THE TIMES OF THE REBELLION IN MISSOURI. AT the outbreak of the Rebellion the governors of all the border slave-states were secessionists with the single exception of Maryland. Some of them, it is true, professed "neutrality;" but subsequent events proved them to have been rebels in disguise, and therefore especially despicable for uniting hypocrisy to their treason. Prominent among these was Claiborne F. Jackson of Missouri, whose atrocious policy brought upon his state untold miseries. The result of the presidential campaign was no sooner known than he and his accomplices in crime began their attempt to take the state out of the union. What rendered this conduct the more nefarious was the knowledge, on the part of Jackson, that the majority of the people were opposed to uniting their fortunes with the Southern confederacy. In a letter to Judge Walker he says, "I have been, from the beginning in favor of prompt action on the part of the Southern States, but the majority of the people have differed from me." And yet, with this knowledge, he plunged his state into the whirlpool of treason and blood. In January, 1861, the state legislature passed an act calling a convention, and providing for the election of delegates. Contrary to the expectation of the leaders, who had used every art to carry out their designs, the convention proved to be a loyal body. Determined not to be foiled, the rebel leaders began to raise troops, which were placed under the control of the governor. Preparations were also made to seize the arsenals and all other public property before the new president should be inaugurated In all these movements the governor was the most active spirit. He even entered into correspondence with the secession leaders in other states, and pledged Missouri to the cause upon which they had entered. When the president called for troops, his act was denounced by Jackson in terms violent and abusive; and he called the legislature together in order to obtain the means of placing the state on a war footing. The action of this body was not waited for, and on the 20th of April the enemies of the government seized upon the arsenal at Liberty, near the state line, and laid their plans for obtaining the possession of a much more important one located at St. Louis. In this, however, they were foiled by the activity and energy of Capt. Stokes, of the United States army, who succeeded in removing an immense amount of the material of war into the State of Illinois, which doubtless would soon have fallen into the hands of the secessionists and greatly aided their cause. Capture of Camp Jackson.-Early in May, Governor Jackson ordered out the militia of the state to go into camps in their several districts, ostensibly to obtain instruction in military drill, but in reality to precipitate the state into secession. The legislature, at the same period, passed what was termed the "Military Bill," which was, in the language of General Harney, an indirect secession ordinance, ignoring even the forms resorted to by other states." This bill gave the governor despotic power; three million of dollars were to be placed in his hands; authority was given him to draw for soldiers as long as there was a man left unarmed, and to question the justness of his conduct was to incur the death penalty. Every soldier was required to take an oath of allegiance to the State of Missouri. At Linden's grove, in the outskirts of St. Louis, a camp was formed, called Camp Jackson. The principal avenues were named Beauregard, Davis, etc., and a quantity of arms, shot, and shell, stolen from the U. S. arsenal at Baton Rouge, was received there, which had come up the river in boxes marked "Marble," "Nails," and "Collin's Axes." A secession flag was displayed; the troops were constantly cheering for Jeff. Davis and the Southern Confederacy; prominent union men visiting the camp were insulted and hailed as federal spies. It was a secession camp and nothing else. In all it contained about 1000 men, under General D. M. Frost. On the 6th of May the police commissioners of St. Louis insolently demanded of Captain Nathaniel Lyon, the officer in command of the arsenal, that he should remove the United States troops from all places and buildings occupied by them outside of the arsenal, on the ground that the United States government had no right to occupy or touch the soil of the sovereign State of Missouri. Captain Lyon, on his own responsibility, on the 10th summoned the home guard of the city (composed largely of Germans,) whom he had provided with arms at the arsenal, to assemble at their different posts, at noon, for an unknown service. At two o'clock the whole town was greatly agitated by the tidings that some 7000 men, with 20 pieces of artillery, under Captain Lyon, were marching up Market street for Camp Jackson. On their arrival they rapidly surrounded it, planting batteries upon all the commanding hights. Upon learning of their approach, General Frost sent a note to Captain Lyon, disowning any disloyal intentions on their part; that they had simply gathered in obedience to the laws of the state for instruction. Captain Lyon refused to receive this communication, and dispatched one to General Frost demanding his unconditional surrender within "one half hour's time." The demand was agreed to, and they, to the number of 800, were made prisoners of war, marched to the arsenal, and, for the time, held there under guard, excepting those who were willing to take the oath of allegiance: of these there were less than a dozen. On the return of the troops to the city, they were not only taunted and spit upon by the mob, but revolvers were discharged at them, when the former turned and fired into the crowd, wounding and killing twenty-two persons, mostly innocent spec tators. The energetic measures of Captain Lyon for the time awed the secession spirit of the city and vicinity; and he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers and given command of the union forces in Missouri. Skirmish at Booneville.-Union men, of all parties throughout the state, at this period began to be proscribed and driven from their homes. Governor Jackson, who, with General Sterling Price, had assembled a large force of State troops, at the capital, Jefferson City, learned that General Lyon was on his way to attack |