o Cowskin
Prairie, on the border of the Indian Territory.

BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK.

Both sides were reinforced, the Unionists being under the command of
General John C. Fremont, who had been assigned to the department of the
West, which included Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. The two
armies met early in August near Wilson's Creek. The Confederates were
the most numerous, but were poorly armed and disciplined. The battle was
badly mismanaged by both sides, and General Lyon, while leading a
charge, was shot dead. His men were defeated and retreated in the
direction of Springfield.

Missouri was now overrun with guerrillas and harried by both sides.
Colonel Mulligan made a desperate stand at Lexington in September, but
an overwhelming force under General Price compelled him to surrender.
Price moved southward and Lexington was retaken by the Unionists, who
also occupied Springfield. The Legislature sitting at Neocho passed an
ordinance of secession, but most of the State remained in the hands of
the Federals until they finally gained entire possession.

General Fremont's course was unwise and made him unpopular. He issued
what was in reality an emancipation proclamation, which President
Lincoln was compelled to modify. He was fond of show and ceremony, and
so extravagant that he was superseded in November by General Hunter,
who was soon sent to Kansas, and was in turn succeeded by General
Halleck. The fighting in the State was fierce but of an indecisive
character.

The expected neutrality of Kentucky was speedily ended by the entrance
of a body of Confederates under the command of General Leonidas Polk, a
graduate of West Point and a bishop of the Episcopal Church. General
U.S. Grant was dispatched with a force from Cairo, as soon as it became
known that Polk had entered Kentucky. Grant destroyed a Confederate camp
at Belmont, but was attacked by Polk and compelled to retreat to his
gunboats.

OPERATIONS ON THE COAST.

A formidable coast expedition, with land and naval forces on board,
under command of General B.F. Butler and Commodore Stringham, in August,
1861, captured Hatteras Inlet and the fort defending it. Establishing
themselves at that point, they made other attacks along the adjoining
coast of North Carolina. A still larger expedition left Fort Monroe in
November under Commodore Dupont and General T.W. Sherman and captured
Port Royal. The fleet was so powerful, numbering nearly one hund