PRICE'S LAST MISSOURI RAID. thereupon sent to Missouri by Gen. Grant, and traversed the State on a tour of observation; returning strong in the belief that Rosecrans's apprehensions were excessive, and that no more force was needed in this depart ment. Still, Rosecrans, without encouragement from Washington, prosecuted his investigations; and, upon evidence that, at a recent meeting of one of the lodges aforesaid, a resolve had been offered, and laid over, to commence operations in St. Louis by assassinating the provost-marshal and attempting to seize the department headquarters, he arrested the State commander, deputy commandcr, grand secretary, lecturer, and some 30 or 40 leading members of the secret organization, and lodged them in prison. The State commander aforesaid being the Belgian Consul at St. Louis, Rosecrans soon received, by telegraph from the War Department, an order to liberate him, with which he declined to comply; representing that it would not have been given had the Government been in possession of the facts known to him, and which he had dispatched by a trusty hand to Washington. And, that evidence having been received and read by the President, the order of release was countermanded. 557 followed by guerrilla outrages and raids in the western river counties. These were but forerunners of the long meditated Rebel invasion, whereof Gen. Washburne, commanding at Memphis, gave" the first distinct warning; apprising Rosecrans that Shelby, then at Batesville, northwestern Arkansas, was about to be joined by Price; when the advance would begin. Gen. A. J. Smith was then passing up the river to rëenforce Sherman in northern Georgia, when he was halted" at Cairo by order from Halleck, and sent to St. Louis. to strengthen Rosecrans. Price entered south-eastern Missouri by way of Poplar bluffs and Bloomfield; advancing unresisted to Pilot Knob, where he was first withstood" by a brigade, commanded by Gen. Hugh S. Ewing. Here were Eort Davidson and some other rude works; and Ewing made an obstinate stand, inflicting a loss of not less than 1,000 men on the raiders, while his own was but about 200. Still, as Price had not less than 10,000 men against 1,200, and as a day's desultory fighting had given the enemy possession of some of the steep hills overlooking the fort, Ewing— who had signally repulsed two assaults-wisely decided not to await inevitable capture, but, spiking his heavy guns and blowing up his magaThe urgent exactions of the pub-zine, escaped during the night; taklic service in other quarters having ing the road westward to Rolla stripped Missouri of nearly or quite through Caledonia and Websterall troops but her own militia, Rosecrans sought and obtained authority to raise ten regiments of twelvemonths' men for the exigency; when a Rebel outbreak occurred" in Platte county, in the north-west, quickly Бо 6 Sept. 3. 57 July 7. his more natural line of retreat on Mineral Point and Potosi being already in the enemy's possession. At Webster, he turned abruptly north, and struck the South-western Railroad at Harrison; having made 66 Sept. 27. 59 Sept. 6. CO miles in 39 hours, though badly en- Rosecrans remained at St. Louis -the point of greatest consequence, if not of greatest danger-working night and day to collect a force able to cope in a fair field with Price's veterans and the Sons of Liberty,' who were pledged to join him-a pledge which they but partially redeemed. For a week or so, the Rebels seemed to have the upper hand; and this created a violent eruption of treasonable guerrilla raids and burn "While Ewing's fight was going on. Shelby advanced to Potosi, and thence to Big river bridge, threatening Gen. Smith's advance; which withdrew from that point to within safer supporting distance of his main position at De Soto. Previous to and pending these events, the guerrilla warfare in north Missouri had been waging with redoubled fury. Rebel agents, amnestyoath-takers, recruits, 'sympathizers,' O. A. K.s, and traitors of every hue and stripe, had warmed into life at the approach of the great invasion. Women's fingers were busy making clothes for Rebel soldiers out of goods plundered by the guerrillas; women's tongues were busy telling Union neighbors 'their time was now còming.' Gen. Fisk, with all his force, had been scouring the bush for weeks in the river counties, in pursuit of hostile bands, composed largely of recruits from among that class of inhabitants who claim protection, yet decline to perform the full duties of citizens, on the ground that they never tuck no sides.' A few facts will convey some idea of this warfare, carried on by Confederate agents here, while the agents abroad of their bloody and hypocritical despotism-Mason, Slidell, and Mann, in Europe-have the effrontery to tell the nations of Christendom that our government 'carries on the war with increasing ferocity, regardless of the laws of civilized warfare.' These gangs of Rebels, ings in the pro-Slavery strongholds of central Missouri."1 As the Rebel army was mainly mounted, it not only moved with greater celerity than the most of its antagonists could, but was able to mask its intentions, and threaten at 'once our dépôts at St. Louis, Rolla, and Jefferson City. But time was on our | side; as Gen. Mower was on his way from Little Rock, with 5,000 veterans; five regiments of hundred-day men (who had already served out. their term) were coming from Illinois to garrison St. Louis; and the militia of eastern Missouri was coming out, to the number of perhaps 5,000 more. Unless Price could strike at once some decisive, damaging blow, which would cripple Rosecrans, paralyze his efforts to raise militia, and call every latent Secessionist into the saddle, he must inevitably decamp and flee for his life. whose families had been living in peace among their loyal neighbors, committed the most cold blooded and diabolical murders, such as riding up to a farm-house, asking for water, and, while receiving it, shooting down the giveran aged, inoffensive farmer-because he was a radical Union man.' In the single sub-district of Mexico, the commanding officer furnished a list of near one hundred Union men who, in the course of six weeks, had been killed, maimed, or 'run off,' because they were 'radical Union men,' or Abolitionists. About the 1st of September, Anderson's gang attacked a railroad train on the North Missouri road, took from it 22 unarmed soldiers, many on sick leave, and, after robbing, placed them in a row and shot them in cold blood; some of the bodies they scalped, and put others across the track and run the engine over them. On the 27th, this gang, with numbers swollen to 300 or 400 men, attacked Major Johnson, with about 120 of the 39th Missouri volunteer infantry, raw recruits, and, after stampeding their horses, shot every man, most of them in cold blood. Anderson, a few days later, was recognized by Gen. Price, at Booneville, as a Confederate captain, and, with a verbal admonition to behave himself, ordered by Colonel Maclane, chief of Price's staff, to proceed to north Missouri and destroy the railroads; which orders were found on the miscreant when killed by Lt.-Col. Cox, about the 27th of October." 64 62 PRICE THREATENS JEFFERSON CITY. 559 glimpse of the men behind them, with the lesson of Pilot Knob fresh in his mind, he concluded not to attack, but, after giving time for his train to move around the city and get a start on the road westward, he drew off and followed it. 66 Gen. Pleasanton now arrived, and assumed command; dispatching Gen. Sanborn with the cavalry to follow and harass the enemy, so as to delay him, if possible, until Gen. A. J. Smith could overtake him. Sanborn attacked the Rebel rear-guard at Versailles, and drove it into line of battle; thus ascertaining that the enemy were heading for Booneville; but, being nearly surrounded by them, he fell back to California; where Col. Cutherwood, with A. J. Smith's cavalry and some much-needed supplies, joined him on the 14th. The enemy, advancing by Potosi across the Meramec to Richwoods, seemed to threaten St. Louis, only 40 miles distant; but this was a feint only, or was seen, on closer observation, to be too hazardous: so, burning the railroad bridge over the Meramec, at Moselle, he turned northwestward: Gen. A. J. Smith, with 4,500 infantry and 1,500 cavalry, following him vigilantly but cantiously. Burning Herman "an intensely Radical' German settlement on the Missouri-and the railroad bridge over the Gasconade; fording the Gasconade near Fredericksburg and the Osage at Castle Rock, burning the railroad bridge here, he appeared before Jefferson City; which Gens. McNeil and Sanborn, with all the men they could mount, had just reached by forced marches from Rolla: and these, added to the force under Gens. Fisk and Brown, already there, made a garrison of 4,100 cavalry and 2,600 infantry-generally twelve-months' men of little experience in the field, but capable of good service behind in-weary, his provisions exhausted, his trenchments. Fisk decided the other Generals concurring-to oppose a moderate resistance to the foe at the crossing of the Moreau, 4 or 5 miles east of the city, and then fall back within the rude defenses which he, with the volunteered help of citizens, had been for some days preparing. Gen. Mower, by coming from Arkansas, following nearly in the track of the Rebel irruption, had struck the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau; having marched 300 miles, over bad roads, in 18 days. His men were teams worn down; part of his cavalry dismounted, with the horses of many more lacking shoes: so Rosecrans dispatched steamboats from St. Louis to bring them to that city; whence the infantry were sent up the Missouri by water, while the cavalry, under Col. Winslow, marched" by land to rëenforce A. J. Smith; reachPrice crossed the Moreau after ing" Jefferson City-by reason of a sharp but brief skirmish, and ad- the low stage of water in the river vanced" on the capital; developing-one day in advance of the infan a line of battle 3 or 4 miles long, which enveloped the city on all sides save ̧that of the river; but, on a full survey of the defenses, and a partial try. Meantime, Price had, of course, seriously widened the gap between him and our cavalry, of whom Pleas anton had now assumed the immedi- | in pressing steadily westward, so as ate command. A Rebel detachment to get between the enemy and his under Shelby had crossed the Missouri at Arrow Rock and advanced on Glasgow; which they took, after a fight of some hours; capturing part of Col. Harding's 43d Missouri, with small detachments of the 9th Missouri militia, and 17th Illinois cavalry. This bold stroke ought to have insured the destruction of at least half the Rebel army, which an overwhelming Union force was now moving to inclose and crush. But A. J. Smith was stopped, with our supplies, at the Lamine, where the enemy had burned the railroad bridge; and where Mower joined him: when, taking five days' rations, Smith advanced" to Dunksburg; Pleasanton, with our cavalry, including Mower's, under Winslow, being well advanced, on a line stretching northward from Warrensburg. The enemy was north-west of this, and seemed disposed to stay there: his advance" reaching Lexington, driving Gen. Blunt with a force from Kansas, who, after a sharp skirmish, retreated on Independence. Rosecrans, learning this by telegraph, directed" Pleasanton, who had been demonstrating toward Waverly, to move in force on Lexington, ordering Smith to follow; and both, of course, obeyed. These orders seem to have been mistakes-very natural, perhaps, but not the less unfortunate. It is not easy to overtake an army mainly mounted, which lives off the country, has few guns, and burns every bridge behind it; but our only chance of crushing so nimble an adversary, lay necessary line of retreat, and strike him as he attempted to pass; and it matters not whether he had been drawn so far northward in quest of food or in order to double on his pursuers. When Pleasanton's advance, under McNeil and Sanborn, reached" Lexington, the enemy had left, moving rapidly westward, and at the Little Blue striking Blunt's Kansas division, of which Gen. Curtis had now assumed command, in such force as compelled him, after a few hours' conflict, being flanked, to fall back to the Big Blue, where he took up a strong position. Rosecrans, presuming that Curtis could hold his ground, ordered Pleasanton to send McNeil, with a brigade only, on the track of the enemy, and, with his remaining cavalry, move southward, to Lone Jack; whither Smith, with his infantry, was now hastening from his false move to Lexington. These orders seem to have been contingent, and, at any rate, were not obeyed. Pleasanton, with all his cavalry, pressed on the track of the flying enemy; reaching the Little Blue" at 10 A. M., only to find the bridge destroyed and the enemy's rear-guard rather stubborn beyond it; he driving them steadily till nightfall; when Independence was taken by a brilliant cavalry charge-Cutherwood's regiment capturing two guns --Pleasanton following sharply, after dispatching McNeil, with his brigade, to Little Santa Fé, to intercept the enemy, and telegraphing Rosecrans, "Let Smith come to this place." Hereupon, Rosecrans——“ reluctantly," as he very naturally says PRICE CHASED OUT OF MISSOURI. --gave the order solicited; which reached Smith that night at Chapel Hill, just as he was putting his column in motion southward, and sent it westward instead. Next morning, Pleasanton pressed on to the crossing of the Big Blue; where he found the enemy's main body-which, the day before, had fought Curtis, but had not moved him-prepared for resistance. The fight opened at 7 A. M., and was maintained with spirit on both sides till 1 P. M., when the Rebels decamped were "routed and fled southward," says Rosecrans; though they would of course use different terms in describing the matter. They went, however, beyond doubt; eagerly pursued by Pleasanton and Curtis beyond Little Santa Fé. Smith, with 9,000 infantry and five batteries, reached Independence at 5 P. M.; when his weary men were forthwith put in motion for Hickman's mills, where it was hoped he would strike the flank of the flying foe. But it was too late. His false moves (through no fault of his own) to Lexington and to Independence, had opened a door of escape to Price, which he was too good a general not to profit by; and he was too fleet and too far ahead to be henceforth overtaken by infantry. Curtis, with his Kansas men, took" the lead in the pursuit; but soon gave place to Pleasanton's horsemen; who, after a march of 60 miles, struck them about midnight at the Maraisdes-Cygnes, opening upon their bivouac at 4 A. M.," with artillery; setting them at once in motion, and chasing them to the Little Osage, where they turned to fight, display | 561 ing 8 guns in their line of battle. Pleasanton at once ordered a charge by Benteen's and Phillips's brigades, which was superbly made, and resulted in the capture of their 8 guns and 1,000 prisoners, including Maj.Gen. Marmaduke, Brig.-Gen. Cabell, and five Colonels, beside small arms, wagons, colors, &c. Sanborn's brigade--which was considerably behind—now came up and took the lead; and, when the enemy again made a stand, a few miles farther south, routed them, and drove. them till night stopped the pursuit. The burning wrecks of wagons and other materiel marked their course for miles farther; but most of our nearly broken-down cavalry, with all our infantry, was here judiciously halted: Pleasanton turning to Fort Scott for needful food and rest; and Smith moving to Harrisonville with the same purpose. Blunt, with his Kansas men and Benteen's brigade, followed by Sanborn, kept the trail of the flying foe; striking" them at Newtonia, near the south-west corner of the State, and, being outnumbered, was evidently getting worsted, when Sanborn-who had marched 102 miles in 36 hourscame up, and changed the fortunes of the day. The Rebels resumed their flight—having little left to lose but their bodies and their worn-out horses-and escaped into western Arkansas. Gen. Curtis followed, but did not again overtake them till he reached Fayetteville, Ark., where Col. Larue Harrison, 1st Arkansas cavalry, had been invested" by Col. Brooks, with some 2,000 Rebels; who was held at bay until Fagan's division of Price's |