ss of years May 9,1889, at his home at Pass Christian, Miss.

Once more Gen. Lyon was in the saddle, this time for good, with Frank
Blair and the Radicals massed behind him.

103

CHAPTER VI. THE LAST WORD BEFORE THE BLOW

Brig.-Gen. Nathaniel Lyon was now in full command, not only of the City
of St. Louis and the State of Missouri, but of all the vast territory
lying between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, except Texas, New
Mexico, and Utah.

His sudden elevation from a simple Captain heading a company to wide
command did not for an instant dizzy him as it seemed to McClellan and
Fremont, who had made similar leaps in rank. Where McClellan surrounded
himself with all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war as he had
seen it exemplified by officers of his rank in Europe, where he was
followed at all times by a numerous and glittering staff, resplendent
with military millinery; and where Fremont set up a vice-regal court,
in which were heard nearly all the tongues of the Continent, spoken by
pretentious adventurers who claimed service in substantially every war
since those of Napoleon, and under every possible flag raised in those
wars, Lyon did not change a particle from the plain, straightforward,
earnest soldier he had always been. His common dress was the private
soldier's blouse with the single star of his rank, and a slouch hat. He
was accoutered for the real work of war, not its spectacular effects.
Grant was not simpler than he. Dominated by a great purpose, he made
himself and every one and every thing about him tend directly towards
that focus. He had only enough of a staff to do the necessary work, and
they must be plain, matter-of-fact soldiers like himself, devoting their
energies through all their waking hours to the cause he had at heart.

104

His first Chief of Staff was Chester Harding, a Massachusetts man, a
thoroughgoing, practical, businesslike Yankee, animated by intense love
of the Union. He preferred, however, service in the field, and became
Colonel of the 10th Mo., then of the 25th, and later of the 43d
Mo., doing good service wherever placed, and receiving at the last a
well-earned brevet as Brigadier-General of Volunteers.

While Gen. Lyon was organizing the Home Guards into volunteer regiments
at the Arsenal, there came to his assistance a rather stockily-built
First Lieutenant of the Regular Army, who was in the prime of manhood,
with broad, full face and well-dev