we have seen Conventions of the people of several States coolly assume the power, asserted or reserved in no one of their respective Constitutions, to take those States out of the
Union, and absolve their people from all obligation to uphold or obey its Government, in flagrant defiance of that Federal charter, framed for and adopted by the people of the
United States, and by them recognized and accepted as the supreme law of the
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land, anything in the
Constitution and laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
We have seen one of these Conventions assume and exercise the right of revoking a fundamental compact between the
State and the
Union, which is, by its express terms, irrevocable.
We have seen State Legislatures, in default of Conventions, usurp, practically, this tremendous power of secession; and have heard a now loyal Governor proclaim that a popular majority for Secessionists, in an election of members
of Congress, might serve to nullify the obligation of the citizens of that State to the
Federal Constitution and Union.
We are now to contemplate more directly the spectacle of a State plunged into secession and civil war, not in obedience to, but in defiance of; the action of her Convention and the express will of her people — not, even, by any direct act of her Legislature, but by the will of her Executive alone.
1 Gov. Jackson,
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as we have seen, having found the
Convention, which his Legislature had called, utterly and emphatically intractable to the uses of treason, had reconvened his docile Legislature.
2 But even this body could not be induced to vote the
State out of the
Union.
Below that point, however, it stood ready enough to aid the bolder conspirators; and its pliancy was taxed to the utmost.
The State School Fund, the money provided to pay the July interest on the heavy State Debt, and all other available means, amounting in the aggregate to over three millions of dollars, were appropriated to military uses, and placed at the disposal of
Jackson, under the pretense of arming the
State against any emergency.
By another act, the
Governor was invested with despotic power — even verbal opposition to his assumptions of authority being constituted treason; while every citizen liable to military duty was declared subject to draft into active service at
Jackson's will, and an oath of obedience to the
State Executive exacted.
Under these acts,
Jackson appointed
ex-Gov. Sterling Price Major-General of the
State forces, with nine Brigadiers —
Parsons,
M. L. Clark,
John B. Clark,
Slack,
Harris,
Rains,
McBride,
Stein, and
Jeff. Thompson, commanding in so many districts into which the
State was divided.
These Brigadiers were ordered by
Maj. Gen. Price to muster and organize the militia of their several districts so fast as possible, and send it with all dispatch to
Booneville and
Lexington, two thriving young cities on the
Missouri, respcectively some forty and one hundred miles west of
Jefferson, and in the heart of the slaveholding region.
This call having been made,
Jackson and
Price, fearing an attack from the
Federal forces gathering at
St. Louis, started westward with their followers, reaching
Booneville on the 18th of June.
Price, being sick, kept on by steamboat to
Lexington.
They had not moved too soon.
Gen. Lyon and his army left
St. Louis by steamboats on tile 13th, and reached
Jefferson City on the morning of the 15th, only to find that the
Confederate chiefs had started when he did, with a good hundred miles advantage in the race.
Reembarking on the 16th, he reached
Rockport, nearly opposite
Booneville, next morning, and espied the
Rebel encampment just across the river.
In it were collected some two or three thousand men, only half armed, and not at all drilled, under the immediate command of
Col. Marmaduke:
Jackson, utterly disconcerted by
Lyon's unexpected rapidity of movement, had ordered his “State Guard” to be disbanded, and no resistance to be offered.
But
Marmaduke determined to fight, and started for the landing, where he hoped to surprise and cut up the Unionists while debarking.
He met
Lyon advancing in good order, and was easily routed by him, losing two guns, with much camp-equipage, clothing, etc. His raw infantry were dispersed.
but his strength in cavalry saved him from utter destruction.
Jackson fled to
Warsaw, on the
Osage, some eighty miles south-west.
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Fifteen miles north of that place, at Camp Cole, a half-organized regiment of
Unionists, under
Capt. Cook, was asleep in two barns, with no pickets out save northward, when, during the night of the 18th, they were surprised by a Rebel force from the southward, under
Col. O'Kane, and utterly routed — being unable to offer any serious resistance.
Capt. Cook and a portion of his followers barely escaped with their lives
3 Jackson, reenforced by
O'Kane, halted two days at
Warsaw, then continued his retreat some fifty miles to
Montevallo, in Vernon County, near the west line of the
State, and was here joined on the 3d of July by
Price, with such aid as he had been able to gather at
Lexington and on his way. Their united force is stated by
Pollard at 3,600.
Being pursued by
Lyon, they continued their retreat next day, halting at 9 P. M., in
Jasper County, twenty-three miles distant. Ten miles hence, at 10 A. M., next morning, they were confronted by a Union force 1,500 strong, under
Col. Franz Sigel, who had been dispatched from
St. Louis by the
South-western Pacific road, to
Rolla, had marched thence to
Springfield, and had pushed on to
Mount Vernon, Lawrence County, hoping to prevent a junction between
Jackson and some forces which his Brigadiers were hurrying to his support.
Each army appears to have started that morning with intent to find and fight the other; and such mutual intentions are seldom frustrated.
Sigel found the
Rebels, halted after their morning march, well posted, vastly superior in numbers and in cavalry, but inferior in artillery, which he accordingly resolved should play a principal part in the battle.
In the cannonade which ensued, he inflicted great damage on the
Rebels and received very little, until, after a desultory combat of three or four hours, the enemy resolved to profit by their vast superiority in cavalry by outflanking him, both right and left.
This compelled
