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ATTEMPT TO SEIZE LOUISVILLE.

77

Breckinridge, Marshall, and Morgan entered the military service of the Confederates. The first two were commissioned brigadier-generals, and the latter became a conspicuous guerrilla chief.

Breckinridge became a zealous servant of the Confederates. He issued an address, in which he announced his resignation of his seat in the United States Senate, and in bitter language spoke of the dissolution of the Union, and the atrocious despotism which he alleged had been established at Washington; and he charged his own State Legislature with abject "submission to every demand o Federal despotism, and woeful neglect of every right of the Kentucky citizens." It is well suggested that "Mr. Breckinridge, in his exodus from Kentucky, perpetrated a serious blunder;" for, had he, like other "friends of the South," remained in Congress, he might have served the cause of the conspirators more efficiently. He was an able and adroit politician and legislator, but was an indifferent soldier.

Vigorous military action in Kentucky, besides the seizure of Columbus and Hickman, speedily followed that act. Simon B. Buckner, the corrupter of the patriotism of large numbers of the young men of Kentucky,' bearing the commission of brigadier-general in the Confederate service, had established a camp on the Nashville and Louisville Railway, just below the Kentucky line. Soon after the seizure of Columbus, he left his camp with a considerable force, with the intention of moving quickly upon Louisville, by the railway, seizing that city, and establishing a Confederate post on the Ohio at that important point. The telegraph wires were cut, and he was far on his way before any intimation was given of his approach. The trains due at Louisville did not arrive, and the managers sent out an engine to ascertain the cause. It, like a train before it, was seized by Buckner. A fireman escaped, and, procuring a hand-car, soon returned to Louisville with the startling news.

General Anderson immediately ordered General Rousseau to move out on the road with his little force at Camp Joe Holt, and some Louisville Home Guards. These were his only available forces at that moment. The order was obeyed with alacrity, and very soon a considerable force, under the chief command of General William T. Sherman, Anderson's lieutenant, were on their way to repel the invaders-the latter, who was in delicate health, remaining in Louisville to forward re-enforcements. Fortunately, Buckner had been delayed, near Bowling Green, by the patriotic act of a young man of that place, who went quietly up the road and displaced a rail, by which the engine of the invaders' train was thrown from the track. But for this, Buckner might have reached Louisville before Anderson could have put any forces in motion. As it was, he penetrated the county as far as Elizabethtown, forty miles from that city, when he heard of the approaching troops. He thought proper to fall back to Bowling Green, where he established an intrenched camp, and issued a proclamation to his "fellow-citizens of Kentucky," and where he remained for several months. At the same time, Sherman established a camp and general rendez

1 Greeley's American Conflict, i. 615.

a

2 See page 458, volume I.

a

Sept. 18, 1861.

* See page 72.

That proclamation abused the National Government and the loyal Legislature of Kentucky. He declared in it that Confederate troops occupied "a defensive position" in that State, "on the invitation of the people of Kentucky;" that he returned to his native State with peaceful intentions, "at the head of a force, the advance of

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THE SITUATION IN KENTUCKY AND MISSOURI.

vous on Muldraugh's Hill, not far from Elizabethtown, and there laid the foundation of that notable organization afterward known as the Army of the Cumberland. On account of Anderson's feeble health, General Sherman was placed in chief command of the Department of the Cumberland (which included the States of Kentucky and Tennessee) early in October, when, with a forecast not then appreciated, he declared that an army of two hundred thousand men would be necessary to expel the Confederates from Kentucky and Tennessee, and carry the National banner victoriously to the Gulf. Because of that assertion, whose wisdom was speedily vindicated, he was called insane, and for a time he was overshadowed by a cloud of neglect. Let us now return to a consideration of affairs in Missouri.

We left General Fremont, with a strong force, moving toward the interior of Missouri. He had strengthened the forces in Eastern Missouri and at Cairo, that they might keep the Confederates so well employed in that region, that they could not give aid to Price, nor seriously menace St. Louis. In this service, as we have seen, they were successful. Hardee dared not advance much from Greenville; Pillow was kept in the neighborhood of New Madrid, without courage to move far toward Bird's Point and Cape Girardeau; and Jeff. Thompson, the guerrilla, contented himself with eccentric raids and "scaring the Federals to death," as he foolishly supposed and declared.

Fremont went forward, and on the 28th of September he was at Jefferson City, the State capital, where he adopted vigorous measures for driving Price from the State. The latter had cause for serious alarm. McCulloch, as we have seen, had left him and gone to Arkansas, and Pillow and Hardee had abandoned Southeastern Missouri, and taken position in Kentucky and Tennessee. McCulloch, who had promised an escort for an ammunition train to be sent from Arkansas to Price, not only withheld that promised aid, but arrested the progress of the train, with the pretext that it would be unsafe in Missouri.

a 1861.

These adverse circumstances compelled Price to retreat toward Arkansas. He abandoned Lexington on the 30th of September," leaving a guard of five hundred men there in defense of National prisoners. A squadron of cavalry, called the "Prairie Scouts," one hundred and eighty strong, under Major Frank J. White, surprised this party by a bold & October 16. dash, dispersed them, made nearly seventy of them prisoners, released the Union captives, and, bearing away with them the Secession State flag, joined Fremont's forces, which were then on the Osage River, at Warsaw, in pursuit of Price. Fremont, with his splendid body-guard of cavalry, under Major Charles Zagonyi, a Hungarian,' had arrived there on the 16th, after encountering a severe rain storm. Gen

e October.

which is composed entirely of Kentuckians," whom he had seduced by false representations from their homes and their national allegiance; and that the Legislature of Kentucky was "faithless to the will of the people." He assured the people that his forces at Bowling Green would be used in aiding Kentucky in maintaining its strict neutrality, and to enforce it against the two belligerents alike."

General Anderson issued a counter-proclamation, in which he said that he, a native of Kentucky, had “come to enforce, not to make laws," and to protect the lives and property of the people of the Commonwealth. He called upon the citizens to arm in their might and drive the invader from their soil. "The leader of the hostile force," he said, "who now approaches, is, I regret to say, a Kentuckian, making war on Kentucky and Kentuckians." He called them to "rally around the flag our fathers loved," and bade them trust in God and do their duty.

1 Zagonyi had been a soldier in his native land, under General Bem. He came to America as an exile. Offering his services to Fremont at St. Louis, he was charged with the duty of recruiting a body of cavalry as

FREMONT'S MOVEMENTS IN MISSOURI.

79

eral Sigel, who led the advance, had already crossed his force over the rapidly swelling stream by means of a single flatboat and the swimming of his horses; but its banks

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were now filled to the

brim with the recent rains, and could not be forded, nor were boats or lumber for their construction to be had there. The ax was soon heard in the surrounding forest, and in the course of five days a rude strong bridge was constructed, under the direction of Captain Pike, of the engineers, over which the whole

SIGEL CROSSING THE OSAGE.

army, now thirty thousand strong, with eighty-six heavy guns, safely passed, and moved on in the direction of Springfield, by the way of Bolivar. The commander was full of confidence in the success of his plans, yet fearful of official interference with them by the Secretary of War (Cameron) and the Adjutant-General (Thomas), then in pursuit of him, as he had been informed.1 That plan was to capture or disperse the forces of Price, and seizing Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas, so completely turn the position of the Confederate forces under Polk, Pillow, Thompson, and Hardee, as to cut off their supplies from that region, and compel them to retreat, when a flotilla of gunboats then in preparation near St. Louis, in command of Captain Foote, could easily descend the river and assist in military operations against Memphis, which, if successful, would allow the Army and Navy to push on and take possession of New Orleans. "My plan is New Orleans straight," he wrote on the 11th of October, from his camp near Tipton. "It would precipitate the war forward, and end it soon and victoriously."

a Oct. 23, 1861.

When Fremont's army was at the Pomme de Terre River, fifty-one miles north of Springfield," he sent the combined cavalry forces of Zagonyi and Major White (led by the former), to reconnoiter the position of the Confederates at the latter place, with instructions to attempt its capture if circumstances should promise success. whole force did not exceed three hundred men. When within a few miles of Springfield,' on the highest point of the Ozark Mountains, they fell in with some foragers and captured them; and there a Union

The

b Oct. 24.

a body-guard for the General. He selected for this purpose young men, and formed them into three companies, one of which were nearly all Kentuckians. There were very few foreigners in the guard, and all the officers were Americans excepting three, one Hollander and two Hungarians, the latter being Major Zagonyi and Lieutenant Majthenyi. The Guard was mounted on well-equipped blooded bay horses. Each man was armed with two of Colt's six-barrel navy revolvers, one five-barrel rifle, and a saber.

1 See letters to his wife in Mrs. Fremont's Story of the Guard.

2 Letter of General Fremont to his wife, October 11th, 1861. Mrs. Fremont, daughter of the late Senator Benton of Missouri, was then at Jefferson City. Her husband had long been in the habit of referring all manner of work and duties to her as acting principal in his absence, and in that capacity she was now at Jefferson City and gave him efficient aid. See note on page SS of The Story of the Guard: a Chronicle of the War. By Jessie Benton Fremont.

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CHARGE OF FREMONT'S BODY-GUARD.

farmer told Zagonyi that the Confederate force in the town was full two thousand in number. He was not daunted by this information, but pushed forward. One of the foragers who escaped had heralded his coming, and when he approached the suburbs of the village, on the Mount Vernon road, at a little past four o'clock in the afternoon, he found twelve hundred infantry and four hundred cavalry well prepared, on the brow of a hill in front of sheltering woods, to receive him. Zagonyi was still undaunted. Notwithstanding White's Prairie Scouts had been separated from the Guard, Zagonyi was determined to fight. Turning to his officers, he said: "Follow me and do like me!" And to his little band of followers he spoke a few hurried words, saying: "Comrades! the hour of danger has come; your first battle is before you. The enemy is two thousand strong, and we are but one hundred and fifty. It is possible no man will come back. If any you would turn back, you can do so now!" Not a man moved.

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Zagonyi was delighted. "I will lead you!" he exclaimed. "Let the watchword be, The Union and Fremont! Draw sabers! By the right flank -quick trot-march!" and away dashed the bold leader and his comrades with a shout down a narrow lane fringed with concealed sharp-shooters, with a miry brook and a stout rail fence ahead to oppose them. These were all passed in a few minutes, while the fire from the infantry in their front was terrible. On an eminence nearer stood the Confederate cavalry, ready to engage in the fray. Already the lane had been strewn with the fallen men and horses of the Guard, and yet Zagonyi's troops had not struck a blow. The moment for dealing that blow was now at hand. The word is given, and Lieutenant Majthenyi, with thirty men, dashed madly upon the center of the Confederate cavalry, breaking their line, and scattering the whole body in confusion over the adjoining corn-fields. Then Zagonyi shouts to the impatient soldiers he is holding in leashes, as it were, "In open order-charge!" and with the impetuosity of a whirlwind they sweep up the slope in the face of bullets that fly thick as hail. At the same moment fifty Irish dragoons of Major White's squadron, led by Captain McNaughton, fall upon the foe, and away scampers almost the entire body of Confederate infantry in wild search for safety. The remnant of the Guard, led by Zagonyi, follow the fugitive horsemen and smite them fearfully, chase them into the town, and fight them fiercely in detail in the streets and in the public square of Springfield, whilst Union women, undismayed by the dangers, come out, and, waving their handkerchiefs, cheer on the victors. When the conflict ended, the Confederates were utterly routed; and of the one hundred and fifty of Zagonyi's Guard, eighty-four were dead or wounded.' The action had lasted an hour and a half; and in the dim twilight of that bright October evening, the National flag was raised in triumph over the court-house.

At a little past midnight, Zagonyi, with a captured Confederate flag and only seventy of his Guard, and a few released prisoners, rode proudly but sadly out of Springfield, because it was unsafe for them to remain. They

1 Dispatch of Major Zagonyi to General Fremont, October 25, 1861. Report of Major Zagonyi to Colonel J. H. Eaton, Assistant Adjutant-General, October 28, 1861. Letter of Major Zagonyi to Mrs. Fremont, quoted in her Story of the Guard. Narrative of Major Dorsheimer, of Fremont's staff, in the Atlantic Monthly. The number of the Guard killed was 15; mortally wounded, 2; the remainder were wounded or made prisoners. Zagonyi said, “Of the wounded not one will lose a finger." The prisoners were released, and the actual loss to the Guard was only 17. So Zagonyi said in a letter to Mrs. Fremont, October 26, 1861.

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OPERATIONS IN EASTERN MISSOURI.

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fell back until they met Sigel's advance, between Springfield and Bolivar. The report of this brilliant charge and victory, which had preceded them, filled the whole army with delight and enthusiasm. "This was really a Balaklava charge," wrote Fremont. "The Guard numbered only one hundred and fifty. You notice that Zagonyi says he has seen charges, but never such a one. Their war-cry, he says, sounded like thunder. This action is a noble example to the army." There had been other noble examples for the army during its advance in Missouri.?

Fremont's army arrived at Springfield at the beginning of November, inspirited by news of recent successes in the Department, and the prospect of speedily ridding Missouri of insurgents. While it had been moving forward, Lane and Montgomery, who, we have seen, had been driven back into Kansas by Price, had crossed into Missouri again, to cut off or embarrass the Confederates in their retreat from Lexington. Montgomery pushed on to the town of Osceola, the capital of St. Clair County, on the Osage, but was too late to intercept Price. The armed Confederates at that place, after a brief skirmish," were driven away, and the village was laid in ashes, with no other excuse for the cruel measure than the fact that it was a rendezvous for the foe, and its inhabitants were all disloyal.

• Sept. 20, 1861.

A month later the National troops gained a signal victory over the guerrilla chief, Thompson (who was called the "Swamp Fox," and his command, the "Swamp Fox Brigade "), at Frederickton, the capital of Madison County, in Southeastern Missouri. General Grant was in command at Cape Girardeau at that time. General Thompson and Colonel Lowe had been roaming at will over the region between New Madrid and Pilot Knob. Thompson, with six hundred men, had captured the guard at the Big River Bridge, near Potosi, and destroyed that structure on the 15th of October, and on the following day he and Lowe were at the head of a thousand men near Ironton, threatening that place, where they were defeated by Major Gavitt's Indiana cavalry, and a part of Colonel Alexander's Twenty-first Illinois cavalry, with a loss of thirty-six killed and wounded. Grant determined to put an end to the career of these marauders, if possible. Informed that they were near Frederickton, he sent out a considerable force under Colonel Plummer,* to strike them from the East, while Captain Hawkins, with Missouri cavalry, was ordered up from Pilot Knob on the Northeast, followed by Colonel Carlin with a body of infantry as a support, to engage and occupy Thomp

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1 An accident occurred to Major White and prevented his being in this action. He had sickened on the way and been compelled to lag behind. When attempting to overtake his troops, he was made a prisoner, but escaped and reached Springfield on the morning after the fight, with a few Home Guards. Stationing 22 of his 24 men as pickets, he deceived the Confederates in the town with the belief that he had a considerable force with him. After receiving a flag of truce, and permitting them to bury their dead, he prudently fell back to meet the advancing army.

2 Other detachments of cavalry from Fremont's army, besides those of White and Zagonyi, had been operating against the Confederates during the march of the main body. One of them, under Major Clark Wright, routed and dispersed a body of Confederates near Lebanon, in Laclede County, on the 13th of October; and on the following day the same forces captured the village of Lynn Creek. In the former engagement, after a charge, and a running fight for a mile and a half, there were about 60 Confederates killed and wounded, while the Union loss was only one man killed.-Report of Major Wright, October 18, 1861.

3 See page 66.

They consisted of the Eleventh, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Illinois, and 400 cavalry.

• These consisted of parts of the Twenty-first, Twenty-third; and Twenty-eighth Illinois, the Eighth Wisconsin, Colonel Baker's Indiana cavalry, and Major Schofield's Battery.

VOL. II.-44

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