The Struggle for Missouri Part 5

Gen. Lyon answered this by presenting a copy of the following memorandum which had been sent by Gen. Harney as the only basis on which he would treat with Jackson and Price: Memorandum for Gen. Price.-May 21, 1861.

Gen. Harney is here as a citizen of Missouri, with all his interests at stake in the preservation of the peace of the State.

He earnestly wishes to do nothing to complicate matters, and will do everything in his power, consistently with his Instructions, to preserve peace and order.

He is, however, compelled to recognize the existence of a rebellion in a portion of the United States, and in view of it he stands upon the proclamation of the President itself, based upon the laws and Const.i.tution of the United States.

The proclamation demands the dispersion of all armed bodies hostile to the supreme law of the land.

Gen. Harney sees in the Missouri Military Bill features which compel him to look upon such armed bodies as may be organized under its provisions as antagonistic to the United States, within the meaning of the proclamation, and calculated to precipitate a conflict between the State and the United States.

He laments the tendency of things, and most cordially and earnestly invites the co-operation of Gen. Price to avert it.

For this purpose Gen. Harney respectfully asks Gen. Price to review the features of the bill, in the spirit of law, warmed and elevated by that of humanity, and seek to discover some means by which its action may be suspended until some competent tribunal shall decide upon its character.

The most material features of the bill calculated to bring about a conflict are, first, the oath required to be taken by the Militia and State Guards (an oath of allegiance to the State of Missouri without recognizing the existence of the Government of the United States); and, secondly, the express requirements by which troops within the State not organized under the provisions of the Military Bill are to be disarmed by the State Guards.

Gen. Harney cannot be expected to await a summons to surrender his arms by the State troops.

From this statement of the case the true question becomes immediately visible and cannot be shut out of view.

Gen. Price Is earnestly requested to consider this, and Gen.

Harney will be happy to confer with him on the subject whenever It may suit his convenience.

N. B.-Read to Gen. Price, In the presence of Maj. H. B.

Turner, on the evening of the 21st of May.

{113} Naturally this threw Gen. Price into much confusion, and his face reddened with mortification, but after a few minutes he said that he did not remember hearing the paper read; that it was true that Hitchc.o.c.k and Turner had come from Gen. Harney to see him, but he could recall nothing of any such paper being presented. The discussion grew warmer as Gen. Lyon felt more strongly the force of his position. Gen. Price insisted that no armed bodies of Union troops should pa.s.s through or be stationed in Missouri, as such would occasion civil war. He a.s.serted that Missouri must be neutral, and neither side should arm. Gov. Jackson would protect the Union men and would disband his State troops.

Gen. Lyon opposed this by saying, in effect, "that, if the Government withdrew its forces entirely, secret and subtle measures would be resorted to to provide arms and perfect organizations which, upon any pretext, could put forth a formidable opposition to the General Government; and even without arming, combinations would doubtless form in certain localities, to oppress and drive out loyal citizens, to whom the Government was bound to give protection, but which it would be helpless to do, as also to repress such combinations, if its forces could not be sent into the State. A large aggressive force might be formed and advanced from the exterior into the State, to a.s.sist it in carrying out the Secession program; and the Government could not, under the limitation proposed, take posts on these borders to meet and repel such force.

{114} The Government could not shrink from its duties nor abdicate its corresponding right; and, in addition to the above, it was the duty of its civil officers to execute civil process, and in case of resistance to receive the support of military force. The proposition of the Governor would at once overturn the Government privileges and prerogatives, which he (Gen. Lyon) had neither the wish nor the authority to do. In his opinion, if the Governor and the State authorities would earnestly set about to maintain the peace of the State, and declare their purposes to resist outrages upon loyal citizens of the Government, and repress insurrections against it, and in case of violent combinations, needing co-operation of the United States troops, they should call upon or accept such a.s.sistance, and in case of threatened invasion the Government troops took suitable posts to meet it, the purposes of the Government would be subserved, and no infringement of the State rights or dignity committed. He would take good care, in such faithful co-operation of the State authorities to this end, that no individual should be injured in person or property, and that the utmost delicacy should be observed toward all peaceable persons concerned in these relations."

Gen. Lyon based himself unalterably upon this proposition, and could not be moved from it by anything Price or Jackson could say.

Gov. Jackson entered into the discussion again to suggest that they separate and continue the conference further by correspondence; but Lyon, who felt vividly that the main object of the Secessionists was to gain time to perfect their plans, rejected this proposition, but said that he was quite willing that all those present should reduce their views to writing and publish them; which, however, did not strike Jackson and Price favorably. As to the close of the interview, Maj. Conant says: {115} "As Gen. Lyon was about to take his leave, he said: 'Gov. Jackson, no man in the State of Missouri has been more ardently desirous of preserving peace than myself. Heretofore Missouri has only felt the fostering care of the Federal Government, which has raised her from the condition of a feeble French colony to that of an empire State. Now, however, from the failure on the part of the Chief Executive to comply with const.i.tutional requirements, I fear she will be made to feel its power. Better, sir, far better, that the blood of every man, woman and child of the State should flow than that she should successfully defy the Federal Government.'"

Col. Snead has published this account of the close of the conference: "Finally, when the conference had lasted four or five hours, Lyon closed it, as he had opened it. 'Rather,' said he (he was still seated, and spoke deliberately, slowly, and with a peculiar emphasis), 'rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to demand that my Government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or bring troops into the State whenever it pleases, or move its troops at its own will into, out of, or through the State; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my Government in any matter however unimportant, I would (rising as he said this, and pointing in turn to every one in the room) see you, and you, and you, and you, and every man, woman, and child in the State, dead and buried.'

{116} "Then turning to the Governor, he said: 'This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines.'

"And then, without another word, without an inclination of the head, without even a look, he turned upon his heel and strode out of the room, rattling his spurs and clanking his saber, while we, whom he left, and who had known each other for years, bade farewell to each other courteously and kindly, and separated-Blair and Conant to fight for the Union, we for the land of our birth."

When the great American painter shall arise, one of the grandest themes for his pencil will be that destiny-shaping conference on that afternoon in June, 1861. He will show the face of Gov. Jackson as typical of that cla.s.s of Southern politicians who raised the storm from the unexpected violence of which they retreated in dismay. There will be more than a suggestion of this in Jackson's expression and att.i.tude. He entered the conference full of his official importance as the head of the great Sovereign State, braving the whole United States, and quite complacent as to his own powers of diction and argument. He quickly subsided, however, from the leading character occupying the center of the stage to that of chorus in the wings, in the deadly grapple of men of mightier purpose-Lyon and Price, who were to ride the whirlwind he had been contriving, and rule the storm he had been instrumental in raising.

{117} Even Blair, immeasurably stronger mentally and morally than Jackson-Blair, tall, sinewy, alert, with face and pose revealing the ideal leader that he was-even he felt the presence of stronger geniuses, and lapsed into silence.

The time for talking men was past Captains of hosts were now uttering the last stern words, which meant the crash of battle and the death and misery of myriads. Hereafter voices would be in swords, and arguments flame from the brazen mouths of cannon hot with slaughter.

Sterling Price, white-haired, large of frame, imposing, benignant, paternal, inflexible as to what he considered principle, was to point the way which 100,000 young Missourians were to follow through a thousand red battlefields.

Nathaniel Lyon, short of stature, red-haired, in the prime of manhood and perfected soldiers.h.i.+p, fiery, jealous for his country's rights and dignity, was to set another 100,000 young Missourians in battle array against their opponents, to fight them to complete overthrow.

After they withdrew from the conference, Gov. Jackson, as Price's trumpeter, sounded the call "to arms" in a proclamation to the people of Missouri.

{118}

CHAPTER VII. GEN. LYON BEGINS AN EFFECTIVE CAMPAIGN

Gen. Sterling Price was soldier enough to recognize that Gen. Lyon was a different character from the talking men who had been holding the center of the stage for so long. When his trumpet sounded his sword was sure to leap from its scabbard. Blows were to follow so quickly upon words as to tread upon their heels.

At the close of the interview of June 11, Gen. Lyon, with Col. Blair and Maj. Conant, returned to the a.r.s.enal, while Gov. Jackson and Gen. Price hurried to the depot of the Pacific Railroad, where they impressed a locomotive, tender and cars, and urged the railroad men to get up steam in the shortest possible time. Imperative orders cleared the track ahead of them, and they rushed away for the Capital of the State with all speed.

At the crossing of the Gasconade River they stopped long enough to thoroughly burn the bridge to check Lyon's certain advance, and while doing this Sterling Price cut the telegraph wires with his own hands. The train then ran on to the Osage River, where, to give greater a.s.surance against rapid pursuit, they burnt that bridge also.

Arriving at Jefferson City about 2 o'clock in the morning, the rest of the night was spent in anxious preparation of a proclamation by the Governor to the people of Missouri, which was intended to be a trumpet call to bring every man capable of bearing arms at once to the support of the Governor and the furtherance of his plans.

{119} According to the Census of 1860 there were 236,402 men in Missouri capable of bearing arms, and if the matter could be put in such a way that a half or even one-third of these would respond to the Governor's mandate, a host would be mustered which would quickly sweep Lyon and his small band out of the State. The proclamation to effect this which was elaborated by the joint efforts of Gov. Jackson and Col. Snead, the editor of the St. Louis Bulletin, a Secessionist organ, and the Governor's Secretary and Adjutant-General, together with Gen. Price.

Considered as a trumpet call it was entirely too verbose. Col. Snead could not break himself of writing long, ponderous editorials. The more pertinent paragraphs were: To the People of Missouri:

A series of unprovoked and unparalleled outrages have been inflicted upon the peace and dignity of this Commonwealth and upon the rights and liberties of its people, by wicked and unprincipled men, professing to act under the authority of the United States Government. The solemn enactments of your Legislature have been nullified; your volunteer soldiers have been taken prisoners; your commerce with your sister States has been suspended; your trade with your fellow-citizens has been, and is, subjected to the hara.s.sing control of an armed soldiery; peaceful citizens have been imprisoned without warrant of law; unoffending and defenseless men, women, and children have been ruthlessly shot down and murdered; and other unbearable indignities have been heaped upon your State and yourselves....

They (Blair and Lyon) demanded not only the disorganization and disarming of the State Militia, and the nullification of the Military Bill, but they refused to disarm their own Home Guards, and insisted that the Federal Government should enjoy an unrestricted right to move and station its troops throughout the State, whenever and wherever that might, in the opinion of its officers, be necessary, either for the protection of the "loyal subjects" of the Federal Government or for the repelling of invasion; and they plainly announced that it was the intention of the Administration to take military occupation, under these pretexts, of the whole State, and to reduce it, as avowed by Gen. Lyon himself, to the "exact condition of Maryland."

{120} The acceptance by me of these degrading terms would not only have sullied the honor of Missouri, but would have aroused the Indignation of every brave citizen, and precipitated the very conflict which it has been my aim to prevent. We refused to accede to them, and the conference was broken up....

Now, therefore, I, C. F. Jackson, Governor of the State of Missouri, do, in view of the foregoing facts, and by virtue of the power invested in me by the Const.i.tution and laws of this Commonwealth, issue this, my proclamation, calling the Militia of the State, to the number of 60,000, into the active service of the State, for the purpose of repelling said invasion, and for the protection of the lives, liberty, and property of the citizens of this State. And I earnestly exhort all good citizens of Missouri to rally under the flag of their State, for the protection of their endangered homes and firesides, and for the defense of their most sacred rights and dearest liberties.

This proclamation was given out to the press, but even before it appeared the Governor had telegraphed throughout the State to leading Secessionists to arm and rush to his a.s.sistance.

This did not catch Gen. Lyon at all unawares. He had long ago determined upon a movement to Springfield, which, being in the midst of the farming region, was the center of the Union element of southwest Missouri. Immediately, upon reading the Governor's proclamation, he saw the necessity of forestalling the projected concentration by reaching Jefferson City with the least possible delay. Before he retired that night he had given orders for the formation of a marching column, and had placed the affairs of his great Department outside of this column, of which he proposed to take personal command, in the hands of Col. Chester Harding, to whom he gave full powers to sign his name and issue orders.

{121} Having thought out his plans well beforehand, Gen. Lyon began his campaign with well-ordered celerity. Part of the troops he had at command were sent down the southwestern branch of the Pacific Railroad to secure it. Others were sent to points at which the militia were known to be gathering to disperse them.

Gen. Lyon himself, with his staff, the Regulars, infantry and artillery, and a force of volunteers, embarked on two steamboats to move directly upon Jefferson City by the way of the Missouri River.

They arrived at the Capital of Missouri about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of June 15, and were met with an enthusiastic reception from the loyal citizens, of whom a large proportion were Germans. Gov. Jackson had only been able to a.s.semble about 120 men, with whom he made a hasty retreat to Boonville, about 50 miles further up the river, which had been selected by Gen. Price as one of his princ.i.p.al strategic points. Boonville is situated on the highlands at a natural crossing of the Missouri, and by holding it communication could be maintained between the parts of the State lying north and south of the river, and thus allow the concentration of the Militia, which Gov. Jackson had called out. The hights on the river bank would enable the river to be blockaded against expeditions ascending it, and the entire length of the stream to Kansas City, about 100 miles in a direct line, could be thus controlled.

The Missouri River divides the State unequally, leaving about one-third on the north and two-thirds on the south. Of the 99 Counties in the State, 44 are north of the Missouri River, but these are smaller than those south.

{122} Gov. Jackson had telegraphed orders for the Brigade-Generals commanding the districts into which the State had been divided to concentrate their men with all haste at Boonville and at Lexington, still further up the river, nearly midway between Boonville and Kansas City. The beginnings of an a.r.s.enal were made at Boonville, to furnish arms and ammunition.

Gen. Lyon saw the strategic importance of the place, and did not propose to allow any concentration to be made there. He did not, as most Regular officers were p.r.o.ne, wait deliberately for wagons and rations and other supplies, but with a truer instinct of soldiers.h.i.+p comprehended that his men could live wherever an enemy could, and leaving a small squad at Jefferson City, immediately started his column for Boonville, sending orders to other columns in Iowa and Kansas to converge toward that place.

Progress up the Missouri River was tedious, as the water was low, and the troops had to frequently disembark in order to allow the boats to go over the shoals. It was reported to Gen. Lyon that about 4,000 Confederates had already concentrated at Boonville.

While Gen. Price was the Commander-in-Chief, several prominent Secessionists were commanders upon the field of the whole or parts of the force. The man, however, who was the most in evidence in the fighting was John Sappington Marmaduke, a native Missourian, born in Saline County in 1833, and therefore 28 years old. He was the son of a farmer, had been at Yale and Harvard, and then graduated from West Point in 1857, standing 30 in a cla.s.s of 38. He had been on frontier duty with the 7th U. S. until after the firing on Fort Sumter, when he resigned to return to Missouri and raise a regiment for the Southern Confederacy. He was to rise to the rank of Major-General in the Confederate army, achieve much fame for military ability, and be elected, in 1884, Governor of the State.

{123} The column immediately under the command of Gen. Lyon consisted of Totten's Light Battery (F, 2d U. S. Art.); Co. B, 2d U. S.; two companies of Regular recruits; Col. Blair's Missouri regiment and nine companies of Boernstein's Missouri regiment; aggregating somewhere between 1,700 and 2,000 men. On the evening of Sunday, June 16, the boats carrying the command arrived within 15 miles of Boonville, and lay there during the night. The next morning they proceeded up to within about eight miles of the town, when all but one company of Blair's regiment and an artillery detachment disembarked and began a land march upon the enemy's position. The remaining company and the howitzer were sent on with the boats to give the impression that an attack was to be made from the river side.

The people in the country reported to Gen. Lyon that the enemy was fully 4,000 strong, and intended an obstinate defense. He therefore moved forward cautiously, arriving at last at the foot of a gently undulating slope to a crest one mile distant, on which the enemy was stationed, with the ground quite favorable for them. Gen. Lyon formed a line of battle about 300 yards from the crest, with Totten's battery in the rear and nine companies of Boernstein's regiment on the right, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Schaeffer, and the Regulars and Col. Blair's regiment on the left. It was a momentous period, big with Missouri's future.

{124} The engagement opened with Capt. Totten sh.e.l.ling the enemy's position and the well-drilled German infantry advancing with the Regulars, firing as they went. The question was now to be tried as to the value of the much-vaunted Missouri riflemen in conflict with the disciplined Germans. The former had been led to believe that they would repeat the achievements of their forefathers at New Orleans.

Under the lead of Col. Marmaduke, the Confederates stood their ground pluckily for a few minutes, but the steady advance of the Union troops, with the demoralizing effect of the sh.e.l.ls, were too much for them. Col. Marmaduke attempted to make an orderly retreat, and at first seemed to succeed, but finally the movement degenerated into a rout, and the Confederates scattered in wild flight, led by their Governor, who, like James II. at the battle of the Boyne, had witnessed the skirmish from a neighboring eminence. The losses on each side were equal-two killed and some eight or nine wounded.

Lyon pushed on at once to the camp of the enemy, and there captured some 1,200 pairs of shoes, 20 to 30 tents, and a considerable quant.i.ty of ammunition, with quite a supply of arms, blankets and personal effects.

{125} The detachment which had gone by the river on the boats aided in securing the victory by a noisy bombardment with their howitzer, and landing at the town, captured two six-pounders, with a number of prisoners. The Mayor of Boonville came out and formally surrendered the town to Gen. Lyon and Col. Blair. Parties were sent out the various roads to continue the pursuit, and Gen. Lyon issued the following proclamation, admirable in tone and wording, to counteract that of the Governor and quiet the people, especially as to interference with slave property: To the People of Missouri:

Upon leaving the city of St. Louis, In consequence of the declaration of war made by the Governor of this State against the Government of the United States, because I would not a.s.sume in its behalf to relinquish its duties and abdicate its rights of protecting loyal citizens from the oppression and cruelties of Secessionists in this State, I published an address to the people, in which I declared my intention to use the force under my command for no other purpose than the maintenance of the authority of the General Government and the protection of the rights and property of all law-abiding citizens. The State authorities, in violation of an agreement with Gen. Harney, on the 21st of May last, had drawn together and organized upon a large scale the means of warfare, and having made declaration of war, they abandoned the Capital, issued orders for the destruction of the railroad and telegraph lines, and proceeded to this point to put in execution their purposes toward the General Government. This devolved upon me the necessity of meeting this issue to the best of my ability, and accordingly I moved to this point with a portion of the force under my command, attacked and dispersed hostile forces gathered here by the Governor, and took possession of the camp equipage left and a considerable number of prisoners, most of them young and of immature age, who represent that they have been misled by frauds ingeniously devised and industriously circulated by designing leaders, who seek to devolve upon unreflecting and deluded followers the task of securing the object of their own false ambition.

Out of compa.s.sion for these misguided youths, and to correct impressions created by unscrupulous calumniators, I have liberated them, upon condition that they will not serve in the impending hostilities against the United States Government. I have done this in spite of the known facts that the leaders in the present rebellion, having long experienced the mildness of the General Government, still feel confident that this mildness cannot be overtaxed even by factious hostilities having In view its overthrow; but if, as in the case of the late Camp Jackson affair, this clemency than still be misconstrued, it is proper to give warning that the Government cannot be always expected to indulge it to the compromise of its evident welfare.

{126} Having learned that those plotting against the Government have falsely represented that the Government troops intended a forcible and violent invasion of Missouri for the purposes of military despotism and tyranny, I hereby give notice to the people of this State that I shall scrupulously avoid all interferences with the business, rights, and property of every description recognized by the laws of this State, and belonging to law-abiding citizens; but that it is equally my duty to maintain the paramount authority of the United Sates with such force as I have at my command, which will be retained only so long as opposition shall make it necessary; and that it is my wish, and shall be my purpose, to devolve any unavoidable rigor arising in this issue upon those only who provoke it.

All persons who, under the misapprehensions above mentioned, have taken up arms, or who are now preparing to do so, are invited to return to their homes, and relinquish their hostile att.i.tude to the General Government, and are a.s.sured that they may do so without being molested for past occurrences.

N. LYON,

Brigadier-General, U. S. Vols., Commanding.

Several thousand of Jackson's Militia had already a.s.sembled at Lexington, nearly midway between Boonville and Kansas City. When they heard of the affair at Boonville they realized that they were in danger of being caught between the column advancing from that direction and the one under Maj. Sturgis, which Gen. Lyon had ordered forward from Leavenworth through Kansas City, while a third, under Col. Curtis, was approaching from the Iowa line. They dispersed at once, to fall back behind the Osage River, at Gen. Price's direction. Thus Lyon gained complete control of the Missouri River in its course through the State, enabling him to cut off the Confederates in the northern from those in the southern part of the State.

{127} Another success which came to him was the seizure of the office of the St. Louis Bulletin, and the discovery there of a letter from Gov, Jackson to the publisher, which completely proved all the allegations that had been made as to the Governor's action, decisively contradicted the material a.s.sertions in his proclamations and vindicated Gen. Lyon from the charges against him of undue precipitancy. The letter was long, personal and confidential. In it he said: I do not think Missouri should secede today or tomorrow, but I do not think it good policy that I should so disclose. I want a little time to arm the State, and I am a.s.suming every responsibility to do it with all possible dispatch. Missouri should act in concert with Tennessee and Kentucky. They are all bound to go out, and should go together, if possible. My judgment is that North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas will all be out in a few days, and when they go Missouri should follow. Let us, then, prepare to make our exit. We should keep our own counsels. Every man in the State is in favor of arming the State. Then let it be done. All are opposed to furnis.h.i.+ng Mr. Lincoln with soldiers. Time will settle the balance.

Nothing should be said about the time or the manner in which Missouri should go out. That she ought to go, and will go at the proper time, I have no doubt. She ought to have gone out last Winter, when she could have seized the public arms and public property, and defended herself. That she has failed to do, and must wait a little while. Paschall is a base submissionist, and desires to remain with the North, if every Slave State should go out. Call on every country paper to defend me, and a.s.sure them I am fighting under the true flag. Who does not know that every sympathy of my heart is with the South? The Legislature, in my view, should sit in secret session, and touch nothing but the measures of defense.

Though in point of fighting and losses this initial campaign ending with the skirmish at Boonville had been insignificant, its results far surpa.s.sed those of many of the bloodiest battles of the rebellion. The Governor of the State was in flight from his Capital; his troops had been scattered in the first collision; control had been gained of the Missouri River, cutting the enemy's line in two; and above all, there was the immense moral effect of the defeat in action of the boastful Secessionists by the much denounced "St. Louis Dutch." This alone accounted for the acquisition of many thousand wavering men to the side of the Union. Missourians were not different from the rest of mankind, and every community had its large proportion of those who, when the Secessionists seemed to have everything their own way, inclined to that side, but came back to their true allegiance at the first sign of the Government being able to a.s.sert its supremacy. The Government was now aroused and striking-and striking successfully. Its enemies were immensely depressed, and its friends correspondingly elated.

{129} Gen. Lyon's next thought was to drive Gov. Jackson and his Secession clique out of Missouri into Arkansas, free the people from their pernicious influence, protect the Union people, especially in the southwestern part of the State, and keep tens of thousands of young men from being persuaded or dragged into the rebel army.

He would demonstrate the Government's position so convincingly that there would be no longer any doubt of Missouri's remaining in the Union.