USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 77
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The Committee of Public Safety was organized. At the head of it was Oliver Dwight Filley. The other members were Samuel T. Glover, Francis P. Blair, Jr., J. J. Witzig, John How and James O. Broadhead. These six men received their commission to act from a mass meeting of unconditional Union men. Republicans,
JAMES O. BROADHEAD Member Committee of Public Safety, 1861
OLIVER D. FILLEY Chairman Committee of Public Safety, 1861
LIBRARY |J. R.DREW |A.E.FRASER |WALL PAPER |W.F.ULMAN.
CHICKERINGSIRIA NOT
Courtesy Missouri Historical Society
MERCANTILE LIBRARY HALL, BROADWAY AND LOCUST STREETS, ST. LOUIS Where the state convention met in 1861 and declared for the Union
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MISSOURI IN 1861
Douglas democrats and Bell and Everett democrats united in this movement. They had but one plank in their platform-"unalterable fidelity to the Union under all circumstances." Previous to the 11th of January a little group of Union men met in Mr. Filley's counting, room from time to time and planned the course which was followed. The Committee of Public Safety was an evolution. When the six men had been chosen, they made the Turner hall on Tenth near Market street the headquarters. Their meetings were held daily.
The personal composition of the Committee of Public Safety was most fortu- nate. Mr. Filley was from Connecticut, a descendant of one of the families which came over in the Mayflower. Mr. How had been reared in Pennsylvania. Mr. Witzig represented the great influx of German population. Mr. Blair was of Kentucky birth, the son of a Virginia father. Mr. Glover was a Kentuckian. Mr. Broadhead was of Virginia parentage. The widespread sources of St. Louis population were well represented in the formation of the group. Glover and Broadhead were lawyers of high standing, known personally to Mr. Lincoln. John How had been mayor two terms and was a business man of wide influence. Witzig had the confidence of his fellow countrymen. Blair was the Washington connection. He had served one term in Congress, and was representative-elect. To tell what manner of man the chairman was detracts nothing from the honor due the men who were his associates on the committee. Familiarly he was called "O. D." He was kindly and approachable. When the Committee of Public Safety had won, when it had become safer in St. Louis to be a Union man than a secession sympathizer, the spirit of retribution was indulged. Men were arrested and punished for words. Mr. Filley protested. "Let them talk," he said. "If they do no overt act, do not disturb them." But behind the kindly disposition was the spirit which knows neither variableness nor shadow of turning when right is at stake. When cloth was wanted to uniform the force he was recruit- ing. O. D. Filley gave his word it would be paid for, and his word was accepted where another man's note would have been asked. That was the reputation the chairman had in the community.
In the Presidential campaign of 1860 there were "wide awakes" on the re- publican side and "broom rangers" on the democratic side. Two months before the inauguration of Lincoln, armed organizations, built upon the political clubs. were drilling in St. Louis. Those whose sympathies were with secession were "minute men." This organization came into existence early in January. Simul- taneously began the formation of union clubs, which were called "union guards," "black jaegers," "home guards." The Minute Men had headquarters in the Berthold mansion at Fifth and Pine streets.
In six weeks sixteen companies of the Home Guards had been formed. The Minute Men were numerous. The drills were nightly. There was little attempt at secrecy. In the central and northern parts of the city the Minute Men were strong. South of Market street were the strongholds of the Home Guards. Every hall was an armory.
General Farrar's Recollections.
General Bernard G. Farrar, late in life. gave a graphic account of what was going on in St. Louis during January and February, 1861 :
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"There still existed the 'Wide Awakes,' a political organization of 1860. To convert them into a military body was the first thought of the Committee of Safety, and active steps were taken to perfect that object. The Wide Awakes were numerous and ardent, but powerless for the want of arms. The grave situation impelled the loyalists to prompt action. In January a secret meeting of the faithful was planned. A notice to the trusted few was quietly sent out, and on a stated evening in Wyman's hall assembled some fifteen citizens. J. J. Witzig guarded the door and admitted only those who could give the countersign. As far as I can remember, the following persons were present: Frank P. Blair, F. A. Dick. O. D. and Giles F. Filley, John How, Charles Elleard, Samuel Simmons, J. S. Merrell, B. Gratz Brown, William McKee, Benjamin Farrar, Peter L. Foy, and possibly two or three others including myself. The meeting was informal, a simple, quiet talk all round. The question of arming the Wide Awakes was the vital point. To this end it was agreed to raise money and at that meeting $400 was subscribed. It was agreed to write to Governor Yates, of Illinois, for aid, and Blair at once formulated the letter which was sent the following day by private messenger. This letter was responded to a few days later in the shape of 200 stand of arms packed in sugar hogsheads marked chinaware and consigned to O. D. Filley. Those arms were a godsend, and were quickly distributed to the Wide Awakes. The first company organized was armed and drilled in a large storeroom where now stands the Columbia theater. More money was soon raised, more guns purchased, and bv the Ist of February the Union men could count on a military force of 2,000 men, mostly Germans.
"During February the secessionists fixed - upon several nights for a raid on the arsenal, but spies in their camp betrayed their plans. The word was passed down South Broadway: lights gleamed in every house; shotguns and various missiles were carried to the roofs; the Wide Awakes hurried to their various posts, all ready for the fray. The secessionists, learning that their plans were known, abandoned the attempts. For over two months. 2,000 armed men on either side stood ready at a moment's notice to engage in actual warfare.
"At that time the population of the city stood about one-third native, one-third Ger- man and one-third Irish. The native population was about one for the Union, nine for the South ; the Germans were a unit for the Union; the Irish with some notable exceptions favored the South. Two of those notable exceptions were Doyle and Crickard, both Irish stone masons and builders. In May these men entered the United States treasury office, and, planting on the counter two bags of gold, said to the assistant treasurer, 'We bring you $10,000. The government is in need of money. Please deposit as our loan.' At that time the government credit was at very low ebb."
Wartime Journalism.
The journalism of this period was not lacking in courage of conviction. W. H. Lusk was editing the Jefferson City Enquirer in the winter and spring of 1861. He was offered the position of public printer if he would support the states' right policies of the Jackson administration. He declined and wrote a letter to the gen- eral assembly declaring his position :
"The advocates of secession of the present day should not be treated with any respect whatever. They are rebels and should be punished as such. In one sentence they utter a Union sentiment, to cover up their treason while in the next they denounce the Gov- ernment. The paper will not endorse these men, but will denounce them as traitors wherever found-in the halls of legislation, on the judicial bench, as governor, as stump orators, cross-roads politicians, office holders or office seekers. None of these rebels shall receive mercy at our hands as a public journalist."
The southern rights faction did not want for vigorous newspaper support at the state capital. Editor Corwyn in his Examiner kept up the fight which he had made hot during the campaign of 1860 with such warnings as the following :
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"Citizens of Missouri, are you ready for this? Are you ready to see your homes wrapt in flames ; your wives and little ones butchered, and your daughters the victims of Ethiopian lust? If you are you should vote for Stephen A. Douglas for president and aid him in fixing his squatterism on the country. His squatterism leads to that as sure as the sun shineth-as sure as God liveth."
The Minute Men.
The best authority on "Missouri in 1861," from the southern rights point of view was Thomas L. Snead. He was a St. Louis newspaper man, connected with the Bulletin which was owned by Longuemare and which took the southern rights side in the campaign of 1860. In the winter of 1861 Snead gave up his news- paper relation. He went to Jefferson City and was in the confidence of the seces- sionists. He assisted Governor Jackson in his correspondence. Snead knew the organization and plans of the Minute Men. He named three men as foremost in the movement-Basil W. Duke, a young lawyer from Kentucky, about twenty- five years old; Colton Greene, South Carolinian by birth, a young merchant of delicate physique and retiring manner ; and Brock Champion, a bold, enthusiastic young Irishman. The organization was started on the 11th of January, the day that forty regular soldiers arrived from Newport Barracks, and marched to the custom house on Third and Olive streets to protect the sub-treasury and the $400,000 in gold. The troops had been sent as the result of a letter from the assistant United States treasurer, Isaac H. Sturgeon, to President Buchanan suggesting that such protection was advisable in view of the public excitement. If there had been wild talk before, it was nothing to what this show of authority by the government aroused. Papers issued extras. Great crowds filled the narrow streets around the postoffice. Threats were made to resent this insult to St. Louis. The news was telegraphed to Jefferson City. Governor Jackson sent word to the general assembly. Senator Parsons offered this :
"Resolved, That we view this act of the administration as insulting to the dignity and patriotism of this state, and calculated to arouse suspicion and distrust on the part of her people towards the federal government.
"Resolved, That the governor be requested to inquire of the President what has induced him to place the property of the United States within this state in charge of an armed federal force."
General Harney, commanding the district, acted quickly. The forty regulars marched away to the arsenal and the insult to Missouri became only a reminiscence with the general public. But Duke, Greene, Champion and a few others met that day and began to plan definitely for the future. Snead said :
"Never was there a finer body of young fellows than these Minute Men. Some were Missourians ; some from the North; some from the South, and others were Irishmen. Among them all there was hardly a man who was not intelligent, educated and recklessly brave. Some who had the least education were as brave as the bravest, and as true as the truest. Most of them fought afterwards on many a bloody field. Many of them died in battle. Some of them rose to high commands. Not one of them proved false to the cause to which he then pledged his faith.
"They established their headquarters at the old Berthold mansion, in the very heart of the city, at the corner of Fifth and Pine streets, and also formed and drilled companies in other parts of the city against the time they could arm and equip themselves. They
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were hardly three hundred in all, but they were so bold and active, so daring and ubiquitous, that every one accounted them ten times as numerous.
"Like Blair and the Home Guards, they had their eyes fixed upon the arsenal and expected out of its abundant stores to arm and equip themselves for the coming fight. In that arsenal were sixty thousand good muskets, while in all the Confederate states there were not one hundred and fifty thousand more. They were barely three hundred men, and more than ten thousand stood ready to resist them, but for the love of the South, and for the love of the right, and for the honor of Missouri, they were willing to peril their lives any day to get those muskets. And they would have got them or perished in the attempt but for the advice of their leaders at Jefferson City. These counseled delay. They believed that it was better to wait till the people should, in their election of delegates to the con- vention, declare their purpose to side with the South. They never doubted that the people would do this; never doubted that they would elect a convention which would pledge Missouri to resist the subjugation of the South, and would put her in position to do it. Sustained by the voice of the people, and instructed by their votes, the governor would then order General Frost to seize the arsenal in the name of the state, and he, with his brigade and the Minute Men, and the thousands that would flock to their aid could easily do it."
Sweeny and the Regulars.
In the letter he wrote about the danger to the gold, Assistant Treasurer Sturgeon called attention to the defenseless condition of the arsenal. Washington also acted upon that suggestion. Lieut. Thomas W. Sweeny, with regulars, from Newport Barracks took station in the arsenal. Sweeny was a one-armed Irishman. . There was a good deal of interest felt by the Minute Men to know how Sweeny stood on the issue of secession. Many St. Louis Irishmen had joined the Minute Men under the leadership of Brock Champion. Other Irishmen had sided with Blair and the Home Guards. John McElroy in "The Struggle for Missouri" has told of the testing of Sweeny :
"One day a man presented himself at the west gate of the arsenal and asked to see Captain Sweeny. Sweeny went to the gate and recognized an old acquaintance, St. George Croghan, the son of that Lieutenant Croghan who had so brilliantly defended Fort Stephen- son, at Lower Sandusky, in the war of 1812, and who afterwards was for many years inspector-general of the United States Army. Croghan's grandfather had been a gallant ' officer in the Revolution. It was a cold day, and Croghan wore a citizen's overcoat. On their way to the quarters, the guards properly saluted Sweeny as they passed. Said Croghan, 'Sweeny, don't you think those sentinels ought to salute me ?- my rank is higher than yours.' At the same time he threw open his overcoat and revealed the uniform of a rebel field officer.
"'Not to such as that, by Heavens!' responded Sweeny, and added: 'If that is your business, you can have nothing to do with me. You had better not let my men see you with that thing on.'
"Croghan assured him his business in calling was one of sincere friendship; but he would remark while on the subject, that Sweeny had better -find it convenient to get out of there, and very soon, too.
"""Why?' asked Sweeny.
"Replied Croghan: 'Because we intend to take it.'
"Sweeny in great excitement exclaimed: 'Never! As sure as my name is Sweeny, the property in this place shall never fall into your hands. I'll blow it to hell first, and you know I am the man to do it.'
"Nine months later Croghan was to fall mortally wounded at the head of a cavalry regiment while attacking the Union troops near Fayetteville, West Virginia, while Sweeny
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was to do gallant service in the Union army, rising to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, and commanding a division, and being retired in 1870 with the rank of briga- dier-general."
A Commissioner from Mississippi.
While events were crowding at St. Louis, Reynolds and the secessionists were working incessantly at Jefferson City to have Missouri declare for the Con- federacy. Mr. Russell came as a commissioner of the State of Mississippi to urge that Missouri secede. The lieutenant-governor gave him a dinner with Sterling Price, Governor Jackson and Speaker McAfee present. The legislature assembled in joint session to hear the commissioner. Reynolds planned an im- pressive reception with the members standing as the commissioner entered. John D. Stevenson, afterwards a general in the Union army, then a member of the house, objected to the program. He asked :
"Are we here, Mr. President, to do homage to the ambassador of some foreign country?"
President Reynolds: I understand, sir, that this is a joint session of the general assembly to listen to an address from the commissioner of the State of Mississippi, and I hope for the honor of all parties that the member from St. Louis will take his seat.
Representative Stevenson : Shall I have a chance?
President Reynolds : Take your seat.
A Voice : Good.
Representative Stevenson: I desire to have a chance -.
President Reynolds : Take your seat.
A Voice : Better !
Representative Stevenson : Mr. President, I can read, sir, the rules that govern this body, and I suppose, if I am well informed, that when the president rules me out of order, it is his duty to state why he so rules.
President Reynolds: The business of this session is to hear a speech from the com- missioner from Mississippi, and all other business is out of order.
Representative Stevenson: I understand that the president commands the members to rise.
President Reynolds: I will change it to a request, and I hope that no member of this general assembly will have the indecency to refuse to rise.
Representative Stevenson: Oh! That will do, sir.
Loaded Legislation.
The military bill which was being pressed in the legislature aimed at more than organization in support of the southern rights movement. It was intended to abolish Blair's Home Guards. One of its provisions was that the commanding officer in each district must disarm all bodies not "regularly organized and mus- tered into the service of the state." Had the bill passed in February or March it would have given Frost authority to take all guns found in the possession of the Home Guards. Governor Yates had sent two hundred muskets from Springfield. These guns had been hauled under cover of beer barrels to Turner Hall and dis- tributed to the Home Guards. Giles F. Filley had bought fifty Sharp's rifles, the crack fighting piece of those days, and had armed the men in his factory. A fund of $30,000 had been raised by private contributions to get more guns for the Union companies. All of this was known to Governor Jackson and the secession-
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ists. It added to their anxiety about the military bill. The state was not well prepared for fighting. In February, Harding, who was in charge of the armory at Jefferson City, reported to the governor that the state had about one thousand muskets, two six-pounders without limbers or caissons, forty sabres and fifty- eight swords. He said these swords were of such antiquated pattern that they "would not be as useful in war as so many bars of soap."
Five companies of Minute Men were recruited in St. Louis under Captains Barret, Duke, Shaler, Greene and Hubbard. Anticipating the passage of the military bill they were mustered into state service as militia by General Frost on the 15th of February and assigned to Frost's brigade. Subsequently these five companies were joined by others and made up Bowen's regiment.
Captain Nathaniel Lyon, with his company of regulars, came to St. Louis the beginning of February. He was forty-two years of age, a slender, sandy-haired man, with reddish beard, deep-set blue eyes, under medium height, of Connecticut birth and Yankee positiveness. His service on the western frontier had given-him a rather rough, weather-beaten appearance. Immediately the closest relations were established between Blair and Lyon. The two men were of the same age and possessed similar characteristics in that both were personally without fear. Both were devoted to the Union. Both were convinced that war was certain. . Neither was too much hampered by regard for formalities of law. Lyon became at once the lieutenant of Blair in the organization of the Home Guards. He attended meetings of the Union men and talked war. He went to the secret armories. drilled the men and instructed their officers. He gained the confidence of the Committee of Safety. He impressed the Union leaders with the vital . importance of saving the arsenal. Recruiting and preparations for fighting went on with the Home Guards much more rapidly after Lyon came.
The Election Brings Dismay.
The 18th of February approached, the day of the election of delegates to the state convention. Entirely confident of carrying the election the southern rights men talked openly of taking the St. Louis arsenal and securing the arms for distribution to the state guard to be organized under the pending military bill. Blair and Lyon went to Isaac H. Sturgeon and reported this talk of the secession- ists. They persuaded him to write a letter to General Scott, telling him there was grave danger that the arsenal would be attacked on or immediately after election day. Scott ordered the troops from the barracks to the arsenal and they marched up there on the 16th of February. Sturgeon not only urged reinforcement, but advised that Lyon be put in command at the arsenal. The advice was. not fol- lowed. If Lyon had been given command it was the purpose of Blair to put guns in the hands of the Home Guards, now several thousand strong, at the first movement of the Minute Men against the arsenal. Of the campaign methods and of the election results William Hyde, who was at the time a newspaper writer, said:
"The Republicans, in order to embrace a character of men like James O. Broadhead, Samuel T. Glover, James S. Rollins, Abiel Leonard, Samuel M. Breckinridge, Odon Guitar, had adopted the title of 'Unconditional Union' men. A fusion ticket was formed in St. Louis county, which was entitled to fourteen delegates, on the basis of the estimated
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strength of the three Union elements (Douglas, Lincoln and Bell men), the allotment being seven, four and three, respectively. This ticket carried the county by a majority of be- tween 5,000 and 6,000. Similar combinations were made throughout the state, and the result was truly astonishing, being a surprise to all. The aggregate Union majority in the state was 80,000, and not a single secessionist was returned as delegate! So overwhelming a declaration of fidelity to the Union, and so stunning a rebuke to 'Jackson and his coad- jutors, was indeed a marvel of popular outpouring.
"Amazement and dismay settled upon minds and hearts of the defeated. To them it seemed as though a political earthquake had riven the state from the Nishnabotna to the St. Francis, and from the Des Moines to the Neosho. Secession had seen 'all her pretty chickens and their dam' swept from Missouri's confines, and not one spared! The immediate effect upon the legislature was to indefinitely postpone the governor's pet measure for the -reorganization of the militia, and was followed by a general and total collapse of any lingering idea that the state might be called on to take part in preparations to resist the placing of the 'despot's heel upon the virgin soil' of Missouri."
The Delegates.
Until nearly the end of January, the southern rights sentiment had waxed in official Missouri. State officers, the legislature, the United States senators, the representatives in Congress, the supreme court, with few exceptions, sided with the South. The atmosphere at Jefferson City favored secession. But February brought a change. The state at large spoke. To the amazement and indignation of the southern rights leaders at the state capital the convention called to consider Missouri's relations to the United States was against secession. How did it come about that in the stress of public feeling, with all of the political intrigue and war preparation of those days, Missouri was so fortunate in the selection of the members of the convention? Judge John F. Philips, who was a member, in his recollections given the State Historical Society at Columbia a few years ago, said : "In some respects that convention was the most remarkable body of men that ever assembled in the state. With a few exceptions, they were not of the class usually found in legislatures or popular assemblages. They were grave, thoughtful, discreet, educated men, profoundly impressed with the great respon- sibilities of their positions. Among them were judges of the supreme court, ex- governors, ex-Congressmen, ex-state senators and representatives, leading law- yers, farmers, merchants, bankers and retired business men, representing the varied, vital interests of the communities. No impartial, intelligent man can look over the debates of the body, extending over two years and more, without being deeply impressed with the idea of their tremendous intellectual power and sense of moral, patriotic obligation."
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