in St. Louis, who were becoming very uneasy at the way
the "Yankee Abolitionist" was taking hold.

The dilemma into which Gen. Harney was becoming daily more involved was
far more perplexing than any he had encountered in his fighting days.
A question that could be settled sword in hand never had troubled
him much. Alas! this could not be--not then. On the one side were the
lifelong associations and habits of thought of the plain old soldier.
All of his friends were Southerners and Slaveholders, as he himself
was. Nearly all of the public men he knew, the officials of the State
of Louisiana, which he called his home; of Missouri, which was almost
equally his home, had either gone over irrevocably to Secession, or were
preparing to do so. In his real home, the Army, it was almost as
bad. The next Brigadier-General above him, Daniel E. Twiggs, had just
surrendered all the men and property under his command to the State
of Texas. The men who controlled the War Department,--Secretary Floyd,
Adjutant-General Samuel Cooper, Quartermaster-General Joe E. Johnston,
Assistant Adjutants-General John Withers and George Deas, had gone into
the Confederate army. Robert E. Lee, Gen. Scott's prime favorite, was
preparing to do so.

On the other hand were the deep, ineradicable instincts of soldierly
loyalty to the Flag under which he had fought for 40 years. The man
who had hanged 60 men at one time in Mexico for deserting the Flag was
likely to have a severe struggle before he could bring himself to do the
same. He was deeply incensed at the "Black Republicans" for irritating
the Southerners so that they felt compelled to secede, but did not
believe that the latter should have seceded. At least, until Missouri
seceded he was going to maintain, as best he could, the National
authority in his Department.

59

A flashlight is thrown on his mental attitude by his reply to
Lieut, (afterwards General) Schofield, when informed by him of the
above-mentioned preparations for seizing the Arsenal under the cover of
a riot. "A -------- outrage," he exclaimed in his usual explosive way.
"Why, the State has not yet passed the Ordinance of Secession. Missouri
has not gone out of the United States."

The limitations placed by Gen. Harney upon Lyon's assignment to command
were aggravating. Hagner commanded the buildings, the arms, ammunition,
and other stores, and the strong walls surrounding the grounds. Lyon
commanded merely the men. He cou