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and the premature mutiny of the regiment ordered to New Madrid, nipped the plot in the bud. I refer to the circumstances now only to show that I was not unjust in my denunciation of the ‘revolutionary faction’ in
Missouri.
In
General Halleck's letter of September 26, inclosing the
President's written approval of my
general order, he said:
. . . Neither faction in Missouri is really friendly to the President and administration; but each is striving to destroy the other, regardless of all other considerations.
In their mutual hatred they seem to have lost all sense of the perils of the country and all sentiment of national patriotism.
Every possible effort should be made to allay this bitter party strife in that State.
In reply, September 30, I expressed the following opinion:
. . . I feel compelled to say that I believe you are not altogether right in your information about the factions in Missouri.
If the so-called ‘claybank’ faction are not altogether friendly to the President and administration, I have not been able to discover it. The men who now sustain me are the same who rallied round Lyon and sustained the government in the dark days of 1861, while the leaders of the present ‘charcoal’ faction stood back until the danger was past.
I believe I have carried out my instructions as literally as possible, yet I have received a reasonable support from one faction and the most violent opposition from the other.
I am willing to pledge my official position that those who support me now will support me in the execution of any policy the President may order.
They are the real friends of the government.
It is impossible for me to be blind to this fact, notwithstanding the existence, to some extent, of the factional feeling to which you allude.
The improvement produced by the order was so decided that publication of the
President's approval was thought unnecessary.
It only became public through