis' Column consisted of Reg- 
 ulars 943 
 
 First and Second Kansas Regiments 1,600 
 
 Aggregate 2,543 
 
 In addition to these there was Sigel's Brigade as 
 
 above i , 420 
 
 Making an aggregate of 6,317 
 
 Home Guards 1,250 
 
 7,567 
 
 Schofield, who was then Adjutant-General of Lyon's Army, 
 says that the column which Lyon moved out to Wilson's Creek 
 "amounted to about four thousand men, besides about two hun- 
 dred and fifty Home Guards." Sturgis and others say that it 
 consisted of thirty-seven hundred " men " exclusive of the Home 
 Guards. Schofield knew better than any one else the force that 
 Lyon led out to battle. The apparent discrepancy between him 
 and Sturgis is reconciled by assuming that Schofield gives the 
 " aggregate " of officers and men, while Sturgis, as the context 
 shows, gives "the effective total" of the force, that is to say the 
 men, exclusive of officers. 
 
 Sigel's column was generally estimated by the other Union officers 
 at thirteen hundred men, but I have followed his own report in the 
 main, and put his strength at twelve hundred officers and men. 
 The " effective total " of his two infantry regiments was nine hun- 
 dred and eighteen men. These, with their full complement of offi- 
 cers and his battalion of artillery, would aggregate about ten hundred 
 and seventy-five officers and men. Carr's squadron of cavalry would 
 raise the aggregate to twelve hundred. 
 
Appendix. 309 
 
 UNION FORCES AT THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S 
 CREEK. 
 
 I. Lyon's Column. 
 
 First Missouri Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel George L. Andrews. 
 
 Osterhaus' Battalion (two companies Second Missouri Volunteers), 
 Major P. J. Osterhaus. 
 
 First Iowa Infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel William H. Merritt. 
 
 First Kansas Infantry, Colonel George W. Deitzler. 
 
 Second Kansas Infantry, Colonel Robert B. Mitchell. 
 
 Plummer's Battalion (Companies B, C, and D, First United States 
 Infantry and one company Recruits). 
 
 Steele's Battalion (Companies B and E, Second United States In- 
 fantry, and two companies Recruits). 
 
 Company F, Second United States Artillerj', six guns. Captain 
 James Totten. 
 
 Light Battery, United States Artillery, four guns, Lieutenant John 
 V. Dubois. 
 
 Company D, First United States Cavalry, Lieutenant Charles W. 
 Canfield. 
 
 Captain Henry C. Wood's Company Kansas Mounted Rangers. 
 
 Captain Clark Wright's Squadron of Home Guards. 
 
 II. Sigel's Column. 
 
 Third Regiment Missouri Volunteers, Colonel Franz Sigel. 
 Fifth Regiment Missouri Volunteers, Colonel C E. Salomon. 
 Light Battery, six guns, Lieutenants Schaefer and Schuetzenbach. 
 Company I, First United States Cavalry, Captain Eugene A. Carr. 
 Company C, Second United States Dragoons, Lieutenant Charles E. 
 Farrand. 
 
310 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 UNION FORCES AT WILSON'S CREEK— STRENGTH 
 AND CASUALTIES OF EACH COMMAND. 
 
 LYON'S COLUMN. 
 
 /. Jllain Body in fight on Bloody Hill. 
 
 1 First Missouri 
 
 2 Osterhaus' Battalion 
 
 3 First Iowa Infantry 
 
 4 First Kansas Infantry 
 
 5 Second Kansas Infantry 
 
 6 Steele's Battalion 
 
 7 Totten's Batteiy, 6 guns 
 
 8 Dubois' Battery, 4 guns 
 
 Total on Bloody Hill 
 
 //. Left Wing, East of Creek. 
 
 Plummer's Battalion 
 
 ///. mounted Reserve. 
 
 Comp'y D, ist U. S. Cavalry] 
 Kansas Rangers 
 Home Guards 
 
 Total — Lyon's Column. 
 
 SIG 
 
 mtry and Ar 
 ipany I, Fin 
 ijDany C, Sec 
 
 Total — Sigc 
 
 Lyon's Column 
 Sigel's Column. 
 
 Total 
 
 boa. 
 < 
 
 775 
 150 
 800 
 Soo 
 600 
 275 
 84 
 66 
 
 3> 5 50 204 
 
 300 
 
 350 
 
 4,200 
 
 19 
 
 223 
 
 208 
 
 40 
 
 138 
 
 187 
 
 59 
 
 44 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 685 
 
 4 
 741 
 
 44 
 
 56 
 
 295 
 
 55 
 
 154 
 
 284 
 
 70 
 
 61 
 
 II 
 
 3 
 
 933 
 80 
 
 7 
 1,020 
 
 SIGEL'S COLUMN. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Infantry and Artillery (6 guns) 
 
 1,075 
 
 65 
 60 
 
 35 
 
 132 
 
 126 
 4 
 
 293 
 4 
 
 ComjDany C, Second U. S. Dragoons 
 
 
 1,200 
 
 35 
 
 132 
 
 130 
 
 297 
 
 
 4,200 
 1,200 
 
 5,400 
 
 223 
 
 35 
 
 258 
 
 741 
 132 
 
 873 
 
 56 
 130 
 
 1,020 
 297 
 
 1,317 
 
Appendix. 3 1 1 
 
 CONFEDERATE FORCES AT THE BATTLE OF WIL- 
 SON'S CREEK. 
 
 I. McCulloch's Confederate Brigade. 
 
 1 Third Louisiana Infantry, Colonel Louis Hebert. 
 
 2 Battalion Arkansas Infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel Dandridge 
 
 McRae. 
 
 3 First Regiment Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, Colonel Thomas J. 
 
 Churchill. 
 
 4 Second Regiment Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, Colonel James 
 
 Mcintosh. 
 
 5 South Kansas-Texas Regiment (Mounted), Colonel E. Greer. 
 
 II. Pearce's Brigade, Army of Arkansas. 
 
 1 Third Arkansas Infantry, Colonel John R. Gratiot. 
 
 2 Fourth Arkansas Infantry, Colonel J. D. Walker. 
 
 3 Fifth Arkansas Infantry, Colonel Tom P. Dockery. 
 
 4 First Arkansas Cavalry, Colonel DeRosey Carroll. 
 
 5 Company Arkansas Cavalry, Captain Charles A. Carroll. 
 
 6 Light Battery, Captain W^m. E. Woodruff, 4 guns. 
 
 7 Light Battery, Captain J. G. Reid, 4 guns. 
 
 III. The Missouri State Guard, Major-General Sterling 
 Price. 
 
 1 Brigadier-General James S. Rains' command. 
 Infantry Brigade, Colonel Richard II. Weightman. 
 Mounted Brigade, Colonel Cawthon. 
 
 2 Brigadier-General Monroe M. Parsons' command. 
 
 3 Brigadier-General John B. Clark's command. 
 
 4 Brigadier-General William Y. Slack's command. 
 
 5 Brigadier- General James H. McBride's command. 
 
 Note.— The Missouri commands were territorial, each brigadier-general 
 having command of the troops raised within his military district. Parsons, 
 Clark, and McBride had respectively only 531, 552, and 649 officers and men on 
 the field, and Slack only 940, but their commands were called divisions. 
 Their regiments consisted of only eight companies of fifty men each, present 
 and absent. 
 
312 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 STRENGTH AND CASUALTIES OF THE CONFEDERATE 
 FORCES AT WILSON'S CREEK. 
 
 /. JMcCiilloclis Brigade 
 
 Third Louisiana Infantry 
 
 McRae's Battalion 
 
 Churchili's Regiment 
 
 Mcintosh's Regiment 
 
 Greer's Regiment 
 
 //. Pcarces Brigade. 
 
 Gratiot's Regiment 
 
 Walker's Regiment 
 
 Dockery's Regiment 
 
 Carroll's Regiment 
 
 Carroll's Company 
 
 Woodruff's Battery, 4 guns. . 
 Reid's Battery, 4 guns 
 
 ///. The Missowi State Guard. 
 
 Rains' Command 
 
 Parsons' Command 
 
 Clark's Command 
 
 Slack's Command 
 
 McBride's Command 
 
 Resjtme. 
 
 T. McCulloch's Brigade 
 
 II. Pearce's Brigade . . . . 
 
 HI. Missouri State Guard 
 
 Total 
 
 
 700 
 220 
 600 
 
 400 
 
 2,720 
 
 500 
 
 550 
 
 650 
 
 350 
 
 40 
 
 71 
 
 73 
 
 2,234 
 
 68 
 
 36 
 
 6 
 
 155 
 44 
 23 
 
 276 
 
 84 
 
 118 
 
 12 
 
 I 
 
 
 2,537 
 
 59 
 
 186 
 
 531 
 
 17 
 
 51 
 
 552 
 
 23 
 
 86 
 
 940 
 
 43 
 
 114 
 
 649 
 
 32 
 
 ii8 
 
 5,221 
 
 175 
 
 557 
 
 2,720 
 2,234 
 5,221 
 
 68 
 36 
 
 175 
 
 276 
 118 
 
 557 
 
 10,175 
 
 279 
 
 951 
 
 ^a 
 
 57 
 
 9 
 
 197 
 
 54 
 27 
 
 344 
 
 109 
 
 14 
 27 
 
 154 
 
 3 
 
 245 
 68 
 109 
 157 
 150 
 
 732 
 
 344 
 154 
 
 732 
 
 1,230 
 
Appendix. 
 
 313 
 
 THE MISSOURI STATE GUARD AT WILSON'S CREEK. 
 
 Major-General Price and Staff. . 
 /. Rains' Command 
 
 1 Weightman's Brigade, 3 guns. 
 
 2 Cawthon's Brigade 
 
 //. Parsons' Command 
 
 1 Kelly's Regiment (6 Cos.) . . . 
 
 2 Brown's Regiment ) 
 
 and 3 Companies j 
 
 3 Guibor's Battery, 4 guns . . . . 
 
 ///. Clark's Command 
 
 1 Burbidge's Regiment 
 
 2 Major's Battalion 
 
 IV. Slack's Command 
 
 1 Hughes' Regiment 
 
 2 Thornton's Battalion 
 
 3 Rives' Regiment 
 
 V. McBiide's Command. . . . 
 
 1 Wingo's Regiment 
 
 2 Foster's Regiment 
 
 3 Campbell's Company 
 
 Ui a;l-l 
 
 Infty. & Art'y 
 Mounted 
 
 Infantry 
 Mounted 
 Artillery 
 
 Infant) y 
 Mounted 
 
 Infantry ) 
 Infantry ) 
 Mounted 
 
 Infantry ) 
 Infantry f 
 Mounted 
 
 1,316 
 1,210 
 
 142 
 
 320 
 
 61 
 
 270 
 
 273 
 
 650 
 284 
 
 605 
 40 
 
 5.221 
 
 
 ■a 
 
 y. 
 
 •a 
 
 
 3 
 
 w 
 
 
 
 
 is 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 
 I 
 
 40 
 
 120 
 
 21 
 
 66 
 
 II 
 
 3S 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 II 
 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 81 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 36 
 
 106 
 
 4 
 
 8 
 
 32 
 
 114 
 
 17s 
 
 557 
 
 
 3 
 I 
 
 160 
 
 87 
 
 49 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 2 
 98 
 
 142 
 
 146 
 
 732 
 
314 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 CONFEDERATE TROOPS ENGAGED ON BLOODY HILL. 
 
 /. Missowi State .Guard. 
 
 General and Staff 
 
 /Gains' Command. 
 
 Weightman's Brigade (2 Regim'ts) 
 Cawthon's Brigade, Dismounted.. 
 
 Parsons' Command. 
 
 Kelly's Regiment 
 
 Guibor's Battery, 4 guns 
 
 dark's Command 
 
 Burbidge's Regiment 
 
 Slack'' s Command 
 
 Hughes' Regiment and ) 
 Thornton's Battalion ) 
 Rives' Regiment, Dismounted.. . . 
 
 I\I i Bride s Command 
 
 Wingo's and Foster's Regiments. . 
 
 //. Arkansas Troops. 
 
 Churchill's Regiment 
 
 Gratiot's Regiment ) ^^^^^ 
 Woodruff's Battery S 
 
 Total 
 
 Missourians 
 
 Arkansians 
 
 Confederates on Bloody Hill. 
 Union Force on Bloody Hill. 
 
 
 12 
 II 
 
 720 
 
 600 
 
 8 
 
 142 
 
 61 
 
 9 
 
 270 
 
 6 
 
 650 
 
 70 
 4 
 
 605 
 
 3.168 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 -a 
 
 •a 
 
 c 
 
 § 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 
 I 
 
 38 
 
 97 
 
 19 
 
 Co 
 
 II 
 
 38 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 
 2 
 
 17 
 
 81 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 36 
 
 106 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 32 
 
 114 
 
 161 
 
 519 
 
 500 
 
 571 
 
 1,071 
 
 3,i6S 
 1,071 
 
 4.239 
 3-550 
 
 68 
 
 161 
 
 68 
 
 229 
 204 
 
 155 
 85 
 
 240 
 
 519 
 240 
 
 759 
 685 
 
 O cd 
 
 3 
 I 
 
 135 
 79 
 
 49 
 
 14 
 
 2 
 
 98 
 2 
 
 142 
 
 9 
 
 146 
 
 680 
 
 197 
 III 
 
 308 
 
 680 
 308 
 
 988 
 892 
 
Appendix. 
 
 315 
 
 FORCES WHICH FOUGHT EAST OF THE CREEK. 
 
 
 
 II 
 
 •d 
 
 5 
 
 T3 
 
 <U 
 
 ■a 
 c 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 UNION FORCE. 
 
 Plummer's Battalion 
 
 300 
 
 19 
 
 52 
 
 9 
 
 80 
 
 
 
 CONFEDERATE FORCE. 
 
 400 
 
 9 
 10 
 
 4S 
 44 
 
 
 57 
 54 
 
 Mcintosh's Regiment 
 
 
 I 100 
 
 19 
 
 92 
 
 III 
 
 CONFEDERATE COMMANDS WHICH WERE ONLY 
 SLIGHTLY ENGAGED. 
 
 o si 
 
 /. Infantiy. 
 
 Graves' Regiment, Mlssourlans. . 
 Rosser's Command, Mlssourlans 
 McRae's Battalion, Arkansians . 
 Dockciy's Regiment, Arkansians 
 Walker's Regiment, Arkansians. 
 
 //. Mounted Men. 
 
 Missourians 
 
 Texans 
 
 Arkansians 
 
 ///. Artillery. 
 
 Reid's Battery, 4 guns 
 
 Bledsoe's Battery, 3 guns 
 
 Aggregate 
 Present. 
 
 
 ■a 
 
 u 
 ■a 
 c 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 271 
 
 
 
 300 
 
 2 
 
 23 
 
 220 
 
 3 
 
 (J 
 
 650 
 
 3 
 
 II 
 
 550 
 
 
 
 1,447 
 
 800 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 23 
 
 390 
 
 5 
 
 22 
 
 73 
 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 4,736 
 
 27 
 
 92 
 
 25 
 
 9 
 14 
 
 17 
 27 
 
 27 
 
 119 
 
 Note. — Rosser's Command, which formed part of Weightman's Brigade, 
 consisted of fifty men of his own regiment, O'Kane's Battalion (Major 
 Thomas H. Murray), and Bledsoe's 3-gun Battery. Bledsoe's losses are in- 
 cluded in Rosser's. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 Alabama, 35, 59, 73. 
 Allen, George W. , 286. 
 Anderson, Robert, 8-1 1, 29, 141. 
 Andrews, George L. , 166, 309. 
 Arkansas, 73, 144, 161, 194, 195, 
 
 229, 234. SiV Pearce's Brigade 
 
 and McCulloch's Brigade. 
 Armstrong, David H., 197. 
 Arsenal, St. Louis, 100-118, 124- 
 
 138, 147-157. 
 Arsenal, Liberty, 148, 152, 156, 
 
 185. 
 Atchison, David R., 53, 224. 
 
 Backoff, Major, 211, 225. 
 Barlow^, Wm. P., 217, 241. 
 Barret, J. Richard, 197. 
 Barret, Overton W., iii. 
 Bast, G. Y.,8i. 
 
 Bates, Edward, 57, 184, 189, 219. 
 Battles, etc. : 
 
 Booneville, 211-15. 
 
 Carthage, 222-228. 
 
 Cole Camp, 216. 
 
 Dug Spring, 254, 298. 
 
 Rock Creek, 208, 209, 289. 
 
 Wilson's Creek, 268-315. 
 Black, J. S., 8. 
 Blair, Jr., Francis P., 57, 58, 64- 
 
 66, 68, 96, 104-106, 126, 129, 
 
 130, 131, 135-137, 154-157, 
 
 160, 164-169, 176, 183, iSS- 
 
 194, 198-200, 203, 214, 219, 
 
 220, 230, 252, 302. 
 Blair's Regiment, 165, 211, 269, 
 
 274, 291, 307, 309, 310. 
 Blair, Montgomery, 156, 189. 
 Blaine, James G., 89, 141, 142. 
 Bell, John, 12. 
 
 Bell, Wm. H., ico, 114-117. 
 Bernays, Dr., 189. 
 Beauregard, P. G. T. , 73. 
 Benton, Thomas H., 17, 8g. 
 Bledsoe, Hiram, 219, 224, 279, 
 
 280, 293, 313, 315. 
 Bledsoe's Battery. ^6' Bledsoe. 
 Breckinridge, John C. , 12, 31, 
 
 183. 
 Boernstein, Henry, 2. 
 Boernstein's Regiment, 211. 
 Border Slave States, 20, 42-44, 
 
 59, 70, 81, 92, 143. 
 Bowen John S., 149, 152, 171. 
 Booneville, 206-215. 
 Brown, Joseph E., 34. 
 Brown, JB. Gratz, 210. 
 Brown's Regiment, 219, 225-6, 
 
 259, 272, 313, 314. 
 Brown, Benjamin, 287. 
 Brownlee, John A., 137, 147, 148, 
 
 155- 
 
 Broadhead, James O., 79, 81, 87, 
 88, 105, 165, 169, 190. 
 
 Buchanan, James, 4-1 1, 27-29, 
 35, 36, 70. 102, 116, 130. 
 
 Buckner, A. H., 61. 
 
 Bulletin, The, 54. 
 
 Burbridge John Q.,217, 219, 225, 
 273- 287, 313, 314. 
 
 Burbridge's Regiment. Sec Bur- 
 bridge. 
 
 Cairo, 194, 221, 252. 
 
 Camp Jackson, 149, 152, 163-172, 
 
 178, 181, 214, 260, 262, 303. 
 Cameron, Simon, 142, 154, 156, 
 
 164, 190, 191. 
 Campbell, Robert, 44. 
 
3i8 
 
 Index. 
 
 Carlisle, James H., 137, 155. 
 
 Carr, Eugene A., 221, 281, 291, 
 301, 308-310. 
 
 Carroll's Regiment (De Rosey), 
 236, 282, 283, 311,312, 315. 
 
 Campbell's Company, 313. 
 
 Carroll's (Charles A.) Company. 
 
 Cartilage. See Battles, etc. 
 
 Cass, Lewis, 8. 
 
 Cassville, 246. 
 
 Cavvthon, Colonel, 219, 260, 268, 
 274, 287, 311, 313, 314. 
 
 Cawthon's Brigade. See Cavv- 
 thon. 
 
 Champion, Rock, no, 133. 
 
 Claiborne, N. C, 67, 75. 
 
 Clark, John B., iSi. 184, i8c, 
 207-9, 215, 219, 225-6, 260, 
 262, 273. 287, 311-14. 
 
 Clark, Jr., John B., 301 
 
 Clark, M. Lewis, 1S4. 
 
 Clayton, Powell, 301. 
 
 Clarkson's (J. J.) Regiment, 273. 
 
 Crane Creek, 253, 254. 
 
 Crittenden's Compromise, 5, 6, 
 45, 56,81. 
 
 Coalter, John D., 60. 
 
 Cobb, Howell, 8. 
 
 Cockrell, Francis M., 301. 
 
 Coercion, 4, 7, 21, 26, 32, 33, 36, 
 37,40, 42-46,50,51,55,63, 64, 
 70, 7r, 74, 76, 81-88, 178. 
 
 Cotton States, 4, 6, 16, 20, 29, 143. 
 
 Cole Camp, 216. 
 
 Conant, Horace L., 198, 200. 
 
 Conditional Union Men, 53-56, 
 61-64, 83. 
 
 Confederate Government, 59, 72, 
 139-140, 161, 167, 168, 207, 
 231-5, 244, 297-8. 
 
 Congress, U. S., 4, 70, 73. 
 
 Conrad, Captain, 223, 237. 
 
 Conrow, A. IL, 75. 
 
 Conventions. See Missouri, Nash- 
 ville, Wheeling, and Peace Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Cook, Colonel, 216. 
 
 Cooke, Wm. M., 147, 151. 
 
 Cowskin Prairie, 235, 239, 246. 
 
 Cunningham, J. F. , 51. 
 
 Curtis, Samuel R., 195, 221. 
 
 Churchill, Samuel B., 67. 
 Churchill, Thomas J. See 
 
 Churchill's Regiment. 
 Churchill's Regiment, 229, 230, 
 
 235-7, 259, 261, 270-2, 281-3, 
 
 291, 298, 299, 301, 305, 306, 
 
 311, 312, 314. 
 
 Davis, Jefferson, 72, 139-140, 150, 
 
 167-8. 
 Departments, Military, 99. 
 
 of the Ohio, 2ig. 
 
 of the West, 99, 156, 
 
 157,180,189-192, 
 
 219. 
 
 Western, 220, 252. 
 
 Deitzler, Geo. W., 160, 195, 309. 
 
 Dick, Franklin A., 167, 188, 189. 
 
 Dockery's (Tom P.) Regiment, 
 
 276, 282, 288, 301, 311, 312, 
 
 315- 
 Doniphan, Alexander W., 54, 60, 
 
 81, 183, 184. 
 Douglas, Stephen A., 12, 31, 89, 
 
 143, 160, 182. 
 DuBois' (John V.) Battery, 274, 
 
 277. 278, 307, 309. 310. 
 Dug Spring, 254, 298. 
 
 Duke, Basil Wilson, 108, iii, 133, 
 136, 148, 150, 155, 167, 168. 
 
 Essig's (Christian) Battery, 226, 
 
 227. 
 Everett, Edward, 41. 
 Examiner, The, 54. 
 
 Freeman, Thomas W., 67. 
 Filley, Oliver D., 33, 34, 90, 105, 
 
 165, 169. 
 Fremont, John C, 220, 252, 253, 
 
 263, 266. 
 Forts, Leavenworth, 160, 194, 195, 
 209, 221. 
 Smith, 229. 
 Scott, 231, 232. 
 Sumter, 9-11, 28, 38, 140, 
 
 141. 
 Southern, 7-1 1, 27-29, 34, 
 35-38. 
 Foster, Colonel, 287. 
 Foster's Regiment, 313-314. 
 
Index. 
 
 319 
 
 Florida, 35, 38, 59. 73- 
 Floyd, John B., 9, 10. 
 Frost, Daniel M., 111-I16, 147- 
 
 152, 163-4, 17O) lyi- 
 Frost's Brigade, 111-113, 134, 
 
 149, 154, 161, 166, 170, 171. 
 Fugitive Slave Law, 3, 62, 159. 
 
 Gamble, Hamilton R., 44, 54, 56, 
 
 79, 81, 1S3, i8g, 219. 
 Gantt, Thomas T., 197. 
 Granger, Gordon, 222, 282, 301. 
 Gratiot, John R., 236, 283, 287, 
 
 301. 
 Gratiot's Regiment, 236, 276, 277, 
 
 282-4, 288, 299, 306, 311, 312, 
 
 314- 
 Graves' (John R.) Regiment, 2S2, 
 
 315- 
 Georgia, 34, 59, 69, 73. 
 Germans, 65, 105, l6(), 171, 174, 
 
 175, 207, 249. 
 Glenn, Luther J., 69-72. 
 Greeley, Horace, 6. 
 Green, James S., 53, 88-90, 1S3. 
 Greene, Colton, 109, 133-135, 148, 
 
 150, 167, 168, 230, 301. 
 Greer's Regiment, 229, 255, 261, 
 
 270, 272, 281-3, 290, 29S, 301, 
 
 305, 311, 312, 315. 
 Gibson's Mill, 260, 268, 269. 
 Gilbert, C. C., 301. 
 Glover, Samuel T., 105, 165, 169, 
 
 170. 
 Guibor, Henry, 217, 242. 
 Guibor's Battery, 217, 219, 224-5, 
 
 273, 275, 313, 314. 
 
 Hagner, Peter V., 117, 118, 124, 
 125, 127, 128, 130-132,137, 154. 
 
 Hall, Wm. A., 54, 56, 62, 81, 82, 
 197. 
 
 Halliburton, Wesley D., 50. 
 
 Hardee, Wm. J., 73, 244 6. 
 
 Harding, Chester, 166, 167, 212, 
 250, 251. 
 
 Harding. James, 162, 206, 240. 
 
 Harney, Wm. S., 99-100, 125,127, 
 129, 130, 135, 137, 152, 155- 
 157, 167, 170, 175-180, 1S6- 
 194, 196. 
 
 Harris, Thomas A., 51, 68, 70, 76, 
 
 77- 
 Hatcher, Robert A., 81. 
 Hazlitt, Dr., 156. 
 Hebert, Louis. Sec 3d Louisiana. 
 Henderson, John B., 79, 81, 83. 
 Herron Frank J., 301. 
 Hindman, Thomas C., 246. 
 Holt, Joseph, 10. 
 HoUoway, Edmunds B. , 2Cg. 
 Home Guards, 68, 104-6, 126,127, 
 
 133-7. 154-7. iC>5. it6, 174- 
 
 176,195, 204,216, 222, 307-310. 
 How, John, 136, 165, 169, 170. 
 Hough, Harrison, Co, 81. 
 Hudgins, Prince L., 81, 84-86. 
 Hughes' Regiment (John T.), 219, 
 
 273, 313, 314- 
 Hunter's Regiment (D. W. C.), 
 
 269, 271. 
 Hursts' Regiment (Edgar V.), 273. 
 
 Illinois, JQ, 160, 191, 194, 195. 
 Indian Territory, 194, 220, 231. 
 Iowa, i6c, iSo, igi, 194. 
 Iowa Infantry, First (Bates), 195, 
 
 280, 282, 287, 307, 309, 310. 
 Iowa Infantry, Second (Curtis), 
 
 195, 221. 
 
 Jackson, Claiborne F., 17-26, 31, 
 53. 66-70, 74, 94, 96, 106, 113, 
 147-153, 162, 163, 167, 168,172, 
 173, 1S4, 1S6, 187, 191, 196- 
 208, 212-19, 222-224, 230, 237, 
 238, 243, 244. 303. 
 
 Jefferson City, 185, 211. 
 
 Johnson, Waldo P., 60, 8g. 
 
 Kansas, 160, 191, 194, 229, 231. 
 Kansas Infantry, First, 195, 209, 
 
 221, 270, 291, 307-10. 
 Kansas Infantry, Second, 195,209, 
 
 221, 288, 307-10. 
 Kansas Rangers, 309, 310. 
 Kelly's Company, 163, 164, 185, 
 
 186, 188, 209, 212. 
 Kelly's Regiment, 219, 225, 273, 
 
 2S7, 313. 314- 
 Kentucky, 44, 144, 161 
 Kelton, John C, 254. 
 
320 
 
 Index. 
 
 Lamar, 218. 
 
 Lane, James H., 231. 
 
 Lawson, L. M., 74, 75. 
 
 Lawton, Alex. R., 35. 
 
 Letcher, John, 42. 
 
 Lexington. 207, 209, 215. 
 
 Lincohi, Abraham, 3, 12, 74 
 141, 153, 154, 160, 165, 
 188-195. 
 
 Little, Henry, 242. 
 
 Louisiana, 37, 59, 73. 
 
 Louisiana Infantry, Third, 
 230,234, 260, 276-80,288 
 301, 306, 311, 312, 315. 
 
 Lyon, Nathaniel, 1 19-138, 
 153-157, 160, 163-175,183 
 204, 210-15, 219-222, 236 
 248-258, 261-7, 268-78, 2 
 291-5, 298-303, 307-310. 
 
 137. 
 181, 
 
 229, 
 
 293, 
 
 ,iS8- 
 , 245, 
 Si-S. 
 
 Macdonald, Emmet, 172. 
 
 McBride, James H., 184, 246, 260, 
 262, 273, 311-14. 
 
 McClellan, Geo. B., 219-221. 
 
 McCovvn, James, 270. 
 
 McCoy, Arthur, 133-135. 
 
 McCulla's Store, 254, 258. 
 
 McCuUoch, Ben., 72, 194, 211, 
 215, 216, 222, 229-39, 245-7, 
 253-63, 271, 272, 276-80, 290, 
 
 293-303- 
 McCulloch's Brigade, 305, 306, 
 
 311-312, 314, 315. 
 McCulloch, Robert, 1S5, 186. 
 McGrath, M., 186. 
 Mcintosh, James, 231, 237, 254, 
 
 255, 260-3, 272, 276-280, 290, 
 
 301, 311, 312, 315. 
 Mclntyre, D. H., 185, 186. 
 McKinstry, Justus, 188. 
 McLaren, Charles, 137, 155. 
 McRae's Battalion (Dandridge), 
 
 260, 276, 277, 293, 301, 311, 
 
 312, 315- 
 Magoffin, Beriah, 44. 
 Major's Battalion, James P., 259, 
 
 272, 281, 290, 313. 
 Marmaduke, John S., 186, 208, 
 
 212, 213. 
 Maryland, 42, 161. 
 Massachusetts, 73. 
 
 Minute Men, 109-111, i'^3-i35, 
 
 178. 
 Missouri, 13-16, 22, 29, 32, 44, 
 58, 62, 63, 69, 76, 79, 
 144, 206, 297, 303. 
 Compromise, 3, 5, 46, 
 
 56, 57; 
 
 Convention, 33, 46, 47, 
 53, 66, 69, 78-98, 126, 
 
 183, 196, 243, 302. 
 General Assembly, 12, 
 
 46-52, 66-72, 74-77, 
 88-94, 103, 129, 151, 
 160-163. 172, 173, 
 180, 303. 
 
 Governor, See Jackson. 
 
 Military Bill, 33, 67, 74- 
 77,106, 173, 177, 179, 
 
 184, 188, 203. 
 
 State Guard, 179, 184- 
 188, 190, 195-7, 203, 
 207, 209, 238-243, 
 258, 298, 299, 305, 
 306, 311-315- 
 
 Missouri Volunteers (Union), 165, 
 166, 195. 
 
 Minnesota, 39, 180. 
 
 Mississippi, 38, 47, 59. 
 
 Mitchell, Robert, 195, 288, 301, 
 
 309- 
 Merritt, Wm. H., 309. 
 Monroe, Thomas, 223, 224. 
 Montgomery, James, 160, 212. 
 Morris, Walter B., 51. 
 Moss, James H., 81, 82, 83. 
 Murray, Thomas H., 216, 315. 
 
 Nashville Convention, 59. 
 Neosho, 222, 237. 
 New Madrid, 244, 257. 
 New York, 38, 39. 
 Neutrality, Armed, 16, 95. 
 North Carolina, 144, 161. 
 Northern Democrats, 6, 143, 158- 
 160. 
 
 Ohio, 39. 
 
 O'Kane. Walter S., 216. 
 
 O'Kane's Battalion, 279, 280, 
 
 293. 315. 
 Osterhaus, P. J., 301. 
 
Index. 
 
 321 
 
 Osterhaus' Battalion, 26S, 274, 
 278, 397, 3og, 310. ^■(vBoern- 
 stein's Regiment. 
 
 Parsons, M. M., 67, 68, 103, 184, 
 208, 209, 212, 215, 219, 223-7, 
 260, 262, 273, 301, 311- 314. 
 
 Partridge, George, 51. 
 
 Paschall, Nathaniel, 44, 54, 56. 
 
 Planter's House Conference, 197- 
 200. 
 
 Peace Congress, 60. 
 
 Pearce, N. B., 230, 235-9, 254, 
 284. 
 
 Pearce's Brigade, 230, 236, 246, 
 247, 253, 260, 276, 282-288, 305, 
 306, 311, 312, 314, 315. 
 
 Peckham, James, 51. 
 
 Pennsylvania, 39. 
 
 Phelps, John S., 54. 
 
 Prentiss, B. M., 221. 
 
 President. Sec Buchanan, Davis, 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Price-Harney Agreement, 186- 
 192, ig6, 202. 
 
 Price, Sterling, 54, 78, 81, 92, 
 181-1SS, 196, 203, 207-9, 215- 
 21S, 222, 234-47, 252-7, 260-3. 
 
 Price, Thomas H., 241, 244, 257, 
 271-6, 281-91, 293-4. 
 
 Pillow, Gideon J., 300, 303, 306, 
 
 311-314- 
 Pritchard, Colonel, 154. 
 Polk, Leonidas, 243, 257. 
 Polk, Trusten, 53, 84. 
 Proclamations. 
 
 Harney's, 177-179. 
 
 Jackson's, 200-206. 
 
 Lyon's, 220. 
 
 Lincoln's, 141, 142. 
 Plummer's Battalion (Joseph B.), 
 
 268, 269, 277-9, 288, 290, 293, 
 
 301, 307, 309, 310. 
 
 Quinlan, James, 133, 135. 
 
 Rains, James S., 67, 184, 215, 216, 
 218, 224-7, 253-5, 260-262, 
 268, 271, 272, 289,311-314. 
 
 Randolph, Beverly, 184. 
 
 Rector, Henry M., 232. 
 
 Redd, John T., 81, 86-7 
 
 Reid. John, 240. 
 
 Reid's Battery (John. G.), 246, 
 
 260, 276, 280, 28S, 293, 311, 
 
 312, 315. 
 Republican, The, 45, 46, 54, 144, 
 
 147, 149, 161, 162, 179. 
 Reynolds, Thomas C, 30-33, 48, 
 
 49. 53, 303- 
 Rives' (B. A.) Regiment, 219, 225- 
 
 6, 273, 313, 314. 
 Robertson, John, 60. 
 Robinson, Lt. 
 Rogers, Charles S., 287. 
 Rollins, James S., 61, 183. 
 Ross, John, 230. 
 
 Rosser, Thomas H.,279, 2S0, 315. 
 Russell, Dan. K., 47-50. 
 Rolla, 264, 296. 
 
 Salomon's Regiment, (C.E.), 210, 
 
 225, 265, 281, 307-310. 
 Shaler, James. R., iii, 16S. 
 Slack, Wm. Y., 215, 21S, 219, 
 
 224-6, 260, 262, 273, 281. 287, 
 
 3or, 311-14. 
 Stanley, David S., 221, 301. 
 Stanton, Edwin M., 8, 28. 
 St. Louis, 44, 90, 94, 95, 174-6, 
 
 179, 195. 
 Star of the West, The. 28. 
 St. Louis Police, 90,91, 136, 137. 
 Secessionists, 53, 55, 69, 90, 94, 
 
 95, 106, 129, 175, 181. 
 Shelby, Joseph O., 224, 301. 
 Steele's Battalion (Frederick), 160, 
 
 222, 254, 301-307, 309, 310. 
 Steen, Alexander E , 236, 247. 
 Stephens, A. H., 139, 140. 
 Stevenson, Jno. D., 48, 49, 66, 
 
 220, 252. 
 Stewart, Robert M., 12-17, 2S, 
 
 26. 
 Sweeny, Thomas \V., 166, 211, 
 
 222. 
 Sigel, Franz, 210, 222, 225-8, 
 
 236, 248, 249, 265, 266, 270-2, 
 
 276-8T, 288, 290, 291, 293, 295, 
 
 296, 298, 301, 307-310. 
 Springfield, 210, 211, 249, 250, 
 
 264. 
 
322 
 
 Index. 
 
 Switzler, Wm. F., 145, 146. 
 South Carolina, 4, 7-ri, 21, 59, 
 
 60. 
 Schofield, John M., 166, 221, 250, 
 
 285, 299, 301, 308. 
 Scott, Winfield, 8, 28, 103, 117, 
 
 12S, 130, 131, 152, 165, 177, 
 
 180, 219, 251, 252. 
 Sturgeon, Isaac H., 101-104, 
 
 107, 116, 117, 128. 
 Sturgis, S. D., 160, 221, 222, 236, 
 
 248, 285-28S, 291, 294-6, 299- 
 
 301, 308. 
 Submissionists, 64, 67, 68, 161. 
 Snyder, John F., 271, 272. 
 
 Taylor, Dan. G., 136, 155. 
 
 Thayer, James S., 40. 
 
 Tennessee, 43, 144, 161, 
 
 Texas, 59, 72. 
 
 Texas Regiment. Sec Greer's. 
 
 Twiggs, David E., 73. 
 
 Totten's Battery (James\ 73, 164, 
 195, 211, 222 254, 26S-70, 
 272-5, 282-4,285, 287, 301, 307, 
 309, 310. 
 
 Thornton's Battalion (J. C. C.), 
 
 219. 273, 313- 314- 
 Thompson, M. Jeff, 244. 
 Tyler, John, 60. 
 
 Unconditional Union partv, 53, 
 57, 58. 
 
 Union Safety Committee, 165, 
 
 169, 190. 
 Union Troops in Missouri, 195. 
 
 Van Dorn, Earl, 73. 
 
 Vest, George G., 50, 66-72, 92- 
 
 94. 
 Virginia, 42, 60, 143, 161. 
 \Vall:er, L. Pope, 231, 233, 297, 
 
 298. 
 Walker's Regiment (Jno. D.), 
 
 276, 282, 311, 312, 315. 
 Walworth, Chancellor, 41. 
 Watkins, N. W., 78, 81, 184. 
 Wheeling Convention, 59, 60. 
 W^eightman, Richard H., 219, 
 
 224-6, 255, 260, 273, 282, 287- 
 
 90, 311, 313, 314, 315. 
 Wherry, Wm. M., 288. 
 Wide Awakes, 33, 34, 65, 66. 
 Wilson's Creek, Description, 258. 
 Windsor Guards, 235. 
 Wisconsin, 39. 
 
 Witzig. Julius J., 105, 165, 169. 
 Wingo's Regiment, 313-14. 
 Wright, Clark, 309. 
 Woodruff's Battery (Wm.E.),236, 
 
 246, 260, 274-7, 2S2, 299, 311, 
 
 312, 3^4- 
 Woods, Henry C, 309. 
 Yates, Richard, 106, 153. 
 Yeatman, James E., 44. 
 
Messrs. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 publish, under the general title of 
 
 The campaigns of the CIVIL WAR, 
 
 A Series of volumes, contributed by a number of leading 
 actors in and students of the great conflict of i86i-'65, with 
 a view to bringing together, for the first time, a full and 
 authoritative military history of the suppression of the 
 Rebellion. 
 
 The final and exhaustive form of this great narrative, in which every 
 doubt shall be settled and every detail covered, may be a possibility 
 only of the future. But it is a matter for surprise that twenty years 
 after the beginning of the Rebellion, and when a whole generation 
 has grown up needing such knowledge, there is no authority which is 
 at the same time of the highest rank, intelligible and trustworthy, and 
 to which a reader can turn lor any general view of the field. 
 
 The many reports, regimental histories, memoirs, and other materi- 
 als of value for special passages, require, for their intelligent reading, 
 an ability to combine and proportion them which the ordinary reader 
 does not possess. There have been no attempts at general histories 
 which have supplied this satisfactorily to any large part of the public. 
 Undoubtedly there has been no such narrative as would be especially 
 welcome to men of the new generation, and would be valued by a very 
 great class of readers ; — and there has seemed to be great danger that 
 the time would be allowed to pass when it would be possible to give 
 to such a work the vividness and accuracy that come from personal 
 recollection. These facts led to the conception of the present work. 
 
 From every department of the Government, from the officers of the 
 army, and from a great number of custodians of records and special infor- 
 mation everywhere, both authors and publishers have received every aid 
 that could be asked in this undertaking ; and in announcing the issue of 
 the work the publishers take this occasion to convey the thanks which 
 the authors have had individual opportunities to express elsewhere. 
 
 The volumes are duodecimos of about 250 pages each, 
 illustrated by maps and plans prepared under the direction 
 of the authors. 
 
 The price of each volume is $1.00. 
 
 T/ie foUoioing volumes are now ready : 
 
 I,— The Outbreak of Rebellion. By John G. Nicolay, 
 Esq., Private Secretary to President Lincoln ; late Consul- 
 General to France, etc. 
 A preliminary volume, describing the opening of the war, and covering Um 
 
 period Irom the election of Lincoln to the end of the first battle of Bull Run. 
 
JJ. — From Fort Menry to Corinth. By the Hon. M. 
 F. Force, Justice of the Superior Court, Cincinnatti; late 
 Brigadier -General and Bvt. Maj. Gen'l, U.S.V. , commanding 
 First Division, 17th Corps : in 1862, Lieut. Colonel of the 
 20th Ohio, commanding the regiment at Shiloh ; Treasurer of 
 the Society of the Army of the Tennessee. 
 
 The narrative of events in the West from the Summer of 1S61 to May, 1862; 
 covering the capture of Fts. Henry and Donelson, the Battle of Shiloh, etc., etc. 
 
 III. — The Peninsula. By Alexander S. Webb, LL.D., 
 President of the College of the City of New York : Assistant 
 Chief of Artillery, Army of the Potomac, iS6i-'62; Inspector 
 General Fifth Army Corps; General commanding 2d Div., 
 2d Corps; Major General Assigned, and Chief of Staff, Army 
 of the Potomac. 
 
 The history of McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, from his appointment to the 
 end of the Seven Days' Fight. 
 
 IV. — The Artny under Fope, By John C. Ropes, Esq., 
 of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, the Massa- 
 chusetts Historical Society, etc. 
 
 From the appointment of Pope to command the Army of Virginia, to the appoint- 
 ment of McCleUan to the general command in September, 1862 
 
 V. — The Antiefam and Fredericksburg. By Francis 
 WlNTHROP Palfrey, Bvt. Brigadier Gen'l, U.S.V., and form- 
 erly Colonel 20th Mass. Infantry ; Lieut. Col. of the 20th 
 Massachusetts at the Battle of the Antietam ; Member of 
 the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, of the Massa- 
 chusetts Historical Society, etc. 
 
 From the appointment of McClellan to the general command, September, 1862, to 
 the end of the battle of Fredericksburg. 
 
 Vl.—Cliancellorsville and Gettysburg. By Abner 
 DouBLEDAY, Bvt. Maj. Gen'l, U.S.A., and Maj. Gen'l, 
 U.S.V. ; commanding the First Corps at Gettysburg, etc. 
 
 From the appointment of Hooker, through the campaigns of Chancellorsville and 
 Gettysburg, to the retreat of Lee after the latter battle. 
 
 VII.—TIie Army of the Cumberland. By Henry M. 
 Cist, Brevet Brig. Gen'l U.S.V. ; A.A.G. on the staff of 
 Major Gen'l Rosecrans, and afterwards on that of Major Gen'l 
 Thomas ; Corresponding Secretary of the Society of the Army 
 of the Cumberland. 
 
 From the formation of the Army of the Cumberland to the end of the battles at 
 Chattanooga, November, 1863. 
 
VIII.— The Mississippi, By Francis Vinton Greene, 
 Lieut, of Engineers, U. S. Army; late Military Attaclie to the 
 U. S. Legation in St. Petersburg; Author of "The Russian 
 Army and its Campaigns in Turkey iu 1877-7S," and of 
 "Army Life in Russia." 
 
 An account of the operations— especially at Vicksburg and Port Hiidson—by 
 which the Mississippi River and its shores were restored to the control of the Union. 
 
 IX.— Atlanta. By the Hon. Jacob D. Cox, Ex-Governor of 
 Ohio; late Secretary of the Interior of the United States; 
 Major General U. S.V., commanding Twenty-third Corps 
 durnrg the campaigns of Atlanta and the Carolinas, etc., etc. 
 
 From Sherman's first advance into Georgia in May, 1S64, to the beginning of 
 the March to the Sea. 
 
 X.—TJie 3Iai'ch to the Sea— Franklin and Nashville, 
 
 By Vhe Hon. Jacob D. Cox. 
 
 From the beginning of the March to the Sea to the surrender of Johnston — 
 including also the operations of Thomas in Tennessee. 
 
 XI.— The ShenandoaJi Valley in 1S64. The Cam- 
 paif/n of Sheritla/n. By George E. Pond, Esq., Asso- 
 ciate Editor of the Army and Navy Journal. 
 
 XII. — The Virginia Campaign of'GI and -65. TJie 
 Army of the Potomac and the Army of the 
 J antes. By Andrew A. HuMniREYS, Brigadier General 
 and Jivt. Major General, U. S. A. ; late Chief of Engineers; 
 Chief of Staff, Army of the Potomac, 1863-64; commanding 
 Second Corps, iS64-'65, etc., etc. 
 
 Statistical Record of the Armies of tlte United 
 
 States. By Frederick Phisterer, late Captain U. S. A. 
 
 This Record includes the figures of the quotas and men actually furnished by 
 all States ; a list of all organizations mustered into the U. S. service; ihe strength 
 of the army at various periods ; its organization in armies, corps, etc.; the divisions 
 of the country into departments, etc.: chronological list of all engagements, with the 
 losses in each ; tabulated statements of all losses in the war, with the causes of 
 death, etc.; full lists of all general officers, and an immense amount of other valuable 
 statistical matter relating to the War. 
 
 The complete Set, thirteen volumes, in a box. Price, $12.50 
 Single volumes, . . . . . .1.00 
 
 'For rale by all booksellers, or sent, post-paid, vpon receipt of price, 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 
 
 743 AND 745 Broadway, New York. 
 
NOW COMPLETE. 
 
 In iJiree volumes, 12mo, with Maps and Plans, 
 
 THE 
 
 in the Gl 
 
 ''pHE WORK OF THE NAVY in the suppression of the Rebellion was 
 ■*■ certainly not less remarkable than that of the Army. The same 
 forces which developed from our volunteers some of the finest bodies of 
 soldiers in military history, were shown quite as wonderfully in the creation 
 of a Navy, which was to cope for the first time with the problems of modern 
 warfare. 
 
 The facts that the Civil War was the first great conflict in which stccim 
 was the motive power of ships ; that it was marked by the introduction of 
 the ironclad ; and that it saw, for the first time, the attempt to blockade 
 such a vast length of hostile coast — will make it an epoch for the techinal 
 student everywhere. 
 
 But while the Army has been fortunate in the number and character of 
 those who have contributed to its written history, the Navy has been com- 
 paratively without annalists. During a recent course of publications on 
 the military operations of the war, the publishers were in constant receipt 
 of letters pointing out this fact, and expressing the wish that a complete 
 naval history of the four years might be written by competent hands. An 
 effort made in this direction resulted in the cordial adoption and carrying 
 out of plans by which Messrs. CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS are 
 enabled to announce the completion of a work of the highest authority and 
 interest, giving the whole narrative of Naval Operations from 1861 to 1865. 
 
 I. THE BLOCKADE AND THF CRUISERS.— By Pro. 
 
 fessor J. Russell Soley, U. S. Navy. 
 
 U. THE ATLANTIC COAST.— By Rear-Admiral Daniel 
 Ammen, U. S. Navy. 
 
 III. THE GULF AND INLAND WATERS. — By Commander 
 A. T. Mahan, U. S. Navy. 
 Uniform ivlth "The Campaigns of the Civil War," with maps 
 and diagrams prepared binder the direction of the A.%ithors . 
 
 Price per VoSume, Sl.OO. 
 
 CHARLES SCRBBNER'S SONS, Publishers^ 
 7^3 tC 745 Broadivay, New York. 
 
By F. V. GREENE, 
 
 Lieutenant of Engineers, United States Army, 
 
 l,ate Military Attaclie to the U. S. Legation in St. Petersburg, and author oj 
 " The Russian A rmy and its Campaigns in Turkey in 1877-78." 
 
 New Edition, One Volume, i2mo, . . $i.oo. 
 
 Lieutenant Greene's opportunities for general as well as technical 
 observation while with the Russian army in Turkey were such as have 
 perhaps never fallen to any other student of the war. The story of this 
 personal experience is embodied in this volume, which contains most 
 vigorous and vivid descriptions of battle scenes, in the chapters on the 
 Shipka Pass, Plevna, and in the very strong and excellent chapter on the 
 winter campaign across the Balkans with Gourko. The chapters on the 
 Tsar and the Russian generals, and the sections devoted to the Russian 
 soldier, to St. Petersburg, and the army life of the Russian at home, are of 
 absorbing interest. 
 
 " His sketches are excellently well done, graphic, evidently not exaggerated, and 
 very readable. It is a book that will be read with pleasure, and one that contains a 
 great deal of information." — Hart/ord Couratit. 
 
 "This volume is in every way an admirable picture of army life in Russia. It is 
 clear, concise, discriminating, and ofien very picturesque. The author, besides pos- 
 sessing an excellent style, is extremely modest, and there arc very few books of travel 
 in which the first person is kept so absolutely in the background." — International 
 Revietv. 
 
 " Lieutenant Greene writes in a soldierly way, unaffected, straightforward, and 
 graphic, and, though he has a keen eye for the picturesque, never sacrifices to rhetoric 
 the absolute truthfulness so eminently to be desired in a narrative of this sort. — Neiu 
 York World. 
 
 "He was with the Russian army throughout tl;e campaign, enjoying perfect free- 
 dom of movement, having every opportunity to visit the points of greatest activity, and 
 to see the operations of greatest moment, m company with the officers who conducted 
 them. His book is, therefore, for all the purposes of ordinary reader?, a complete and 
 satisfactory history of the war, founded upon intimate personal knowledge of its events, 
 and of its spirit. It is a work of the rarest interest and of unusual merit." — Neiv York 
 Evening Post. 
 
 " It is most fortunate for the reputation of our country and our army that we had 
 such an officer to send to the far-away land of Turkey in Europe, and most creditable to 
 our War Department that it sent such a man. His book deseves to be universally read, 
 and we are sure that no person whom these lines may lead to purchase it will fail to 
 rejoice that they have been written." — The Nation. 
 
 *^* For sale by all booksellers, or sent, post-paid, upon rectipt oJ 
 price, by 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 
 
 743 AND 745 Broadway, New York. 
 
LIFE OF 
 
 Lord Lawrence I 
 
 BY I 
 
 R. BOSWORTH SMITH, M.A., ^ 
 
 Late fellow of trinity college; assistant master at harrow 
 
 SCHOOL. 
 
 With 3Iaps and Portfaits, 2 vols., 8vo, $5.00. 
 
 "As a biography, the work is an inthralling one, rich in 
 anecdotes and incidents of Lord Lawrence's tempestuous nature 
 and beneficent career that bring into bold relief his strongly- 
 marked and almost colossal individuality, and rich also in in- 
 stances of his courage, his fortitude, his perseverance, his self- 
 control, his magnanimity, and in the details of the splendid 
 results of his masterful and masterly policy. . . . We know 
 of no work on India to which the reader can refer with so great 
 certainty for full and dispassionate information relative to the 
 government of the country, the characteristics of its people, and 
 the fateful events of the forty eventful years of Lord Lawrence's 
 Indian career." — Harper's Magazine. 
 
 "John Lawrence, the name by which the late Viceroy of India 
 will always be best known, has been fortunate in his biographer, 
 Mr. Bosworth Smith, who is an accomplished writer and a faith- 
 ful, unflinching admirer of his hero. He has produced an enter- 
 taining as well as a valuable book ; the general reader will 
 certainly find it attractive ; the student of recent history will 
 discover in its pages matters of deep interest to him." — London 
 Daily Telegraph. 
 
 *^* For sale by all booksellers^ or sent, post-paid^ upon receipt of price^ by 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 
 
 743 and 745 Broadway, New York.