popular vote was the election of a majority of members opposed to the passage of a secession ordinance. Sterling Price, professing to be a Union man, was elected president of the convention. Unfortunately, the Union sentiment of the State was so tainted with the doctrine of secession that, while it opposed the policy of secession by Missouri, a large part of it admitted her right to secede, and affirmed the correlative proposition, that the United States had no right to coerce her from so doing. General William S. Harney was at St. Louis, in command of the Western Department, and Jackson and Price had the address to conclude a treaty with him, whereby in substance the State agreed to remain quiet and neutral, and the United States agreed not to invade the State. The agreement was soon repudiated, and Harney relieved from command. The State government called out its militia, nominally to preserve order, and established Camp Jackson on the outskirts of St. Louis, gathering about two thousand men, under the command of General Frost. Captain Nathaniel Lyon, an active, earnest, and intensely devoted officer, was in command of the arsenal, and was soon, with rank of brigadier-general, appointed to command the Department of Missouri. John M. Schofield, a graduate of the class of 1853 at West Point, who, after a couple of years' service at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, and in Florida, had been for about five years an assistant professor at West Point, was now on leave of absence at St. Louis, a professor of physics at Washington University. On April 20, he was appointed United States mustering officer for the State. Frank P. Blair, a member of Congress from the St. Louis district, brother of a member of President Lincoln's cabinet, became at once. the political and civil leader of the loyal people, and the supposed representative of the wishes and intentions of the administration. Around these men rapidly gathered, and were mustered into the service, several regiments of volunteers from the city and neighborhood, with

which, with unhesitating energy, General Lyon, on the 10th of May, surrounded and captured the forces of the State at Camp Jackson. The State was thrown into a ferment of intense excitement. On June 12, the governor called for fifty thousand troops, to protect the State; but on the next day, General Lyon, with Major Schofield as his adjutant-general and chief of staff, started in pursuit of the State government and its forces. Sweeping around by Booneville, thence chasing and fighting across the State to Springfield, on the evening of the 9th of August, Lyon moved out with only about five thousand men, the term of enlistment of some of whom had already expired, and on the morning of the 10th, with sublime audacity, assaulted more than four times his number at Wilson's Creek, there surrendering his own life. The blow was so stunning that, while it failed to defeat and scatter the Rebel army, it left the Confederates in no condition to pursue, and a successful withdrawal in the face of an immensely superior enemy was made to St. Louis.

On July 19, General John Pope had assumed command of Missouri, north of the river, and with about seven thousand men from Iowa and Illinois held that part of the State effectually in check, driving the Secessionists. south of the river. The retreat of the army from Wilson's Creek left southwestern Missouri in undisputed possession of the Rebels. General Price soon advanced north to the river, and surrounded and captured the forces at Lexington under Colonel Mulligan, after a most gallant and heroic defence. General Fremont, having been assigned to the command of the department, and having organized a new army, moved up the Missouri River and across the State in pursuit as far as Springfield, when he was relieved from command, and the department placed in charge of General Halleck. The command of the army in the field was given to General S. R. Curtis, who, having organized it into four divisions, moved, on February 11, 1862, from Lebanon toward Springfield. The campaign

resulted in the battle at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, where, after three days of desperate fighting, on the 6th, 7th, and 8th days of March, 1862, the Rebel army, under command of General Earl Van Dorn, was effectually repulsed. Van Dorn's army retreated across the Boston Mountains, and then dispersed, much of it going east across the Mississippi. General Curtis moved slowly back into Missouri, thence across northern Arkansas to Batesville, and thence, about the middle of July, to Helena on the Mississippi; thus again uncovering the whole of Southwest Missouri.

In the mean time, changes had taken place in the command at St. Louis. General Pope and his army had gone down the river. General Halleck had gone to the front, and been transferred to the general command of the army. Missouri was practically left bare of United States troops. Schofield was made a brigadier-general, on November 21, 1861, and assigned to the command of the District of St. Louis, and from February to September 26, 1862, to the command of the District of Missouri. The State government had been reconstructed on a loyal basis, and, during this period, General Schofield was engaged in the work of organizing and commanding the militia. force of Missouri, to which the task of keeping the State from the control of the Rebels was largely committed, there being only three or four old regiments of infantry and cavalry from other States still in the district.

While there was no large Rebel force then threatening the State during the summer of 1862, there was considerable trouble from bands of guerillas and Rebel partisans. In July, 1862, the President made the call for three hundred thousand additional volunteers, which was replied to by a general conscription on the part of the Confederate government, under which western Missouri became suddenly alive with recruits for the Rebel army. Concerning the condition of Missouri, a captain of the First Iowa Cavalry reported to the adjutant-general of his State in these words:

Large bodies of these men traversed the country from north to south; emissaries of leading officers and leading traitors were to be found everywhere; and the posts, during the months of June, July, and August, were threatened with attacks by night and day from those who had risen in opposition to the Federal and loyal State authorities. The country was in an alarming condition, and we were in the heart of a most disloyal and dangerous population, indifferently armed, unsupported by artillery or infantry."

At the same time, the Confederate government prepared to make another struggle for the possession of the State, proposing to enter it by the old gateway of the southwest with an army to be placed under the command of General Hindman. In this emergency, General Schofield called for immediate reinforcement from without the State, in response to which the Nineteenth and Twentieth Iowa, the Ninety-fourth Illinois and the Twentieth Wisconsin regiments of infantry were hurried forward as soon as they could be mustered into the service. On the recommendation, I think, of General Schofield himself, the three districts of Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas were organized into the Department of Missouri, and General Curtis was assigned to the command, which he assumed on the 24th of September. On the 26th, General Schofield was placed in command of the troops in the field.

The four regiments above named rendezvoused at Rolla, and from thence, on the 16th of September, began the march to Springfield, distant one hundred and twentytwo miles, under the command of Brigadier-General F. J. Herron, who, as captain of Company I, First Iowa Infantry, had fought at Wilson's Creek, as lieutenant-colonel of the Ninth Iowa, at Pea Ridge, and had just received promotion. We arrived at Springfield, September 26, and there found the Twenty-sixth Indiana, Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, and the Thirty-seventh Illinois, Lieutenant-Colonel John C. Black, in command. General Schofield at once organized the troops present into two divisions, the first

under command of Brigadier-General James Totten, of the Missouri State militia. The First Division was divided into three brigades, the first, of cavalry, under Brigadier-General E. S. Brown (Missouri State militia); the second, under command of Wm. McE. Dye, colonel of the Twentieth Iowa, contained the Thirty-seventh Illinois, Battery F, First Missouri Artillery, Captain Murphy, Twentieth Iowa, Lieutenant-Colonel J. B. Leake, and First Iowa Cavalry, Colonel Gower. The third brigade contained the Twenty-sixth Indiana, a battery of Missouri artillery, and later the Eighteenth Iowa infantry. The Second Division was commanded by General Herron. I cannot recall the brigade division and assignment. Its infantry was the Nineteenth Iowa, Ninety-fourth Illinois, and Twentieth Wisconsin, all new regiments. The artillery was Company E, First Missouri, Captain Faust; a section (two pieces) of another company of the First Missouri, Lieutenant Backhoff; and a section (two pieces) of the Peoria Illinois battery, Lieutenant Borries. The cavalry of the two divisions, variously assigned, consisted of the First Iowa, Tenth Illinois, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Missouri regiments, a battalion of the Second Wisconsin, and a part of a newly recruited First Arkansas regiment. I have no record of precisely how they were assigned, and think they were used without much reference to the brigade and division organization. The effective force was forty-eight hundred infantry, fifty-six hundred cavalry, and sixteen pieces of artillery; total, ten thousand eight hundred men. Twenty-five hundred men were required to guard the line of communication with Rolla and the depot of supplies at Springfield, leaving eighty-three hundred men for active operations in the field. General Schofield named this little army the "Army of Southwest Missouri." On September 27, General Blunt was placed under the command of General Schofield, and by direction of General Curtis the name of the army was changed to that of the "Army of the Frontier;" General Blunt's