Still later came Capt. James Totten, of the 2d U. S. Art., with his company. He had been born in Pennsylvania, but was appointed to West Point from Virginia, and was in command of the Arsenal at Little Rock until he evacuated his post, Feb. 8, before a large force of rebels, and retired with his command to the Indian Territory, by virtue of the agreement with the Governor of the State. While Lothrop and Saxton appear to have been taken at once into the councils of Capt. Lyon, Capt. Totten does not, probably because the uncompromising Lyon did not like his methods in Arkansas. He was, however, true to his loyalty, and rose eventually to the rank of Brigadier-General.
There were now in the Arsenal nine officers and 484 men. Hagner and Lyon at once came into collision. Though Hagner belonged to the Ordnance, and not therefore regarded as eligible to command troops, he secured an order assigning himself to command according to his brevet rank of Major, which made him superior to Lyon. Hagner had been five years longer in the service than Lyon, but his commission as Captain was 20 days junior to Lyon's. Lyon energetically protested against Hagner's assignment in a letter to Blair, who was then in Washington, D. C, looking out for matters at that end of the line, in which he said:
It is obvious that the fine stone wall inclosing our grounds affords us an excellent defense against attack, if we will take advantage of it; and for this purpose platforms should be erected for our men to stand on and fire over; and that artillery should be ready at the gates, to be run out and sweep down a hostile force; and sand-bags should be prepared and at hand to throw up a parapet to protect the parties at these pieces of artillery; inside pieces should be placed to rake the whole length, and sweep down each side a party that should get over the walls, traverses being erected to protect parties at these pieces. A pretty strong field work, with three heavy pieces, should be erected on the side toward the river, to oppose either a floating battery or one that might be established on the island; and, finally, besides our houses, every building should be mined, with a train arranged so as to blow them up successively, as occupied by the enemy. Maj. Hagner refuses, as I mentioned to you, to do any of these things, and has given his orders not to fly to the walls to repel an approach, but to let the enemy have all the advantages of the wall to lodge himself behind it, and get possession of all outside buildings overlooking us, and to get inside and under shelter of our outbuildings, which we are not to occupy before we make resistance. This is either imbecility or d——d villainy, and in contemplating the risks we run and the sacrifices we must make in case of an attack in contrast to the vigorous and effective defense we are capable of, and which, in view of the cause of our country and humanity, the disgrace and degradation to which the Government has been subject by pusillanimity and treachery, we are now called upon to make, I get myself into a most unhappy state of solicitude and irritability. With even less force and proper disposition, I am confident we can resist any force which can be brought against us; by which I mean such force as would not be overcome by our sympathizing friends outside. These needful dispositions, with proper industry, can be made in 24 hours. There cannot be, as you know, a more important occasion nor a better opportunity to strike an effective blow at this arrogant and domineering infatuation of Secessionism than here; and must this all be lost, by either false notions of duty or covert disloyalty? As I have said, Maj. Hagner has no right to the command, and, under the 62d Article of War, can only have it by a special assignment of the President, which I do not believe has been made; but that the announcement of Gen. Scott that the command belongs to Maj. Hagner is his own decision, and done in his usual sordid spirit of partisanship and favoritism to pets, and personal associates, and toadies; nor can he, even in the present straits of the country, rise above this, in earnest devotion to justice and the wants of his country.
Lyon went to Gen. Harney to urge his right to command, from seniority of commission; but Harney sustained Hagner, who was in some things much more Harney's style than Lyon. Lyon thereupon appealed to President Buchanan, which meant to Gen. Scott, who, of course, sustained Hagner. Lyon was, therefore, forced to submit until Lincoln was inaugurated.
There was no vanity or self-seeking in this urgency of Lyon's. In the Army he was distinguished for his readiness to subordinate himself to carry out any plans which commended themselves to him. He had repeatedly offered to subordinate himself to Hagner if the latter would take what Lyon thought only the most necessary steps at that crisis for the defense of the position and stores of priceless importance.
What Lyon dreaded above all things was something akin to that which had freshly occurred at Little Rock, where Capt. Totten had withdrawn from the Little Rock Arsenal with his company in the face of a large mob of Secessionists, upon a receipt by the Governor for the arms and stores, and the promise that he would account for them to the United States Government. Lyon was determined to bury himself and his men in the ruins of the Arsenal before it should pass into the hands of the Secessionists.
Basil Duke, Colton Greene, and the other chafing young Captains had matured a plot with the connivance of Gen. Frost, of the Militia, probably somewhat at his instigation, which would brush aside the network of intrigue which Claiborne Jackson and others were spinning, bring matters to a focus, and in one blow crush Union sentiment, overawe the timid, fasten the wavering, seize the Arsenal and launch Missouri upon the tide of Secession with the Cotton States.