lature was to meet in extra session on the 18th, but as fast as the members arrived in Baltimore, on their way to Frederick, that portion of them who, it was known, favored secession, were arrested and sent to Fort McHenry. The Union members refused to meet, there being no quorum, consequently they left in the afternoon, each one for his own home, and over the capital of Maryland floated the "Stars and Stripes," with the motto, "The Union must be preserved." After twenty-four hours' confinement, the officers of the legislature were allowed their liberty on taking the oath of allegiance. All assented except John N. Brewer, the reading clerk, who refused, and was sent off from Frederick with nine members to Annapolis. At four o'clock in the afternoon there was not a member of the legislature in the city, all having left for home. On the same day, in the department of the West, Colonel Frank P. Blair, Jr., was arrested by order of General Fremont, on a charge of insubordination in communicating when attending superior officers, making complaints against, and using disrespectful language toward, General Fremont, with a view of effecting his removal; but on the 25th, General Fremont ordered his release, and sent the following note to Colonel Blair, which explains his reasons for so doing:

"In consequence of a telegram from your brother, Postmaster-General Blair, followed by a letter asking your release, from public reasons you are hereby released from arrest, and directed to resume your sword and join your regiment for duty."

September 20. Surrender of Colonel Mulligan at Lexington, Mo.

On the 21st of June, four days after the battle of Boonville, in which Price and Jackson were defeated by General Lyon, Governor Jackson despatched a special messenger to. Thomas A. Harris as the bearer of

a commission which constituted Thomas A. Harris, brigadier-general of the Missouri State Guard. The commission was accompanied by orders from General Sterling Price which assigned him to the duty of organizing the forces for the defence of that portion of the State north of the Missouri River. The messenger overtook Harris at Paris, Monroe county, where he had stopped for a few hours' rest while on his way to the rendezvous at Boonville, to offer his services as a private soldier. There Harris learned the fate of the Confederates at Boonville, and that the governor and General Price, with such of the forces as had been hastily collected, were in full retreat before the Federals in the direction of southwestern Missouri. Harris immediately commenced recruiting an army, called a public meeting, and delivered a stirring and patriotic address, at the close of which he caused the oath of allegiance to the South to be administered to himself in the most public and impressive manner, and then, in turn, administered the same oath to fifty-three men, and organized them into a company, directing them to return to their homes, collect their private arms, and join him without delay. Soon a report was circulated, though false, that the Federal troops were marching upon the town of Paris, where quite a large number of troops, under Harris, had already assembled, many of them without arms; in consequence of which General Harris and his command immediately evacuated the town and retired into a stronghold in the knobs of Salt River. Here, without blankets or tents, and with very little of any kind of army equipments, he commenced the organization of a guerilla force, observing the utmost secrecy in all his movements, as he believed himself constantly in close proximity to the Federal army. Here we leave General Harris for a short time, and follow General Price to the battle-field of Lexington.

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After the battle of Wilson's Creek, General Price and McCulloch could not agree upon any plan of operations for the future, consequently, late in August, General Price, abandoned by the Confederate forces, took up his line of march for the Missouri River with a small force of his old command and seven pieces of cannon. He was continually receiving accessions on the way, and soon he had an armed force of four thousand five hundred men. Hearing that General Lane and Montgomery were at Fort Scott with a force of several thousand Federal troops from Kansas, and not desiring them to get in his rear, he detoured to the left from his course to the Missouri River and marched directly toward Fort Scott for the purpose of driving them before him up the river. He continued his march until he arrived at a point on a small stream called Drywood, about fifteen miles east of Fort Scott, where he halted and sent on a detachment to Fort Scott, who found the place evacuated. Meantime, General Harris, in his gloomy and cavernous den, had succeeded in raising a force of two thousand seven hundred and thirty men, crossed them over the river, and, after a march of sixty-two miles in twenty-eight hours, united his command with General Price, at Drywood, just in time to participate in the battle of Lexing

ton.

The united forces of Harris and Price now continued their march in the direction of Lexington, receiving frequent reinforcements from the north side of the Missouri River.

At Lexington, Colonel Mulligan was intrenched with about three thousand five hundred Federal troops in splendid fortifications. A bluff east of the city, and overlooking the river, was crowned with earthworks seven feet high, twelve thick, and heavily mounted; and a ditch six feet deep and twelve feet wide surrounded the works on the outside, while another and a smaller forti

fication was erected on the inside; the whole works were calculated to intrench ten thousand men. The force under Colonel Mulligan consisted as follows: Colonel Mulligan's Irish Brigade, from Chicago, about ope thousand men; Colonel Marshall's Irish Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, about eight hundred men; Captain Graham's Illinois Cavalry, about one hundred men; Home Guards, under Lieutenant-Colonel White; Home Guards, under Lieutenant-Colonel Givern; Major Wright's Home Guards, one hundred mounted men; Colonel Peabody's regiment of Home Guards, eight hundred strong, with two pieces of artillery, and Major Becker's Home Guards.

Generals Price and Harris continued their march, pushing rapidly forward without intermission, except when it became evident that the infantry could go no further; then he halted them for a few hours, and again resumed the march until they arrived at Warrensburg, where General Price was constrained to encamp in consequence of a heavy rain, which had commenced about the same time, coupled with the fact that his men had been fasting for more than twenty-four hours, and were also greatly fatigued by several days' continuous and rapid marching. A violent storm delayed the march next morning until the hour of ten o'clock, when the march was resumed; but, finally, General Price became impatient at the slow progress of his infantry, and ordered a detachment of mounted men to move forward, and placing himself at their head, pushed rapidly forward until he arrived at a point within two and a half miles of Lexington, where he halted for the night, having learned that the Federal forces had all gone within the city.

The next morning, 16th, about daybreak, a sharp skirmish took place between the Confederate pickets and the Union outposts, which threatened a general action,

but General Price was unwilling to risk an engagement unless perfectly certain of success; consequently he fell back two or three miles, and awaited the arrival of his infantry and cavalry. These having come up, he advanced upon the town, driving in the Federal pickets until he arrived within a short distance of the city. General Price then surrounded the town and demanded an unconditional surrender of the fort, which was flatly refused, and preparations were made for a determined. resistance. General Price then commenced an attack on the intrenchments, opening with his artillery, and, under its cover, making an advance on the town. The attack was met gallantly by the brave men of Colonel Mulligan's command, and Price was repulsed with great loss, but managed to keep up a brisk fire from his batteries until sunset, compelling the Federal troops to take shelter within their intrenchments.

After sunset, General Price finding that his ammunition, the most of which had been left behind in the march from Springfield, was nearly exhausted, and that his men required rest and food, besides being badly cut up, he withdrew to the Fair Ground, and encamped there, awaiting reinforcements and preparing for a renewal of the attack. Simultaneously with this movement on Lexington, Generals Lane and Montgomery with a force of four thousand men were advancing from the direction of St. Joseph, on the north side of the Missouri River, for the purpose of relieving the forces under Colonel Mulligan. At the same time, about three thousand Missourians, under the immediate command of Colonel Saunders, were hurrying to the aid of General Price, from the same direction with Lane and Montgomery, and having reached the run at Blue Mills, thirty miles above Lexington, on the 17th of September, crossed over a portion of their force in a ferry-boat. While the remainder were waiting to cross