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Louis, Missouri, when, on May 6th, 1861, the police commissioners of that city formally demanded the removal of the United States soldiers from all places occupied by them outside the arsenal grounds. Captain Lyon declined compliance with the demand, and in reply to the charge of the commissioners, that such occupancy was in derogation of the constitution and laws of the United States, required to know what provisions of the constitution and what laws it violated. Thus rebuffed, the commissioners referred the matter to the governor and legislature of the state. Not long before, the governor of Missouri had authorized the formation of camps of instruction in various parts of the state, and on May 4th such a camp had been formed under the supervision of General Frost at Lindell's Grove, near St. Louis. Taken with the action of the commissioners and the general tendency of affairs, Captain Lyon regarded the concentration of this force near him as directly hostile, and on May 10th, suddenly surrounded the camp known as Camp Jackson, with a large force of the state "Home Guards," the then newly organized volunteer regiments under Blair and Siegel, and twenty-three pieces of artillery, planted his guns on the heights around the camp, and sent in to General Frost the following letter:

"HEADQUARTERS U. S. TROOPS,

"GEN. D. M. FROST, commanding Camp Jackson:

ST. LOUIS, MO., May 10th, 1861.

"SIR: Your command is regarded as evidently hostile toward the government of the United States. It is for the most part made up of those secessionists who have openly avowed their hostility to the general government, and have been plotting at the seizure of its property and the overthrow of its authority. You are openly in communication with the so-called Southern Confederacy, which is now at war with the United States, and you are receiving at your camp from the said confederacy and under its flag, large supplies of the material of war, most of which is known to be the property of the United States. These extraordinary preparations plainly indicate none other than the well-known purpose of the governor of this state, under whose orders you are acting, and whose purpose, recently communicated to the legislature, has just been responded to by that body in the most unparalleled legislation, having in direct view hostilities to the general government and co-operation with its enemies.

"In view of these considerations, and of your failure to disperse in obedience to the proclamation of the President, and of the eminent necessities of state policy and welfare, and the obligations imposed upon me by instructions from Washington, it is my duty to demand, and I do hereby demand of you, an immediate surrender of your command, with no other conditions than that all persons surrendering under this demand shall be humanely and kindly treated. Believing

myself prepared to enforce this demand, one half-hour's time, before doing so, will be allowed for your compliance therewith.

"Very respectfully your obedient servant,

"N. LYON, Capt. 2d Infantry, commanding troops."

Lyon, and he accordingly sur-
This quick and severe blow at

General Frost, upon consultation with his subordinate officers, found his command unable to resist the force of General rendered his whole command prisoners of war. rebellion in Missouri awakened great joy in the hearts of all the Union men in that state, and when, four days later, General Harney arrived at St. Louis and assumed the command there, Captain Lyon was elected to the command of the first brigade of Missouri volunteers. On May 15th, he effected the occupation of Potosi, whence a body of rebels was driven, and also caused in rapid succession several important seizures of war material in various parts of the state. No other United States officer exhibited equal activity in the discharge of his duty.

By agreement with General Price of Missouri, General Harney committed himself to a course of inaction, and was removed, and General Lyon was thus left in command of the department, May 31st. But Harney's agreement with General Price had contemplated the disbandment of the state troops in arms upon the governor's requisition; they refused to disband, and the governor declared that the interests and sympathies of Missouri were identical with those of the slaveholding states, and that they necessarily united her destiny with theirs, and the legislature passed a military bill, which General Lyon pronounced "so offensive to all peaceable inhabitants, and so palpably unconstitutional, that it could be accepted by those only who were to conform to its extraordinary provisions for the purpose of effecting their cherished object—the disruption of the Federal government." Lyon therefore announced to the people, by proclamation, that his duty required him to act against the so-called state forces, and he accordingly moved from St. Louis, June 17th, toward Jefferson City, with a force of the Missouri Home Guard Volunteers, and some United States troops. Governor Jackson, upon Lyon's approach, endeavored to impede his march by the destruction of Moreau bridge, abandoned Jefferson City, burning the bridges behind him, and retreated to Booneville. Lyon pursued in boats up the Missouri river, and on the same day landed four miles below Booneville, found the rebels posted in the road near that place, immediately opened fire upon them, and drove them from their position. They fell back and formed again in the woods, whence they kept up a sharp fire upon the national forces. General Lyon then ordered a feigned retreat, and when the rebels were well drawn from their cover in pursuit, he opened upon them a severe fire of artillery and musketry, and they were dispersed in complete rout. Lyon's force

was about two thousand, and his loss was very small. The rebel force was about four thousand, and their loss in killed and wounded was nearly one hundred. A great many of their men were made prisoners. General Lyon then issued a proclamation from Booneville, in which, after a statement of the facts in relation to the battle, he said: “I hereby give notice to the people of this state, that I shall scrupulously avoid all interference with the business, right, and property of every description recognized by the laws of the state, and belonging to law-abiding citizens. But it is equally my duty to maintain the paramount authority of the United States with such force as I have at my command, which will be retained only so long as opposition makes it necessary, and that it is my wish, and shall be my purpose, to visit any unavoidable rigor arising in this issue upon those only who provoke it."

General McCulloch, with a large force, was at this time in the southwestern part of the state, and was soon joined by General Price with some portion of the Missouri rebels, and subsequently by Parsons and General Rains. Lyon left Booneville to march against them July 3d. His small force swelled as he advanced, and when he reached Springfield, July 20th, he had under his command ten thousand men; but this force had again decreased to six thousand by August 1st. On that day at five P. M., General Lyon marched to look for the rebels, who were said to be in motion toward Springfield, and not finding them, bivouacked ten miles south of the town. Early the next day the march was resumed, and about noon, at a place called Dug Spring, the rebels were reported in sight. A halt was ordered, and while a reconnoissance was made, two companies of regular infantry were thrown forward as skirmishers, supported by a company of cavalry. This force encountered a body of about five hundred rebels, and a warm fire was exchanged. The national infantry was hard pressed, when this advanced body of the rebels was entirely scattered by a brilliant charge of the cavalry. The rebels rallied, however, engaged the infantry again, and having received support formed a line to advance, but at this juncture Captain Totten's artillery was brought to bear, and after a few discharges scattered them for the day. Next morning, August 3d, the march was continued six miles further, but the enemy made no stand, and, unable to bring on a general action, and being out of provisions, and with many of his men ill, Lyon marched his force back to Springfield, which he reached August 5th. Generals McCulloch, Price, Rains, and Colonel Parsons, were then known to be in motion toward Springfield with a combined force variously reported at eight, twenty, and twenty-four thousand men, well-armed and effective. They reached Wilson's Creek, ten miles south-west of Springfield, August 6th, and encamped there. General Lyon, thus vastly outnumbered, and left without reinforcements, saw but little hope for success, and a council of his officers advised the abandonment of Springfield and a fur

ther retreat: he determined, however, to attack the rebels in their camp, and for that purpose marched from Springfield on the 9th, at sunset, with but little over five thousand men. His force was disposed in two columns. The right or main column comprised four regiments and a battalion of volunteers, five companies of regular infantry, one company of artillery recruits, and two batteries of artillery, and was commanded by General Lyon in person. The left column was commanded by Colonel Siegel, and was made up of two battalions of volunteers and six field-pieces. The rebel camp stretched along Wilson's Creek for three miles, and it was intended that the two columns should attack it at nearly opposite extremities. Lyon's column encountered the rebel pickets near the northern end of their camp at five P. M., and one of his volunteer regiments was soon warmly engaged with the rebel infantry, whom they drove from an eminence, on which the national artillery was immediately posted and opened fire. Repeated attempts of the rebels to carry this position were repulsed, and the battle merged into this endeavor on the part of the rebels, until Siegel made his attack in the rear and fired their baggage train, when they desisted from their attempt against the batteries and the battle was virtually relinquished.

From the first attack General Lyon had actively assisted and encouraged his men where the fight was thickest, and was thrice wounded. Near nine A. M., when the enemy was about to make one of his several attempts against Totten's battery, the first Iowa regiment was brought up to relieve, in its support, the Kansas first and second. This regiment had lost its colonel, and when Lyon ordered it to prepare to repel the enemy with the bayonet, the men called upon him to lead them. He had been standing by his horse, but now mounted to lead the charge, and gave the word. The rebels did not stand, but delivered their fire and broke. General Lyon was struck by a rifle-ball in the breast. He fell into the arms of his body-servant and expired almost immediately. His fall was not generally observed, and the battle continued for several hours after it.

Four months after General Lyon's death, on the 20th December, 1861, the following resolution was introduced into the United States Senate from the House of Representatives, and unanimously concurred in:

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Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress deems it just and proper to enter upon its records a recognition of the eminent and patriotic services of the late Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon. The country to whose service he devoted his life will guard and preserve his fame as a part of its own glory. Second, That the thanks of Congress are hereby given to the brave officers and soldiers who, under the command of the late General Lyon, sustained the honor of the flag, and achieved victory against overwhelming numbers at the battle of Spring

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