action, contrary to the true intent thereof, shall be liable to the full value thereof.

"SEC. 3. Be it further ordained, That all land or real estate of whatever kind, the title or ownership whereof is in a citizen or citizens, resident or residents of any of the aforesaid States or Territories, be forfeited and revert to the State of Arkansas for the use and benefit of said State, and that the title to such lands shall be disposed of as the Convention or Legislature may hereafter direct.

"SEC. 4. Be it further ordained, That all sales of property under legal process for collection of such debts as are described in the first section of this ordinance, the use and benefit whereof is going to citizens or residents of any of the States or Territories aforementioned, be and the same is hereby prohibited, until otherwise ordered by the Convention or enactment of the Legislature."

Acts of Seizure and

Violence.

Prior to the act of secession the patriots, eager to serve "the cause," hastened to appropriate Government property, moneys, &c., &c. The United States arsenal at Napoleon was seized April 23d. It contained about twelve thousand Springfield muskets, and stores and munitions designed for the " upper country." Fort Smith was seized April 24th, by a large body of Arkansas cut-throats,* headed by Solon Borland. The fort was a very valuable property, having long been an Indian agency and point of deposit for arms, munitions, goods, &c., destined for the "upper country." May 4th, two days before the Ordinance of Secession was promulgated, the following characteristic order was issued: "HEAD-QUARTERS THIRD BRIGADE, FIRST DIVISION, FORT SMITH, May 4th, 1861.

"1. The authority of the United States has ceased upon this frontier.

"2. All persons claiming to interpose in public in the name and by the authority of the United States on this frontier, will be arrested and placed in the guard-house for examination.

"3. Captain Perkins will take possession of the records and other property of the United States Court at Van Buren, Arkansas, and place the keys in custody of the Circuit Court Clerk of Crawford county, Arkansas.

6.

4. Stationery, and twenty minutes time, will be allowed the attaches of said Court, should they desire, to write their resignations.

"5. All persons in possession of public property, taken without proper authority, are required to report the same immediately to the Assistant AdjutantGeneral at head-quarters of this command, and all arms or other property belonging to the United States, will be seized. By order of

"General N. B. BURROW, Commanding. "W. F. RECTOR, Assistant Adjutant-General." Various other steps were taken to extermiScenes of violence followed which, when nate every vestige of United States authority. the facts are brought to light, will show that, the facts are brought to light, will show that, in real malignity, Arkansas, as a State, was second to none other in the Confederacy--not Like Texas she seemed excepting Texas. vicious in proportion to her indebtedness to the Union. If any question this, let them converse with an Arkansas Secessionist, and they will perceive what degree of malice the men of that State harbored toward the loyal sentiment of the country.

North Carolina's
Course.

North Carolina though still in the Union was, also, in the Southern Confederacy at the date of Mr. Lincoln's first Proclamation. The answer of Governor Ellis, and the immediate steps he took to place the State in an attitude of defense, demonstrated that the *We use this somewhat vulgar term, here and Union and conservative sentiment, strong up elsewhere, as particularly applicable to that class to that moment, was dashed to the earth. of persons which the Southern States of America only As in Tennessee, Virginia and Arkansas, the knew those who generally carried a huge bowie-spirit of disunion and war flamed up so sudknife on their person—to whom tobacco and whisky were leading necessaries — who lived by boating, gambling, horse-swapping, negro-hunting, &c., &c. This class up to 1861, was large - especially in Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri, and be

came one of the earliest sources for filling the ranks of the Confederate army. No country in the civilized world could produce a more hardy, desperate and ignorant set of men. Up to the breaking out of hostilities they were both feared and hated by the better portion of the Southern people.

denly and irresistibly as to bear all before it. The defeat, at the election held in January, of the "Conventionists," had not, as already stated, prevented the gathering, at Raleigh, of a Convention immediately after the vote was announced-so treacherous and bent upon revolution was the Secessionists. This revolutionary, and really illegal, body assumed the form and functions of other "Conventions,' though it failed to legislate the State out of

CHAPTER XII.

THE CRISIS IN MISSOURI. HER ACTION AND POSITION TOWARD THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT UP TO THE FINAL DEFECTION OF GOVERNOR JACKSON, JUNE THIRTEENTH.

Incipient arrange-
ments for
"Precipitation."

event of the uprising of the "Minute Men," ten thousand Union volunteers would quickly respond to the call to arms.*

Feeling in the
Interior.

A dispatch from St. Louis, April 22d, said: “Quite a number of editorials from prominent papers in the interior of the State, express much indignation at the action of the Federal Government in calling so large a military force into the field, and especially for calling for volunteers from the Border Slave States; but, not much ill temper is manifested, and there is less disposition to run the State into rash, indefensible measures than in some other States. There is a good deal of secession feeling in some sections, but the prevailing sentiment is unanimous for peace and conciliation." This stated the surface view of matters. Beneath all that apparent desire for peace and conciliation was the revolutionary element which only needed to be

GOVERNOR Jackson's answer to the requisition for troops: "The requisition is illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical, and cannot be complied with," was not unexpected by those who were familiar with that person's secessionist proclivities. His pressure on the Legislature (then adjourned) had resulted in placing means at his disposal for confronting the Union sentiment of St. Louis and Northern | Missouri with force. A Metropolitan Police Act was passed, placing St. Louis under the control of Police Commissioners to be appointed by the Governor. Three of those named were leaders of "Minute Men," organized bodies of Secessionists, who, armed and drilled, were ready for any revolutionary service. A fourth Commissioner was also a Secessionist. The fifth was the Mayor, a conditional Union" man. This placed the metropolis of the West at the mercy of the revo-subtly controlled by the Governor and his lutionists—a fact which it is well to bear in mind in order properly to appreciate the services performed by the Unionists.

Anticipating trouble, regular troops had been centralized at that point to the number of one thousand-three hundred occupying the arsenal and seven hundred at Jefferson barracks. Captain Nathaniel Lyon was in command at the arsenal-a brave and accomplished officer, in whom the Unionists trusted implicitly. At the arsenal were nearly thirty thousand muskets and rifles, with large quantities of side arms, ammunition, accoutrements, &c. In the city, Union organizations were rapidly formed to meet the impending crisis. But a few days after Mr. Lincoln's call, two thousand men were ready for arms and equipments. It was confidently stated that, in

co-conspirators, to become at once inimical

* In a communication to an Eastern journal, May 2d, Mr. Blair stated: "No State in the Union has responded more promptly to the call of the Administration, for her quota of volunteers, than Missouri; and this, too, at a time when the State Government and the Government of the city of St. Louis are both in the hands of the enemy, and every difficulty thrown in the way of our patriotic citizens. Notwithstanding their embarrassments, in one week the four regiments called for from Missouri were mustered into service, armed and equipped, and are now on duty at the arsenal and Jefferson barracks, and ready to do duty whenever they may be wanted.

"Another regiment and three battalions have since been forwarded, and St. Louis alone will, in two weeks, furnish from 8,000 to 10,000 men for the maintenance of the Union and the suppression of this infamous rebellion."

THE ARSENAL PROPERTY SECURED.