The Lost Army

by Thomas Wallace Knox

All the pistols were old, and some of them were quite as likely to do damage at the rear as at the business end. The captain had the best weapon of the lot—a Colt's revolver, and there was another just about as good. Jack and Harry drew lots for the choice. The advantage fell to Jack, who immediately picked up the captain's revolver and handed it over to Harry. “I've got the captain's horse,” said he, “and you ought to have something to remember him by, so you must take this along.” Thus the division was settled, and both were happy.

Thus armed and mounted, the boys were what might be called “swells” in the garrison of Rolla, and the envy of many of their associates. There was not a great deal for them to do for a month or more, as the enemy did not make the attack upon the post they had been threatening to make, nor did they even make a feint of one. The boys went on several scouting expeditions on their own account, with the approval of the commanding officer of the post, and though they made some discoveries and obtained information that was of use, they did not succeed in making captures of prisoners and horses.

Recruiting for the rebel army was in progress in all the interior counties of Missouri, and often almost under the eyes of the Union authorities. Now and then an expedition seized a squad or company of recruits and brought them triumphantly within the lines, but as a general thing the most of the men who wanted to join the Southern armies succeeded in doing so. The fact was, it was not possible to garrison every town and village throughout the State, and it was thought best to allow those with secession proclivities to get away to the field whenever they wanted to go, rather than remain and be a cause of trouble.

General Fremont had been assigned to the command of the Department of the Missouri shortly before the battle of Wilson's Creek, and it was to him that General Lyon had appealed so earnestly and so vainly for reinforcements to enable him to hold out against the advancing rebels. After the retreat of the army to Rolla and the occupation of Springfield by the rebels, General Fremont set about organizing a force to take the field early in the autumn, with the hope of securing possession of the state and flying the Union flag all over its territory.

After the battle of Wilson's Creek the disagreement which had existed between the rebel leaders—Price and McCulloch—increased, and finally threatened to end in warfare almost equal to that which they were trying to wage together against the Union. McCulloch refused to advance further into the state, in spite of the entreaties of Price. An appeal to the Confederate government did not result in securing a peremptory order for McCulloch to advance as Price desired, and the result was a separation. McCulloch went back to Arkansas, while Price, whose forces had been strengthened by recruits from various parts of the state, marched northward in the direction of the Missouri river.

Price's openly-declared intentions were to capture Jefferson City, the capital, and re-establish Governor Jackson in authority there. A state convention had met there in July, and, of course, there was no governor to welcome it, and no commander-in-chief of the state forces. The convention declared the office of governor vacant, and chose a new governor, Honorable Hamilton R. Gamble, to fill Jackson's place. It is needless to say that Governor Gamble was a Union man, and from that time onward the power of the state was exerted in favor of the national government and against the rebellion of the South.

Jackson, the fugitive and rebel governor, never saw the state capital again after he left on the day of the memorable flight to Booneville. He continued with the rebel armies in southwest Missouri and Arkansas and died in the last-named state long before the end of the war. General Price survived the war and afterward went to Mexico, where he was one of the founders of a colony of Americans who had sworn never to live under the flag of the United States. He died there in 1867.

With twenty thousand men in his command, and with his numbers increasing every day of his advance, Price reached Lexington, on the banks of the Missouri, having two or three encounters with the Union forces on his way, none of which were of much account. The superiority of his numbers gave him the advantage, and his opponents wisely retreated as he moved on. Lexington was garrisoned by about two thousand six hundred Union troops, consisting of volunteer infantry and Home Guards, under command of Colonel Mulligan, of the Irish Brigade. A fortification had been thrown up around the college buildings, which stood in a commanding position between the new and old towns of Lexington, and about half a mile from the river. The bank of the river was a high bluff, and with the exception of a small supply from cisterns and springs, water for the garrison had to be brought by hand or hauled by teams from below the base of this bluff.

Colonel Mulligan arrived at Lexington on the first of September, and the fortification, which he greatly strengthened, had been laid out by the commander of the troops already there. The spot was not wisely selected, as we shall presently see. As one of the officers said afterwards, “It was a very good place for a peace fortress, but very bad for warfare, especially when the warfare has to be defensive.”

The men worked night and day to complete the intrenchments, which were ten feet high, with a ditch eight feet wide, and capable of inclosing ten thousand men. Rumors of the advance of Price were in the air, and it was definitely known that he was moving toward Lexington. Appeals for reinforcements were sent to St. Louis, but they did not succeed in bringing troops to the aid of the garrison, for the simple reason that none could be spared from that city.