He proposed to form a camp of instruction for the Militia on the river bluffs near the Arsenal, from which it could be commanded by guns and mortars to be obtained from the South when Frost with his brigade and that of Gen. John S. Bowen, who was afterwards to be a Major-General in the Confederate army and command a division at Vicksburg, with what volunteers they could obtain, would force Lyon to surrender the Arsenal and its stores.
While considering these recommendations the Governor received a request from the Secretary of War for four regiments of infantry, Missouri's quota of the 75,000 men the President had called for. To this Governor Jackson replied the next day:
Your dispatch of the 13th instant, making a call upon Missouri for four regiments of men for immediate service, has been received. There can be, I apprehend, no doubt but these men are intended to form a part of the President's army to make war upon the people of the seceded States. Your requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary in his objects, inhuman and diabolical, and cannot be complied with. Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on such an unholy crusade.
The same day he sent Capts. Greene and Duke to Montgomery with a letter to the President of the Confederacy, requesting him to furnish the siege guns and mortars which Gen. Frost wanted, and another messenger to Virginia with a similar request. He also called the Legislature to meet at Jefferson City May 2, to take "measures to perfect the organization and equipment of the Militia and raise the money to place the State in a proper attitude for defense." He did not dare order Gen. Frost to establish his military camp of instruction in St. Louis, but he took the more prudent and strictly legal course of ordering the commanding officers of the several Militia Districts of the State to assemble their respective commands at some convenient place, and go into encampment for six days for drilling and discipline. This order authorized Gen. Frost to establish his camp wherever he pleased within the City or County of St. Louis.
Gen. Bowen, who was in command of a force in the southwest to guard the State against the marauders from Kansas, was ordered to report with certain of his troops to Gen. Frost. The Arsenal at Liberty was at once seized by the Secessionists in that neighborhood, who secured several hundred muskets, four brass guns, and a large amount of powder. These proceedings of the Governor disturbed Gen. Harney greatly, and he wrote at once to Gen. Scott asking him for instructions.
Capt. Lyon did not ask or wait for instructions. He wrote at once to Gov. Dick Yates, of Illinois, to obtain authority to hold in readiness for service in St. Louis the six regiments which Illinois was called upon to furnish. Gov. Yates acted promptly, and received authority to send two or three regiments "to support the garrison of the St. Louis Arsenal." Lyon received orders to equip these troops, and to issue 10,000 additional stands of arms to the agent of the Governor of Illinois.
Mr. Blair reached St. Louis from Washington, April 17, and at once began acting with the boldness and foresight that the situation demanded. By his advice Col. Pritchard and other Union officers of the Militia resigned. He procured from the War Department an order placing 5,000 stands of arms at the disposal of Lyon for arming "the loyal citizens"—the Home Guards—and requested orders by telegraph for Capt. Lyon to muster men into the service to fill Missouri's requisition, and to have Hagner removed.
Lyon, determined not to be taken by surprise, had the streets leading to the Arsenal nightly patrolled and pickets stationed outside the walls. Gov. Jackson's Police Board complained that this was a violation of the City ordinances and in direct interference with their duties. They demanded that he should obey the law, but he refused. When they appealed to Harney, he at once ordered Lyon to quarter his men in the Arsenal and forbade him to issue arms to anyone without Harney's sanction. This brought Blair and Lyon to a parting of the ways with Harney. They demanded his removal, and April 21 Harney was removed from the command, and ordered to repair to Washington and report to the General-in-Chief.