ance.

arms. The men with one voice consented to follow him, but were so exhausted, having had three days of incessant fighting, during which time they had neither time. to eat or sleep, that they could make but feeble resistIt was soon discovered that General Price had been reinforced during the night by Colonel Saunders, with twenty-five hundred men, and had procured a large number of hemp bales which were transported to the river heights where movable breastworks were speedily constructed out of them, which proved as efficient as the cotton bales at New Orleans. The troops rolled them in advance, and under their cover gradually succeeded in securing a position in the rear. The Confederates made but few charges upon the fortifications during the entire siege. Their object seemed to be to surround the fort and cut off the supply of water, and having succeeded in this, they awaited until Colonel Mulligan was compelled to yield to a foe more terrible than the twentyseven thousand rebels who surrounded him. In addition to the hempen breastworks, the rebels fired upon the Federal garrisons from the tree-tops, hill-sides, and roofs of houses. Many daring attempts were made to drive back the assailants, but the Union troops were repulsed in every instance, until, finally, unable to hold out any longer, after fifty-nine hours of continuous fighting, about four o'clock on the afternoon of the 20th they raised a white flag on that part of the fortifications nearest to Colonel Green's position, and shortly afterwards another was displayed opposite to Colonel Rives' position. General Price immediately sent forward his staff officers to open negotiations with Colonel Mulligan, and it was agreed that the Federal forces should lay down their arms and surrender as prisoners of war, and the surrender was made. About three thousand Federal troops, officers and men, surrendered to twenty-six thousand Confederates. A more gallant officer, more

united and intrepid men, never marched under the National flag. They fought like veterans; and only on the verge of perishing, and when they had been drinking vinegar for water in their extremity, did they succumb to hard fate, and yield to superior numbers.

When the surrender was made and the forces under Colonel Mulligan stacked their arms, the rebels mounted the breastworks and seemed mad with joy and delight, whereupon General Price ordered that they (the Unionists) were not to be insulted by word or act, assigning as a reason therefor, that they had fought like brave men, and were entitled to be treated as such.

The morning after the surrender, the men were all released on parole, and ferried across the river. The officers were retained.

The Union loss was a hundred and thirty-seven killed, and one hundred and forty wounded; rebel loss, one hundred and ninety-seven killed, and seventy-two wounded.

The visible fruits of the victory, to the Confederates, were great. About three thousand prisoners, five pieces of artillery, and two mortars; over three thousand stand of infantry arms; about seven hundred and fifty horses; many sets of cavalry equipments, wagons, tents, some ammunition, and about one hundred thousand dollars' worth of commissary stores, besides a large amount of gold belonging to the banks which had been placed in Colonel Mulligan's hands for safe-keeping, and which he had buried in the camp, but the rebels discovered the spot and unearthed it. It is said that when Colonel Mulligan surrendered his sword, General Price asked. him for the scabbard. Mulligan replied that he had thrown it away. General Price, upon receiving his sword, returned it to him, saying he disliked to see a man of his valor without a sword.

A participator in the battle tells an anecdote of an old man, a rebel, about sixty years of age, who came up

daily from his farm, with his walnut-stock rifle and a basket of provisions, and went to work just as if he were engaged in hauling rails, or some other necessary labor of his farm. He took his position behind a large stump upon the descent of the hill on which the fortification was constructed, where he fired with deadly aim during each day of the siege.

After the victory of Lexington, General Price received intelligence that the Confederate forces, under Generals Pillow and Hardee, had been withdrawn from the southeastern portion of the State, and General McCulloch had retired to Arkansas, leaving General Price alone in Missouri, and being almost without ammunition, he began to calculate the chances for making a retrograde movement.

Before leaving Springfield, General Price had made arrangements for an ample supply of ammunition, then at Jacksonsport, Arkansas, to be sent to him in Missouri, General McCulloch promising to send a safe escort for it. Subsequently, General McCulloch declined to furnish the escort and stopped the train, assigning as a reason therefor, that, under the circumstances then existing, it would be unsafe to send it, and that General Price would be compelled to fall back from the Missouri River, before the overwhelming forces moving against him under command of General Fremont.

General Price had raised his force from hundreds to tens of thousands; his army had been swelled to twentyfive thousand during his stay at Lexington, not enumerating ten thousand volunteers who had collected on the north bank of the Missouri, about the period when he commenced to retreat, and now having no means of transportation, except for a limited number, he was compelled to disband a considerable portion of his forces, but advised all who could not accompany him to take care of such arms as they had, to cherish a determined

spirit, and to hold themselves in readiness for another opportunity to join his standard. General Price commenced his retreat about the 27th of September. He sent his cavalry forward, and directed them to make a demonstration in the neighborhood of Georgetown, fifty miles from Lexington. He supplied them with provisions for several days, and directed them to make demonstrations on each of the divisions of the Federals, so as to hold them in check until he could effect the safe retreat of his infantry and artillery. By this means, he succeeded in deceiving the Unionists as to his real purpose; inducing Fremont, Lane, and Sturgis to believe that he was about to attack each of them. In the mean time Price, with his infantry and artillery, was making the best possible time he could toward the south. General Price continued his retreat to Neosha in the extreme southwest of Missouri, at which place the legislature had assembled, under a proclamation from Governor Jackson, and where he again formed a junction with General McCulloch, at the head of five thousand men. The legislature had just passed the Ordinance of Secession, and elected delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Southern Confederacy; and here General Price fired one hundred guns in honor of the formal secession of Missouri from the United States.

September 21. John C. Breckinridge fled from Frankfort, Kentucky, and openly joined the rebels.

September 25. General Prentiss took command at St. Joseph.

September 27. General Fremont takes the field against the rebels.

General Lane's command surprised a superior force of rebels at Papinsville, Mo., and after a severe fight, routed them, losing seventeen killed and a large number wounded. The rebels lost forty killed, one hundred prisoners, and all their tents, wagons, and supplies.

General Lane then made a forced march on Osceola, in St. Clair county, and burnt the town by shelling it, and repulsed a large force of rebels.

Also, skirmishes took place within a week of this date at Black River, Greenville, Tuscumbia, Hunter, and Shanghae, in Missouri; and at Romney, Catoctin Mountain, Lewinsville, Chapmansville, Munson's Hill, and Great Falls in Virginia. Also the "sacred neutrality” of Old Kentucky was disregarded by a lively skirmish at Barboursville, in which three hundred rebel cavalry fired upon the Home Guards, drove them entirely out of the town and took possession.

Skirmishes occurred at Columbus, Ellicott's Mills, Smithland, Cynthiana, Lucas Bend, and Hopkinsville, Kentucky. All of these skirmishes in themselves were trifling, though some few involved the occupation or loss of a somewhat important point, yet they were not of sufficient consequence to demand more than a passing notice. The loss in killed and wounded was very small.

The Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers, Colonel Whipple, left Manchester for Washington. The evening before their departure from Manchester, they were presented with a stand of colors by the governor of New Hampshire, in presence of a large concourse of spectators. They also received another valuable present at the same time, in the person of Miss Nettie Grace Willis, a beautiful girl of fifteen, who was presented to Colonel Whipple for adoption as the daughter of the regiment. Miss Willis is the daughter of Rev. Mr. Willis, Unitarian clergyman of Nashua, N. H., who accompanied the regiment as chaplain.

September 28. Munson's Hill occupied by Union troops.

Early on the morning of the twenty-fifth, nearly five thousand men left their camps in the vicinity of Chain