USA > Missouri > Missouri the center state, 1821-1915 > Part 37
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The convention adjourned on the 22d of March. The legislature adjourned about one week later. "Submissionist" was added to the political nomeclature of Missouri. As soon as it was evident that the convention was in the control of the anti-secession delegates, the southern rights men dubbed these delegates "sub- missionists," and thus referred to them in the fiery denunciations on the floor of the legislature and in the columns of the secession newspapers.
Home Rule Taken from St. Louis.
One of the legislative measures of the southern rights members of the general assembly took away from St. Louis home rule in police. The bill was introduced early in the session. It was not passed until March. St. Louis had a Union mayor, Oliver D. Filley. Up to that time the police had been a city department, con- trolled by the city government. The legislature passed an act creating a board of four police commissioners to be appointed by the governor. The mayor was a fifth member, ex-officio. This board was given "absolute control of the police, of the volunteer militia of St. Louis, of the sheriff, and of all other conservators of the peace." Snead said: "This act took away from the Republican mayor and transferred to the governor, through his appointees, the whole police power of the City of St. Louis. This was its expressed intention. It had other and more important purposes which were carefully concealed." Basil W. Duke was one of the police commissioners appointed under this act. He had been active in the organization of the Minute Men and commanded one of the companies.
The other members of the new police board were J. H. Carlisle, Charles Mc- Laren and John A. Brownlee. Brownlee was a Northern man, in favor of peace and against forcible coercion of the South. The others were sympathizers with the South and in favor of the secession of Missouri if war came. The use which could be made of the police force under state control was shown when Lyon, for the better defense of the arsenal, posted some of his men outside of the walls to give warning of an approach. The police commissioners protested against this
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use of United States soldiers. Lyon was compelled to recall his men within the arsenal. Rumors that the arsenal was to be seized by the State were renewed with the reorganization of the police force. Sentiment in St. Louis about the end of March shifted as the municipal election approached. It became strongly antagonistic to Blair and the Home Guards, most of whom were still without arms.
In the first week of April was held the municipal election. John How was the candidate of the Unconditional Union men. The leaders of the movement which had carried the city by 5,000 against the southern rights men in February supported How. Daniel G. Taylor, a popular Democrat, but not a secessionist, was elected by 2,600 majority.
CHAPTER XIV.
CAMP JACKSON.
Warlike Preparations-William Selby Harney-Plans to Capture the Arsenal-Lyon Patrols Streets-Muskets "to Arm Loyal Citizens"-Four Regiments of Home Guards Brigaded -Lincoln's Call for Soldiers-Governor Jackson's Defiance-Blair Grasps a Great Oppor- tunity-State Militia Seize Liberty Arsenal-Washington Warned-The Commissioners to Montgomery-General Frost's Suggestion-Jefferson Davis Sends Siege Guns-Mid- night Trip of the City of Alton-Lyon's Ruse with the Flintlocks-Governor Jackson Buys Ammunition-"Armed Neutrality"-Editorial Strategy-Champ Clark's Comments -A Pike County Mass Meeting-Confidential Letter from Jackson-Washington Recog- nizes the Committee of Public Safety-Police Assert State Sovereignty-Camp Jackson -Forms of Loyalty-Arrival of Confederate Siege Guns-"Tamaroa Marble"-Lyon in Disguise-Night Session of the Committee-General Frost Protests-March on the Camp-The Surrender-Baptism of Blood-Mob Demonstrations-More Loss of Life -- Sunday's Panic-The Legislature Acts-Passage of Military Bill-Peace Agreement- Harney Removed-A Pathetic Letter-What Capture of Camp Jackson Meant-Frank Blair's Foresight.
This capture of Camp Jackson was the first really aggressive blow at secession that was struck anywhere in the United States .- John Fiske. The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War.
Camp Jackson is slurred over with an occasional paragraph in the history of books, but it was the turning point in the war west of the Mississippi, and it was the work of Frank Blair, the Kentuckian, the Missourian, the slave owner, the patrician, the leonine soldier, the patriotic statesman .- Champ Clark.
In April began the moves of Missouri's game of civil war. The State was the stake. The playing was fast. The legislators had gone home at the end of March. Governor Jackson came to St. Louis and held conferences with the southern rights leaders. Blair traveled and telegraphed between St. Louis and Washington. Lyon fretted at the arsenal. The Minute Men chafed when they thought of those sixty thousand muskets. The Home Guards stolidly drilled at night on sawdust dead- ened floors and with blanketed windows.
"A man to be reckoned with in those days," said John McElroy, the Northern writer, "was the commander of the department of the west, which included all that immense territory stretching from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, except Texas, New Mexico, and Utah. This man was the embodiment of the regular army as it was developed after the war of 1812. At this time that army was a very small one-two regiments of dragoons, two of cavalry, one of mounted riflemen, four of artillery, and ten of infantry, making with engineers, ordnance and staff, a total of only 12,698 officers and men-but its personnel and discipline were unsurpassed in the world. Among its 1,040 commissioned officers there was no finer soldier than William Selby Harney. A better colonel no army ever had. A form of commanding height, physique equal to any test of activity or endurance, a natural leader of men through superiority of courage and ability, William Selby Harney had for forty-three years made an unsurpassed record Vol. I -17
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as a commander of soldiers. He had served in the Everglades of Florida, on the boundless plains west of the Mississippi, and in Mexico during the brilliantly spectacular war which ended with our 'reveling in the Halls of the Montezumas.' He it was, who eager for his country's advancement, had, while the diplomats were disputing with Great Britain, pounced down upon and seized the debatable island of San Juan in Vancouver waters. For this he was recalled, but the island remained American territory. He was soon assigned to the department of the west, with headquarters at St. Louis. He had been for twelve years the colonel of the crack Second U. S. Dragoons, and for three years one of the three brigadier-generals in the regular army."
Plot and Counter-plot.
Snead said that among those with whom Governor Jackson conferred early in April were John A. Brownlee, president of the new police board; Judge William M. Cooke, and Captains Greene and Duke of the Minute Men. "They all agreed that the most important and the first thing to be done was to seize the arsenal so as to obtain the means for at once arming and equipping the state militia."
General Harney heard of this; so did Lyon. The contents of the armory were still under the custody of Major Hagner. Lyon said if any attempt was made by the Minute Men to take the arsenal he would issue arms to the Home Guards. If Hagner tried to stop him he would "pitch him into the river." On the 6th of April General Harney issued an order putting Lyon in full com- mand of the arsenal and giving control of the contents. Lyon, however, went beyond instructions and sent his soldiers into the streets outside of the arsenal. Citizens protested against the military patrol. Harney ordered it stopped. When Blair came from Washington the 17th of April he brought an order on the arsenal for 5,000 muskets " to arm loyal citizens," the paper to be served when in his judgment conditions demanded. He sent a protest against Harney's instructions to Lyon. On the 21st of April Harney received notice to come to Washington. That same day Lyon began "to arm loyal citizens." Four regi- ments of Home Guards were given guns and formed into a brigade. Lyon was elected brigadier-general, by the regimental officers, Blair declining to be considered.
Fort Sumter fell on the 13th of April. President Lincoln called for 75,000 men, of which Missouri's quota was four regiments of infantry. Gover- nor Jackson replied: " Not one man will Missouri furnish to carry on such an unholy crusade." Commenting on the governor's action, the Missouri Republican said: "Nobody expected any other response from him, and the people of Missouri will indorse it. They may not approve the early course of the Southern States, but they denounce and defy the action of Mr. Lincoln in proposing to call out 75,000 men for the purpose of coercing the seceding States. Whatever else may happen, he gets no men from the border States to carry on such a war."
Blair's Great Opportunity.
Blair came back from Washington the day Governor Jackson telegraphed his refusal to furnish Missouri's quota. He wired the Secretary of War:
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"Send order at once for mustering men into service to Capt. N. Lyon. It will then be surely executed, and we will fill your requisition in two days."
On the 23rd of April the order came to Lyon to " muster into the service the four regiments " which the governor had refused. Lyon had an army. He immediately mustered into United States service the four regiments of "loyal citizens " already armed. The arsenal and the 60,000 muskets were lost to the Minute Men. One thing that operated to the advantage of Blair and Lyon in getting the order to arm the Home Guards was the seizure of the arsenal at Liberty, Missouri, on the 20th of April. Four brass guns and other munitions not in great quantity were taken by state troops. Another moving influence with the War Department at Washington was a letter which General Harney sent on the day that Jackson refused President Lincoln's call. " The arsenal buildings and grounds are completely commanded by the hills immediately in their rear, and within easy range, and I learn from sources which I consider reliable, that it is the intention of the executive of this State to cause batteries to be erected on these hills and also on the island opposite the arsenal. I am further informed that should such batteries be erected, it is contemplated by the state authorities, in the event of the secession of the State from the Union, to demand the surrender of the arsenal."
Lieutenant Schofield was the man who informed Harney of a plan to seize the arsenal under cover of a riot. The old war dog growled his reply, "A blanked outrage! Why the State has not yet passed the ordinance of secession. Missouri has not gone out of the United States." Lyon had the same informa- tion. On the same day he sent a messenger to Governor Yates at Springfield and asked him to get authority from Washington to hold the six Illinois regi- ments in readiness for service at St. Louis. Lyon also advised Governor Yates to make requisition on the War Department for muskets at the St. Louis arsenal and get them taken to Springfield as soon as possible.
Commissioners Sent to Jefferson Davis.
Harney and Lyon were well informed. On the day following Harney's writing and Lyon's message to Yates, Governor Jackson started Greene and Duke to Montgomery, the temporary Confederate capital, with a letter to Mr. Davis asking him for siege guns and mortars for the proposed attack on the arsenal. Judge William M. Cooke left for Richmond on a similar commission.
Snead said that just before Greene and Duke went South to see Jefferson Davis, Frost had drawn up a plan which Brownlee had indorsed and given to the governor. This plan provided for a special session of the legislature and for a proclamation to the people of Missouri. The governor was to warn the people " that the President has acted illegally in calling out troops, thus arrogating to himself the war-making power, that they are, therefore by no means bound to give him aid or comfort in his attempt to subjugate by force of arms a people who are still free, but, on the contrary, should prepare themselves to maintain their rights as citizens of Missouri."
The plan was dated the 15th of April. It also provided that the governor should order Frost " to form a military camp of instruction at or near the city of St. Louis; to muster military companies into the service of the State, and
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to erect batteries and do all things necessary and proper to be done in order to maintain the peace and dignity of the State."
" It was intended," said Snead, "that the camp of instruction should be established on the river bluffs below the arsenal in such position that, with the aid of the siege guns and mortars which were to be brought from the South, Frost and his brigade, reinforced by Bowen's command and by volunteers, would be able to force Lyon to surrender the arsenal and all its stores to the State."
On the 23rd day of April, 1861, Jefferson Davis wrote from Montgomery, Alabama, to Governor Claiborne F. Jackson :
"I have the honor to acknowledge yours of the 17th instant, borne by Capts. Green and Duke, and have most cordially welcomed the fraternal assurances it brings. A misplaced but generous confidence has, for years past, prevented the Southern States from making the preparation required for the present emergency, and our power to supply you with ordnance is far short of the will to serve you. After learning as well as I could from the gentlemen accredited to me what was most useful for the attack on the arsenal, I have directed that Capts. Greene and Duke should be furnished with two 12-pounder howitzers and two 32-pounder guns with proper ammunition for each. These, from the commanding hills, will be effective, both against the garrison and to breach the enclosing walls of the place. I concur with you as to the great importance of capturing the arsenal and securing its sup- plies, rendered doubly important by the means taken to obstruct your commerce and render you unarmed victims of a hostile invasion. We look anxiously and hopefully for the day when the star of Missouri shall be added to the constellation of the Confederate States of America."
Secret Shipment of Guns to Illinois.
Yates promptly got his order to send Illinois troops "to support the garri- son of the St. Louis arsenal." At the same time Lyon was ordered from Washington to equip these Illinois troops and to deliver to the agent of Governor Yates guns and ammunition for 10,000 more troops. These orders came on the 20th. But before Yates could send his regiments, Lyon had armed his four regiments of Home Guards and the arsenal was safe. On the night of the 26th, the City of Alton dropped down to the arsenal, took on board the muskets and ammunition and other equipment for Illinois.
Governor Yates sent Capt. James H. Stokes to represent him in the removal of the arms from the arsenal. Stokes came in citizen's dress. He had char- tered the City of Alton but had instructed the captain to remain at Alton for orders. When Stokes reached the arsenal he found a crowd of southern rights men gathered at the gate. A rumor prevailed that an attack was to be made by 2,000 militia from Jefferson City. With considerable effort Stokes reached Lyon and presented the requisition for 10,000 muskets. In some way the southern rights men had learned that an attempt might be made to remove the arms. They had posted a battery on the river bank some distance above
the arsenal. Lyon sent out his spies and learned of the plans of the Minute Men. On the 25th of April Stokes sent word to the captain of the City of Alton to come down the river and reach the arsenal at midnight. Early in the evening Lyon sent some cases of old flintlock muskets up to the levee as if intending to ship them by boat. Most of the southern rights men who had been watching the arsenal followed the cases of flintlocks and when they were
THE BERTHOLD MANSION, BROADWAY AND PINE STREETS, ST. LOUIS. Headquarters of the Minute Men in 1861
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unloaded took possession of them and moved them to a hiding place, under the impression that they had stopped a shipment of serviceable guns. Lyon arrested the remaining watchers and held them prisoners. The whole arsenal force was put to work moving the boxes of good muskets. The Alton arrived in front of the arsenal just before midnight. The 10,000 muskets were put on board so hurriedly that they carried the bow of the boat down into the mud. When the load was on, the Alton could not be moved. As quickly as possible 200 boxes, which had been piled in front to protect the engines if the boat was fired on by the battery, were carried aft. Lyon interpreted the requisi- tion so liberally that when the Alton pushed off she carried 20,000 muskets, 500 carbines, the same number of revolvers, 110,000 cartridges and considerable other war material. The Alton took the channel and started north. Both Stokes and Captain Mitchell of the boat expected to be fired on when they passed the levee, but the battery was silent. The ruse of the flintlocks had apparently deceived the Minute Men. The boat reached Alton at 5 o'clock in the morning. Stokes ran to the market-house and rang the fire-bell. As the people responded he appealed for volunteers to help him get the Alton's load on board the cars. By 7 o'clock the work was done and Stokes was on his way to Springfield. Lyon prepared the arsenal for siege. He placed batteries, built platforms to enable the men to fire over the walls, cut port holes and arranged sand bags for protection.
When he learned of the shipment of arms from the arsenal and of Lyon's elaborate plans of defense, Governor Jackson sent Harding, his quartermaster- general, to St. Louis to buy all of the guns and ammunition he could find in the stores. The general was late. St. Louisans had been buying arms for three months. There were private arsenals everywhere. Capt. Sam Gaty went into the office of his lawyer, Samuel T. Glover, on legal business. He saw a gun leaning in the corner and said something about it. "You secessionists don't expect to drive the Union men out of St. Louis, do you?" retorted Glover. Harding found stocks in the gun stores depleted. With a good deal of trouble he bought for the State a few hundred hunting rifles, some tents and other camp equipage and seventy tons of powder. The purchases were consigned to the state authorities at Jefferson City. The shipment was made on the 7th of May and Captain Kelly's company of the state militia, composed of fighting Irishmen, went as a guard. That was the reason this crack company was not at Camp Jackson when the capture took place. Years afterwards the militant sympathizers with the South told the story of Camp Jackson in a song which ran :
"'Twas on the tenth of May
When Kelly's men were away -"
The Armed Neutrality Policy.
While these warlike preparations of Blair and Lyon on the one side and Governor Jackson and the Minute Men on the other went on, the voice of Missouri at large was still raised for "armed neutrality." In his Columbia Statesmen of April 15, 1861, William F. Switzler said:
"Let them (the border States) stand as a wall of fire between the belligerent extremes, and with their strong arms and potential counsel keep them apart. Let them stand pledged,
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as they now are, to resist any attempt at coercion, plighting their faith, as we do not hesi- tate to plight the faith of Missouri, that if the impending war of the Northern States against the Southern shall, in defiance of our solemn protest and warning actually occur (which God in his mercy forefend!) we shall stand by Virginia and Kentucky and our Southern sisters-sharing their dangers, and abiding their fortunes and destiny-in driving back from their borders the hostile fleet of Northern invaders. Of the South, we are for the South."
The Missouri Republican, organ of all the conservative elements, met the situation on the 22d:
"Let us take the same position that Kentucky has taken-that of armed neutrality. Let us declare that no military force levied in other States, shall be allowed to pass through our State, or camp upon our soil. Let us demand of the opposing sections to stop further hostile operations until reason can be appealed to in Congress, and before the people; and when that fails it will be time enough for us to take up arms. Why should we, all unprepared, rush out of the Union, to find a doubtful and reluctant reception in the Confederate States."
Long after the war was over, Champ Clark pointed out the futility of the "armed neutrality " argument. He said:
"Time fought for Blair in this strange contest for possession of a State, for the preserva- tion of the Republic. Those who most effectually tied the hands of the secessionists and who unwittingly but most largely played into Blair's were the advocates of 'armed neutral- ity,' certainly the most preposterous theory ever hatched in the brain of man. Who was its father cannot now be definitely ascertained, as nobody is anxious to claim the dubious honor of its paternity. What it really meant may be shown by an incident that happened in the great historic county of Pike, a county which furnished one brigadier-general and five colonels to the Union army and three colonels to the Confederate, with a full complement of officers and men.
"Early in 1861 a great 'neutrality meeting' was held at Bowling Green, the county seat, Hon. William L. Gatewood, a prominent lawyer, a Virginian or Kentuckian by birth, an ardent Southern sympathizer, subsequently a state senator, was elected chairman. The Pike county orators were out in full force, but chief among them was Hon. George W. Anderson, also a prominent lawyer, an East Tennessean by nativity, afterwards a colonel in the Union army, a state senator, and for four years a member of Congress. Eloquence was on tap and flowed freely. Men of all shades of opinion fraternized; they passed strong and ringing resolutions in favor of 'armed neutrality,' and 'all went merry as a marriage bell.'
"Chairman Gatewood was somewhat mystified and not altogether satisfied by the har- monious proceedings; so, after adjournment sine die, he took Anderson out under a con- venient tree, and in his shrill tenor nervously inquired, 'George, what does "armed neutrality" mean, anyhow?' Anderson, in his deep base, growled, 'It means guns for the Union men and none for the rebels!'-the truth and wisdom of which remarks are now perfectly apparent. So it was, verily Anderson had hit the bull's-eye, and no mistake. If he had orated for an entire month, he could not have stated the case more luminously or more com- prehensively. He had exhausted the subject. Before the moon had waxed and waned again the leaders of that 'neutrality' lovefeast were hurrying to and fro, beating up for volunteers, in every nook and corner in the county,-some for service in the Union, others for service in the Confederate army.
"But it is proverbial that 'hindsight is better than foresight.' Men must be judged by their own knowledge at the time they acted, not by ours; by the circumstances with which they were surrounded, not by those which environ us. What may appear unfathomable problems to the wisest men of one generation may be clear as crystal to even the dullest of the succeeding generation. However ridiculous 'armed neutrality,' judged by the hard logic of events, may appear in the retrospect; however untenable we now know it to have been, the fact nevertheless remains that it was honestly believed in and enthusiastically advocated by thousands of capable, brave, and honest men all over Kentucky and Missouri, many of whom afterwards won laurels on the battlefield and laid down their lives in one army or the other in defense of what they deemed right."
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Jackson's Confidential Letter.
A confidential letter by Governor Claib. Jackson to the editor of the St. Louis Bulletin, is in the manuscript collection of the Missouri Historical Society. It is dated April 28, 1861. It is an important revelation of the state adminis- tration's policy at the time and of purposes behind the scenes:
"I write this note in confidence and under a state of mind very peculiar. I know not when I have been so deeply mortified as on yesterday when I read the leading editorial of the Republican. Governor Price called on me a few days since, when passing on his way to St. Louis. We had an interview of ten minutes, not more. It was strictly private and con- fidential. Neither was at liberty to repeat what the other said, much less was either licensed to misstate and misrepresent the position of the other.
"Governor Price asked me what I thought as to the time of calling the convention. I told him not to be in a hurry but to wait 'til the legislature met, and to be here at that time, so that we could consult with the members from all parts of the State, and fix upon a proper time; that in my judgment we should not go out of the Union until the legislature had time to arm the State to some extent and place it in a proper position of defense. This was in substance, the sum total of all I said to him. Governor Price said many things to me in that short interview which I am not at liberty to repeat, and which I could not do without doing violence to my sense of honor, violating every rule of propriety which gov- erns the intercourse of gentlemen, and forfeiting all claim to the position of an honorable member of the community.
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