Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/691

 MISSOURI lature were also declared vacant. On Aug. 1 Gov. Gamble, appointed by the convention, was inaugurated. On the 5th Gov. Jackson, at New Madrid, issued a proclamation declar- ing the separation of the state from the Union. Confederate forces were now assembling in large numbers in S. W. Missouri under Gens. Pillow, Hardee, McCulloch, Price, and Thomp- son. From Booneville Gen. Lyon's force moved to Springfield, and on Aug. 10 encoun- tered a force of state troops and confederate soldiers from Arkansas under Gens. Price and McCulloch at Wilson's creek, near Springfield, where Gen. Lyon was killed. After the battle, the federal forces, under command of Col. Si- gel, retired to Rolla. On Aug. 31 Gen. Fre- mont, commanding the department of the West, declared martial law throughout the state. A large federal force was now gathered at St. Louis for operation against the confed- erates in the S. W. part of the state. On Sept. 20 Lexington, defended by about 3,000 federal soldiers under Col. Mulligan, was sur- rendered after a severe conflict with a much larger army under Gen. Price. This caused Gen. Fremont, Sept. 27, to hasten from St. Louis to Jefferson City. The confederates, however, numbering about 20,000, soon re- tired from Lexington to Springfield and fur- ther south. The advance of Fremont in the southwest, which was attended with numerous skirmishes, was made in five divisions under Gens. Hunter, Pope, Sigel, Asboth, and Mc- Kinstry. On Nov. 2 Fremont was succeed- ed by Gen. Hunter. The federal forces soon after began to recede, and the confederates to advance in the same direction. On Nov. 18 Gen. Halleck arrived at St. Louis to as- sume command of the western department. Certain members of the legislature, friendly to the confederate cause, having obtained a quorum of that body at Neosho, on Nov. 2 passed an act ratifying an arrangement be- tween commissioners of the state and the con- federate government, by which Missouri was to become a member of the confederacy. At the beginning of 1862 nearly half of the state was held by the confederate troops ; but in February a strong federal force under Gen. Curtis drove Price into Arkansas. Through- out the year the state was much disturbed by guerilla warfare. In the summer of 1863 the state convention which had been originally assembled to consider the subject of secession, and had been kept in existence by adjourn- ments, passed an ordinance providing for the emancipation of all slaves in the state in 1870. In the autumn of 1864 Gen. Price, having again invaded Missouri, threatened St. Louis, and traversed a large part of the state, but was finally forced to retreat into Arkansas. The first election for state officers after the begin- ning of the war was held in November, 1864, the state having been governed during this period by officers appointed by the state con- vention. On Jan. 6, 1865, a convention as- MISSOURI RIVER 673 sembled in St. Louis and framed a new con- stitution, which was ratified by the people in June following by a vote of 43,670 to 41,808. During the war Missouri furnished to the federal army 108,773 troops, equivalent to 86,192 for three years. The 15th amendment to the federal constitution was ratified by the legislature in 1869 by a large majority. MISSOURI RIVER (i. e., Mud river), the prin- cipal tributary of the Mississippi. It prop- erly forms one stream with that river, being much greater in length and volume than the other branch which bears that name above the mouth of the Missouri. It rises near the boundary between Montana and Idaho, among the Rocky mountains, in several small streams, the principal of which are Jefferson and Wis- dom rivers (the latter rising within a mile of the head springs of Clarke's fork of the Colum- bia), whose sources lie between lat. 44 20' and 45 35' N., and Ion. 112 and 114 W., uniting about lat. 45 15', Ion. 110 30'. According to some geographers, the Missouri properly be- gins about 80 m. further E., where the stream formed by the Jefferson and Wisdom, which on this hypothesis retains thus far the former name, is joined by the Madison and Gallatin. The Madison, the middle and largest fork, by some considered the true source, rises in the National Park in N. W. Wyoming, near the sources of the Snake and Yellowstone. After a devious course N. from the junction of the three forks to about lat. 48, the Missouri runs E. through Montana into Dakota, where it is joined by (lesser) White Earth river. Its gen- eral direction is S. E. thence to the Mississippi, which it joins in lat. 38 50' 50" N., Ion. 90 14' 45" W., after separating Nebraska from Iowa, forming a small part of the dividing line between Missouri and Kansas and Nebraska, and flowing across the whole state of Missouri. Its length to the Madison fork source is 2,908 m., which added to 1,286 m., the length of the lower Mississippi, makes its whole course to the gulf 4,194 m. It has commonly been navi- gated as far as the mouth of the Yellowstone, on the border of Dakota and Montana, but it may be ascended by steamboats much further, to the Great falls almost at the very base of the mountains, and about 2,500 m. from the Mississippi. There is no serious obstruction to navigation below this point, though at certain seasons the water is shallow, owing to its pass- ing through a dry and open country in its up- per course, and being subject to extensive evap- oration. It is generally turbid and rapid. In its lower course it is bordered by a narrow alluvial valley of great fertility, back of which lie generally extensive prairies. At its mouth it is over half a mile wide, and in many places it is much wider. Its principal tributaries are the Yellowstone, Little Missouri, Big Cheyenne, (greater) White Earth, Niobrarah, Platte or Nebraska, Kansas, and Osage on the right, and the Milk, Dakota, Big Sioux, Little Sioux, and Grand on the left. It will thus be seen that