USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 81
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John S. Marmaduke was stationed with his command of regulars at Fort Laramie when officers of the army faced the question "under which govern- ment?" He came home to Missouri and talked it over with his father. Vir- ginian and slaveholder, the ex-governor was strongly against secession.
"John," he said, as a member of the family recalled the conference, "there can be but one result. You will sacrifice your profession. Secession will fail. Slavery will be abolished. But you must decide for yourself, following your own convictions."
The young officer resigned his commission in the United States army and organized a regiment under the military bill. Many of his men were from Saline county. As the organization approached completion and was about ready to leave for Jefferson City, the father of the young colonel was invited to address the regiment. He knew many of the young soldiers and he knew the fathers of more of them. The regiment was drawn up at Marshall to receive the ex- governor. The address was made; it was along the same line as the counsel which had been given the son. The elder Marmaduke told the regiment that secession could not succeed; that they had enlisted in a cause that was bound to fail. The speech was not well received. In the Marmaduke family the issue of 1861 found a division of sentiment not infrequent among the families of Central Missouri. Many of the elders saw beyond the glamour of war and were against secession. Military ardor carried the sons into the field.
The Price-Harney Agreement.
On the 17th of May the Federal court at St. Louis issued warrants "to pre- serve the peace of St. Louis and promote the tranquillity of Missouri." These
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warrants authorized United States Marshal Rawlings to seize war material. With the one-armed Captain Sweeny and a squad of regulars, the marshal went to the state tobacco warehouse on Washington avenue and Sixth street. There he took possession of several hundred rifles and pistols and some boxes of am- munition. The marshal then called at the metropolitan police headquarters on Chestnut street near Third and took possession of two cannon and many rifles. All this was done at the instance of General Harney. Then the southern rights people proposed a truce. This agreement was entered into by Price and Harney :
"St Louis, May 21, 1861.
"The undersigned, officers of the United States government and of the government of the State of Missouri, for the purpose of removing misapprehensions and allaying public excitement, deem it proper to declare publicly that they have this day had a personal inter- view in this city, in which it has been mutually understood, without the semblance of dis- sent on either part, that each of them has no other than a common object equally inter- esting and important to every citizen of Missouri-that of restoring peace and good order to the people of the state in subordination to the laws of the general and state govern- ments. It being thus understood, there seems no reason why every citizen should not confide in the proper officers of the general and state governments to restore quiet, and, as among the best means of offering no counter-influences, we mutually recommend to all persons to respect each other's rights throughout the state, making no attempt to exercise unauthorized powers, as it is the determination of the proper authorities to suppress all unlawful proceedings, which can only disturb the public peace.
"General Price, having by commission full authority over the militia of the state of Missouri, undertakes, with the sanction of the governor of the state already declared, to direct the whole power of the state officers to maintain order within the state among the people thereof, and General Harney publicly declares that, this object being thus assured, he can have no other occasion, as he has no wish, to make military movements, which might otherwise create excitements and jealousies which he most earnestly desires to avoid.
"We, the undersigned, do mutually enjoin upon the people of the state to attend to their civil business of whatever sort it may be, and it is hoped that the unquiet elements which have threatened so seriously to disturb public peace may soon subside and be re- membered only to be deplored.
"STERLING PRICE, "Major-General Missouri State Guard. "WILLIAM S. HARNEY, "Brigadier-General Commanding."
The Removal of Harney.
Blair wrote to the Secretary of War: "The agreement between Harney and General Price gives me great disgust and dissatisfaction to the Union men; but I am in hopes we can get along with it, and I think Harney will insist on its execu- tion to the fullest extent, in which case it will be satisfactory." In those four or five months of the early part of 1861, Frank Blair was going and coming between St. Louis and Washington. He came home from one of these trips with an order for the removal of General Harney at such time as Blair, in his judgment, should deem best. But after Blair had departed with this order the President wrote him a personal letter dated May 18, eight days after the Camp Jackson affair :
"We have a good deal of anxiety here about St. Louis. I understand an order has gone from the war department to you, to be delivered or withheld at your discretion, relieving General Harney of his command. I was not quite satisfied with the order when
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it was made, though on the whole I thought it best to make it; but since then I have be- come more doubtful of its propriety. I do not write to countermand it, but to say I wish you would withhold it, unless in your judgment the necessity to the contrary is very urgent. There are several reasons for this. We had better have him as a friend than an enemy. It will dissatisfy a good many who otherwise would be quiet. More than all, we first relieve him, then restore him, and now if we relieve him again the public ask, why this vacillation. Still, if in your judgment it is indispensable, let it be so."
After a few days Blair concluded that Price was not keeping faith with Harney. He served the order of removal. General B. G. Farrar told this remi- niscence: "The day before General Harney was removed I was sent for by Colonel Blair. 'Major Farrar,' said he, 'I wish to obtain a very important paper in the keeping of my cousin, Miss Graham. On reaching her house, give her this key and ask for a paper consigned to her care. On receipt, return to the arsenal by a circuitous route, and, if attacked, defend it with your life.' This was an order written by President Lincoln relieving Harney. It was to be used only in case of absolute necessity, and at the discretion of Blair." General Harney wrote to the adjutant-general at Washington this pathetic letter :
"My confidence in the honor and integrity of General Price, in the purity of his motives, and in his loyalty to the government, remains unimpaired. His course as president of the state convention that voted by a large majority against submitting an ordinance of secession, and his efforts since that time to calm the elements of discord, have served to confirm the high opinion of him I have for many years entertained.
"My whole course as commander of the department of the west has been dictated by a desire to carry out in good faith the instructions of my government, regardless of the clamor of the conflicting elements surrounding me, and whose advice and dictation could not be followed without involving the state in blood and the government in the unnecessary expenditure of millions. Under the course I pursued Missouri was secured to the Union, and the triumph of the government was only the more glorious, being almost a bloodless victory; but those who clamored for blood have not ceased to impugn my motives. Twice within a brief space of time have I been relieved from the command here; the second time in a manner that has inflicted unmerited disgrace upon a true and loyal soldier. During a long life, dedicated to my country, I have seen some service, and more than once I have held her honor in my hands; and during that time my loyalty, I believe, was never ques- tioned; and now, when in the natural course of things I shall, before the lapse of many years, lay aside the sword which has so long served my country, my countrymen will be slow to believe that I have chosen this portion of my career to damn with treason my life, which is so soon to become a record, of the past, and which I shall most willingly leave to the unbiased judgment of posterity. I trust that I may yet be spared to do my country some further service that will testify to the love I bear her, and that the vigor of my arm may never relax while there is a blow to be struck in her defense.
"I respectfully ask to be assigned to the command of the department of California, and I doubt not the present commander of the division is even now anxious to serve on the Atlantic frontier.
"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,'
"WM. S. HARNEY, "Brigadier-General U. S. Army."
General Harney, realizing that the second removal from command at St. Louis made it impossible for him to ask reinstatement there, offered to go to California. He started for Washington but on the way was taken prisoner by the Confederates when the train was captured at Harper's Ferry. The Con-
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federate authorities at Richmond immediately ordered his release when he was brought there. Harney's mission to Washington was fruitless so far as transfer to California was concerned. He remained on the active list but without being given a command until 1863, when he was retired as a brigadier-general. At the ' close of the war the government attempted to repair the injustice done by brevetting him major-general.
Blair wrote to President Lincoln on the 30th of May, 1861, asking authority to recruit a large force of Missourians. "We are well able to take care of our- selves in this state without assistance from elsewhere if authorized to raise a suf- ficient force within the state; and after that work is done we can take care of the secessionists from the Arkansas line to the Gulf, along the west shore of the Mississippi."
What the Capture of Camp Jackson Meant.
Champ Clark said, "If Frank Blair had never captured Camp Jackson-for it was Blair who conceived and carried out that great strategic movement, and not Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, of New England, as the northern war books say-Missouri would have joined the Confederacy under the lead of Governor Claiborne F. Jackson and Gen. Sterling Price, the peerless soldier, and, with her vast resources to command, Lee's soldiers would not have been starved and broken into sur- render.
"When we consider the men who were against Blair it is astounding that he suc- ceeded. To say nothing of scores, then unknown to fame, who were conspicuous soldiers in the Confederate army and who have since held high political position, arrayed against him were the governor of the state, Claiborne F. Jackson; the lieutenant-governor, Thomas C. Reynolds ; ex-United States Senator David R. Atchison; United States Senators Trusten Polk and James S. Green, the latter of whom had no superior in intellect or as a debater upon this continent; Waldo P. Johnson, elected to succeed Green in March, 1861, and the well-beloved ex-governor and ex-brigadier-general in the Mexican war, Sterling Price, by long odds the most popular man in the state.
"No man between the two oceans drew his sword with more reluctance or used it with more valor than 'Old Pap Price.' The statement is not too extravagant or fanciful for belief that had he been the sole and absolute commander of the Confederates who won the battle of Wilson's Creek, he would have rescued Missouri from the Unionists.
"The thing that enabled Blair to succeed was his settled conviction from the first that there would be war-a war of coercion. While others were hoping against hope that war could be averted or, at least, that Missouri could be kept out of it, even if it did come- while others were making constitutional arguments, while others were temporizing or dallying-he acted. Believing that the questions at issue could be settled only by the sword, and also believing in Napoleon's maxim that 'God fights on the side of the heaviest battalions,' he grimly made ready for the part which he intended to play in the bloody drama."
In the capitol at Washington, Senator George G. Vest, speaking at the dedi- cation of the statue of Blair in Statuary Hall, said of Camp Jackson and what immediately followed :
"Blair, although he was not anticipating what was called the massacre, was immediately prepared for action against the consequences. He knew that the railroad, the only railroad running west from St. Louis, would be destroyed by the state government, but he seized five steamboats lying at the wharf, put crews on them, went up the river with his German
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regiments, captured Jefferson City, the capital, dispersed the state government, overwhelmed the few hundred militia, unarmed and undisciplined, who met him at Boonville, and, in my judgment, caused Missouri to divide her forces in the war between the North and the South instead of going solidly to the Confederate cause, as but for him would have been the case.
"I say here now today, deliberately, from my personal knowledge of affairs then in the state, that but for Frank Blair, Missouri would have given her solid strength to the southern cause. I do not choose to conjecture what would have been the result. Southern Illinois, Kentucky and Maryland, as all the world knows, sympathized with the South, and the result of the war might have been different but for the wonderful fearlessness and promptitude with which Blair acted."
Conclusions Fifty Years After.
At the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the capture of Camp Jackson, Major Leo Rassieur, one of the participants in the capture, told of secret corre- spondence between the secretary of war of the Confederate government and Governor Claiborne Jackson. He quoted from the letters exchanged. The governor's letter was dated only five days before the capture of Camp Jackson. Major Rassieur, who was one of Winston Churchill's characters in "The Crisis," said in his address at the semi-centennial of Camp Jackson :
"The governor of Missouri was written to on April 26 by L. P. Walker, secretary of war of the southern Confederacy as follows: 'Can you arm and equip one regiment of infantry for service in Virginia, to rendezvous at Richmond? Transportation will be provided by this government. The regiment to elect its own officers and must enlist for not less than twelve months, unless sooner discharged.'
"Although the State of Missouri, as a legal organization, had assumed no obligation to the southern Confederacy and was then a part of the Federal government, still, the man who held the office of governor answered as follows, on May 5th, from the executive department of this state, to wit: 'Yours of the 26th ult. received. I have no legal author- ity to furnish the men you desire. Missouri, you know, is yet under the tyranny of Lin- coln's government, so far, at least, as forms go. We are woefully deficient here in arms, and can not furnish them at present; but so far as men are concerned, we have plenty of them, ready, willing and anxious to march at any time to the defense of the South. Our Legislature has just met, and I doubt not will give me all necessary authority over the matter. If you can arm the men they will go whenever wanted and to any point where they may be most needed. I send this to Memphis by private hand, being afraid to trust our mails and telegraphs. Let me hear from you by the same means. Missouri can and will put 100,000 men in the field if requested. We are using every means to arm our people, and until we are better prepared must move cautiously. I write this in confidence, with prayers for success."
Speaking of the plans of Lyon and of the execution of them, Major Rassieur continued :
The arrangements made by Gen. Lyon were so well perfected and carried out that, not- withstanding the regiments started from camps many miles apart and marched by different routes to reach their destination, when the hour of taking the assigned positions arrived each regiment was present to perform its full duty. The best regular troops of the war, with years of instruction and experience to guide them, never performed with more promptitude and military discipline the dangerous duties attending a warlike proceeding. Gen. Lyon had no cause to regret the confidence reposed in his citizen-soldiery.
They bore the abuse heaped upon them by the crowd of southern sympathizers who followed the troops to the camp, with the fortitude of the regulars of the army, and it was
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only when fired upon by the surrounding crowd and when Capt. Blandowsky of the Third Regiment, Missouri Volunteers, had been wounded that both regulars and volunteers re- turned the fire, and thus saved the city from general riot and further bloodshed. The camp and its occupants were surrendered without firing a gun, as was doubtless anticipated by Gen. Lyon, and as a direct result the City of St. Louis and the government of the State of Missouri remained true to the Union during the greatest trial of the institutions of this country.
In conclusion, Major Rassieur quoted from a paper read by James O. Broad- head before the St. Louis Commandery, of the Loyal Legion, regarding the importance of the events connected with Camp Jackson :
"Colonel James O. Broadhead, who participated in the excitements of those days, in April and May, 1861, as a member of the Committee of Safety, and whose excellent judg- ment and love of truth have never been questioned, says in his paper, prepared and read to the Loyal Legion :
" 'The regiments that were raised in St. Louis in the spring of 1861, chiefly under the auspices of General Blair, and placed under the command of General Lyon, secured Mis- souri to the Union cause, and this, in my judgment, the impartial historian who comes to learn all the facts connected with that period will say; and he will say further that had Missouri taken the other side of that contest the result might have been, most probably would have been different.'"
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CHAPTER XXIII
THE STATE THE STAKE
Missourians Against Missourians-A Final Effort for Peace-Lyon's Ultimatum-"This Means War"-Jackson's Proclamation-The State Guard Called Out-An Expedition Southwest-The State Capital Abandoned-Battle of Boonville-Its Far-reaching Sig- nificance-A Week's Important Events-Richmond's Early Missouri Policy-The March Southward-Home-made Ammunition-Historic Buck and Ball-Character of the State Guard-Battle of Carthage-The Honors with 2,000 Unarmed Missourians-Sigel's Masterly Retreat-Lyon Reaches Springfield-Polk and the Army of Liberation- Richmond at Last Heeds Missouri's Appeal-McCulloch Joins Forces with Price- Lyon Outnumbered-Fremont's Costly Delay-The Battle of Wilson's Creek-McCul- loch's Attack Anticipated-How the Missourians Fought-Death of Lyon-The State Won for the Union-Fremont's Failure to Support-A Secret Chapter of the War- Jeff Thompson's Dash for St. Louis-Grant Checks the Army of Liberation-The Battle of Lexington-A Great Victory for the State Guard-Ruse of the Hemp Bales-Fre- mont's Army of the West-The Marching Legislature at Neosho-Ordinance of Seces- sion Passed-"A Solemn Agreement"-Fremont Removed-The Anti-Slavery Protest- President Lincoln on the Fremont Fiasco-Border States Policy Endangered-Mrs. Fre- mont's Midnight Visit-The Browning Letter-When Washington Discovered Grant- The Grant Family in Missouri-Kansas City Saved-First Iron-Clads in Naval History -The Civil War Kindergarten.
Rather than concede 'to the State of Missouri the right to demand that my government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or bring troops into the state whenever it pleases, or move its troops at its own will into or out of or through the state; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single moment the right to dictate to my government in any matter, however unimportant, I would see you, and you, and you, and every man, woman and child dead and buried. This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines .- General Nathaniel Lyon.
Missourians went to war with Missourians on the 12th of June, 1861. The last futile effort to keep peace within the state was made the night before. William A. Hall, David H. Armstrong and J. Richard Barret appealed to Governor Jackson and Gen. Sterling Price to meet Blair and Lyon for confer- ence. Thomas T. Gantt, the warm personal friend of Blair, joined with Mr. . Hall in persuading Lyon. Safe conduct was given the governor and Price. The paper stipulated that if they "should visit St. Louis on or before the 12th of June, in order to hold- an interview for the purpose of effecting, if possible, a peaceable solution of the troubles of Missouri, they should be free from molestation or arrest during their journey to St. Louis, and their return from St. Louis to Jefferson City."
On the evening of the 11th the conference was held in the Planters' House. Six men were in it. Blair and Lyon represented the national government, Major Conant attending as Blair's aide. Governor Jackson and General Price repre- sented the state government, Thomas L. Snead being present as the governor's
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aide. For more than four hours these men argued about the relations between the United States and the State of Missouri. That was the issue,-state sovereignty. Blair, at first, spoke for the Federal authority. But Lyon soon got into the discussion. Snead said: "In half an hour it was he that was con- ducting it, holding his own at every point against Jackson and Price, masters though they were of Missouri politics, whose course they had been directing and controlling for years, while he was only captain of an infantry regiment - on the plains. He had not, however, been a mere soldier in those days, but had been an earnest student of the very questions that he was now discussing, and he comprehended the matter as well as any man, and handled it in the soldierly way to which he had been bred, using the sword to cut knots that he could not untie."
It became plain to the six men that there was no middle ground on which they could agree. Lyon ended the conference. He said, finally, without passion but with deliberation and emphasis: "Rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to demand that my government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or bring troops into the state whenever it pleases, or move its troops at its own will into, out of, or through the state; rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my government in any matter however unimportant, I would see you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and every man, woman and child in the state dead and buried."
As he closed, he stood up and pointed in turn to each of the other five men in the room, not excepting Blair and Conant. Then he addressed Governor Jackson : "This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines."
It did mean war. Lyon "strode from the room, rattling his spurs and clank- ing his sabre." He went from the Planters' House conference to telegraph for 5,000 more muskets and for authority to enlist more Missourians. The war department answered immediately and favorably. This meant organization of Home Guards outside St. Louis, wherever there was strong Union sentiment, to fight State Guards.
Jackson Burns His Bridges.
Jackson, Price and Snead went from the Planters' to the old Missouri Pacific depot and took the evening train for Jefferson City. They burned their bridges behind them,-the Gasconade and the Osage, as soon as Price could give the orders to waiting State Guards. All of the way to Jefferson City that Tuesday night, they planned war measures. It was agreed the governor would issue a proclamation and call Missourians to arms to resist Federal aggression; that Price would muster an army; that an appeal would be made to Jefferson Davis to send Confederate troops to defend Missouri against the Union. The plans were formed when the little party left the train at Jefferson City after 2 o'clock in the morning. Before sunrise Snead had completed the proclamation as the governor outlined it and the printers were putting it in type. No state official slept that night. The packing of records and state papers went on. Wednesday morning brought such scenes as no other American state capital had witnessed. The entire official organization of a state still in the Union was preparing to
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GEN. EMMETT McDONALD A leader of the St. Louis minute men
GEN. MONROE M. PARSONS
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