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1862.] Hundred Days in Missouri.

Fremont’:

1862.] a considerable

time and without apparent diﬁiculty, a platform suspended beneath him on which stood twelve gentlemen, all heavier individually than the Doctor him self, and weighing, inclusive of the entire apparatus lifted with them, nearly nine teen hundred pounds avoirdupois. In the

of this tremendous feat, Dr. W. employed neither straps, bands, nor girdle,— nothing in short but a stout

performance

oaken

stick

and having attached rather formidable-looking chains.

At

of his

a committee, appointed by the audience, and furnished with one of Fair

request,

banks’s scales, superintended

all the ex

FREMONT’S HUNDRED I. Tm'. narrative we propose to give of events in Missouri is not intended to be

of General Fremont, nor in any respect an answer to the charges which have been made against him. Our purpose is the more humble one of presenting a hasty sketch of the expedition to Springﬁeld, conﬁning ourselves almost entirely to the incidents which came un der the observation of an ofﬁcer of the a defence

staff.

General Fremont was in command of the Western Department precisely One Hundred Days. He assumed the com mand at the time when the army with which Lyon had captured Camp Jackson and won the Battle of Booneville was on the point of dissolution. The enemy, knowing that the term for which our sol diers had been enlisted was near its close, began offensive movements along their Cairo, Bird’s Point, Iron whole line. ton, and Springﬁeld were simultaneously threatened.

I

A few evenings after, lifted, in the same way, in Lynn, eighteen hun dred and sixty; in Brookline, eighteen hundred and ninety; in Medford, nine teen hundred and thirty-four; in Mal den, nineteen hundred and two; and in Charlestown, nineteen hundred and pounds.

forty.

As

my strength

is still increasing in

I

an undiminished ratio, am fairly be ginning to wonder where the limit will be; and the old adage of the camel’s back and the last feather occasionally have ﬁxed three thou suggests itself.

I

sand pounds as my ne plus ultra.

periments.”

General’s

The exact weight lifted on this occa sion was eighteen hundred and thirty-six

ﬁtting across his shoulders, to it a couple

115

Jeff

Thompson wrote to his

friends in St. Louis, promising to be in that

DAYS IN MISSOURI. city in a month. The sad, but glorious day upon Wilson’s Creek defeated the Rebel designs, and compelled McCulloch, Pil low, Hardee, and Thompson to retire. Relieved from immediate danger, Gen eral Fremont found an opportunity to organize the expedition down the Missis Wou by the magic of his name sippi. and the ceaseless energy of his action, the hardy youth of the Northwest ﬂock ed into St. Louis, eager to share his la bors and his glory. There was little time for organization and discipline. They were armed with such weapons as could be procured against

the competition

of

General Government, and at once forwarded to the exposed points. Histo ry can furnish few parallels to the hasty the

levy and organization of the Army of the West- VVhen suddenly required to de fend Washington, the Government was able to summon

the equipped

and disci

plined militia of the East, and could call upon the. inexhaustible resources of a But in the wealthy and skilful people. West there was neither a disciplined Men, in militia nor trained mechanies.