The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1861-10-10
The Lexington Disa>ter.~~A Defense Of
General Fremont.
rFrom the South Bend Register.

as doubtless was ever seen on American
soil, Mulligan and his brave soldiers, less
than three thousand in number, were
forced last Friday to surrcr der to Price,
who with an army of $4,000 to $4,000
had been beseiging them in their forti-
fcations. They had been out of water
for two days, aud their ammunition was
nearly exhausted. Yet the heroic Mul.
Iican refused even then to surrender;
bat, being wounded in the leg, the Mis-
souri, Home Guards. who had acted cow
ardiy, compelled the surrender. Multi.
-an, however, uoconquerable to the last,
refused to give up his sword till it was
taken from him by main force.
The Chicago Tribunc, which, for the
last fortnight has been vindicatiDg Cen
Frcmons against his assailants. row in
dignant at this reverse favors his rcmov-
al We had not intended to aiIude pub
licly to some facts ;La, happen to DC in
our possession, but we think the public
interest will not now be j,opardizcd by
referring to them.
Gen Fremont has had jour rebel ar
mics in the field against him, besides
smaller divisions. Price threatening
Lexington with 10000, NcCulloch
threatening Rolla and Jefferson City with
$4,000, Hardce with an unknown mum.
Der threatening lronton, Polk and Pillow
with 2G,OO0 at Columbus, Ky, aod with
the United States forces ut puducan aud
Cairo inferior in numbers to them. Be-
sides these are Martin Green, jefferson
Thompson, and others with smaller arm.
les, mainy drawn from honlc rebels. In
all not less than 50 600 have been in the
field againvt him. large number Of them
from Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi
and Tcxas-ncarly as large number as
have been threatening Washington, for
the i d,icuce of which, the whole country
has been called upon for IeinI"rccmcn'S.
Yet Mcclellan has not occn subjected to
the cruel charge Of "incfic!cncy,' and
we are gl;a lie has not ben.
Besides clearing North Missouri Of the
rchH~, Fremont had the following points
to dcfend: Lexington, Rolla, (thc ter
minus Of the southwest branch of the
Pacific Ra;lroad), jefferson City, the
capitai), s.. Louis, ironton, (the ternnin.
Us Of the lrer Mountain RailrC ad), Boon
Vile, Cape Giradeeu, on the i>sissippi
river, Birds Point, Norfolk, Cairo, Fer,
Holt CON the Kentucky side of the river
south Of Cairo, and guarding the ap
proach to it,, and P1ducah, which COM
mands the mouth of the Cumberland an
Tennessee rivers How large force h
has at i is command to hold these point
aud also 20 fight these opposing armies
we do no. feel at ibcr'y to state.
Again it is vel! known at St Louis
tat he had all his plans laid, some tim'
since, for surrounding and taking Mar
intoyication Of the United States Briga
dier General frustrated them, and allowed
him to escape. Another movement wa
immediately planned. which by boI'
and successful dash in the West, woul'
have probably broken up the rebel arm,
on the Potomac in th,i anxiety for thel
homes. The rcrimcuts from Indian
and Wisconsin, which he relied on t
swell the numbers of his attacking par
ty. were just at this time ordered East
which ended that movement. The
Price advanced towards Lexington, an
the orders were already prepared for tn
concentration of sufficient troops to relI
force Mullican and capture the reb
: army. just then came the order fro
Washington for 5000 of his best arme
and equipped troops to be sent thitht
imme diateIy, and they accordingly wei
East instead of West. We know VIII;
his feelings were when he received tn
orasr. We were there at the time, an
b.. said: "Washington, if in danger, mus
be saved even if the West is lost an
myself dcstrovcd.' But reinforcement
were ordered to Mulligan. Why thos
which left North Missouri by his order:
five DAYS before the surrender, did nt
arrive, no one as yet knows ThoS
which left jefferson City two Gays beto'
the surrender, on steamers, We're con
PEELED, doul tlcss, to proceed slow, y an
cautiously up the river aud the mcsset
ger to Lane Gin Kansas may not hay
reached him.
We do not allude to these things ;
} the apologist for Gen. Fremont, or an
t one else. We are no mans partlzan
this contest, and the officer, who, havin
sufficient troops, allows his country
cause to be defeated, we would have dl
placed, if he were our nearest and dea
D est friend To show, however, how IL
number of his troops have been exagse
| atcd, even by those on the spot, "
:. would state that while we were it 5
Louis, two of the highest provision
, State officers told Us that there were -
900, troops in the city, and that half
them at least coald be spared and shou
be sent, with others from other point
after Price So we thought too, aud :
told the General lie handed US Il
;, mustc of all the United Stat
tro, ps n and around St. Louis on th
i lsv, aunsLcriay LaIy eight housnn
=, composed of two full! regiments, and
=, number of fragmentary ones After tn;
he received the order for troops to
:, sent to Washington.
We would not aliude to these lisur
even at this time, nearly two weeks
terward., had it not been that St Lo,
~ has since been reinforced by fresh troo
from Illinois but it may answer some
: the questions of the Tribune. Even t
e lsraclites could not make bricks withc
,r straw.
As The Baltimore American is inform
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