loss was deeply and keenly felt by the Unionists of the State. The battle was not decisive. The Union army, after the death of Lyon, fell back to Springfield but the troops opposing it did not follow. It was practically a "drawn battle."

The State Convention remained in existence and continued, when in session, to enact laws. The military forces were in constant clash and some important battles were fought in different parts, notably at Lexington and other places in the middle and western part of the State. The Union forces continued to drive the Jackson State forces toward the south. At Wilson's Creek, south of Springfield, in Greene County, the fleeing troops reinforced by companies from Arkansas made a stand and a terrific battle was fought, with no advantage to either side as mentioned above.

John C. Fremont had command of all the Federal forces in Missouri, with his headquarters in St. Louis. His utter incompetency and failure to reinforce the army in command of General Lyon was the cause of the disaster, if such it may be called, at Springfield. Had he moved the troops, then stationed at Rolla under the command of Colonel John D. Stevenson, to the aid of Lyon, an overwhelming victory would have resulted and possibly the life of Lyon saved. Fremont certainly was the most stupendous failure of the war.

Stevenson came to St. Louis from Rolla to urge upon Fremont the importance of ordering his (Stevenson's) command to Springfield, but it was not until the second day after his arrival that he could get by the guards into Fremont's room. He received

no encouragement whatever. The statement of this visit I learned from the lips of Stevenson himself. During all of this time a semblance of civil government was maintained. The courts in many parts of the State were kept open. Home Guards were voluntary military organizations enrolled into companies, electing their own officers and aiding as best they could government authority.

In Pike County this organization was quite large, and was continually on duty, with its principal headquarters at Louisiana. As heretofore stated, I was the State's Attorney, having been elected in November, 1860, for a term of four years. In July of that year I addressed a letter to Aylett H. Buckner, the Judge of the Circuit Court, to ascertain whether he would hold the ensuing September term of court at Bowling Green. He answered as follows:

Sir:

I will hold the September Term of the Pike Circuit Court provided the illegal and unauthorized organization known as the Home Guard, is disbanded or put into the actual service of the Lincoln government. In no event will any civil case be tried.

This letter shows where he stood, what he thought of the Home Guards, and what little respect he had for the Government of the United States. The term of court was not held and the Judge himself fled the country.

John B. Henderson was appointed BrigadierGeneral of the militia, including the Home Guards, by Govenor Gamble. He was, therefore, in command of all the volunteer forces in the county. I was liv

ing at Bowling Green, the county seat, and was a Lieutenant in a company of Home Guards organized at that place with Jesse Hardin as Captain. Subsequently a regiment of "six months" men was organized in the county with Thomas J. C. Fagg as Colonel. Henderson was in command of this regiment as well as the other organizations that together made up a brigade. One company, known as "Rice's Company," was a sort of artillery squad with one field-piece, an ancient iron cannon that was more effective for noise than anything else. There was also a company of engineers (?) under the command of a man by the name of Woods who at one time was County Surveyor. The rank and file had no uniform, but what they lacked in this respect was made up by the gorgeous trappings of its officers, of which I was one. It was a motley crowd of soldiers, but they were loyal to the Old Flag and "their hearts beat as one."

The two senators from Missouri at Washington were Trusten Polk and Waldo P. Johnson. They were expelled from the Senate on account of disloyalty. John B. Henderson of Pike was appointed to one of the vacancies, Robert Wilson of Buchanan County to the other by Governor Gamble.

The first company of troops that came to Pike County regularly enlisted and sworn into the service for three years, belonged to the 1st Illinois Cavalry. This was commanded by Captain John McNulta of Bloomington, Illinois. It stopped for a day or two in Bowling Green and while there McNulta was a guest at my house. This company proceeded through the State and became a part of the command that

assembled at Lexington, Missouri, under the command of Colonel Mulligan. The battle that shortly ensued between the Federal forces under Mulligan and the overwhelming rebel forces under Price, was a fierce one. It resulted in Colonel Mulligan's surrender.

In this battle my brother, John S. Dyer, was a soldier in the rebel army. The prisoners taken were finally exchanged, and McNulta organized a regiment of Infantry and became its Colonel. I never saw McNulta from the time he was at my house in 1861 until I met him near Mobile, Alabama, in March, 1865, on the battle-field of Spanish Fort. He was the Colonel of an Illinois regiment and I was Colonel of a Missouri regiment. He belonged to a corps commanded by General Gordon Granger, and I to the 16th Corps commanded by General A. J. Smith. We met at the intersection of two roads. Neither of us knew of the presence of the other in the siege and battle. Both were elated, however, at the meeting and McNulta greeted me with great cordiality, saying, “Dyer, I have a pistol in this (right) holster and a bottle of whiskey in the other (left). Which will you take?" I had no hesitancy in deciding.

The Proceedings of the Convention generally covered the events that happened during its existence, that is, the changing phases of the times were fairly mirrored in its legislation. As before said, the membership of this Convention was made up of very able men, those that would have adorned any legislative body in the world. No greater men than some of these composed the Senate and House of Representatives at Washington. Hamilton R. Gamble, James

O. Broadhead, John B. Henderson, Willard P. Hall, William A. Hall, John F. Philips, Samuel M. Breckenridge, Thomas T. Gantt and Robert M. Stewart were possibly the leaders of the Convention, but the body as a whole was composed of men of brains and courage. All of them have gone to their reward.

The last one to go was the able lawyer, the gifted advocate and orator, the brave soldier, and the fearless and independent Judge, John Finis Philips. He died in March, 1919, of pneumonia, at the residence of his old friend, Colonel Fordyce, at Hot Springs, Arkansas, after an illness of forty-eight hours. He was in St. Louis on the Saturday and Sunday before his death. On Saturday evening at the Planters Hotel he delivered an address before the "Pike County Colony in St. Louis." This was in itself a master oration. He was eighty-four years old at the time, and the greatness, statesmanship and glory of his old associates of the Convention that saved and held Missouri firmly to her moorings in the Union, were beautifully reflected in the kindly, gentle face and eloquent speech of him who was the last surviving member. Those of the present generation of men and women know but little of the debt they are under to him and his associates. If in a modest way some of their acts are recorded here, that they may be of benefit to those who are to come, then the labor of preparing them will not prove altogether worthless.

Many ludicrous and amusing incidents occurred in Pike County in the early stages of the conflict. A few of these I have tried to remember.

The only time during the war that an attempt was