United States. It is, for the most part, made up of those who have
avowed their hostility to the General Government, and have been plotting
for the seizure of its property and the overthrow of its authority. You
are openly in communication with the so-called Southern Confederacy,
which is now at war with the United States, and you are receiving at
your camp, from the said Confederacy and under its flag, large supplies
of material of war, most of which is known to be the property of the
United States. These extraordinary preparations plainly indicate none
other than the well-known purpose of the Governor of this State, under
whose orders you are acting; and whose purpose, recently communicated to
the Legislature, has just been responded to by that body in the most
unparalleled legislation, having in direct view hostilities to the
General Government and co-operation with its enemies.”
Actuated by these considerations, and also by the failure to break up
the camp, in obedience to the Presidential Proclamation of April 15th,
Captain Lyon demanded its immediate surrender. After a hasty
consultation with his officers, General Frost complied, and the place
was surrendered unconditionally. But when the result was announced to
the troops, it was received with the wildest yells, curses and groans.
Some railed out against treachery, but the more loyal were rejoiced at
the prospect of escaping from what they denominated a school of
secession. Numbers of outsiders, also, when the news became known,
rushed into the camp and gave loud voice to their feelings of
indignation. The camp had in reality become a vast mob. Hurrahs for
Jeff. Davis were given—many of the now disarmed soldiers joining in
them. The United States troops were insulted in every possible manner,
and rowdyism ruled the hour triumphantly. Officers had broken their
swords and privates their guns before surrendering them. The task of
marching the men out was a work of great difficulty, but at last it was
accomplished, and the prisoners surrounded by two files of loyal troops.
This act brought the fury of the mob to a climax, and when most of the
troops had left, the few German soldiers that brought up the rear were
attacked by the crowd, and showers of stones rattled upon them. The
Federals presented their muskets, for the purpose of intimidating the
mob, but without avail. The order to fire at length became necessary. It
was given and executed with terrible effect, and the swiftly retreating
mob left behind them from thirty to forty of their number, either dead
or lying on the ground weltering in blood.
Many of the prisoners took the oath of fidelity to the Constitution and
the laws, and were set free. A large amount of arms, ammunition, stores,
camp equipage and stock was seized.
The event roused the secessionists in the city of St. Louis to the
highest fury, and the night was made hideous by bloody encounters, in
which several lives were lost.
The Legislature, then in session at Jefferson City, alarmed by these
vigorous measures on the part of the Government, passed, the same
afternoon, a “Military Bill,” authorizing the Governor to call out and
equip the State militia, and appropriating all the available funds of
the State for that purpose, in addition to the issuing of bonds to the
amount of $1,000,000, and authority to borrow $500,000 from the State
banks. The bill also gave to the Governor supreme authority in all
military matters, and subjected every able-bodied man in the State to
such authority, under penalty of $150 fine. The telegraph was seized by
order of Governor Jackson, and the bridges on roads leading from St.
Louis destroyed, from fear that Federal troops might reach Jefferson
City by railroad and arrest the conspirators.
The loyal citizens of St. Louis trembled for their safety—fearful alike
of an uprising of the secessionists in their midst and invasion from
without. The “Home Guard” was organized—a reserve of volunteers
proceeded to the arsenal for arms, and to take the oath of fealty, and
other measures adopted for defence. On the afternoon of the 11th, a body
composed mostly of Germans was assailed by a mob on their return from
the arsenal. A fierce struggled ensued, and several were killed on
either side.
The following day Brigadier-General Harney, of the regular army, reached
St. Louis, and assumed command of the Military Department. Being himself
a citizen of Missouri, and enjoying the confidence of the people in a
very large degree, his presence produced a marked and salutary effect.
By proclamation he demonstrated the madness and futility of any attempt
to withdraw the State from her allegiance, and gave warning that any
disturbance would be promptly suppressed. On the 14th he issued a second
proclamation, declaring the “Military Bill” in conflict with the
Constitution and laws of the United States, and therefore a
nullity—equivalent to an ordinance of secession, and cautioned all good
citizens against obeying it. The geographical position of the State, and
her best interests, he asserted, rendered it absolutely necessary that
she should remain in the Union, no matter what might be the position of
the cotton States; and he emphatically declared that the whole power of
the United States would be exerted, if necessary, to keep her within the
national domain.
But secession influences were exceedingly active in almost all parts of
the State, and the fact that the Governor and members of the Legislature
were disorganizers, occasioned great apprehension in regard to her
future destiny. The neighboring States of Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas
made tender of liberal aid to the loyal men of Missouri, whenever
required, to maintain their rights and their freedom. The secessionists
now threw off their disguise, and resorted to violent aggressions and
bitter persecutions of Union men. Many loyal citizens of Potosi,
Washington county, seventy miles from St. Louis, were driven from the
town, and their property injured or appropriated by the rebels.
Previous to the arrival of General Harney at St. Louis, Captain
Nathaniel Lyon was commissioned a brigadier-general, having command of
all the troops at St. Louis. On Tuesday, the 14th of May, he sent
Captain Cole, of the Fifth Missouri Volunteers, with one hundred and
fifty men, to Potosi, who surrounded the town before daylight, and
arrested about one hundred and fifty persons. They were marched to the
court-house, and fifty of them required to give parole not to take up
arms against the Government. Nine of the leaders were taken to the St.
Louis arsenal. On his return to St. Louis, Captain Cole led his troop
through De Soto, Jefferson county, where a body of secession cavalry was
collected, who fled at his approach. Thirty of their horses were
captured by Captain Cole, and a large secession flag seized, which they
had just raised on a pole in the town, and the stars and stripes
elevated in its place.
On the 21st of May, General Harney was induced by Price to enter into an
arrangement which was professedly designed to “allay excitement,” and
“restore peace;” and for this common object, the “general officers of
the Federal and State Governments were to be respected.” Price was
recognized as “having by commission full authority over the militia of
the State,” to direct the whole power of the State officers, and to
maintain order. General Harney admitted that this, faithfully performed,
was all he required; and that he had no wish to make any “military
movements” on his part. This was all that Price desired. Having by these
plausible pretences tied the hands of General Harney, knowing that he
would regard his obligations, the secession leaders continued their
plots, and took measures for consummating the rebellion in the State.
Loyal men in Missouri, as well as in other States, soon perceived the
situation of affairs. The General Government became cognizant of the
embarrassment in which General Harney was placed, and to release him
from his engagements with General Price, as well as to secure the most
efficient action at this stage of the rebellion, relieved him and
appointed General Lyon to the command. Under his administration,
vigorous, all-observant, prompt, and decisive, General Price found
himself under a pressure very different from what he had anticipated.
[Illustration:
SECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
SHOWING THE DISTANCES FROM NEW ORLEANS, AND THE ISLANDS BY THEIR
NUMBERS.
]
[Illustration:
SECTION OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
SHOWING THE DISTANCES FROM NEW ORLEANS, AND THE ISLANDS BY THEIR
NUMBERS.
]
CAIRO.
The most important strategic point in the West at this time was the city
of Cairo, situated at the extreme southern point of the State of
Illinois, at the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, where the
latter river separates it from Missouri, and the former from Kentucky.
It completely commands both streams, and in a military point of view may
be properly considered as the key to what is usually denominated “the
Great North-west.”
The Illinois Central railroad connects it with Chicago, the greatest
grain city of the world—with Lake Michigan, and the chain of lakes, and
with the vast net work of railroads that branch from thence eastward. On
the Missouri bank of the Mississippi river, two miles distant, is Ohio
city, the initial point of the Cairo and Fulton railroad, designed to be
extended to the Red river, in Arkansas, and thence to Galveston, in
Texas. Twenty miles below, on the Kentucky side of the same giant river,
is Columbus, which was soon after occupied and fortified by the rebel
troops.
As soon as General Lyon was vested with supreme command in Missouri, one
of his first steps was to order a body of Federal troops to take
possession of Cairo, under General Prentiss, who immediately proceeded
thither, with 6,000 men, and commenced fortifying the place.
On the 28th of May, Bird’s Point, on the Missouri side of the river, a
commanding position, was also occupied, by direction of General Lyon, by
the Fourth Missouri Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Schuttner.
On the 11th of June, Governor Jackson, at his own instance, accompanied
by General Price, had an interview with General Lyon and Colonel Blair
at St. Louis, when he requested that the United States troops should be
withdrawn from the soil of Missouri. General Lyon, as well as Colonel
Blair, were equally blind to the advantages of this movement, and could
not be made to see how the Government or the State of Missouri could be
benefitted by a surrender of the field to the secessionists. Jackson and
Price, finding their negotiations altogether vain, and under a previous
arrangement that they were not to be arrested or interfered with before
the 12th, returned to Jefferson City on the same night, and prepared for
an immediate hostile demonstration. General Lyon, convinced that the
only effective treatment demanded by the occasion consisted in an
instant arrest of the conspirators, if possible, started up the river,
and occupied Jefferson City on the 15th, the place having been abandoned
by the rebels. On the 16th, he started in pursuit of Price and Jackson,
and on the 17th landed about four miles below Booneville, where their
forces were collected, and had resolved to make a stand.
BATTLE OF BOONEVILLE.
JUNE 17, 1861.
The enemy were exceedingly well posted, having had every advantage in
the selection of their position. They occupied the summit of the ground,
which rises upward from the river in a long slope, and were prepared to
give the loyal troops a warm reception. General Lyon opened a heavy
cannonade against the rebels, who retreated and dispersed into the
adjacent wood, where, hidden by bushes and trees, they opened a brisk
fire on his troops.
Arriving at the brow of the ascent, Captain Totten renewed the
engagement by throwing a few nine-pounder explosives into their ranks,
while the infantry filed oblique right and left and commenced a terrible
volley of musketry, which was, for a short time, well replied to. The
enemy were posted in a lane running towards the river from the road
along which the army of the United States were advancing, and in a brick
house on the north-east corner of the junction of the two roads. A
couple of bombs were thrown through the east wall of that house,
scattering the rebels in all directions. The well-directed fire of the
German infantry, Lieutenant-Colonel Schaeffer, on the right, and General
Lyon’s company of regulars and part of Colonel Blair’s regiment on the
left of the road, soon compelled the enemy to seek a safer position.
They clambered over the fence into a field of wheat, and again formed in
line just on the brow of the hill. They then advanced some twenty steps
to meet the Federal troops, and for a short time the artillery was
worked with great rapidity and effect. Just at this time the enemy
opened fire from a grove on the left of Lyon’s centre, and from a shed
beyond and still further to the left.
General Lyon halted, faced his troops about, and bringing his artillery
to bear, opened fire on the rebels, and after a short engagement, killed
thirty-five and took thirty prisoners, while the remainder fled in all
directions, leaving many of their guns on the field. This accomplished,
the General moved forward and took possession of the town. Neither
General Price nor Governor Jackson were on the field of battle, though
the latter was a spectator, and took an early opportunity to withdraw.
On the 17th of June, Colonel Boernstein was appointed Military Governor
at Jefferson City, including Cole and the adjoining counties, the
Governor and officers of the State having fled. Colonel Boernstein, on
being questioned as to how long he should remain, replied, “I don’t
know, perhaps a year; so long as the Governor chooses to stay away. I am
Governor now, you see, till he comes back!” His idea of freedom of
speech and the press he expressed freely, like this: “All people zall
speak vot dey tink, write vot dey pleazhe, and be free to do any tink
dey pleazhe—_only dey zall speak and write no treason_!”
The loyal people of the State now entered with zeal into the work of
defence. Union Home Guards were organized at Hannibal, Herman, Rolla,
Potosi, and many other places, and troops stationed at various points,
of which two thousand five hundred kept guard over the Hannibal and St.
Joseph, and one thousand over the North Missouri railroad; three
thousand took their position also at Rolla, on the south-west branch of
the Pacific railroad.
At Booneville, on the 18th, General Lyon issued a proclamation, in which
he exposed the misrepresentations of the conspirators. The views they
had endeavored to inculcate, that the United States would overrun the
State with “military despotism,” and “destroy State rights,” were
pronounced false—the glaring inconsistencies of the secessionists
exposed,—and all malcontents solicited to return to their allegiance to
the old flag.
On the same day, eight hundred Union Home Guards, under Captain Cooke,
at Camp Cole, were surprised and routed by a body of rebels from Warsaw.
Twenty-five were killed, fifty-two wounded, and twenty-three taken
prisoners. The rebel loss was forty-five killed and wounded. At this
time, Colonel Siegel, General Sweeney, and Colonel Brown, with their
commands, were in the south-western part of the State, keeping the
insurgents at bay.
General Price and Jackson were employed in raising all the turbulent
elements of the State, and rallying followers to their standard. They
were also greatly inspirited in their labors by the rumor that Ben.
McCulloch was approaching with eight or ten thousand men to aid them in
the overthrow of the government. On the 3d of July, General Lyon left
Booneville with two thousand men, for the south-west. General Sweeney,
who was in command of the south-west expedition, at Springfield,
published a proclamation to the people, inviting them to remain loyal,
and warning all rebels to disperse, take the oath of allegiance, and
escape the penalties of their lawless career.
BATTLE OF CARTHAGE.
JULY 4, 1861.
Colonel Siegel arrived at Springfield on the 23d of June, and there
learned that the rebel troops, under Jackson, were making their way
southwardly through Cedar county. He immediately proceeded with his
command, numbering over a thousand men, and a small field battery,
towards Mount Vernon, for the purpose of intercepting him. On arriving
at that point, he learned that General Price, in command of one thousand
two hundred of the State troops, was encamped at Neosho, the county seat
of Newton county, situated in the south-west corner of the State. His
object there was to prevent Jackson going south, or Price going north.
He appears to have decided to move southwardly and capture Price if
possible, and afterwards attend to the Governor.
As he neared Neosho, on the 30th, the reports began to come in of the
strength of Price, until his force was swelled to thirty-five hundred
men, including Arkansas volunteers. The inhabitants expressed their
welcome for Colonel Siegel, and detailed the most pitiable accounts of
the oppression of the rebel soldiers.
On the 1st of July, the entire force entered the town without
opposition, and encamped there, the enemy having retreated.
On the 2d, Colonel Siegel, learning that the forces of Price, Rains and
Jackson had united at Dry Fork Creek, eight miles from Carthage, and
having communicated with and received orders from Brig.-Gen. Sweeney,
proceeded at once to attack them. He took up his line of march on the
3d, and on the morning of the 4th came upon the enemy, who were in great
force.
The Federal command was about one thousand two hundred strong, including
part of Colonel Salomon’s regiment. They met the enemy in camp on an
open prairie, three miles beyond Dry Fork, and after approaching within
eight hundred yards, took position. The artillery was placed in the
front; two six-pounders on the left, two six and two twelve-pounders in
the centre, and two six-pounders on the right.
The fight commenced about half-past nine, the balls and shells of the
enemy flying over the Union troops, and exploding in the open prairie.
At eleven o’clock the rebel twelve-pounders were silenced, and much
disorder visible. About two o’clock the enemy’s cavalry having attempted
to outflank the Federal troops, they fell back upon their baggage trains
to prevent their capture, Colonel Siegel changing his front. Proceeding
in their retreat without serious casualty, they reached Dry Fork Creek,
where eight hundred rebel cavalry had concentrated to cut them off; but
a cross-fire of canister and shrapnell soon broke their ranks, and they
fell into wild confusion. Thence the Federal troops proceeded toward
Carthage. Just before entering the town, Siegel posted three companies
at Buck Creek, while the residue, in two columns, made a circuit around
the town, the artillery pouring in a well-directed fire on the pursuing
enemy. Night was approaching as the retreating army passed through
Carthage, while the rebel horsemen withdrew to the woods on the Mount
Vernon road.
Colonel Sigel, notwithstanding the great fatigue of the day—his men
having been in action nearly twelve hours, and suffering severely from
the heat and from lack of water—ordered his men to press on in retreat
from Carthage. A forced march was made to Sarcoxie, in the south-east
corner of Jasper county, (Carthage being the county seat,) a distance of
twelve or fourteen miles. There they went into camp at three o’clock
Saturday morning. In the afternoon of the next day, the retreat was
continued to Mount Vernon, in Lawrence county, sixteen or eighteen miles
east of Sarcoxie, where Siegel took a stand, and where his headquarters
were located.
The Union loss was thirteen killed and thirty-one wounded; while,
according to the most reliable accounts, the loss of the enemy could not
have been less than three hundred in killed and wounded, and forty-five
prisoners.
BATTLE AT MONROE, MO.
JULY 10, 1861.
Before daylight, on the morning of the 10th, Colonel Smith, with about
six hundred men of the Sixteenth Illinois Volunteers, while encamped
near Monroe Station, thirty miles west of Hannibal, was attacked by one
thousand six hundred rebels under the command of Governor Harris. After
a successful skirmish with the enemy, Colonel Smith retired to the
Academy buildings for greater security. Here he was again attacked by an
increased force of the rebels, and again succeeded in repulsing them.
Determined on keeping them at bay, he sent messengers to Hannibal and
other places for reinforcements, while the long-range rifles of his men
told with fearful effect on his besiegers, and rendered two inferior
pieces of artillery which they had brought to bear on him of but little
use.
Three companies from Hannibal arrived first to the rescue, with two
pieces of cannon of superior power to that of the enemy, and Colonel
Smith immediately assumed the offensive. Toward evening, a body of
cavalry under the command of Governor Wood, of Illinois, arrived and
fell upon the rear of the enemy, when the struggle soon ended, and the
rebel besiegers fled, with a loss of thirty killed and wounded,
seventy-five prisoners, one gun, and a large number of horses. Of the
Union troops, but four or five were severely wounded—none killed.
GUERRILLA BANDS IN MISSOURI.
In consequence of the disorganized condition of society in this State,
bands of armed rebels took occasion to commit depredations upon the
loyal citizens. Skirmishes became frequent, terror took the place of
security, and distrust that of confidence. Men once high in public
opinion and the councils of the nation became leaders in revolt, and
encouraged by their example, the rabble threw off all restraint, and
boldly became banditti.
Brigadier-General Pope was assigned command in northern Missouri, and
from his headquarters at St. Charles, issued a proclamation, assuring
loyal citizens of protection, and threatening disorganizers and
secessionists with severe punishment. The State Convention assembled on
the 22d of July, at Jefferson City, and passed an ordinance on the 23d
by a vote of sixty-five to twenty-one, declaring the office of President
of their body, held by General Sterling Price, to be vacant, and elected
General Robert Wilson, a firm Union man, in his place. A committee of
seven—one from each Congressional district, was appointed to report what
action was necessary for the State to take in the crisis, and prepare an
address to the people. The report was made, Union in all its bearings,
and the Convention adjourned.
Major-General Fremont arrived at St. Louis on Sunday the 25th, and
assumed military command.
The month of July was prolific in proclamations from the commanders of
the rebel forces as well as of the Federal troops. On the 30th of July,
rebel regiments from Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, occupied New
Madrid, on the Mississippi river, in the southern extremity of the
State, and fortified it, and General Gideon J. Pillow issued a
manifesto, in which he called upon the men of Missouri to enter his
ranks. On the 1st of August, Jefferson Thompson, not to be outdone in
the declamatory department, also issued a fiery proclamation.
Depredations had become so numerous and troublesome on the line of the
Hannibal and St. Joseph’s railroad, that General Pope appointed General
S. A. Hurlbut to guard it, and divided it into sections, notifying the
people that all who had property and interests at stake, would be
expected to take an active part in their own protection and security.
Citizens were appointed district superintendents.