General Joseph Reid Anderson

Anderson was of Irish descent and was the son of Colonel William Anderson (1764–1839) and Anne (née Thomas) Anderson. Anderson’s father was a self taught engineer and a surveyor. He was also a veteran of the American Revolutionary war and commanded a Virginia regiment during the War of 1812. Anderson was the fifth of six sons and ninth of ten children.

Growing up he attended a school in nearby Fincastle. Joseph Reid Anderson obtained an appointment to West Point and graduated in the class of 1836. Anderson graduated 4th of 49 in his class at West Point.

Upon graduation, he served briefly in the 3rd Artillery, U.S. Army. He was then transferred to a job as an assistant engineer in the Engineer Bureau in Washington. He was officially transferred to the United States Army Corps of Engineer on July 1, 1837. He served with the Corps of Engineers in Washington, DC, Fort Monroe, Va at the mouth of the James River and Fort Pulaski at the mouth of the Savannah River.

In May, 1837 he married Sara Eliza Archer, the daughter of the Army surgeon at Fort Monroe. The Andersons would have five sons and seven daughters, of whom three sons and four daughters reached adulthood.

Anderson resigned his commission in 1837 to seek more lucrative employment with the Virginia Board of Public Works. Anderson became Assistant State Engineer and served as chief engineer of the Valley Turnpike Company. The Valley Turnpike was a toll road which connected Staunton and Winchester, Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley from 1838 until 1841.

This service on the turnpike stimulated his interest in Virginia’s economic development. He promoted the construction of canals and railroads to connect the Valley of Virginia to Tidewater Virginia, and his concern for internal improvements led him into the southern commercial convention movement and into the Whig Party. Those activities brought him to the attention of the owners of Richmond’s Tredegar Iron Company.

In 1841, Francis B. Deane hired Anderson as The Tredegar Iron Work’s commercial sales agent. Anderson would be associated with Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond Virginia for most of the rest of his life.

At the time Anderson joined Tredegar, the four-year-old company was in financial difficulty. He actively sought and obtained contracts with the federal government to manufacture munitions and other supplies for the army and navy and rapidly brought about an improvement in the company’s fortunes. During the next two decades Tredegar produced 881 cannon for the armed forces, an iron revenue cutter for the Treasury Department, and engines and boilers for two navy frigates. As Tredegar became profitable, Anderson tired of the board of directors’ meddling in technical matters, and in November 1843 he leased the entire ironworks for five years. Anderson prospered as superintendent of Tredegar and also from 1846 to 1848 as president of the Armory Iron Company. In April 1848 he purchased the Tredegar Iron Company and assumed complete control over all phases of the work.

One of Anderson’s most notable innovations was the introduction of slaves in skilled industrial work. He began using bondsmen in unskilled jobs in 1842, and in 1847 he proposed using them in skilled work at the Armory rolling mill. When the skilled white workers, many of whom were northern- or foreign-born, responded with strikes at both the Armory and Tredegar rolling mills, Anderson fired the strikers and put slaves in skilled jobs at both establishments. The replacements successfully demonstrated their ability to perform such labor, but before the Civil War slaves were given skilled work largely in the rolling mill and the blacksmith shop. The company owned many of them and hired others from local owners, but despite Anderson’s determination to employ skilled slaves, he continued to rely heavily on northern and European immigrant workers, with whites constituting the vast majority of his workforce in 1860.

Through his success in making Tredegar the largest ironworks in the South and one of the largest in the United States, Anderson became one of the region’s leading industrialists. Although Tredegar produced a substantial amount of armaments for the government, the largest part of its production was railroad iron. Tredegar also turned out a wide variety of finished iron products, including steam engines for gristmills, sawmills, and sugar mills, and iron for bridges. By 1860 the Tredegar workforce of about eight hundred was the fourth largest of any American ironworks. In the face of competition from northern mills and from England, Anderson entered into a series of partnerships that permitted him to complete the payments on the purchase of Tredegar in 1856, and in 1859 he formed Joseph R. Anderson and Company, combining Tredegar with Archer and Company, a rolling mill that Anderson’s father-in-law and brother-in-law owned.

Anderson was elected to the Richmond City Council in 1847 and served five terms before the Civil War. In 1852 he was elected to a vacant seat in the House of Delegates and was reelected in 1853. He served on the Committee on Roads and Internal Navigation and promoted state support for the construction of railroads and canals. Following the collapse of the Whig Party, Anderson became a Democrat. He was elected to the House of Delegates again in 1857, but he was defeated in 1859. After Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November 1860, Anderson advocated secession and actively promoted the sale of arms to the Southern states. Tredegar sold munitions to South Carolina during the Fort Sumter crisis and geared up to increase arms production. Anderson also negotiated arms contracts with the provisional government of the Confederacy. He was a member of a Southern rights convention that met in Richmond on April 17, 1861, and that would have passed an extralegal secession ordinance if the Virginia convention had not done so that day. When Virginia left the Union, Anderson offered to turn Tredegar over to the Confederate government by lease or purchase, but the government declined the offer.

In May 1861 Anderson organized 350 of his white workmen into a home defense unit known as the Tredegar Battalion, which he commanded with the rank of major. On August 21 he requested a commission in the Confederate army and on September 3, 1861, was appointed a brigadier general. He commanded the District of Cape Fear, North Carolina, from September 30, 1861, to March 19, 1862, and the Department of North Carolina from March 19 to 24, 1862. He led a brigade at Fredericksburg in April and May, where General Field was then stationed, and instructed by General Lee to assume command in that quarter, attack the enemy or confine his field of operations. He was assigned to A. P. Hill’s division during the Seven Days’ Battles. The brigade consisted of the 14th Georgia, the 35th Georgia the 45th Georgia, the 49th Georgia regiments and the 3rd Louisiana Battalion. He participated in the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines’ Mill and Frayser’s Farm. Anderson was slightly wounded in the face on June 30, 1862 near White Oak Swamp. He temporarily commanded Hill’s division from July 13 to 18, 1862, when he resigned his commission on July 18, 1862 to resume management of the Tredegar ironworks.

Tredegar was the largest supplier of arms and other iron products to the Confederate government and produced 1,099 cannon during the war. Tredegar also produced armor plate and machinery for Confederate warships, including the CSS Virginia; artillery shot and shells; machinery and tools for the production of small arms by other armories and for the powder mill at Augusta, Georgia, and for the naval ordnance plant at Charlotte, North Carolina; and an armor-plated railroad car mounting a heavy cannon. Tredegar was also a major supplier of iron for Southern railroads. The company grew enormously during the war. It expanded the Richmond plant, acquired blast furnaces to produce pig iron, and purchased coal mines to supply the furnaces. The total workforce rose as high as 2,500 men, and Anderson increased the use of slave labor after many of the white workers entered military service or fled the Confederacy. By 1864 more than half of the workers were slaves, many filling skilled positions. Even though shortages of food became widespread in the Confederacy, Tredegar fed not only its slaves, but also its white employees and their families, to whom it sold food at cost.

Anderson and his partners also purchased large quantities of cotton during the war and shipped them to European markets on blockade runners, including a ship called the Coquette that they purchased from the Confederate navy in 1864. Anderson insisted that the cotton sales were used to finance greater production of military and railroad supplies at Tredegar, but most of the money went into a sterling account in London, and Anderson used those funds to keep control of Tredegar after the war.

At the end of the War the Confederate authorities ordered that warehouses and munitions be destroyed during the evacuation of Richmond. To guard the Iron Works from arsonists, Anderson reportedly paid over fifty armed guards to protect the Tredegar facility. As a result, the Tredegar Iron Works is one of few Civil War era buildings in the warehouse district that survived the burning of Richmond.

Following the fall of Richmond on April 3, 1865, Anderson became a strong peace advocate. With other Richmond leaders he met with Abraham Lincoln in the city on April 4 to discuss how to end the war, and Anderson headed a citizens’ commission to call the General Assembly into session to take Virginia out of the Confederacy. By taking part in the peace movement, Anderson hoped to keep the Union army from taking possession of the ironworks, but he was unsuccessful even though the surrender of the Confederate army brought a speedy end to the war. The Federal government confiscated the Iron Works at the end of the war. Anderson enlisted the aid of many prominent southern Unionists, Virginia railroad executives, and even some northern businessmen and Richmond African Americans, and obtained a pardon from U.S. president Andrew Johnson on September 21, 1865.

Anderson was able to regain control of The Works in 1867, but the company remained in financial difficulty, and he had trouble attracting new capital.

In February 1867 he and his son Archer Anderson and three other partners reorganized the venture as Tredegar Company, with Joseph Reid Anderson as the majority stockholder. The reorganization enabled Tredegar to attract northern capital and expand its operations. By 1873 Anderson had doubled the factory’s prewar capacity, and its labor force exceeded 1,000 men, many of them black laborers and skilled workmen who received equal pay with the whites. The panic of 1873 and the resulting depression forced Tredegar into receivership in 1876. Anderson served as receiver of the company until September 1879, when the company successfully funded its debt, but Tredegar failed to make the transition from iron to steel production late in the nineteenth century and lost its position as one of the premier southern industrial enterprises, although the Richmond plant continued in operation until the 1950s and the company survived as a manufacturing entity into the 1980s. His son, Archer Anderson, became involved in the business, and became president of the Tredegar Iron Works after his father’s death.

Anderson remained one of Richmond’s most successful and famous citizens. He returned to public life in the 1870s and served in the House of Delegates in 1874 and 1875 and again from 1877 to 1879. He was president of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce from 1874 to 1876, when he resigned to become president of the Richmond City Council. Anderson served on the vestry of Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church from 1844 until his death and was a senior warden for twenty-one years.

After his wife Sara died in 1881, Anderson remarried. His second wife was Mary Evans Pegram. Mary Pegram’s brothers were Confederate General John Pegram and Colonel William Ransom Johnson Pegram, both of whom had been killed during the war.

Joseph Reid Anderson died on September 7, 1892, while on a vacation at the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire.

It was estimated that 30,000 citizens came to his funeral when he was buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

The reason that Price was on his way to Lexington was because he planned to raid Fort Scott just across the Kansas border in Bourbon County. His plan was to stop raids into Missouri from Kansas led by Kansas Jayhawkers, Charles Jennison and James Montgomery. Price sent the cavalry from Brigadier General James S. Rains’ Division to clear out Lane’s “marauding and murdering bands.”

Kansas Senator James H. Lane, early in 1861, raised a brigade of around 1,200 Kansas volunteer cavalry. This unit would be known as the Kansas Brigade. Lane was charged with protecting Kansas. Lane stationed the Kansas Brigade at Fort Lincoln, Kansas about 12 miles north of Fort Scott (near present day Fulton, Kansas). When he received word that Price was headed for Fort Scott, Lane took 600 cavalrymen from the Kansas Brigade east to meet the enemy.

On the day of the battle, the 600 troops of the Kansas Brigade met up with Price’s Missouri State Guard about 12 miles east of Fort Scott in and around Big Dry Wood Creek. Lane’s Federal cavalry had surprised a division of the Confederate Missouri State Guard cavalry led by Brigadier General James S. Rains. Lane was severely outnumbered. After a two hour skirmish, he had to withdraw back to Fort Scott. Lane secured the fort and then retreated towards Kansas City. The Missouri State Guard captured 84 mules from Lane’s Kansas Brigade which has led many to refer to this engagement as the Battle of the Mules. The Confederates continued on towards Lexington, which Price reached on the 12th. Price was able to recruit more soldiers. The Confederates began to force the Federals to abandon southwestern Missouri and to concentrate on holding the Missouri Valley. However Price would eventually be forced to withdraw.

Casualties on the Union side were estimated at 14 and on the Confederate side were 20 (4 killed and 16 wounded).

After the Battle of Resaca, General Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennesse began to call back along the Western and Atlantic Railroad. Johnston was looking for a place to attack Sherman on favorable terms for the Southern Army. Failing to find a good position south of Calhoun, Georiga, on May 17, 1864, Johnston began to fall back towards Adairsville, Georgia while his forces continued to fight a skillful rearguard action.

Sherman had divided his forces into three colums and was advanicing on a broad front. There was continual skirmishing as he advanced. Arrivig at Adairsville Johnston hoped to find a good position but had to fall back further. Johnston was looking to isolate a part of Sherman’s three columns and attack one or part of the columns.

There were two roads leading south from Adairsville. One to Kingston, Georgia and one to Cassville, Georgia. It was hoped that Sherman would split his army allowing Johnston to attack only a part of Sherman’s army. Sherman did as Johnston thought he would. He sent General McPherson’s and a large part of Thomas’ armies to Kingston and sent General Scofields army towards Cassville, Georgia.

Now that Scofield army was isolated Johnston moved to have the southern corps of General Polk and General Hood attack Scofield. Polk would attack Scofield head on and fix him in position while Hood would hit him in the flank. In order to take Scofield in the flank Hood would have to face West exposing his flank to Northern forces moving South. As Hood moved into position. He found Nothern soldiers on his flank. After a brief skirmish with the Northern soldiers Hood fell back towards Polk. Johnston believing an opportunity to strike a blow broke off the contact. Johnston ordered Polk and Hood to mover to a new line on a ridge east and south of Cassville where they were joined by the other corps of the Army of Tennesse under General Hardee.

Later that night the Confederate leaders held a council of war. There is no record of what happened at the council and later records by General Johnston and Hood do not match. According to Johnston, Polk and Hood stated that their lines could not be held and urged retreat. Johnston yielded to these demands, even though he thought the position to be defensible. According to Hood, whose recollection of the council as stated earlier differs markedly from Johnston’s, stated that he and Polk told Johnston that the line could not be held against an attack but that it was a good position from which to move against the enemy.

Johnston was unwilling to risk an offensive battle and decided to fall back across the Etowah. There is no way to know the real story but most of the record supports Hood’s version of the conference. As army commander Johnston is held responsible for the action and the responsibility for abandoning the Cassville position rests on the Southern commander
Ge

Confederate Colonel Douglas H. Cooper, commander of the Indian Department, wished to remove Chief Opothleyahola, commander of a band of Unionist Creeks and Seminoles from the department.

Cooper set out on November 15, 1861, with about 1,400 men to attack Opothleyahola. Cooper’s force rode up the Deep Fork of the Canadian River where they found Chief Opothleyahola’s camp deserted.

On November 19, Cooper learned from captured prisoners that part of Opothleyahola’s band was erecting a fort at the Red Fork of the Arkansas River. Cooper’s men discovered Opothleyahola’s men that afternoon and a pitched battled ensued. After a short fight, Opothleyahola’s men set fire to the prairie grass and retreated.

The next morning, Cooper advanced on Opothleyahola’s new camp but found that the Federal forces had fled. This was the first of three encounters between Opothleyahola’s Union bands and Confederate troops. The chief was forced to flee to Kansas at the end of the year.

The Confederate loss in the engagement was 1 captain and 5 men killed, 3 severely and 1 slightly wounded, and 1 missing. Opothleyahola lost about 110 killed and wounded.

Mustered into Confederate service on August 27, 1861, the 26th Regiment served its first 10 months in eastern North Carolina in an undistinguished effort to contest the foothold made by the Union forces. On June 21, 1862, the regiment arrived at Petersburg, VA., and became a part of Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Then began an association that lasted until the regiment’s flag was finally and forever furled at Appomattox. The 26th North Carolina at one time was the largest regiment in the Army of Northern Virginia. They participated in some of the hardest-fought battles of the war, including Malvern Hill, Bristoe, and Spotsylvania; but it was Gettysburg that earned them a place in the Civil War record books.

After their disastrous first day at Gettysburg, the 26th was not utilized in the actions fought on the second day. But the third day of the battle found the regiment charging under its battle flag across the fields to the federal position behind the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge. Members of the 26th North Carolina advanced as far as any other of the Confederate troops that took part in Pickett’s charge, and like the rest, they paid a terrible price for their bravery and determination. Only 90 soldiers from the 26th North Carolina were able to make their way back to the Confederate lines on Seminary Ridge. The Battle of Gettysburg claimed as casualties 88 percent of the regiment, the highest percentage of casualties for any regiment, North or South, in any battle.

Fascinating Fact: Approximately 2,000 men served in the 26th North Carolina Regiment during the course of the war. Just 131 of them were left to receive their paroles at Appomattox.

GROTON — “The Sleeping Sentinel ” of Groton is the most notable Private of the Civil War. Historians and writers of that period, and ever since, have written many words about the remarkable Groton soldier – Private William Scott.

This is a time of special significance in Groton’s history, as both Scott’s birth and death occurred during the month of April.

A Vermont granite monument can be seen alongside the heavily traveled U.S. Route 302 highway, and is situated about five miles west of Groton Village. The memorial was cut and engraved by the James W. Main Granite Company of Groton. Special dedication ceremonies for the stately remembrance marker were conducted June 25, 1936 by the Grand Army of the Republic, and attended by noted Groton and Vermont officials and citizens.

The engraved stone tells the story of “The Sleeping Sentinel,” and denotes the nearby cellar hole of the farmhouse where Scott was born on April 9, 1839. At that spot Thomas and Mary (Wormwood) Scott raised a family, with William Scott and four of his brothers responding to the call of President Abraham Lincoln for volunteers to fight in the War Between the States on July 10, 1861. They enlisted in the Union Army as members of Company K of the Third Vermont Infantry Regiment.

Seven days after his 23rd birthday, 145 years ago on April 16, 1862, Scott laid down his life admirably for his country. He died from five, perhaps, six gunshot wounds upon the battlefield at Lee’s Mills, VA., while assaulting the Confederate lines. However, that is not the reason for Scott’s notoriety.

PRESIDENTIAL PARDON

The name of this 23 year old Vermont youth has been featured alongside that of President Lincoln, “the great emancipator.” Lincoln issued a presidential pardon that spared the life of William Scott.

Private Scott had been court-martialled and he was sentenced to be put to death by a firing squad on September 9, 1861. He had been found guilty of falling asleep at his post, while on watch upon the Potomac, where he had been assigned to guard the Chain Bridge and the Nation’s Capitol. Scott was found asleep there on August 31, 1861 between the hours of three and four a.m.

Only a few months before that, Scott had enlisted and made the trip by train to Washington, D.C., starting out on July 24 and arriving on July 28. The raw Vermont troops were accustomed to a very different climate and were marched immediately to Georgetown Heights, to a post known as Camp Lyon. There they experienced intensive training as well as serving on picket duty.

Brigadier General William F. “Baldy” Smith was the brigade commander and he took orders from Lt. General George B. McClellan, who was commanding the Army of the Potomac.

According to the Articles of War at that time, General Orders required that a sentry found asleep on duty should be shot. Four days prior to the Vermont regiment starting the guard of this strategic bridge, the Union forces had been badly beaten at Manasses Junction. General P.G. Beauregard’s Confederate army was about ten miles away, south of the river, and a sentinel asleep at his post could have helped cause the loss and fall of Washington.

All accounts written about the “The Sleeping Sentinel” report that Private Scott had actually volunteered to take the place of a sick comrade and was serving his second consecutive night of sentry duty, when Scott was found asleep by the officer of the guard. He was immediately arrested.

A copy of the death warrant of the court martial made available from the Fairbanks’s Museum in St. Johnsbury, VT, shows that it was signed by Colonel B.N. Hyde on Sept. 4, 1861. Scott’s death sentence was to have taken place Sept. 9, 1861.

The death penalty seems very harsh to people of this day, and it also seems to have been viewed as severe by Scott’s contemporaries. Conflicting reports indicate that officers and enlisted men appealed to Brig General Smith through a signed petition bearing 191 signatories asking for a pardon. The Chaplain, the Rev. Moses P. Parmalee, is believed to have presented President Lincoln late Sunday evening with the execution planned for Monday morning.

Another story actually tells of Lincoln sending the pardoning order, then worried about the situation, ordered his carriage and had it driven the 10 miles to make certain that Scott’s life was spared.

In an essay written by Mrs. William (Nellie T.) Jeffrey of Groton, she wrote that President Lincoln told Scott he was not to be shot the next morning and did not merit the death penalty. Scott had given the President his solemn pledge, never again to fail in his duty to his country.

EXECUTION STILL PLANNED

But the story does not end there. The commanding officer decided to carry out the execution plan anyway to impress upon the men the seriousness of the offense. The brigade formed a hollow-square formation, the prisoner was blind folded, and the general order was read. The pardon then was read noting it was the president’s wish that mercy be extended to Scott.

In military terms Lincoln’s wish as chief executive, was an order and Scott was immediately returned to duty. The language contained in the pardon also declared that the pardon on Scott would not set a precedent.

Although news didn’t travel as fast as it does today. There was an editorial in the New York Times written at that time, that called for the carrying out the sentence to set an example for others. It was an order that had never been taken that seriously.

One conclusive piece of evidence was letter revealed by Waldo F. Glover, Groton’s Historian, in his book written in 1936 entitled “Abraham Lincoln and the Sleeping Sentinel of Vermont.” In it Glover explained that General McClellan wrote to his wife on Sept. 8, 1861 in the evening before the execution as to have taken place. He wrote, “Mr. Lincoln came this morning to ask me to pardon a man that I had ordered to be shot.”

Glover in his writings notes that Vermont newspapers carried the story and a letter from Captain Francis V. Randall which verified the petition, and the general good character of Scott and the pardon. Glover also told of one woman spending the entire execution day with Mary Scott, his mother. William Scott’s father later personally thanked President Lincoln who allowed Thomas Scott to visit his sons with the army in Virginia. The president is reported to have given the father a $10 bill, after he was asked how he could manage his farm with five of his sons at war.

George Scott is recorded to have died in Maryland on November 4, 1862; while Daniel died March 25, 1864 in Virginia. Another brother of William, John, reportedly lived many years after returning home. Joseph W. Scott of Company H. Sixth Vermont Volunteers is believed to be the brother who died of his war wounds shortly after returning home to Vermont.

Joseph’s remains are that of the only brother who was buried at home. His gravestone is believed to be in an old cemetery situated at the top right hand corner of a knoll on the opposite side of the road from the memorial honoring his “Sleeping Sentinel Brother.”

–WILLIAM SCOTT’S DEATH–

About seven months after the pardon, on April 16, 1862, William Scott was sent with a contingency of 192 men to destroy the Confederate rifle pits across the Warwick River at Lee’s Mills, VA. Only about 100 men returned from that mission. Private Scott fell mortally wounded, while struggling up a riverbank with a wounded soldier on his shoulders. He is reported to have saved several men from drowning the muddy waters of that river.

Knowing that he was dying the next morning of his bullet wounds he sustained, he called some of his closest comrades to his hospital cot. There he relayed messages to his family and friends at home. He also made an earnest plea that if it was at all possible that President Lincoln be told of the circumstances of his death. He asked that his gratitude be expressed for the pardon, which made it possible for him to die in battle as a soldier and not at the hands of a firing squad.

William Scott’s record as a Company K soldier from the day of his pardon was considered to be outstanding according to all reports. No assignment was too dangerous or difficult for his ready acceptance and no one was ill or in trouble was ever ignored by him..

Charles Emery of Groton, and of Company C. helped carry Scott’s body from the battlefield. George Philbrick, also of Groton, along with Emery were in attendance at Scott’s burial, as was Dr. Seth Eastman, another Groton soldier. Scott was buried under the blossoming trees on the banks of the Warwick River.

WORTHY OF REMEMBRANCE

During the Vermont legislative session of 1945, through the efforts of a Groton Representative, the late Mrs. Nellie Jeffrey, U. S. Route 302 beginning at the intersection of U.S. Route 2 and extending through the city of Barre was named the William Scott Memorial Highway and it was the duty of the State to see that the highway was to appropriately marked The road runs through Barre, Orange, Topsham, Groton, Ryegate, Newbury and the Village of Wells River, to the Vermont-New Hampshire border. Groton citizen, Marilyn Hatch-Ruiter in 1994 reading again “Mr. Glover’s Groton” historical book, “the Vermont State Highway Board was “hereby authorized to properly mark the designated highway accordingly.” Noting the omission to properly mark the William Scott Memorial Highway.” Hatch-Ruiter took her concern to the Groton Selectmen who had a letter written to the Vermont Transportation Agency asking that the highway be so marked with signage. In response, the State, within two months had signs noting its official name.

Carl Sandburg, in his biography “The War Years,” quoted Lincoln concerning the Scott incident and pardon. Francis Janvier, a contemporary poet, wrote a ballad about Scott.

Scott is remembered by both local citizens and through numerous mentions in historical writings. The memory of the valiant soldier, Private William Scott lives on.

The battle is significant for several reasons: It was the first notable Union victory of the war; following the embarrassment of First Bull Run (or First Manassas), 21 July 1861, it encouraged supporters of the Union in the gloomy early days. It represented the first application of the naval blockading strategy. It was the first amphibious operation, as well as the first combined operation, involving units of both the United States Army and Navy. Finally, a new tactic was exploited by the bombarding fleet; by keeping in motion, they did much to eliminate the traditional advantage of shore-based guns over those carried on ships.

The Battle was run on the Union Side by Silas Stringham of the Navy and Benjamin Butler of the Army. On the Confederate side the leaders were Samuel Barron of the Confederate Navy and William Martin of the Confederate Army

Circumstances, in my judgment, of sufficient urgency, render it necessary that the commanding general of this Department should assume the administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders, who infest nearly every county of the State, and avail themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force to gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who find an enemy wherever they find plunder, finally demand the severest measures to repress the daily increasing crimes and outrages which are driving off the inhabitants and ruining the State.

In this condition, the public safety and the success of our arms require unity of purpose, without let or hindrance, to the prompt administration of affairs. In order, therefore, to suppress disorder, to maintain as far as now practicable the public peace, and to give security and protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens, I do hereby extend and declare established Martial Law throughout the State of Missouri.

The lines of the Army of Occupation in this State are for the present declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau, on the Mississippi River.

All persons who shall be taken with arms in their hands within these lines shall be tried by Court-Martial, and if found guilty will be shot. The property, real and personal, of all persons, in the State of Missouri, who shall take up arms against the United States, or who shall be directly proven to have taken an active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their Slaves, if any they have, are hereby declared Free men.

All persons who shall be proven to have destroyed, after the publication of this order, railroad tracks, bridges, or telegraphs, shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law. All persons engaged in Treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the Enemies of the United States, in fomenting tumults, in disturbing the public tranquility by creating and circulating false reports or incendiary documents, are in their own interests warned that they are exposing themselves to sudden and severe punishment.

All persons who have been led away from their allegiance, are required to return to their homes forthwith; any such absence, without sufficient cause, will be held to be presumptive evidence against them. The object of this declaration is to place in the hands of the Military authorities the power to give instantaneous effect to existing laws, and to supply such deficiencies as the conditions of War demand. But this is not intended to suspend the ordinary Tribunals of the Country, where the Law will be administered by Civil officers in the usual manner, and with their customary authority, while the same can be exercised.

The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public Welfare, and in his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only the acquiescence, but the active support of the Loyal People of the Country.

J. C. FREMONT
Major-General Commanding.