|For some days it was rumored in Dubuque that the Iowa troops would soon
be ordered to march into the neighboring state of Missouri.
There was great excitement when, on the morning of the eleventh of
May, the particulars of occurrences of the day before in St. Louis were
published. Jack read about it in the morning paper and then hurried to
Harry's house as fast as his young feet could carry him.
“This means business,” said Jack, as he quickly narrated to Harry what
he had read.
“So it does,” was the response; “we 'll surely be off before many days.
Let's go to camp.”
Away they went, and found, as they expected, that everybody expected to
move to the front very shortly.
“We are pretty nearly ready for orders,” said the quartermaster, “and
you'd better come here twice a day, if not oftener, to make sure
that you don't get left. Watch the newspapers and see what happens in
Missouri for the next few days, as it will have a good deal to do with
our movements.”
The boys did as they were directed, and, what was more, they went to a
tailor and bought suits resembling those worn by the soldiers. They were
not entitled to receive uniforms from the quartermaster, as they had not
been enlisted or regularly employed, and, therefore, their outfits were
paid for out of their own pockets. But the clothes they wanted were not
costly, and therefore their outfits did not cost them much.
There was more news of importance the next day, and if the excitement
was great in Dubuque, it was nothing to that in St. Louis.
According to the histories of the time, it occurred in this wise:
A regiment of the Home Guards was marching from the arsenal to its
barracks, which lay at the other side of the city, and while on its way
it encountered a dense multitude which blocked the street. The crowd
being almost wholly composed of secessionists, many of whom were armed
with pistols, a pistol-shot was fired at the soldiers, whereupon the
latter opened fire, killing eight men and wounding several others. Then
the regiment continued to its barracks and was not further molested.
A rumor went around among the secessionists that the Germans had
threatened to kill everybody who did not agree with them, and a general
massacre was seriously feared. The police commissioners and the mayor
asked to have the Home Guards sent away from the city, and though
General Harney, the commander of the department, promised to comply with
their request, he was soon convinced by Blair and Lyon that it could
not be done without giving the city into the hands of the secessionists.
Then came a rumor that the Home Guards had refused to obey the orders of
General Harney, and were about to begin the destruction of the city and
the murder of its inhabitants.
A panic followed, and on the twelfth and thirteenth of May thousands
of women and children were sent out of the city; the ferry-boats were
crowded to their utmost capacity, and extra steamboats were pressed into
service to convey the people to places of safety. Quiet was not restored
until two companies of regular soldiers were brought into the city and
General Harney had issued a proclamation in which he pledged his faith
as a soldier to preserve order and protect all unoffending citizens.
This brought back nearly all the fugitives, but there were some who
never returned, as they feared the terrible “Dutch blackguards” would
revolt against their officers and deluge the streets of St. Louis with
blood.
Jack and Harry read with great interest the account of these happenings
in the neighboring state, and wondered how they would all end. They also
read the editorial comments of the newspapers, but could not understand
all they found there.
So they strolled down to camp and questioned one of the soldiers, an
intelligent printer from one of the newspaper offices.
“One thing we want to know,” said Jack, “is what is meant by
'states-rights'?”
“That 's what the South is going to war about,” was the reply; “or at
any rate that is the pretext of the leaders, though I've no doubt it is
honestly believed by the great mass of the southern people.”
“What is it, anyway?”
“Well, it is the idea that the general government of the United States
has no power to coerce or control a state against the latter's will.”
“Does that mean,” said Harry, “that if a state wants to go out of the
Union she has a perfect right to do so, and there's no power or right in
the general government to stop her?”
“Yes, that's what it means,” was the reply. “The states-rights argument
is that the states that were dissatisfied with the election of President
Lincoln had a perfect right to secede or step out of the Union, and the
Union had no right to force them to stay in or come back.”
“Thank you,” said Harry; “I think I understand it now. And how is it
with the border states, like Missouri, and the state sovereignty they
're talking about?”
“The states-rights men in Missouri claim that the national government
has no right or authority to call for troops from Missouri to aid in
putting down rebellion in the seceded states; that Governor Jackson did
right in refusing such troops when the president called for them; that
the national government has no right to enlist troops in Missouri to
take part in the war, and that it must not be permitted to march its
troops into or across or through any part of the state in order to reach
the states in rebellion against the national authority.”
“In other words,” said one of the boys, “they want the state of Missouri
to be entirely neutral in the war--to take no part in it either way?”
“That 's what they say,” replied the printer, with a smile.
“But look here,” exclaimed Harry; “have n't I read that the
secessionists in Missouri seized the United States arsenal at Liberty,
in the western part of the state, and took possession of all the cannon,
small-arms and ammunition they found there?”
“Yes.”
“And have n't I read about how they planned to capture the St. Louis
arsenal, and Jeff Davis sent them some artillery and ammunition for that
purpose, and wrote them a letter saying exactly what the cannon were
to be used for, and how they were to be placed on the hills behind the
arsenal in order to batter down the walls?”
“Yes, you read that, and it's all true.”
“That 's what they call neutrality, is it? Do they claim that they
have a perfect right to do anything they please toward destroying the
government, but the government does wrong when it lifts a finger for its
own protection?”
“That's exactly what they claim and have said over and over again in
their newspapers and through the voices of their speakers, and every
secessionist you talk with says the same thing.”
“Well,” exclaimed Harry, after a slight pause, “I don't think much of
such neutrality as that. It's as one-sided as the handle of a jug--a
sort of 'heads I win, tails you lose,' business. You could respect them
and believe them sincere if they said 'hands off from us, and we will keep
hands off from you,' and then lived up to what they said.”
Jack agreed with Harry, and both of them wondered till they were tired
and even then could not make it out how honest and fair-minded men as
many of the southern sympathizers undoubtedly were, could call such
action as that by the name of neutrality. Doubtless some of the young
people who read this story will wonder too, and possibly they may doubt
that such was the case. Their doubts will be dispelled when they consult
any of their friends who are familiar with the history of the war of the
rebellion.
The events of the tenth and eleventh of May greatly aided Governor
Jackson in his efforts to carry the state of Missouri into the war on
the side of the South. The legislature met on the second of May, and the
governor recommended that the state should be placed in a condition of
defense, so that she could resist invasion by the national forces. While
it was discussing the subject and making slow progress the tenth of May
came, and with it the Camp Jackson affair. In less than fifteen minutes
after the news was received both houses of the legislature had passed
the so-called military bill providing for arming the state, and it was
ready to be signed by the governor and become a law.
Five days later the legislature adjourned, after passing other acts
throwing the state on the side of secession, appropriating two million
dollars for military purposes, in addition to the school fund and all
other money belonging to the state. The greatest alarm prevailed, as
the wildest stories were circulated about the bloodthirstiness of the
Germans, who composed the greater part of the Home Guards organized for
the defense of St. Louis. On a rumor that two regiments of them were
approaching the capital a railway bridge over the Gasconade River was
partially destroyed, and many people fled from the city.
The president of the United States removed General Harney from the
command of the department, and appointed Lyon, who had been promoted to
brigadier-general of volunteers in his stead. Troops in Kansas, Iowa and
Illinois were ordered to be ready to move into Missouri, and everything
indicated that the government was determined to put a stop to the
so-called neutrality of the state. The neutrality was well illustrated
by the circumstances that in all parts of the state the Union men were
the victims of outrages at the hands of their secessionist neighbors.
For no other offense than being in favor of the Union and opposed to
Secession men were dragged from their beds at night and ordered to leave
the neighborhood within twenty-four hours, their houses and barns
were burned, their cattle and horses stolen, work in the fields was
suspended, and everything was the reverse of peaceful. By an agreement
between General Harney on the Union side and General Price on behalf
of the state authorities, the operations of the military bill had been
suspended, and the volunteers which it called together were to be sent
to their homes. But instead of going there they were gathered into
companies and battalions in convenient places, where they were drilled
and instructed in the duties of soldiers. Evidently the neutrality that
the Missouri rebels wanted was as one-sided as we have already described
it.