Rodney The Partisan

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER XV.

  A FULL-FLEDGED PARTISAN.

  Having transacted his business with the colonel, Dick Graham came out ofthe tent and mounted his horse.

  "Of course I had to wait until the captain had made his report," saidhe, in a suppressed whisper, "and in that way I happened to hear alittle about yourself and Tom Barton. I knew enough to keep still in thepresence of my superiors, but I did want to ask the captain to say moreabout Tom Barton. Was it Percival?"

  Rodney winked first one eye and then the other and Dick was answered.

  "It's the strangest thing I ever heard of, and I am in a hurry to knowall about it, Come on; our company is up at the end of the street. Weoccupy the post of honor on the right of the line, because we are theonly company in the regiment that is fully uniformed. We'll leave ourhorses at the stable line, and Captain Jones will make a State Guard ofyou before you know it."

  Not to dwell too long upon matters that have little bearing upon ourstory, it will be enough to say that Rodney was duly presented toCaptain Jones, who was informed that he had come all the way fromLouisiana to join a partisan company. He was a Barrington boy, well upin military matters, and desired to be sworn into the State servicewithout the loss of time. Dick was careful not to say too much for fearthat he should let out some secrets that Rodney had not yet hadopportunity to tell him. Of course the captain was delighted to see therecruit from Louisiana, shook him by the hand as if he had been ayounger brother, and sent for an officer to take his descriptive list.He was not required to pass the surgeon, and the oath he took was to theeffect that he would obey Governor Jackson and nobody else. This beingdone Dick took him off to introduce him to the members of his mess.

  "But before I do that," said Dick, halting just outside the captain'stent and drawing Rodney off on one side, "I want to know just where youstand, and whether or not you have had any reason to change yourpolitics since I last saw you. Are you as good a rebel as you used tobe?"

  "I never was a rebel," exclaimed Rodney, with some heat. "I am ready tofight for my State at any time; but I deny the right of my Governor tocompel me to obey such a man as General Lacey. I didn't want to be sworninto the Confederate army, and that was what sent me up here."

  "That's all right," replied Dick. "I'm glad things turned out that way;otherwise you wouldn't be in my company now. But you don't seem to be asred-hot as you used to be. You say you don't believe in burning outUnion men."

  "I certainly do not. I believe in fighting the men, but not in abusingthe women and children."

  "The Union women are like our own--worse than the men," answered Dick."That is what I was trying to get at, and I must warn you to be carefulhow you talk to anybody but me; and I, being an officer of the StateGuard, can't stand too much treasonable nonsense," he added, drawinghimself up to his full height and scowling fiercely at his friend.

  "I suppose not; but I don't see that there is anything treasonable in mysaying that I don't believe in making war upon those who cannot defendthemselves."

  "If some of those defenseless persons had been the means of getting youbushwhacked and your buildings destroyed, you might think differently.But come on, and I will make you acquainted with some of the best amongthe boys."

  There were only two "boys" in the tent into which he was conducted, andthey were almost old enough to be gray-headed; and as they were gettingready to go on post, Rodney had little more than time to say he was gladto know them. Then Dick said he had some writing to do for the captainthat would keep him busy for half an hour, and in the meantime Rodneywould have to look out for himself.

  "Here's a late copy of the _Richmond Whig_, if you would like to seeit," said one of his new messmates, who having thrown a powder horn andbullet pouch over his shoulder, stood holding a long squirrel rifle inone hand while he extended the paper with the other. "There's aneditorial on the inside that may interest you. If the man who wrote ithad been trying to express the sentiments of this mess he could not havecome nearer to them. Good-by for a couple of hours."

  When he was left alone in the tent Rodney hunted up the editorial inquestion and read as follows:

  "We are not enough in the secrets of our authorities to specify the dayon which Jeff Davis will dine at the White House, and Ben McCulloch takehis siesta in General Siegel's gilded tent. We should dislike to produceany disappointment by naming too soon or too early a day; but it willsave trouble if the gentlemen will keep themselves in readiness todislodge at a moment's notice. If they are not smitten, however, withmore than judicial blindness, they do not need this warning at ourhands. They must know that the measure of their iniquities is fall, andthe patience of outraged freedom is exhausted. Among all the brave menfrom the Rio Grande to the Potomac, and stretching over into insulted,indignant and infuriated Maryland, there is but one word on every lip'Washington'; and one sentiment in every heart vengeance on the tyrantswho pollute the capital of the Republic!"

  The paper was full of such idle vaporings as these, but they firedRodney Gray's Southern heart to such an extent that he was almost readyto quarrel with Dick Graham when the latter came into the tent an hourlater, and began discussing the situation in his cool, level-headedway.

  "Yes; I have seen the article," said he, when Rodney asked him what hethought of it, "and it is nothing but the veriest bosh."

  "Dick Graham, how dare you?" exclaimed Rodney.

  "Oh, I have heard such talk as that before, and right here in this tentfrom boys who have known me ever since I was knee-high to a duck,"replied Dick. "'The tyrants who pollute the capital of the Republic!'The men who are there, are there because they got the most votes; and inthis country the majority rules. That's me. Now mark what I tell you:The majority of the people will say that this Union shall not be brokenup."

  "Then you believe that might makes right, do you?"

  "I don't know whether I do or not. If we have the power, we have theright to rise up and shake off the existing form of government and formone that will suit us better. Abe Lincoln said so in one of hisspeeches, and that's his language almost word for word. But whether theNorthern people, having the power, have the right to make us stay in theUnion when we don't want to, is a question that is a little too deep forme."

  "They have neither the power nor the right," said Rodney angrily. "Butyou always were as obstinate as a mule, and we can't agree if we talktill doomsday. Now listen while I tell you what I have been throughsince I said good-by to you in the Barrington depot."

  To repeat what he said would be to write a good portion of this bookover again. He told the story pretty nearly as we have tried to tell it,with this difference: He touched very lightly upon the courage he haddisplayed and the risk he had run in helping Tom Percival out of thecorn-crib in the wood-cutters' camp, although he was loud in his praisesof Tom's coolness and bravery. Dick Graham found it hard to believe someparts of the narrative.

  "So Tom wasn't satisfied with risking his neck by going to St. Louis tosee Lyon, but had to come back through Iron and St. Francois countiesand try to raise another company of Home Guards there. He's either allpluck or else plum crazy."

  "He's got a straight head on his shoulders; I'll bear witness to that,"replied Rodney. "What do you suppose he will do at home? Where's hiscompany?"

  "When the hunter blows his horn his puppies will howl," answered Dick."His men are scattered here and there and everywhere; but he knows whereto find them, and if we ever meet those troops that are concentrating atSpringfield, we'll meet Tom Percival. You did a neighborly act when youshoved him your revolver. I wouldn't have given much for you ifthat--man what's his name?--Westall had found it out. Those Emergencymen are nothing but robbers and murderers."

  "That was about the idea I formed of them, and I say they ought to beput down if this war is going to be conducted on civilized principles.Where were you when Lyon captured that camp at St. Louis?"

  "I was getting ready to go to Booneville. I was i
n that scrimmage andhave smelled powder on half-a-dozen occasions."

  "Was that a Secession camp or not?"

  "Not as anybody knows of," replied Dick. "It was composed of the Statemilitia which the Governor had ordered out for drill. Under the law hehad a right to call them out."

  "Now what's the use of your trying any of your jokes on me?" demandedRodney. "You don't believe a word you have said, and I know it. Behonest now, and have done with your nonsense."

  "Well, General Frost, who commanded the camp, assured Captain Lyon thathe was not hostile to the government," answered Dick. "But when Lyon gothold of it, he found that the two main streets were named Davis andBeauregard; that a good portion of the men were in rebel uniform; andthat they were mostly armed with government muskets which you Louisianafellows stole out of the Baton Rouge arsenal. Lyon's action in thatmatter was what caused the riots. I'll say one thing in your privateear: The old flag floats over St. Louis and it's going to stay there."

  "I'm not going to get into any argument with you, but you will see thatyou are wrong. We must have that city in order to command theMississippi to the Gulf. Wasn't Jackson's proposition and Price's, thatthe State should remain neutral, a fair one?"

  "That's a question that will be settled when this war is over, and notbefore."

  "How do you make that out?"

  "If there is such a thing as State Rights, it was a fair proposition; ifthere isn't, it wasn't. It implies the right of a State to make termswith the government; and that is the very point we are wrangling over.There's but one way to decide it, and that is by force of arms."

  "Do you still think we are going to be whipped?"

  "I am sure of it."

  "And if we are, will you give up the doctrine of State Rights?"

  "I'll have to. I can't do anything else. But such talk will lead us intoargument, and you say you don't want to argue. I have been in a fever ofsuspense ever since you sent that second telegram to my father in St.Louis. In it you said, in effect, that you would start up the river onthe first boat; and father wrote me that when he got it, he was ready todance."

  "With delight?" asked Rodney.

  "Not much. With apprehension. He supposed you were coming up with yourwhole company. You asked him, for the company, if Price would acceptyou, and he met Price on the street and showed him the dispatch. Pricesaid he would be glad to do it; and when you sent word that you werecoming, father thought, of course, that you were all coming, and he knewthat if you did, Lyon would make prisoners of the last one of you themoment you touched the levee."

  "Your father didn't give us credit for much sense, did he?" said Rodney,with some disgust in his tones. "The boys wouldn't come and so I had tocome alone. I hope that second dispatch did not put your father to anytrouble, but I was obliged to send it to throw those telegraph operatorsoff my track and blind them to my real intentions. I suppose that St.Louis cotton-factor was on the watch?"

  "Of course; and the minute he put his eyes on that roan colt, he wouldhave pointed you and him out to the soldiers. Your second dispatchfrightened father, but it did not put him to any trouble. About thattime he received a hint that he was being watched, that he was believedto be hanging about the city for the purpose of picking up informationthat would do us rebels some good, and so he dug out. He's at home now;and if we get a chance, we'll ride down there some dark night. I shouldlike to have you acquainted."

  "Thank you. I'll go any time you say the word; but why do you persist inspeaking of our side as 'rebels'? I say we are not. We simply desire toresume the powers which our forefathers were foolish enough to delegateto the general government. Why, the great State of New York, in adoptingthe Federal Constitution, reserved the right to withdraw from the Unionin case things were not run to suit her."

  "Yes; but the great State of New York isn't foolish enough to try anysuch game as that. She'd be whipped so quick that it would make her headswim; and that's just what is going to happen to South Carolina. But youalways was as obstinate as a mule, and. I don't care to get into anyargument with you."

  Rodney Gray was now a full-fledged partisan; but the company to which hewas attached was more like mounted infantry than cavalry, for with theexception of the commissioned officers, there was scarcely one among themen who was provided with a saber. The most of Price's men were armedwith shotguns and hunting rifles, and in some respects were superior tocavalry. They could move rapidly, fight as infantry, and if worsted inthe engagement, jump on their horses and make a quick retreat. Theiruniform was cadet gray with light blue slashings, and so nearly like theone that had been worn by the Barrington students, that all Dick Grahamhad to do to pass muster on dress parade was to add a sergeant's_chevrons_ to the old uniform he had worn at school. Rodney Gray was an"odd sheep in the flock," but Dick had two suits of clothes, one ofwhich his friend Rodney always wore when he was on duty, for CaptainJones was somewhat particular, and wanted his men to appear well on postand when they were ordered out for drill. The mail-carrier who tookRodney's first letter to his father from the camp, took also an orderfor a full outfit which was addressed to a merchant tailor in LittleRock. Being shut off from St. Louis by Lyon's advancing troops, all themail, with the exception of some secret correspondence which was kept upduring the whole of the war, was sent by courier to Little Rock and NewMadrid, and from these places forwarded to its destination in theSouth.

  Rodney Gray arrived at Price's camp during the latter part of June; andalmost immediately became aware that preparations were being made for anevent of some importance. There was much scouting going on, although heand Dick took no part in it, much to their regret, and now and thenthere was a skirmish reported. The junction of Price's forces with thoseof Jackson and Rains, which Siegel hoped to prevent by a rapid marchupon Neosho, took place at Carthage, as we have said; but in spite ofthis Siegel resolved to attack. He left Neosho on the 4th of July, andon the 6th, fought the battle of Carthage against a greatly superiorforce. Rodney's regiment was in the thickest of it. It tried to outflankSiegel in order to seize his wagon train, but could not stand againstthe terrible cross-fire of the Union artillery, which mowed them downlike blades of grass. The first man killed in Rodney's company was theone who had given him that copy of the _Richmond Whig_. While chargingat Rodney's side he was struck in the breast by a piece of shell, and infalling almost knocked the Barrington boy out of his saddle. There wasno time to be frightened or to think of lending a helping hand to hisinjured comrade, for the line in the rear was coming on, yelling likemad, and anything that opposed its progress would have been run down;anything, perhaps, except that well-managed battery on their right,whose steady, merciless fire was more than living men could endure. Theybroke and fled, and were not called into action again that day; for whenSiegel, finding that he could not take the town, withdrew from the fieldfor the purpose of effecting a junction with another Union forcestationed at Mount Vernon, midway between Carthage and Springfield, theroad he followed led through thick woods in which mounted troops couldnot operate. Here the Union commander, aided by his superior artilleryand long range rifles, held his own until darkness came on and theConfederates retreated. It was a drawn battle. The Confederates did notdare renew the attack, and Siegel was afraid to hold the field longenough to give his weary troops a chance to rest. He marched all nightand reached his destination the next day.

  THE CHARGE OF THE RANGERS.]

  When the orderly sergeant of Rodney's company came to make out hisreport, he found that there were six men missing out of seventy-three.One out of twelve was not a severe loss for an hour's fight (whenPicket's five thousand made their useless charge at Gettysburg they lostseven men out of every nine), but it was enough to show Rodney thatthere was a dread reality in war. He told Dick Graham that as long as helived he would never forget the expression that came upon the face ofthe comrade who fell at his side, the first man he had ever seen killed.He did not want to go to sleep that night, for fear that he would seethat face again in his dreams.
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  "They say a fellow gets over feeling so after a while," was the way inwhich Dick sought to comfort and encourage him. "But I'll tell youwhat's a fact: I don't believe that a man in full possession of hissenses can ever go into action without being afraid."

  General Lyon's advance troops having been forced to retreat, the boysbegan to wonder what was to be the next thing on the programme, and itwas not long before they found out. Notwithstanding the confidentprediction of the captain who commanded the scouting party that hadrescued him from the power of the Union men at Truman's house (thatfifteen thousand Confederates would be enough to meet and whip thetwenty thousand Federals that Lyon was supposed to be concentrating atSpringfield), Price began falling back toward Cassville, striving as hewent to increase his force by fair means or foul. His mounted trooperscarried things with a high hand. If a citizen, listening to theirpatriotic appeals, shouldered his gun, mounted his horse and went withthem, he was a good fellow, a brave man, and his property was safe; butif he showed the least reluctance about "falling in," he was at onceaccused of being a Union man and treated accordingly. Price wanted fiftythousand men; but, as he afterward told the people of Missouri, lessthan five thousand, out of a male population of more than two hundredthousand, responded to his calls for help. It may or may not be a factthat that small number comprised all the men that were sworn into theState service; but it is a fact that he commanded more than eightthousand men at the battle of Carthage, and more than twenty thousand atthe siege of Lexington. Price's object in falling back toward Cassvillewas to meet McCulloch with his seven thousand four hundred men who werecoming up from Arkansas to reinforce him, and to draw Lyon as far aspossible from his base of supplies. These forces met at Crane Creek, andalmost immediately there began a conflict of authority between Price andMcCulloch, the former urging and the latter opposing an attack upon theUnion troops at Springfield. The dispute was finally settled by GeneralPolk, who sent an order all the way from Columbus, Kentucky, commandingMcCulloch to advance at once. Observe that he did not include Price inthe order, for at this period of the war the Confederate authoritiesrespected State Rights after a fashion of their own (they did not evenremove their capital from Montgomery to Richmond until Virginia hadgiven them her gracious permission to do so), and gave no signs of aleaning toward the despotism which they established in less than twelvemonths.

  Meanwhile General Lyon, whose position was one of the greatest danger,could not wait to be attacked. He had weakened his army by garrisoningall the places he seized during his advance and now he had only seventhousand troops left. Even this small force was rapidly growing less,for as fast as their terms of enlistment expired, they were permitted toreturn to their homes; provisions were getting scarce; and GeneralFremont, who had lately assumed command of the Western Department, couldnot send him any reinforcements from St. Louis. So the only thing theUnion commander could do to stop the Confederate advance and extricatehimself from the dangers with which he was surrounded, was to assume theoffensive.

  The historian tells us that there was something sublime in that boldmarch of Lyon on the night of the 9th of August, with a force of fivethousand men, to Wilson's Creek, to meet in the morning an armynumbering anywhere between fifteen and twenty thousand. His only hope ofsuccess lay in a surprise; but there was where he was disappointed, forit so happened that at the time he made his advance, the enemy wasmaking preparations to attack him on four sides at once; but while theywere thinking about it, they were assailed by two columns, one in frontand the other on the flank. This brought about the battle of Wilson'sCreek, which, next to Bull Run, was the severest engagement of the year.General Lyon was killed while leading a bayonet charge at the head of anIowa regiment. Major Sturgis, on whom the command devolved, ordered aretreat after six hours of useless fighting, and the Confederates weretoo badly cut up to prevent his leisurely withdrawal. But, after all,that battle was a Union victory, for it "interposed a check against thecombined armies of the Confederacy from which they could not readilyrecover." This one fight taught the "dashing Texan Ranger" McCullochthat there was a bit of difference between meeting a sterling Unionsoldier like Lyon, and a traitor like Twiggs who would surrender ondemand, and a short time afterward he withdrew into Arkansas, leavingPrice to continue the campaign, or disband his State troops and go home,just as he pleased. At least that is what history says about it; butwhen Rodney and Dick asked their captain why it was that the two armiesseparated after going to so much trouble to get together, the reasongiven was:

  "We're waiting for orders from the War Department at Richmond. It willtake a good while for them to get here, and in the meantime we don'twant to impoverish the country. Price will stay here to watch the enemy,who have retreated toward Rolla, which is a hundred miles from here, andMcCulloch will go into Arkansas to recruit his army. When the ordersarrive we shall know what we are going to do next."

  Of course it goes without saying that Rodney and Dick did soldiers' dutyduring the light at Wilson's Creek and in the subsequent movements ofPrice's troops, which resulted in the siege and capture of Lexington;but they did not see Tom Percival or hear of him, nor did they findopportunity to visit Dick Graham's home.

  While General Fremont was fortifying St. Louis so that he could hold itwith a small force, and use the greater portion of his army in themovements he was planning against Price, the latter heard a piece ofnews that sent him Northward by rapid marches.