The Struggle for Missouri Part 2

Basil Duke, Colton Greene, and the other chafing young Captains had matured a plot with the connivance of Gen. Frost, of the Militia, probably somewhat at his instigation, which would brush aside the network of intrigue which Claiborne Jackson and others were spinning, bring matters to a focus, and in one blow crush Union sentiment, overawe the timid, fasten the wavering, seize the a.r.s.enal and launch Missouri upon the tide of Secession with the Cotton States.

{57} The police powers of the city of St. Louis had been taken away from the Mayor, Frost had his Militia in readiness, the Irish were properly worked up to a state of exasperation against the "infidel, Sabbath-breaking Dutch," and hosts of Americans were in the same net when on the day of Lincoln's inauguration the Secession flag was boldly hoisted from the roof of the Berthold Mansion, in the most prominent part of the city. At once excitement burned to fever heat. Incensed by the wanton insult, the Germans and other Unconditional Union men raged that the flag should be torn down, and crowds gathered around the Berthold Mansion for that purpose. The house had, however, been converted into an a.r.s.enal, with all the arms and ammunition that could at that time be gathered, and filled with determined men under the leaders.h.i.+p of Duke, Greene and others, eager to precipitate a riot, under the cover of which the Irish and Americans could be hurled against the Germans, and the a.r.s.enal seized.

Blair and the Committee of Safety saw the danger of this. Their followers were not so ready for battle as the enemy was, and in conjunction with the more conservative leaders of the other side they succeeded in restraining their indignant friends from opening up a day of blood which would have been forever memorable in the history of St. Louis. Blair at once hastened back to Was.h.i.+ngton, and a few days after the Inauguration secured from the new Secretary of War an order a.s.signing Capt. Lyon to the command of the a.r.s.enal. This had to come through Gen. Harney's hands, and in transmitting it he informed Capt. Lyon: You shall not exercise any control over the operations of the Ordnance Department. The arrangements heretofore made for the accommodation of the troops at the a.r.s.enal and for the defense of the place will not be disturbed without the sanction of the Commanding General.

{58} This was to save Hagner's pride, as well as propitiate Gen. Harney's Secession friends in St. Louis, who were becoming very uneasy at the way the "Yankee Abolitionist" was taking hold.

The dilemma into which Gen. Harney was becoming daily more involved was far more perplexing than any he had encountered in his fighting days. A question that could be settled sword in hand never had troubled him much. Alas! this could not be-not then. On the one side were the lifelong a.s.sociations and habits of thought of the plain old soldier. All of his friends were Southerners and Slaveholders, as he himself was. Nearly all of the public men he knew, the officials of the State of Louisiana, which he called his home; of Missouri, which was almost equally his home, had either gone over irrevocably to Secession, or were preparing to do so. In his real home, the Army, it was almost as bad. The next Brigadier-General above him, Daniel E. Twiggs, had just surrendered all the men and property under his command to the State of Texas. The men who controlled the War Department,-Secretary Floyd, Adjutant-General Samuel Cooper, Quartermaster-General Joe E. Johnston, a.s.sistant Adjutants-General John Withers and George Deas, had gone into the Confederate army. Robert E. Lee, Gen. Scott's prime favorite, was preparing to do so.

On the other hand were the deep, ineradicable instincts of soldierly loyalty to the Flag under which he had fought for 40 years. The man who had hanged 60 men at one time in Mexico for deserting the Flag was likely to have a severe struggle before he could bring himself to do the same. He was deeply incensed at the "Black Republicans" for irritating the Southerners so that they felt compelled to secede, but did not believe that the latter should have seceded. At least, until Missouri seceded he was going to maintain, as best he could, the National authority in his Department.

{59} A flashlight is thrown on his mental att.i.tude by his reply to Lieut, (afterwards General) Schofield, when informed by him of the above-mentioned preparations for seizing the a.r.s.enal under the cover of a riot. "A ---- outrage," he exclaimed in his usual explosive way. "Why, the State has not yet pa.s.sed the Ordinance of Secession. Missouri has not gone out of the United States."

The limitations placed by Gen. Harney upon Lyon's a.s.signment to command were aggravating. Hagner commanded the buildings, the arms, ammunition, and other stores, and the strong walls surrounding the grounds. Lyon commanded merely the men. He could not draw a musket, a cannon, or a cartridge for either, not even a hammer, a spade nor an ax, without a requisition duly approved by Harney. Nor could he change a single arrangement of the grounds without Harney's approval.

Lyon was almost nightly meeting with the Committee of Safety, and visiting the drill-rooms of the Home Guards, where he advised, encouraged and drilled the men. The Secessionists were extremely fearful that in some way he would manage to get the arms and ammunition, and besought Harney and Hagner to omit no precaution to prevent this.

When away from his Secessionist environment, Harney's soldierly instincts a.s.serted themselves. Lyon's vigorous, uncompromising course was far more to his mind than the dull, s.h.i.+fty Hagner's.

{60} One was zealous in the performance of his duty, and the other a red-tape bureaucrat, whose first thought always seemed to be to clog and hamper the men in the field. Harney had suffered too much from these "office fellows" to be especially enamored of them. Therefore he had moods, when he gave Lyon a free hand, which the latter made the most of until the General's mood changed.

During one of these Lyon had undermined the walls of the buildings, placed batteries, built banquettes for the men to fire over the walls, cut portholes, reinforced the weaker places with sandbags, and established a vigilant sentry system to prevent surprise.

The Secessionists were equally full of plans, though not of performances. Minute Men were organizing throughout the State to rush in at the given day by every train and overwhelm St. Louis, taking the a.r.s.enal by sheer force of numbers. Many of the Captains of the large steamboats which carried on the trade between St. Louis and New Orleans were zealous Secessionists, and mooted plans for a.s.sailing the a.r.s.enal on the river side with cannon mounted on boats, backed up by large crowds of men. But Gov. Jackson and his coterie still relied mainly upon inciting some form of riot in the city, which would allow Gen. Frost to get possession of the a.r.s.enal with his Militia and "protect it from violence." Once in Gen. Frost's hands-then!

The Secessionists scored a point and carried dismay to the Unionists by securing an order from Gen. Scott for Capt. Lyon to attend a Court of Inquiry at Fort Leavenworth. While he was gone they might carry out their plans with comparative ease and safety. Blair, however, succeeded in getting Gen. Scott to revoke the order.

{61} To find out precisely what the position of affairs inside the a.r.s.enal was, and to spy out its defenses, a number of prominent citizens, among whom was James S. Rains, afterwards Brigadier-General in the Confederate army, calling themselves Grand Jurors for the United States District Court, presented themselves at the a.r.s.enal and attempted an entrance. The Sergeant of the Guard held them awhile till he could communicate with Capt. Lyon, and they went away in anger.

There were other officers in the a.r.s.enal whom Lyon could trust as little as he could Maj. Hagner, but Capts. Saxton and Sweeny and Lieut. Lothrop stood firmly by him in every movement, going so far as to mutually agree that they would shoot Maj. Hagner before he should be allowed to turn over the arms to the Secessionists.

The bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter and the President's call for troops threw the country into a tumult of excitement, and changed the political relations everywhere. All over the South the Secessionists were jubilant, and those in Missouri particularly exultant. Very many of the waverers at once flocked over to the Secessionists, while others sided with the Union. To what extent this change took place was as yet unknown, nor which side had a majority. Public sympathy as voiced by the leading papers seemed to be that the Union had "been riven asunder by the mad policy of Mr. Lincoln, and that it was necessary for Missouri to take a stand with the other Border States to prevent his attempting to subjugate them."

{62} Gen. Frost submitted a memorial to Governor Jackson, in which were the following recommendations: 1. Convene the General a.s.sembly at once.

2. Send an agent to the South to procure mortars and siege guns.

3. Prevent the garrisoning of the United States a.r.s.enal at Liberty.

4. Warn the people of Missouri "that the President has acted illegally in calling out troops, thus arrogating to himself the war-making power, and 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 all their rights as citizens of Misouri."

5. Order me (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 to erect batteries and do all things necessary and proper to be done in order to maintain the peace, dignity, and sovereignty of the State.

6. Order Gen. Bowen to report with his command to me (Frost) for duty.

He proposed to form a camp of instruction for the Militia on the river bluffs near the a.r.s.enal, from which it could be commanded by guns and mortars to be obtained from the South when Frost with his brigade and that of Gen. John S. Bowen, who was afterwards to be a Major-General in the Confederate army and command a division at Vicksburg, with what volunteers they could obtain, would force Lyon to surrender the a.r.s.enal and its stores.

While considering these recommendations the Governor received a request from the Secretary of War for four regiments of infantry, Missouri's quota of the 75,000 men the President had called for. To this Governor Jackson replied the next day: {63} Your dispatch of the 13th instant, making a call upon Missouri for four regiments of men for immediate service, has been received. There can be, I apprehend, no doubt but these men are intended to form a part of the President's army to make war upon the people of the seceded States. Your requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconst.i.tutional, and revolutionary in his objects, inhuman and diabolical, and cannot be complied with. Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on such an unholy crusade.

The same day he sent Capts. Greene and Duke to Montgomery with a letter to the President of the Confederacy, requesting him to furnish the siege guns and mortars which Gen. Frost wanted, and another messenger to Virginia with a similar request. He also called the Legislature to meet at Jefferson City May 2, to take "measures to perfect the organization and equipment of the Militia and raise the money to place the State in a proper att.i.tude for defense." He did not dare order Gen. Frost to establish his military camp of instruction in St. Louis, but he took the more prudent and strictly legal course of ordering the commanding officers of the several Militia Districts of the State to a.s.semble their respective commands at some convenient place, and go into encampment for six days for drilling and discipline. This order authorized Gen. Frost to establish his camp wherever he pleased within the City or County of St. Louis.

Gen. Bowen, who was in command of a force in the southwest to guard the State against the marauders from Kansas, was ordered to report with certain of his troops to Gen. Frost. The a.r.s.enal at Liberty was at once seized by the Secessionists in that neighborhood, who secured several hundred muskets, four bra.s.s guns, and a large amount of powder. These proceedings of the Governor disturbed Gen. Harney greatly, and he wrote at once to Gen. Scott asking him for instructions.

{64} Capt. Lyon did not ask or wait for instructions. He wrote at once to Gov. d.i.c.k Yates, of Illinois, to obtain authority to hold in readiness for service in St. Louis the six regiments which Illinois was called upon to furnish. Gov. Yates acted promptly, and received authority to send two or three regiments "to support the garrison of the St. Louis a.r.s.enal." Lyon received orders to equip these troops, and to issue 10,000 additional stands of arms to the agent of the Governor of Illinois.

Mr. Blair reached St. Louis from Was.h.i.+ngton, April 17, and at once began acting with the boldness and foresight that the situation demanded. By his advice Col. Pritchard and other Union officers of the Militia resigned. He procured from the War Department an order placing 5,000 stands of arms at the disposal of Lyon for arming "the loyal citizens"-the Home Guards-and requested orders by telegraph for Capt. Lyon to muster men into the service to fill Missouri's requisition, and to have Hagner removed.

Lyon, determined not to be taken by surprise, had the streets leading to the a.r.s.enal nightly patrolled and pickets stationed outside the walls. Gov. Jackson's Police Board complained that this was a violation of the City ordinances and in direct interference with their duties. They demanded that he should obey the law, but he refused. When they appealed to Harney, he at once ordered Lyon to quarter his men in the a.r.s.enal and forbade him to issue arms to anyone without Harney's sanction. This brought Blair and Lyon to a parting of the ways with Harney. They demanded his removal, and April 21 Harney was removed from the command, and ordered to repair to Was.h.i.+ngton and report to the General-in-Chief.

{65} On the same day Capt. Lyon was instructed to immediately execute the order previously given to "arm loyal citizens." He was also ordered to muster into the service four regiments, which the Governor had refused to furnish. As the men had long been in waiting, Lyon quickly organized the four regiments, which elected him their Brigadier-General. Some of the field officers of these regiments were notable men, and were to have brilliant careers during the war. The Colonel of the 1st Regiment was F. P. Blair, afterwards to become Major-General commanding a corps; the Lieutenant-Colonel was George L. Andrews, afterwards to be a Colonel in the Regular Army; the Major was John M. Schofield, later to be Major-General commanding the Twenty-third Corps, and still later Lieutenant-General commanding the Army of the United States. The Colonel of the 3d Regiment was Franz Sigel, afterwards Major-General commanding the Eleventh Corps and the Army of the Shenandoah.

The four regiments having been filled to the maximum, there were large numbers yet demanding muster. From these a fifth regiment of Missouri Volunteers and five regiments of "United States Reserves" were formed. The most notable among the field officers of these were John McNeil, Colonel of the 3d Regiment, who afterwards became a Brigadier-General, and B. Gratz Brown, Colonel of the 4th U. S. Reserves, afterwards Vice Presidential nominee on the Greeley ticket. These additional regiments formed another brigade, and elected Capt. Sweeny their Brigadier-General. After arming these 10,000 men Lyon secured the balance of the stores from all danger of treachery or capture by transferring them to Alton, Ill.., where they would be under the guardians.h.i.+p of loyal men.

{66} Thus, in a few, swift weeks after the inauguration of President Lincoln, Blair and Lyon, bold even to temerity, and even more sagacious than bold, had s.n.a.t.c.hed away from the sanguine Secessionists the great a.r.s.enal, with its momentous contents, which were placed at the service of the Union.

More than 10,000 loyal men of Missouri were standing, arms in hand, on her soil to confront their enemies.

Above all, the Government showed that it would no longer tamely submit to being throttled and stabbed, but would fight, then, there, and everywhere, for its life.

{67}

CHAPTER IV. THE CAPTURE OF CAMP JACKSON

Up to the time that Gen. Harney was relieved and ordered to Was.h.i.+ngton, and Capt. Lyon was given a free hand, Gen. D. M. Frost's course and advice were worthy of his reputation as a resolute, far-seeing commander. With the organized military companies of his district and the Minute Men he had a good nucleus for action, and had he made a rush on the a.r.s.enal at any of the several times that he seems to have contemplated, it would have been backed up by several thousand young Irishmen and Americans in St. Louis, as well as by tens of thousands from the country swarming in as fast as they could have gotten railroads and steamboats to carry them.

Then the capture of the a.r.s.enal would have opened the war instead of the firing on Fort Sumter.

He was then, however, restrained by Gov. Jackson and his coterie, who expected to gain their ends by intrigues and manipulations which had proved so successful in the other States.

After, however, Capt. Lyon had equipped some 10,000 Missourians from the a.r.s.enal and sent most of the rest of the arms across the river into Illinois, Frost seems to have suddenly become doddering. The Rev. Henry W. Beecher used to tell a very effective story about an old house dog named n.o.ble. Some time in the dim past n.o.ble had found a rabbit in a hole under an apple tree. Every day ever after, for the rest of his life, n.o.ble would go to the hole and bark industriously at it for an hour or so, with as much zeal as if he had found another rabbit there, which he never did.

{68} There seemed to be something of this in Gen. Frost's carrying out his idea of establis.h.i.+ng a camp ostensibly for the instruction of his Militia, on the hills near the a.r.s.enal, which he did May 3. It is hard to reconcile this with any clear purpose. If he intended to a.s.sault and capture the a.r.s.enal, the force that he gathered was absurdly inadequate, in view of what he must have known Lyon had to oppose him. Accounts differ as to the highest number he ever had a.s.sembled, but it must have been less than 2,000.

His camp, which was in a beautiful grove, then in the first flush of the charms of early Springtime, was quite an attractive place for the "knightly" young Southerners who, filled with the chivalrous ideas of Sir Walter Scott's novels, then the prevalent romantic literature of the South, had made much ado before their "ladye loves" of "going off to the warres," and the aforesaid "ladye loves," decorated with Secession rosettes and the red-white-and-red colors then emblematic of Secession, followed their "true-loves" to the camp, and made Lindell Grove bright with the gaily-contrasting hues in bonnets and gowns. There were music and parades, presentations, flags and banners, dancing and feasting, and all the charming accessories of a military picnic. But some how the material for common soldiers did not flock to the Camp as the Secessionists had hoped. Possibly the stern uprising of the loyal people of the North in response to the firing upon Fort Sumter, and the mustering of solid battalions in Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas, immediately around the Missouri borders, had a repressing effect upon those who had at first thought of going with a light heart into Secession. It began to look as if there were going to be something more serious than a Fourth of July barbecue about this work of breaking up the Union.

{69} Certainly, recruits had not come to Camp Jackson, which Frost had so named in honor of the Governor of the State, as they had flocked into similar camps farther South. Nor had they come in the numbers which were a.s.sembled around Lyon and Blair, appealing for arms. Still, the men in Camp Jackson had a resolute purpose, under all the frivolity and merry-making of the gay camp, and presently Capts. Colton Greene and Basil Duke returned with the cheering news that their mission to Jefferson Davis had been entirely successful. Heavy artillery would be furnished with which to batter down the walls of the a.r.s.enal, and force the Home Guards to fight or surrender. They brought with them the following encouraging letter from the President of the Southern Confederacy: Montgomery, Ala., April 23, 1861. His Excellency C. F.

Jackson, Governor of Missouri.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge yours of the 17th Instant, borne by Capts. Greene and Duke, and have most cordially welcomed the fraternal a.s.surances it brings.

A misplaced but generous confidence has, for years past, prevented the Southern States from making the preparation required by 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 needful for the attack on the a.r.s.enal, I have directed that Capts. Greene and Duke should be furnished with two 12-pounder howitzers and two 32- pounder guns, with the proper ammunition for each. These, from the commanding hills, will be effective, both against the garrison and to breach the inclosing walls of the place.

I concur with you as to the great importance of capturing the a.r.s.enal and securing its supplies, rendered doubly important by the means taken to obstruct your commerce and render you unarmed victims of a hostile invasion.

{70} 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.

With best wishes, I am, very respectfully, yours,

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

This promise was at once made good by a letter to the Governor of Louisiana to deliver the required war material from the stores in the lately-captured a.r.s.enal at Baton Rouge. These, carefully disguised as marble, ale, and other innocent stores, were s.h.i.+pped upon the steamboat J. C. Swan, and consigned to a well-known Union firm in St. Louis, with private marks to identify them to the Secessionists, who, on the watch for them, had them at once loaded on drays and taken to Camp Jackson. Their movements, however, were made known to Blair and the Committee of Safety by their spies, and Capt. Lyon was urged to seize the stores upon their arrival at the wharf, but he preferred to allow them to reach their destination, where they would serve to fix the purpose of the camp upon those commanding the garrison.

Lyon, who as a soldier had naturally chafed under the insulting presence on the hills of a force hardly concealing its hostility under a thin vail of professed loyalty, at once resolved upon the capture of the camp. The more cautious of the Union men tried to restrain him. They argued that the camp would expire by legal limitation within a few days. To this Lyon opposed the probability that the Legislature would pa.s.s the military bill in some form and make the camp a permanent one.

{71} Then, those timorous ones insisted that the forms of the law should be employed, and that the United States Marshal, armed with a writ of replevin to recover United States property, should precede the attack upon the camp. Lyon fretted under this; The writ of replevin was a tiresome formality to men who talked of fighting and were ready to fight; furthermore, if served and recognized, Frost might put off the Marshal with some trumpery stuff of no value. Still further came the news that Harney, with Gen. Scott's a.s.sistance, had reinstated himself in favor at Was.h.i.+ngton, and would return the following Sunday. It was now Wednesday, the 8th of May.

Above all, Lyon saw with a clearer insight than the strict law-abiders the immense moral effect of his contemplated action. Heretofore all the initiativeness, all the aggressiveness, all the audacity, had been on the side of the Secessionists. They were everywhere taking daring steps to the confusion and overthrow of the conservative Unionists, and so dragging with them hosts of the wavering. He longed to strike a quick, sharp blow to teach the enemies of the Government that they could no longer proceed with impunity, but must expect a return blow for every one they gave, and probably more.

{72} On Wednesday evening, May 8, Capt. Lyon requested Mr. J. J. Witzig, one of the Committee of Safety, to meet him at 2 o'clock the next day with a horse and buggy. At the appointed hour Witzig went to Lyon's quarters and inquired for the "General," by which t.i.tle Lyon was known after his election as Brigadier-General of the Missouri Militia. As he entered Lyon's room, Witzig saw a lady seated near the door, vailed and evidently waiting for some one. He inquired if she was waiting for the General to come in, and seating himself near the window awaited the coming of Lyon. A few minutes later the lady arose, lifted her vail, and astonished Mr. Witzig with the very unfeminine features of Lyon himself. Mrs. Alexander had loaned him the clothes, and succeeded in attiring him so that the deception was complete. Taking a couple of heavy revolvers, Gen. Lyon entered a barouche belonging to the loyal Franklin d.i.c.k, and was driven by Mr. d.i.c.k's servant leisurely out to Camp Jackson, followed by Mr. Witzig in a buggy. Lyon saw everything in the camp that he wished to see; noticed that the streets were named Davis Avenue, Beauregard Avenue, and the like; took in the lay of the ground, and returning toward the a.r.s.enal, stopped and directed Witzig to summon the other members of the Committee of Safety to immediately meet him at the a.r.s.enal.

He stated to them, when they gathered, the necessity of at once capturing the camp, and his determination to do so and hold all in it as prisoners of war. Blair and Witzig warmly approved this; Filley and Broadhead finally acquiesced, while How and Glover were opposed to both the manner and time and wanted a writ of replevin served by the United States Marshal. If Gen. Frost refused to respect this, Lyon could then go to his a.s.sistance.

{73} Lyon yielded so far as to allow Glover to get out the writ of replevin, but he was not disposed to dally long with that subterfuge, and his line of battle would not be far behind the Marshal. Even before he went out to the camp he had sent an Aid to procure 36 horses for his batteries from the leading livery stables in the city, because he feared that Maj. McKinstry, the Chief Quartermaster of the Department, could not be trusted; a doubt which seems to have been well founded, for Maj. McKinstry afterwards refused to pay for the horses until he was compelled to do so by a peremptory order from Lyon. The Secessionist spies were as vigilant and successful as those of the Unionists, and Gen. Frost was promptly informed of the designs upon him, whereupon on the morning of the fateful May 10 he dispatched Col. Bowen, his Chief of Staff, with the following letter to Gen. Lyon: Headquarters, Camp Jackson,

Missouri Militia, May 10, 1861. Capt. N. Lyon, Commanding United States troops in and about St. Louis a.r.s.enal.

Sir: I am constantly in receipt of information that you contemplate an attack upon my camp. Whilst I understand you are impressed with the idea that an attack upon the a.r.s.enal and the United States troops is intended on the part of the Militia of Missouri, I am greatly at a loss to know what could justify you in attacking: citizens of the United States, who are in the lawful performance of duties devolving upon them, under the Const.i.tution, in organizing and instructing the Militia of the State in obedience to her laws, and therefore have been disposed to doubt the correctness of the information I have received.

I would be glad to know from you personally whether there is any truth in the statements that are constantly poured into my ears. So far as regards any hostility being intended toward the United States or its property or representatives, by any portion of my command, or as far as I can learn (and I think I am fully informed) of any other part of the State forces, I can say positively that the idea has never been entertained. On the contrary, prior to your taking command of the a.r.s.enal, I proffered to Maj. Bell, then in command of the very few troops const.i.tuting its guard, the services of myself and all my command, and, if necessary, the whole power of the State to protect the United States in the full possession of all her property. Upon Gen. Harney's taking command of this Department I made the same proffer of services to him and authorized his Adjutant-General, Capt.

Williams, to communicate the fact that such had been done to the War {74} Department. I have had no occasion to change any of the views I entertained at that time, neither of my own volition nor through orders of my const.i.tutional commander.

I trust that after this explicit statement we may be able, by fully understanding each other, to keep far from our borders the misfortunes which so unhappily afflict our common country.

This communication will be handed you by Col. Bowen, my Chief of Staff, who may be able to explain anything not fully set forth in the foregoing.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

D. M. FROST,

Brigadier-General, Commanding Camp Jackson, M. V. M.

It is an almost impossible task for the historian to reconcile this extraordinary letter with Gen. Frost's standing as an officer and a gentleman. It certainly pa.s.ses the limits of deception allowable in war, and has no place in the ethics of civil life.

The camp was located where it was for the generally understood purpose of attacking the a.r.s.enal, and this purpose had been recommended to the Governor of the State by Gen. Frost himself. Every Secessionist, North and South, understood and boasted of it. Jefferson Davis approved of this, and he sent artillery with which to attack the a.r.s.enal, which was then in Frost's camp. Gen. Lyon refused to receive the letter. He was busily engaged in preparations to carry its answer himself. He had under arms almost his entire force. Two regiments of Home Guards were left on duty protecting the a.r.s.enal, and to be ready for any outbreak in the city, and a majority of the Regulars were also so employed.

{75} Gen. Lyon was a thorough organizer, and had his work well in hand with every one of his subordinates fully instructed as to his part. The previous military training of the Germans here came into good play, and regiments formed quickly and moved promptly. Col. Blair, with his regiment and a battalion of Regulars, marched to a position on the west of the camp. Col. Schuttner with his regiment went up Market street; Col. Sigel led his column up Olive street; Col. Brown went up Morgan street; and Col. McNeil up Clark avenue. A battery of six pieces went with a Regular battalion, at the head of which rode Gen. Lyon. The news of the movement rapidly diffused through the city; everybody was excited and eagerly expectant; and the roofs of the houses were black with people watching events. Not the least important, factor were the Secessionist belles of the city, whose lovers and brothers were in Camp Jackson, and who, with that inconsequence which is so charming in the young feminine mind, were breathlessly expectant of their young heroes each surrounding himself with a group of "Dutch myrmidons," slain by his red right hand.

So admirably had Lyon planned that the heads of all his columns appeared at their designated places almost simultaneously, and Gen. Frost found his camp entirely surrounded in the most soldierly way. The six light pieces galloped into position to entirely command the camp. With a glance of satisfaction at the success of his arrangements, Gen. Lyon rode up to Sweeny, his second in command, and said: "Sweeny, if their batteries open on you, deploy your leading company as skirmishers, charge on the nearest battery, and take it."

Sweeny turned to the next two companies to him, and ordered them to move their cartridge-boxes to the front, to prepare for action. Lyon then sent Maj. B. G. Farrar with the following letter to Gen. Frost: {76} Headquarters United States Troops,

St. Louis, Mo., May 10, 1861. Gen. D. M. Frost, Commanding Camp Jackson.

Sir: Your command is regarded as evidently hostile to the Government of the United States.

It is for the most part made up of those Secessionists who have openly avowed their hostility to the General Government, and have been plotting at the seizure of its property and the overthrow of its authority. You are openly in communication with the so-called Southern Confederacy, which is now at war with the United States; and you are receiving at your camp, from said Confederacy and under its flag, large supplies of the material of war, most of which is known to be the property of the United States. These extraordinary preparations plainly indicate none other than the well-known purpose of the Governor of this State, under whose orders you are acting, and whose purpose, recently communicated to the Legislature, has just been responded to in the most unparalleled legislation, having in direct view hostilities to the General Government and cooperation with its enemies.

In view of these considerations, and of your failure to disperse in obedience to the proclamation of the President, and of the eminent necessities of State policy and welfare, and the obligations imposed upon me by Instructions from Was.h.i.+ngton, it is my duty to demand, and I do hereby demand of you, an immediate surrender of your command, with no other conditions than that all persons surrendering under this demand shall be humanely and kindly treated. Believing myself prepared to enforce this demand, one-half hour's time before doing so will be allowed for your compliance therewith. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

N. LYON, Captain, 2d United States Infantry, Commanding Troops.