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Recruitment Proclamation to the People of Missouri by Confederate Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson of the Missouri State Guards (August 1, 1861)
Early on in the war, Meriwether Jeff Thompson (1826–1876), a native of Virginia but more recently a mayor of St. Joseph, Missouri, was one of the boldest and most charismatic of the Confederacy’s western guerillas, heading a raiding force nicknamed the “Swamp Rats.”
HEADQUARTERS MISSOURI STATE GUARD,
BLOOMFIELD, MO.
MISSOURIANS! STRIKE FOR YOUR FIRESIDES AND YOUR HOMES!
To the People of Missouri:
Having been elected to command the gallant sons of the First Military District of Missouri in the second war of independence, I appeal to all whose hearts are with us, immediately to take the field. By a speedy and simultaneous assault on our foes, we can, like a hurricane, scatter them to the winds; while tardy action, like the gentle South wind, will only meet with Northern frosts, and advance and recede, and like the seasons, will be like the history of the war, and will last forever. Come now, strike while the iron is hot! Our enemies are whipped in Virginia. They have been whipped in Missouri. General Hardee advances in the centre, Gen. Pillow on the right, and Gen. McCulloch on the left, with 20,000 brave Southern hearts to our aid. So leave your ploughs in the furrow, and your oxen in the yoke, and rush like a tornado upon our invaders and foes, to sweep them from the face of the earth, or force them from the soil of our State! Brave sons of the Ninth District, come and join us! We have plenty of ammunition, and the cattle on ten thousand hills are ours. We have forty thousand Belgian muskets coming; but bring your guns and muskets with you, if you have them; if not, come without them. We will strike your foes like a Southern thunderbolt, and soon our camp fires will illuminate the Merrimac and Missouri. Come, turn out!
JEFF THOMPSON,
Brig-General Commanding
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Regarding Martial Law in Missouri: Union General J. C. Frémont, President Lincoln, Confederate Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson Proclamation of Martial Law in Missouri by Union Major-General J. C. Frémont (August 30, 1861)
[OR: SERIES II, VOL. 1, PT. 1, 221]
Letter from President Lincoln to Major-General Frémont
(September 2, 1861)
[OR: SERIES II, VOL. 1, PT. 1, 766]
Retaliatory Proclamation by Confederate
Brigadier-General Jeff Thompson
(September 2, 1861)
[OR: SERIES II, VOL. 1, PART 1, P. 181]
John Charles Frémont (1813–1880), one of California’s first leaders, had been the Republican presidential candidate in 1856. Not accustomed to compromise or following orders, Frémont took the law in Missouri into his own hands to free the slaves. President Lincoln, politically wiser and personally cooler, gently pointed out exactly the repercussions to expect from Frémont’s “emancipation proclamation” that the guerilla Thompson then promised. From the middle of 1862, Frémont sat out the war.
PROCLAMATION
HEADQUARTERS WESTERN DEPARTMENT,
Saint Louis, August 30, 1861
CIRCUMSTANCES in my judgment are of sufficient urgency to render it necessary that the commanding general of this department should assume the administrative powers of the State. Its disorganized condition, helplessness of civil authority, and the total insecurity of life and devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders who infest nearly every county in the State and avail themselves of public misfortunes in 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 success of our arms require unity of purpose without let or hindrance to the prompt administration of affairs. In order therefore to suppress disorders, maintain the public peace and give security 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 occupation in this State are for the present declared to extend from Leavenworth by way of 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. Real and personal property of those 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 confiscated to 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 telegraph lines shall suffer the extreme penalty of the law. All persons engaged in treasonable correspondence, in giving or procuring aid to the enemy, in fermenting turmoil and disturbing public tranquility by creating or circulating false reports or incendiary documents are warned that they are exposing themselves.
All persons who have been led away from 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 military authorities power to give instantaneous effect to the existing laws and supply such deficiencies as the conditions of the war demand, but it is not intended to suspend the ordinary tribunals of the country where law will be administered by civil officers in the usual manner and with their customary authority while the same can be peaceably administered.
The commanding general will labor vigilantly for the public welfare and by his efforts for their safety hopes to obtain not only acquiescence but active support of the people of the country.
J. C. FRÉMONT,
Major-General, Commanding
WASHINGTON, D. C., September 2, 1861
MAJOR-GENERAL FRÉMONT
MY DEAR SIR: Two points in your proclamation of August 30 give me some anxiety:
First. Should you shoot a man according to the proclamation the Confederates would very certainly shoot our best men in their hands in retaliation; and so man for man indefinitely. It is therefore my order that you allow no man to be shot under the proclamation without first having my approbation or consent.
Second. I think there is great danger that the closing paragraph in relation to the confiscation of property and the liberating slaves of traitorous owners will alarm our Southern Union friends and turn them against us, perhaps ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Allow me therefore to ask that you will as of your own motion modify that paragraph so as to conform to the first and fourth sections of the act of Congress entitled “An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,” approved August 6, 1861, and a copy of which act I herewith send you.
This letter is written in a spirit of caution and not of censure. I send it by special messenger in order that it may certainly and speedily reach you.
Yours, very truly,
A. LINCOLN
PROCLAMATION
HDQRS. FIRST MILITARY DIST., MISSOURI STATE GUARD,
Camp Hunter, September 2, 1861
To whom it may concern:
Whereas, Major General John C. Fremont, commanding the minions of Abraham Lincoln in the State of Missouri, has seen fit to declare martial law throughout the whole State and has threatened to shoot any citizen soldier found in arms within certain limits, also to confiscate the property and free the negroes belonging to the members of the Missouri State Guard: therefore, know ye that I, M. Jeff. Thompson, brigadier-general of the First Military District of Missouri, having not only the military authority of brigadier-general but certain police powers granted by Acting Governor Thomas C. Reynolds and confirmed afterward by Governor Jackson do most solemnly promise that for every member of the Missouri State Guard or soldier of our allies the armies of the Confederate States who shall be put to death in pursuance of said order of General Fremont I will hang, draw and quarter a minion of said Abraham Lincoln.
While I am anxious that this unfortunate war shall be conducted if possible upon the most liberal principles of civilized warfare and every order that I have issued has been with that object, yet if this rule is to be adopted (and it must first be done by our enemies) I intend to exceed General Frémont in his excesses and will make all tories that come in my reach rue the day that a different policy was adopted by their leaders. Already mills, barns, warehouses and other private property have been wastefully and wantonly destroyed by the enemy in this district while we have taken nothing except articles strictly contraband or absolutely necessary. Should these things be repeated I will retaliate ten-fold, so help me God.
M. JEFF. THOMPSON,
Brigadier-General, Commanding
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The Surrender at Fort Donelson, Correspondence between Confederate Brigadier General S. B. Buckner and Union Brigadier-General U. S. Grant (February 16, 1862)
[RR-IV:139]
The taking of Fort Donelson by Ulysses S. Grant’s troops distinguished Grant (1822–1885) for the first time in his military career. He would become the most important and effective general of the war. His success here and the plain-speaking of his note to Simon Bolivar Buckner (1823–1914), a former colleague, helped make him popular and gave him, for a time, the nickname (playing off his apparent initials) “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. His commander, Major-General Henry Halleck, effused in a message on February 20: “I have received with the highest gratification your reports and letters from Fort Donelson, so gallantly captured under your brilliant leadership. I, in common with the whole country, warmly congratulate you upon this remarkable achievement, which has broken the enemy’s center, dispersed the rebels, and given a death-blow to secession. The prisoners by thousands have arrived here, and will be sent off by to-morrow to their respective destinations.”
HEADQUARTERS FORT DONELSON,
February 16, 1862
SIR: In consideration of all the circumstances governing the present situation of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding officer of the Federal forces, the appointment of Commissioners to agree upon terms of capitulation of the forces and post under my command, and in that view suggest an armistice until twelve o’clock to-day.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
S. B. BRUCKNER,
Brigadier-General, C. S. A.
HEADQUARTERS ARMY IN THE FIELD,
Camp near Donelson, Feb. 16
To Gen. S. B. Buckner Confederate Army:
Yours of this date, proposing armistice and appointment of Commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is just received. No terms, other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted.
I propose to move immediately upon your works. I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
U. S. GRANT,
Brig.-Gen. U. S. Commanding
HEADQUARTERS DOVER, TENN.,
February 16, 1862
To Brig.-Gen. U. S. Grant, U.S.A.:
SIR: The distribution of the forces under my command, incident to an unexpected change of commanders and the overwhelming force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of the confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose. I am, sir, your very obedient servant,
S. B. BUCKNER,
Brig.-Gen. C.S.A.
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Address to the People of Georgia by Howell Cobbs, R. Toombs, M. J. Crawford, Thomas R. R. Cobb (February 1862)
[RR-IV:192–193]
While short on educational, economic, or judicial equality, the Confederacy boasted an abundant crop of eloquent politicians, few of whom were ever at a loss to condemn the United States for fighting back. All four of the signers of this document were members of the provisional Confederate Congress. Thomas R. R. Cobb (1823–1862), a leader of Georgia’s secessionist movement, would serve as a general at Fredericksburg in December 1862, where he was killed. His brother, Howell (1815–1868), a pre-war governor of Georgia and former U. S. Treasury Secretary, also served as a general. Robert Toombs was the Confederacy’s first Secretary of State, but resigned to become a gene...
