Missouri was now overrun with guerrillas and harried by both sides. Colonel Mulligan made a desperate stand at Lexington in September, but an overwhelming force under General Price compelled him to surrender. Price moved southward and Lexington was retaken by the Unionists, who also occupied Springfield. The Legislature sitting at Neocho passed an ordinance of secession, but most of the State remained in the hands of the Federals until they finally gained entire possession.
General Fremont's course was unwise and made him unpopular. He issued what was in reality an emancipation proclamation, which President Lincoln was compelled to modify. He was fond of show and ceremony, and so extravagant that he was superseded in November by General Hunter, who was soon sent to Kansas, and was in turn succeeded by General Halleck. The fighting in the State was fierce but of an indecisive character.
The expected neutrality of Kentucky was speedily ended by the entrance of a body of Confederates under the command of General Leonidas Polk, a graduate of West Point and a bishop of the Episcopal Church. General U.S. Grant was dispatched with a force from Cairo, as soon as it became known that Polk had entered Kentucky. Grant destroyed a Confederate camp at Belmont, but was attacked by Polk and compelled to retreat to his gunboats.
OPERATIONS ON THE COAST.
A formidable coast expedition, with land and naval forces on board, under command of General B.F. Butler and Commodore Stringham, in August, 1861, captured Hatteras Inlet and the fort defending it. Establishing themselves at that point, they made other attacks along the adjoining coast of North Carolina. A still larger expedition left Fort Monroe in November under Commodore Dupont and General T.W. Sherman and captured Port Royal. The fleet was so powerful, numbering nearly one hundred vessels and transports, that the garrisons were easily driven out of the forts, after which the land forces took possession of them. The islands between Charleston and Savannah were seized, and in September a Union fleet took possession of Ship Island, not far from the mouth of the Mississippi, with a view of aiding an expedition against New Orleans.
THE TRENT AFFAIR.
It was all important for the Confederacy to secure recognition from England and France. The Confederate government thought they could be induced to act, if the proper arguments were laid before the respective governments. Accordingly, James M. Mason, of Virginia, and John Slidell, of Louisiana, both of whom had been United States senators, were appointed commissioners, the former to England and the latter to France.
They succeeded in running the blockade to Havana, where they took passage on the British steamer Trent for England. Captain Charles Wilkes, of the steamer San Jacinto, knew of their intended sailing and was on the lookout for them. Before they were fairly on their way, Captain Wilkes stopped the Trent, and, despite the protests of the captain and the rebel commissioners, he forcibly took them off and carried them to the United States.
In acting thus Captain Wilkes did the very thing that caused the war with England in 1812. It was our opposition to the search of American vessels by British cruisers that caused that war, while England was as persistent in her claim to the right to make such search. The positions were now reversed, and England expressed indignation, and demanded the return of the commissioners and a disavowal of the act of Captain Wilkes. The position of our government was untenable, and Secretary Seward gracefully confessed it, and surrendered the prisoners, neither of whom was able afterward to be of the slightest benefit to the Confederacy.
SUMMARY OF THE YEAR'S OPERATIONS.