To my own mind it is clear that our great Civil War can never be fully understood without a knowledge of the unique experiences of a border city, and especially of St. Louis, for the possession of which both parties to our great national conflict so earnestly contended. During the long and bloody battle for the Union, my home was there, and this book is simply “an unvarnished tale” of what I saw and of work in which I shared. As a testimony I trust that it may be of some worth.
And since I intended it to be only a simple testimony, it has not been written to make out a case. I have tried to divest myself of the spirit of a partisan, and to present in an unbiased manner what I personally observed. I have endeavored to write, as the martyred President did, “with malice toward none, with charity for all.”
Galusha Anderson.
Newton Centre, Mass.
April, 1908.
For the originals of several of the illustrations in this volume the author is indebted to Miss Mary Louise Dalton, the late Librarian of the Missouri Historical Society, whose many kindnesses will always be held in grateful remembrance.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | St. Louis | [1] |
| II. | Forebodings of Conflict | [11] |
| III. | Rumblings of the Conflict | [32] |
| IV. | The Boomerang Convention | [40] |
| V. | The Fight for the Arsenal | [63] |
| VI. | Camp Jackson | [86] |
| VII. | Riot, Panic, Search and Confiscation | [106] |
| VIII. | The Pulpit and the Press | [120] |
| IX. | Decision and Division | [146] |
| X. | Bitterness | [159] |
| XI. | Slaves and Slave-pens | [170] |
| XII. | Prisons and Prisoners | [188] |
| XIII. | Lyon in Conference and in Campaign | [198] |
| XIV. | Fremont and Fiasco | [206] |
| XV. | Extraordinary Acts | [227] |
| XVI. | Halleck and His Manifestoes | [234] |
| XVII. | Refugees | [251] |
| XVIII. | Difficult Currency | [268] |
| XIX. | Not Peace but the Sword | [271] |
| XX. | Charcoals and Claybanks | [276] |
| XXI. | Homes and Hospitals | [288] |
| XXII. | The Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair | [309] |
| XXIII. | A Dark Plot Thwarted | [315] |
| XXIV. | Negro Schools | [333] |
| XXV. | After Darkness Light | [338] |
| XXVI. | Radicals in Convention | [342] |
| XXVII. | The Wind-up | [360] |
ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| A Bird’s-eye View of St. Louis in 1860 | [Frontispiece] | |
| From a lithograph in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society. | ||
| The Arsenal, St. Louis, in 1866 | [63] | |
| Camp Jackson, St. Louis | [89] | |
| From a photograph in the possession of the Missouri Historical Society. | ||
| Gratiot Street Prison, Formerly the McDowell Medical College | [188] | |
| From an oil painting, the property of the Missouri Historical Society. | ||
| Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon | [198] | |
| General Fremont’s Headquarters, St. Louis | [206] | |
| Facsimile of a Pass, Issued to the Author in 1861 | [215] | |
| The Author, Galusha Anderson, in 1861 | [218] | |
| From a daguerreotype. | ||
| Honorable Frank P. Blair, Jr. | [279] | |
| From an oil painting, the property of the Missouri Historical Society. | ||
| Major-General Henry W. Halleck | [279] | |
| Major-General William S. Rosecrans | [279] | |
| Major-General John C. Fremont | [279] | |
| Major-General John McA. Schofield | [279] | |