St. Louis,
Known as the “
Mound City,” on the west bank of the
Mississippi River, about 15 miles below the mouth of the
Missouri.
When
St. Louis came into the,
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possession of the
United States, March 10, 1804, there were only two American families in the place, and 925 inhabitants in all. There were about 150 houses and three streets: La Rue Principale (Main Street), La Rue de LaEglise (Second Street); and La Rue des Granges (Third
Street); the whole encircled by fortifications.
The population by the
United States census shows as follows: 1810, 1,400; 1820, 4,598; 1830, 6,694; 1840, 16,469; 1850, 77,860; 1860, 160,773; 1870, 310,864; 1880, 350,518; 1890, 451,770; and in 1900, 575,238.
St. Louis received its name from Pierre Ligueste Laclede in 1764, when he established it as a post of the
Louisiana Fur Company. Five years later Spanish troops, under
Captain Rios, took possession (Aug. 11, 1768), but exercised no civil functions pending the arrival of
Don Pedro Piernas, who assumed the government, May 20, 1770.
British troops and Indian allies attacked the city May 26, 1780, but were repulsed.
The first territorial General Assembly met at the house of
Joseph Robidoux, Dec. 7, 1812.
Louisiana purchase Centennial.
In 1900 it was proposed to hold a World's Fair in
St. Louis, Mo., in 1903, to commeinorate the acquisition of
Louisiana by
President Jefferson.
Congress appropriated $5,000,000 in aid of the enterprise upon condition that the city of
St. Louis expend $10,000,000 for the same purpose.
The government appropriation was to be treated as a loan, and was to be repaid from the money earned by the exposition.
The city of
St. Louis authorized an issue of $5,000,000 in bonds, and the. citizens of the city subscribed a second sum of $5,000,000, making a total of $15,000,000 to be devoted to the celebration.
St. Louis arsenal.
Under the inspiration of a graduate of the West Point Academy,
Daniel M. Frost, and under the lead of the governor of
Missouri (
C. F. Jackson), an attempt was made in May, 1861, to seize the United States Arsenal at
St. Louis.
The Confederates had already seized one unguarded arsenal at
Liberty, Clay county, under the direction of the governor, but the one at
St. Louis.
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Was guarded by 500 regular troops, under
Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, who had been appointed commander of the post in place of
Major Bell, a Confederate.
The governor had sent orders to the militia officers of the
State to assemble their respective commands and go into encampment for a week, the avowed object being “to attain a greater degree of efficiency and perfection in discipline.”
For weeks before the
President's call for troops the
Confederates of
St. Louis were drilled in the use of fire-arms in a building in that city; were furnished with State arms by the governor; received commissions from him, and were sworn into the military service of the
State.
They were closely watched by a few
Unionists, and finally the latter class in
St. Louis (who were largely of the German population) were formed into military companies, and drilled in the use of fire-arms.
When the
President's call for
troops came, they openly drilled, made their place of meeting a citadel, established a perpetual guard, and kept up constant communication with the arsenal.
They were denounced by the
Confederates as “outlaws, incendiaries, and miscreants,” preparing to make war on
Missouri.
They were relieved by an order from the
President (April 30, 1861) for
Captain Lyon to enroll into the military service of the
United States the loyal citizens of
St. Louis, in number not exceeding 1,000.
This order was procured chiefly through the influence of
Col. (afterwards
Maj.-Gen.)
Frank P. Blair, who had already raised and organized a regiment of Missourians, and assisted in the primary formation of four others.
Meanwhile, in accordance with an order from
General Wool, a large portion of the arms at the arsenal were removed (April 26) secretly to
Alton, Ill., in a steamboat, and thence by railway to
Springfield.
Frost, whom the governor had commissioned a brigadier-general, formed a militia camp in the suburbs of
St. Louis, and, to deceive the people, kept the national flag flying over it.
Captain Lyon enrolled a large number of volunteers, who occupied the arsenal grounds.
Some of them, for want of room, occupied ground outside.
The St. Louis police demanded their return to the government grounds, because they were “Federal soldiers, violating the rights of the sovereign
State of Missouri.”
No attention was paid to this demand.
To make his little force appear large,
Lyon sent out squads at night to distant points, to return in the morning with drums beating and flags flying.
Finally word came to
Lyon that cannon and mortars, in boxes marked “marble,” had been landed from a steamboat and sent to
Frost's Confederate camp.
Disguised as a woman, closely veiled,
Lyon rode around that camp, and was satisfied that it was time for him to act with vigor.
Early in the afternoon of May 9,
Lyon, by a quick movement, surrounded
Frost's camp with 6,000 troops and heavy cannon, and placing guards so as to prevent any communication with the city, demanded of the commander the immediate surrender of men and munitions of war under him, giving him only thirty minutes for deliberation.
Intelligence of this movement had reached the city, and an armed body of Confederates rushed out to assist their friends.
They were too late.
Frost surrendered his 1,200 militia, 1,200 new rifles, twenty cannon, several chests of muskets, and a large quantity of ammunition.
Most of these materials of war had been stolen from the arsenal at
Baton Rouge.
The arsenal was saved.
