from Paris, received the commission of Major-General in the regu lar army, and with it the following order:

"The State of Illinois, and the States and Territories west of the Mississippi, and on this side of the Rocky Mountains, including New Mexico, will, in future, constitute a separate command, to be known as the Western Department, under the command of Major-General John C. Fremont, of the United States army, head-quarters at St. Louis."

It will be seen by a single glance at the map that his Department was, of itself, an empire in extent, with an armed foe threatening it in various directions. He was expected to raise, organize, arm and discipline his forces, for there could be none spared from the mountains of Virginia or the banks of the Potomac. "He was also expected," says Mr. Abbott, "with his victorious columns, to pierce and divide the Southern Confederacy of rebels, by descending the Mississippi river from the Lakes to the Gulf. No plan for the campaign was afforded him; no special instructions were given. The accomplishment of the object desired was entrusted wholly to his hands."

The appointment was made at a critical time. In Western Missouri Lyon had effected a junction with Sturgis, and with unpaid and poorly armed troops-" Home Guards," three months' men and others, in all not exceeding thirty-five hundred men, and they rapidly melting away-confronted at Springfield by the combined forces of McCulloch, Price and Jackson, whose rapidly increasing forces bade fair to reach the number of twenty-five or thirty thousand, he telegraphed urgently for reinforcements, but "Washington was in danger," and neither Scott nor McClellan could spare any men, and replied by ordering him to send his regulars to Washington! No wonder the wrung heart of Lyon almost despaired, and that on the 15th of July he wrote to a friend: "I must utterly fail if my regulars all go. At Washington, troops from all the Northern, Middle and Eastern States are available for the support of the army in Virginia, and more men are understood to be already there than are wanted, and it seems strange that so many troops must go from the West, and strip us of the means of defense; but if it is the intention to give up the West, let it be so. I can only be the victim of imbecility or malice. Scott will cripple us if he can."-[Letter to Col. Harding.

CONFEDERATE FORCE IN MISSOURI.

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In southeastern Missouri it was equally gloomy. General Prentiss held Cairo and Bird's Point, with eight regiments, amounting to 6,350 men, of whom six regiments were three-months' troops who, though most of them re-enlisted could not be relied upon for service until after re-organization. Col. Marsh of the 20th Ill. Vols. held Cape Girardeau, an important position between Bird's Point and St. Louis, but had not a single battery for its defence; Col. Bland was stationed at Ironton, seventy-five miles from St. Louis by railroad, and his force was but 850.

At New Madrid Gen. Pillow had a well drilled force of from fifteen to twenty thousand which was daily increasing, while he had also a supply of excellent artillery and cavalry. Hardee was moving on Ironton at the head of three thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry. Another force gathered under Jeff. Thompson at Bloomfield, who wrote vauntingly to a secession friend in St. Louis that the Union forces would be driven north of the Missouri River in thirty days.

Thos. C. Reynolds, Lieut.-Governor, issued a proclamation as acting Governor of Missouri, dated New Madrid, July 31st, stating his return to the State after a two months' absence as Commissioner to the Confederate States, and saying:

"And now I return to the State, to accompany, in my official capacity, one of the armies which the warrior statesman ["one Jefferson Davis"], whose genius now presides over the affairs of our half of the Union, has prepared to advance against the common foe.

*

"I particularly address myself to those who, though Southerners in feeling, have permitted a love of peace to lead them astray from the State cause. You now see the State authorities about to assert with powerful forces, their constitutional rights; you behold the most warlike people on the Globe, the people of the lower Mississippi valley, about to rush with their gleaming bowie-knives and unerring rifles, to aid us in driving out the Abolitionists and their Hessian allies. If you cordially join our Southern friends, the war must soon depart from Missouri's borders; if you still continue, either in apathy, or in indirect support of the Lincoln Government you only bring ruin upon yourselves by fruitlessly prolonging the contest. The road to peace and internal security is only through union with the South. We will receive you as brothers, and let by-gones be by-gones. Rally to the Stars and Bars in union with our glorious ensign of the Grizly Bear!"

"There were two Richmonds in the field." In August, Governor Jackson issued a proclamation designed as a declaration of inde

pendence, declaring Missouri out of the Union and in the Confed eracy, though the people of the State had declared to the contrary. An alliance was made with the Richmond usurpation by which a representation in the rebel Congress was secured.

The gloom was to be deepened. The forces of Lyon left Springfield on the 1st of August and encountered a rebel detachment, and by strategem drew them into an engagement and routed them. Movements of the rebel force compelled Lyon to retrace his steps to Springfield. The troops of McCulloch and Price were combined and held a strong position at Oak Hill, or Wilson's Creek. Here they were attacked by Lyon, and a desperate engagement followed, in which the Union troops fought with unsurpassed bravery, but they fought a foe outnumbering them by far, and yet more than once they seemed to, nay they did, snatch victory from the multitude of enemies. Bravely leading a charge Lyon fell-an irreparable loss, and one that threw the land into mourning. General Sigel brought off the troops with marked ability. Says a rebel authority: "The battle lasted full seven hours and our loss of two thousand killed and wounded shows the desperation of this fierce struggle. Our trophies consisted merely of two dismounted cannon and some hundred muskets. The enemy lost in General Lyon a brave defender of the State of Missouri and a good patriot. He fell, whilst encouraging his men by word and deed; two bullets penetrated his heart at the same moment, causing immediate death."

As the troops of this State had no share in these engagements the record of them is necessarily a brief one. The defeat, so-called, at Wilson's Creek, and the death of Lyon gave new boldness to secessionists and added despondency to Unionists.

As Lyon moved his force toward Springfield, telegrams came in swift succession to General Fremont asking aid from various quarters. Marsh was threatened at Cape Girardeau. Col. Stevenson telegraphed on the 27th of July for at least an additional regiment that he might leave a garrison at Booneville and disperse a rebel force at Warsaw, estimated at ten thousand and an encampment at Glasgow of about two thousand. Gen. Prentiss telegraphed on the 28th that Tennessee rebels were concentrating in strong force at New Madrid to move on Bird's Point, or possibly on Cape Girar

FREMONT'S STATEMENT.

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deau; adding, "Col. Marsh has no battery. I have none to spare." On the first of August, Col. Marsh telegraphed concerning Pillow's force at New Madrid, stating that it was eleven thousand strong and nine thousand moving to reinforce. On the 4th he telegraphed a force of eight to ten thousand at Bloomfield, with a thousand at two other points. The same day he sent information that Thompson was within sixteen miles of him, and asking reinforcements and ammunition. A similar dispatch was sent the next day from Gen. Prentiss, and another on the sixth.

General Fremont thus states the circumstances surrounding him, in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War: "A glance at the map will make it apparent that Cairo was the point which first demanded 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 defeat 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.

"Having reinforced Cape Girardeau and Ironton, by the utmost exertion 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 position.

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"I returned to St. Louis on the fourth, having, in the meantime, ordered Col. Stephenson's regiment at 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 reinforcements 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."

The administration of Gen. Fremont and his claim to military distinction belong rather to the general historian than to the annalist

who writes the records of a single state included in his Department. But simple justice demands the statement that few of our leaders have been environed with graver difficulties. He had a strong foe and but few men with which to oppose him, and on his right hand and on his left were able and influential opponents. He doubtless committed mistakes, but he moved with energy, and few read the history of the Missouri campaign without saying, "Perhaps the history would have been different, had not Gen. Fremont been removed just at that critical juncture." As to the General's plans Mr. Abbott says: "On the 8th of September Gen. Fremont sent a private note to President Lincoln, communicating his plan for the commencement of the Mississippi River campaign. He had already taken possession of Fort Holt and Paducah, Kentucky, by which movements he was enabled to command the Tennessee River, and thus to prepare the way for the movement down that River, which was afterwards successfully accomplished, at a much later period, by his successor. He proposed also to occupy Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland River, and Hopkinsville, a town connected by railroad with Henderson, on the Ohio River, and twenty or twenty-five miles northeast of Fort Donelson; at the same time sending Gen. Nelson with a force of five thousand men to occupy Bowling Green, in southern Kentucky, and Gen. Grant to occupy New Madrid and the western shore of the Mississippi River, opposite Cairo. He then proposed a combined attack on Columbus and Hickman, and an advance from Bowling Green and Hopkinsville on Nashville, with which point they were connected by railroad. These suggestions, which subsequently proved to be so sagacious, were not, however, adopted. The rebels were permitted to occupy Bowling Green, fortify the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, and take possession of New Madrid. Months afterward Gen. Fremont's plan was followed to the letter, and the same results which, had he been then sustained, could have been accomplished without a battle, unless probably one at Columbus, were accomplished only after a long delay, and at the expense of millions of treasure and many sanguinary conflicts. The bombardment of Ft. Henry, the terrible battle of Ft. Donelson, the bloody engagement of New Madrid, and the tedious siege of Island No. Ten were among the results of this rejection of Gen. Fremont's