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Bowling Green and returned to Louisiana that evening to be married. At 7:30 Lizzie Chambers Hunt and I were joined in marriage by the Reverend John T. Worthington, rector of the Episcopal Church at that place. The wedding party that attended the bride and groom was composed of Misses Sallie Block, Ella Porter, Maria and Louise Hardin, Robert A. Campbell, William McCormick, Righter Levering, and William R. Hardin. Shortly after that time, Sallie Block was married to William McCormick and Ella Porter to Righter Levering.

It has now been sixty-one years since the day my marriage took place. All of those composing the wedding party except Robert A. Campbell, Louise Hardin Pratt, and myself, have passed into the great beyond. Mr. Campbell is now in his 90th, Mrs. Pratt in her 82d, and I in my 84th year.

The evening after we were married, my wife and I took the boat, Rob Roy, on her return trip to St. Louis, for a visit to my mother in Lincoln County. On our way we stopped over at St. Charles from Saturday, the 17th, to Monday, the 19th, and had a visit with Judge and Mrs. W. W. Edwards, the latter being an elder sister of my wife. On Monday we proceeded to the farm in Lincoln County and there remained with my mother until the following Thursday.

She took the course usually observed in her day, of preparing something for the comfort of new beginners at housekeeping. She engaged a neighbor, with a wagon and team, to make a trip to Bowling Green. Promptly on the morning specified, he appeared and took on his load, consisting of two

hundred pounds of hams and sides, two hundred pounds of flour, two hundred pounds of cornmeal, forty pounds of lard, one quarter of beef, and a feather bed. To all this was added a negro woman, Rachel, and her three children, all of whom were slaves. Rachel's husband, a man by the name of Ambrose who belonged to Doctor Henry C. Wright, was permitted to accompany his wife and children to Bowling Green. These altogether made a pretty fair wagonload.

My wife and I took an old buggy drawn by faithful old Sam, and we all started early Thursday morning for Bowling Green, a distance of thirty-five miles. Shortly after starting it began to snow and so continued all day. The roads were heavy and we did not reach the end of our journey until it was dark. The negroes went to the little house in the yard of the place I had bought, and there remained during the night. My wife and I staid at Blain's Hotel, and the next morning, bright and early, we went to our own house, built fires, and began housekeeping.

I prevailed upon my friend, Doctor Stephen J. Reynolds of Bowling Green, to hire Ambrose from Doctor Wright for the ensuing year, so that Ambrose and his wife and children could be close to each other. On the day after our arrival we were joined by my wife's mother and little sister. My wife's brother, Levi Pettibone Hunt, was temporarily at school at St. Charles. Thus it was that the family was formed and continued until death removed Mrs. Hunt.

Toward the end of November I received my commission as Circuit Attorney for the 3d Judicial Circuit. The first term of the Circuit Court for the trial

of a criminal cause was held at Danville, Montgomery County, on the first Monday in December. I rode across the country on horseback to Danville and prosecuted a man for malicious mischief. The accused was at outs with a neighbor of his, and out of revenge for a real or supposed grievance, cut out the tongue of a mule belonging to his supposed enemy. The defendant was defended by General Jeff Jones and Henry C. Hayden of Callaway County. After a trial lasting a couple of days the defendant was convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years.

VI

THE VOLCANO RUMBLES

Missouri State Convention of 1861- Secession Debated-Camp Jackson-Lincoln Inaugurated Frank P. Blair, Jr. — Incompetence of Fremont Appointed Lieutenant of Home Guards - Amusing Incidents of the Time.

At this time the country was in an uproar over the election of Abraham Lincoln and threats of disunion were heard on every side. The Legislature of the State in January passed an act authorizing an election of delegates to a State Convention, ostensibly to take into consideration the relation of the State to the Federal Government, but in reality for the purpose of passing an ordinance of secession. The election was to be held in February, 1861. The number of delegates to be elected was three from each Senatorial District in the State.

Sentiment was very much divided and the bitterness engendered was most pronounced. There were unconditional Union men, conditional Union men, secessionists and semi-secessionists. The members

of the Legislature that passed the act calling the convention were strongly pro-slavery, and it was their purpose to control the election of delegates and thus secure the passage of an ordinance uniting the for

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