[[MS. torn]] amount received from the sale of this pamphlet, after deducting the ex- [[MS. torn]] is to be donated to the Ladies' Aid Society, of St. Joseph's, Mo. , for [[MS. torn]] Widows, Orphans, and distressed Families of Soldiers.

UNION MEN AND THEIR SUFFERINGS IN NORTH-WEST MISSOURI.

THE REMEDY.

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SECRETS OF REBELS EXPOSED.

BY MAJOR J.M. BASSETT, (Late Pro. Mar. Gen. N.W. Dist., Mo.)

NEW YORK : PRESS OF WYNKOOP, HALLENBECK & THOMAS, 113 FULTON STREET

1864.

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LOWERING THE U.S. FLAG TO A MOB IN ST. JOE. [See p. 5].

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GUERRILLAS TORTURING FIFTH MISSOURI CAVALRY. [See page 11]

UNION MEN AND THEIR SUFFERINGS IN NORTH-WEST MISSOURI.

THE REMEDY.

SECRETS OF REBELS EXPOSED.

BY MAJOR J.M. BASSETT, Late Pro. Mar. Gen. N.W. Dist., Mo.

NEW YORK : PRESS OF WYNKOOP, HALLENBECK & THOMAS, NO. 112 FULTON STREET

1864.

Presented by Miss Marie Savory

TO THE READER

More than half a million Union soldiers have perished since the commencement of the present Rebellion. Their families are scattered throughout the loyal States. Many of their destitute widows and orphans are in our own district. They sometimes beg for labor when none can be obtained. Instead of relief, they frequently receive insults from those who despise the cause in which the husband and father fell. This small and hastily written pamphlet has been printed, hoping that a mite may be added to a charity fund for their relief.

J.M. BASSETT

ST. JOSEPH, DECEMBER 10, 1863.

SUFFERINGS OF UNION MEN.

RESIDING in a State where armed rebels, in the guise of State Guards, and Confederate and guerrilla soldiers have, by various modes of warfare, attempted to exterminate all loyal citizens; having officially investigated the many crimes of treason, murder, robbery, arson, and theft committed by traitors in Northwest Missouri; it may be that my hatred for rebels is too intense, my sympathy for loyal men too strong, to make every sentence I write acceptable to all. We have a class of “unfortunates”—political “miserables.” When the rebel army left the soil of Missouri, grim Melancholy marked them for her own, they were inconsolable; their grief sank deep into their hearts. These were so numerous that even society seemed to partake of their sorrows, and social gatherings seldom occurred. They are now struggling with contending passions. They evince a certain degree of respect for loyal men, from motives of personal security and private gain, but at the same time they love rebels from the natural current of their souls. This little pamphlet may not add to the comfort of these “miserables,” but leaving them to the kind care of the Gamble dynasty, and the tender nursing of the Paw-paw militia, I will glance at the history of the Rebellion in Northwest Missouri. If in so doing I shall make a dime to relieve the soldier’s widow or orphan, it may prove a mine of golden wealth when I settle for my sins in the court of last resort.

At the commencement of the Rebellion a treasonable influence, emanating from the Governor of Missouri, penetrated every village, city, and neighborhood in the entire State. Like the poison of an epidemic, it spread as if borne on the breath of a gale. Murders of loyal men at midnight, around their own hearth-stones, and at the doors of their own dwellings; hanging them publicly by mobs, and loud threats of an indiscriminate massacre, produced a reign of terror which caused many of our most loyal citizens to flee the State. Others who could not leave, became the objects of frequent insult and outrage. If a patriotic person raised the national flag, it was immediately torn down, and he was fortunate to escape personal violence. If Union men attempted to hold a political meeting, and proclaim even conditional Union sentiments, it was sure to be broken up by armed traitors, with threats of death against all prominent men in attendance. It is useless to attempt a recital of the many individual out-rages, and murders, committed by those who at that time said they were true Southern men—that they were in favor of the “old Constitution,” and claimed Jeff. Davis to be a better constitutional man than Abraham Lincoln. At this early period of the rebellion, a few persons openly proclaimed in St. Joseph that they desired to see the time when the blood of Union men would redden the streets. A fractional company of United States soldiers, in the summer of 1861, came to St. Joseph. One of their number quietly entered a saloon, when he was shot in the back and instantly killed. Hardly an effort was made to identify the murderer.

The general tone of society at that time was disloyal. A large majority of the State officers, and nearly all the ministers of the gospel, were open and avowed traitors. The power of wealth, and the influence of the educated, was generally arrayed on the side of treason. When the strong passions which urged the revolution were baffled on a tender point, all opposition was immediately hushed by the fury of revenge. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press quickly disappeared under rebel rule. To speak in favor of the Administration was answered by violence. To speak against Jeff. Davis was the signal for assault, and sometimes assassination.

In the spring of 1861, Mr. Bittinger, Postmaster at St. Joseph, raised the star-spangled banner over his office. About the same time, a few patriotic Germans raised a Union flag over the building known as Turners’ Hall. A mob soon collected, under the notorious Jeff. Thompson. They proceeded to the Post-office, violently seized the flag, and tore it into shreds; then with cheers for “ Jeff. Davis,” they cursed the flag, and stamped its torn remnants under their feet. Loyal men supposed that the rioters would be satisfied with the destruction of the flag. But not so; having accomplished their designs at the Post-office, the rioters rushed to Turners’ Hall. There they found Captain Bradshaw, who now commands a company in the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Missouri Infantry, U.S. Volunteers, and two or three Germans. The mob demanded that the flag be taken down. This, Captain Bradshaw and the Germans peremptorily refused. The rebels perceiving no way of reaching the banner, threatened to demolish the building. The Mayor of the city then came and commanded Captain Bradshaw to lower the flag. He replied, “ . As the city authorities demand it, I will obey.” As he approached the flag-staff, on the roof of the building, the rioters shouted, “shoot him.” A great number of revolvers were drawn, cocked, and pointed at his body. Stimulated by the danger, he gave three cheers for the star-spangled banner—drew his pistol, and, in token of salutation, fired it over the flag—then lowered it, in obedience to the command of the Mayor. The crowd seemed abashed at the bravery of this one man, and without further disturbance they quickly dispersed. Captain Bradshaw afterwards filled his company, and was mustered into the Twenty-fifth Regiment, then commanded by Colonel Peabody. From 1861, Capt. B. has been continually in active service. At the battles of Lexington , Shiloh , and in every other engagement in which he has taken part, his cool and unyielding courage has won the admiration of his brethren in arms. He still commands his company, having no influential friends to strive for his promotion. Whatever may be his destiny, no braver man wears a sword in any service.

About this time an arsenal of the United States, situated in the county of Clay, and in charge of one man, was robbed by armed bands from the counties of Buchanan, Platte, Clay, and Jackson. Its powder, cannon, muskets, pistols, and swords were distributed amonst companies then organized. The new supply of arms and ammunition, added to the State arms sent into the district, and to those taken from Union men, gave disloyal persons possession of nearly all the guns. They now broke open and stole from a powder magazine in St. Joseph, sixteen hundred kegs of powder. With these military supplies, they felt secure against all efforts of Union men, and against any force the Government would be likely to send against them. Thus was northwest Missouri, for a period, placed completely in the power of traitors.

In this portion of the State, the revolution against the Government thus progressed and gathered strength by the apparent supremacy of its authority, until the fall of 1861. About this time a new doctrine, not consonant with the progress and civilization of the age, was advocated by the rebel leaders. It was contended that Missouri ought not to have any railroad or telegraphic communication with the free States. Accordingly, the track of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad was torn up in many places. A few of the bridges were destroyed, and others greatly injured. For some time telegraphic communication was entirely cut off.

At this time, on the Hannibal Railroad, about ten miles from the city of St. Joseph, was a bridge over what is known as Platte river. A band of rebel soldiers were encamped in the brush near that place. There they deliberately planned and executed an atrocity, no more barbarous than those their rebel associates had before committed, but remarkable for its success in the destruction of human life. For several days no trains had been able to pass over the entire length of the road. Upon a certain day it was known that during the next night, at the hour of eleven o’clock, a passenger train would arrive at St. Joseph from Hannibal. These rebel soldiers, hearing this news, and believing that there would be many passengers from the free States, set about devising plans to kill as many as possible. At first it was proposed to form an ambush close to the road, and shoot through the cars; but many of the cars having been fired into before, and only a few persons been killed, a more effectual method of murder was finally adopted. This was to procure turpentine, and saturate the planks of the bridge—then

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THE PLATTE BRIDGE RAILROAD TRAGEDY . [See page 6.]

tween the timbers, that no assistance then available could release him. The locomotive was leaning partially over his body, and the supports upon which the weight of the machinery rested were gradually giving way. It was evident that in a few moments the locomotive would fall completely over and crush him. The unfortunate man quickly saw his sad destiny. Taking out his watch, he passed it to a friend to be given to his wife; then, in hurried words, he instructed that friend what to say to her. Whilst so engaged, the terrific weight fell, and one more brave and loyal man was added to the catalogue of rebel murders.

Another gentleman, although insensible from wounds on the head, had, from an instinct of self-preservation, crept up the bank of the stream into the woods. In a short time he became conscious of what had occurred, but was greatly surprised to see several armed men come near him. When he attempted to stand up, they bent down and passed quickly back into the brush. These rebel soldiers, or guerrillas, amidst the frightful screams of women—the cries of infants—the groans of the dying, kept their hiding-places, giving no aid, but well pleased with the work of death their murderous wrath had accomplished.

To the credit of humanity, history presents but few instances of an indiscriminate murder of innocent persons more horrible than this tragedy at Platte River Bridge. On the day after the sad event, those who were badly wounded were brought to St. Joseph, and kindly nursed by the Union citizens. Nearly all the dead were much too mangled and disfigured to be identified, so they were placed in coffins, with no shrouding but their blood-stained garments, and interred by the city, in a little unoccupied corner of our grave-yard. Now, in the same neglected spot are many brown hillocks, covering those who have fallen by rebel violence. The punishment of their murderers may be delayed, but the judgments of the Almighty are no less certain.

As further evidence of the conservative teachings which rebels have forced upon Union men in this portion of the State, I will refer to occurrences in Platte county, in 1861 and 1862. In that county a guerrilla chief, called “ Cy Gordon,” established his headquarters. Union men were arrested in various counties and taken to this Cy Gordon for execution. Only two months since, as Provost Marshal, I sent a prisoner to St. Louis, who, in 1862, with others, arrested a soldier in the six-months service, tied his feet under a mule, and in that way took him to Gordon to be shot. Just before the execution was to take place, the prisoner fortunately made his escape. Two young men, one of them being the son of a minister of the Gospel at Cameron, in Clinton county, started to Fort Leavenworth to enlist in the Union service; > Gordon’s guerrillas captured them. In the criminal code of Gordon the offense was great, and the youths were quickly suspended to the limbs of trees, and there hung until dead. As soon as loyal soldiers could be procured, a detachment was sent to the county. These soldiers captured one of Gordon’s guerrillas, and obtained from him a confession. He gave information of a well into which the bodies of Union prisoners had been cast. To test the truth of the confession, a soldier went down into the well, and actually found the partly decayed body of a man. This prisoner stated that others had been shot, and their bodies concealed by sinking them in Platte River. That it had been done so secretly that but few of the rebel friends of Gordon had any knowledge of the murders.

The inquiry may arise, how, in a county that has stood second only to St. Louis in wealth and population—whose citizens are as brave, honest, and humane as those of any other county, such crimes could have been committed without a general uprising of the people, and the infliction of summary punishment on the murderers? The answer is simply terror. The people were one day expecting to be overpowered and plundered by a rebel army—perhaps the very next day they were fearing the same treatment at the hands of Federal soldiers. Whenever armed forces of either party came they in some instances took personal property and life in violation of law. Doubtless a Federal force, equal to Gordon’s guerrillas, could have committed the same crimes with like impunity. An act of our Legislature to organize the “ Missouri State Guard,” made all other armed organizations highly penal. Loyalty to the Federal Government was a crime against State law. In speeches from political demagogues, the community had been taught that State Sovereignty was equal to Federal authority. The people were without organization, and between two contending elements, either of which was abundantly able to crush them. They were reduced to a state where men think of little else than “ ” Of course, under such circumstances, the community were controlled by, and subject to, the commander of every armed band, irrespective of his loyalty or disloyalty. A map of the United States, showing the geographical location of Missouri, would have convinced any unprejudiced mind, that with Missouri loyalty was life, and disloyalty desolation. But reason and rebellion are not generally companions.

Loyal persons in Northwest Missouri will ever remember this period as one filled with anxiety and the weariness of despair. Every day brought intelligence of additional outrages—every night brought fears of murder, robbery, and arson. In the country, children of loyal parents, old enough faintly to understand, yet not comprehend the condition of affairs, shrank with fear from the face of every stranger. At the sight of an armed horseman they fled to hiding-places, as if they, too, were to be sacrificed for the sins of their parents.

A history of the many acts of barbarity and murder committed by rebels in this portion of Missouri, could not be condensed in this small pamphlet. Rebel power in Missouri has ever been accompanied by murderous violence. During the past summer a band captured the steam boat “Sam Gaty,” and shot and killed thirty passengers in cold blood because they were Union men. About the time these murders were committed, five soldiers of Colonel Penick’s regiment , 5th Cavalry, M.S.M., stationed in Jackson county, were taken prisoners by another band. Their captors cut off their ears, and mutilated their bodies in a manner too shocking for belief. Still these soldiers lived, and to the great delight of the rebels, were conscious of their sufferings. These prisoners were then laid down and their bodies again tortured—the fiends filled their ears with powder, and with live coals flashed it off. In vain the victims prayed for the mercy of instant death. They were only answered by curses. The torturing process was again repeated. Still they lived—strangely the dark angel delayed his coming. But at last the strong nerves gave way. The throbbing heart and fluttering pulse ceased. God in His goodness and mercy has gathered the souls of their mutilated bodies, and taken them

“Where the wicked cease from troubling,

And the weary are at rest.”

During this time Colonel Penick commanded in Jackson county, several of his soldiers were murdered by guerrillas after being taken prisoners. The only apparent object they seemed to have in taking Union soldiers prisoners, was to enjoy the luxury of torturing them to death. Was it surprising that the officers and soldiers of this regiment at last retaliated, and refused to capture or treat their barbarous enemies as prisoners of war? Disloyal men and sympathizers were indignant at what they termed the want of humanity exhibited by the soldiers of the Fifth Cavalry, and influences were soon brought to bear, that induced the Government to muster the regiment out of service. The soldiers who replaced the Fifth Cavalry were mostly from Kansas. They were ambushed several times and badly cut up, without being able to seriously harm the enemy. All can now see that the dismissal of the Fifth Cavalry was one of the many small errors committed by those in authority. Tender treatment of guerrillas and their sympathizers is, in fact, a fatal crime against loyal men. Did the late Governor Gamble ever appreciate the value of this one truth?

To still further trace the depredations committed by rebels in Northwest Missouri, and their continued murders of loyal men, I will allude to the recent exploits of the guerrilla Joe Hart. This desperado was from Andrew county, Missouri. His father resided there several years. Young Hart, when he was killed in July last, was only twenty-two years of age. He had been from boyhood constitutionally a rebel—had rebelled against the authority of his parents—against the moral law, and against the laws of society. He possessed natural talent of a high order—had a brilliant imagination, and was by nature an effective orator. Few of his age could have excelled him as a writer. He was one of the most nervous and restless of beings. When the whirlwind of revolution gathered in this part of Missouri, he rode upon the topmost of the storm. In the early part of the rebellion he was captured, tried by a military commission, and sentenced to be shot. The sentence was disapproved, and Hart released. The mercy extended to him he repaid by plundering and killing several loyal men. This youth continued his career of crime until the spring of 1863. At this time he received a commission from the Confederate authorities, as captain, and agreed to act in concert with Colonel Parker and Quantrell. In the early part of the summer of 1863, in company with a few of Quantrell’s guerrillas, he attacked a small squad of soldiers of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Missouri U.S. Vols., then stationed at Richfield, Clay county. In the skirmish a lieutenant of the Twenty-fifth Regiment was killed, together with Captain Sessions, of the F.M.M. of Clay county . About the same time, Hart captured Plattsburg, in Clinton county. He robbed the county treasury and several merchants of various sums, amounting in all to nearly fifteen thousand dollars. Shortly after this, in company with four men, he went to the house of Mr. Carpenter, in Clinton county, and obtained dinner. Learning that Mr. Carpenter was a loyal man, after leaving the house, Hart turned and shot him. The ball took effect, producing a dangerous wound. About this time the citizens of Andrew county notified Hart’s father (a known rebel) to leave the county. The notice was instantly obeyed. This proceeding greatly outraged his son, who declared that he would burn out and kill every prominent Union man in the county. In order to carry out his threat, his visited Jackson county and arranged with Quantrell for a force of three hundred men. This guerrilla band was to cross to the north side of the Missouri river. They were then to travel singly and in disguise. At a fixed time they were to meet at a secluded place in Andrew county; Hart was to prepare a list of names and furnish guides, so that the work could be soon finished. It was supposed that news of the massacre would be sent to St. Joseph as rapidly as possible, and all the available military force at that place would be forwarded to Andrew. Hart expected to avoid these troops, dash into St. Joseph, rob the banks and merchants, and retreat as hastily as possible to Jackson county. Holding out these inducements of obtaining plunder, Hart had recruited men on the north side of the Missouri river to join in the foray. If this raid had been undertaken, it would have been a dangerous expedition for the guerrillas. The shrewdness of Quantrell made him sensible of this. He delayed the matter, to make more extensive preparations and obtain further assistance on the north side of the river. Hart, thirsting for revenge, determined to take the war-path on his own account. Securing the services of five returned Confederate soldiers, he hastened with them to Andrew county. When he arrived there, his party plundered and robbed several persons. Then, after the hour of midnight, they proceeded to the house of Mr. Burns. There they found three men; Hart knew them to be Unionists, and they were deliberately shot. The screams of the women and children alarmed the neighborhood. Hart, fearing capture, desisted from further murders. Hastily seizing all the arms that could be found in the house, he and his companions immediately proceeded to Livingston county, about eighty miles from the scene of his crime. In this county they engaged in a skirmish with a squad of militia, and Hart was shot and instantly killed.

From papers and memorandums taken from the body of the guerrilla chief, it appeared that during his whole career of crime, he had been entertained by many of the most respectable rebel farmers in Northwest Missouri. These men are now strong conservatives, and particularly severe in denouncing radicals. It is a question yet to be settled, whether they are still entertaining rebel soldiers and guerrillas.

The loyal citizens of Andrew county, aware of Hart’s threats, and knowing that he had commended executing his threats of vengeance, were alarmed for their safety. They formed companies, and sent scouts in all directions to learn if any large body of rebels were near. False rumors aggravated the supposed danger. In the wild excitement, a few persons who were suspected of giving Hart aid and assistance, were shot. Other disloyal men were ordered to leave the county. For this course, the Union men of Andrew county have been represented abroad as com- mitting, without cause, the most horrible outrages. Hart’s actual murders, and his extensive arrangements for a general massacre, were conveniently overlooked. Yet any other class of men, similarly situated, would, doubtless, have been equally severe. In many of the Western States, in times of peace, such acts of violence have occurred from excited gatherings of the people. In times of civil war, the public mind is more quickly aroused, and violence from sudden excitement becomes more frequent. To retaliate for the murders committed by Hart, by violence upon his supposed friends, cannot be justified, but surely there was much to palliate such conduct on the part of those who had grievously suffered at his hands. When peaceful citizens are murdered in their dwellings; when they nightly expect that the torch of the incendiary will be applied to their homes, prudent counsels seldom prevail. The kind of violence they fear from their enemies, they often hasten to inflict upon them, without much consideration. But experience has demonstrated that after all, the best security is found in cheerfully obeying the law, and extending to the civil authorities prompt assistance in their efforts to maintain the peace. Where the dividing line is between loyalty and disloyalty, and classes of men are arrayed against each other, it is often difficult to execute the civil law. But the substantial and enduring security which society obtains from the prompt enforcement of the law, should teach all good citizens the duty and expediency of sustaining the lawfully constituted authorities.

After disloyal men, as a class, have been guilty of unnumbered atrocities against Union men in this portion of Missouri, it is the most unblushing effrontery to claim that their class are law abiding, and denounce Union men as favoring the commission of crime. It is like the devil assuming the garb of a saint, and charging genuine Christians with being remiss in their pious devotions. The original plan of the disloyal leaders in this portion of Missouri was to obtain the arms from Union men, then burn their houses, and drive them out of the State. I shall show herein that this plan was revived as late as the winter of 1862. In Southwest Missouri Sterling Price, in command of rebel soldiers, executed a similar plan. The most objectionable Union men were either hanged or shot. The remainder were robbed, and, with their wives and children, driven out of the district. This was done during a most inclement season of the year. From exposure, hunger, and fatigue, many of the women and children either perished, or contracted fatal diseases. In all the seceded States proper, the same rule was adopted and enforced. These rebel robbers pretended to justify themselves by charging that Union men were all thieving and dangerous persons, and they made these assertions whilst in possession of the goods they had stolen from the houses of loyal men. What a remarkable coincidence between the assertions of rebels against Union men long ago, and the assertions of many conservatives against the same class now. The same motives which prompted false utterances in the one case, induce the false assertions in the other.

If further evidence is required of the enemies which the Union men in Northwest Missouri have had to deal with from the commencement of this rebellion, I need do no more than cite the demoniac deeds of Quantrell at Lawrence, Kansas. The infamous outrages that loyal men have suffered in this part of the State, have occurred at intervals during a period of more than two years. They do not, therefore, strike the mind as forcibly, as if they had been the work of a few hours, as at Lawrence. Yet the fiendish spirit of the guerrillas and their sympathizers has been the same on the north as on the south side of the Missouri. The original plan of Quantrell was to capture St. Joseph, and bring down upon our loyal inhabitants the same horrors that fell upon the people of Lawrence. This was proved beyond all reasonable doubt by the confessions of prisoners made before me whilst acting as Provost Marshal. These confessions were from different men, and taken in such a manner, that the truth of what was stated could not be doubted. Quantrell said, “ Hart had gone over there, and if everything worked as he expected it would, the capture of St. Joseph was certain.” Colonel Harding and the Twenty-fifth Regiment, U.S. Missouri Infantry, had just been ordered to St. Louis, and the city could have been easily taken. There were stronger inducements to capture St. Joseph than to take Lawrence. Our bankers and brokers had on hand at that time nearly a million of dollars. Hints of danger actually came from Clay county, and some of these banking establishments quickly sent their money to St. Louis. The death of Hart, and apprehensions of difficulty in crossing the Missouri River during a rapid retreat, were the only circumstances that saved our city from being plundered and burned. But the feast of murder and robbery Quantrell desired in St. Joseph, the innocent and unarmed people of Lawrence were forced to grant him.

All have doubtless read of the terrible massacre of the inhabitants in the beautiful valley of Wyoming. Historians have perpetuated the tragic event. Painters have portrayed many of the dreadful scenes. Poets have sung the sorrows of the sufferers. That massacre, however, was the work of savages—Indian warriors, who had from boyhood been educated in that mode of warfare. They had never read that valiant warriors strike not at unarmed foes. The massacre at Lawrence was the work of civilized and educated men, claiming to be the “chivalric warriors of the South,” yet as destitute of humanity as the savage whose barbarous deeds they put to the blush.

The Southern sympathizers will say that the South does not approve these acts. Few, however, can be so ignorant as not to know that such assertions are false. Claib. Jackson, formerly rebel Governor of Missouri, when in Price’s army , called around him the guerrillas who had burned Platte bridge, and complimented them for the act. Joe Shelby, Quantrell, and Cy Gordon, now hold commissions from the Confederate authorities. Every Southern newspaper has approved of the massacre of the inhabitants of Lawrence. The official organ of Jeff. Davis, published at the capital of the Southern Confederacy, said it was a just act of retaliation, and a righteous proceeding on the part of Quantrell. Jeff. Davis and those acting under his authority, have never imprisoned or punished a rebel for injuries or crimes committed against the lives or property of Union men. But whatever may be said of the President of the Southern Confederacy, he has exhibited this one virtue amidst his thousand crimes. He has ever been true to those who were true to him. He has ever been faithful to those who fought his battles, and were soldiers in his cause. It would not injure our military politicians or rulers, if they had more of that one virtue, that can find a resting-place even in the bosom of the man who, amongst millions of traitors, is the chief of all.

In the winter of 1862-3, and in the following spring, disloyal men in Northwest Missouri, by means of a secret organization, formed a conspiracy which, for pure wickedness, is unparalleled in the history of the United States. Spies were sent from Price’s army to assure Southern sympathizers that Sterling Price, with a large and overpowering force, would enter Missouri as soon as grass was high enough to subsist his animals, and that he expected to reach the Missouri River between the 10th and 30th of May, A.D. 1863; that he desired his friends to be ready to join his standard; that in the struggle all abolitionists would be hanged, or driven from the State and their property confiscated. Assistance from disloyal persons in Iowa and Illinois was expected. When the term abolitionist is used by the rebels and men from Price’s army, it is designed to include all loyal men. Union men and abolitionists are convertible terms in the lexicon of treason. From the month of August, 1863, until recently, I was Provost-Marshal of the Northwestern District of Missouri, which included nineteen counties. Towards the spring of 1863, Union men were almost daily reporting threats that had just been made by rebels: such as, “ .” Union officers and soldiers in service at that time, recollect that the rebels were assuming the same boldness and hostility to loyal men that they exhibited in 1861. These threats came from individuals belonging to a class of men who had been enrolled as disloyal under Order 24, and had been, for that reason, disarmed by order of Governor Gamble. Knowing the strength of the disloyal element in the district to be nearly if not fully equal to the loyal force, and believing at that time, from intercepted letters from the South, that Price did intend to return, I commenced secretly examining every prisoner, under oath, in regard to his knowledge of any secret conspiracy. I assured all of them that whatever statements they made should be unknown to their rebel friends. For some days these examinations did not reveal anything of extraordinary interest; but I finally obtained positive information that there was a secret disloyal organization dangerous to the lives and property of loyal men. At that time the militia had nearly all been relieved, and their arms were generally deposited in the court-house, at the county seat of each county, under a guard of from ten to twenty men. In Northwest Missouri there was nearly seven thousand stand of arms thus deposited. I informed the commander of the district that I believed these arms were insecure, and proposed to have them distributed amongst the men of the disbanded militia, allowing them to retain the guns at their homes, just as the Paw-paw militia (as they are called) now keep their arms. The district commander was incredulous, and thought the arms secure, and was apprehensive that they would be lost, if distributed. I was satisfied that my information was reliable, and continued the investigation, sending the testimony to Lieutenant-Colonel Dick, at St. Louis, then Provost-Marshal General of the Department of Missouri. He laid it before General Curtis, who compared it with information of the same kind from other parts of the State, and from the border counties of Iowa. What his conclusions were I do not know. Colonel Harding was soon after sent here with the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Missouri United States Infantry, and a company of Colorado Cavalry that happened to be at this place at that time were ordered to remain. After Colonel Harding assumed command of the district, he caused further investigations to be made, and obtained full confessions from the very men who were engaged in the plot. The grips, pass-words, and other secrets of the order, were obtained by Captain Davenport, then Chief of Police, directly from the members of the conspiracy. Captain Davenport has already published these secrets, so I need not repeat them here. To further test the truth of the information, a person by direction of Colonel Harding, and by virtue of these secrets, gained admission to a lodge, and obtained full information of the objects and intentions of the order. This organization was designed, as is shown by the publication of Captain Davenport, to exterminate the Union men of Northwest Missouri, who were active in their hostility to the friends of the Confederate States. It was particularly hostile to the old militia and its officers. It is undoubtedly through the influence of this secret order that the civil authorities in disloyal portions of the State are now so much opposed to the Government, that no one but a rebel can obtain justice before them. It is possible that the same influence has, by false information, imposed upon the credulity of the military authorities. If this is not the case, why has the old militia in many portions of the State been mustered out of service, and replaced by soldiers who are so quickly changed from disloyalty to loyalty by a formal convention oath, that they are as greatly astonished as was Rip Van Winkle, who, after sleeping twenty years, awoke and found that the reign of King George had been supplanted by a man called George Washington.

The principle features of this rebel organization that I desire to call attention to, are, the oath, the name of one of the grips, and the method of obtaining admission to the lodge. The oath binds every member to support and assist the Confederate States of America. Every member swears that, at the risk of his life, he will kill any other member who divulges the secrets of the order. The name of one of the grips, which is never given without being lettered between two members of the order, is J-e-f-f D-a-v-i-s. The reply is, “H-E I-S O-U-R G-E-N-E-R-A-L.” A person obtains admission to the lodge, by giving raps on the door in a peculiar way. The man entering, then whispers in the ear of the sentinel, the word, REWARD; the sentinel replies, HEMP. In the lodge this is interpreted to mean .

This society was purely military. In it men were drilled and instructed in the manual of arms. It was ascertained by spies who entered these lodges, that arms and powder had been received from Iowa. These guns and ammunition were brought from the State of Illinois, carried through Iowa, and delivered in the border counties of Missouri. The extent of their organization was clearly traced through the counties bordering the boundary line between Iowa and Missouri. They existed along this line in the first and second tier of counties in both States, from the Mississippi to the Missouri river. They claimed to have lodges in all of the counties on the north side of the Missouri river, and even over the entire State. They said the plan was this: Whenever the army of Price obtained a defensible position within the State, these lodges were to form guerrilla parties in every county, and commence hanging and driving out Union men, and burning their property; that they would in this way keep the militia busily employed at home, and prevent them from being drawn off to meet the forces of Price; that when the General reached a certain point on the Missouri river, they were to rally to his standard; that Missouri would be shortly redeemed from abolition rule, and then they would obtain the farms and other property of Union men as a recompense for their services. Every landless rebel rogue has his eye fixed on the farm of some loyal man, where he expected to enjoy the good things of life, and be safe in his possessions, under the rebel flag. Whenever rebels in Missouri say they are fighting for their rights, it is always understood to mean the property of their loyal neighbors. This rebel rising was to be simultaneous whenever these lodges existed. It was to take place whenever the date in any month, with the word “strike,” was communicated to the lodge, by a messenger belonging to the order. In Northwest Missouri, the seven thousand stand of arms, deposited in the various Court-houses, as heretofore stated, were to be seized, together with all the ammunition. The railroad bridge near Cameron, on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, was to be burned. The bridges at Stewartsville and Platte river were to be destroyed. They were then to keep up a guerrilla war until they were ordered to join Price.

They said that at the commencement of the “strike,” they intended to unfurl the star-spangled banner, pretending to be only fighting against the oppressions of the militia. But after rallying all the forces that could be obtained, they would declare for the Confederate flag. If Union men would join their ranks and assist their cause, they and their property would be protected. All others would be killed or driven from the coun- try. At this time, amongst other lodges in the county of Nodaway, was one only a few miles from the Iowa line, on what is known as Honey Creek. One Captain Pierce presided over the meetings. The men who belonged to this lodge had all been enrolled as disloyal. They were in favor of the “old Constitution,” and believed Jeff. Davis a better constitutional man than Abraham Lincoln. The Captain was the only member of the society who knew the alphabet, and even he could neither read nor write. But what he lacked in education was supplied by egotism, and ill-founded pretension atoned for the want of political knowledge. He had no doubt that President Lincoln was white, but Vice-President Hamlin he knew to be a bright mulatto man, who had escaped from his master on a Yankee schooner, engaged in transporting turpentine and tar from the coast of North Carolina into the State of Maine—that he was not a natural born citizen of the United States, and therefore held his office in violation of the “old Constitution.” The most of these conspirators were without land, and had never owned a slave. Chill penury had made them sadly deficient in other chattels. If all their relatives had died they would not have inherited a negro. They were an idle set of vagabonds, but had periods of hardship and actual labor. When the sap of the trees began to ascend, and warm days, new grass, birds and flowers told them that spring had come, it was necessary to plow and plant to produce that staff of life “corn-bread.” In the fall it required labor to gather the corn. With these exceptions, their time was passed in hunting, fishing, drinking whisky, and discussing the constitutionality of the war measures of the Administration.

The golden mines of the mountains did not excite their acquisitiveness. In their idle ramblings, imagination constantly pictured the time when they would own mines of slave labor, and strike rich leads of darkies, the flesh and blood of whom would be worth from five to ten dollars a pound, without including the franchises of increase. These prospective and contingent rights they determined not to surrender without a struggle. Therefore, at all their gatherings, the negro question was the exciting subject of discussion. A faithful spy re- vealed all that these men said at their meetings. They voted unanimously not to wait for the other lodges to “strike,” but determined to defend their rights by commencing work as guerrillas on their own account. About this time the guerrilla Captain “ Jo. Hart,” visited Honey Creek, as shown by papers taken from his body after death. He probably set before them schemes for plunder, which, to that branch of the society, was the one thing needful. Col. Harding immediately learned their intentions and dispatched the company of Colorado cavalry on a scout through that neighborhood. A number of the oppressed gentlemen were arrested and sent to Alton Penitentiary. The remainder took the alarm and fled in different directions. Col. Harding dispatched several other scouting parties. Some of the conspirators were followed into Iowa, and I believe one was killed in that State. Probably two or three were killed in Missouri. This prompt movement, and the announcement that the plot had been discovered, was a wet blanket on this fiery “Southern institution.” Soon afterwards Captain Thrailkill, Capt. Calvert, Capt. Clark, and Capt. Peery, fresh from the Southern army, and on errands to the oppressed members of these societies, were arrested. This paralyzed the nerves of the members, destroyed their plans, and gave the institution a kind of green-sickness, which has induced it to adopt the “conservative platform” in the hope of recovery.

The officers of this treasonable combination claimed to have ten thousand members, between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and near the border line between Iowa and Missouri. This may have been an exaggeration, but that the members were numerous cannot be doubted by any one acquainted with the facts. Persons belonging to this order were arrested in all the northern tier of counties in this district. I will state further, that in the spring of 1863, when Union men along the Iowa line were occasionally joining these societies for the purpose of exposing their secrets, there were very remarkable coincidences in the circumstances happening at the same time in the entire nineteen counties which composed the district. Then a Provost-Marshal presided in every county. Nearly all these officers about that time reported, that in their counties there was some new and secret movement in progress amongst disloyal men. That they were riding at all hours of the night, and passing from one county to another, and holding secret meetings. From Gen. Hall I learned that Col. Moss, of Clay county, had written a letter, in which he stated that he was satisfied, from the examination of prisoners, and from other circumstances, that in the event of Price bringing a military force into Missouri, a general uprising amongst disloyal men was contemplated. A hundred other circumstances might be stated to show the fact, that at the time I have alluded to, there was a general conspiracy amongst persons recognized as disloyal, against the lives and property of Union men. If the conspirators had obtained power, they would undoubtedly have executed their inhuman threats. The late Gov. Gamble had just caused disloyal men to be disarmed. The militia had executed this order very insultingly in many cases. A very large number had been arrested, as they thought, improperly. They had been irritated in many other ways. If we may judge from past history, a reaction under such circumstances would have been accompanied by sanguinary violence. Intercepted letters divulged the objects of Price in trying to push a column of his forces into Missouri at that time. He wished to recruit his army, and force the Federal authorities to march into Missouri a large body of troops, which the Government desired to send immediately down the Mississippi river. Price’s stay in Missouri was only intended to be temporary. Without much consideration, disloyal persons in large numbers at that time would have gathered around his standard. He would have retreated, and Union men who had been driven from their homes would have returned, and supported by the Federal Government, a reaction against the rebels would have commenced, and in the end Northwest Missouri would have obtained peace, but it would have been the peace that reigns in the stillness of desolation. Fortune was kind to loyal men, and equally so to rebels. All should be thankful that the war-cloud passed harmlessly by, and the fiery shower fell not on either party.

This conspiracy in Northwest Missouri, against the lives and property of Union men, is another illustration of the depravity of those who voluntarily commit treason, for this crime, as it is the highest known to the law, embraces the whole catalogue of criminal offenses. Yet in our State it is a fashionable offense, and its votaries are claimed by a sort of depraved, velvet-pawed feline class of politicians, as persons who are peculiarly fitted to assist in controlling the civil and military affairs of the State. It is a consolation to know that the political days of all these fossilized enemies of genuine loyalty are numbered.

“ .”

Thus far we have considered the peculiar characteristics of rebels in this part of the State. Is any one so foolish as to think that the Almighty has changed their hearts, and that now there is no danger of a repetition of their savage crimes? Few loyal men had a knowledge of the conspiracy in the spring of 1863, until its fatal elements were nearly ready to burst forth. Are not arms and ammunition already in the hands of disloyal men? If they need more, cannot arms more readily be obtained now than at any previous time since the commencement of the war? Are your rebel acquaintances more loyal than they were a few months since? Do they now act as your friends, even socially? Do they volunteer in the United States service, and form regiments to fight rebels, as Union men are now doing, and have done since the commencement of the war? More than sixty thousand Union men in Missouri have enlisted to assist in the putting down of this rebellion. The soil of nearly every battlefield in the Mississippi valley covers the bones of many of these brave soldiers,

“Who have slept their last sleep,

And have fought their last battle.”

We see their destitute widows, ragged and hungry orphans, every day in the streets of our cities. Whilst around them, with an air of contempt, steps the well-fed traitor, engaged in denouncing even those soldiers who still survive to fight the battles of their country as “ ,” “damned ” Go ask these rebels, or their wives, to give a trifle to alleviate the wants of the sick and dying Federal soldier. Ask them to give a farthing to assist the widows of dead soldiers. Ask them to contribute to buy wood to warm their shivering orphans, and they turn from you with an insulting refusal. But imprison a rebel officer or a guerrilla, who has done dark and damning deeds of murder, then their rebel sympathies gush forth, and their prodigality knows no bounds. To suppose that subjugated rebels can be manufactured into real Union citizens is an absurdity. They may obey the laws, and conform to the rules of society; but treason to their minds has no hateful visage. The men who have lifted their hands against the life of the nation are their heroes; the Pandora’s Box of Secession, which has drenched the land with fraternal blood, and laid waste and desolate the fairest portions of God’s footstool, is to them only a vase of lovely flowers:

“You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will,

But the will hang round it still.”

Having briefly alluded to the “sufferings of Union men,” I now ask your unprejudiced attention to a proposed remedy.

THE REMEDY

Until there is a change in the organic law of our State, murder, robbery, and conspiracy will continue to endanger the personal security and private property of loyal men. If rebels in Missouri ever become safe members of society, all hope of the future success of their cause must be destroyed. The most effectual way of doing this is to make and adopt a free Constitution for Missouri.

Every loyal man, and every person in favor of law and order, must admit that as long as Missouri continues to be represented in the Confederate Congress at Richmond, and is claimed by the South as one of the slave States of that Confederacy, there will be no permanent peace in the State. All agree that the Confederate Congress will not have a free State represented in its councils, or controlled by its Constitution. These propositions being true, there is only one certain remedy against a recurrence of crimes more inhuman than those I have alluded to. I say more inhuman, for the reason, that every day of war increases the desire for revenge. President Lincoln never asserted a greater truth than when he declared that, as a war measure, it was economy for the Government to purchase and free the slaves in Missouri. Every able-bodied male slave in the State, between eighteen and forty-five, the Government now proposes to place in the army, paying loyal owners for him three hundred dollars. This disposes of the most valuable portion. Few slave-owners will desire to labor to support the old slaves, women and children. It is an easy matter now to adopt im- mediate emancipation, without doing injury to loyal slave-owners. No man who does not still expect to make Missouri a slave State will, under present circumstances, oppose immediate emancipation.

This is not a question of humanitarian philosophy, or abolition ethics. The future security of loyal men may depend upon the issue. The United States Government is, at this time, paying nearly twenty thousand soldiers and military officers in Missouri. The previous expenditure of our State Government on the enrolled militia has been greater than the State could well afford to add to her old debt of thirty millions of dollars. The institution, called the Paw-paw militia, will shortly require for services nearly a million of dollars. This does not include the expense of arms, clothing, and provisions, which are furnished by authority of the President. Before the commencement of the war it was estimated that the entire personal property of every farmer in the State was not in value sufficient to pay off the State indebtedness. Since that time, nearly one-half of the State has been desolated, or completely impoverished, by reason of our Southern friends, “struggling for their rights.” Real estate has greatly depreciated in value—slave property has been made worthless. It is now a question worthy of investigation as to what amount of overplus will remain, after the present State indebtedness is deducted, from the value of the cultivated land and personal property, owned by the farmers in Missouri.

When it is known that no border State, except Missouri, has spent one dollar from their State Treasury for military purposes to defend themselves against rebels, and that the General Government in Maryland, Western Virginia, Kentucky, and Kansas has furnished United States forces for this purpose, it may reasonably be supposed that the financial policy of our State Government will hereafter bring sad thoughts to men of business and labor, when the tax-gatherer makes his unwelcome visit. The institution of slavery, combined with a demented management of our State affairs, is to some extent responsible for the cloud of poverty that darkens the future, and paralyzes industry and enterprise among us.

The Confederate authorities regard Missouri as a rich treasure not lightly to be cast away. Our disloyal population has furnished them with able and successful officers, and regiments the best and bravest in their army. As a slave State, Missouri has a more extensive territory, save Texas, and a more productive soil, than any State in all the South. West of the Missouri river, in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas, and towards the southern boundary of our State, the Confederate Government has an army, when combined, of nearly sixty thousand men. At the first moment, when success can be even hoped for, that army will strike for the soil of Missouri. The Federal army in Arkansas, Missouri, and the loyal and fighting little State of Kansas, now keep in check these forces, and hold Missouri within the Union by force of arms. If it was not for the position of these Federal soldiers, our State would be in possession of a Confederate army in sixty days. But make Missouri free now, and her voice will no longer be heard in the Confederate Congress—her southern boundary will no longer be menaced by a hostile army, threatening desolation and savage vengeance against the Union men of Missouri and Kansas. If we submit to gradual emancipation, and the war continues, our soil will continue to be a battle-field for the clansmen of the South. Surely, our people ought not to be compelled longer to meet this struggle for loyal life.

The ordinance of gradual emancipation in Missouri was the product of a conspiracy between leading rebels largely interested in slave property, and a class of political leaders in the Union party having large investments in slave labor. These rebels were too shrewd not to discover that a young and vigorous party was growing up in the State, determined to cut loose every tie that bound Missouri to the rebel Government. That slavery being one of the strongest ties, an effort would be made to destroy it instantly. The large rebel slave-owners in the central part of the State saw if they met this issue boldly, they would be defeated. They perceived that the only security was to postpone the day of freedom for the slave, hoping in the meantime for peace, and the return of the thirty thousand rebel soldiers and citizens now within the Confederate lines from Mis- souri. They thought that such an event would make their slave property secure. If peace was not made, they deemed it more than probable that the Federal arms might sustain such a reverse as would permit the Confederate forces and the numerous guerrilla bands to enter the State, and by their peculiar mode of warfare, lessen the number of loyal citizens, until the institution was again permanently secure. To obtain the benefit of these changes it was necessary to form a coalition between themselves, and that class of men in the Union party who may be termed moderately loyal. When I use the term moderately loyal, I mean the class of men who respect the Union and at the same time love the institution of slavery. When their conflicts with their , the latter, of course, becomes the ruling passion, and the controlling principle of their actions. When the institution they love is endangered, it is natural for such men to desert their loyal political associates, and strike hands with rebels. This is a matter of feeling and interest, and perhaps such persons ought not to be harshly censured. It is doubtful if Judas Iscariot or Benedict Arnold could have controlled their ingrained treachery. The Union cause in Missouri has suffered immensely from false friends—sunshine companions—who flee away when the hour to test their sincerity is at hand. Spies and deserters are as injurious in political contests as in military campaigns.

A mixed delegation, composed of rebels and this class of moderate Union men, were instrumental in inducing Governor Gamble to call an extra session of the State Convention, for the sole object of passing a gradual emancipation ordinance. When the Convention assembled the moderate Union men and rebels united, and a gradual emancipation ordinance was passed. These two classes of men, at the last election, united their forces under the name of “ Conservatives.” By far the strongest element in this party being disloyal, the name has become very popular with rebels. This political party determined that they would be supported, against the radical party, by an armed organization, composed of similar materials. They accordingly organized what is known as the Paw-paw militia. Those in this organization who were originally disloyal, were manufac- tured into loyal men by the Convention oath, a process performed as quickly as the counterfeiter of gold coin galvanizes a brass dollar. You now have a brief history of the ordinance for gradual emancipation in Missouri, and the political party and military organization that support it. It was intended to delay the time when truly loyal men could exclaim, . Probably a majority who support this ordinance, feel for loyal men precisely as the Southern traitor, who invents his torpedo, and lays it in a channel to be navigated by Federal ships. Of course every genuine rebel, confederate soldier or bushwhacker, if he votes at all, will vote the gradual emancipation ticket, to procure delay, and secure the chances of fastening slavery on Missouri as a permanent institution. A free Constitution for Missouri would quickly dispel the hopes of these gradual emancipationists. Then no motive to invade Missouri, or produce internal strife within her borders, would exist on the part of the Confederate States. We should be forever protected from such dangers, and have a permanent security for our citizens in every part of the State, greater than any Federal army can ever procure.

Aside from all other reasons, the people of Northwest Missouri have at this time a pecuniary interest in procuring immediate emancipation. Pro-slavery men—disloyal men—the man who calls himself conservative, and the person who says he is radical, have the same monetary interest in this matter. Our farmers must hereafter rely upon free labor. This kind of labor has never been abundant in slave States. Under the ordinance of gradual emancipation, the farmer in Northwest Missouri will be doomed for a great many years to give up all hopes of progress in agriculture, and all expectations of deriving much profit from labor. Even if Missouri is made permanently a slave State, it only increases his misfortunes, for it he had slaves, they are gone and will never be returned. Self-preservation is a strong passion, and always successful in a conflict with prejudice. Whatever may be the political opinions of our farmers at the present time, they will all soon be for immediate emancipation if they are true to their own interests. Except in the central portions of Missouri, the advantages of slavery are gone. We have the peculiar institution, but no slaves. Is there anything so lovely in the lifeless skeleton of an evil, that we should hesitate to crush it, when it stands between us and the prosperity, security, and happiness of the majority of the inhabitants of a great State. Our cultivated farms would be increased in value, our vacant lands quickly improved. Our towns and cities would be rapidly increasing in population, and trade and commerce would receive a new impulse, if Missouri to-day had a free Constitution.

A numerous class of persons in Missouri meet all arguments in favor of immediate emancipation by asserting the constitutional rights of slaveholders and describing their wrongs. That they have constitutional rights, and have suffered wrongs, cannot be denied. In Missouri, a man who persecutes or attempts to cast odium on another because by inheritance, or in the business transactions of life, he has become the owner of slave property, is, in these revolutionary times, generally engaged, either directly or indirectly, in plundering and marauding, or he is a professed politician, and by exciting the prejudices of the depraved, is striving to obtain votes for office. It is difficult to determine which of these two classes most deserve punishment. As members of society, they are equally injurious and dishonest. There is one clause in the Constitution of the United States that was intended to recognize the right of property in slaves. Congress would not have passed a fugitive slave law if the Constitution had not recognized this right. If a slave-owner commits a treasonable offense, and is found guilty, it is right that his property should be confiscated and his slaves freed. But until then his property is under the protection of the law. When the Constitution, recognizing property in slaves, provides that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation,” it defines the rights of slave-owners too plainly to be questioned. This admission of the legal right, is made to the full extent that the most devoted adherents of a slave system have ever claimed. But of what value is a bare legal right that cannot be enforced?

The history of England is evidence that not even the King can long enforce laws condemned by the public sentiment of the nation. The President of the United States cannot effectually execute an act of Congress in any State or Territory, if it meets with determined opposition from the people. How can a law against polygamy in the Territory of Utah be enforced? Will a grand jury of polygamists find indictments among themselves, or any one else, for that offense? If they should, would a petty jury of that description convict? If they did, rest assured that the will of the public would find a way to prevent punishment. There is no use in denying the fact that in a Republican Government the unwritten public will always destroys the efficiency of any law to which it is opposed. If slave property escapes from Missouri to a free State, and the owner goes there to have executed an act of Congress in regard to the surrender of fugitive slaves, he is generally in personal danger, and the people by a variety of means prevent the enforcement of the law. If this state of feeling ought not to exist, still that it does exist is a fact. The power of this Government cannot remedy the evil, so that slave-owners in Missouri can with facility recover their slaves. This state of feeling in the free States is so rapidly increasing in Missouri, that many counties might be named, where an escaped slave cannot readily be reclaimed by its owner. Slave property, more than any other, requires the rigid enforcement of special laws for its protection. Missouri is nearly surrounded by free territory, where a determined hostility to the legal right of the slave-owner exists, and the increase of this hostile feeling has already destroyed the cash value of slaves. Government now pays loyal masters three hundred dollars for slaves fit for military service, and is at this time the only slave buyer in Missouri. The rebel slave-owner hopes the success of the Confederate cause will yet save his slave property. It will not require a long life to convince even his prejudiced mind that such hopes are false and deceitful. The person who now visits him, and finds his negro cabins swarming with black children, cannot accuse him or raising slaves. No, he is raising free negroes—feeding and clothing them out of the proceeds of his earnings or capital. If they are males, he is probably raising Federal soldiers—if they are females, they will not remain with him after their services are worth a recompense. If even the slaveholders of Missouri thus situated, desire gradual emancipation, they ought to be embalmed after death, and preserved as curiosities for the wonder of the next generation. The first effort of a prudent man, under the circumstances, would be to reimburse his loss. If that could be effected by making Missouri a free State immediately, he would use all his energies to have it accomplished. That which is lost in one way may be gained in another. The recent discoveries of inexhaustible mineral wealth in the region of the Rocky Mountains; the fact that nearly all the provisions to support the immense mining population that will inhabit that region must come from the West, can but induce the farmers of Missouri hereafter to raise stock as the surest source of profit. This can be done without slave labor. If Missouri, considering her geographical position in regard to this new mineral region, was made a free State immediately, her lands would increase to a standard of value that would astonish the present owners of real estate. Some slave-owners might suffer from the change, but the great majority would be immensely benefited. So the lightnings of the cloud may leap forth at a single point and destroy the value of the industry of a few, but the refreshing rain nourishes and increases the crops of the husbandman. That which injures a small number often blesses the multitude. The time for argument about the legal rights of slave-owners has passed. Complaints against wrongs are useless. In Missouri the rebellion against the Government brought swift destruction to the institution. Now, let us have quickly, that which must finally come, and gain additional wealth by the change. Let the people hereafter vote for no candidate for a seat in the Legislature who is not in favor of a new Constitution, and a free Constitution, for Missouri. The security of loyal men from the efforts of the Confederate authorities, and from further desolation from guerrilla warfare; the development of our agricultural wealth, and the enhanced value of our lands; the pecuniary interest of all classes of society, and the geographical position of our State—all demand that gradual emancipation should be anticipated by adopting immediate emancipation, so that the present generation may enjoy a portion of its blessings.

The disloyal man who (aside from his crazy notions of Southern rights) is truly honest, must quickly become rational, and see that immediate emancipation is the true position to be assumed by loyal men in Missouri. Let Union men who desire political affinity with rebels, bushwhackers, and armed traitors, still cling to the “ .” If the desire for office is so powerful, as to make them willing to persecute their former loyal associates, and strike hands with guerrillas and traitors to obtain it, they should enjoy as much bliss as possible in the moments of success, for “ .” Political death and future oblivion is suspended over their heads, like a sword hung by a single hair.

There is nothing in rebel character to be admired, and nothing of worth, to induce honest Union men to desire a political association with traitors. Giving aid and comfort to guerrillas, engaged in murdering Union men; who exhibit a savage ferocity, and unfeeling barbarity—are predominant traits of rebel character everywhere. That Union prisoners have died from starvation and ill treatment, in the capital of the Southern Confederacy, is an acknowledged fact. Whenever Federal forces have been defeated, and the field was afterwards occupied by their enemies, rebel troops have ever plundered the dying and the dead. They have usually refused the burial rights that civilized warfare has always held sacred to a fallen enemy. At Chickamauga , in Tennessee, where acres were covered with the dead of the Federal army, the Confederate forces that held the field, refused the slightest burial, but pillaged and plundered even the clothes that covered their bodies—then left them as carrion for ravens, and food for swine.

Union men within the rebel lines are regarded as outlaws. A true rebel is not usually punished for any kind of violence against their persons or property. In East Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, loyal men were driven to the mountains, and forced to find hiding-places in caves. Even there they were followed by rebels with the deadly purpose that huntsmen follow game. How different is the policy of the Federal Government in Missouri. There is but one true heaven in the United States for the rebel, and that paradise of bliss is our own State. If he moves to a State within the Confederate lines, he meets the tyrannical conscription of Jeff. Davis, and the ranks of the rebel army is his destiny. If he goes to a Northern State, he also meets the conscriptive roll and the draft. But when he flies to Missouri, he is secure as gold in the Bank of England. If he lives in a town, and it is captured by guerrillas, and a few loyal men are killed, the rebel walks quietly around amongst the “chivalry,” and fears no evil—they never interfere with those who sympathize with guerrillas. If Federal troops come, the rebel is secure, they deal only with armed traitors. Is the militia called out, the rebel claims to be a Southern sympathizer, and is not wanted. Does a suspicious looking body of men come into town, without flags, or songs of loyalty, he strains his eyes until he recognizes familiar faces, and exclaims: “ Paw-paw militia,” and determines that he will buy the likeness of the President at the next book auction. Is a military tax levied by the State against those who refuse to do military duty, the loyal man is already in the militia, and must pay thirty dollars to the State before he can be relieved. The lucky rebel is taxed upon the collector’s book, and when the money is demanded, it is found that Mr. Rebel’s property has been conveyed, to prevent confiscation. He snaps his fingers at the collector, says “hurrah for Jeff. Davis,” and passes on, humming his favorite song of “Dixie.” I admit the literary pleasures of this favored class are slightly interfered with. Their Southern newspapers do not come regularly through the post-office. But there is a silver lining to every cloud. Government allows their minds healthy food, by permitting the publication of such papers as the “ ,” at New York; the Cincinnati , the , and the . They are all conservative and soothing, and do not grate his feelings like the NEW YORK TRIBUNE , ST. LOUIS DEMOCRAT , ST. LOUIS EVENING NEWS , and other papers of that class. A sinner in the first moments of conversion and forgiveness—and a lover in the arms of innocence and beauty—a miser on a mountain of gold and diamonds, may each be happy, but I doubt if either ever enjoyed that perfect beatitude of bliss, that now thrills the joyful hearts of the rebels of Missouri.

But, alas, I had forgotten that serpents sometimes creep into the nests of the most harmless birds. The stinging bee is often concealed under the leaves of the fairest flower. Often in our happiest moments some evil thought will unbidden come. Even so, the joyful dreams of rebels are occasionally disturbed by visions of a great army of radicals, bearing the star-spangled banner, and singing

“Down with the traitor,

We have rallied once again.”

Some of the leaders of the conservative party in Missouri, and perhaps many of them, are secretly strong advocates of what is called a North-western Confederacy. Not long since one of their number wrote and published an address in favor of such a government. Its establishment was only conditionally advocated. This was necessary to keep the publication from being deemed treasonable. The advantages of such a republic are being discussed privately. It is publicly advocated upon condition that the Southern Confederacy is recognized and securely established. In that event, they assert that by separating from the Eastern States, they can obtain more favorable treaties of commerce, than would be obtained by any Government in which the Eastern States formed a part. They give many reasons to show that a large portion of the manufacturing capital of the East would in a short time be drawn within this Confederacy. They contend that the best market for their stock and produce will ever be found in the South. This is undoubtedly true. But it is difficult to see why the advantages of that market cannot be as easily obtained without, as with this new Confederacy. Many who have a large personal indebtedness in the East, advocate this scheme, from fraudulent motives. A vast amount of Eastern capital is in- vested in the West. A few simple-minded men who suppose it would be easily procured upon the occurrence of such an event. All these persons embrace every favorable opportunity to prejudice the army of the West against the Federal forces in the East. They praise the bravery of western troops, and cast unmerited odium upon eastern soldiers. Although I have no reason to believe the late Governor Gamble belonged to this class of politicians, yet that portion of his last message that applauded the valor of western troops, and alluded to the army of the Potomac in language not complimentary, was a stray crumb of comfort accidentally dropped to this new class of separationists. In the establishment of a North-western Confederacy, the pro-slavery man and rebel slaveholder are certain that Missouri will be either partitioned between the Confederate States and this new confederacy, or that all rebel citizens of Missouri will be allowed to return to the State, and then a “fair vote” will be taken on the question, whether Missouri shall belong to the North-western Confederacy, or the Confederacy of the South. The rebel believes that pro-slavery men and slaveholders who now support gradual emancipation, or a sufficient number of them, on this new question, will combine with returned rebel soldiers and citizens, to carry the State within the jurisdiction of the South. If all these visionary dreams should be realized, Union men may hereafter endure in Missouri the same kind of rebel barbarities that their brethren have already received in East Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina. The pleasure conservatives now feel in arresting and imprisoning men they call extremely loyal, is evidence that if a further persecution was permitted it would be to them a delightful employment. It is vain to build such castles in their air. These schemes of corrupt politicians will never be realized. It is cruel to deceive a credulous rebel with such false hopes. Any attempt to execute such a work of treason would be followed by scenes of violence so horrible that all previous atrocities would be deemed merciful, when compared with the fatality and desolation of such a war.

At the commencement of the rebellion in Missouri, imme- diate emancipation with compensation to loyal slave-owners, was a favorite policy with the President. Congress did not adopt his views. He then conceived the idea that a system of gradual emancipation might be devised, that, without much injury to slave-owners, would secure, after many years, the advantages he had expected from immediate emancipation. The only bond of union between the President and the conservative party in Missouri is, that this party has adopted this last-mentioned scheme of emancipation. They have done so with the feeling of the “confidence man,” who puts on a deserving appearance and by fair conversation wins the esteem, and obtains valuable advantage from his victim, who only discovers the fraud when too late to repair his loss. At one time the gradual emancipation views of the President would have suited the Union men of Missouri. That measure is now opposed to their interest, and dangerous to their personal security. With them, immediate emancipation is the only road to safety. Disloyal persons have discovered the danger—praise to the President—and under the convention oath, obtain arms, whilst the class of Union men from whose ranks sixty thousand volunteers have enlisted to fight rebels, are partially disarmed, and in many instances, persecuted on account of extreme loyalty. Many of the men who favor this persecution were themselves employed in similar acts in 1861 and 1862, under the new Confederate Gen. Sterling Price, and the rebel Governor, Claib. Jackson. But soldiers and officers who have had most to do with rebels, are not so easily deceived. They know that a large percentage of this class of disloyal men are the same species of incorrigible and predestinated criminals that Hyder Ali attempted to conciliate, but a length was compelled to sweep from the plains of the Karuatic. Let Union men keep together, and do not break ranks in face of these enemies. If they do, all is lost, and in the end they may be driven from the State, or exterminated.

Murders by slow torture—death by sudden violence—desolation by arson and robbery, all of which Union men have endured in Missouri, rather than commit treason against their Government, entitles our surviving soldiers and citizens, who have been loyal and active friends of the Administration from the time the first hostile gun was fired by traitors, to more consideration from the President of the United States, than they have yet received. Radical men in Missouri are now forced to meet political hostility from the Administration—political hostility from the State Government—hostility from Confederate authorities, and death at the hands of the guerrillas. They now suffer these combined oppressions, because they sincerely believe the future security of their property, and the safety of their lives, demand that the last link that binds Missouri to the South should be severed, by the immediate emancipation of every slave in the State.

Our numbers are not so insignificant as to be unworthy of notice. We have furnished nearly the whole force of United States volunteers raised in Missouri. The ten regiments of Missouri State Militia, now paid by the General Government and adopted as United States forces, are nearly all for immediate emancipation. Traitors, galvanized with loyalty so imperfectly that the base metal is apparent to the eye of every Union man, are pursuing a system of individual persecution against men they call radicals. These persecutions, and the justice of our cause, have brought honest men in great numbers to our standard, from the hostile ranks of our adversaries. At first few in number, and meeting opposition from every official source, we have steadily overcome all obstacles, and now have a majority of votes in the great State of Missouri. At the next Presidential election we shall sweep the State by a majority of thousands. Surely our principles are not unworthy of this great and speedy triumph. Every disloyal man and every conservative who really desires peace and permanent security, will yet be for immediate emancipation. With us they can safely pass the dangerous breakers of the Rebellion, and land on a shore of certain safety.

The conservative party in Missouri have recklessly violated the principles of free government, and the people will not long trust them with power. This party is in favor of violating the Constitution of the United States, by imprisoning and depriving Union men of their liberty without due process of law, and without these loyal men having been guilty of crime, or of violating any of the rules or articles of war, or committing any specified military offense. Freedom of speech, and freedom of the press, that the Constitution declares even Congress shall have no power to abridge, are by this conservative party held to be “trifles light as air.” When its adherents are clothed with a little “brief authority,” these great principles which are the safeguards of all good governments, are violated with as much indifference as the guerrilla from his hiding-place in the jungle, shoots down a loyal man. The Constitution of the State of Missouri declares that the “free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and any person may freely speak, write, and print on any subject.” If he abuses this liberty, he is responsible in the courts of the country for libel or slander. If he encourages rebellion, or commits a disloyal act, or expresses disloyal sentiments, under martial law he is subject to punishment, and in some cases to indictment in the courts of the United States. The influence of this conservative party is constantly exerted to destroy the protection that the framers of the Constitution of Missouri designed every citizen should receive in expressing his sentiments in regard to public or private matters, or in regard to the conduct of his political opponents. This conservative party being now the dominant political party in the State, and having by its vile conduct become infected with putrefaction and decay, is endeavoring to punish those who attempt to take off its garments, and expose its rottenness to the odium of public censure. They are in favor of punishing radical men who are innocent, and are willing to grand indulgences for the commission of crime to members of their own party. They are not in favor of counting the votes of radical soldiers who are struggling and falling, to beat back an army of traitors from surrounding their homes, but are willing quickly to cast up the ballots of rebels and murderous guerrillas, if they have formally taken the convention oath. This whole party is controlled by a combination of office-seekers, who are willing to sacrifice the most sacred prin- ciples of loyalty to obtain office. An interesting political history of these leaders might be written, but I will

“Breathe not their names, let them sleep in the shade.”

The immediate emancipation party in Missouri seek no change by revolutionary violence. All proposed reforms they desire to effect by legal and constitutional means. They know that the most enduring peace will come by a restoration of civil law. Justice brings peace, and injustice violence. If this party now controlled the affairs of State, there would be no necessity for soldiers being quartered in nearly every county. Men who were disposed to be loyal would be protected, and guerrillas, robbers, and criminals of every kind would instantly receive severe treatment. It would close up their criminal career, and security and happiness would be found where despondency and fear now prevail. Let all be patient under present evils—the ascendancy of this party is at hand. The Provisional Government is now dying. It should be supported and treated kindly in its last moments. When buried, let the good it has done be remembered. The people are already enduring punishment for its sins. The agony is sufficiently severe to make an atonement that will purchase forgiveness for its many failings. Its death will usher in the political millennium of the immediate emancipation. Let us rejoice that the darkness of a dangerous night is passing away—light is faintly seen in the political horizon, and a day of gladness and sunshine will quickly come.

Loyal men who endured the fearful sufferings of 1861 and 1862, can look with satisfaction at the progress of the good cause. Their warmest affections were then and are still enlisted in its behalf. They then left homes of ease, and fields of [plenty?]; endured the hardships, and many suffered the fatality [[MS. torn]] to a soldier’s life. Providence has smiled upon their [[MS. torn]] crowned their patriotic devotion with success. Loyal [[MS. torn]] have done that which no other slave State has yet [[MS. torn]] seized their State Government, and forced it State Government. Union men rallied, established a Provisional Government, and brought their State back to its true position. There we are all determined it shall ever remain. The Union is this ship of our safety. In it we have embarked on all that is precious in life. Its destiny in navigating the ocean of the future is our destiny. If the dark clouds of further sectional strife shall appear; if rushing winds shall bring dangerous seas, and faint hearts begin to exclaim “all is lost,” we must still resolve “never to give up the ship.” Even in the wrath and thunders of the whirlwind, let us

“Nail our proud banner to the mast,

Set every thread-bare sail,

And give her to the God of storms,

The lightnings and the gale.”