GENERAL FREMONT'S PURSUIT OF PRICE.
Quarrel between Price and McCulloch.--The Rebels Advance upon
Lexington.--A Novel Defense for Sharp-shooters.--Attempt to Re-enforce
the Garrison.--An Enterprising Journalist.--The Surrender.--Fremont's
Advance.--Causes of Delay.--How the Journalists Killed Time.--Late
News.--A Contractor "Sold."--Sigel in Front.--A Motley
Collection.--A Wearied Officer.--The Woman who had never seen a Black
Republican.--Love and Conversion.
After the battle of Wilson Creek and the occupation of Springfield,
a quarrel arose between the Rebel Generals, Price and McCulloch. It
resulted in the latter being ordered to Arkansas, leaving General
Price in command of the army in Missouri. The latter had repeatedly
promised to deliver Missouri from the hands of the United States
forces, and made his preparations for an advance into the interior.
His intention, openly declared, was to take possession of Jefferson
City, and reinstate Governor Jackson in control of the State. The
Rebels wisely considered that a perambulating Governor was not
entitled to great respect, and were particularly anxious to see the
proclamations of His Excellency issued from the established capital.
Accordingly, General Price, with an army twenty thousand strong,
marched from Springfield in the direction of Lexington. This point
was garrisoned by Colonel Mulligan with about twenty-five hundred men.
After a siege of four days, during the last two of which the garrison
was without water, the fort was surrendered. Price's army was
sufficiently large to make a complete investment of the fortifications
occupied by Colonel Mulligan, and thus cut off all access to the
river. The hemp warehouses in Lexington were drawn upon to construct
movable breast-works for the besieging force. Rolling the bales of
hemp before them, the Rebel sharp-shooters could get very near the fort
without placing themselves in great danger.
The defense was gallant, but as no garrisons can exist without water,
Colonel Mulligan was forced to capitulate. It afterward became
known that Price's army had almost exhausted its stock of
percussion-caps--it having less than two thousand when the surrender
was made. General Fremont was highly censured by the Press and people
for not re-enforcing the garrison, when it was known that Price was
moving upon Lexington. One journal in St. Louis, that took occasion to
comment adversely upon his conduct, was suddenly suppressed. After a
stoppage of a few days, it was allowed to resume publication.
During the siege a small column of infantry approached the north bank
of the river, opposite Lexington, with the design of joining Colonel
Mulligan. The attempt was considered too hazardous, and no junction
was effected. Mr. Wilkie, of the New York _Times_, accompanied
this column, and was much disappointed when the project of reaching
Lexington was given up.
Determined to see the battle, he crossed the river and surrendered
himself to General Price, with a request to be put on parole until
the battle was ended. The Rebel commander gave him quarters in
the guardhouse till the surrender took place. Mr. Wilkie was then
liberated, and reached St. Louis with an exclusive account of the
affair.
While General Price was holding Lexington, General Fremont commenced
assembling an army at Jefferson City, with the avowed intention of
cutting off the retreat of the Rebels through Southwest Missouri. From
Jefferson City our forces moved to Tipton and Syracuse, and there left
the line of railway for a march to Springfield. Our movements were not
conducted with celerity, and before we left Jefferson City the Rebels
had evacuated Lexington and moved toward Springfield.
The delay in our advance was chiefly owing to a lack of transportation
and a deficiency of arms for the men. General Fremont's friends
charged that he was not properly sustained by the Administration, in
his efforts to outfit and organize his army. There was, doubtless,
some ground for this charge, as the authorities, at that particular
time, were unable to see any danger, except at Washington. They often
diverted to that point _matériel_ that had been originally designed
for St. Louis.
As the army lay at Jefferson City, preparing for the field, some
twelve or fifteen journalists, representing the prominent papers
of the country, assembled there to chronicle its achievements. They
waited nearly two weeks for the movement to begin. Some became sick,
others left in disgust, but the most of them remained firm. The
devices of the journalists to kill time were of an amusing nature.
The town had no attractions whatever, and the gentlemen of the press
devoted themselves to fast riding on the best horses they could
obtain. Their horseback excursions usually terminated in lively races,
in which both riders and steeds were sufferers. The representatives
of two widely-circulated dailies narrowly escaped being sent home with
broken necks.
Evenings at the hotels were passed in reviving the "sky-larking"
of school-boy days. These scenes were amusing to participants and
spectators. Sober, dignified men, the majority of them heads of
families, occupied themselves in devising plans for the general
amusement.
One mode of enjoyment was to assemble in a certain large room, and
throw at each other every portable article at hand, until exhaustion
ensued. Every thing that could be thrown or tossed was made use of.
Pillows, overcoats, blankets, valises, saddle-bags, bridles, satchels,
towels, books, stove-wood, bed-clothing, chairs, window-curtains,
and, ultimately, the fragments of the bedsteads, were transformed into
missiles. I doubt if that house ever before, or since, knew so much
noise in the same time. Everybody enjoyed it except those who occupied
adjoining rooms, and possessed a desire for sleep. Some of these
persons were inclined to excuse our hilarity, on the ground that the
boys ought to enjoy themselves. "The boys!" Most of them were on the
shady side of twenty-five, and some had seen forty years.
About nine o'clock in the forenoon of the day following Price's
evacuation of Lexington, we obtained news of the movement. The mail at
noon, and the telegraph before that time, carried all we had to say of
the affair, and in a few hours we ceased to talk of it. On the evening
of that day, a good-natured "contractor" visited our room, and,
after indulging in our varied amusements until past eleven, bade us
good-night and departed.
Many army contractors had grown fat in the country's service, but this
man had a large accumulation of adipose matter before the war broke
out. A rapid ascent of a long flight of stairs was, therefore, a
serious matter with him. Five minutes after leaving us, he dashed
rapidly up the stairs and entered our room. As soon as he could speak,
he asked, breathing between, the words--
"Have you heard the news?"
"No," we responded; "what is it?"
"Why" (with more efforts to recover his breath), "Price has evacuated
Lexington!"
"Is it possible?"
"Yes," he gasped, and then sank exhausted into a large (very large)
arm-chair.
We gave him a glass of water and a fan, and urged him to proceed with
the story. He told all he had just heard in the bar-room below, and we
listened with the greatest apparent interest.
When he had ended, we told him _our_ story. The quality and quantity
of the wine which he immediately ordered, was only excelled by his
hearty appreciation of the joke he had played upon himself.
Every army correspondent has often been furnished with "important
intelligence" already in his possession, and sometimes in print before
his well-meaning informant obtains it.
A portion of General Fremont's army marched from Jefferson City
to Tipton and Syracuse, while the balance, with most of the
transportation, was sent by rail. General Sigel was the first to
receive orders to march his division from Tipton to Warsaw, and he was
very prompt to obey. While other division commanders were waiting
for their transportation to arrive from St. Louis, Sigel scoured the
country and gathered up every thing with wheels. His train was the
most motley collection of vehicles it has ever been my lot to witness.
There were old wagons that made the journey from Tennessee to Missouri
thirty years before, farm wagons and carts of every description,
family carriages, spring wagons, stage-coaches, drays, and hay-carts.
In fact, every thing that could carry a load was taken along. Even
pack-saddles were not neglected. Horses, mules, jacks, oxen, and
sometimes cows, formed the motive power. To stand by the roadside and
witness the passage of General Sigel's train, was equal to a visit to
Barnum's Museum, and proved an unfailing source of mirth.
[Illustration: GENERAL SIGEL'S TRANSPORTATION IN THE MISSOURI
CAMPAIGN.]
Falstaff's train (if he had one) could not have been more picturesque.
Even the Missourians, accustomed as they were to sorry sights, laughed
heartily at the spectacle presented by Sigel's transportation. The
Secessionists made several wrong deductions from the sad appearance
of that train. Some of them predicted that the division with _such_ a
train would prove to be of little value in battle. Never were men
more completely deceived. The division marched rapidly, and, on a
subsequent campaign, evinced its ability to fight.
One after another, the divisions of Fremont's army moved in chase of
the Rebels; a pursuit in which the pursued had a start of seventy-five
miles, and a clear road before them. Fremont and his staff left
Tipton, when three divisions had gone, and overtook the main column at
Warsaw. A few days later, Mr. Richardson, of the _Tribune_, and myself
started from Syracuse at one o'clock, one pleasant afternoon, and,
with a single halt of an hour's duration, reached Warsaw, forty-seven
miles distant, at ten o'clock at night. In the morning we found the
general's staff comfortably quartered in the village. On the staff
there were several gentlemen from New York and other Eastern cities,
who were totally unaccustomed to horseback exercise. One of these
recounted the story of their "dreadful" journey of fifty miles from
Tipton.
"Only think of it!" said he; "we came through all that distance in
less than three days. One day the general made us come _twenty-four_
miles."
"That was very severe, indeed. I wonder how you endured it."
"It _was_ severe, and nearly broke some of us down. By-the-way, Mr.
K----, how did you come over?"
"Oh," said I, carelessly, "Richardson and I left Syracuse at noon
yesterday, and arrived here at ten last night."
Before that campaign was ended, General Fremont's staff acquired some
knowledge of horsemanship.
At Warsaw the party of journalists passed several waiting days,
and domiciled themselves in the house of a widow who had one pretty
daughter. Our natural bashfulness was our great hinderance, so that it
was a day or two before we made the acquaintance of the younger of the
women. One evening she invited a young lady friend to visit her, and
obliged us with introductions. The ladies persistently turned the
conversation upon the Rebellion, and gave us the benefit of their
views. Our young hostess, desiring to say something complimentary,
declared she did not dislike the Yankees, but despised the Dutch and
the Black Republicans."
"Do you dislike the Black Republicans very much?" said the _Tribune_
correspondent.
"Oh! yes; I _hate_ them. I wish they were all dead."
"Well," was the quiet response, "we are Black Republicans. I am the
blackest of them all."
The fair Secessionist was much confused, and for fully a minute
remained silent. Then she said--
"I must confess I did not fully understand what Black Republicans
were. I never saw any before."
During the evening she was quite courteous, though persistent in
declaring her sentiments. Her companion launched the most bitter
invective at every thing identified with the Union cause, and
made some horrid wishes about General Fremont and his army. A more
vituperative female Rebel I have never seen. She was as pretty as she
was disloyal, and was, evidently, fully aware of it.
A few months later, I learned that both these young ladies had become
the wives of United States officers, and were complimenting, in high
terms, the bravery and patriotism of the soldiers they had so recently
despised.
The majority of the inhabitants of Warsaw were disloyal, and had
little hesitation in declaring their sentiments. Most of the young men
were in the Rebel army or preparing to go there. A careful search of
several warehouses revealed extensive stores of powder, salt, shoes,
and other military supplies. Some of these articles were found in a
cave a few miles from Warsaw, their locality being made known by a
negro who was present at their concealment.
Warsaw boasted a newspaper establishment, but the proprietor and
editor of the weekly sheet had joined his fortunes to those of General
Price. Two years before the time of our visit, this editor was a
member of the State Legislature, and made an earnest effort to secure
the expulsion of the reporter of _The Missouri_ _Democrat_, on account
of the radical tone of that paper. He was unsuccessful, but the
aggrieved individual did not forgive him.
When our army entered Warsaw this reporter held a position on the
staff of the general commanding. Not finding his old adversary, he
contented himself with taking possession of the printing-office, and
"confiscating" whatever was needed for the use of head-quarters.
About twenty miles from Warsaw, on the road to Booneville, there was a
German settlement, known as Cole Camp. When the troubles commenced in
Missouri, a company of Home Guards was formed at Cole Camp. A few
days after its formation a company of Secessionists from Warsaw made a
night-march and attacked the Home Guards at daylight.
Though inflicting severe injury upon the Home Guards, the
Secessionists mourned the loss of the most prominent citizens of
Warsaw. They were soon after humiliated by the presence of a Union
army.