CHAP. V. Halleck, Order, Nov. 19, 1861. W. R. Vol. VIII., p. 369. took part in the political organization of the new State, first as Secretary of State under the military Governors, and afterwards as leading member of the Convention which framed the Constitution under which California was admitted to the Union. He remained in the army and in charge of various engineering duties on the Pacific coast until August 1, 1854, having been meanwhile promoted captain of engineers. At that date he resigned his commission to engage in civil pursuits. He became a member of a law firm, and was also interested in mines and railroads, when the outbreak of the Rebellion called him again into the military service of the Government. He had become not only practically accomplished in his profession as a soldier, but also distinguished as a writer on military art and science. Halleck's high qualifications were well understood and appreciated by General Scott, at whose suggestion he was appointed majorgeneral in the regular army, to date from August 19, 1861, with orders to report himself at army headquarters in Washington. A phrase in one of Scott's letters, setting forth McClellan's disregard for his authority, creates an inference that the old general intended that Halleck should succeed him in chief command. But when the latter reached Washington, the confusion and disasters in the Department of the West were at their culmination, and urgent necessity required him to be sent thither to succeed Frémont. General Halleck arrived at St. Louis on November 18, 1861, and assumed command on the 19th. His written instructions stated forcibly the reforms he was expected to bring about, and his earliest reports indicate that his difficulties had not been overstated - irregularities in contracts; great confusion in organization; everywhere a want of arms and supplies; absence of routine and discipline. Added to this was reported danger from the enemy. "I am satisfied," he telegraphed under date of November 29, "that the enemy is operating in and against this State with a much larger force than was supposed when I left Washington, and also that a general insurrection is organizing in the counties near the Missouri River, between Boonville and Saint Joseph. A desperate effort will be made to supply and winter their troops in this State, so as to spare their own resources for a summer campaign." An invasion was indeed in contemplation, but rumor had magnified its available strength. General Price had, since the battle of Lexington, lingered in Southwestern Missouri, and was once more preparing for a northward march. His method of campaigning was peculiar, and needed only the minimum of organization and preparation. His troops were made up mainly of young, reckless, hardy Missourians, to whom a campaign was an adventure of pastime and excitement, and who brought, each man, his own horse, gun, and indispensable equipments and clothing. The usual burdens of an army commissariat and transportation were of little moment to these partisans, who started up as if by magic from every farm and thicket, and gathered their supplies wherever they went. To quote the language of one of the Missouri rebel leaders: "Our forces, to combat or cut them off, would require only a haversack to where the enemy would require a wagon." The CHAP. V. Halleck to 1861. W. R. McClellan, Vol. VIII., p. 392. to Borland, 1861. W. R. pp. 691, 692. Nov. 24, Vol. VIII., CHAP. V. evil of the system was, that such forces vanished quite as rapidly as they assembled. The enthusiastic squads with which Price had won his victory at Lexington were scattered among their homes and haunts. The first step of a campaign, therefore, involved the gathering of a new army, and this proved not so easy in the opening storms of winter as it had in the fine midsummer weather. Price, Proclama tion, Nov. 26, 1861. W. R. pp. 695, 696. Vol. VIII., On the 26th of November, 1861, Price issued a call for fifty thousand men. The language of his proclamation, however, breathed more of despair than confidence. He reminded his adherents that only one in forty had answered to the former call, and that "Boys and small property-holders have in the main fought the battles for the protection of your property." He repeated many times, with emphasis: "I must have fifty thousand men." His prospects were far from encouraging. McCulloch, in a mood of stubborn disagreement, was withdrawing his army to Arkansas, where he went into winter quarters. Later on, when Price formally requested his coöperation, McCulloch as formally refused. For the moment the Confederate cause in Southwestern Missouri was languishing. Ex-Governor Jackson made a show of keeping it alive by calling the fugitive remnant of his rebel Legislature together at Neosho, and with the help of his sole official relic - the purloined State Seal-enacting the well-worn farce of passing a secession ordinance, and making a military league with the Confederate States. The Confederate Congress at Richmond responded to the farce with an act to admit Missouri to the Confederacy. An act, of more promise CHAP. V. Price to Vol. VIII., Dec. 21, 1861. W. R. Vol. VIII., p. 717. at least, appropriating a million dollars to aid the The second branch of the rebel programme in Missouri, that of raising an insurrection north of the Missouri River, proved more effective. Halleck was scarcely in command when the stir and agitation of depredations and burning of bridges, by small squads of secessionists in disguise, was reported from various counties of Northern Missouri. Federal detachments went in pursuit, and the perpetrators as usual disappeared, only, however, to break out with fresh outrages when quiet and safety had apparently been restored. It was soon evident that this was not merely a manifestation of neighborhood disloyalty, but that it was part of a deliberate system instigated by the principal rebel leaders. "Do you intend to regard men," Jackson to 1861. W.R. Vol. VIII., Davis Jan. 8, 1862. W. R. Vol. Price CHAP. V. W. R. Vol. VIII., p. 497. wrote Price to Halleck, January 12, 1862, "whom I have specially dispatched to destroy roads, burn bridges, tear up culverts, etc., as amenable to an enemy's court martial, or will you have them to be tried as usual, by the proper authorities, according to the statutes of the State?" Halleck, who had placed the State under martial law to enable him to deal more effectually with this class of offenders, stated his authority and his determination, with distinct emphasis, in his reply of January 22, 1862: You must be aware, general, that no orders of yours can save from punishment spies, marauders, robbers, incendiaries, guerrilla bands, etc., who violate the laws of war. You cannot give immunity to crime. But let us fully understand each other on this point. If you send armed forces, wearing the garb of soldiers and duly organized and enrolled as legitimate belligerents, to destroy railroads, bridges, etc., as a military act, we shall kill them, if possible, in open warfare, or, if we capture them, we shall treat them as prisoners of war. But it is well understood that you have sent numbers of your adherents, in the garb of peaceful citizens and under false pretenses, through our lines into Northern Missouri, to rob and destroy the property of Union men and to burn and destroy railroad bridges, thus endangering the lives of thousands, and this, too, without any military necessity or possible military advantage. Moreover, peaceful citizens of Missouri, quietly working on their farms, have been instigated by your emissaries to take up arms as insurgents, and to rob and plunder and to commit arson and murder. They do not even act under the garb of soldiers, but under false pretenses and in the guise of peaceful citizens. You certainly will not pretend that men guilty of such crimes, although specially "appointed and instructed by 1862. W.R. you," are entitled to the rights and immunities of ordip. 515. nary prisoners of war. Halleck to Jan. 22, Vol. VIII., One important effect which Price hoped to produce by the guerrilla rising he was instigating was |