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with speed, and will buy arms to-day in New-York. Our troops have not been paid, and some regiments are in a state of mutiny; and the men whose term of service is expired generally refuse to reenlist. I lost a fine regiment last night, from inability to pay them a portion of the money due. This regiment had been intended to move on a critical post last night. The Treasurer of the United States has here $300,000 entirely unappropriated. I applied to him yesterday for $100,000 for my Paymaster, Gen. Andrews, but was refused. We have not an hour for delay. There are three courses open to me: One, to let the enemy possess himself of some of the strongest points in the State, and threaten St. Louis, which is insurrectionary. Second: to force a loan from Secession banks here. Third: to use the money belonging to the Government, which is in the Treasury here. course, I will neither lose the State, nor permit the enemy a foot of advantage. I have infused energy and activity into the department, and there is a thoroughly good spirit in officers and men. This morning, I will order the Treasurer to deliver the money in his possession to Gen. Andrews, and will send a force to the Treasury to take the money, and will direct such payments as the exigency requires. I will hazard everything for the defense of the department you have confided to me, and I trust to you for support.

Of

With respect and regard, I am yours truly, "J. C. FREMONT,

"Major General Commanding. "To the PRESIDENT of the United States."

Gen. Fremont, in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, thus explains his action in the premises :

"A glance at the map will make it apparent that Cairo was the point which first demanded immediate attention. The force under Gen. Lyon could retreat, but the position at Cairo could not be abandoned; the question of holding Cairo was one which involved the safety of the whole Northwest. Had the taking of St. Louis followed the defeat of Manassas, the disaster might have been irretrievable; while the loss of Springfield, should our army be compelled to fall back upon Rolla, would only carry with it the loss of a part of Missouri-a loss greatly to be regretted, but not irretrievable.

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Having reënforced Cape Girardeau and Ironton, by the utmost exertions I succeeded in getting together and embarking with a force of 3,800 men, five days after my arrival in St. Louis.

"From St. Louis to Cairo was an easy day's journey by water, and transportation abundant. To Springfield, was a week's march; and, before I could have reached it, Cairo would have been taken, and with it, I believe, St. Louis.

"On my arrival at Cairo, I found the force under Gen. Prentiss reduced to 1,200 men; consisting mainly of a regiment which had agreed to await my arrival. A few miles below, at New Madrid, Gen. Pillow had landed a force estimated at 20,000, which subsequent events showed was not exaggerated. Our force, greatly increased to the enemy by rumor, drove him to a hasty retreat, and permanently secured the po

sition.

***

"I returned to St. Louis on the 4th, hav. ing, in the mean time, ordered Col. Stephenson's regiment from Booneville, and Col. Montgomery from Kansas, to march to the relief of Gen. Lyon.

"Immediately upon my arrival from Cairo, I set myself at work, amid incessant demands upon my time from every quarter, principally to provide reënforcements for Gen. Lyon.

"I do not accept Springfield as a disaster belonging to my administration. Causes, wholly out of my jurisdiction, had already prepared the defeat of Gen. Lyon before my arrival at St. Louis."

Adj. Gen. Harding, whom Gen. Fremont found, by appointment of Gen. Lyon, in practical command at St. Louis, says:

the situation of Gen. Lyon's column, and went so far as to remove the garrison of Booneville in order to send him aid. During the first days of August, troops arrived in the city in large numbers. Nearly all of them were unarmed; all were without transportation. transportation. Regiment after regiment lay for days in the city without any equipments, for the reason that the Arsenal was exhausted, and arms and accouterments had to be brought from the East. From these men, Gen. Lyon would have had reënforcements, although they were wholly unpracticed in the use of the musket and knew nothing of movements in the field; but, in the mean time, the battle of the 10th of August was fought.”

"Gen. Fremont was not inattentive to

News of Gen. Lyon's repulse and death reached St. Louis on the 13th. Gen. Fremont thereupon decided to fortify that city with all possible. dispatch, as a permanent and central

GEN. FREMONT'S ORDER PRICE ADVANCES.

base of operations; to fortify and garrison, likewise, Cape Girardeau, Ironton, Rolla, and Jefferson City; using for this purpose hired labor so far as possible, so that his raw recruits, even though unarmed, might be drilled and fitted for service so rapidly as might be; when, on the receipt of sufficient arms, he would take the field at the head of a numerous and effective army, and speedily regain all that should have, meantime, been lost. He now issued the following stringent and stirring general order:

HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE WESTERN DEP'T, "ST. LOUIS, August 31st. "Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it necessary that the Commanding General of this department should assume the administrative power of the State. Its disorganized condition, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who infest nearly every county in the State, and avail themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the State.

In this condition, the public safety and the

success of our arms require unity of purpose, without let or hindrance to the prompt administration of affairs.

"In order, therefore, to suppress disorders, to maintain, as far as now practicable, the public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare established martial law throughout the State of Missouri. The lines of the army of occupation in this State are, for the present, declared to extend from Leavenworth, by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi river. All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands, within these lines, shall be tried by CourtMartial, and, if found guilty, will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, or shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared

585

to be confiscated to the public use; and their slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared free men.

"All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs, shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law.

'All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemies of the United States, in disturbing the public tranquillity by creating and circulating false reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interest warned that they are exposing themselves.

"All persons who have been led away from their allegiance are required to return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them.

"The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the military authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of war demand. But it is not intended to suspend the ordinary tribunals of the country, where the law will be administered by the civil officers in the usual manner and with their customary authority, while the same can be peaceably exercised.

"The Commanding General will labor vigilantly for the public welfare, and, in his efforts for their safety, hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence, but the active support, of the people of the country."

"J. C. FREMONT, Maj.-Gen. Com."

This order, so far as it declared the slaves of Rebels to be free, was subsequently overruled and annulled by President Lincoln, as will hereafter be seen.

Gen. Price, very naturally, did not see fit to await the fulfillment of Gen. Fremont's programme. Though abandoned by McCulloch, with the bulk of the Confederate army, he moved northward from Springfield about the middle of August, receiving reënforcements continually, and, deflecting to the west as he advanced, pushed back a far inferior force of Unionists under Gen. Lane, after a little brush, at the crossing of a stream known as Dry Wood, and sent a detachment to and occupied Fort Scott, on the edge of Kansas,

which was found evacuated. Thence, | city, and, in confident expectation of advancing north by east unopposed, he reached Warrensburg on the 10th of September, and, on the 11th, drew up before Lexington." Here Col. Mulligan, of the Irish (Chicago) Brigade, at the head of 2,780 Union soldiers, with barely forty rounds of ammunition, and eight small guns, had taken post on a hill northeast of the

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being soon relieved, awaited and de-
fied the overwhelming numbers of
the Rebels, who were rapidly swelled
by the arrival of Gen. Harris from
the north side of the river, and by
reënforcements and volunteers from
all quarters, until they numbered not
less than 25,000, with 13 guns.
Col. Mulligan's position, naturally

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LEXINGTON,

made-Gen. Price not caring to rush his raw levies upon substantial breastworks, and evidently perceiving that the garrison must soon be forced to surrender.

strong, included a large college and | No general, determined assault was its grounds, comprising an area of at least fifteen acres, and had been hastily but effectively fortified by earthworks, which were somewhat strengthened after the commencement of the siege. An industrious cannonade was opened from four different points on the beleaguered Unionists, but with little effect. Some outer works were taken, and some Rebel sharpshooters took possession of a dwelling which overlooked our intrenchments, but were readily driven out by an intrepid charge.

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Gen. Fremont, at St. Louis, was apprised, on the 13th, of Mulligan's arrival at Lexington; and another dispatch on the same day informed him that Price was reported near Warrensburg with 5,000 to 15,000 men; also that Gen. Jeff. C. Davis, commanding, at Jefferson City, a district which included Lexington, was

11 A young city of five or six thousand inhabitants, the capital of Lafayette County, situated on the south bank of the Missouri, 240 miles west of St. Louis, and 50 or 60 from the near-navigable only by boats of an inferior class.

est point on the North Missouri Railroad, or on that portion of the Pacific Road yet completed. The river was then at so low a stage as to be

UNION ROUT AT BLUE MILLS LANDING.

587

"Reliable information from the vicinity be 11,000 at Warrensburg and 4,000 at of Price's column shows his present force to Georgetown, with pickets extending toward Syracuse. Green is making for Booneville, with a probable force of 3,000. Withdrawal of force from this part of Missouri risks the State; from Paducah, loses Western Kentucky. As the best, I have ordered two regiments from this city, two from Kentucky, and will make up the remainder from the new force being raised by the Governor

of Illinois."

The Rebels of north-eastern Missouri-reported at 4,500-led by Cols. Boyd and Patton, marched from St. Joseph, on the 12th, toward Lexington, where they doubtless had been advised that they would find Price on their arrival. Two parties of Unionists started in pursuit from dif

giving vigilant attention to Price's movements. That same day brought, by telegraph, pressing demands for more troops from Gen. Grant, commanding at Cairo; and the next the 14th-brought peremptory orders from Gen. Scott to "send 5,000 wellarmed infantry to Washington without a moment's delay." Gen. Robert Anderson, commanding in Kentucky, was also calling urgently on Gen. Fremont, his immediate superior, for reënforcements to save Louisville, then threatened by the Rebels, who were rapidly annexing' Kentucky. Gen. Fremont had at that time scattered over his entire department, and confronted at nearly every point by formidable and often superior num-ferent points on the North Missouri bers of Rebels, a total of 55,693 men; whereof over 11,000 occupied Fort Holt and Paducah, Ky., warding off the menaced advance of the Rebels in force on Cairo and St. Louis; some 10,000 more held Cairo and important points in its vicinity; while Gen. Pope, in North Missouri, had 5,500; Gen. Davis, at Jefferson City, 9,600, and there were 4,700 at Rolla, and 3,000 at Ironton; leaving less than 7,000 at St. Louis. Gen. Lane, on the frontier of Kansas, had 2,200; and these, with a good part of Pope's good part of Pope's command under Gen. Sturgis, and a large proportion of Davis's at Jefferson City, were disposable for the relief of Lexington, toward which point they were directed and expected to move so rapidly as possible. On the 13th, two regiments were ordered from St. Louis to Jefferson City, and two others from that point to Lexington. Fremont, pressed on every side, thus responded by telegraph, on the 15th, to the requisition upon him for five regiments for Washington City:

Railroad, directed to form a junction at Liberty, Clay county. Lieut. Col. Scott, of the Iowa 3d, reached that point at 7 A. M., on the 17th, and, not meeting there the expected coöperating force from Cameron, under Col. Smith, pushed on to Blue Mills Landing, on the Missouri, where he attacked the Rebels-now commanded by Gen. David R. Atchison-and was promptly and thoroughly routed. Col. Smith, who had been delayed by rains and bad roads, reached Liberty by dark, and there met Scott's beaten and demoralized regiment. They now moved together to the Landing (on the 18th); but found that the Rebels had all crossed the river and pushed on to Lexington, thirty miles distant. Smith thereupon returned to St. Joseph; and Gen. Sturgis, who was advancing by another route to the relief of Lexington, being confronted by a superior Rebel force under Gen. Parsons, likewise retreated northward, with the loss (Pollard says) of all his tents and camp equip

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age. Gen. Pope had telegraphed preclude the receipt of reënforceGen. Fremont, on the 16th, from Palmyra, as follows:

"The troops I sent to Lexington will be there the day after to-morrow [18th], and consist of two full regiments of infantry, four pieces of artillery, and 150 irregular horse.

These, with the two Ohio regiments, which will reach there on Thursday [19th], will make a reënforcement of 4,000 men and four pieces of artillery."

ments. Rations became short; and
the Missouri Home Guard, who con-
stituted a good part of our forces,
were early dispirited, refused to fight,
and clamored for a surrender. Our
artillery had very little and very bad
very
ammunition; while the Illinois cav-
alry, composing a sixth of our forces,
had only their pistols to fight with.
Great numbers of the horses that had
been brought within our intrench-
ments had been killed by the Rebel
cannon, creating a stench which was
scarcely tolerable. The Rebels made
four charges without success; but
finally, at 2 P. M., Friday, the 20th,
they pushed up a movable breast-

Unhappily, all these calculations proved futile. No part of Gen. Pope's 4,000 men and four pieces of artillery reached the beleaguered and sorely pressed Mulligan; nor did any of the reënforcements ordered to his support from all quarters. On the 17th, he was cut off from the river by the enemy, and thus deprived of water-work of hemp-bales, two deep, along save such as was poured upon him a line of forty yards in length, to from the skies, which his unsheltered within ten rods of our works. Maj. soldiers caught in their blankets, and Beckwith, of the Home Guards-8th then wrung out into camp-dishes, to Missouri, whose Colonel (White) had assuage their thirst. The ferry-boats been killed during that day's fighting were likewise seized by the Rebels, raised a white flag, and the defense to prevent his escaping, as well as to was over. 12 The Rebels ceased firing;

12 Col. Mulligan, in his official account of the siege, says;

"At 9 A. M., of the 18th, the drums beat to arms, and the terrible struggle commenced. The enemy's force had been increased te 28,000 men and 13 pieces of artillery. They came on as one dark, moving mass; men armed to the teeth, as far as the eye could reach-men, men, men were visible. They planted two batteries in front, one on the left, one on the right, and one in the rear, and opened with a terrible fire, which was answered with the utmost bravery and determination. Our spies had informed us that the Rebels intended to make one grand rout, and bury us in the trenches of Lexington. The batteries opened at 9 o'clock; and for three days they never ceased to pour deadly shot upon us. About noon, the hospital was taken. It was situated on the left, outside of the intrenchments. I had taken for granted, never thought it necessary to build fortifications around the sick man's couch. I had thought that, among civilized nations, the soldier sickened and wounded in the service of his country would, at least, be sacred. But I was inexperienced, and had yet to learn that such was not the case with Rebels. They besieged the hospital, took it, and from the balcony and roof their sharpshooters poured a deadly fire within our intrenchments. It con

tained our chaplain and surgeon and 120 wounded men. It could not be allowed to remain in the possession of the enemy. A company of the Missouri 13th [Dutch] was ordered forward to retake the hospital. They started on their errand, but stopped at the breastworks, 'going not out, because it was bad to go out.' A company of the Missouri 14th was sent forward; but it also shrank from the task, and refused to move outside the intrenchments. The Montgomery Guard, Capt. Gleason, of the Irish brigade, were then brought out. The Captain admonished them that the others had failed; and, with a brief exhortation to uphold the name they bore, gave the word to 'charge. The distance was eight hundred yards. They started out from the intrenchments, first quick, then double-quick, then on a run, then faster. The enemy poured a deadly shower of bullets upon them; but on they went, a wild line of steel, and, what is better than steel, human will. They stormed up the slope to the hospital door, and, with irresistible bravery, drove the enemy before them, hurling them far down the hill beyond. At the head of those brave fellows, pale as marble, but not pale from fear, stood that gallant officer, Capt. Gleason. He said, 'Come on, my brave boys!' and in they rushed. But, when their brave captain returned, it was with a shot

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