Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1862-03-20

scithouf transportation. Regiment after re-
equipments. for The reason that the arsenal
,cas exhausted, and arms and accoufernaenfs
had TO BE brought from the East. From
these men General Lyon would have had
reinforcements, although they were wholly
Impractical in the use of the musket, and
knew nothing of movements in the field;
but in the meantime the battle Of the 10th
of August was fought"
And yet, when they were entirely with
out arms. and Fremont sought. at this We
ry time--the 9th of Angust---in his over
whclming anxiety and solieitude. to buy
any kind Of arms to put into their hands
to protect the Union, and pnt down the
rebellion, and save the lives of our brave
soldiers and their generals at al the expo
scd points in his department, he was de-
nounced from one end of the country to
the other as being ia the hands Of con-
tractors, and in corrupt collusion with
knaves If this is jnsticc. God save me
from ever being in any position in this
Government to receive such Justice.
My friend stated. and l took down the
exac. words that fell from his lips. on this
envelope, that "there was at that time no
necessity to reinforce Cairo from St. Lou
is; that it could have been reinforced from
other directions Now. differ with him
on that point. think can prove that / am
right. Fremont then had actually but lit
tie available force under his command. In
deed, on the 10Th of July. General Lyon
had to authorize one regiment of his little
band at Springfield (Col. Browns 4th to
return to st. Louis. to be mustered ont Of
service. at the expiration Of their three
months enlistment. The three months
men would not rc-enlist. because they
conld not get their pay. The West at
that time. in the pressure from the East.
and the imminent peril of the capital,
seemed TO be neglected. The troops al
ready under arms did not see the paymas-
ter and they would not re-enlist. With
this inadequate force and this lack of arms,
Fremont had to choose between reinforcing
one point or the other Now. | submit
the question to the House an 4 the country,
which of these two points was the most
important; the one at the end of wagon
road in southwestern Missouri, whence
Lyon could possibly retreat if he felt that
he could rot sustain his position. and the
other at the mouth of the Ohio river,
where it joins the Mississippi. command
ing both streams, and the fnrthest point
south of which we had possession? Which
was the most important? Should they
retire from Cairo or from Springfield? /
contend. that as this evidence proves, FIRE.
mont could only reinforce one of these
points. and he went down to Cairo on the
lst of August. My friend insists tha, Gen
Prentiss's dispatches prove that he did not
stand in pressing need Of reinforcements.
Let rs see. l read now what Gen Prem
tiss said. Gen. Prentiss was command.
ing at Cairo, and on the 23d of July he
wrote to Col. Harding as follows:
Have but eight (S) regiments here
Sir (6) of them are three (3) mouths men.
Their time erpires this week-are reorgani-
zing now. have neither tents nor wag-
ons, and must hold Cairo and Bird s
Point"
He said he had but eight regiments and
, six Of them were three months men, and
their term expired that very week. before
Fremont could ge! there, leaving only two
, certainly available regiments at Cairo
l read again from General Prentiss, under
date Of July %:
"To Major General Fremont:
"Rebels from Tennessee are eoncentra-
ting at New Madrid. Missouri, with avow-
ed intention of assaulting Birds Point
They may intend going to Cape Girardeau.
, Col. Marsh has no battery. I hare none
to spare. Ny command is merging from
+ three months to three years service on half
recess. Mastering in yesterday and to-
, day. Ihare 6m fuo ser Founders prepared
TO more"
i We come down now to July 29. the
next day. Gen. Prentiss again telegraphs
Fremont; and you will see that the danger
is daily becoming more imminent:
/ "On yesterday, three thousand rebels
west of Birds Point forty miles; 800 at
Madrid and three regiments from Union
City ordered there; also troops from Ran
dolph and Corinth. Tie number of or
ganized rebels within fifty miles of me ,riH
erceed tarelre thousand that is, including
Randolph troops ordered and not inclu-
ding several companies opposite in Ken
lucky"
Again. on the lst day Of August. he tel
, egraphed Gen. Fremont a still darker pros
pect. as follows. New Madrid is on the
Mississippi river. south of Cairo. and not
very distant:)
The following information Just receiv-
ed is, believe very reliable. Gen. Piifosc
,eas at Aeu Madrid on the morning Of the
31st. Nth 1000 troops ,0eH armed and
ceH drilled; taco regiments of caualry
splendidly equipped; one battery of flying
artillery, ten pounders, and ten guns man
ned and o6fcered Jy foreigners; several
mountain Aopitzers. and other artillery.
amounting IN all to one hundred. Nine
thousand more moving to reinforce" He
has promised Gov. jackson to place %. 600
|, men in Missouri at once. have copy
of his proclamation and also one of his
written passes" s
These dispatches came pouring in upon
Gen. Fremont from this exposed and i'm
portant position. vital not only for Illinais
bnt for the whole Union, where there were
but eight regiments only two Of which
they had right to hold there. the remain
ing six being three months men whose
tTm had expired. and the rebels were form
l. 80 49,