strong, included a large college and | No general, determined assault was its grounds, comprising an area of at made-Gen. Price not caring to rush least fifteen acres, and had been his raw levies upon substantial breasthastily but effectively fortified by works, and evidently perceiving that earthworks, which were somewhat the garrison must soon be forced to strengthened after the commence- surrender. ment 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. 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 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 navigable only by boats of an inferior class. UNION ROUT AT BLUE MILLS LANDING. 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 nextthe 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 numbers 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 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: 587 "Reliable information from the vicinity of Price's column shows his present force to be 11,000 at Warrensburg and 4,000 at 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 different points on the North Missouri 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 age. Gen. Pope had telegraphed | preclude the receipt of reënforce Gen. 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." 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 save such as was poured upon him from the skies, which his unsheltered soldiers caught in their blankets, and then wrung out into camp-dishes, to assuage their thirst. The ferry-boats were likewise seized by the Rebels, to prevent his escaping, as well as to 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 to 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 ments. ments. Rations became short; and the Missouri Home Guard, who constituted 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 ammunition; while the Illinois cavalry, composing a sixth of our forces, had only their pistols to fight with. Great numbers of the horses that had been brought within our intrenchments 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 breastwork of hemp-bales, two deep, along a line of forty yards in length, to within ten rods of our works. Maj. Beckwith, of the Home Guards-8th Missouri, whose Colonel (White) had been killed during that day's fighting raised a white flag, and the defense was over." The Rebels ceased firing; tained our chaplain and surgeon and 120 wounded It could not be allowed to remain in the men. 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 FREMONT STARTS WESTWARD-PRICE RETREATS. 589 the Home Guards left the outer de- The losses during this fight were probably much the greater on the side of the Rebels; Price, indeed, makes them barely 25 killed and 75 wounded; but this probably includes only returns from such portion of his forces as were regularly organized and mustered; while nearly half his men were irregulars, of whom no account was taken. Our loss was 40 killed and 120 wounded. Gen. Fremont, who had good reason to believe that Sturgis had already reënforced Mulligan, and that Lane and Pope had done or would do so that day, enabling him to hold his position, directed Davis by telegraph, on the 18th, to push forward 5,000 men to the crossing of Lamine Creek by the Pacific Railroad, with a view to intercept Price's retreat at the Osage. Late on the 22d, he received from Pope the sad tidings of Mulligan's surrender; and, on the 27th, he left St. Louis for Jefferson City, expecting that Price would try to maintain himself at some point on through the cheek and another through the arm, and with but fifty of the eighty he had led forth. The hospital was in their possession. or near the Missouri, where lay his chief strength. But Price was too crafty for this. By good luck, as well as good generalship, he had struck us a damaging blow, and was determined to evade its return. On the very day that Fremont left St. Louis, he put his force in motion southward and southwestward. He, of course, made feints of resuming the offensive, threatening the forces closing upon him from three sides, as if about to precipitate his full strength upon this or that particular foe, which, with his immense superiority in cavalry, was not a difficult feat. Our troops, of course, fell back or advanced cautiously; and, meantime, his infantry and artillery were making the best possible time southward. Pollard says he in two days crossed the Osage with 15,000 men in two common flatboats, and that Fremont was fifteen days in building pontoon bridges, and crossing after him. This is untrue; but a General who lived from hand to mouth on the country he traversed, moving but few and light guns, with very little ammunition, and who was careful to destroy whatever means of transit he no longer wished to use, breaking down bridges and burning boats, could easily outstrip his more heavily laden pursuer. Price continued his flight to Neosho, in the south-west corner of the State, where he found McCulloch, with 5,000 Arkansas Confederates; and where Jackson assembled the fag-end of his old Legislature, and had an Ordinance of Secession formally passed by it-a most super This charge was one of the most brilliant and reckless in all history, and to Capt. Gleason belongs the glory." fluous ceremony, since Missouri had | Adjt. Gen. Thomas and suite, who already been admitted into the Confederacy, on his own application, and he had exactly as good a right to take her out of the Union as his Legislative remnant" had—that is, none at all. Price, though powder was none too abundant with him, wasted one hundred good cannon-charges in honor of this ridiculous performance. After stopping ten days at Neosho, Price, finding that Fremont was in pursuit, retreated to Pineville, in the extreme south-west corner of the State; and, dreading to be pressed further, because many of his Missourians had enlisted expressly for the defense of their own State, and would naturally object to following him into another, had decided (says Pollard) not to abandon Missouri without a battle. Gen. Fremont pushed westward from Jefferson City, some thirty miles, to Tipton, then the western terminus of the Pacific Railroad, nearly due south of Booneville, where he spent some time in organizing and equipping his green army, preparatory to a pursuit of Jackson and Price, who, it was reasonably supposed, would not surrender their State without a battle; and we had, by this time, had quite enough of fighting without due concentration and preparation on our side. Here he was visited, Oct. 13th, by Gen. Cameron, Secretary of War, accompanied by 13 Mr. Isaac N. Shambaugh, a representative of De Kalb county in this Legislature, and a follower hitherto of Jackson, in an address to his constituents dated January 21, 1862, says: "It is doubtless known to most of you that the House of Representatives of our State consists of 133 members, and the Senate of 33 members, and that, in order to constitute a quorum constitutionally competent to the transaction of any business, there must be present at least 67 members of the House and 17 members of the came away discouraged and dissatisfied. The heavy Autumn rains had set in some days before, and turned the rich soil of the prairies into a deep, adhesive mire, wherein the wheels of artillery and other heavily laden carriages sunk to the hubs, rendering the movement of cannon, munitions, and provisions, exceedingly slow and difficult. Fremont's army-by this time swelled to 30,000 men, including 5,000 cavalry and 86 guns-was still very inadequately provided with transportation for half its numbers. Meantime, his order emancipating the slaves of Rebels had excited a furious and powerful opposition, resulting in a deafening clamor for his removal, which was urgently pressed on the President, it was understood, by the two members of his Cabinet best entitled to be heard with regard to affairs in Missouri. Gen. Cameron carried an order relieving him from command, which he was instructed to present or withhold, at his discretion. He did not present it, but brought away an unfavorable impression, which was embodied and emphasized in Adjt. Gen. Thomas's report. Those who accompanied Gens. Cameron and Thomas on this visit, and who were on terms of intimacy with them throughout, reported, on their return, that Fremont's campaign was a failure that he could never Senate. Instead of this, there were present at the October session referred to [at Neosho] but 35 members of the House of Representatives and 10 members of the Senate. A few days afterward, when we had adjourned to Cassville, one additional Senator and five additional Representatives made their appearance; and, these being all that were at any time present, it need scarcely be added that all the pretended legislation at either place was a fraud, not only upon the people of the State, but upon the Government of the Confederate States, as well as the United States." |