“
[
540]
of the
South by the
Federal armies comes bringing with it a contempt for constitutional liberty, and the withering influence of the infidelity of
New England and
Germany combined.”
General Lyon's first movement against
Jackson and
Price was to send
the Second Missouri Regiment of Volunteers, under
Colonel (afterward General)
Franz Sigel, to occupy and protect from injury the Pacific Railway, from
St. Louis to the
Gasconade River, preparatory to an advance toward the southern portion of the
State, by way of
Rolla, to oppose an invasion by
Ben McCullough, the Texas Ranger,
1 who had crossed the border from
Arkansas with about eight hundred men, and was marching, with rapidly increasing numbers, on
Springfield.
On the following day,
Lyon left
St. Louis in two river steamers (
Iatan and
J. C. Swan), with about two thousand men well supplied for a long march, their immediate destination being the capital of the
Commonwealth, on the
Missouri River, and their first business to drive
Jackson and
Price, with their
followers, out of it. These troops were composed of
Missouri volunteers, under
Colonels Blair and
Boernstein; regulars, under
Captain Lathrop; and artillery, under
Captain James Totten.
The expedition reached the capital on the afternoon of the 15th.
Jackson and
Price, with their armed followers, had fled westward by way of the railroad, destroying the bridges behind them, and, turning northward, took post a few miles below
Booneville, on the
Missouri, forty miles from
Jefferson City.
Lyon followed them the next day,
leaving
Colonel Boernstein, with three companies of his regiment, to hold the capital.
Contrary to the expectation of the insurgents,
Lyon went by water, in three steamers (
A. McDonnell, Iatan, and
City of Louisiana), and the destruction of bridges availed the insurgents nothing.
At
Rocheport, at dawn on the 17th,
Lyon ascertained that the insurgents were encamped a few miles below
Booneville.
Pressing into his service a ferry-boat there, he pushed forward a short distance, when he discovered a battery on a bluff, and scouts hastening to report his approach.
He at once disembarked
on low ground, on the south side of the river, formed in column, sent forward his skirmishers, and soon found his foes.
They were encamped on the high ground, and were under the command of
Colonel J. S. Marmaduke, of the
State forces,
General Price having gone on in a boat to
Lexington, on account of alleged illness.
On the near approach of
Lyon, the frightened Governor had ordered that no resistance should be made; but the braver
Marmaduke, feeling strongly posted, had resolved to fight.
A troop of his cavalry and a battalion of infantry occupied the road.
Some of his troops had made a citadel of a strong brick house on
