|Our young friends were not long in receiving the promotion they desired
and certainly deserved. From being mere attachés, or as Jack expressed
it, “adjutants,” of the wagon-train they were raised to the dignity of
drivers each having a team of his own. It was a promotion at which they
were greatly elated, though it brought additional responsibilities and
hard work.
Shortly after leaving Booneville one of the regular drivers fell ill
and was left behind. His place was given to Harry, who had shown himself
fairly competent to fill it in spite of his youth, and also in spite of
his lack of that accomplishment of the ordinary teamster, a familiarity
with profanity. We have already alluded to this peculiarity of the
average driver, and the faith possessed by many people that mules and
oxen cannot be successfully managed except by an expert in swearing. But
Harry got around the difficulty nicely and very much to his credit.
His education was not extensive, and had been confined to the ordinary
branches of the common school. He was proficient in the three R's:
“reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic,” and had made a fair start in grammar
and geography. While wondering what to do in order to be able to drive a
mule team successfully, and at the same time avoid falling into the use
of profanity, he hit upon an idea which is commended to all readers of
this narrative under similar circumstances.
He picked out the hardest names he could remember in his geographical
studies and determined to make them the means of propelling obstinate
animals and inducing them to pull properly when pulling was desired.
With the permission of one of the regular drivers he practiced on the
teams and found his plan worked very well; so well, in fact, that it
received the commendation of the chaplain and of the colonel of the
regiment, and furthermore, the team seemed to enjoy it.
“Sebastopol” was one of his favorite expletives, and when he hurled it
at a mule, hissing the first syllable through his teeth and giving full
vent to his voice on the last, that mule was sure to do his very best
until the load moved or the harness gave way. In the same manner he
found “Calcutta” an expletive of great power, and so was “Nagasaki” and
also “St. Petersburg.” When he wanted something of unusual strength for
a momentous occasion he informed his obstinate animals that “Vienna
is the Capital of Austria,” or “the Dutch have taken Holland.” Nothing
could surpass the efforts of the team when these phrases were thrown
into the elongated ears of the unschooled mules.
Harry imparted his plan to Jack, and when that youth was shortly
afterward put in charge of a team which had been hired at Booneville for
the trip to Springfield, he repeated the experiment. It did not work
as well as in Harry's case, but the reason was found in the fact that
Jack's mules were of Missouri origin and proverbially ignorant, while
those of Harry had come all the way from Iowa, and had the benefit of a
northern training. While the Northern mules might be supposed to have
a thirst for travel that would make geographical facts sink deep into
their hearts, those of the more southern state were content to remain
in their ignorance, and, like Jeff Davis, “all they asked was to be let
alone.”
“You're saying that in joke, of course,” remarked the quartermaster when
Jack explained the reason of the difference in the animals of the two
states. “But let me tell you,” he continued, “that you're nearer fact
than you suppose. 'Like master like man' is an old adage, and why should
n't a Missouri mule be like a Missouri man? As a general thing the
Missouri people have opposed everything that tended to the development
of the state. I refer to the slaveholding portion, or those who
sympathize with slavery, though they may have no slaves of their own.”
“How was that?”
“They were afraid it would interfere with their system of slavery, as
they saw it would bring in a population that believed in freedom instead
of the old state of things. When the Butterfield Overland Stage Line was
established from St. Louis to California they tried all they could to
stop it; they declared it was n't needed; and they did the same when
the Western Union Telegraph Co. wanted to build a line across the state.
They opposed the railways that have been built in various parts of
the state, and for the same reason, notwithstanding the fact that the
railways would make their land more valuable by bringing them nearer a
market. I have lived in Missouri and know what I'm talking about.
“Education has always been much more backward in the South than in the
North, as everybody knows, and it is the system of slavery that caused
this backwardness. Travel through the Northern states and you see a
school-house in every village and almost at every cross-road, but in the
South you may go hundreds of miles without seeing a school-house. This
one fact speaks volumes in itself and illustrates the conditions growing
out of slavery on the one hand and freedom on the other. A people that
do not want education do not want railways and telegraphs, or anything
else that indicates progress. Only when the South gets rid of slavery
will it wake up and adopt the institutions of the North.”
Regarding the South in the light of the present day, the words uttered
by the quartermaster may be regarded as prophetic. It is only since the
war wiped away the stain of slavery that the Southern states have vied
with the North in developing their resources and have sought to have
a really intelligent population. Before the war education was confined
chiefly to the rich or the well-to-do, the majority of the poor whites
being but little above the negro in the scale of intelligence. Thousands
on thousands of them were unable to read or write, and those who could
do so had little knowledge of the rest of the world.
Our young friends had frequent opportunities to test the intelligence of
the natives of the region through which they were traveling, and many
of their experiences were amusing. One day they talked with a farmer who
had an impression that St. Louis was the largest city in the world, and
practically the only one he had heard of New York and Chicago, but had
no clear idea of their location except that they were somewhere in the
North, and did not believe they amounted to much anyway. He thought
Abraham Lincoln was a black man, who had somehow been made president of
the United States by the abolitionists, and if his armies succeeded in
conquering the South the government would be altogether in the hands
of the blacks, who would speedily proceed to enslave the rest of the
population and “have white men for niggers.”
Several times they talked with men and women who were much surprised to
find the Yankee soldiers were white men; they had expected to see only
negroes, and especially thought it strange that the officers were white
instead of black. A woman at whose house they stopped to get a drink of
water said she did n't mind the white soldiers, but when it came to the
black republicans she would n't be able to endure them.
“Why, we are black republicans, madam; or would be if we could vote,”
said Jack.
“No, you can't be,” was the reply; “you're just as white as we-'uns if
you'd only wash your faces.”
The boys good-naturedly enlightened her on the subject by explaining
that the term “black republicans” was a derisive one, which the
Democrats had applied to the Republican party, and had no reference to
the complexion of those who voted the Republican ticket. They were not
sure that they had convinced her, though they certainly raised doubts
in her mind when she saw the hundreds and thousands of men that marched
past the place, and all of them anything but negroes.
Another time they were less successful, as the native whom they sought
to instruct pointed triumphantly to the colored servant of one of the
officers, who was mounted on a spare horse belonging to his employer.
“Don't talk to me that way,” was the angry retort, “when there's one of
your generals, a regular nigger, on a black horse.”
The joke was too good to be kept, and that evening it was circulated
through the camp. It caused a great deal of laughter, and for some days
the servant who had been the innocent cause of the mistake was addressed
by his associates as “general.”
There was no fighting on the march from Booneville to Springfield, as
the state forces under Governor Jackson and General Price were on their
line of march considerably farther west, and had a good start. They
were being followed by a column from Leavenworth, under command of Major
Sturgis, but the pursuers were not able to overtake them, being delayed
at the crossing of a river which lay on their route. It had been hoped
that the rebels would be caught between the two columns of Sturgis and
Sweeney, and if they had been thus caught there was an excellent chance
of a Union victory.
As the days wore on after the arrival of the Union forces at
Springfield, the most important town of southwestern Missouri, the
situation became critical. It was known that General Price had formed a
camp at Cowskin Prairie, near the southwest corner of the state, to wait
for the reinforcements that were promised by the Confederacy, and it was
soon learned that these reinforcements had arrived and Price was about
to move on Springfield.
Altogether General Lyon had about six thousand men under his command,
but many of them were enlisted for only three months; the expiration of
the time of some of them was fast approaching, and others were already
free to go home.
General Fremont had been placed in command of the department, and to him
General Lyon sent an earnest appeal for reinforcements, saying he would
be compelled to retreat unless troops were sent to him. The desired
troops were promised, but before they started the rebels threatened
Cairo in Illinois, and the regiments destined for General Lyon were sent
there instead of going to southwestern Missouri, as originally intended.
Lyon was receiving no reinforcements, while Price was gaining in
strength and adding to the effectiveness of his men. About the twentieth
of July Lyon's force was weakened by the departure of two regiments of
three-months' men whose time had expired, while the time of the First
Iowa (the regiment to which Jack and Harry were attached ) would be out
early in August. No wonder General Lyon was troubled in mind, and that
he sent urgent appeals to General Fremont for immediate aid.
News came that the rebels were advancing upon Springfield and that a
great battle was imminent. Jack and Harry were jubilant at the promise
of fighting, but older ones shook their heads and looked serious. The
secession inhabitants of Springfield were rejoicing over the prospect
of soon being rid of their Yankee visitors; they could not conceal their
delight, and this circumstance convinced the thoughtful ones among the
unionists that the coming clash of arms would be anything but a light
one.