MISSOURI. 



591 



Price, touching the right of the prisoners to be 

 dealt with as ordinary prisoners of war. The 

 extracts which follow sufficiently indicate the 

 points raised by the Confederate general, and 

 the policy of Gen. Halleck. 

 - After complaining of the unusual and cruel 

 confinement to which his discharged soldiers 

 had been subjected, Gen. Price observes : 



I have obtained information that individuals and 

 parties of meu specially appointed and instructed by 

 me to destroy railroad culverts and bridges, by tearing 

 them up, burning, &c., have been arrested and sub- 

 jected to general court martial, for alleged crimes, 

 which all laws of warfare, heretofore recognized by the 

 civilized world, have regarded as distinctly proper and 

 lawful. I have learned that such persons, when tried, 

 if convicted of the offence or offences, as stated, are 

 viewed as lawful subjects for capital punishment. 

 These statements I cannot believe to be correct, but let 

 us understand each other on this subject. 



Do you intend to continue the arrest of citizens en- 

 gaged' in their ordinary peaceful pursuits and treat 

 them as traitors and rebels ? If so, will you make ex- 

 change with me for such as I may or will make for simi- 

 lar cases? Do you intend to regard the members of this 

 army as persons deserving death wherever and when- 

 ever they may be captured, or will you extend to them 

 the recpgnize'd rights of prisoners of war by the code 

 of civilized warfare? Do you regard the destruction 

 of important roads for transportation facilities for mili- 

 tary purposes as the legal right of the belligerent 

 power? Do you intend to regard men whom I have 

 especially despatched to destroy roads and burn 

 bridges, tear up culverts, ic., as amenable to the 

 enemy's court martial, or will you have them tried as 

 usual by the proper civil authorities according to the 

 statutes" of the States ? 



To this Gen. Halleck replied : 



Where individuals and parties of men violate the 

 laws of war, they will be tried, and, if found guilty, 

 will certainly be punished, whether acting under your 

 special appointment and instructions or not. You 

 must be aware, general, that no orders of yours can 

 save from punishment, spies, marauders, robbers, in- 

 cendiaries, guerilla bands, etc., who violate the laws 

 of war. You cannot give immunity to crimes. But 

 let us fully understand each other on this point. If you 

 send armed forces, wearing the garb of soldiers, and 

 duly organized and enrolled as legitimate belligerents, 

 to destroy railroad bridges, &.C., as a military "act, we 

 shall kill, if possible, in open warfare, or if we capture 

 them we will treat them as prisoners of war. But it is 

 well known that you have sent numbers of your ad- 

 herents in the garb of principal citizens, and under 

 false pretences, through our lines into northern Mis- 

 souri, to rob and destroy the property of Union men, 

 and burn and destroy railroad bridges, thus endanger- 

 ing the lives of thousands ; and this, too, without any 

 military necessity or possible military advantage. 

 Moreover, peaceful citizens of Missouri, quietly work- 

 ing on their farms, have been instigated by your emis- 

 saries to take up arms as insurgents, and rob and plun- 

 der, and commit arson and murder. They do not even 

 act under the garb of soldiers, but under false pre- 

 tences, and in the guise of private citizens. You cer- 

 tainly will not pretend that men guilty of such crimes, 

 although specially appointed and ins'tructed by you, 

 are entitled to the rights and immunities of ordinary 

 prisoners of war. If you do, will you refer me to a 

 single authority on the" laws of war'which recognizes 

 such a claim? 



The trial of the bridge burners, meanwhile, 

 went on before a military commission in Pal- 

 myra, and in the latter part of January eight 

 persons were found guilty, and sentenced to be 

 shot. In accordance with the views above ex- 



pressed, Gen. Halleck approved of the sentence, 

 and ordered it to be carried into effect in the 

 succeeding month. And inasmuch as the se- 

 >n organizations for the destruction of rail- 

 road property in northern Missouri exhibited 

 occasional activity, a bridge near Palmyra, just 

 reconstructed, having been bilrned as'recently 

 as the 25th of January, he directed in a general 

 order, issued February 16, that all persons 

 u accused of acts in violation of the laws of 

 war, such as the destruction of railroads and 

 bridges and private property, firing into trains, 

 assassination. Arc., should not be released on 

 any terms, but be held for trial before a mili- 

 tary commission." 



In the last week of January the national 

 forces, under Gen. Curtis, commenced their 

 march southward, and on the 13th of February 

 the advanced guard entered Springfield. Gen. 

 Price retiring across the boundary into Arkan- 

 sas at their approach. (See ARMY OPERATIONS.) 

 This movement, for the time, freed the State 

 of the presence of armed opponents of the Gov- 

 ernment, and the St. Louis papers of February 

 22 announced, with no little satisfaction, that 

 " the last vestige of military insurrection had 

 been swept away.'' In view of this fact, and 

 of the increasing loyalty of the citizens of Mis- 

 souri, as well as of the recent victories in Ten- 

 nessee, Gen. Halleck issued an order abating 

 the stringent military regulations in force in 

 the State, and mitigating the sentence of death 

 against the bridge burners to close confinement 

 in the military prison ; but with this proviso, 

 that if Confederate spies should again destroy 

 railroads or telegraph lines, the original sen- 

 tence should be carried into effect. He also 

 directed that no further assessments should be 

 levied on persons who had taken the prescribed 

 oath of allegiance. 



Lieut.-Gov. Hall, in the absence of Governor 

 Gamble, appointed Robert Wilson, president of 

 the State Convention, and John B. Henderson, 

 a Douglas democrat, as United States Senators, 

 in the place of Waldo P. Johnson and Trusten 

 Polk, whose seats had been declared vacant by 

 a resolution of the Senate of January 10th. 



In the latter part of January the troops des- 

 tined by Gen. Halleck to cooperate with the 

 army of Gen. Grant in Tennessee, took their 

 departure from Commerce, on the Mississippi 

 river, under Gen. Pope, for New Madrid. (See 

 ARMY OPERATIONS.) 



The departure of General Halleck for Corinth, 

 in April, left Gen. Schofield in command of the 

 greater part of the State, and on June 1st he as- 

 sumed command of the entire department of 

 Missouri, fixing his headquarters at St. Louis. 

 On April 8th Gen. Sterling Price resigned the 

 command of the Missouri State guard. 



On June 3d, the State Convention met pur- 

 suant to adjournment at Jefferson City. In an 

 official communication Gov. Gamble reviewed 

 the history of affairs during the interval suc- 

 ceeding the adjournment of the convention, and 

 showed that the finances of the State were still 



