The Fifth Division, commanded by Gen. Asboth, had 6,461 men, and constituted the reserve at Tipton, on the railroad, 38 miles west of Jefferson City.
The Fifth Division, 5,388 men, under Gen. Justus McKinstry, formed the center and was posted at Syracuse, five miles west of Tipton.
Beside these, Gen. Sturgis held Kansas City with 3,000 men and Gen. Jas. H. Lane, with 2,500 men, was to move in Kansas down the State line, between Fort Scott and Kansas City, to protect Kansas from an incursion in that direction, and as opportunity offered attack Price's flank.
Thus, there were 38,789 effectives in the five divisions, which with Sturgis's and Lane's forces made a total force of 44,289, not including garrisons which swell the total of the army to over 90,000.
Among these Division Commanders were two whom Fremont had discovered and created Brigadier-Generals out of his own volition, without consultation at Washington.
These were Gens. Asboth and McKinstry. Gen. Alexander (Sandor) Asboth, born in 1811, was a Hungarian and an educated engineer, with considerable experience in and against the Austrian army. He had entered ardently into the Revolution of 1848, and built a bridge in a single night by which the Revolutionary army crossed and won the brilliant victory of Nagy Salo. He became Adjutant-General of the Hungarian army, and when the Revolution was crushed by Russian troops, escaped with Kossuth into Turkey, came to this country, and became a naturalized citizen. He was by turns farmer, teacher, engineer, and manufacturer of galvanized articles. He sided with the Union Germans, went on Fremont's staff, and was appointed a Brigadier-General. The Senate refused to recognize the appointment, but in consideration of his good service he was reappointed, served creditably through the war, was brevetted a Major-General, and after the war sent as Minister to the Argentine Confederation, where he died in 1868.
The other, Justus McKinstry, was born in New York and appointed to the Military Academy from Michigan, where he graduated 40th in the class of 1838, of which Beauregard, Barry, Irvin McDowell, W. J. Hardee, R. S. Granger, Henry H. Sibley, Edward Johnson and A. J. Smith were members. He had served creditably in the Mexican War, receiving a brevet for gallantry at Contreras and Churubusco, and at the outbreak of the war was a Major and Quartermaster at St. Louis, where he did very much to frustrate Lyon's plans and was regarded by him as a Secessionist at heart. He continued to hold his position, however, as Chief Quartermaster of the Department of the West until Fremont appointed him Brigadier-General.
Shortly after Fremont's removal he was placed under arrest at St. Louis and ordered before a court-martial, which did not convene, and he was at last summarily dismissed for "neglect and violation of duty, to the prejudice of good order and military discipline." He became a stock broker in New York City, and afterwards a land agent at Rolla, Mo.