ld not draw a musket, a cannon, or a
cartridge for either, not even a hammer, a spade nor an ax, without
a requisition duly approved by Harney. Nor could he change a single
arrangement of the grounds without Harney's approval.

Lyon was almost nightly meeting with the Committee of Safety, and
visiting the drill-rooms of the Home Guards, where he advised,
encouraged and drilled the men. The Secessionists were extremely fearful
that in some way he would manage to get the arms and ammunition, and
besought Harney and Hagner to omit no precaution to prevent this.

When away from his Secessionist environment, Harney's soldierly
instincts asserted themselves. Lyon's vigorous, uncompromising course
was far more to his mind than the dull, shifty Hagner's.

60

One was zealous in the performance of his duty, and the other a red-tape
bureaucrat, whose first thought always seemed to be to clog and hamper
the men in the field. Harney had suffered too much from these "office
fellows" to be especially enamored of them. Therefore he had moods, when
he gave Lyon a free hand, which the latter made the most of until the
General's mood changed.

During one of these Lyon had undermined the walls of the buildings,
placed batteries, built banquettes for the men to fire over the
walls, cut portholes, reinforced the weaker places with sandbags, and
established a vigilant sentry system to prevent surprise.

The Secessionists were equally full of plans, though not of
performances. Minute Men were organizing throughout the State to rush
in at the given day by every train and overwhelm St. Louis, taking the
Arsenal by sheer force of numbers. Many of the Captains of the large
steamboats which carried on the trade between St. Louis and New Orleans
were zealous Secessionists, and mooted plans for assailing the Arsenal
on the river side with cannon mounted on boats, backed up by large
crowds of men. But Gov. Jackson and his coterie still relied mainly upon
inciting some form of riot in the city, which would allow Gen. Frost
to get possession of the Arsenal with his Militia and "protect it from
violence." Once in Gen. Frost's hands--then!

The Secessionists scored a point and carried dismay to the Unionists by
securing an order from Gen. Scott for Capt. Lyon to attend a Court of
Inquiry at Fort Leavenworth. While he was gone they might carry out
their plans with comparative ease and safety. Blair, however, succeeded
in getting Gen. Scott to re