|The regiment to which our young friends were attached--the First
Iowa--received orders to move southward. Everything was bustle and
activity in the camp, and the boys made themselves useful in a variety
of ways.
As before stated, they were to accompany the wagon-train, and at once
proceeded to make friends with everybody connected with that branch of
the regiment's service; and they were not only friendly with the men,
but with the horses. Some of the animals showed a tendency to be unruly,
but by gentle ways and words Jack and Harry secured their confidence,
and it was often remarked that the brutes would do more for the boys
than for anybody else. One of the teamsters asked Jack how it was, and
said he would give a good deal to know their secret of horse-training.
“There's no secret about it,” replied Jack; “at least, none that I know
of. My father is very fond of horses, and has often told me that he
always treats them kindly, but at the same time firmly. If he sets
out to have a horse do anything he makes him do it; if the creature is
stubborn he coaxes him and pets him, and keeps on urging him to do what
he wants, and after a while the horse does it. When he has once begun he
never lets up, and the animal soon knows that the man is master, and at
the same time learns that he isn't to be cruelly punished, very often
for not understanding what is wanted.”
To show what he could do in the way of equestrian training, Jack took
charge of a “balky” horse that frequently stopped short in his tracks
and refused to move on in spite of a sound thrashing. All efforts to get
him to go ahead were of no use, and altogether the beast (whose name was
Billy) was the cause of a great deal of bad language on the part of the
teamsters, which even the presence of the chaplain could not restrain.
Jack harnessed Billy into a cart, and after asking those about him to
make no interference, and not even to come near him, he started to mount
a small hill at the edge of the camp. Before he had ascended ten feet of
the sloping road Billy halted, and showed by his position and the roll
of his eye that he intended to stay where he was.
Jack dismounted and took the animal by the head; he tugged gently at the
bridle three or four times, speaking gently and kindly all the while,
but to no purpose. Billy was “set” in his determination, and did not
propose to oblige anybody.
“All right,” said Jack; “if you want to stop here I 'll stay too.” And
with that he pulled out a dime novel and sat down by the roadside close
to Billy's head.
Jack opened his book and began to read, while Billy looked on and
meditated. Half an hour passed and then an hour. At the end of that time
Jack made another effort to start the horse up the hill, but with the
same result as before.
Then he read another hour and then another, stopping once in a while to
try and coax the animal to move on. By this time it was noon, and Jack
called to Harry to bring him something to eat. Harry came with a slice
of cold meat and a piece of bread, and immediately went away, leaving
Jack to devour his lunch in silence, which he did. When the meal was
concluded he read another chapter or two, and then he took Billy once
more by the bridle and in the same gentle tones urged him to proceed.
Evidently the horse had thought the matter over, as he showed a perfect
willingness to do as his young master desired. Without the least
hesitation he went straight up the hill, and when they were at the top
Jack petted and praised him, and after a while took him back to camp.
The lesson was repeated again in the afternoon and on the following day,
and from that time on Billy was a model of obedience as long as he was
kindly treated.
“I believe a horse has to think things over just as we do,” said Jack;
“and if you watch him you 'll find out that he can't think fast. What I
wanted was to have him understand that he had got to stay there all day
and all night if necessary, until he did what I wanted him to do. When
he saw me reading that book and sitting so quiet by the roadside, and
particularly when he saw me eat my dinner and sit down to wait just as
I had waited before, he made up his mind that't was n't any use to hold
out. Horses have good memories. Hereafter when he 's inclined to be
balky he 'll think of that long wait and give in without any fuss.”
The regiment went by steamboat down the Mississippi river to the
frontier of Missouri, and there waited orders to advance into the
interior of the would-be neutral state, and while it waited there was a
rapid progress of events in St. Louis, to which we will now turn.
General Lyon had positive information that the rebels were preparing
to bring troops from Arkansas and the Indian Territory to assist the
Missouri state guard in keeping out the “Dutch and Yankees.” Of course
this was quite in keeping with the neutrality about which they had so
much to say, and if allowed to go on it was very evident that the whole
of the interior of the state might soon be in their control. Accordingly
he asked for further authority to enlist troops in the state, and
requested that the governors of the neighboring states should be
directed to furnish him with several regiments that were in readiness.
His request was granted, and within less than a month from the capture
of Camp Jackson General Lyon had a military force aggregating ten
thousand men in St. Louis, and as many more in Kansas, Iowa and Illinois
waiting orders to move wherever he wanted them to go.
Besides these troops there were several thousands of Home Guards in
different parts of the state; many of these men were Germans, who had
seen military service in the old country, and were excellent material
for an army. Opposed to them the governor had a few thousand state
troops, many of them poorly armed, but they greatly made up in activity
what they lacked in numbers or equipment, so far as keeping the country
in a perpetual turmoil was concerned.
It was very evident that the state troops could not hold out against
General Lyon's disciplined army, and consequently the governor made
ready to abandon Jefferson City, the capital, whenever General Lyon
moved against it. All the state property that could be moved was sent
away, and the governor and other officials prepared to follow whenever
hostilities began.
Through the efforts of several gentlemen who still hoped for a peaceful
solution of the troubles of Missouri, a conference was held at St. Louis
on the eleventh of June between Governor Jackson and General Price on
behalf of the state authorities, and General Lyon and Colonel Blair on
the other. General Lyon had guaranteed that if Jackson and Price would
come to St. Louis for the purposes of the conference they should have
“safe conduct” both ways and not be molested while in the city.
The meeting was a historic one. General Lyon, on being notified of the
arrival of Jackson and Price in the city, asked them to meet him at
the United States arsenal. The wily governor did not consider himself
altogether safe in venturing there, in spite of the safe-conduct that
he held, and suggested that the conference must be held at the Planters'
House, a well-known hotel of St. Louis, and at that time the principal
one. Accordingly the general went there with Colonel Blair, and after a
few polite phrases the negotiations began. Present, but not taking part
in the debate, were Major Conant, of General Lyon's staff, and Colonel
Snead, the private secretary of Governor Jackson.
Four or five hours were consumed in the discussion, which was an
animated one throughout. The governor demanded that the United States
troops should be withdrawn from the state, and that no recruiting for
the union cause should be permitted anywhere in Missouri. 'When the
troops were withdrawn he would disband the state militia, and thus the
state would be kept entirely neutral. General Lyon insisted that the
government had the right to send its troops where it pleased within the
boundaries of the United States, and he would listen to nothing else.
No progress was made by either side, as neither would yield a point.
Finally General Lyon brought the conference to an end by telling
Governor Jackson it was useless to talk longer, and that in one hour an
officer would call to escort them out of the city.
Lyon and Blair went at once to the arsenal to give orders for the
movement of troops, and within an hour from the end of the conference
Jackson and Price were on their way to Jefferson City as fast as the
railway train could carry them. On the way they ordered the bridges
over the Osage and Gasconade rivers to be burned, in order to prevent
pursuit.
Early the next morning the governor issued a proclamation calling the
people of the state to arms, for the purpose, as he said, of repelling
invasion and protecting the lives and property of the citizens of the
state. He also asked the Confederate government to send a co-operating
force into Missouri as soon as possible, and gave orders for General
Price to take the field at once with all the troops he could muster.
General Lyon ordered three regiments with two batteries of artillery,
under General Sweeney, to occupy the southwestern part of the state, and
by the thirteenth they were on their way to Springfield by way of Rolla,
which was then the terminus of the railroad in that direction. The
object of this movement was to stop the advance of any Confederate
force coming from Arkansas to help the Missourians, and also to head off
Jackson and Price in case they marched in that direction. At the same
time General Lyon, with two regiments of infantry and a battery of
artillery, together with about five hundred regular infantry, went
up the Missouri river to Jefferson City, which they captured on the
fifteenth without opposition, the rebels having left on the day that
General Lyon started from St. Louis.
At the same time that he gave orders for the movements from St. Louis,
General Lyon telegraphed to the commander of the Iowa regiment to which
Jack and Harry were attached, to advance into Missouri in the direction
of Booneville, a flourishing town on the south bank of the Missouri, and
the spot selected by General Price as the rallying point of the state
troops. There was a considerable amount of war material stored there
belonging to the state, and by orders of the governor an arsenal had
been started at Booneville for the manufacture of cannon and small-arms.
Most of the inhabitants sympathized with the secession movement, which
was not the case with the population of Jefferson City, largely composed
of Germans.
Jack and Harry fairly danced with delight when they found they were to
march into the enemy's country. They regretted that their duties kept
them with the wagon-train, which is not usually supposed to take part
in battle, and wondered if there was not some way by which they could
change places with two of the soldiers and have a share in the fighting.
During their first night on the soil of Missouri they lost a fair amount
of blood; it was drawn not by the bullets or the sabers of the enemy,
but by the mosquitos with which that region is abundantly supplied. Jack
thought he had spilled at least a pint of gore in feeding the Missouri
mosquitos, and wondered if he could be fairly charged with treason or
giving “aid and comfort to the enemy.”