Gen. Lyon's next thought was to drive Gov. Jackson and his
Secession clique out of Missouri into Arkansas, free the
people from their pernicious influence, protect the Union
people, especially in the southwestern part of the State,
and keep tens of thousands of young men from being persuaded
or dragged into the rebel army.
He would demonstrate the Government's position so
convincingly that there would be no longer any doubt of
Missouri's remaining in the Union.
CHAPTER VIII. STORM GATHERS IN SOUTHWESTERN MISSOURI
The Osage River enters Missouri from Kansas about 60 miles south of the Missouri River, and flowing a little south of east empties into that river a few miles below Jefferson City. It thus forms a natural line of defense across the State, which Gen. Price's soldierly eye had noted, and he advised the Governor to order his troops to take up their position behind it, gain time for organization, and prepare for battle for possession of the State.
Gen. Lyon had also noticed the strategic advantages of the Osage River, and did not propose to allow his enemies to have the benefit of them. He did not intend to permit them to concentrate there, and be joined in time by heavy forces already coming up from Arkansas, Indian Territory, and Texas. While he was collecting farm wagons around Boonville to move his own columns forward, laboring to gather a sufficient stock of ammunition and supplies, and planning to make secure his holding of the important points already gained, he began moving other columns under Gen. Sweeny and Maj. Sturgis directly upon Springfield, the central point of the southwestern part of the State, which would take the Osage line in the rear, and compel Jackson and Price to retreat with their forces across the Missouri line into Arkansas.
This would clear the State of the whole congerie of Secession leaders, remove the young men from their influence, stop the persecutions of the Union men in that section, and cement Missouri solidly in the Union line. He also wrote Gen. B. M. Prentiss, in command of the troops at Cairo, asking co-operation by clearing out the rebels from the southeastern portion of the State. Lyon's far-reaching plans did not stop with Missouri. He also contemplated pushing his advance directly upon Little Rock, through the Union-loving region in northwestern Arkansas, and clinching that State as firmly as Missouri.