MISSOURI. 



477 



drawn by the members of the company. Those 

 drawing number ' one ' shall constitute the first 

 class, and shall be transferred into active service 

 lirst, and the second class next, and the third 

 next. Any person who furnishes a substitute 

 must take the place of the substitute in the 

 class from which he was taken. A like classifi- 

 cation is to be made annually, and no man 

 shall be required to serve in the regular service 

 for more than twelve months." 



The position of Mississippi in the southwest- 

 ern part of the country protected her from any 

 important hostile attack by the Federal troops. 

 On the north were the States of Tennessee and 

 Kentucky, and on the east Alabama, Georgia, 

 &c. The State is accessible by water only at 

 its southern point on the Gulf of Mexico. Here 

 an attack was made, and the town of Biloxi 

 captured on the 31st of December. This pleas- 

 ant watering-place, visited by citizens of Mobile 

 and New Orleans during the summer, is about 

 ninety miles from the latter city. It is located 

 on a part of the shore which projects into Bi- 

 loxi Bay or Mississippi Sound. Its population 

 is about 400, which is largely increased in the 

 summer. In front of the town is a light-house, 

 near which a sand-battery had been erected, 

 which mounted two 6-pounders. The expedi- 

 tion consisted of the gunboats Water Witch, 

 Lieut. A. K. Hughes, New London, Lieut. A. 

 Reed, and the Lewis, Lieut. McKean Buchanan, 

 with forty-five marines from the Niagara and 

 Massachusetts, and two boats' crews from the 

 Massachusetts, the whole under the command 

 of Capt. Melancthon Smith. The expedition 

 got under way from Ship Island at 7 o'clock in 

 the morning, and arriving before the place, the 

 vessels came to anchor. Commander Smith 

 landed with a few men without opposition, the 

 authorities surrendered the town, the guns 

 were taken on board one of the vessels, and 

 the expedition returned on the same evening. 



The number of troops furnished to the Con- 

 federate service, including those recruited, but 

 not sent out of the State, was about twenty 

 thousand men. A portion of them were classed 

 among the flower of the Confederate army. 



In foreign commerce nothing was done dur- 

 ing the year. The internal trade of the State 

 on the Mississippi with the Confederate States 

 was without restraint, but reduced to the 

 smallest extent in consequence of the stagna- 

 tion elsewhere, and the excitement in military 

 affairs. 



The vote for President in 1860 was : Doug- 

 las 3,283, Breckinridge 40,797, Bell 25,040. 



MISSOURI, one of the largest States of the 

 Union, and the first State formed wholly west 

 of the Mississippi River, is bounded on the 

 north by Iowa, on the east by the Mississippi 

 River, on the south by Arkansas, and on the 

 west by Kansas, Nebraska, and the Indian Ter- 

 ritory. It is about 285 miles in its greatest 

 length and 280 miles in width from north to 

 south, and contains an area of 67,380 square 

 miles. The population of the State in 1860 was 



1,064,369 whites, 2, 983 free colored, and 

 slaves; total, 1,182,317. The vote of the State 

 for President in 1860 was: Lincoln 17,028, 

 Douglas 58,801, Breckinridge 31,317, Bell 

 58,372. The Governor is elected for four years. 

 The Senators are elected for four years, and the 

 Representatives for two years. 



Missouri is the only slaveholding Border 

 State west of the Mississippi River. It had 

 been so deeply and closely involved in the 

 troubles in Kansas that the entire subject of 

 conflict between the North and the South had, 

 in fact, been developed within her limits. The 

 public sentiment of the citizens was doubtless 

 accurately expressed by Gov. Stewart in his 

 valedictory Message to the Legislature on the 

 3d of January : " Our people would feel more 

 sympathy with the movement, had it not origi- 

 nated amongst those who, like ourselves, have 

 suffered severe losses and constant annoyances 

 from the interference and depredations of out- 

 siders. Missouri will hold to the Union so long 

 as it is worth the effort to preserve it. She 

 cannot be frightened by the past unfriendly 

 legislation of the North, or dragooned into se- 

 cession by the restrictive legislation of the ex- 

 treme South." 



On the next day his successor, Governor 

 Jackson, was inaugurated. In his Message, he 

 insisted that Missouri must stand by the other 

 slaveholding States, whatever course they may 

 pursue. Missouri, however, was in favor of 

 remaining in the Union so long as there was a 

 hope of maintaining the guarantees of the 

 Constitution. He was opposed to coercion in 

 any event, but recommended the calling of a 

 State Convention to ascertain the will of the 

 people. 



The question of holding a State Convention 

 was brought before the Legislature, and the 

 Senate passed the bill on the IGth of January, 

 in favor of holding it, by a vote of yeas 31, nays 

 2. The clause, submitting the acts of the pro- 

 posed Convention to the vote of the people, 

 was in these words : 



" No act, ordinance, or resolution shall be 

 valid to change or dissolve the political rela- 

 tions of this State to the Government of the 

 United States, or any other State, until a ma- 

 jority of the qualified voters of the State shall 

 ratify the same." 



The Convention was required to assemble at 

 the capital on the 28th day of February. 



The proclamation stated that the object of 

 the Convention was " to consider the relations 

 between the Government of the United States, 

 the people and Governments of the different 

 States, and the Government and people of the 

 State of Missouri, and to adopt such measures 

 for vindicating the sovereignty of the State 

 and the protection of its institutions as shall 

 appear to them to be demanded." 



At the time when this election for delegates 

 was held, the public sentiment of the State had 

 unquestionably settled in favor of a continuance 

 of Missouri within the Union, and in hostility 



