Van Buren second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. The next year he made a geographical survey of the territory between the head waters of the Missouri and the Pacific, searching out the south-west pass through the Rocky Mountains. In 1845, he explored the mountain regions of Oregon, California, and the Sierra Nevada. The renowned Kit Carson was one of his companions in this perilous adventure, during which he was at times compelled to feed his horses on the bark of trees, and his men on the flesh of the horses. In 1846, he was made colonel of a regiment of mounted riflemen, and commanded a battalion in the Mexican war, from July to November, 1847, when, in consequence of some disagreement with Gen. Kearney, he resigned. In 1848, he set out on a fourth journey to the Rocky Mountains. In 1849, he was appointed one of the United States Commissioners, to run the line between the United States and Mexico. IIe relinquished this post, however, on being chosen United States Senator from California. In 1856, he was the candidate of the republican party for President of the United States, and came near being chosen, receiving one hundred and fourteen clectoral votes. Had he been elected, instead of Buchanan, our country would probably have been saved all the horrors of this civil war. The rebels were not then prepared for the outbreak. It was the imbecility of Buchanan which exposed the country, defenseless, to the daggers of treason.

Gen. Fremont had traveled extensively in Europe, and had been a close observer of all scientific, political and military movements. He has received several medals from scientific societies of Europe,-one from the hands of Humboldt, by direction from the King of Prussia, for proficiency in the sciences. At the age of forty, Gen. Fremont was probably more widely known throughout the world, than any man not of royal birth.

As we have mentioned, Gen. Fremont, then Colonel, was in Paris, at the time the rebels commenced their assault upon that flag which he had borne over the brow of the Rocky Mountains, and had unfurled triumphantly on the shores of the Pacific. He was at a public breakfast, given in his honor, at the Hotel du Louvre, by one hundred and fifty Americans in Paris, one-third of whom were ladies, when he announced that, by the rebellion, he was called back to America, and that he was ready to give his best services to his country. Knowing how utterly unprepared the Government was for war, he immediately, through his own resources, purchased a large quantity of arms, and taking them with him, arrived in New York on the 28th day of June, 1861. On the 9th of July, he received from Washington a commission as major-general, with the following order:

* "Gen. Fremont had, with twenty-five men, crossed the great mountain deserts of America, amid untold hardships, yet with signal success, and had, with this force, recruited by a fow American residents in California, while still unaware of the existing war with Mexico, hoisted the Bear Flag, for the Stars and Stripes, thus giving to his country, as a province, California, the land whose rivers ran over glistening sands of gold. As a soldier, it was his good fortune to win to his country a province whose untold wealth repaid the cost incurred by Taylor and Scott, in conquering territory to be afterward surrendered. As a man of science, he had received the praises of Humboldt, and, as a popular hero, the applause of the people."-Fremont and McClellan, their Political and Military Careers, by Van Buren Denslow.

"The State of Illinois, and the States and Territories west of the Mis sissippi, and on this side of the Rocky Mountains, including New Mexico, will, in future, constitute a separate command, to be known as the Western Department, under the command of Major-General Fremont, of the United States army, headquarters at St. Louis."

The appointment of Gen. Fremont to that post was enthusiastically received by the whole country. The Eastern States had confidence in him, not only as one true to the integrity of the Union, but also as true to those principles of liberty underlying our Constitution, which declare all men "alike entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The West had confidence in him as a man of the people, of sincere and earnest nature, and of great executive ability. The whole previous history of Gen. Fremont had satisfied the people that he clearly understood the nature of the conflict that was now to be fought in America, the last great battle between aristocratic usurpation and popular rights. In these views he was undoubtedly in advance of many, possessing power in the cabinet and the army. But the progress of affairs eventually compelled nearly all reflective men to take the position which, from the beginning, he occupied.*

The position of Gen. Fremont, as he assumed the command of this vast Western Department, was far more difficult than that of any other officer in the army. His command embraced Illinois on the east, and all the States and Territories west of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. It was not only expected of him that he should free this territory from rebel control, but he was to raise and organize, and equip and drill and lead the army, with which this purpose was to be accomplished. He was also expected with his victorious columns to pierce and divide the Southern Confederacy of rebels, by descending the Mississippi River from the Lakes to the Gulf. No plan for the campaign was afforded him; no special instructions were given. The accomplishment of the object desired, was entrusted wholly to his hands.

Up to this time, the Government at Washington had paid but little attention to the necessities of the far West. They could not. The danger which threatened the Capital was such as did not admit of a divided attention. What Gen. Lyon had so nobly done, he had accomplished almost wholly on his own responsibility. He had organized and equipped his little band himself. The appointment of Gen. Fremont to the com

Brig. Gen. Busteed, of New York, who has been one of the most prominent members of the democratic party, said eloquently, at a great war meeting in New York, Aug. 27, 1862, "I claim the right and embrace this occasion to say, that it is my deliberate conviction that the cause of this rebellion is slavery, and that the cause and the effect must perish, or survive in force together. For one, I sincerely believe that, if slavery lives, the republic dies. And I deny that this Government, struck at and attempted to be destroyed by the slave power, should do any thing to preserve slavery as stock in trade for a future rebellion. The Constitution tolerates it, does not favor tho peculiar institution of rebeldom. The slave oligarchists have appealed from the Constitution to tho rifle from the senate chamber to the battle-field. They have taken the sword; they shall perish by the sword. God has decreed that their sin shall perish with them. There is a great fight on hand between democracy and aristocracy,-between the privileges of the few and the rights of the multitude,-between caste and republican equality,-and he is the genuine democrat who loves liberty more than slavery. The democracy which will not endure this test is spurious."

mand of the Western Department, was almost the first systematic attempt to provide for the West.

. Meanwhile the rebels had not been idle, and the Western border was in very serious danger. It seemed almost impossible to prevent the rebels from more than regaining all that had been wrested from them. Gen. Lyon had effected a junction with Major Sturgis, and arrived in Springfield, but too late to participate in the battle of Carthage, and to prevent Jackson and McCulloch from joining their forces. His men were badly clothed, poorly fed and imperfectly supplied with tents. They had, as yet, received no payment whatever for their services. In the excitement of the threatened dangers at Washington, it was not probable they would for some time be provided for, or even thought of. Many of them were Home Guards, whom it was impossible to keep together any longer than they were inclined to remain. Still more were three months men whose term of service had nearly expired. Lyon's entire force did not exceed seven thousand. In thirty days it would not exceed thirty-five hundred. It was threatened by the joint forces of McCulloch, Price and Jackson, though the latter had himself gone to Montgomery, the Confederate capital. The rebel troops were rapidly increasing, both by reënforcements from the Confederacy, and by volunteers from Missouri. They bid fair soon to amount to twenty-five or thirty thousand men.* Gen. Lyon had telegraphed the most urgent requests for reënforcements, before Fremont assumed command, but neither McClellan nor Scott thought it possible to spare the men for that purpose. The only reply his demands had received was an order directing a part of the few regular troops he had to be sent to Washington.†

* J. M. Schofield, Acting Adjutant-General at Springfield, to Col. Harding, Adjutant-General Missouri Volunteers, at St. Louis, July 15th, 1861.

COL. HARDING, ST. LOUIS ARSENAL, Mo.:

+ SPRINGFIELD, Mo., July 17, 1861.

SIR-I enclose you a copy of a letter to Col. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C., on the subject of an order from Gen. Scott, which calls for five companies of the 2d Infantry to be withdrawn from the West and sent to Washington, A previous order withdrawS the mounted troops, as I am informed, and were it not that some of them were en route to this place they would be in Washington now. This order, carried out, would not now leave at Fort Leavenworth a single company. I have companies B and E, 2d Infantry, now under orders for Washington, and if all these troops leave me I can do nothing, and must retire, in the absence of other troops to supply their places. In fact, I am badly enough off at the best, and must utterly fail if my regulars all go. At Washington, troops from all the Northern, Middle and Eastern States are available for the support of the army in Virginia, and more are understood to be already there than are wanted, and it seems strange that so many troops must go on from the West, and strip us of the means of defense; but if it is the intention to give up the West, let it be so. I can only be the victim of imbecility or malice. Scott will cripple us if he can. Cannot you stir up this matter and secure us relief?

Memorandum by COL. PHELPS, from GEN. LYON to GEN. FREMONT, July 27. "See Gen. Fremont about troops and stores for this place. Our men have not been paid, and are rather dispirited; they are badly off for clothing, and the want of shoes unfits them for marching. Some staff officers are badly needed, and the interests of the Government suffer for the need of them. The time of the three months volunteers is nearly out, and on returning home, as most of them are disposed to do, my command will be reduced too low for effective operations. Troops

In the south-east of Missouri, dangers still more serious threatened. Cairo and Bird's Point were held by Gen. Prentiss with eight regiments. They were, however, in a disorganized condition. Six of them were three months men whose term of service had nearly expired.* Though a large proportion of the men subsequently reënlisted for the war, these regiments could not then be depended on, for permanent or effective service; while, before they could be used at all, an entire reorganization was necessary. Cape Girardeau, between St. Louis and Bird's Point, was held by Col. Marsh, who, however, had not a single battery with which to defend it.† Col. Bland, with a force of but 850 men, held Ironton, less than seventyfive miles from St. Louis, with which place it is connected by railroad.

The rebels, elated with the victory which they had just achieved at Bull's Run, were organizing in large force to enter the south-eastern border of Missouri and overwhelm the Unionists at a single blow. Gen. Pillow was gathering a force of fifteen to twenty thousand men at New Madrid, well armed and drilled, which he was daily increasing by reënforcements from below. On the first of August scouts reported him nearly twelve thousand strong, well supplied with cavalry, having a hundred pieces of artillery, and expecting hourly the arrival of reënforcements amounting to nine thousand more. Gen. Hardee with five thousand rebel troops, two thousand of whom were cavalry, was advancing on Ironton.§ Jeff. Thompson was gathering at Bloomfield another force of rebel Missourians. The rebels entertained no doubt of their speedy success. Col. Jeff. Thompson wrote, on the 16th of July, to a secession friend in St. Louis, that the Unionists would be driven north of the Missouri river in thirty days. He issued a proclamation inviting rebels to join his standard, and declaring that he had plenty of arms and ammunition.

Thomas C. Reynolds, Lieut.-Gov. of the State, issued a proclamation from New Madrid, on the 31st of July, assuring the rebels in that State, of the earnest and efficient support of the Southern Confederacy, and confidently asserting that "the sun which shone in its full mid-day splendor at Manassas, is about to rise upon Missouri." Gen. Pillow was also equally sanguine and positive in his wide-spread declarations of the success which was immediately to attend the rebel cause. He declared, moreover, that no quarter would be given to the Union forces. These were not empty and groundless boasts. The overwhelming numbers of the Secessionists were such as to justify their highest expectations. In St. Louis itself, the secession feeling was exceedingly strong. Many of the wealthy and influmast at once be forwarded to supply their place. The safety of the State is hazarded. Orders from Gen. Scott strip the entire West of regular troops, and increase the chances of sacrificing it.” See also despatch of McClellan to Chester Harding, of July 20th, quoted in Colfax's speech of March 7, 1862.

These despatches are not inserted for the purpose of casting any blame upon the Government. But if Gen. Scott felt himself justified in depleting Lyon's little force to strengthen other more important positions, is Gen. Fremont to be blamed that he did not divert, from posts which ho deemed essential to the defense of the State, troops to supply the deficiency?

His entire force was 6,350. Gen. B. N. Prentiss to Gen. Fremont, July 28, 1862

+ Ibid.

C. C. Marsh's despatch to Gen. Fremont, dated Cairo, Aug. 1, 1861.

§ Gen. Fremont to President Lincoln, July 30, 1861.