der of men through superiority of courage
and ability, William Selby Harney had for 43 years made an unsurpassed
record as a commander of soldiers. He had served in the everglades of
Florida, on the boundless plains west of the Mississippi, and in Mexico,
during the brilliantly spectacular war which ended with our "reveling
in the Halls of the Montezumas." He it was, who, eager for his country's
honor and advancement, had, while the diplomats were disputing with
Great Britain, pounced down upon and seized the debatable island of
San Juan in Vancouver waters. For this he was recalled, but the island
remained American territory. He was soon assigned to the Department of
the West, with headquarters at St. Louis.

31

He had been for 12 years the Colonel of the crack 2d U. S. Dragoons, and
for three years one of the three Brigadier-Generals in the Regular Army,
his only seniors being Maj.-Gen. and Brevet Lieut.-Gen. Winfield Scott,
the General-in-Chief; Brig.-Gen. John E. Wool, commanding the Department
of the East; and Brig.-Gen. David E. Twiggs, commanding the Department
of Texas.

Gen. Harney's assignment, while a recognition of his eminent fitness
for ruling the territory over which he had campaigned for more than a
quarter of a century, was highly gratifying to him inasmuch as he
was married to a wealthy St. Louis woman, and in that city he had an
abundance of the luxurious social enjoyment so dear to the heart of the
old warrior. A Southerner by birth and education, a large Slave-owner,
with all his interests in the South, and at all times seemingly in
full sympathy with the Southern spirit that dominated the Army, the
Secessionists sanguinely expected that he would prove as pliant to their
proposals as had Gen. Twiggs, the Commander of the Department of
Texas. We shall see how soldierly instincts and training measurably
disappointed them.

32

To return to the Missouri Legislature: Lieut.-Gov. Reynolds could, as a
lieutenant always can, be more outspoken and radical than his chief,
who labored under responsibility. On the day the Legislature met he
published an important letter which thoroughly indicates the feeling
of the Secessionists at that period. He urged the General Assembly to
promptly express the determination of Missouri to resist every attempt
by the Federal Government to coerce any State to remain in the Union, or
to use force in any way to collect revenues or execute the laws in any
seceding S