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[307]

The siege of Lexington, Mo.1

Colonel James A. Mulligan.
On the night of the 30th of August, 1861, as the Irish Brigade (23d Illinois Volunteers) lay encamped just outside of Jefferson City, Mo., I received orders to report to General Jefferson C. Davis, commanding in the town. On doing so, I was informed by General Davis that the cavalry regiment of Colonel Thomas A. Marshall, which had left for the South-west some days before, had reached Tipton, where it was hemmed in by the enemy, and could neither advance nor return, and that he wished me to go to Tipton, join Colonel Marshall, take command of the combined forces, cut my way through the enemy, go to Lexington, and hold it at all hazards.

The next morning the Irish Brigade started with forty rounds of ammunition and three days rations for each man. We marched for nine days without meeting an enemy, foraging upon the country for support. We reached Tipton, but found neither Colonel Marshall nor the enemy, and we passed on to a pleasant spot near Lexington where we prepared for our entry into the city. The trouble was not so much the getting into Lexington as the getting out. At Lexington we found Colonel Marshall's cavalry regiment and about 350 of a regiment of Home Guards. On the 10th of September we received a letter from Colonel Everett Peabody, of the 13th Missouri Regiment, saying that he was retreating from Warrensburg, 34 miles distant, and that the rebel General Price was in full pursuit with an army of 10,000 men. A few hours later Colonel Peabody joined us.

There were then at this post the “Irish Brigade,” Colonel Marshall's Illinois cavalry regiment (full), Colonel Peabody's regiment, and a part of the 14th Missouri--in all about 2780 men, with one six-pounder, 2 forty rounds of

1 Reprinted, with revision, from newspaper reports of a lecture by Colonel Mulligan, who was killed during the war (see page 313). in certain important particulars, the text has been altered to free it from clearly demonstrable errors.-editors.

2 Doubtless an accidental mistake. Colonel Mulligan had 7 six-pounders (Waldschmidt, 2; Adams, 3, and Pirner, 2); Pirner also had 2 brass mortars for throwing six-inch spherical shells, of which he had but 40, which were soon exhausted. The Confederate artillery consisted of 16 guns in five batteries, as follows: Bledsoe, 4 guns; Churchill Clark,2; Guibor, 4; Kelly, 4; Kneisley, 2.-( History of Lafayette county, Missouri. )

The lack of agreement between the numbers of the Union forces as here stated, and as given by Colonel Snead on page 273, is accounted for by the latter on the supposition that Colonel Mulligan did not include in his estimate either his officers or the body of Home Guards who assisted in the defense. Colonel Snead states positively that, as adjutant-general of the Missouri troops, he paroled about 3500 prisoners. Among these may have been many not reckoned as effectives by Colonel Mulligan.--editors.

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