John G. Nicolay, The Outbreak of Rebellion

[123] railroad bridges behind them to prevent pursuit; and on the following day, June 12th, the Governor issued a revolutionary proclamation, calling fifty thousand militia into active service to “repel invasion.”

Lyon evidently expected little else from the rebellious Governor, for he seems to have been ready with plans and preparations to act against the open insurrection that functionary so defiantly proclaimed. The Missouri River furnished a convenient military highway to the capital of the State; and by the afternoon of June 13th, Lyon had an expedition of three swift river steamers, containing a company of his regulars and several battalions of volunteers, in motion. They arrived before Jefferson City on the 15th of June, landed without opposition, occupied the town, and once more raised the Union flag over the State House. Governor Jackson and his Secretary of State precipitately fled, carrying with them only the great seal of the State, to use in certifying their future publications under the pretended authority of Missouri.

Learning at Jefferson City that the Governor and General Price were gathering a force and preparing to make a stand at Boonville, a town fifty miles farther up the Missouri River, Lyon, on June 16th, the day following his arrival, leaving but a small guard at the capital, again hurriedly embarked his men, numbering about two thousand, and pushed energetically ahead, determined to leave the enemy no time to recruit an army. The steamers passed over the intervening distance during the night, and early next morning (June 17th) Lyon made an unopposed landing four miles below Boonville. The Governor's rallying call had indeed already been responded to by several thousand Missourians, being, however, almost totally without organization, and very poorly armed. Half-way from his landing-place to the