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The first year of the War in Missouri.
South Carolina had just seceded and the whole country was in the wildest excitement when the General Assembly of
Missouri met at
Jefferson City on the last day of the year 1860.
Responding to the recommendations of
Governor Jackson and to the manifest will of the people of the
State, it forthwith initiated measures for ranging
Missouri with the
South in the impending conflict.
A State Convention was called; bills to organize, arm, and equip the militia were introduced; and the
Federal Government was solemnly warned that if it sent an army into
South Carolina, or into any other slaveholding State, in order to coerce it to remain in the
Union, or to force its people to obey the laws of the
United States, “the people of
Missouri would instantly rally on the side of such State to resist the invaders at all hazards and to the last extremity.”
The most conspicuous leader of this movement was
Claiborne F. Jackson, who had just been inaugurated Governor.
He had for many years been one of the foremost leaders of the Democrats of
Missouri, and had been elected Governor in August.
In the late canvass he had
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supported
Douglas for
President, not because he either liked him or approved his policy on the slavery question, but because
Douglas was the choice of the
Missouri Democrats, and to have opposed him would have defeated his own election; for in August, 1860, the people of
Missouri were sincerely desirous that the questions at issue between the
North and the
South should be compromised and settled upon some fair basis, and were opposed to the election to the Presidency of any man-whether
Lincoln or Breckinridge-whose success might intensify sectional antipathies and imperil the integrity of the
Union.
But while loyally supporting the candidacy of
Douglas,
Jackson abated none of his devotion to the political principles which had been the constant guide of his life.
He was a true son of the
South, warmly attached to the land that had given him birth, and to her people, who were his own kindred.
He was now nearly fifty-five years of age, tall, erect, and good-looking; kindhearted, brave, and courteous; a thoughtful, earnest, upright man; a political leader, but not a soldier.
The Governor urged the people of
Missouri to elect to the
Convention men who would place
Missouri unequivocally on the side of the
South.
He was
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disappointed.
Francis P. Blair, Jr., banded together the unconditional Union men of the
State; while the St. Louis Republican,
Sterling Price,
Hamilton R. Gamble,
James S. Rollins,
William A. Hall, and
John B. Clark consolidated the conservatives, and together these elected on the 18th of February a Convention not one member of which would say that he was in favor of the secession of
Missouri.
To the courage, moderation, and tact of
Francis P. Blair this result was greatly due.
Blair was just forty years of age. His father, the trusted friend of
Andrew Jackson, had taken him to
Washington City when he was about seven years old, and there he had been bred in politics.
In 1843 he had come to
St. Louis, where his brother Montgomery was already practicing law. For that profession, to which he too had been educated, Frank had no taste, and, having in it no success, quickly turned his attention to politics.
In 1852 he was elected to the Legislature as a Benton Democrat.
Shortly afterward he and
B. Gratz Brown established the St. Louis Democrat.
When the
Kansas conflict broke out in 1854, he identified himself with the Free-soil party, and in 1856 supported
Fremont for the Presidency, though
Senator Benton,
Fremont's father-in-law, refused to do this.
He was elected to Congress that year, for the first time.
In the presidential canvass of 1860 he had been the leader of the Republicans of
Missouri, and it was through him chiefly that
Lincoln received 17,000 votes in the
State.
Immediately after the secession of
South
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Carolina, he had begun to organize his adherents as Home Guards and had armed some of them, and was drilling the rest for the field, when the election of delegates to the State Convention took place.
To complete the arming of these men was his first aim. In the city of
St. Louis the
United States had an arsenal within which were more than enough arms for this purpose 60,000 stand of arms and a great abundance of other munitions of war. So long as
Buchanan was
President,
Blair could not get them, but the 4th of March was near at hand and he could well wait till then, for the Southern-rights men had been so demoralized by the defeat which they had sustained in the election of delegates to the
Convention, that they were in no condition to attack the arsenal, as they had intended to do if the election had gone in their favor.
It was, indeed, more than a month after the inauguration of
Lincoln before the Southern-rights men ventured to make any move in that direction.
The Governor then came to
St. Louis to concert with
General D. M. Frost (who commanded a small brigade of volunteer militia) measures for seizing the arsenal in the name of the
State.
While the matter was still under consideration the bombardment of
Fort Sumter took place, and the
President called for 75,000 troops to support the
Government.
To his call upon
Missouri for her quota of such troops, the
Governor replied that the requisition was, in his opinion, “illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary in its object, inhuman and diabolical,” and that
Missouri would not furnish one man “to carry on such an unholy crusade.”
A few days later he convened the General Assembly, to adopt measures for the defense of the
State.
In the consultation with
Frost it had been decided that the
Governor, in pursuance of an existing law of the
State, should order all its militia into encampment for the purpose of drill and discipline; and that, under cover of this order,
Frost should camp his brigade upon the hills adjacent to and commanding the arsenal, so that when the opportunity occurred he might seize it and all its stores.
A great difficulty in the way of the execution of this plan was the want of siege-guns and mortars.
To remove this difficulty the
Governor sent
Captains Colton Greene and
Basil W. Duke to
Montgomery, Alabama, and
Judge Cooke to
Virginia to obtain these things By
Mr. Davis's order the arms were turned over to
Duke and
Greene at
Baton Rouge, and were by them taken to
St. Louis.
Before they arrived there, however, the scheme to seize the arsenal had been completely frustrated by its commandant,
Captain Nathaniel Lyon, who distributed a part of the
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coveted arms to
Blair's Home Guards and removed the rest to
Illinois, and then occupied with his own troops the hills around the arsenal.
Frost consequently established Camp Jackson in a grove in the western part of the city, remote from the arsenal, and was drilling and disciplining his men there in conformity to the laws of the
State and under the flag of the
Union, when
Jefferson Davis's gift to
Missouri was taken into the camp.
Blair and
Lyon, to whom every detail of the
Governor's scheme had been made known, had been waiting for this opportunity.
They had made up their minds to capture the camp and to hold the officers and men as prisoners of war.
Frost went into camp on the 6th of May.
The arms from the
Confederacy were taken thither on the 8th.
On Saturday, the 11th, the camp was to break up.
Lyon had no time to lose.
On Thursday he attired himself in a dress and shawl and other apparel of
Blair's mother-in-law,
Mrs. Alexander, and having completed his disguise by hiding his red beard and weather-beaten
features under a thickly veiled sun-bonnet, took on his arm a basket, filled, not with eggs, but with loaded revolvers, got into a barouche belonging to
Blair's brother-in-law,
Franklin A. Dick, and was driven out to Camp Jackson and through it. Returning to the city, he called the Union Safety Committee together, and informed them that he intended to capture the camp the next day. Some of the committee objected, but
Blair and
James O. Broadhead sustained him, and he ordered his men to be in readiness to move in the morning.
Just as they were about to march,
Colonel John S. Bowen came to
Lyon with a protest from
Frost.
Lyon refused to receive it, and, marching out to the camp with about 7000 men, surrounded it and demanded its surrender.
Frost, who had only 635 men, was obliged to comply.
While the surrender was taking place a great crowd of people, among whom were
U. S. Grant and
W. T. Sherman, hurried to the scene.
Most of the crowd sympathized with the prisoners, and some gave expression to their indignation.
One of
Lyon's German regiments thereupon opened fire upon them, and twenty-eight men, women, and children were killed.
The prisoners were then marched to the arsenal, and paroled the next day.
The capture of Camp Jackson and the bloody scenes that followed — the shooting down then and the next day of unoffending men, women, and children — aroused the
State.
2 The General Assembly, which had reconvened in extra session, enacted instantly a law for organizing, arming, and
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equipping the Missouri State Guard, created a military fund, and conferred dictatorial power upon the
Governor.
Hardly less important than these things — for it was what gave effect to them all — was the fact that the capture of the camp caused
ex-Governor Sterling Price,
President of the State Convention, and up to that time a Union man, to tender his services to the
Governor.
The General Assembly forthwith authorized the
Governor to appoint a major-general to command all the forces which the
State might put into the field, and
Price was appointed to that position.
3
In the
Convention Price had been opposed under all circumstances to the secession of
Missouri, but just as earnestly opposed to the invasion and conquest of the
South by the
Federal Government.
To that position he still adhered even when
Mr. Lincoln, after the bombardment of
Fort Sumter, had called for troops with which to repossess the
Federal forts and enforce the laws of the
Union within the seceded States.
But considering
Lyon's attack upon the
State militia and his killing peaceable citizens an “unparalleled insult and wrong to the
State,” he believed it was the duty of
Missouri to resent such wrongs.
The State now sprang to arms.
Volunteers began to crowd the streets of
Jefferson City, and everything indicated the opening of hostilities.
Blair and
Lyon would have met these demonstrations with force, would have driven
Jackson and
Price from the capital, would have dispersed the militia wherever it dared to show itself, would have occupied the
State with Federal garrisons, and would have held her in unresisting obedience to the
Union; but, unfortunately for the execution of their plans,
General William S. Harney, who commanded the Military Department of the West, of which
Missouri was part, had returned to
St. Louis the day after the capture of Camp Jackson, and had resumed command there.
Instead of using force
Harney used conciliation.
Instead of making war he made a truce with
Price.
Blair now caused
Harney to be relieved of the command of the
Federal troops in
Missouri, and on the 31st of May he was superseded by
Lyon.
As soon as this was made known to the
Governor and
General Price, they ordered the militia to be gotten in readiness for the field, for they knew that
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Fac-Simile of War Scrip issued by the Confederate Legislature of Missouri. |
Blair and
Lyon would quickly attack them.
Some well-meaning gentlemen, who vainly imagined that
Missouri could maintain her neutrality in the midst of war, now sought to establish a truce between
Price and
Lyon.
Through them a conference was agreed upon, and the
Governor and
General Price came to
St. Louis under
Lyon's safe conduct.
They met him and
Blair at the
Planters' House.
Lyon was accompanied by his aide-de-camp,
Major Horace A. Conant, and I was present as the
Governor's aide.
The interview, which lasted several hours, was at last terminated by
Lyon's saying that he would see every man, woman, and child in
Missouri under the sod before he would consent that the
State should dictate to “his Government” as to the movement of its troops within her limits, or as to any other matter however unimportant.
“This,” said he, “means war. One of my officers will conduct you out of my lines in an hour.”
So saying, he left without another word, without even a salutation.
He had hardly left us when he was issuing orders for the movement of his troops.
Sweeny and
Sigel were sent with about 3000 men to the south-west to intercept the retreat of
Jackson and
Price if they should undertake to effect a junction with
General Ben. McCulloch, who was believed to be concentrating a Confederate army in
north-western Arkansas for the invasion of
Missouri.
Lyon would himself move up the
Missouri after
Jackson.
The conference was held on the 11th of June.
On the 13th
Lyon was on his way to
Jefferson City with about 2000 men. Arriving there the next day, he found that the
Governor had fled to
Boonville.
Leaving a garrison at
Jefferson City, he pushed on to
Boonville, where some 1,300 militia had rendezvoused.
Attacking these on the 17th, he dispersed them and drove the
Governor southward with some two or three hundred men who still adhered to him and to the cause which he represented.
General Price had meanwhile gone to
Lexington, where several thousand militia had assembled.
From a military standpoint the affair at
Boonville was a very insignificant thing, but it did in fact deal a stunning blow to the Southern-rights men of
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Missouri, and one which weakened the
Confederacy during all of its brief existence.
It was indeed the consummation of
Blair's statesmanlike scheme to make it impossible for
Missouri to secede, or out of her great resources to contribute liberally of men and material to the
South, as she would have done could her people have had their own way. It was also the most brilliant achievement of
Lyon's well-conceived campaign.
The capture of Camp Jackson had disarmed the
State, and completed the conquest of
St. Louis and all the adjacent counties.
The advance upon
Jefferson City had put the
State government to flight and taken away from the
Governor the prestige which sustains established and acknowledged authority.
The dispersion of the volunteers that were flocking to
Boonville to fight under
Price for
Missouri and the
South extended
Lyon's conquest at once to the borders of
Iowa, closed all the avenues by which the
Southern men of
North Missouri could get to
Price and
Jackson, made the
Missouri River a Federal highway from its source to its mouth, and put an end to
Price's hope of holding the rich and friendly counties in the vicinity of
Lexington till the
Confederacy could send an army to his support, and arms and supplies for the men whom he was concentrating there.
Price had, indeed, no alternative now but to retreat in all haste to the south-western part of the
State, so as to organize his army within supporting distance of the force which
McCulloch was assembling in
western Arkansas for the protection of that State and the
Indian Territory.
He accordingly ordered
Brigadier-General James S. Rains to take command of the militia at and near
Lexington, and to move southward so as to effect a junction with the
Governor in the vicinity of
Lamar, toward which place the latter was retreating with
Generals M. M. Parsons and
John B. Clark and what was left of their commands.
General Price himself, accompanied by his staff and a small escort, hastened rapidly toward
Arkansas in order to bring
McCulloch to the rescue of both the
Governor and
Rains.
On the way he was joined, almost daily, by squads or companies, and by the time he reached
Cowskin Prairie, in the extreme south-western corner of the
State, he had collected about 1,200 men.
On the 3d of July
Rains reached
Lamar, near which place the
Governor and his followers were already encamped.
The combined force amounted to about 6000 men, of whom 4000 were armed, and they had seven pieces of artillery.
Halting until the 5th in order to rest and organize, they pushed on that morning toward
Carthage, having heard that a Federal force had occupied that place, which lay in their line of retreat.
They had marched but a few miles when, as they were passing through the open prairie, they descried, some three miles away, on the declivity of a hill over which they had themselves to pass, a long line of soldiers with glistening bayonets and bright guns.
These were part of the force which
Lyon, on marching against
Jefferson City, had sent under
General Sweeny and
Colonel Sigel to the south-west to intercept the
Governor's retreat toward
Arkansas.
Sigel, in executing this plan, had first attempted to intercept
Price.
Failing in that, he had now, with more boldness than discretion, thrown himself, with about 1,100
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men and eight pieces of artillery, in front of the
Governor, hoping either to defeat him or to hold him in check till
Lyon could arrive and destroy him. Halting his column in the prairie, and deploying his armed men (about 4000), the
Governor awaited
Sigel's attack.
The fight (known as the battle of
Carthage) did not last long, for
Sigel was outnumbered four to one, and the Missourians quickly put him to flight.
He retreated, however, in perfect order, carrying off almost everything that he had brought with him. But he did not stop running till he had made forty miles. That night the
State troops rested in
Carthage.
The next day they resumed their southward march, and soon met
Price and
McCulloch.
Price now assumed command of the Missourians and led them to
Cowskin Prairie, in the south-western corner of the
State, while
McCulloch went into camp near
Maysville in
Arkansas.
Lyon left
Boonville in pursuit of the
Governor, on the 3d of July, with about 2350 men, and directed his course toward
Clinton in
Henry county, where he had ordered
Major Sturgis, who was following
Rains with about 2500 regulars and
Kansas troops, to unite with him. The two columns came together near
Clinton on the 7th of July and pushed on after the Missourians.
Lyon did not learn till the 9th that they had defeated
Sigel and effected a junction with
McCulloch.
He then made in all haste for
Springfield, fearing that the
Confederates would attack that place.
Arriving there on the 13th of July, he made it his headquarters.
Lyon, on the one hand, and
Price on the other now began to get their armies in readiness for active operations.
For
Lyon this was a simple undertaking; for
Price it was one of great complexity and great difficulty.
Of the 7000 or 8000 men that he had, only a few had been organized into regiments.
Several thousand of them had no arms of any kind.
The rest were for the most part armed with the shot-guns and rifles which they had brought from their homes.
Of powder and lead they had an abundance, but no fixed ammunition for either their seven pieces of artillery or for their small-arms.
Tents they had none, nor camp equipage of any kind.
There were no quartermasters' supplies, nor subsistence; and neither the
quartermaster-general nor the
chief commissary had a dollar of funds.
The men were not fighting for pay, they wanted none, nor did they get any; but they and their thousands of horses and mules had to be fed. For their animals there was nothing but the grass of the prairies, and for themselves nothing but a scant supply of lean beef and coarse
corn-meal.
There were enough good officers to organize and command the men; but it would have puzzled almost any one to drill a company of raw recruits, armed, some with shot-guns, some with rifles, a few with old-fashioned flint-lock muskets, and here and there a man with a percussion musket.
No better proof could be given of the dearth of material for the
Staff, than the fact that I was myself assigned to duty by
General Price as chief of ordnance of the army, though I told him at the time that I did not know the difference between a howitzer and a siege-gun, and had never seen a musket-cartridge in all my life; and a few days later I was assigned to the still more important position of acting Adjutant-General of
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the State Guard, though I had never then heard of a “morning report,” and did not know the right of a company from its left.
Had
Hardee or any other West Pointer been in command, he would have kept us in camp six months, drilling and disciplining us, getting together wagons and teams, tents and cartridge-boxes, uniforms and haversacks, quartermasters and red tape, and all the other equipments and
impedimenta of an army in the field, and then we would have gone into winter quarters;
Lyon would have had his own way in
Missouri, and the
Federal armies that were sent thither to whip us would have been sent to fight in
Virginia or in
Tennessee instead, and the
Confederacy might have been vanquished sooner than it was. But
Price had us all ready for the field in less than three weeks. We had no tents, it is true, but tents would only have been in our way; we had no uniforms, but a bit of flannel or calico fastened to the shoulder of an officer designated his rank sufficiently for all practical purposes; the ripening corn-fields were our depots of subsistence; the prairies furnished forage, and the people in defense of whose homes we were eager to fight gladly gave us of all their stores.
McCulloch, one of the bravest of men and best of scouts, looking at us through the eyes of the young army officers whom
Mr. Davis had sent to teach him how to organize, equip, and fight an army scientifically, saw in the Missourians nothing but a half-armed mob, led by an ignorant old militia general, but he consented to go with
Price in search of
Lyon, who was at
Springfield and not hard to find.
General N. B. Pearce, commanding a brigade of
Arkansas State troops, agreed to go along with them.
Hardee, who was at Pitman's Ferry, Arkansas, within a few hundred yards of the
Missouri line, and almost as near to
Springfield as were
Price and
McCulloch, and who had with him several thousand good soldiers, was begged by both
Price and
McCulloch to cooperate in the movement against
Lyon, but he replied that he “did not wish to march to their assistance with less than 5000 men, well appointed, and a full complement of artillery”!
By order of
General Polk, made at the earnest personal solicitation of
Governor Jackson, who had gone to
Memphis for that purpose,
General Pillow moved into
Missouri from
Tennessee, with twelve thousand men, and occupied New Madrid on the 28th of July, with the intent to unite in the effort to repossess the
State.
On the same day,
Price,
McCulloch, and
Pearce, relying upon the cooperation of both
Hardee and
Pillow, concentrated their forces at
Cassville, within about fifty miles of
Springfield.
There
Price was reinforced by
General McBride's command, consisting of two regiments of foot and three companies of mounted men, about 700 in all. They had come from the hill country lying to the south and south-east of
Springfield, and were a unique body of soldiers.
Very few of the officers had any knowledge whatever of military principles or practices, and only the most superficial experience in company tactics.
The staff was composed chiefly of country lawyers who took the ways of the court-room with them into the field.
Colonels could not drill their regiments, nor captains their companies; a drum and a fife — the only ones in the entire command-sounded all the calls,
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and companies were paraded by the sergeant's calling out, “Oh, yes!
Oh, yes!
all you who belong to
Captain Brown's company fall in here.”
Officers and men messed together, and all approached
McBride without a salute, lounged around his quarters, listened to all that was said, and when they spoke to him called him “Jedge.”
Their only arms were the rifles with which they hunted the squirrels and other small game that abounded in their woods, but these they knew how to use. A powder-horn, a cap-pouch, “a string of patchin‘,” and a hunter's knife completed their equipment.
I doubt whether among them all there was a man that had ever seen a piece of artillery.
But, for all this, they were brave and intelligent.
Like all frontiersmen, they were shrewd, quick-witted, wary, cunning, and ready for all emergencies, and like all backwoodsmen, their courage was serene, steady, unconscious.
While there was no attempt at military discipline, and no pretense of it, the most perfect order was maintained by
McBride's mere force of character, by his great good sense, and by the kindness with which he exercised his patriarchal authority.
Leaving
Cassville on the 31st of July, the combined Southern armies, nearly 11,000 strong, advanced toward
Springfield.
On the way they encountered
Lyon, who had come out to meet them.
McCulloch, who could not comprehend the Missourians or the able soldier who commanded them, refused to attack unless
Price and
Pearce would confer upon him the chief command.
Price had been a brigadier-general in
Mexico, when
McCulloch was but a captain of scouts, and had won more battles there than
McCulloch had ever witnessed; he was now a major-general with more than 5000 men, and
McCulloch had barely 3000; and in intellect, in experience, and in generalship he was worth a dozen McCullochs; nevertheless, he cheerfully placed himself and his army under the
Texan's command.
The order to advance was then given.
Lyon had been encamped six miles in front with between 5000 and 6000 men.
McCulloch moved at midnight, hoping to fall upon him unexpectedly, and to defeat him. To his amazement he learned, on approaching the spot, that
Lyon had left twenty hours before, and must now be almost in sight of
Springfield.
The Confederates kept on, and on the 6th of August went into camp on
Wilson's Creek, within ten miles of
Springfield.
They were still lying there on the morning of the 10th of August, when they were surprised and suddenly attacked on the north by
Lyon, and on the south by
Sigel.
4
One of the stubbornest and bloodiest battles of the war now took place.
Lyon's main attack was met by
Price with about 3200 Missourians, and
Churchill's regiment and
Woodruff's battery, both from
Arkansas.
His left was met and driven back by
McIntosh with a part of
McCulloch's brigade (the Third Louisiana and
McIntosh's regiment).
McCulloch then took some companies of the Third Louisiana and parts of other commands, and with them attacked and routed
Sigel (who had been sent to attack the rear), capturing five of his guns.
This done,
Pearce's Arkansas brigade, which up to this time had not fired a gun, was sent to reinforce
Price.
Lyon, seeing that
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the supreme moment had come, and that the day would be surely lost if he did not overwhelm
Price before the Arkansans could reinforce him, now brought forward every available man, and was putting them into the fight, when his horse was killed, and himself wounded in the head.
Dazed by the blow, dazed and stunned, his heart gave way for a moment under the sudden shock, but quickly coming to his senses he mounted another horse, and, swinging his hat in the air, called on his men to follow.
Closing around him they dashed with him into the thick of the fight.
But a moment later a bullet pierced his heart, and he fell from his horse into the arms of his orderly, and in an instant was dead.
It was vain that the
Federals tried to prolong the battle.
Sturgis, on whom the command devolved, ordered a retreat, and before the
Confederates knew that the battle was ended he was a mile away, having withdrawn his men unseen through the dense undergrowth of the woods in which the battle mainly was fought.
In the
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haste of their retreat, the
Federals left
Lyon's dead body on the field.
I delivered it myself an hour or two later to a flag-of-truce party that had been sent to ask for it. I saw it again the next day in
Springfield, where it had been again abandoned by his men. [See foot-note, page 297.] Rarely have I met so extraordinary a man as
Lyon, or one that has interested me so deeply.
Coming to
St. Louis from
Kansas on the 6th of February, this mere captain of infantry, this little, rough-visaged, red-bearded, weather-beaten
Connecticut captain, by his intelligence, his ability, his energy, and his zeal, had at once acquired the confidence of all the
Union men of
Missouri, and had made himself respected, if not feared, by his enemies.
In less than five months he had risen to the command of the
Union armies in
Missouri, had dispersed the
State government, had driven the
Governor and his adherents into the extremest corner of the
State, had almost conquered the
State, and would have completely conquered it had he been supported by his Government; and now he had given his life willingly for the
Union which he revered, and to the cause of Human Freedom to which he was fanatically devoted.
The Federal force in the battle amounted to about 5400 officers and men. The Confederates had over 10,000 armed men on the ground, but 3000 of them took little or no part in the fight.
The Confederates lost 279 killed and 951 wounded. The Federal loss was 258 killed, 873 wounded, and 186 captured or missing.
McCulloch refused to pursue, and
Price resumed command of the
Missouri troops.
The next day he took possession of
Springfield, and sent
Rains with a mounted force to clear the western counties of the
State of the marauding bands that had come into them from
Kansas.
On the 25th of August he moved northward with his army.
On the 2（1 of September he met a part of
Lane's Kansas Brigade under
Colonel Montgomery on the banks of the
Big Dry Wood.
Montgomery had about 500 men and gave battle, but was forced to retreat before
Price's superior force.
The loss on either side was trifling.
Price now hastened toward
Lexington, joined at every step by recruits.
Reaching the city on the 12th of September with his mounted men, he drove
Colonel Mulligan within his intrenchments, and as soon as his main body came up, completed the investment of the place.
On the 20th he caused a number of hemp-bales saturated with water to be rolled to the front and converted them into movable breastworks, behind which his men advanced unharmed against the enemy.
Colonel Mulligan was forced to surrender the next day.
Price's loss was 25 killed and 72 wounded.
Fremont reported to the War Department that the
Union loss was 39 killed and 120 wounded. The
Missourians captured about 3500 prisoners, five pieces of artillery, two mortars, 3000 stand of small-arms, a large number of sabers, about 750 horses, many sets of cavalry equipments, ammunition, many wagons and teams, more than $100,000 worth of commissary stores, and a large amount of other property.
Price also recovered $900,000 that had been taken by the enemy from the Bank at
Lexington, and restored it to the Bank.
His force.
amounted to about 18,000 men,
Mulligan's to about 3600.
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In order to obtain the cooperation of the Confederate armies, the
Governor and
General Price sent me to
Richmond, after the capture of
Lexington, as a special commissioner to explain to
President Davis the condition of affairs in
Missouri, and to negotiate a treaty of alliance with the
Confederate States, inasmuch as
Missouri had not seceded nor been admitted into the
Confederacy.
By their direction I went by way of
McCulloch's headquarters, in order to make one more effort to secure his cooperation, and failing in that, to get from him certain supplies which
General Price greatly needed, particularly caps for the muskets which we had captured at
Lexington.
To all my entreaties
McCulloch replied that
Price had gone to the
Missouri against his advice; that the movement was unwise and would result in disaster, and that he would not endanger his own army by going to his assistance; and that as for musket-caps, he had none to spare.
General John C. Fremont, who had assumed command of the
Union armies in the
West on the 25th of July,
now began to concentrate his forces against
Price.
Sending about 40,000 men, with 100 pieces of artillery, to attack him in front, and others to cut off his retreat, he took the field himself.
His plan was magnificent — to capture or disperse
Price's army; march to
Little Rock and occupy the place; turn the
Confederates under
Polk,
Pillow,
Thompson, and
Hardee, and compel them to fall back southward; push on to
Memphis with his army and
Foote's flotilla; capture that city; and
then make straight for New Orleans.
Price left
Lexington on the 29th of September, after advising his unarmed men to return to their homes, and to wait for a more convenient time to rise.
Marching as rapidly as his long train would permit, he reached the
Osage on the 8th of October with about 7000 men. To cross his troops and trains over that difficult river on a single flat-boat was a tedious operation, but
Fremont gave him all the time that he needed, and he got them safely over.
After crossing the
Osage,
Price marched quickly to
Neosho, where the General Assembly had been summoned by
Governor Jackson to meet.
Fremont continued to follow till the 2d of November, when he was superseded by
Major-General David Hunter, who immediately stopped the pursuit and turned the army back to
St. Louis.
On the 19th of November
Major-General Halleck assumed command of the Federal Department.
When I returned from
Richmond,
Price had gone into winter quarters on the Sac River near
Osceola.
Many of his men had been furloughed so that they might go to their homes, where they could subsist themselves during
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the winter and provide for their families.
McCulloch's brigade was on the
Arkansas River, and
Pearce's had been disbanded.
Under the treaty which had been negotiated at
Richmond, the enlistment of Missourians in the Confederate army was at once begun and was continued at
Springfield, whither
Price moved his army just before
Christmas.
Before the end of January, 1862, two regiments of infantry (
Burbridge's and
Rives's), one regiment of cavalry (
Gates's), and two batteries (
Wade's and
Clark's) had been mustered into the
Confederate service, and on the 28th I started to
Richmond to deliver the muster-rolls to the
Secretary of War, and to inform the
President as to the strength and condition of the army in
Missouri, and to communicate to him
Price's views as to the future conduct of the war in that State.
On the way I met
Major-General Earl Van Dorn at
Jacksonport in
Arkansas.
He had just assumed command (January 29th) of the
District of the Trans-
Mississippi, constituting a part of
General Albert Sidney Johnston's extensive department.
He was a dashing soldier, and a very handsome man, and his manners were graceful and fascinating.
He was slight of stature and his features were almost too delicately refined for a soldier, but this defect, if it was a defect, was converted into a charm by the martial aspect of his mustache and imperial, and by an exuberant growth of brownish hair.
Quitting the United States army when
Mississippi seceded, he first entered her service, and was afterward appointed to that of the
Confederacy and placed in command of
Texas.
Transferred thence to
Virginia in September, 1861, he was commissioned major-general and ordered to report to
General J. E. Johnston, commanding the Army of the Potomac.
Johnston ordered him to
Beauregard, and
Beauregard assigned him to the command of a division, October 4th, 1861.
He was assigned to the command of the Trans-Mississippi District, January 10th, 1862.
We Missourians were delighted; for he was known to be a fighting man, and we felt sure he would help us to regain our State.
I explained to him the condition of affairs in
Missouri, and
General Price's views.
Van Dorn had already decided upon a plan of campaign, and in execution of it ordered
General Albert Pike, a few days afterward, to
Lawrence county, Missouri, with a mixed command of whites and Indians estimated at 7000 men; ordered
McIntosh to report to
Price at
Springfield with
McCulloch's infantry; ordered
McCulloch to
Pocahontas with his mounted men; and called upon
Louisiana,
Arkansas, and
Texas to send reinforcements.
Hopeful and enthusiastic by nature, he believed that
Price would have 15,000 effective men at
Springfield by the last of March, and himself 18,000 at
Pocahontas, and that they could then march against
St. Louis.
The two columns were to effect a junction north of
Ironton, and, moving thence rapidly without tents or baggage, take the city by assault.
Possession of the city would give him possession of the
State, and the enemy would supply the arms for the thousands of volunteers that would flock to his standard.
From this day-dream he was rudely awakened a few days later by news that
Price had been driven from
Springfield on the 12th of February, and was hotly pursued by a Federal army which
Halleck had sent against him under
General S. R. Curtis.
With this army was
Captain P. H. Sheridan, doing duty
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as quartermaster.
Price sought refuge in the mountains of
Arkansas, and February 21st was within thirty miles of
Van Buren, near which place was
McCulloch.
On learning all this
Van Dorn hastened to
Van Buren and thence to
Price's headquarters, which he reached on the 1st of March.
After a hurried consultation with
Price and
McCulloch, he decided to instantly attack
Curtis, who had taken a strong position among the mountains near
Bentonville.
He moved on the 4th of March with about 16,000 men, of whom 6800 were Missourians under
Price, and the rest Confederates under
McCulloch and Pike.
When almost within reach of
Curtis (who reported his own strength at 10,500 infantry and cavalry and forty-nine pieces of artillery)
Van Dorn unwisely divided his army, and leaving
McCulloch with his own command and
Pike's to attack
Curtis in front, himself made with
Price and the Missourians a long circuit to the rear of
Curtis, and out of communication with
McCulloch.
Both columns attacked about the same time on the 7th.
Price was completely successful and carried everything before him, taking during
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the afternoon seven pieces of cannon and about 200 prisoners, and at night bivouacked near
Elkhorn Tavern.
But morning revealed the enemy in a new and strong position, their forces united and offering battle.
The Confederates soon learned that
McCulloch and
McIntosh had been killed the day before and their force routed and dispersed.
The battle was renewed nevertheless, and the Missourians fought desperately and were still holding their ground when about 10 o'clock
Van Dorn ordered a retreat, and the army leaving
Missouri to her fate began to fall back toward
Van Buren.
In this battle, sometimes called the
battle of Pea Ridge, and at other times the
battle of Elkhorn, the
Federal general reported his losses at 203 killed, 980 wounded, and 201 missing.
Van Dorn's were probably greater, and he lost heavily in good officers.
McCulloch and
McIntosh were killed;
General Price was again wounded and narrowly escaped death;
General W. Y. Slack, whom his men idolized and whom the whole army held in honor, was fatally wounded; and
Colonel B. A. Rives, one of the knightliest of soldiers and bravest of gentlemen, and
Churchill Clark, a heroic boy, were killed.
Halleck, who had determined to make the
Tennessee “the great strategic line of the
Western campaign,” now began to concentrate all of his forces on that river and the
Mississippi, in order “to fight a great battle on the
Tennessee,” one which would “settle the campaign in the
West.”
He consequently ordered
Curtis not to advance any farther into
Arkansas; and sent out of
Missouri all the troops that could be safely taken thence, some of them to
Pope on the
Mississippi, and others to
Grant on the
Tennessee.
The concentration of Federal armies on the
Mississippi portended such danger to
Beauregard, who had lately assumed command of the defenses of that river, that
General Albert Sidney Johnston ordered
Van Dorn to move his army to within supporting distance of
Beauregard.
This
Van Dorn began to do on the 17th of March, on which day he wrote to
General Johnston that he would soon “relieve
Beauregard by giving battle to the enemy near New Madrid,” or, by marching “boldly and rapidly toward
St. Louis, between
Ironton and the enemy's grand depot at
Rolla.”
While he was executing this plan, and while the greater part of the army that had survived
Elkhorn was on the march across the mountains of
North Arkansas toward
Jacksonport,
Van Dorn was suddenly ordered by
General Johnston on the 23d of March to move his entire command by “the best and most expeditious route” to
Memphis.
His forces, to which he had given the name of “the Army of the West,” were accordingly concentrated in all haste at Des Are, on the
White River, whence they were to take boats for
Memphis.
The first division of this army, to the command of which
General Price had been assigned, was the first to move,
Little's Missouri Brigade embarking on the 8th of April for
Memphis, just as
Pope was taking possession of
Island No.10, and
Beauregard was leading
Johnston's army back to
Corinth from the fateful field of
Shiloh.
