Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/388

 328 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI one that it was impossible for the state long to hold. The tide of feeling on both sides rose too high to allow the state to remain neutral. Armies, both North and South, en- tered its borders and thousands of its citizens enlisted in the armies, some fighting for the Union, some for the South. Missouri con- tributed as many soldiers to both armies, ac- cording to its population, as almost any other state in the Union. Not only did the state furnish many sol- diers to the armies, it suffered as great damage and devastation as did any of the other states, except those like Virginia which were the scene of the greater militarj- oper- ations. In no other part of Missouri was the excitement greater or the consequent loss of property and life larger than in Southeast Missouri. The American population of this part of the state M'as very largely Southern and they desired to give all assistance pos- sible to the South, but there were in two or three counties of this section lai'ge numbers of German people and they were just as loyal to the Union. The feeling between them grew very high and many depredations were com- mitted on both sides. To understand the military operations in Southeast Missouri, it is necessary to remem- ber that St. Louis was made the headquarters of the Federal troops in the state. After the capture of Camp Jackson by Captain Lyon, the Confederates never had possession of St. Louis; it remained in the hands of Federal troops during all the war, and it was from St. Louis that there were sent out expeditions towards the South and Southwest to reduce those parts of the state which were held by the Confederates. Arkansas, the state im- mediately south of Missouri, seceded and from Arkansas a number of expeditions crossed the line into iIissouri. Southeast ilissouri bordered on the river, which was made the highway for the trans- portation of troops and supplies and for the carrying on of certain operations against the South. This brought Southeast ilissouri into the very center of the war. In May, 1861, the state legislature passed an act providing for the organization of the Missouri State Guards. The state was divided into military districts; Southeast Missouri was made the first of these. The Governor ap- pointed N. W. Watkins, of Cape Girardeau county as Brigadier-General to command this military district. It was his duty to organize the Missouri State Guards in this part of the state. General Watkins found the work un- congenial and soon resigned the position. He was succeeded by Jeff Thompson, whose head- quarters for a time were established at Bloomfield. The first plans of the Confederates for an invasion of JMissouri provided that this inva- sion should be made by three separate bodies of troops. Colonel McCulloch was to enter the state in the southwest. General Hardee in the center and General Pillow in the east. Hardee brought 5,000 men and advanced as far as Greenville, while General Pillow reached and took possession of New Madrid. Neither of the forces penetrated any fur- ther into the state at this time, but General Thompson with the State Guards, was active and fought a number of skirmishes with the Federal troops. The Northern sympathiz- ei-s who were not in the regular organized army, had been formed into Home Guards. Between these Home Guards and the Confed- erate State Guards there was constant hos- tility and warfare. On August 11, 1S61, some of Thompson's men entered the village of Hamburg in Scott county. They there made an attack on a body of Home Guards of whom