CIVIL WAR BEGUN IN MISSOURI. 471 and Major H. A. Conant held a four hours' interview with Governor Jackson, General Price, and Thomas L. Smead, the latter being the Governor's private secretary. Jackson demanded, as a vital condition of pacification, that a June 12, 1861. NATHANIEL LYON. thousand of the State militia, "for the purpose of repelling invasion, and for the protection of the lives, liberty, and property of the citizens." In this proclamation he told the people, that while it was their duty to "obey all of the constitutional requirements of the Federal Government," it was equally his duty to advise them, that their "first allegiance was due to their own State, and that they were under no obligations whatever to obey the unconstitutional edicts of the military despotism which had enthroned itself at Washington, nor to submit to the infamous and degrading sway of its minions in this State." At the same time two important railway bridges between St. Louis and Jefferson City were burnt, and the telegraph wires were cut, under the direction of a son of the Governor. So the disloyal Chief Magistrate of Missouri inaugurated civil war in that State; and those movements of troops within its borders immediately began, which continued during almost the entire period of the conflict, with the most disastrous results to the peace and prosperity of the Commonwealth. While the loyalists and disloyalists of Missouri were grappling in their first struggles for supremacy, the National Government was busy on the Southeastern borders of that Commonwealth, in making preparations for securing its capital city, St. Louis, from the armed occupation of the insurgents, and also from invasion of southern Illinois and Indiana, by the banded enemies of the Republic. The possession of the mouth of the Ohio River, where it pours its tribute into the Mississippi, was of importance, as that point was the key to a vast extent of navigable waters, whose control would give great advantage to the party who should be allowed to exercise it. Both Governor Yates and the Government at Washington had been early informed of a conspiracy to seize Cairo, a small village in Illinois, on the low marshy point at the confluence of those two great rivers, and the lower portion of the Illinois Central Railway, that terminated there. By this means they hoped to control the navigation of the Mississippi to St. Louis, and of the Ohio to Cincinnati and beyond; and also to cut off all communication with the interior of Illinois. They further hoped that their permanent possession of that point, which gave them absolute control of the navigation of the Mississippi below, whose stream traversed a Slave-labor territory 472 CAIRO FORTIFIED.-ITS IMPORTANCE. exclusively, would cause the Northwestern States of the Union to join hands with the insurgents, rather than lose the immense commercial advantages which the free navigation of that great stream afforded. The scheme was foiled by the vigilance of the Government and the patriotism of the people in the Northwest; and, as we have observed, Governor Yates, under directions from the Secretary of War, sent Illinois troops, at an early day, to take possession of and occupy Cairo.' The secessionists, especially of Kentucky and Missouri, were alarmed and chagrined by this important movement, and never ceased to lament it. By the middle of May there were not less than five thousand Union volunteers at Cairo, under the command of the experienced B. M. Prentiss, who had just been commissioned a brigadier-general. They occupied the ex treme point of land within the levee or dike that keeps out the rivers at high water, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi. There they cast up fortifications, and the post significantly called Camp Defiance. A smaller one, called Camp Smith, was established in the rear of it; and troops occupied other points near, on the banks of the two rivers. Heavy ordnance was forwarded from Pittsburg, and 42-pounder cannon commanded the two streams, and bade every steamer and other craft to round to and report to the military authorities there. Before the close of May, the post at Cairo was considered impregnable against any force the Confederates were likely to bring. It soon became a post of immense importance to the Union cause, as a point where some of those land and naval expeditions which performed signal service in the Valley of the Mississippi were fitted out, as we shall observe hereafter. a 1861. MILITARY POSITION AT CAIRO. Adjoining Missouri on the South was the Slave-labor State of Arkansas, in which, as we have seen, attachment to the Union was a prevailing sentiment of the people at the beginning of the year." Unfortunately for them, the Governor and most of the leading politicians of the State were disloyal, and no effort was spared by them to obtain the passage of an ordinance of secession by a Convention of delegates who met on the 4th of March. That Convention was composed of 1561. 1 See page 456. Cairo is one hundred and seventy-five miles below St. Louis. It is situated on a bootshaped peninsula, which has been formed by the action of the two rivers. At high water it is usually overflowed to a great extent; and embankments, twenty or thirty feet in hight, along the rivers, called levees, had been thrown up to keep out the waters. These levees are forty feet above ordinary low water, and rise about ten feet above the natural level of the land. The ground in the rear of the city is lower than that on which the town stands, and, during overflows, the only dry communication with the country is by the causeway of the Illinois Central Railway, which extends up into the immense prairies of Illinois. SECESSION CONVENTION IN ARKANSAS. 473 seventy-five members, forty of whom were regarded as Unionists. These were so decided and firm, that no ordinance of secession could be passed. The conspirators were disheartened, and, for a while, despaired of success. At length they accomplished by a trick, what they could not gain by fair means. A self-constituted Committee, composed of "Secessionists" and "Co-operationists," reported an ordinance providing for an election, to be held on the 17th of August following, at which the legal voters of the State should decide by ballot for "Secession" or "Co-operation." If a majority of the votes then cast should be for "Secession," that fact was to be considered in the light of instruction to the Convention to pass an ordinance to that effect; if for "Co-operation," then measures were to be used, in conjunction with the Border Slave-labor States "yet in the Union," for the settlement of existing difficulties. To this fair proposition the Unionists in the Convention agreed, and the vote on the question was unanimous. Taking advantage of the excitement caused by the attack on Fort Sumter, the President's call for troops, and the events at Baltimore, Governor Rector (whose election had been gained by the influence of the "Knights of the Golden Circle") and his disloyal associates adopted measures immediately for arraying Arkansas on the side of the conspirators without consulting the people. We have already observed the insulting response of the Governor to the President's call. This was followed by a high-handed measure on the part of the President of the Convention, who professed to be a loyal man. In violation of the pledge of that body, that the whole matter should be submitted to the people in August, he issued a call for the Convention to reassemble on the 6th of May. It met on that day. The number of delegates present was seventy. An Ordinance of Secession, previously pre 1 See page 187. 2 See page 337. 474 FRAUD AND VIOLENCE IN ARKANSAS. pared, was presented to it at three o'clock in the afternoon, when the hall in which the delegates met was densely crowded by an excited populace. It was moved that the "yeas" and "nays" on the question should be taken without debate. The motion was rejected by a considerable majority, but the President declared it to be carried. Then a vote on the Ordinance was taken, and a majority appeared against it. The conspirators were determined not to be foiled. The President, who seems to have been a plastic instrument in their hands, immediately arose, and in the midst of the cheers of the people, vehemently urged the Unionists to change their votes to "ay" immediately. It was evident that a large number of that crowd were prepared to compel them to do so, and the terrified Unionists complied, with only one exception, and that was Isaac Murphy, who was compelled to fly for his life. He was rewarded for his fidelity by the Unionists, who elected him Governor of the State in 1864. Thus, by fraud and violence, Arkansas was placed in the position of a rebellious State. The Convention then authorized the Governor to call out sixty thousand men, if necessary, for military duty. The State was divided into two military divisions, eastern and western. General Bradley was appointed to the command of the Eastern Division, and General Pearce, late of the National Army, was made commander of the Western Division. An ordinance was also passed confiscating all debts due from citizens of Arkansas to persons residing in the Free-labor States, and all the personal property belonging to such persons in Arkansas at the time of the passage of the Ordinance. A system of terrorism was at once commenced. Unionists were every where shamefully persecuted. They were exiled, imprisoned, and murdered. Confederate troops from Texas and Louisiana were brought into the State to occupy it and overawe the loyalists; and Arkansas troops, raised chiefly by fraud and violence, were sent out of the State, for the conspirators would not trust them. Not content with this usurpation at home, Governor Rector and his associates, acting under the directions of the arch-conspirators at Montgomery, took measures to attach to their cause, by persuasion or coercion, the powerful civilized Indians residing in the Territory adjoining the western boundaries of Arkansas and northern Texas. These were the Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, numbering at that time about forty thousand souls.' There were also in that region a remnant of the Creek Nation who formerly inhabited Alabama, and some Senecas and Shawnoese from the North, who had lately gone there on a visit. It was believed that a band of efficient warriors might be drawn from these nations, whose very name would be terrible; and through the resident agents, who were secessionists, and by other means, the work of corruption and coercion was vigorously commenced among them. a 1861. A brother of Governor Rector was then Government agent among the Cherokees, and used all his influence to seduce them from their allegiance. When, in May," Jefferson Davis ordered three regi 1 The Cherokees numbered twenty-two thousand, the Choctaws about eighteen thousand, and the Chickasaws about five thousand. A large proportion of these were engaged in the pursuits of civilized life, especially the Cherokees, who had many flourishing schools. REBEL EMISSARIES AMONG THE INDIANS. 475 ments of these Indians to be formed, he commissioned Albert Pike,' a poet of some pretensions, who was a native of New England, but had long resided in Arkansas, to make a treaty with them to that effect. Pike went into the Indian country, where he met them in council. He succeeded with the less civilized Choctaws and Chickasaws, and by virtue of a treaty made with them, they were entitled to the privilege of having two of their number occupy seats as delegates in the "Congress" of the conspirators at Montgomery. Two regiments of these Indians were raised, and, under Pike, who was commissioned a brigadier-general, they joined the army of the conspirators. A third regiment was organized before the close of 1861. We shall meet Pike and his dusky followers hereafter, among the Ozark Mountains. ALBERT PIKE. The Cherokees and Creeks were not so easily moved. The venerable John Ross, who for almost forty years had been the principal Chief of the Cherokees, took a decided stand against the secessionists, and resisted them so long as he had the power. On the 17th of May" he issued a proclamation, in which he reminded his people of their treaty obligations to the United States, and urged them to be faithful in the observance of them. He exhorted them to take no part in the exciting a 1861. events of the day, but to attend to their ordinary avocations; and not to be alarmed by false reports circulated among them by designing men, but to cultivate peace and friendship with the inhabitants of all the States. He 1 Pike was a remarkable man. He was a native of Boston, and was then fifty-one years of age, with long gray flowing locks. He dressed himself in gaudy costume and wore an immense plume to please the Indians. He seems to have gone into the rebellion heartily, forgetful of the warnings of his own remarkable prophecy. which he put in the following words, toward the close of a poem entitled Dissolution of the Union, writter before the war. After describing civil war and its effects, he says to the deceived people: "Where are your leaders? Where are they who led Your souls into the perilous abyss? The bravest and the best are lying dead, Shrouded in treason and dark perjuries: The most of them have basely from you fled. Fled into lands that Liberty disowns, Encrouched within the shadow of tall thrones." |