400 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



Fremont's celebrated order, freeing the slaves and or- 

 dering all rebels shot who were taken in arms within a 

 specified territory, was issued just before the Battle of 

 Blue Mills, but I knew nothing of it till the Rebels showed 

 us some St. Louis papers with the published order. As 

 we were taken prisoners within Fremont's prescribed 

 limit it was a game that two could play at. The Rebels 

 read it to us and told us that for every Confederate 

 prisoner Fremont shot they would shoot ten, and it was 

 not very pleasant to be reminded that I was one of ten. 



When we got within the Union lines this order was the 

 subject of discussion, and the idea of freeing the slaves 

 met with much approval. I took sides against the order, 

 and when I pointed out the prisoner-shooting part of it, 

 I found that our boys all agreed with me, and when Mr. 

 Lincoln revoked the order I think that there were not 

 many soldiers who disapproved of his action. 



On arriving at our old camp at Brookfield I found it 

 nearly empty. The men had gone from Liberty to Kan- 

 sas City and my brother James was with them. 



Orders soon came for us to pack up and go to Quincy, 

 Illinois, to recruit and rest. We boarded the cattle cars 

 and on arriving at Quincy went into a beautiful camp on 

 the bluffs just north of the town overlooking the river. 

 In a few days the rest of the regiment rejoined us and we 

 spent a few weeks of the greatest enjoyment. The peo- 

 ple of Quincy strove to make our stay agreeable. Some 

 of our friends from Iowa took the opportunity to visit 

 their relatives and the days sped away on swift and joy- 

 ous wings. 



President Lincoln refused to exchange prisoners, and 

 ordered all on parole to be discharged. Lieutenant-Col- 

 onel Scott on November 7th discharged me under this 

 order of the President. 



James got a few days furlough and we went home to- 



