Nevertheless when we turned our faces toward the northwest, and our officers assured us that it was the design to reinforce Sturgis, we could not understand the manner of accomplishing this by marching directly away from them; and murmurs arose in the ranks which nothing less than the great confidence we had in our colonel could have quieted. The day was cloudy and cool, and the roads free from dust on account of the previous night's rain. The balking of the artillery horses caused two or three short halts. Otherwise there were no delays. The columns moved rapidly and steadily. Colonel Scott knew how to march men. He never got them out of breath. About 9 P. M., we arrived at Plattsburg, and took quarters in a large college building.
About sunrise next morning Scott received orders from Sturgis to march to join him at Kansas City, and, at eight o'clock, the column took up the march southward toward Liberty. Murmurs again rose in the ranks. To the enlisted men, who knew nothing of the orders under which Colonel Scott acted, it looked as though he was vacillating or pursuing unsteady counsels. The sun shone clear, and the roads grew dusty; but the march was not slackened. When men became too lame or foot-sore to march, wagons were impressed to haul them. Usually these impressments were made for a day or for the trip, the owner commonly sending a driver, who would return with the team when we were through with it. We halted for dinner on a small stream, and in an hour resumed the march.
About eight o'clock in the evening we crossed Platte river and took quarters for the night in the little town of Smithville. Here Colonel Smith had bivouacked on the night of the 15th, the rebels he was pursuing having done so the night before. It was less than twenty-five miles to Liberty. What excuse, then, can he make for consuming two days in this march? We found an unfinished letter which represented the rebel force as numbering five thousand, and stating that Smith's soldiers behaved very badly, outraging the citizens in many ways. We quartered in houses, and, it is to be regretted that there was some plundering done, notwithstanding Colonel Scott's efforts to prevent it. Citizens, however, had little reason to complain of our presence.
At an early hour the march was resumed in the direction of Liberty, and pushed at a rapid pace. Toward noon rumor placed us in the vicinity of a large rebel force.
Here let us pause and look at the situation. While the events narrated in the two last chapters were transpiring, Price had driven Mulligan from Warrensburg and besieged him at Lexington. Sturgis, with his column of fifteen companies, arrived before that place to find the enemy in possession of the boats on which he had expected to cross to the relief of the garrison. Price immediately sent Parsons across the river with a strong force to drive off Sturgis and cover the siege. The latter retreated precipitately toward Liberty, where he expected to join Smith, abandoning to the enemy his tents and a part of his baggage to facilitate his flight. Parsons did not pursue far with his main force, but kept up such a demonstration as led Sturgis to believe he was close upon him. After securing the property Sturgis had thrown away, Parsons was almost immediately recalled. But the former continued to retreat in haste, camping the first night at Camden, and reaching Liberty at four o'clock of the next. Here he dispatched a messenger to Kansas City for a boat, and when this arrived the following forenoon, so little had his sense of the danger abated, that he consumed only an hour in moving from the town four miles to the landing, and in getting his men and baggage aboard. He moved twelve miles up the river, and landed his troops at Kansas City on the opposite side.
He was thus embarking this morning, while we, thinking him in great peril, were hurrying forward to reinforce him. And now, very reliable information came to Colonel Scott, that the force which had pursued Sturgis had arrived, and camped in the fair grounds at Liberty. Thus he supposed his way blocked, and the road, on which he expected to reach the landing where he would embark for Kansas City, in possession of the enemy. There was left him but one alternative, either to retreat or turn to the right and evade them. He boldly chose the latter; and when about ten miles from Liberty, we turned to the west, and at 3 P. M., reached the town of Parkville on the Missouri river, having accomplished since starting nineteen miles.
Here the Colonel expected to find two flatboats on which to cross; but he found only one, the other having been moved to a point up the river. He caused the artillery to be planted on a ridge commanding the approaches to the town, and left Companies F and H to support it, while, with the remainder of his command, he proceeded to the river, and prepared to cross on this. The rearguard in the meantime quietly commenced cooking their dinners. We had thus waited about half an hour, expecting every moment the enemy, hardly hoping for friends, when to our great joy, a steamboat hove in sight, rounded the point and landed. It was the Majors, bound for Fort Leavenworth, and had on board General Sturgis. We were soon aboard, and the boat resumed its course up the river.
When we awoke the following morning we found ourselves at Fort Leavenworth. We marched to the barracks and rested till about noon, sauntering about the grounds, looking at the artillery, and talking with the regulars. This day, reports came that Mulligan had surrendered. We took the matter very coolly; for it was what we had been expecting. Still it was easy to see a gloom on every countenance. The citizens of Leavenworth were thoroughly aroused, and a thousand of them were drilling each day.
Toward evening, the Majors again took us aboard and dropped down to the town three miles below the Fort. After a short while, it again moved down the river and landed us at Wyandott, Kansas, where we bivouacked on the river bank for the night. The next day we took quarters in vacant buildings. Three miles below us, Gen. Sturgis with his previous force occupied Kansas City. There also was a hospital containing some of our wounded comrades. A hospital was likewise established at Wyandott, to which a number of men were removed. The citizens of Liberty had manifested great kindness to our comrades while in their hands. Their generosity was really chivalrous. Though they bitterly hated us and our cause, they forgot for the time that these were enemies and invaders, but looked upon us only as unfortunate brave men, cast in a measure upon the hospitalities of their city. I have the testimony of Sergeant Moe, that the ladies nursed them night and day, and that they were fed entirely upon delicacies brought by them to the hospital. Their conduct in this respect merits our highest regard for them as a people, not less than our warmest gratitude. The citizens of Wyandott, though friends, and feeling that they could scarcely do enough, hardly succeeded in doing more.