Preliminary

Missouri did not join the Southern States in their secession from the Union. A convention called to consider the question passed resolutions opposed to the movement. But the legislature convened by Governor Jackson gave him dictatorial power, authorized him especially to organize the military power of the State, and put into his hands three millions of dollars, diverted from the funds to which they had been appropriated, to complete the armament. The governor divided the State into nine military districts, appointed a brigadier-general to each, and appointed Sterling Price major-general.

The convention reassembled in July, 1861, and, by action subject to disapproval or affirmance of the popular vote, deposed the governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, and legislature, and appointed a new executive. This action was approved by a vote of the people. Jackson, assuming to be an ambulatory government as he chased about with forces alternately advancing and fleeing, undertook, by his separate act, to detach Missouri from the Union and annex it to the Confederacy.

This clash of action stimulated and intensified a real division of feeling, which existed in every county. A sputtering warfare broke out all over the State. Armed predatory parties, rebel and national, calling themselves squadrons, battalions, regiments, springing up as if from the ground, whirled into conflict and vanished. When a band of men without uniform, wearing their ordinary dress and carrying their own arms, dispersed over the country, the separate members could not be distinguished from other farmers or villagers; and a train, being merely a collection of country wagons, if scattered among the stables and barn-yards of the adjoining territory, wholly disappeared. But all through this eruptive discord flowed a continuous stream of more regular contests, which constitute the connected beginning of the military operations of the Mississippi Valley.

Under countenance of Governor Jackson’s proclamation, General D.M. Frost organized a force and established Camp Jackson, near St. Louis, the site being now covered by a well-built portion of the city. Jackson had refused to call out troops in response to President Lincoln’s requisition, but Frank P. Blair had promptly raised one regiment and stimulated the formation of four others in St. Louis. On May 10, 1861, Captain Nathaniel Lyon, of the regular army, who commanded at the arsenal at St. Louis, and had there a garrison of several hundred regulars, marched with Colonel Blair and the volunteers and a battery to Camp Jackson, surrounded it, and demanded a surrender. Resistance was useless. General Frost surrendered his men and stores, including twenty cannon. St. Louis, and with it Missouri, was thus preserved. Lyon was made brigadier-general of volunteers.

Jackson and Price left Jefferson City Jackson stopping, on June 18th, at Booneville, one rendezvous for his forces, while Price continued up the river to Lexington, another rendezvous. General Lyon, leaving St. Louis on June 13th with an expeditionary force on boats, reached Booneville almost as soon as Jackson. The unorganized and partially armed gathering of several thousand men made an impotent attempt at resistance when Lyon landed, but was quickly routed. Jackson fled, with his mounted men and such of the infantry as he could hold together, to the southwest part of the State, gathering accretions of men as he marched. Lyon set out in pursuit, and Price, abandoning Lexington, hastened with the force assembled there to join Jackson. Colonel Franz Sigel had proceeded from St. Louis to Rolla by rail, and marched thence in pursuit of Jackson to strike him before he could be reinforced. Sigel, with 1,500 men, encountered Jackson with more than double that number, on July 5th, near Carthage, in Jasper County. Sigel’s superiority in artillery gave him an advantage in a desultory combat of some hours. Jackson, greatly outnumbering him in cavalry, proceeded to envelop his rear, and Sigel was forced to withdraw. Sigel retreated in perfect order, and managed his artillery so well that the pursuing cavalry were kept at a distance, while he marched with his train through Carthage, and fifteen miles beyond, before halting. That night and next morning Jackson was heavily reinforced by Price, who brought from the south several thousand Arkansas and Texas troops, under General Ben. McCulloch and General Pearce. Sigel continued his retreat to Springfield, where he was joined by General Lyon on July 10th.

Price and McCulloch being continually reinforced, largely with cavalry, overran Southwestern Missouri. Lyon waited in vain for reinforcements, and, having but little cavalry, kept closely to the vicinity of Springfield. Learning that the enemy were marching upon him in two strong columns, one from the south and one from the west, he moved out from Springfield with all his force on August 1st, and early next morning encountered at Dug Springs a portion of the column advancing from the south under McCulloch. This detachment was shattered and dispersed, and McCulloch recoiled and moved to the west, to join Price commanding the other column. Price advanced slowly with the combined force and went into camp on Wilson Creek, ten miles south of Springfield, on August 7th.

Lyon’s entire force was, upon the rolls, 5,868. This number included sick, wounded, and detached on special duty. General Price turned over his Missouri troops and relinquished command to McCulloch. According to Price’s official report, his Missourians engaged in the battle of the 10th were 5,221. According to the official report of McCulloch, his entire effective force was 5,300 infantry, 15 pieces of artillery, 6,000 horsemen armed with flintlock muskets, rifles, and shotguns, and a number of unarmed horsemen.

General Lyon, not having sufficient force to retreat across the open country to supports, resolved to strike a sharp blow that would cripple his opponent, and thus secure an unmolested retreat. He marched out from Springfield at five o’clock P.M., on August 9th, leaving 250 men and one gun as a guard. Colonel Sigel, with 1,200 men and a battery of six pieces, moved to the left, to get into the rear of McCulloch’s right flank; Lyon, with 3,700 men, including two batteries, Totten’s with six guns, and Dubois with four, and also including two battalions of regular infantry, inclined to the right so as to come upon the centre of the enemy’s front. The columns came in sight of McCulloch’s camp-fires after midnight, and rested in place till day. At six o’clock on the morning of the 10th, attack was made almost simultaneously by the two columns at the points designated. Sigel advanced to the attack with great gallantry, but soon suffered a disastrous repulse; five of his six guns were taken and his command scattered.

McCulloch’s entire force, with artillery increased by the five pieces taken from Sigel, turned upon Lyon’s little command. Lyon’s men were well posted and fought with extraordinary steadiness. Infantry and artillery face to face fired at each other, with occasional intermissions, nearly six hours. General Lyon, after being twice wounded, was killed. The opposing lines at times came almost in contact. Each side at times recoiled. When the conflict reached the hottest, and McCulloch pushed his men, about eleven o’clock, up almost to the muzzles of the national line, Captain Granger rushed to the rear, brought up the supports of Dubois’ battery, eight companies in all, being portions of the First Kansas, First Missouri, and the First Iowa, fell suddenly upon McCulloch’s right flank, and opened a fire that shot away a portion of McCulloch’s line. This cross-fire cleared that portion of the field; McCulloch’s whole line gave way and retired out of view. It was now for the first time safe for Major Sturgis, who had assumed command on the death of Lyon, to retreat. Sturgis withdrew in order and fell back to Springfield unmolested. The entire national loss, according to the official report, was 223 killed, 721 wounded, and 292 missing. The missing were nearly all from Sigel’s column. Two regiments in General Lyon’s column, the First Missouri and the First Kansas, lost together 153 killed and 395 wounded. General Price reported the loss of his Missouri troops, 156 killed, 517 wounded, and 30 missing. General McCulloch reported his entire loss as 265 killed, 800 wounded, and 30 missing. The death of General Lyon was a severe loss. He was zealous in the national cause and enterprising in maintaining it; he was ready to assume responsibility, and prompt in taking initiative; sagacious in comprehending his antagonist, quick in decision, fertile in resource, and was as cool as he was bold. On the night of the 10th, the army stores in Springfield were put into the wagons, and next morning the national force set out for Rolla, the end of the railroad, where it arrived in good order on the 15th. Meanwhile, Price and McCulloch, having some disagreement, withdrew to the Arkansas border.

General John C. Fremont was, July 9, 1861, assigned to the command of the Western District, comprising the States of Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas, and territories west, and arrived in St. Louis from the East on July 25th. Before arriving he appointed Brigadier-General John Pope to command the district of Northern Missouri, being that part of Missouri north of the Missouri River. Pope arrived at St. Charles, Mo., with three infantry regiments and part of one cavalry regiment of Illinois volunteers, on July 17th, and assumed command. On July 21st, General Pope published an order making all property within five miles of a railway responsible for malicious injury done to such railway. On July 31st he published another order, making the property of each county responsible for damage done by, and the cost of suppressing, predatory outbreaks in such county. For a month the effect of these orders was to allay disturbance in the district, and secure the administration of affairs by the ordinary machinery of civil government; but in about a month the orders were set aside, and in their place martial law was declared throughout the State.

General Fremont learned of the battle of Wilson Creek on August 13th, and resolved at once to fortify St. Louis as his permanent base, and also fortify and garrison Jefferson City, Rolla, Cape Girardeau, and Ironton. Price marched leisurely up through the western border of the State. Unorganized bands springing up in the country attacked Booneville and Lexington, but were easily repulsed by the little detachments guarding those places. Colonel Mulligan was sent to Lexington with additional troops, making the entire force there 2,800 men and eight field-pieces, and with orders to remain until relieved or reinforced.

On September 11th, Price arrived before Lexington. There is no authentic report of his strength; indeed, a large part of his following was an unorganized assemblage. He must have numbered 14,000 men at the beginning of the siege; and reinforcements daily arriving swelled the number to, at all events, more than 20,000. Colonel Mulligan took position on a rising ground close to the river, east of the city, forming a plateau with a surface of about fifteen acres, and fortified.

Judging by the despatches of General Fremont, he seems to have felt no apprehension as to the fate of Mulligan, and made no serious effort to relieve him. The force at Jefferson City remained there. The troops at St. Louis were not moved. General Pope, who, under orders from General Fremont, had advanced from Hannibal to St. Joseph along the line of the railroad, driving off depredators, repairing the road, and stationing permanent guards, heard on September 16th, at Palmyra on his return, something of the condition of affairs at Lexington. He had sent his troops then in the western part of the State toward the Missouri River in pursuit of a depredating body of the enemy. He immediately despatched an order to these troops to hasten to Lexington upon completing their present business. They were not able, however, to arrive in time.

Price, having organized his command into five divisions, each commanded by a general officer, did not push his siege vigorously till the 18th. On that day, a force proceeding through the city of Lexington and under cover of the river-bank, seized the ferry-boats, cut Mulligan off from his water-supply, and carried a mansion close to Mulligan’s works and overlooking them. A sortie and a desperate struggle regained possession of the house. Another assault and another desperate struggle finally dispossessed the garrison of the house. Price closed in upon the beleaguered works and firing became continuous and uninterrupted. On the 20th, Price, having a footing on the plateau, carried up numbers of bales of hemp and used them as a movable entrenchment. By rolling these forward, he pushed his line close to Mulligan’s works. The besieged were already suffering from want of water, and surrender could be no longer postponed.

Fremont, hearing of the surrender on September 22d, began to bestir himself to look after Price. He left St. Louis for Jefferson City on the 27th, and sent thither the regiments that had been kept at St. Louis. Price on the same day moved out of Lexington and marched deliberately to the southwest corner of the State. On September 24th, Fremont published an order constructing an army for the field of five divisions, entitled right wing, centre, left wing, advance, and reserve under the command, respectively, of Generals Pope, McKinstry, Hunter, Sigel, and Ashboth; headquarters being respectively at Booneville, Syracuse, Versailles, Georgetown, and Tipton. The regiments and batteries assigned to the respective divisions were scattered all over the State, many of them without wagons, mules, overcoats, cartridge-boxes, or rations. Orders were issued to advance and concentrate at Springfield. Sigel arrived there on the evening of October 27th, and Ashboth on the 30th. Fremont was convinced that Price was on Wilson’s Creek, ten or twelve miles from Springfield. Despatches were sent urging McKinstry, Hunter, and Pope to hasten. Pope, having marched seventy miles in two days, arrived on November 1st, and McKinstry arrived close behind him.

On November 2d an order came from Washington relieving Fremont from command of the department, and appointing Hunter to the command. Hunter having not yet come up, Fremont held a council of war, exhibited his plan of battle at Wilson Creek, and ordered advance and attack to be made next morning. General Hunter arrived in the night and assumed command. He sent a reconnoissance next day to Wilson Creek, and learned that no enemy was there or had been there. It was soon ascertained that Price was at Cassville, more than sixty miles off. The army being without rations and imperfectly supplied with transportation, General Hunter, acting upon his own judgment and also in accordance with the wish of President Lincoln expressed in a letter to him, refrained from any attempt to overtake Price, and withdrew his army back to the railroads.

On November 9th, General Halleck was appointed commander of the new Department of the Missouri, including that portion of Kentucky west of the Cumberland River. One-half of the force which Fremont had assembled at Springfield was stationed along the railway from Jefferson City to Sedalia, its western terminus, and General Pope was put in command of this force, as well as a district designated Central Missouri. General Price advanced into Missouri as far as Osceola, on the southern bank of the Osage River, from which point he sent parties in various directions, and where he received detachments of recruits. On December 15th, Pope moved out from Sedalia directly to the south, as if he were pushing for Warsaw, and at the same time sent a cavalry force to the southwest, to mask his movement from Price’s command at and near Osceola. Next day a forced march took him west to a position south of Warrensburg, and between the two roads leading from Warrensburg to Osceola. The same night he captured the pickets, and thereby learned the precise locality of a body of 3,200 men, moving from Lexington south to join Price. A flying column under Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, sent out the same night, came upon the camp, drove out the command, kept up the pursuit all night, and all the next day and night, pushing the fugitives away from Price and utterly dispersing them over the country, and rejoined Pope on the 18th with 150 prisoners, and sixteen wagons loaded with supplies captured. At the same time Major Hubbard with his detachment pushed south to the lines of one of Price’s divisions, encamped opposite Osceola, on the north shore of the Osage, and captured pickets and one entire company of cavalry, with its tents and wagons. On the 18th, Pope moved to the north, to intercept another body moving south to join Price, and which he learned from his scouts would camp that night at the mouth of Clear Creek, just beyond Warrensburg. His dispositions were so made and carried out that the entire body was surrounded and captured, comprising parts of two regiments of infantry and three companies of cavalry numbering 1,300 officers and men, with complete train and full supplies. Pope’s troops reoccupied their camps at Sedalia and Otterville just one week after they marched out of them. Price broke up his camp at Osceola in haste, and fell rapidly back to Springfield.

General Samuel R. Curtis arrived at Rolla on December 27th, to take command of a force concentrating there and called the Army of the Southwest. One division, under the command of Colonel Jefferson C. Davis, detached from General Pope’s district, added to three other divisions commanded respectively by General Sigel, General Ashboth, and Colonel E.A. Carr, made together 12,095 men and fifty pieces of artillery, including four mountain howitzers. Marching out from Rolla on January 23, 1862, with three divisions, he halted a week at Lebanon, where he was joined by Colonel Davis, completing organization and preparation. After some skirmishing with Price’s outposts, Curtis entered Springfield at daylight, February 15th, to find that Price had abandoned it in the night. Curtis followed with forced marches, his advance skirmishing every day with Price’s rear-guard. In Arkansas, Price was joined by McCulloch and they retired to Boston Mountains. Curtis advanced as far as Fayetteville and then fell back to await attack on ground of his own choice.

The position selected was where the main road, running north from Fayetteville into Missouri, crosses Sugar Creek, and goes over a ridge or rough plateau called Pea Ridge, and was near the Missouri line. For easier subsistence the divisions were camped separately and some miles apart. Davis’ division was at Sugar Creek, preparing the position for defence. Sigel, with his own and Ashboth’s divisions, was at Cooper’s farm, about fourteen miles west; and Carr’s division, with which General Curtis had his headquarters, was twelve miles south on the main Fayetteville road, at a place called Cross Hollows. Strong detachments were sent in various directions, forty miles out, to gather in forage and subsistence. The strength of the command was somewhat diminished by the necessity of protecting the long line of communication with the base of supplies by patrols as well as stationary guards, and the aggregate present in Arkansas was 10,500 infantry and cavalry, and forty-nine pieces of artillery.

To settle the continued dissension between Price and McCulloch, General A.S. Johnston, the Confederate commander in the West, appointed General Earl Van Dorn to command west of the Mississippi. Van Dorn assumed command January 29, 1862, in northeastern Arkansas, and hastened on February 22d to join McCulloch at Fayetteville, to which place Price was then retreating before Curtis. Van Dorn says that he led 14,000 men into action. All other accounts put his force at from thirty to forty thousand. Perhaps he enumerated only the seasoned regiments, and took no account of unorganized bands, or of the several thousand Indians under Albert Pike.

At two o’clock P.M., March 5th, General Curtis received intelligence that Van Dorn had begun his march. Orders were immediately sent to the divisions and detachments to concentrate on Davis’ division. Carr moved at 6 P.M., and arrived at 2 A.M. Sigel deferred moving till two o’clock A.M., and at Bentonville halted, himself with a regiment of infantry, the Twelfth Missouri, Elbert’s light battery, and five companies of cavalry, till ten o’clock, two hours after the rear of his train had passed through the place. By this time Van Dorn’s advance guard had arrived, and before Sigel could form had passed around to his front, at the same time enveloping his flanks. By the skilful disposition of his detachment, and the admirable conduct of the men, Sigel was able to resume and continue his march, an unbroken skirmish, rising at times into engagement, from half-past ten o’clock till half-past three, when he was joined by reinforcements which General Curtis had hurried back to him. The line was formed, facing to the south, on the crest of the bluffs overlooking the Valley of Sugar Creek, Sigel being on the right, next to him Ashboth, then Davis, and Carr being the left. The position was entrenched, and the approaches were obstructed by felled timber. One foraging party of 250 men and one gun did not return till after the battle, so that Curtis’ force engaged was just 10,250 men and forty-eight guns.

Van Dorn did not assault that evening. By dawn next day it was ascertained that he had made a great detour by the west, and was coming up on the right and rear. Curtis faced his line to the rear and wheeled to the left, so that his new line faced nearly west; the original right flank, now the left, was scarcely moved, and Carr’s division had become the right. Colonel Osterhaus, with three regiments of infantry and two batteries, was despatched from Sigel’s division to aid a regiment of cavalry and a flying battery that had been quickly sent to retard the enemy’s centre and give Carr’s division time to deploy. Osterhaus met the cavalry returning, and threw his detachment against the advancing line. The picket posted at Elkhorn tavern, where Carr was to deploy, was attacked and driven back, and Carr’s division had to go into line under fire. Osterhaus found himself opposed to the corps of McCulloch and McIntosh, and was about being overwhelmed when Davis’ division moved to his support. Pea Ridge is in places covered with timber and brush, in places intersected by deep ravines, and a portion of it was a tangle of fallen timber, marking the path of a hurricane. Manoeuvring was not easy, and detours were required in reinforcing one part of the line from another. The contest on the field, where Davis and Osterhaus were opposed to McCulloch and McIntosh, was fierce and determined until McCulloch and McIntosh were killed. Their numerous, but partially disciplined followers lost heart and direction, and before the close of day gave way before the persistent and orderly attack, and finally broke and left the field.

Carr’s division was opposed to Price’s corps, and Van Dorn gave his personal attention to that part of the field. Gallantry and determination could not prevail against gallantry and determination backed by superior numbers. Bit by bit, first on one flank, then the other, he receded. Curtis sent his body-guard, then the camp-guard to reinforce him, and then a small reserve that had been guarding the road to the rear. Carr had sent word he could not hold out much longer. Curtis sent word to persevere, and went in person to the left, where Sigel with his two divisions had not yet been under fire, and hurried Ashboth over to Carr’s relief. Carr had been gradually pushed back nearly a mile; Van Dorn had been concentrating upon him, resolved to crush him. Curtis, returning with Ashboth, met the Fourth Iowa marching to the rear, in good order. Colonel Dodge explained that ammunition was exhausted, and he was going for cartridges. “Then use your bayonets,” was the reply, and the regiment faced again to the enemy and steadily advanced. It was about five o’clock P.M. when Ashboth reached Carr’s line and immediately opened fire. The combat continued till dark set in.

As it was evident that Van Dorn was throwing his whole force upon the position held by Carr, General Curtis took advantage of the cessation during the night to re-form his line. Davis and Osterhaus were brought to join Carr’s left, and Sigel was ordered to form on the left of Osterhaus. When the sun rose, Sigel was not yet in position, but Davis and Carr began attack without waiting. General Curtis, riding to the front of Carr’s right, found in advance a rising ground which gave a commanding position for a battery, posted the Dubuque battery there, and moved forward the right to its support. Sigel, coming up with the divisions of Osterhaus and Ashboth on Davis’ left, first sent a battery forward, which by its rapid fire repelled the enemy in its front, and then with its deployed supports wheeled half to the right. Another battery pushed forward repeated the manoeuvre with its supporting infantry. The column thus deployed on the right into line, bending back the enemy’s right wing in the execution of the movement each step in the deployment gaining space for the next succeeding step. The line as now formed, from the Dubuque battery on the right to Sigel’s left, formed a curve enclosing Van Dorn’s army. Under this concentric fire Van Dorn’s entire force before noon was swept from the field to find refuge in the deep and tortuous ravines in his rear. Pursuit was fruitless. McCulloch’s command, scattering in all directions, was irretrievably dispersed. Van Dorn, with Price’s corps and other troops, found outlet by a ravine leading to the south, unobserved by the national troops, went into camp ten miles off on the prairie, and sent in a flag of truce to bury his dead. The national loss was 203 killed, 972 wounded, and 176 missing. Van Dorn reported his loss as 600 killed and wounded and 200 prisoners, but the dispersion of a large portion of his command prevented full reports.

Van Dorn was now ordered to report at Corinth, where A.S. Johnston was assembling his army. Most of the national forces remaining in Missouri were sent to General Grant, to aid in his expeditions against Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. General Curtis made a promenade across Arkansas, halting at times, and came out on the Mississippi in July, 1862.

While Price kept Southwest Missouri in a state of alarm, Jefferson Thompson, appointed by Governor Jackson brigadier-general and commander of district, marauded over Southeastern Missouri, sometimes raiding far enough to the north to strike and damage railways. On October 14, 1861, by a rapid march he passed by Pilot Knob, which Colonel Carlin held with 1,500 men, struck the Iron Mountain Railroad at its crossing of Big River, destroyed the bridge the largest bridge on the road and immediately fell back to Fredericktown. The news reaching St. Louis on the 15th, the Eighth Wisconsin infantry and Schofield’s battery were despatched thence to reinforce Colonel Carlin; and General Grant, commanding at Cape Girardeau, sent Colonel Plummer, of the Eleventh Missouri, with his own regiment, the Seventeenth and Twentieth Illinois, a section of artillery and two companies of cavalry, in all 1,500 men, to join in an attack upon Thompson. Meanwhile a party of cavalry was sent out from Pilot Knob to Fredericktown, to occupy Thompson by demonstrations and hold him there.

Colonel Plummer marched out from Cape Girardeau on the morning of the 18th, and sent a messenger to Colonel Carlin advising him of his movement; the messenger fell into Thompson’s hands. Thompson sent his train to the south, and, moving a few miles below Fredericktown with his force numbering 4,000 men, took a strong position and awaited attack. Carlin with 3,000 men effected a junction with Plummer and his 1,500, the combined force being under command of Colonel Plummer. Thompson was attacked as soon as discovered. After a sharp fight of two hours Thompson gave way, was driven from his position, retreated, and fell into rout. He was pursued several miles that day, and the pursuing force returned to Fredericktown for the night. Next day Colonel Plummer followed in pursuit twenty-two miles without further result, returned to Fredericktown the 23d, and on the 24th began his march back to Cape Girardeau.

Colonel Plummer’s loss was 6 killed and 60 wounded. He took 80 prisoners, 38 of them wounded; captured one iron twelve-pounder gun, a number of small arms and horses, and buried 158 of Thompson’s dead before leaving Fredericktown. Thompson’s following was demoralized by this defeat, and Southeast Missouri after it enjoyed comparative quiet.

The State of Kentucky at first undertook to hold the position of armed neutrality in the civil war. On September 4, 1861, Gen. Leonidas Polk, moving up from Tennessee with a considerable force into Western Kentucky, seized Hickman and Columbus on the Mississippi, and threatened Paducah on the Ohio. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, appointed brigadier-general of volunteers on August 7, 1861, to date from May 17th, assumed command on September 1st, by order of General Fremont, of the District of Southeast Missouri. This district included not only the southeastern part of Missouri, but also Southern Illinois, and so much of Western Kentucky and Tennessee as might fall into possession of the national forces. General Grant arrived at Cairo on September 2d, established his headquarters there on the 4th, and next day heard of the action of General Polk. He immediately notified General Fremont, and also the Legislature of Kentucky, then in session at Frankfort, of the fact. Getting further information in the day, he telegraphed to General Fremont he would go to Paducah unless orders to the contrary should be received. He started in the night with two regiments and a battery, and arrived at Paducah at half-past six next morning. General L. Tilghman being in the city with his staff and a single company of recruits, hurried away by rail, and Grant occupied the city without opposition. The Legislature passed a resolution “that Kentucky expects the Confederate or Tennessee troops to be withdrawn from her soil unconditionally.” Polk remained, and Kentucky as a State was ranged in support of the government.

General Grant, leaving a sufficient garrison, returned at noon to Cairo to find there permission from Fremont to take Paducah if he felt strong enough, and also a reprimand for communicating directly with a legislature. General C.F. Smith was put in command of Paducah next day by Fremont, with orders to report directly to Fremont. A few weeks later, Smith occupied and garrisoned Smithland at the mouth of the Cumberland. Grant suggested the feasibility of capturing Columbus, and on September 10th asked permission to make the attempt. No notice was taken of the request. His command was, however, continually reinforced by new regiments, and he found occupation in organizing and disciplining them. General Polk meanwhile was busy fortifying Columbus, where the river-bank rises to a high bluff, until the bluff was faced and crowned with massive earthworks, armed with one hundred and forty-two pieces of artillery, mostly thirty-two and sixty-four pounders. At the same time heavy defensive works commanding the river were erected below at Island No. Ten and New Madrid, and still farther below, but above Memphis, at Fort Pillow.

On November 1st, General Fremont being on his expedition to Springfield, his adjutant in charge of headquarters at St. Louis directed General Grant to make demonstrations on both sides of the Mississippi at Norfolk, Charleston, and Blandville, points a few miles north of Columbus and Belmont. Next day he advised Grant that Jeff. Thompson was at Indian Ford of the St. Francois River, twenty-five miles below Greenville, with about three thousand men, and that Colonel Carlin had started from Pilot Knob in pursuit, and directing Grant to send a force to assist Carlin in driving Thompson into Arkansas. On the night of the 3d, Grant despatched Colonel Oglesby with 3,000 men from Commerce to carry out this order. On the 5th, Grant was further advised by telegraph that General Polk, who commanded at Columbus, was sending reinforcements to Price, and that it was of vital importance that this movement should be arrested. General Grant at once sent an additional regiment to Oglesby, with directions to him to turn his course to the river in the direction of New Madrid; requested General C. F. Smith to make a demonstration from Paducah toward Columbus; and also sent parties from Bird’s Point and Fort Holt to move down both sides of the river, so as to attract attention from Columbus.

On the evening of the 6th, General Grant started down the river on transports with five regiments of infantry, the Twenty-second, Twenty-seventh, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Illinois, and the Seventh Iowa, Taylor’s Chicago battery, and two companies of cavalry. The Twenty-seventh, Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Illinois were made into a brigade commanded by General John A. McClernand; the Twenty-second Illinois and the Seventh Iowa into a brigade under Colonel H. Dougherty, of the Twenty-second Illinois. The entire force numbered 3,114 men. General Grant, in his report, states the number at 2,850. As five companies were kept at the landing when the force disembarked, the number given by General Grant represents the number taken into action. Two gunboats, under the command of Captain Walke of the navy, convoyed the expedition. A feint was made of landing nine miles below Cairo, on the Kentucky side, and the expedition lay there till daybreak. Badeau says that General Grant received intelligence, at two o’clock in the morning of the 7th, that General Polk was crossing troops from Columbus to Belmont, with a view of cutting off Oglesby, and that he thereupon determined to convert what had been intended as a mere demonstration against Belmont into a real attack.

Belmont was the lofty name of a settlement of three houses squatted upon the low river-flat opposite Columbus, and under easy range of its guns. A regiment and a battery were encamped in a cleared field of seven hundred acres on the river-bank, and the camp was surrounded on its landward side by an abattis of felled timber. At six o’clock in the morning the fleet moved down, and the troops debarked at half-past eight on the Missouri shore, three miles above Columbus, and protected from view by an intervening wooded point. About the same time General Polk sent General Pillow across the river to Belmont with four regiments, making the force there five regiments and a battery. Pillow estimated the number of men at about twenty-five hundred.

General Grant marched his command through the timber and some cleared fields, and formed in two lines facing the river McClernand in front, Dougherty in rear. A depression parallel to the river, making a connected series of ponds or sloughs, had to be crossed in the advance in line. These depressions were for the most part dry, but the Twenty-seventh Illinois, the right of the front line, in passing around a portion that was yet filled with water, made such distance to the right that Colonel Dougherty’s brigade moved forward, filled the interval, and the attack was made in a single line.

The opposing skirmishers encountered in the timber. Pillow’s line of battle was in the open, facing the timber. The engagement was in the simplest form: two forces equal in number encountered in parallel lines. Most of the men on both sides were for the first time under fire, and had yet had but scanty opportunity to become inured to or acquainted with military discipline. The engagement was hotly contested the opposing lines, while for some time alternately advancing and receding, were steady and unbroken. At length Pillow gave way. When his line was once really broken it could not rally in the face of pursuit. The national line pressing on, pushed Pillow back through the camp and over the upper or secondary bank to the first or lower bottom in disorder. The Second Tennessee, just arrived across the river, took position under the secondary bank, for a while checked the pursuit, giving time for the routed troops to make their way through the timber up the river, and finally followed them in a more orderly retreat.

The national troops, having now undisturbed possession of the captured camp, gave way to their exultation. General McClernand called for three cheers, that were given with a will. The regiments broke ranks, and the battery fired upon the massive works and heavy siege-guns crowning the heights across the river. A plunging fire of great shells from the fortifications, and the sight of boats loaded with troops leaving the opposite shore, were impressive warnings that the invaders could not safely tarry. General Grant directed the camp to be set on fire, and the command to be assembled and to return. General Polk became convinced that Columbus was not in danger of present attack, and determined to reinforce Pillow promptly and effectively. The Eleventh Louisiana and Fifteenth Tennessee arrived first, and attack was made upon both flanks of the hastily formed retreating column, encumbered as it was with spoils. The Seventh Iowa and Twenty-second Illinois, the regiments mainly attacked, replied with vigor, though thrown into some confusion. Pillow halted his men to re-form, and drew them off to await the arrival of reinforcements on the way, under General Polk in person.

The command embarked. The battery took on board two guns and a wagon captured and brought off in place of two caissons and a wagon left behind, and also brought off twenty horses and one mule captured. When all who were in sight were on board, General Grant, supposing the five companies who had been left to guard the landing were still on post, rode out to look for one of the parties that had been sent to bring in the wounded, and which had not returned. Instead of the guard, which had gone on board without orders, supposing its duty was done, he saw approaching a hostile line of battle. He rode back, his horse slid down the river-bank on its haunches, and trotted on board a transport over a plank thrust out for him. General Polk had come over with General Cheatham, bringing two more regiments and a battalion. The entire force formed in line, approached the river-bank, and opened fire. The gunboats, as well as the infantry on the transports, returned the fire. Each side was confident that its fire caused great slaughter; but, in fact, little damage was done. The fleet, some distance up-stream, overtook and received on board the Twenty-seventh Illinois, which had become separated from the column, and, instead of returning with it, returned by the road over which the advance was made. The national loss was: in McClernand’s brigade, 30 killed, 130 wounded, and 54 missing; in Dougherty’s brigade, 49 killed, 154 wounded, and 63 missing; in Taylor’s battery, 5 wounded. There were no casualties in the cavalry. The aggregate loss was 79 killed, 289 wounded, and 117 missing; making, in all, 485. Most of the wounded were left behind and taken prisoners. A number of the missing made their way to Cairo. The Seventh Iowa suffered most severely. Among the 26 killed and 80 wounded were the lieutenant-colonel killed, and the colonel and major wounded. Colonel Dougherty, of the Twenty-second Illinois, commanding the second brigade, was wounded and taken prisoner. The Confederate loss was 105 killed, 419 wounded, and 117 missing; in all, 641. Of this aggregate, 562 were from the five regiments originally engaged. Besides the loss in men and the destruction of the camp, forty-five horses were killed.