Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[343] he had been assigned. Including one regiment left at Warrensburg, he found himself at the head of two thousand seven hundred men, among whom was one regiment of cavalry, with a portion of the home-guards—a kind of militia very little accustomed to war. These forces would have been sufficient to repulse mere bands of marauders; but being sent to the neighborhood of Price's army, they afforded him an opportunity for a success without being able to offer him any serious resistance. Mulligan found no resources nor any means of defence at Lexington. His soldiers had only forty rounds of cartridge, and he brought but six small brass cannon and two howitzers with him, with no ammunition whatever for the latter, while the town was unprotected by any fortifications. He at once set himself to the task of throwing up a few strong works upon a hill which commanded Lexington, and on which the college was situated. But the configuration of the ground obliged him to give these works too much development, which prevented him from completing them, imposing at the same time an increase of labor upon their not very numerous defenders.

In the mean time, Price was advancing by forced marches, and on the morning of the 11th of September he reached Warrensburg with his cavalry; but the Federal regiment which had been left there, and which he had hoped to surprise, had quitted the place a few hours before. His infantry followed it with all possible speed, leaving baggage, provisions, and stragglers far behind, and subsisting upon whatever they could obtain from the inhabitants of the country. On the 12th he appeared before Lexington with his cavalry. On the afternoon of the 13th his army was drawn up in the vicinity of that town, and he at once invested all the positions in which Mulligan had entrenched himself. A lively fire was kept up on both sides. The Confederates occupied the city; but being worn out by their marches, and soon finding themselves short of ammunition, they did not press the Federals very close; they took up their position for the night at a certain distance, but yet in sight of their works.

The siege of Lexington had commenced. Mulligan still remained in communication with the river, where he had a steamer. He could have used this vessel to evacuate his positions and cross