On the 16th, two hundred and twenty men of the First Missouri Scouts, under Major F. J. White, surprised the rebel garrison at Lexington, and recaptured the place, with the Federal sick and wounded there, together with two pieces of cannon, a quantity of guns, pistols and other articles which the rebels threw away in their flight. The garrison numbered three hundred men. The victorious troops found the inhabitants in a deplorable condition. Some portions of the town had been plundered of everything that could be appropriated, and many persons were suffering for the necessaries of life. It was a painful scene, and formed one of those early pictures of the war which have since been multiplied so fearfully in the border States.
On the 1st of November, General Fremont, then at Springfield, entered into an arrangement with General Price, to facilitate the exchange of prisoners, agreeing to release any who had been made prisoners “for the mere expression of political opinions;” and providing also that “the war in future be confined exclusively to the armies in the field.” Armed bodies, unauthorized by the commanders, were to be disbanded, and persons guilty of violence and lawless acts were to be subject to trial by courts-martial. This agreement was signed by Major Henry W. Williams and D. Robert Barclay, Esq., for General Price, and J. H. Eaton, Assistant-Adjutant-General, for General Fremont. A proclamation, announcing this negotiation, was accordingly published on the first of November.
The next day, General Fremont received from the Department at Washington, an order relieving him from his command. General David Hunter was appointed to the Department of Missouri, temporarily as his successor. General Fremont returned to St. Louis, and soon afterwards reached New York city, where he awaited the orders of the Government.
The Federal army was now withdrawn from the south-western portion of the State, and the whole of that vast field was reoccupied by the insurgent forces, and thousands of recruits were gathered into their ranks.
On the 4th of November, the antagonist forces were commanded as follows:—General Hunter, 5,000; General Sigel, 4,000; General Ashboth, 4,500; General McKinstry, 5,500; General Pope, 4,000; General Lane, 2,500; General Sturgis, 1,000. The rebels under General Price numbered 15,000; under General McCulloch, 7,000.
The disloyal members of the Legislature held a session at Neosho, Newton county, in the extreme south-western portion of the State, and on the 19th of November passed an ordinance of secession, and sent their Commissioners to the Confederate Congress at Richmond. Missouri, as represented by them, was admitted to the Confederacy on the 27th of November.
On the 30th of November, General Price, then at Neosho, issued a proclamation to the people of Missouri, calling upon them in the most earnest manner for recruits to the rebel army. He called for fifty thousand men, who might rendezvous at headquarters with anything in the shape of arms that they could find; and if unarmed, to enroll themselves, and they would be supplied. He represented the hopelessness of the cause, and the certain defeat of the rebel army unless immediately reinforced. His appeals had some effect in promoting sedition, and in securing enlistments, but they fell far short of the number he demanded.
On the 1st of December, Gen. Price was at Osceola, with 18,000 men.
On the 6th of December, Independence was entered by a band of rebels, who seized several citizens and compelled them to take an oath not to bear arms against the Southern Confederacy.
On the 13th of the same month, Governor Jackson, at New Madrid, issued a proclamation to the insurgent army, in which he attempted a defence of the rebellion, and asserted that the people of Missouri were in favor of secession. Unfortunately for the veracity or the knowledge of Governor Jackson, wherever the people of the State were delivered from the terrorism of the rebels and marauders, they adhered to the Union, as was verified by the fact, that up to the 20th of January, 1862, no less than 33,882 Missourians had entered the Federal service for three years, and 6,000 had volunteered for three months.