New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-08-10
BORDER WARFARE.
A GRIM AND GREAT FIGHT.


operations in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and mo
Indian Territory during the years 1S6l-'G2, based
upon the official reports OF the Federal command
ers Lyon, Sigel Sturgis Fremont HaliecN, CURTIS
Schofcld, Blunt Heron and Totten. and OF the
Confederate commanders McCul!och PRICE, van
Dorm, IIndman. Marmaduke and shelby MI
Brltton served on the border during the whoe
Of the war, and has therefore large personal en-
pcrcnce of the operations which he UcScr!pe'.
His history, founded it is upon the Official
reports on both sides. is probably as accurate
as il is possible TO make such narrative; though
it must not he assumed hastily that Official reports
in all cases represent the exact TRUTH and II musb
he remembered that when questions OF casualties
come 10 he considered there is sometimes grave
reason for doubling the trustworthlneSs oil inc
returns They are, Of course, the best data tha0
can now be obtained, and no historian can he
blamed for employing them as crlteua OF TACT
The faults of this v0lame of quite another kind
Tho military operations on the border have been
described repeatedly, though not with the claoor'-
zion here given 10 them; but there is wide Held
still omen for the historian who shall undertake.
IN rcproducc the conditions Of life on the border
during the war: who shall paint with graphic
skill the perils the uncertainty, the wrongs, the
sufrerinGs the catastrOphcs. the outragcs, the
crueltes of that dreadful period, and show whah
il involved to be II Union man OH any portion
of that dark and bloody ground during the
first three years of the war
Mr. Brtton we should suppose possesses all
the necessary information for this literary under
taking but he has done 10 more than II give
faint outline Sketch Of the general situation. NO
part of the country perhaps suffered more rom
the Rebellion than the border region here treated
Of for in no other part OF the country did passion
lie, ,nt,-l. y
warfare iercer, bloodicr. more pitiles>, or more
eomprc. easive The reasons lie on tie surface
In the first place, the Missouri border had really
been in a state of war for years before the Re
bellion broke out. The struggle over Kansas
had been the means of sowing it with the mos;
dcsperate and fcToeious white savaCcS 10 be found
in the Union and they had had things their own
way so long that they were cmboldcned 10 great
mitch of audOcity. The border atmosphere, In
the rext place. peculiarly favorable to the
growth OF Just this kind Of harbarism. For more
than a generation all its inhabitants had hceh
subjected TO tie hardening and hrulall2lng Ill
fucnces growing out OF constant Indian dlHcuitleS
process of natural selection had al the SINE time
been in operation, wedding out the scntler and
more conservative spirits. and reinforcing the
harder and more aggressive ones The settlers
Injured TO danger, practsed III border warfare
familiar with death. trained too in that Southern
doctrine which eXactS life for some haSty word,
were truculent, quick TO quarrel, and muTderouS
In their resentments. Their in1amnablc natures
had been aggravated by the importation OF deS'
pcradoes from the great cities and from the river
towns for the express purpose of ovcrawlng the
frecmen of Kansas.
The long strife over the territorial extension
of slavery, which in the interior Of the country
bod l,na,, of ride
on the border into physical conflict. To be a
Union man on the border of Missouri, and still
more in Kansas was to he a black AbOltion>t,
even before the first ordinance Of secession was
passed and the hatred felt for an Abolilonlst By
the pro-slavery borderers made itself felt in out
RACES of the most horrible character Bleeding
Kansas" had experienced these acts Of iawleSs
vengeance, and Ossawatomic Browns stern re-
taiation, while il threw the Boston Colonization
Society into spasms, and was condemned al tic
North as ircXcusable, was after all, but one feeble
effort Of vengeance in return for long catalogue
Of atrocities on Kansas settlers by border ruihans
When the war broke ont, when the f"t" of Mis-
souri, hung in the balance, and Governor jackson
was trying 70 lie his way ont of the Union when
Nathaniel LYON and Frank p. Blair were standing
almost single-handed against secession, the perils
and trials of the Union men the border in
whether the State could be kept in the Union.
The traitOrous seizure OF the Liberty Arsenal! the
evcr-growing boldness Of Jackson and his Home
Guard the weakness Of lIarncv and Fremont the
enormous strain upon the Washington Govern
mental seemed 10 point to the success OF So
cession. When Lyon ard Blair checkmatcd the
plot for the seizure of the St Louis Arsenal the
rebels. DISGUISED and open, threw of the mask A;
but the mastery capture of Camp Jackson made
them realize that they had at least some deter
mined men TO deal with, and thai taking Missouri
out of the Union was by no means plain sailing.
But for Lyon and Blair the Seccssionists must
have succeeded, for the Civil War was then So
new. and .hc inexperience Of even loyal officers
so great that most Of them hesitatcd At viloroNs
measures, and, following the practice Of Northern
politicians for years past, were inclined TO treat
secession with proclamations, protests, niunc-
tiors and other paper dctergcnts. Lyon ana
Blair We're for a time, alone in perceiving that
the existing status was one Of actual war: that
tie seizure Of Federal arsenalS posts dockyardS,
etc, and the conversion Of their munitions foi
use against the United States, was overt treason
and rebellion and 10 re net only by physical
force General Harvey thought il possible 70 AZ
range a "modus vivendi7 with Governor Jack
son, and actually agreed TO a compromise which
would have clectually tied the hands OF tAe
General Government, while leaving the Scccs-
sionsts perfectly free 20 organize and carry out
thcir plans. The early death Of General Lyon
was serious misfortune for the Missouri Union
lists, and it cost them perhaps an additional year
of anarchy and suffering. The SecessOnlsls had
on the first outbreak Of rebellion rcdoubled thelI
insults and agGressOns upon the Union men
and when General Lyon was trying to make head
against McCulloch and Prior, before the fata
battle Of Wilson Creek tie situation Of all loyal
people In Southern Missouri was almost desperate
Mr.. Br,tton gives some idea of the prevailing
condition of things in the following paragraphs
Now that tie rebel forces occupied Southwest
Missouri, the Union men deemed II safest 10 fy
to tie woods and hills for cOnccament. Instead
OF respecting the rights Of property Of all classes
as Colonel SigePs troops had done, the rcbc
troops took all the serviceable horses they could
find belonging TO Union citizens; In many cases