[
65]
from
southeast Missouri.
Ammunition, which
General Price had arranged to get, was taken charge of by
McCulloch, who expressed his want of confidence in
Price's ability to maintain himself in
Missouri.
Price was compelled to disband a large number of recruits for want of arms and munitions, and send to their homes o,ooo volunteers who had come to him from the counties north of the
Missouri river.
The campaign which
Price had conducted with so much success was thus doomed to fail through want of the cooperation of his associates in command of the several departments.
The result was discouraging to the enthusiastic uprising which had been incited in
Missouri in behalf of the
Confederate cause.
General Price appealed, from camp on Sac river, to
General McCulloch in behalf of a forward movement, and remonstrated with
Mr. Benjamin,
secretary of war, against inaction at a time when the
Federal forces in
Missouri were embarrassed by rivalries between commanders, and the fatuous course of
Fremont, who was occupied with anticipations of future political campaigns rather than the military duties of the present
But
General McCulloch seemed to distrust utterly the plans and purposes of
General Price.
He wrote from
Springfield, Mo., November 19th, to the
secretary of war:
Sir: I shall return to Arkansas, put my troops in winter quarters soon, and ask permission to come immediately to Richmond so as to give the administration correct information regarding affairs in this region before it acts on matters here.
On November 30th, the secretary of war replied:
I cannot understand why you withdrew your troops, instead of pursuing the enemy when his leaders were quarreling and his army separated into parts, under different commanders.
Send an explanation.
To which
McCulloch responded, December 4th, from
Little Rock:
