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GENERAL POSITION OF BOWLING GREEN.

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In Arkansas, five companies and a battalion had been organized, and were ready to join General McCulloch.

A speedy advance of the enemy was now indicated, and an increase of force was so necessary that further delay was impossible. General Johnston, therefore, determined upon a levy en masse in his department. He made a requisition on the Governors of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, to call out every able-bodied member of the militia into whose hands arms could be placed, or to provide a volunteer force large enough to use all the arms that could be procured. In his letters to these Governors, he plainly presents his view of the posture of affairs on December 24th, points out impending dangers, and shows that to his applications the response had not been such as the emergency demanded. He says:

"It was apprehended by me that the enemy would attempt to assail the South, not only by boats and troops moving down the river, to be assembled during the fall and winter, but by columns marching inland, threatening Tennessee, by endeavoring to turn the defenses of Columbus. Further observation confirms me in this opinion; but I think the means employed for the defense of the river will probably render it comparatively secure. The enemy will energetically push toward Nashville the heavy masses of troops now assembled between Louisville and Bowling Green. The general position of Bowling Green is good and commanding; but the peculiar topography of the place and the length of the line of the Barren River as a line of defense, though strong, require a large force to defend it. There is no position equally defensive as Bowling Green, nor line of defense as good as the Barren River, between the Barren and the Cumberland at Nashville; so that it can not be abandoned without exposing Tennessee, and giving vastly the vantage-ground to the enemy. It is manifest that the Northern generals appreciate this; and, by withdrawing their forces from western Virginia and east Kentucky, they have managed to add them to the new levies from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and to concentrate a force in front of me variously estimated at from sixty to one hundred thousand men, and which I believe will number seventy-five thousand. To maintain my position, I have only about seventeen thousand men in this neighborhood. It is impossible for me to ob

tain additions to my strength from Columbus; the generals in command in that quarter consider that it would imperil that point to diminish their force, and open Tennessee to the enemy. General Zollicoffer can not join me, as he guards the Cumberland, and prevents the invasion and possible revolt of East Tennessee.'

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On June 5th General Johnston was reënforced by the brigades of Floyd and Maney from western Virginia. He also sent a messenger to Richmond to ask that a few regiments might be detached from the several armies in the field, and sent to him to be replaced by new levies. He said: "I do not ask that my force shall be made equal to that of the enemy; but, if possible, it should be raised to fifty thousand men." Meantime such an appearance of menace had been maintained as led the enemy to believe that our force was large, and that he might be attacked at any time. Frequent and rapid expeditions through the sparsely settled country gave rise to rumors which kept alive this apprehension.

CHAPTER IX.

The Coercion of Missouri.-Answers of the Governors of States to President Lincoln's Requisition for Troops.-Restoration of Forts Caswell and Johnson to the United States Government.-Condition of Missouri similar to that of Kentucky.-Hostilities, how initiated in Missouri.—Agreement between Generals Price and Harney.-Its Favorable Effects.-General Harney relieved of Command by the United States Government because of his Pacific Policy.-Removal of Public Arms from Missouri.-Searches for and Seizure of Arms.-Missouri on the Side of Peace.-Address of General Price to the People.-Proclamation of Governor Jackson.-Humiliating Concessions of the Governor to the United States Government, for the sake of Peace.-Demands of the Federal Officers.— Revolutionary Principles attempted to be enforced by the United States Government. The Action at Booneville.-The Patriot Army of Militia.-Further Rout of the Enemy.-Heroism and Self-sacrifice of the People.-Complaints and Embarrassments.-Zeal: its effects.-Action of Congress.-Battle of Springfield.-General Price.-Battle at Lexington.—Bales of Hemp.-Other Combats.

To preserve the Union in the spirit and for the purposes for which it was established, an equilibrium between the States, as grouped in sections, was essential. When the Territory of Missouri constitutionally applied for admission as a State into the

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CONTEST WHICH SHOOK THE UNION.

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Union, the struggle between State rights and that sectional aggrandizement which was seeking to destroy the existing equilibrium gave rise to the contest which shook the Union to its foundation, and sowed the seeds of geographical divisions, which have borne the most noxious weeds that have choked our political vineyard. Again, in 1861, Missouri appealed to the Constitution for the vindication of her rights, and again did usurpation and the blind rage of a sectional party disregard the appeal, and assume powers, not only undelegated, but in direct violation of the fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution, which every Federal officer had sworn to maintain, and which secured to every State a republican government, and protection against invasion.

If it be contended that the invasion referred to must have been by other than the troops of the United States, and that their troops were therefore not prohibited from entering a State against its wishes, and for purposes hostile to its policy, the section of the Constitution referred to fortifies the fact, heretofore noticed, of the refusal of the Convention, when forming the Constitution, to delegate to the Federal Government power to coerce a State. By its last clause it was provided that not even to suppress domestic violence could the General Government, on its own motion, send troops of the United States into the territory of one of the States. That section reads thus:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion, and on application of the Legislature, or of the executive (when the Legislature can not be convened), against domestic violence."

Surely, if Federal troops could not be sent into a State without its application, even to protect it against domestic violence, still less could it be done to overrule the will of its people. That, instead of an obligation upon the citizens of other States to respond to a call by the President for troops to invade a particular State, it was in April, 1861, deemed a high crime to so use them reference is here made to the published answers of the Governors of States, which had not seceded, to the requisition

made upon them for troops to be employed against the States which had seceded.

Governor Letcher, of Virginia, replied to the requisition of the United States Secretary of War as follows:

"I am requested to detach from the militia of the State of Virginia the quota designated in a table which you append, to serve as infantry or riflemen, for the period of three months, unless sooner discharged.

"In reply to this communication, I have only to say that the militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view. Your object is to subjugate the Southern States, and a requisition made upon me for such an object-an object, in my judgment, not within the purview of the Constitution, or the Act of 1795—will not be complied with."

Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, replied :

"Your dispatch is received. In answer, I say emphatically, Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States."

Governor Harris, of Tennessee, replied:

"Tennessee will not furnish a single man for coercion, but fifty thousand, if necessary, for the defense of our rights, or those of our Southern brothers."

Governor Jackson, of Missouri, answered:

"Requisition is illegal, unconstitutional, revolutionary, inhuman, diabolical, and can not be complied with."

Governor Rector, of Arkansas, replied:

"In answer to your requisition for troops from Arkansas, to subjugate the Southern States, I have to say that none will be furnished. The demand is only adding insult to injury."

Governor Ellis, of North Carolina, responded to the requisition for troops from that State as follows:

"Your dispatch is received, and, if genuine-which its extraor dinary character leads me to doubt-I have to say, in reply, that

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A PLEA CREATED BY USURPATIONS.

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I regard the levy of troops made by the Administration, for the purpose of subjugating the States of the South, as in violation of the Constitution, and a usurpation of power. I can be no party to this wicked violation of the laws of the country, and to this war upon the liberties of a free people. You can get no troops from North Carolina."

Governor Ellis, who had lived long enough to leave behind him an enviable reputation, was a fair representative of the conservatism, gallantry, and tenacity in well-doing, of the State over which he presided. He died too soon for his country's good, and the Confederacy seriously felt the loss of his valuable services. The prompt and spirited answer he gave to the call upon 'North Carolina to furnish troops for the subjugation of the Southern States, was the fitting complement of his earlier action. in immediately restoring to the Federal Government Forts Johnson and Caswell, which had been seized without proper authority. In communicating his action to President Buchanan, he wrote:

"My information satisfies me that this popular outbreak was caused by a report, very generally credited, but which, for the sake of humanity, I hope is not true, that it was the purpose of the Administration to coerce the Southern States, and that troops were on their way to garrison the Southern ports, and to begin the work of subjugation. . . . Should I receive assurance that no troops will be sent to this State prior to the 4th of March next, then all will be peace and quiet here, and the property of the United States will be fully protected, as heretofore. If, however, I am unable to get such assurances, I will not undertake to answer for the consequences.

"The forts in this State have long been unoccupied, and their being garrisoned at this time will unquestionably be looked upon as a hostile demonstration, and will in my opinion certainly be resisted."

The plea so constantly made by the succeeding Administration, as an excuse for its warlike acts, that the duty to protect the public property required such action, is shown by this letter of Governor Ellis to have been a plea created by their usurpa

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