CHAPTER XIII.

Rousseau's Visit to Washington.

Key declared that he would ruin every thing by his rashness. By invitation, Rousseau called on the commander of the Western Department. During the conversation, McClellan remarked that Buckner had spent the previous night with him. Rousseau replied that Buckner was a hypocrite and traitor. McClellan rejoined that he thought him an honorable gentleman. They had served in Mexico together, and were old personal friends.

He added: "But I did draw him over the coals for saying he would not only drive the Rebels out of Kentucky, but also the Federal troops."

"Well, sir," said Rousseau, "it would once have been considered pretty nearly treason for a citizen to fight the United States army and levy war against the National Government!"

When Rousseau reached Washington, he found that Colonel Key, who had frankly announced his determination to oppose his project, was already there. He had an interview with the President, General Cameron, and Mr. Seward. The weather was very hot, and Cameron sat with his coat off during the conversation.

As usual, before proceeding to business, Mr. Lincoln had his "little story" to enjoy. He shook hands cordially with his visitor, and asked, in great glee:

"Rousseau, where did you get that joke about Senator Johnson?"

"The joke, Mr. President, was too good to keep. Johnson told it himself."

It was this: Dr. John M. Johnson, senator from Paducah, wrote to Mr. Lincoln a rhetorical document, in the usual style of the Rebels. In behalf of the sovereign State, he entered his solemn and emphatic protest against the planting of cannon at Cairo, declaring that the gunsactually pointed in the direction of the sacred soil of Kentucky!

His Interview with President Lincoln.

In an exquisitely pithy autograph letter, Mr. Lincoln replied, if he had known earlier that Cairo, Illinois, was in Dr. Johnson's Kentucky Senatorial District, he certainly should not have established either the guns or the troops there! Singularly enough—for a keen sense of humor was very rare among our "erring brethren"—Johnson appreciated the joke.

While Rousseau was urging the necessity of enlisting troops, he remarked:

"I have half pretended to submit to Kentucky neutrality, but, in discussing the matter before the people, while apparently standing upon the line, I have almost alwayspoked."

This word was not in the Cabinet vocabulary. General Cameron looked inquiringly at Mr. Lincoln, who was supposed to be familiar with the dialect of his native State.

"General," asked the President, "you don't know what 'poke' means? Why, when you play marbles, you are required to shoot from a mark on the ground; and when you reach over with your hand, beyond the line, that ispoking!"

Cameron favored enlistments in Kentucky, without delay. Mr. Lincoln replied:

"General, don't be too hasty; you know we have seen another man to-day, and we should act with caution." Rousseau explained:

"The masses in Kentucky are loyal. I can get as many soldiers as are wanted; but if the Rebels raise troops, while we do not, our young men will go into their army, taking the sympathies of kindred and friends, and may finally cause the State to secede. It is of vital importancethat we give loyal direction to the sentiment of our people."

At the next interview, the President showed him this indorsement on the back of one of his papers:

"When Judge Pirtle, James Guthrie, George D. Prentice, Harney, the Speeds, and the Ballards shall think it proper to raise troops for the United States service in Kentucky, Lovell H. Rousseau is authorized to do so."

"How will that do, Rousseau?"

"Those are good men, Mr. President, loyal men; but perhaps some of the rest of us, who were born and reared in Kentucky, are just as good Union men as they are, and know just as much about the State. If you want troops, I can raise them, and I will raise them. If you do not want them, or do not want to give me the authority, why that ends the matter."

Finally, through the assistance of Mr. Chase, who steadfastly favored the project, and of Secretary Cameron, the authority was given.

Timidity of Kentucky Unionists.

A few Kentucky Loyalists were firm and outspoken. But General Leslie Coombs was a good specimen of the whole. When asked for a letter to Mr. Lincoln, he wrote: "Rousseau is loyal and brave, but a little too much for coercion for these parts."

After Rousseau returned, with permission to raise twenty companies,The Louisville Courier, whose veneer of loyalty was very thin, denounced the effort bitterly. EvenThe Louisville Journalderided it until half a regiment was in camp.

Loyalty of Judge Lusk.

A meeting of leading Loyalists of the State was held in Louisville, at the office of James Speed, since Attorney General of the United States. Garrett Davis, Bramlette, Boyle, and most of the Louisville men,were against the project. They feared it would give the State to the Secessionists at the approaching election. Speed and the Ballards were for it. So was Samuel Lusk, an old judge from Garrard County, who sat quietly as long as he could during the discussion, then jumped up, and bringing his hand heavily down on the table, exclaimed:

"Can't have two regiments for the old flag! By ---! sir, he shall have thirty!"

A resolution was finally adopted that, when the time came, they all wished Rousseau to raise and command the troops, but that, for the present, it would be impolitic and improper to commence enlisting in Kentucky.

Greatly against his own will, and declaring that he never was so humiliated in his life, Rousseau established his camp on the Indiana shore. After the election, some Secession sympathizers, learning that he proposed to bring his men over to Louisville, protested very earnestly, begging him to desist, and thus avoid bloodshed, which they declared certain.

"Gentlemen," said he, "my men, like yourselves, are Kentuckians. I am a Kentuckian. Our homes are on Kentucky soil. We have organized in defense of our common country; and bloodshed is just the business we are drilling for. If anybody in the city of Louisville thinks it judicious to begin it when we arrive, I tell you, before God, you shall all have enough of it before you get through!"

The next day he marched his brigade unmolested through the city. Afterward, upon many battle-fields, its honorable fame and Rousseau's two stars were fairly won and worthily worn.

The hum of either army stilly sounds,That the fixed sentinels almost receiveThe secret whispers of each other's watch.King Henry V.

The hum of either army stilly sounds,That the fixed sentinels almost receiveThe secret whispers of each other's watch.

King Henry V.

Campaigning in the Kanawha Valley.

I spent the last days of July, in Western Virginia, with the command of General J. D. Cox, which was pursuing Henry A. Wise in hot haste up the valley of the Kanawha. There had been a few little skirmishes, which, in those early days, we were wont to call battles.

Like all mountain regions, the Kanawha valley was extremely loyal. Flags were flying, and the people manifested intense delight at the approach of our army. We were very close upon the flying enemy; indeed, more than once our cavalry boys ate hot breakfasts which the Rebels had cooked for themselves.

At a farm-house, two miles west of Charleston, a dozen natives were sitting upon the door-step as our column passed. The farmer shook hands with us very cordially. "Iamglad to see the Federal army," said he; "I have been hunted like a dog, and compelled to hide in the mountains, because I loved the Union." His wife exclaimed, "Thank God, you have come at last, and the day of our deliverance is here. I always said that the Lord was on our side, and that he would bring us through safely."

A Bloodthirsty Female Secessionist.

Two of the women were ardent Rebels. They did not blame the native-born Yankees, but wished that every southerner in our ranks might be killed. Just then one of our soldiers, whose home was in that county, passed by the door-step, on his way to the wellfor a canteen of water. One of the women said to me, with eyes that meant it:

"I hopehewill be killed! If I had a pistol I would shoot him. Why! you have a revolver right here in your belt, haven't you? If I seen it before, I would have used it upon him!"

Suggesting that I might have interfered with such an attempt, I asked:

"Do you think you could hit him?"

"O, yes! I have been practicing lately for just such a purpose."

Her companion assured me that she prayed every night and morning for Jefferson Davis. If his armies were driven out of Virginia, she would go and live in one of the Gulf States. She had a brother and a lover in General Wise's army, and gave us their names, with a very earnest request to see them kindly treated, should they be taken prisoners. When we parted, she shook my hand, with: "Well, I hope no harm will befall you, if youarean Abolitionist!"

An old citizen, who had been imprisoned for Union sentiments, was overcome with joy at the sight of our troops. He mounted a great rock by the roadside, and extemporized a speech, in which thanks to the Union army and the Lord curiously intermingled.

Women, with tears in their eyes, told us how anxiously they had waited for the flag; how their houses had been robbed, their husbands hunted, imprisoned, and impressed. Negroes joined extravagantly in the huzzaing, swinging flags as a woodman swings his ax, bending themselves almost double with shouts of laughter, and exclamations of "Hurrah for Mass'r Lincoln!"

Thirteen miles above Charleston, at the head of navigation,we left behind what we grandiloquently called "the fleet." It consisted of exactly four little stern-wheel steamboats.

The people of these mountain regions use the old currency of New England, and talk of "fourpence ha'pennies" and "ninepences."

Our road continued along the river-bank, where the ranges of overhanging hills began to break into regular, densely timbered, pyramidal spurs. The weather was very sultry. How the sun smote us in that close, narrow valley! The accoutrement's of each soldier weighed about thirty pounds, and made a day's march of twenty miles an arduous task.

A Woman in Disguise.

A private who had served in the First Kentucky Infantry13for three months, proved to be of the wrong sex. She performed camp duties with great fortitude, and never fell out of the ranks during the severest marches. She was small in stature, and kept her coat buttoned to her chin. She first excited suspicion by her feminine method of putting on her stockings; and when handed over to the surgeon proved to be a woman, about twenty years old. She was discharged from the regiment, but sent to Columbus upon suspicion, excited by some of her remarks, that she was a spy of the Rebels.

Extravagant Joy of the Negroes.

At Cannelton, a hundred slaves were employed in the coal-oil works—two long, begrimed, dilapidated buildings, with a few wretched houses hard by. Nobody was visible, except the negroes. When I asked one of them—"Where are all the white people?" he replied, with a broad grin—

"Done gone, mass'r."

A black woman, whom we encountered on the road, was asked:

"Have you run away from your master?"

"Golly, no!" was the prompt answer, "mass'r run away fromme!"

The slaves, who always heard the term "runaway" applied only to their own race, were not aware that it could have any other significance. After the war opened, its larger meaning suddenly dawned upon them. The idea of the master running away and the negroes staying, was always to them ludicrous beyond description. The extravagant lines of "Kingdom Coming," exactly depicted their feelings:

Say, darkies, hab you seen de mass'r,Wid de muffstach on his face,Go 'long de road some time dis mornin',Like he's gwine to leave de place?He seen de smoke way up de ribberWhere de Linkum gunboats lay;He took his hat and left berry sudden,And I 'spose he runned away.De mass'r run, ha! ha!De darkey stay, ho! ho!It must be now de kingdom comin',An' de year ob Jubilo.

"Dey tole us," said a group of blacks, "dat if your army cotched us, you would cut off our right feet. But, Lor! we knowed you wouldn't hurtus!"

At a house where we dined, the planter assuming to be loyal, one of our officers grew confidential with him, when a negro woman managed to beckon me into a back room, and seizing my arm, very earnestly said: "I tell you, mass'r's only just putting on. He hates you all, and wants to see you killed. Soon as youhave passed, he will send right to Wise's army, and tell him what you mean to do; if any of you'uns remain here behind the troops, you will be in danger. He's in a heap of trouble," she added, "but, Lord, dese times just suitsme!"

At another house, while the Rebel host had stepped out for a moment, an intelligent young colored woman, with an infant in her arms, stationed two negro girls at the door to watch for his return, and interrogated me about the progress and purposes of the War. "Is it true," she inquired, very sadly, "that your army has been hunting and returning runaway slaves?"

Thanks to General Cox, who, like the sentinel in Rolla, "knew his duty better," I could reply in the negative. But when, with earnestness gleaming in her eyes, she asked, if, through these convulsions, any hope glimmered for her race, what could I tell her but to be patient, and trust in God?

How the Soldiers Foraged.

Army rations are not inviting to epicurean tastes; but in the field all sorts of vegetables and poultry were added to our bill of fare. Chickens, young pigs, fence-rails, apples, and potatoes, are legitimate army spoils the world over.

"Where did you get that turkey?" asked a captain of one of his men. "Bought it, sir," was the prompt answer. "For how much?" "Seventy-five cents." "Paid for it, did you?" "Well, no, sir; told the man I would paywhen we came back!"

"Mass'r," said a little ebony servant to a captain with whom I was messing, "I sees a mighty fine goose. Wish we had him for supper."

"Ginger," replied the officer, "have I not often told you that it is very wicked to steal?"

The little negro laughed all over his face, and fell outof the ranks. By a "coincidence," worthy of Sam Weller, we supped on stewed goose that very evening.

Seen by night from the adjacent hills, our picturesque encampments gave to the wild landscape a new beauty. In the deep valleys gleamed hundreds of snowy tents, lighted by waning camp-fires, round which grotesque figures flitted. The faint murmur of voices, and the ghostly sweetness of distant music, filled the summer air.

The Falls of the Kanawha.

At the Falls of the Kanawha the river is half a mile wide. A natural dam of rocks, a hundred yards in breadth, and, on its lower side, thirty feet above the water, extends obliquely across the stream—a smooth surface of gray rock, spotted with brown moss.

Near the south bank is the main fall, in the form of a half circle, three or four hundred yards long, with a broken descent of thirty feet. Above the brink, the water is dark, green, and glassy, but at the verge it looks half transparent, as it tumbles and foams down the rocks, lashed into a passion of snowy whiteness. Plunging into the seething caldron, it throws up great jets and sheets of foam. Above, the calm, shining water extends for a mile, until hidden by a sudden bend in the channel. The view is bounded by a tall spur, wrapped in the sober green of the forest, with an adventurous corn-field climbing far up its steep side. At the narrow base of the spur, a straw-colored lawn surrounds a white farm-house, with low, sloping roof and antique chimneys. It is half hidden among the maples, and sentineled by a tall Lombardy poplar.

Two miles above the fall, the stream breaks into its two chief confluents—the New River and the Gauley. Hawk's Nest, near their junction, is a peculiarly romantic spot. In its vicinity our command halted. It wasfar from its base, and Wise ran too fast for capture. We had five thousand troops, who were ill-disciplined and discontented. General Cox was then fresh from the Ohio Senate. After more field experience, he became an excellent officer.

A Tragedy of Slavery.

When I returned through the valley, I found Charleston greatly excited. A docile and intelligent mulatto slave, of thirty years, had never been struck in his life. But, on the way to a hayfield, his new overseer began to crack his whip over the shoulders of the gang, to hurry them forward. The mulatto shook his head a little defiantly, when the whip was laid heavily across his back. Turning instantly upon the driver, he smote him with his hayfork, knocking him from his horse, and laying the skull bare. The overseer, a large, athletic man, drew his revolver; but, before he could use it, the agile mulatto wrenched it away, and fired two shots at his head, which instantly killed him. Taking the weapon, the slave fled to the mountains, whence he escaped to the Ohio line.

St. Louis,August 19, 1861.

In the days of stage-coaches, the trip from Cincinnati to St. Louis was a very melancholy experience; in the days of steamboats, a very tedious one. Now, you leave Cincinnati on a summer evening; and the placid valley of the Ohio—the almost countless cornfields of the Great Miami (one of them containing fifteen hundred acres), where the exhaustless soil has produced that staple abundantly for fifty years—the grave and old home of General Harrison, at North Bend—the dense forests of Indiana—the Wabash Valley, that elysium of chills and fever, where pumpkins are "fruit," and hoop-poles "timber"—the dead-level prairies of Illinois, with theiroceans of corn, tufts of wood, and painfully white villages—the muddy Mississippi, "All-the-Waters," as one Indian tribe used to call it—are unrolled in panorama, till, at early morning, St. Louis, hot and parched with the journey, holds out her dusty hands to greet you.

The Future of St. Louis.

No inland city ever held such a position as this. Here is the heart of the unequaled valley, which extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Alleghanies, and from the great lakes to the Gulf. Here is the mighty river, which drains a region six times greater than the empire of France, and bears on its bosom the waters of fifty-seven navigable streams. Even the rude savage called it the "Father of Waters," and early Spanish explorers reverentially named it the "River of the Holy Ghost."

St. Louis, "with its thriving young heart, and its old French limbs," is to be the New York of the interior. The child is living who will see it the second city on the American continent.

Three Rebel newspapers have recently been suppressed. The editor of one applied to the provost-marshal for permission to resume, but declined to give a pledge that no disloyal sentiment should appear in its columns. He was very tender of the Constitution, and solicitous about "the rights of the citizen." The marshal replied:

"I cannot discuss these matters with you. I am a soldier, and obey orders."

"But," remonstrated the editor, "you might be ordered to hang me."

"Very possibly," replied the major, dryly.

"And you would obey orders, then?"

"Most assuredly I would, sir."

The Secession journalist left, in profound disgust.

——He died,To throw away the dearest thing he owed,As 'twere a careless trifle.Macbeth.The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.Merchant of Venice.

——He died,To throw away the dearest thing he owed,As 'twere a careless trifle.

Macbeth.

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

Merchant of Venice.

The Battle of Wilson Creek.

On the 10th of August, at Wilson Creek, two hundred and forty miles southwest of St. Louis, occurred the hardest-fought battle of the year. General Lyon had pursued the Rebels to that corner of the State. He had called again and again for re-enforcements, but at Washington nothing could be seen except Virginia. Lyon's force was five thousand two hundred men. The enemy, under Ben McCulloch and Sterling Price, numbered over eleven thousand, according to McCulloch's official report. Lyon would not retreat. He thought that would injure the Cause more than to fight and be defeated.

To one of his staff-officers, the night before the engagement, he said: "I believe in presentiments, and, ever since this attack was planned, I have felt that it would result disastrously. But I cannot leave the country without a battle."

On his way to the field, he was silent and abstracted; but when the guns opened, he gave his orders with great promptness and clearness.

He had probably resolved that he would not leave the field alive unless he left it as a victor. By a singular coincidence, the two armies marched out before daybreak on that morning each to attack the other. They met, and for many hours the tide of battle ebbed and flowed.

Lyon's little army fought with conspicuous gallantry.It contained the very best material. The following is a list—from memory, and therefore quite incomplete—of some officers, who, winning here their first renown, afterward achieved wide and honorable reputation:

Daring Exploit of a Kansas Officer.

During the battle, Captain Powell Clayton's company of the First Kansas Volunteers, becoming separated from the rest of our forces, was approached by a regiment uniformed precisely like the First Iowa. Clayton had just aligned his men with this new regiment, when he detected small strips of red cloth on the shoulders of the privates, which marked them as Rebels. With perfect coolness, he gave the order:

"Right oblique, march! You are crowding too much upon this regiment."

By this maneuver his company soon placed a good fifty yards between itself and the Rebel regiment, when the Adjutant of the latter rode up in front, suspicious that all was not right. Turning to Clayton, he asked:

"What troops are these?"

"First Kansas," was the prompt reply. "What regiment is that?"

"Fifth Missouri, Col. Clarkson."

"Southern or Union?"

"Southern," said the Rebel, wheeling his horse; but Clayton seized him by the collar, and threatened to shoot him if he commanded his men to attack. The Adjutant, heedless of his own danger, ordered his regiment to open fire upon the Kansas company. He was shot dead on the spot by Clayton, who told his men to run for their lives. They escaped with the loss of only four.

The Death of Lyon.

Toward evening Lyon's horse was killed under him. Immediately afterward, his officers begged that he would retire to a less exposed spot. Scarcely raising his eyes from the enemy, he said:

"It is well enough that I stand here. I am satisfied."

While the line was forming, he turned to Major Sturgis, who stood near him, and remarked:

"I fear that the day is lost. I think I will lead this charge."

Early in the day he had received a flesh-wound in the leg, from which the blood flowed profusely. Sturgis now noticed fresh blood on the General's hat, and asked where it came from.

"It is nothing, Major, nothing but a wound in the head," replied Lyon, mounting a fresh horse.

Without taking the hat that was held out to him by Major Sturgis, he shouted to the soldiers:

"Forward, men! I will lead you."

Two minutes later he lay dead on the field, pierced by a rifle-ball through the breast, just above the heart.

Our officers held a hurried consultation, and decided not only to retreat, but to abandon southwest Missouri. Strangely enough, the coincidence of the morning washere repeated. Almost simultaneously, the Rebels decided to fall back. They were in full retreat when they were arrested by the news of the departure of the Federal troops, and returned to take possession of the field which the last Union soldier had abandoned eight hours before.

They claimed a great victory, and with justice, as they finally held the ground. Their journals were very jubilant. SaidThe New Orleans Picayune:

"Lyon is killed, Sigel in flight; southwestern Missouri is clear of the National scum of invaders. The next word will be, 'On to St. Louis.' That taken, the whole power of Lincolnism is broken in the West, and instead of shouting 'Ho for Richmond!' and 'Ho for New Orleans!' there will be hurrying to and fro among the frightened magnates at Washington, and anxious inquiries of what they shall do to save themselves from the vengeance to come. Heaven smiles on the armies of the Confederate States."

Lyon's Courage and Patriotism.

Lyon went into the battle in civilian's dress, excepting only a military coat. He had on a soft hat of ashen hue, with long fur and very broad brim, turned up on three sides. He had worn it for a month; it would have individualized the wearer among fifty thousand men. His peculiar dress and personal appearance were well known through the enemy's camp. He received a new and elegant uniform just before the battle, but it was never worn until his remains were clothed in it, after the brave spirit had fled, and while our forces were retreating from Springfield by night.

Notwithstanding his personal bravery and military education, he always opposed dueling on principle. No provocation made him recognize the "code." Once he was struck in the face, but he had courage enough to refuse to challenge his adversary. For a time this subjected him to misapprehension and contempt among militarymen, but, long before his death, his fellow-officers understood and respected him.

He seemed to care little for personal fame—to think only of the Cause. Knowing exactly what was before him, he went to death on that summer evening "as a man goes to his bridal." Losing a life, he gained an immortality. His memory is green in the nation's heart, his name high on her roll of honor.

Arrival of General Fremont.

On the 25th of July, Major-General John C. Fremont reached St. Louis, in command of the Western Department. His advent was hailed with great enthusiasm. The newspapers, West, predicted for him achievements extravagant and impossible as those which the New York journals had foretold for McClellan. In those sanguine days, the whole country made "Young Napoleons" to order.

With characteristic energy, Fremont plunged into the business of his new department, where chaos reigned, and he had no spell to evoke order, save the boundless patriotism and earnestness of the people.

His head-quarters were established on Chouteau Avenue. He was overrun with visitors—every captain, or corporal, or civilian, seeking to prosecute his business with the General in person. He was therefore compelled to shut himself up, and, by the sweeping refusal to admit petitioners to him, a few were excluded whose business was important. Some dissatisfaction and some jesting resulted. I remember three Kansas officers, charged with affairs of moment, who used daily to be merry, describing how they had made a reconnoissance toward Fremont's head-quarters, fought a lively engagement, and driven in the pickets, only to find the main garrison so well guarded that they were quite unable to force it.

Union Families Driven Out.

St. Louis,August 26, 1861.

A long caravan of old-fashioned Virginia wagons, containing rude chairs, bedsteads, and kitchen utensils, passed through town yesterday. They brought from the Southwest families who,

"Forced from their homes, a melancholy train, are seeking in free Illinois that protection which Government is unable to afford them in Missouri. At least fifty thousand inoffensive persons have thus fled since the Rebellion."

August 29.

We were lately surprised and gratified to learn that a gentleman from Minnesota had offered an unasked loan of forty-six thousand dollars to the Government authorities—gratified at such spontaneous patriotism, and surprised that any man who lived in Minnesota should have forty-six thousand dollars. The latter mystery has been explained by the discovery that he never took his funds to that vortex of real estate speculation, but left them in this city, where he formerly resided. Moreover, his money was in Missouri currency, which, though at par here in business transactions, is at a discount of eight per cent. on gold and New York exchange. The loan is to be returned to him in gold. So, after all, there is probably as much human nature to the square acre in Minnesota as anywhere else.

September 6.

"Egypt to the rescue!" is the motto upon the banner of a new Illinois regiment. Southern Illinois, known as Egypt, is turning out men for the Mississippi campaign with surprising liberality; whereupon a fiery Secessionist triumphantly calls attention to this prophetictext, from Hosea: "Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them!"

The aptness of the citation is admirable; but he is reminded, in return, that the pet phrase of the Rebels, "Let us alone," was the prayer of a man possessed of a devil, to the Saviour of the world!

An Involuntary Sojourn With Rebels.

I have just met a gentleman, residing in southwestern Missouri, whose experience is novel. He visited the camp of the Rebels to reclaim a pair of valuable horses, which they had taken from his residence. They not only retained the stolen animals, but also took from him those with which he went in pursuit, and left him the alternative of walking home, twenty-three miles, through a dangerous region, or remaining in their camp. Fond of adventure, he chose the latter, and for three weeks messed with a Missouri company. The facetious scoundrels told him that they could not afford to keep him unless he earned his living; and employed him as a teamster. He had philosophy enough to make the best of it, and flattered himself that he became a very creditable mule-driver.

Early on the morning of August 10th, he was breakfasting with the officers from a dry-goods box, which served for a table, when bang! went a cannon, not more than two or three hundred yards from them, and crash! came a ball, cutting off the branches just above their heads. "Here is the devil to pay; the Dutch are upon us!" exclaimed the captain, springing up and ordering his company to form.

My friend was a looker-on from the Southern side during the whole battle. He gives a graphic account of the joy of the Rebels at finding the body of General Lyon, lying under a tree (the first information they had of his death), and their surprise and consternation at the bravery with which the little Union army fought to the bitter end.

Twenty leading Secessionists are in durance vile here. There is a poetic justice in the fact that their prison was formerly a slave-pen, and that they are enabled to study State Rights from old negro quarters.

September 7.

A Startling Confederate Atrocity.

The Rebels have just perpetrated a new and startling atrocity. They cut down the high railroad bridge over the Little Platte River near St. Joseph. The next train from Hannibal reached the spot at midnight, and its locomotive and five cars were precipitated, thirty feet, into the bed of the river. More than fifty passengers were dangerously wounded, and twenty instantly killed. They were mainly women and children; there was not a single soldier among them.

September 15.

General Fremont is issuing written guarantees for their freedom to the slaves of Rebels. They are in the form of real-estate conveyances, releasing the recipient from all obligations to his master; declaring him forever free from servitude, and with full right and authority to control his own labor. They are headed "Deed of Manumission," authenticated by the great seal of the Western Department, and the signature of its commander. Think of giving a man a warranty-deed for his own body and soul!

In compliance with imperative orders from the Government, several regiments, though sadly needed here, are being sent eastward. To the colonel commanding one of them, the order was conveyed by Fremont in these characteristic terms:

"Repair at once to Washington. Transportation is provided for you. My friend, I am sorry to part with you, but there are laurels growing on the banks of the Potomac."

Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?Merchant of Venice.

Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?

Merchant of Venice.

Organization of the "Bohemian Brigade."

In October, General Fremont's forming army rendezvoused at the capital of Missouri. From afar, Jefferson City is picturesque; but distance lends enchantment. Close inspection shows it uninviting and rough. The Capitol, upon a frowning hill, is a little suggestive of the sober old State House which overlooks Boston Common. Brick and frame houses enough for a population of three thousand straggle over an area of a mile square, as if they had been tossed up like a peck of apples, and left to come down and locate themselves. Many are half hidden by the locust, ailantus, and arbor-vitæ trees, and the white blossoms of the catalpas.

The war correspondents "smelled the battle from afar off." More than twenty collected two or three weeks before the army started. Some of them were very grave and decorous at home, but here they were like boys let out of school.

They styled themselves the Bohemian Brigade, and exhibited that touch of the vagabond which Irving charitably attributes to all poetic temperaments. They were quartered in a wretched little tavern eminently First Class in its prices. It was very southern in style. A broad balcony in front, over a cool brick pavement; no two rooms upon the same level; no way of getting up stairs except by going out of doors; long, low wings, shooting off in all directions; a gallery in the rear, deeper than the house itself; heavy furniture,from the last generation, with a single modern link in the shape of a piano in the ladies' parlor; leisurely negro waiters, including little boys and girls, standing behind guests at dinner, and waving long wands over the table to disconcert the omnipresent flies; and corn bread, hot biscuits, ham, and excellent coffee. The host and hostess were slaveholders, who said "thar" and "whar," but held that Secessionists were traitors, and that traitors ought to be hung.

An Amused African.

The landlord, who was aged, rheumatic, and half blind, labored under the delusion that he kept the house; but an intelligent and middle-aged slave, yclept John, was the real brain of the establishment.

"John," asked one of the correspondents, "does your master really think he is alive?"

"'Live, sir? I reckon so."

"Why, he has been dead these twenty years. He hobbles around, pretending he exists, just to save funeral expenses."

John's extravagant enjoyment of this sorry jest beggared description. He threw himself on the floor, rolled over and over, and roared with laughter for fifteen minutes. He did not recover his usual gravity for weeks. Again and again, while waiting upon guests, he would see his master coming, and suddenly explode with merriment, to the infinite amazement of thehabituésof the house, who suspected that the negro was losing his wits.

Diversions of the Correspondents.

The Bohemians took their ease in their inn, and held high carnival, to the astonishment of all itsattachés, from the aged proprietor down to the half-fledged negro cherubs. Each seemed to regard as his personal property the half-dozen rooms which all occupied. The one who dressed earliest in the morning would appropriate thefirst hat, coat, and boots he found, remarking that the owner was probably dead.

One huge, good-natured brother they called "the Elephant." He was greatly addicted to sleeping in the daytime; and when other resources failed, some reckless quill-driver would say:

"Now, let's all go and sleep with the Elephant."

Eight or ten would pile themselves upon his bed, beside him and upon him, until his good-nature became exhausted, when the giant would toss them out of the room like so many pebbles, and lock his door.

There was little work to be done; so they discussed politics, art, society, and metaphysics; and would soon kindle into singing, reciting, "sky-larking," wrestling, flinging saddles, valises, and pillows. In some recent theatrical spectacle, two had heard a "chorus of fiends," which tickled their fancy. As the small hours approached, it was their unceasing delight to roar imitations of it, declaring, with each repetition, that it was now to be given positively for the last time, and by the very special request of the audience. How they sent that demoniac "Ha! ha! ha!" shrieking through the midnight air! The following account of their diversions was given by "J. G." inThe Cincinnati Gazette. The scenes he witnessed suggested, very naturally, the nomenclature of the prize-ring:

Happening to drop in the other night, I found the representatives ofThe Missouri Republican,The Cincinnati Commercial,The New York World, andThe Tribune, engaged in a hot discussion upon matrimony, which finally ran into metaphysics.The Republicanhaving plumply disputed an abstruse proposition ofThe Tribune, the latter seized an immense bolster, and brought it down with emphasis upon the glossy pate of his antagonist. This instantly broke up the debate, and a generalmêléecommenced.The Republicangrabbed a damp towel andaimed a stunning blow at his assailant, which missed him and brought up against the nasal protuberance ofFrank Leslie. The exasperatedFrankdealt back a pillow, followed by a well-packed knapsack. ThenThe Missouri Democratsent a coverlet, which lit upon and enveloped the knowledge-box ofThe Herald. The latter disengaged himself after several frantic efforts, and hurled a ponderous pair of saddle-bags, which passed so close toThe Gazette'shead, that in dodging it he bumped his phrenology against the bed-post, and raised a respectable organ where none existed before. SimultaneouslyThe Commercialthrew a haversack, which hitHarperin the bread-basket, and doubled him into a folio—knocking him againstThe World, who, toppling from his center of gravity, was poising a plethoric bed-tick with dire intent, when the upturned legs of a chair caught and tore it open, scattering the feathers through the surging atmosphere. In falling, he capsized the table, spilling the ink, wrecking several literary barks, extinguishing the "brief candle" that had faintly revealed the sanguinary fray, thus abruptly terminating hostilities, but leaving the panting heroes still defiant and undismayed. A light was at last struck; the combatants adjusted their toilets, and, having lit the calumets of peace, gently resigned themselves to the soothing influence of the weed.

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