Reluctantly this was acceded to, and the surrender took place. At four P. M. on Saturday, the Federal forces, having laid down their arms, were marched out of the intrenchments to the tune of “Dixie,” played by the rebel bands. They left behind them their arms and accoutrements, reserving only their clothing. Many of the men wept on leaving their colors behind, as each company in the brigade had its own standard presented by its friends. At the surrender, the muster-rolls of the companies were taken to General Price’s headquarters, the list of officers made out, and they ordered to report themselves as prisoners of war.
The scenes at the capitulation were extraordinary. Colonel Mulligan shed tears. The men threw themselves upon the ground, raved and stormed; well nigh frenzied, demanding to be led out again and “finish the thing.” In Colonel Marshall’s Cavalry regiment, the feeling was equally intense. Much havoc had already been done among their horses during the siege, and but little more than half of them remained. Numbers of the privates actually shot their own horses dead on the spot, unwilling that their companions in the campaign should now fall into the enemy’s hands.
The privates, numbering some one thousand five hundred strong, were first compelled to take the oath not to serve against the Confederate States, when they were put across the river, and in charge of General Rains marched on Saturday night to Richmond, sixteen miles, whence on Sunday they marched to Hamilton, a station on the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, where they were declared free to go where they pleased.
No reliable statement of the casualties at the siege of Lexington seems to have been published. Of the irregular army of General Price, large numbers of whom were not enrolled, but were outside volunteers, many were killed and buried on the spot, no record being made of their loss. One hundred and forty Federals were left in the hospital, many of whom were suffering from sickness, and not from wounds. Colonel Mulligan lost probably two hundred in killed and wounded, while the rebel loss could not have been less, and according to some estimates must have reached three or four times that number. General Price’s force was estimated at numbers varying from twenty to thirty thousand, the lowest being probably nearest the actual number, with twenty-one pieces of artillery.
General Price, in his official report to Governor Jackson, inventoried his acquisitions as follow:—“Three thousand five hundred prisoners, including the colonels, and one hundred and eighteen commissioned officers, five pieces of artillery and two mortars, over three thousand stand of infantry arms, a large number of sabres, about seven hundred and fifty horses, many sets of cavalry equipments, wagons, teams, ammunition, more than a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of commissary stores, and a large amount of other property.”
For daring and patient suffering—fighting day after day without water, the battle of Lexington stands almost without a rival in history. It was stubbornly contested, and evinced in the most striking manner the devotion and faithfulness of the adopted citizens of our country.
ATTACK ON SANTA ROSA ISLAND.
October 9, 1861.
Santa Rosa Island is a long, narrow strip of low land, partially covered with bushes and stunted trees, lying opposite Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, on the western coast of Florida. The Bay of Pensacola is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by this island, which varies in width from one hundred yards to five-eighths of a mile. At the western extremity of the island Fort Pickens stands, commanding the channel, and on the mainland, a short distance west of the Navy Yard, is Fort San Carlos de Barrancas.