CHAPTER XIX.

COMMISSIONED BRIGADIER-GENERAL--COMMAND AT IRONTON, MO.--JEFFERSON CITY

--CAPE GIRARDEAU--GENERAL PRENTISS--SEIZURE OF PADUCAH--HEADQUARTERS AT

CAIRO.

I had not been in Mexico many weeks when, reading a St. Louis paper,

I found the President had asked the Illinois delegation in Congress

to recommend some citizens of the State for the position of

brigadier-general, and that they had unanimously recommended me as first

on a list of seven. I was very much surprised because, as I have said,

my acquaintance with the Congressmen was very limited and I did not know

of anything I had done to inspire such confidence. The papers of the

next day announced that my name, with three others, had been sent to the

Senate, and a few days after our confirmation was announced.

When appointed brigadier-general I at once thought it proper that one of

my aides should come from the regiment I had been commanding, and so

selected Lieutenant C. B. Lagow. While living in St. Louis, I had had a

desk in the law office of McClellan, Moody and Hillyer. Difference in

views between the members of the firm on the questions of the day, and

general hard times in the border cities, had broken up this firm.

Hillyer was quite a young man, then in his twenties, and very brilliant.

I asked him to accept a place on my staff. I also wanted to take one

man from my new home, Galena. The canvass in the Presidential campaign

the fall before had brought out a young lawyer by the name of John A.

Rawlins, who proved himself one of the ablest speakers in the State. He

was also a candidate for elector on the Douglas ticket. When Sumter was

fired upon and the integrity of the Union threatened, there was no man

more ready to serve his country than he. I wrote at once asking him to

accept the position of assistant adjutant-general with the rank of

captain, on my staff. He was about entering the service as major of a

new regiment then organizing in the north-western part of the State; but

he threw this up and accepted my offer.

Neither Hillyer nor Lagow proved to have any particular taste or special

qualifications for the duties of the soldier, and the former resigned

during the Vicksburg campaign; the latter I relieved after the battle of

Chattanooga. Rawlins remained with me as long as he lived, and rose to

the rank of brigadier general and chief-of-staff to the General of the

Army--an office created for him--before the war closed. He was an able

man, possessed of great firmness, and could say "no" so emphatically to

a request which he thought should not be granted that the person he was

addressing would understand at once that there was no use of pressing

the matter. General Rawlins was a very useful officer in other ways

than this. I became very much attached to him.

Shortly after my promotion I was ordered to Ironton, Missouri, to

command a district in that part of the State, and took the 21st

Illinois, my old regiment, with me. Several other regiments were

ordered to the same destination about the same time. Ironton is on the

Iron Mountain railroad, about seventy miles south of St. Louis, and

situated among hills rising almost to the dignity of mountains. When I

reached there, about the 8th of August, Colonel B. Gratz Brown

--afterwards Governor of Missouri and in 1872 Vice-Presidential candidate

--was in command. Some of his troops were ninety days' men and their

time had expired some time before. The men had no clothing but what

they had volunteered in, and much of this was so worn that it would

hardly stay on. General Hardee--the author of the tactics I did not

study--was at Greenville some twenty-five miles further south, it was

said, with five thousand Confederate troops. Under these circumstances

Colonel Brown's command was very much demoralized. A squadron of

cavalry could have ridden into the valley and captured the entire force.

Brown himself was gladder to see me on that occasion than he ever has

been since. I relieved him and sent all his men home within a day or

two, to be mustered out of service.

Within ten days after reaching Ironton I was prepared to take the

offensive against the enemy at Greenville. I sent a column east out of

the valley we were in, with orders to swing around to the south and west

and come into the Greenville road ten miles south of Ironton. Another

column marched on the direct road and went into camp at the point

designated for the two columns to meet. I was to ride out the next

morning and take personal command of the movement. My experience

against Harris, in northern Missouri, had inspired me with confidence.

But when the evening train came in, it brought General B. M. Prentiss

with orders to take command of the district. His orders did not relieve

me, but I knew that by law I was senior, and at that time even the

President did not have the authority to assign a junior to command a

senior of the same grade. I therefore gave General Prentiss the

situation of the troops and the general condition of affairs, and

started for St. Louis the same day. The movement against the rebels at

Greenville went no further.

From St. Louis I was ordered to Jefferson City, the capital of the

State, to take command. General Sterling Price, of the Confederate

army, was thought to be threatening the capital, Lexington, Chillicothe

and other comparatively large towns in the central part of Missouri. I

found a good many troops in Jefferson City, but in the greatest

confusion, and no one person knew where they all were. Colonel

Mulligan, a gallant man, was in command, but he had not been educated as

yet to his new profession and did not know how to maintain discipline.

I found that volunteers had obtained permission from the department

commander, or claimed they had, to raise, some of them, regiments; some

battalions; some companies--the officers to be commissioned according to

the number of men they brought into the service. There were recruiting

stations all over town, with notices, rudely lettered on boards over the

doors, announcing the arm of service and length of time for which

recruits at that station would be received. The law required all

volunteers to serve for three years or the war. But in Jefferson City

in August, 1861, they were recruited for different periods and on

different conditions; some were enlisted for six months, some for a

year, some without any condition as to where they were to serve, others

were not to be sent out of the State. The recruits were principally men

from regiments stationed there and already in the service, bound for

three years if the war lasted that long.

The city was filled with Union fugitives who had been driven by guerilla

bands to take refuge with the National troops. They were in a

deplorable condition and must have starved but for the support the

government gave them. They had generally made their escape with a team

or two, sometimes a yoke of oxen with a mule or a horse in the lead. A

little bedding besides their clothing and some food had been thrown into

the wagon. All else of their worldly goods were abandoned and

appropriated by their former neighbors; for the Union man in Missouri

who staid at home during the rebellion, if he was not immediately under

the protection of the National troops, was at perpetual war with his

neighbors. I stopped the recruiting service, and disposed the troops

about the outskirts of the city so as to guard all approaches. Order

was soon restored.

I had been at Jefferson City but a few days when I was directed from

department headquarters to fit out an expedition to Lexington,

Booneville and Chillicothe, in order to take from the banks in those

cities all the funds they had and send them to St. Louis. The western

army had not yet been supplied with transportation. It became necessary

therefore to press into the service teams belonging to sympathizers with

the rebellion or to hire those of Union men. This afforded an

opportunity of giving employment to such of the refugees within our

lines as had teams suitable for our purposes. They accepted the service

with alacrity. As fast as troops could be got off they were moved west

some twenty miles or more. In seven or eight days from my assuming

command at Jefferson City, I had all the troops, except a small

garrison, at an advanced position and expected to join them myself the

next day.

But my campaigns had not yet begun, for while seated at my office door,

with nothing further to do until it was time to start for the front, I

saw an officer of rank approaching, who proved to be Colonel Jefferson

C. Davis. I had never met him before, but he introduced himself by

handing me an order for him to proceed to Jefferson City and relieve me

of the command. The orders directed that I should report at department

headquarters at St. Louis without delay, to receive important special

instructions. It was about an hour before the only regular train of the

day would start. I therefore turned over to Colonel Davis my orders,

and hurriedly stated to him the progress that had been made to carry out

the department instructions already described. I had at that time but

one staff officer, doing myself all the detail work usually performed by

an adjutant-general. In an hour after being relieved from the command I

was on my way to St. Louis, leaving my single staff officer(*6) to

follow the next day with our horses and baggage.

The "important special instructions" which I received the next day,

assigned me to the command of the district of south-east Missouri,

embracing all the territory south of St. Louis, in Missouri, as well as

all southern Illinois. At first I was to take personal command of a

combined expedition that had been ordered for the capture of Colonel

Jeff. Thompson, a sort of independent or partisan commander who was

disputing with us the possession of south-east Missouri. Troops had

been ordered to move from Ironton to Cape Girardeau, sixty or seventy

miles to the south-east, on the Mississippi River; while the forces at

Cape Girardeau had been ordered to move to Jacksonville, ten miles out

towards Ironton; and troops at Cairo and Bird's Point, at the junction

of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, were to hold themselves in readiness

to go down the Mississippi to Belmont, eighteen miles below, to be moved

west from there when an officer should come to command them. I was the

officer who had been selected for this purpose. Cairo was to become my

headquarters when the expedition terminated.

In pursuance of my orders I established my temporary headquarters at

Cape Girardeau and sent instructions to the commanding officer at

Jackson, to inform me of the approach of General Prentiss from Ironton.

Hired wagons were kept moving night and day to take additional rations

to Jackson, to supply the troops when they started from there. Neither

General Prentiss nor Colonel Marsh, who commanded at Jackson, knew their

destination. I drew up all the instructions for the contemplated move,

and kept them in my pocket until I should hear of the junction of our

troops at Jackson. Two or three days after my arrival at Cape

Girardeau, word came that General Prentiss was approaching that place

(Jackson). I started at once to meet him there and to give him his

orders. As I turned the first corner of a street after starting, I saw

a column of cavalry passing the next street in front of me. I turned

and rode around the block the other way, so as to meet the head of the

column. I found there General Prentiss himself, with a large escort.

He had halted his troops at Jackson for the night, and had come on

himself to Cape Girardeau, leaving orders for his command to follow him

in the morning. I gave the General his orders--which stopped him at

Jackson--but he was very much aggrieved at being placed under another

brigadier-general, particularly as he believed himself to be the senior.

He had been a brigadier, in command at Cairo, while I was mustering

officer at Springfield without any rank. But we were nominated at the

same time for the United States service, and both our commissions bore

date May 17th, 1861. By virtue of my former army rank I was, by law,

the senior. General Prentiss failed to get orders to his troops to

remain at Jackson, and the next morning early they were reported as

approaching Cape Girardeau. I then ordered the General very

peremptorily to countermarch his command and take it back to Jackson.

He obeyed the order, but bade his command adieu when he got them to

Jackson, and went to St. Louis and reported himself. This broke up the

expedition. But little harm was done, as Jeff. Thompson moved light and

had no fixed place for even nominal headquarters. He was as much at

home in Arkansas as he was in Missouri and would keep out of the way of

a superior force. Prentiss was sent to another part of the State.

General Prentiss made a great mistake on the above occasion, one that he

would not have committed later in the war. When I came to know him

better, I regretted it much. In consequence of this occurrence he was

off duty in the field when the principal campaign at the West was going

on, and his juniors received promotion while he was where none could be

obtained. He would have been next to myself in rank in the district of

south-east Missouri, by virtue of his services in the Mexican war. He

was a brave and very earnest soldier. No man in the service was more

sincere in his devotion to the cause for which we were battling; none

more ready to make sacrifices or risk life in it.

On the 4th of September I removed my headquarters to Cairo and found

Colonel Richard Oglesby in command of the post. We had never met, at

least not to my knowledge. After my promotion I had ordered my

brigadier-general's uniform from New York, but it had not yet arrived,

so that I was in citizen's dress. The Colonel had his office full of

people, mostly from the neighboring States of Missouri and Kentucky,

making complaints or asking favors. He evidently did not catch my name

when I was presented, for on my taking a piece of paper from the table

where he was seated and writing the order assuming command of the

district of south-east Missouri, Colonel Richard J. Oglesby to command

the post at Bird's Point, and handing it to him, he put on an expression

of surprise that looked a little as if he would like to have some one

identify me. But he surrendered the office without question.

The day after I assumed command at Cairo a man came to me who said he

was a scout of General Fremont. He reported that he had just come from

Columbus, a point on the Mississippi twenty miles below on the Kentucky

side, and that troops had started from there, or were about to start, to

seize Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee. There was no time for

delay; I reported by telegraph to the department commander the

information I had received, and added that I was taking steps to get off

that night to be in advance of the enemy in securing that important

point. There was a large number of steamers lying at Cairo and a good

many boatmen were staying in the town. It was the work of only a few

hours to get the boats manned, with coal aboard and steam up. Troops

were also designated to go aboard. The distance from Cairo to Paducah

is about forty-five miles. I did not wish to get there before daylight

of the 6th, and directed therefore that the boats should lie at anchor

out in the stream until the time to start. Not having received an

answer to my first dispatch, I again telegraphed to department

headquarters that I should start for Paducah that night unless I

received further orders. Hearing nothing, we started before midnight

and arrived early the following morning, anticipating the enemy by

probably not over six or eight hours. It proved very fortunate that the

expedition against Jeff. Thompson had been broken up. Had it not been,

the enemy would have seized Paducah and fortified it, to our very great

annoyance.

When the National troops entered the town the citizens were taken by

surprise. I never after saw such consternation depicted on the faces of

the people. Men, women and children came out of their doors looking

pale and frightened at the presence of the invader. They were expecting

rebel troops that day. In fact, nearly four thousand men from Columbus

were at that time within ten or fifteen miles of Paducah on their way to

occupy the place. I had but two regiments and one battery with me, but

the enemy did not know this and returned to Columbus. I stationed my

troops at the best points to guard the roads leading into the city, left

gunboats to guard the river fronts and by noon was ready to start on my

return to Cairo. Before leaving, however, I addressed a short printed

proclamation to the citizens of Paducah assuring them of our peaceful

intentions, that we had come among them to protect them against the

enemies of our country, and that all who chose could continue their

usual avocations with assurance of the protection of the government.

This was evidently a relief to them; but the majority would have much

preferred the presence of the other army. I reinforced Paducah rapidly

from the troops at Cape Girardeau; and a day or two later General C. F.

Smith, a most accomplished soldier, reported at Cairo and was assigned

to the command of the post at the mouth of the Tennessee. In a short

time it was well fortified and a detachment was sent to occupy

Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumberland.

The State government of Kentucky at that time was rebel in sentiment,

but wanted to preserve an armed neutrality between the North and the

South, and the governor really seemed to think the State had a perfect

right to maintain a neutral position. The rebels already occupied two

towns in the State, Columbus and Hickman, on the Mississippi; and at the

very moment the National troops were entering Paducah from the Ohio

front, General Lloyd Tilghman--a Confederate--with his staff and a small

detachment of men, were getting out in the other direction, while, as I

have already said, nearly four thousand Confederate troops were on

Kentucky soil on their way to take possession of the town. But, in the

estimation of the governor and of those who thought with him, this did

not justify the National authorities in invading the soil of Kentucky.

I informed the legislature of the State of what I was doing, and my

action was approved by the majority of that body. On my return to Cairo

I found authority from department headquarters for me to take Paducah

"if I felt strong enough," but very soon after I was reprimanded from

the same quarters for my correspondence with the legislature and warned

against a repetition of the offence.

Soon after I took command at Cairo, General Fremont entered into

arrangements for the exchange of the prisoners captured at Camp Jackson

in the month of May. I received orders to pass them through my lines to

Columbus as they presented themselves with proper credentials. Quite a

number of these prisoners I had been personally acquainted with before

the war. Such of them as I had so known were received at my

headquarters as old acquaintances, and ordinary routine business was not

disturbed by their presence. On one occasion when several were present

in my office my intention to visit Cape Girardeau the next day, to

inspect the troops at that point, was mentioned. Something transpired

which postponed my trip; but a steamer employed by the government was

passing a point some twenty or more miles above Cairo, the next day,

when a section of rebel artillery with proper escort brought her to. A

major, one of those who had been at my headquarters the day before, came

at once aboard and after some search made a direct demand for my

delivery. It was hard to persuade him that I was not there. This

officer was Major Barrett, of St. Louis. I had been acquainted with his

family before the war.