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 The stars and bars or The reign of terr 
 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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STARS AND BARS; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE REIGN OF TERROR IN MISSOURI 
 
 BY 
 
 ISAAC KELSO, 
 
 OF PI/ATTE CITT, MO. 
 
 Sail on, O Union, strong and great: 
 Humanity, with all its fears, 
 With all its hopes of future years, 
 
 Is hanging breathless on thy fate. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 A.. "W I L Xj I Jk3Vt S & CO., 
 
 100 Washington Steeet. 
 1863. 
 
Katered according- to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 
 ISAAC KELSO, 
 In the Clerk's £>flce of the District Court for the District of Massaohu setts. 
 
 GEO. V. BAKD & ATEBT, 
 BTUBSOTTPERS AND FBTITIKKa. 
 
lothe 
 
 Gallant Soldiers of our Loyal Arm/y, 
 
 who, 
 
 in the Q)efenae of the Qovsmment, and for the (Preservation of 
 oun GiyOMiozrs uxfioir, 
 
 have bravely followed the Stars and Stripes over ensanguined 
 
 plains and through storms of iron hail, 
 
 and 
 
 To the aelf-saeriflcimg Patriots of the land everywhere, 
 
 I'his Work is most respeoLfully dedicated by 
 
 THE ^VTHOIi. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 (^TO he first draft of what is here offered to the read- 
 i-ljv ing public was sketched amid the whirlwinds of 
 ^^^ civil war, and while encompassed by the most 
 exciting scenes and circumstances of violence, 
 conspiracies, and sanguinary strife. It claims to 
 be, for the most part, but a plain, unvarnished 
 story of what happened under the author's own observa- 
 tion, during a reign of terror which has scarcely had a 
 parallel in the history of our race. 
 
 It is hoped the courteous reader will not mistake the 
 production for a work of imagination ; the author is free 
 to admit, however, that, in some cases, he has used fic- 
 titious names ; and, also, that the conversations, dialogues, 
 and soliloquies introduced more or less throughout the 
 work are, in part at least, supposed. But no further than 
 this has he used the guise of fiction, or essayed to idealize 
 his subject; for we have come upon times when, of a 
 truth, it may be said that " fact is stranger than fiction." 
 For the marvellous, the wild, the thrilling, we no longer 
 need to draw upon fancy ; reality, now, exceeds the 
 most highly-wrought creations of imagination, transcends 
 the most startling coinage of the brain. 
 
 While the author has been solicitous to paint vividly 
 and lifelike, yet he must insist that his picture is by no 
 means overdrawn, or highly colored. The incidents re- 
 
 1* T 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 lated, the events and characters brought forward, are reul, 
 and intended, without contributing aught to prejudice 
 and passion, to make a fair and truthful impression on the 
 candid mind. 
 
 Sliould there be found, here and there, a passage that 
 savors of acrimony, or betrays a spirit of vindictiveness, 
 the indulgent reader will please bear in mind that the 
 writer has had an interior view of the rebellion, and 
 passed through an ordeal well calculated to set any frail 
 mortal's blood on fire. For, from the beginning of the 
 trouble, and long before the Federal Government had 
 given the slightest protection to loyal citizens anywhere 
 in the Southwest, he was constantly surrounded by law- 
 less men, plotting traitors, and assassins, who, like blood- 
 hounds, were ready to hunt down, rob, or murder, their 
 patriotic neighbors. 
 
 Regarding the present conflict as a death-struggle be- 
 tween civilization and barbarism, liberty and slavery, 
 loyalty and treason ; and convinced that the great body 
 of the Northern people have no adequate conception of 
 the actual state of things at the South ; and persuaded, 
 also, that there is an apathy at the North, from which pa- 
 triots need to be awakened at such a time of peril to the 
 country, it is deemed at least pertinent to hold the mirror 
 up to reality, and lift the curtain behind which the most 
 shocking tragedies have been enacted, and in the shadow 
 of which disloyal men, still skulk and traitors hide them- 
 selves. 
 
 The humble volume here respectfully submitted to the 
 public is designed, without ostentation or pretension, to 
 put a candle in every honest man's hand who needs more 
 light on a subject confessedly of absorbing interest to 
 us all. I. K. 
 
THE STAES AND BAES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 " Breathes there a man with eoul so dead, 
 Who never to himSBlf hath said, 
 This is my own, my native Umd ! " 
 
 ''T was in the hill-countrj of North- 
 western Arkansas, and in the spring 
 of 186L Twilight was deepening 
 into darkness. The loud shout of 
 the guerrilla chief to his scattered 
 band, and the distant clatter of 
 iron hoofs upon the rockj hill, had 
 just died away on the dusky air. Adrian Mal- 
 vin, a youth of scarce eighteen summers, odious 
 in the eyes of disloyal men and traitors on ac- 
 count of his unswerving adherence to the cause 
 of the Union, and hunted like a wolf from forest 
 to plain, from hill-top to valley, stood trembling 
 
8 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 in a gloomy dell, where he had sought shelter 
 from the red-handed vandals who clamored for 
 his blood. 
 
 Though hard pressed in his flight, he had 
 managed to elude pursuit amid the mazes of 
 the rooky wood and tangled copse into which 
 he had plunged. 
 
 The bafla,ed banditti, despairing of accom- 
 plishing their diabolical purpose and murderous 
 designs, had abandoned the chase, leaving the 
 persecuted patriot to the quietude of the lonely 
 forest and the solemn darkness of the night. 
 
 Malvin was a young man of limited expe- 
 rience, — knew but little of the world, and al- 
 most nothing of life's trials, buffets, and conflicts, 
 and still less of the treachery, baseness, and bru- 
 tality which lurk in the hearts of bad men. 
 
 Although reared in the midst of a commu- 
 nity made up, for the most part, of the baser 
 sort, he had no conception of the terrible de- 
 pravity of men whose consciences were seared, 
 and whose lives were wholly given up to crime. 
 
 Surroundings and associations, doubtless, have 
 much to do in forming the characters of men ; 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TEEROlj; 9 
 
 yet men are not all the same under the same 
 circmnstances. The influences of society, of 
 scener}'^, and of example, brought to bear on the 
 human mind and heart, though potent, are by 
 no means omnipotent. 
 
 Malvin had been taught that slayery was a 
 divine institution, and that the colored race had 
 no rights which a white man was bound to re- 
 spect ; yet his own heart told him that oppres- 
 sion was a crime. Vice in every form prevailed 
 around him, and scenes of cruelty and injustice 
 were constantly before his eyes ; yet he main- 
 tained an upright walk and spotless reputation, 
 and unfolded his faculties, moral and intellect- 
 ual, in rare harmony, beauty, and purity. 
 
 Unsophisticated, guileless, and ' open-hearted, 
 he was ever frank in the expression of his 
 opinions, and hesitated not, on any subject, to 
 state his honest convictions ; and when the 
 madness of secession came up, he stopped not 
 to consider consequences or to count the cost, 
 but with all the zeal and energy of his ardent 
 soul opposed and denounced it. He had yet to 
 learn that all were not men that wore the 
 
10 THE STABS AND BARS; 
 
 hciman form. It is hard for a generons mind to 
 believe others treacherous. Malvin was unsus- 
 pecting ; nor would he admit that men could 
 be so base, till the unwelcome conviction forced 
 itself upon him. Soon as the work of rebellion 
 began, he found to his cost that the tiger was 
 unchained ; and that multitudes he had been 
 accustomed to look upon as men were being 
 transformed, as by magic, into demons. 
 
 A new phase of depraved human nature, to 
 his great surprise, now met his gaze, filling his 
 heart with unutterable sadness, and causing wild, 
 strange thoughts to sweep' across his bewildered 
 brain. 
 
 " Oh, God ! " exclaimed he, in the bitter an- 
 guish of his soul, "has it come to this, — that 
 loyalty is reckoned a crime ? — and that an 
 American citizen, for his pohtical opinions, is 
 thus persecuted, driven from his home, and 
 hunted like a wild beast ? Alas, that I have 
 lived to see this evil day ! " 
 
 The eruption, the worse than volcanic erup- 
 tion, which began with such violence, betokened 
 the speedy overthrow of all law and order, — 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TEEROE. 11 
 
 the breaking up of society, and utter ruin to 
 the country ! What a shadow fell upon young 
 Malvin's heart and hopes ! 
 
 As Nigkt gathered her sable curtains more 
 closely a,bout him, he gave his mind to sad re- 
 flections upon his forlorn condition and the 
 fiendish persecution he was suffering. In the 
 midst of his melancholy meditations, he was 
 startled aU at once by a gang of wolves, that, 
 from the depths of the dark forest, set up a 
 doleful howling. 
 
 " Welcome ! " cried Malvin, after a moment's 
 reflection, " thrice welcome, ye wild beasts of 
 prey, whose nature it is to howl and prowl. I 
 hail you as companions and friends, in prefer- 
 ence to my fellow-men ! Welcome to this 
 dreary wild ! where, alike, we woo the darkness 
 and the gloom, to find refuge from the cruelty 
 of human beasts and hellish monsters in the 
 shape of men ! " 
 
 Now, from a neighboring tree, hard by, a hoot- 
 ing owl joined in the dismal chorus, as if to 
 make the grim night and lonely glen stiU more 
 hideous. 
 
12 THE STAES AND BAES ; 
 
 "And welcome to the voice of the night- 
 owi ! " said Malvin ; " thy harshest note is music 
 to my ear, compared to the horrid oaths, the 
 taunts and gibes, the profane and vulgar jests, 
 of the cut-throat clans that infest this God-for- 
 saken land! " 
 
 It may be here remarked, that the conduct 
 of the desperadoes in the Southwest, who were 
 then plundering the country, maltreating peace- 
 able citizens, and murdering loyal men, was the 
 more unpardonable and outrageous, inasmuch 
 as there had yet been no invasion from, the 
 North of which to complain. Nor had the Fed- 
 eral Grovernment, up to that period, taken a 
 single step toward sending an armed force into 
 the country. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact, by the way, that the 
 most appalling scenes enacted, and the most 
 revolting pictures of violence and bloodshed, 
 which the eyes of men have looked upon since 
 the inauguration of civil war in our unhappy 
 country, transpired, strange as it may seem, be- 
 fore there were any organized armies in the 
 field on either side. 
 
OE, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 13 
 
 It may be further stated, in this connection, 
 and in strict fidehty to truth, that before the 
 present administration came into power, even 
 prior to the presidential election, and on the day 
 of the election, many a poor German was mur- 
 dered in cold blood, by the brutal mob, for his 
 political predilections and anti-slavery proclivi- 
 ties; and the civil authorities and officers of 
 the law connived at it. In this villany, the 
 complicity of the pro-slavery clergy should not 
 be overlooked, especially the clergy of the 
 Methodist Church, South. These Reverend 
 traitors did more than any other class of men to 
 encourage intolerance, foster a mobocratic spirit, 
 and bring about a recklessness, the legitimate 
 fruits of which were to barbarize the community, 
 and feurn loose upon the country hordes of rob- 
 bers, incendiaries, and assassins ! For the credit 
 of religion, this disgrace might be left unre- 
 corded, did not patriotism and the exigency of 
 the times require that disloyal men should 
 everywhere be marked, — especially at such a 
 time of peril as this, when we are in the midst 
 of the most fearful revolution that ever black- 
 
14 
 
 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 ened the political heavens of any nation. Than 
 the clergy, no recreant wretches in Eebeldoin 
 have been more rabid, lawless, and blood-thirsty. 
 The preachers of Arkansas and Missouri, with 
 here and there a rare exception, were regular 
 fire-eaters ; they out-heroded Herod, and left 
 in the shade even the loud-mouthed dema- 
 gogue, the black-hearted kidnappers, and soul- 
 less slave-traders. Yes ; astounding as it may 
 seem, and disgraceful as it must appear, incum- 
 bents of the pulpit lent themselves to the cause 
 of secession and treason in the most unscrupu- 
 lous and reckless manner ; sanctioned the mur- 
 der of political heretics, as Union men were 
 esteemed ; apologized for perjury, in disregard- 
 ing the oath of allegiance; and justified all 
 the diabolical barbarism of the guerrilla system, 
 which caused a reign of terror, throughout the 
 Southwest, that has had no parallel in the 
 history of nations, — no ; not even in the worst 
 days of the French Revolution. 
 
 But to return to our youthful hero. Malvin 
 before the breaking out of the rebellion, had 
 
15 
 
 some time marked with serious apprehensions 
 the portentous aspect of the political sky, and 
 watched with anxiety the coming of the gray 
 shadow of secession, and the constant deepening 
 of the gloom; yet he little dreamed that the 
 black cloud of civil war was destined so soon to 
 blot the sun, and from its fretted bosom hvirl the 
 thunderbolts of death. Although he quailed 
 in the beginning of the reign of terror, and 
 fled in dismay when, with the resistless power 
 of the whirlwind, the storm first broke upon his 
 own head ; yet it will be seen that the fiery 
 ordeal, through which he was called to pass, di- 
 rectly drew out the strong points of his charac- 
 ter, developed indomitable energy, fired his soul 
 with dauntless courage, and transformed him 
 into a hero. 
 
 Such is the tendency of adversity and try- 
 ing scenes upoii sterling natures. Calamity, 
 suffering, and persecution become the crucible 
 in which the precious metal of the soul is 
 separated from the dross. In Malvin, it at 
 once brought out the pure gold of manly vir- 
 tue and true patriotism. And, by the way, a 
 
16 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 thought is here suggested on which it may not 
 be unprofitable to expatiate a moment. It is 
 this : While the terrible civil war, now upon us, 
 has brought, and is daily bringing, direst ca- 
 lamities and untold sorrows, yet at the same 
 time it has, with its numberless ills and long 
 train of evils, brought also no little good ; and 
 is certainly destined, in the end, to work out 
 great and glorious results. 
 
 Not least among the benefits already realized 
 are the testing of principle in men and the de- 
 velopment and unveiling of their true charac- 
 ters. 
 
 Never before, in this world's history, has there 
 been such an opportunity for men to show them- 
 selves, and to make known the stuff they are 
 made of 
 
 Under the pressure and white heat of ex- 
 citement, consequent upon such times, the moral 
 complexion of the soul, the real principles of 
 men, and their inherent qualities of mind and 
 heart, be they what thej^ may, are necessarily 
 brought out in a strong light. The tossing of 
 the waves, the surging of the sea, when the 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 17 
 
 tempest flaps her dark wings, discover the coral 
 reefs, or lay bare the black rocks below the sur- 
 face ; so the gusts of passion, in stormy times 
 like these, the gales that sweep over the mind, 
 and the crowding on of great and stirring 
 events, strip all actors in the scene of their 
 outward guise, and we see men as they are, 
 read their hearts, discern their secret motives, 
 and comprehend their actions. 
 
 Since the beginning of our unhappy and jnost 
 sanguinary struggle, how many men, who, in the 
 " piping times of peace," put on blandishments, 
 gracious smiles, and fairest external seeming, 
 have turned out treacherous, selfish, unprin- 
 cipled, and hollow-hearted ! And how many of 
 great pretensions, of lofty airs, wonderful pa- 
 rade, pomp, a«id show, have proved themselves 
 but chaff,— ^ made up of vanity, and lighter than 
 a puff of empty air ! 
 
 At the same time, how many in the humble i- 
 walks of life, unpretentious, simple-hearted, and 
 of plain, homely exterior, after passing through 
 the fire, have come out pure and sparkling dia- 
 monds of the first water ! 
 
 2» 
 
18 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 The mighty commotion, upheavals, and convul- 
 sions, of the country have so sifted men North 
 and South, East and West, that we begin to see 
 what material they are composed of, and to un- 
 derstand their real characters. While the cal- 
 dron has been boiling, they have found their 
 affinities, and unconsciously ranged themselves 
 where they belong. 
 
 True patriots and self-sacrificing citizens, who 
 have been the salvation of the country, loom 
 up like stately columns of pure, white marble, 
 dotting and adorning our fair land, while trai- 
 tors are everywhere covered with shame and 
 disgrace; and the vile copperhead, with his brains 
 out, and swollen with venom, lies helpless in his 
 snak}' folds, a miserable spectacle in the eyes of 
 all honest men, and abhorred alike by Heaven 
 and earth ! 
 
 Men who have stood by their country in its 
 peril, in its struggle, in its agony, have won a 
 name that will live after the^, — a renown more 
 durable than marble, and a glory fadeless as the 
 stars that gem the sky ; but the memory of 
 traitors shall be left to rot. 
 
OE, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 19 
 
 Malvin passed the night in the dreary wild, 
 meditating, with burning brain and agony of 
 thought, through the weary, sleepless hours, 
 upon the hapless events of the preceding day ; 
 and speculating, with vague conjecture, upon the 
 future, which seemed, to his inexperienced mind, 
 impenetrably dark, and full of painful uncer- 
 tainty. The surroimding gloom and oppressive 
 loneliness of the place, doubtless, had something 
 to do in depressing his spirits and filling hia 
 mind with trooping phantoms and horrible fore- 
 bodings. Outward darkness, unquestionably, has 
 great influence over our thoughts and feelings, 
 imparting its own sable complexion thereto. 
 
 With the dawn of day, light fell upon the 
 young man's mind as well as upon his outward 
 vision. While the mantle of night disappeared 
 before the radiant eye of the rising morn, the 
 cloud of despondency lifted from the patriot's 
 heart. Everything like fear a;id trembling at 
 once departed, and he straightway resolved to 
 return to his home, arm himself, defend his per- 
 son and property as best he could, and stand by 
 the old stars and stripes to the last. 
 
20 
 
 THE STARS AND BAES J 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ' Oh for a world in principle as chaste 
 As this is gross and selfish 1 " 
 
 I LAS, what pains poor mortals 
 take to make life wretched, and 
 turn this beautiful world into a 
 hell ! " 
 
 Thus soliloquized Parson South- 
 down, as he leisurely strolled, 
 one bright spring morning, along 
 the margin of a beautiful prairie in the vicinity 
 of Platte City, Missouri. 
 
 In his tones there was a shade of sadness, and 
 in his look a touch of melancholy. He walked 
 on, sweeping his restless eye over the verdant 
 landsca,pe, as oqe who sought to tranquillize a 
 perplexed and troubled mind. 
 
 " The golden sun climbs the sky," continued 
 he, " to behold the green-robed earth rejoicing 
 in her queenly attire. How radiant the face of 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TEBEOE. 21 
 
 nature ! And how sweet is the breath of 
 spring ! But oh, how can the sun continue to 
 ^ine, how can creation smile, and the gentle 
 breezes whisper peace, as with perfumed wings 
 they fan my feverish brow, while fire and sword 
 are doing their fearful work, while bloody mur- 
 der stalks forth with stained hands and reeking 
 blade, and rapine and violence desolate the 
 land!" 
 
 He paused, and pressed his throbbing temples, 
 sighed, and uttered a word of prayer ; then, 
 lifting his eyes to the blue sky, said, " The 
 heavens look down as serenely, and all nature 
 is as tranquil, as though no stormy passions 
 raged in the human breast. The birds sing as 
 merrily, and hill and dale bloom as gayly, as if 
 men were happy, and cherished toward one 
 another no enmity. Even these new-born, dewy 
 flowers are smiling through their tears. And 
 how gently come the yellow beams of the morn- 
 ing sun to kiss away those glistening, pearly 
 tears ! Oh that the angel of love would, in like 
 manner, come to kiss away the burning drops of 
 grief that to-day dim the eyes of thousands in 
 this distracted land ! " 
 
22 THE STABS AND BARS ; 
 
 Now, leaning upon his staif, he stood for some 
 moments silent and motionless, as if lost in 
 profound and gloomy reflection ; then, suddenly 
 looking up, and starting forward, as if just 
 waking from a painful dream, he said to himself, 
 " Is there not a God of justice ? Why should so 
 wicked a people marvel at his judgments ? " 
 
 A familiar voice, at this juncture, called out 
 to him, " Good-morning, parson ! " And the 
 next moment a horseman was by his side, whom 
 he greeted as Clifton Clifford. 
 
 " You walk at an early hour, Mr. Southdown," 
 remarked the latter. 
 
 " I like the fresh, balmy air that breathes 
 over these green prairies and blooming lawns," 
 replied the parson ; " and I love to gaze," con- 
 tinued he, " on those wide, bright plains when 
 yon shining orb pours his earliest light upon 
 their emerald bosoms. Besides, I delight in the 
 unbroken quiet which reigns here before the 
 bustling world's astir." 
 
 " Ah, we shall all sigh for quietude, I appre- 
 hend," returned Clifford, " ere our country's 
 troubles have an end." 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TEBEOR. 23 
 
 " Indeed, we may," said the parson. " Any 
 news since our last mail ? " 
 
 " Many rumors are on the wing ; the most 
 reliable of any importance is from a traveller 
 at the inn, who reports the bombardment of 
 Fort Sumter by the rebels." 
 
 "Can that be so?" 
 
 " From the tenor of the report, it is likely to 
 be true. And the electric wires, 'tis said, are 
 everywhere burdened with the news." 
 
 " Then has already begun the opening act of 
 the most fearful tragedy the world has ever 
 seen." 
 
 " If Major Anderson and his little band should 
 be compelled to surrender, alas for our poor 
 country ! And that event must surely happen ; 
 for the enemy, it seems, is pouring shot and 
 shell upon them at a furious rate." 
 
 " And make they no resistance ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes. At last accounts, they were re- 
 turning the fire in the most spirited manner. 
 Gun was answering gun, while sea and shore 
 shook to the fierce reverberations of their ter- 
 rible thunder." 
 
24 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 « I sadly fear the effect of this news on our 
 own population." 
 
 « Doubtless it will add fuel to the fire already 
 kindled." 
 
 « Yes, and tend to encourage the lawless mis- 
 creants of Border-ruffiandom in the fiendish 
 work already begun. Vile men and heartless 
 wretches, of whom Western Missouri is full, will 
 seize upon the event as a suitable pretext for a 
 new and more desperate outbreak. The wild 
 excitement, which has been sweeping like a tem- 
 pest over the Gulf States, will not be long reach- 
 ing Missouri. And here it may rage, with even 
 more violence than there." 
 
 " What the end will be, God only knows ! " 
 observed Clifford ; and, bidding the parson good- 
 morning, spurred his steed, and galloped away 
 across the prairie. 
 
 " A deep darkness wraps the future," said the 
 clergyman to himself; and, turning about, di- 
 rected his steps homeward. 
 
 In the evening of the same daj' on which oc- 
 curred the above conversation, there might have 
 
25 
 
 been seen, in the back-parlor of an elegant man- 
 sion, situated in the suburbs of Platte City, 
 three well-dressed, middle-aged men, sitting near 
 together in a semicircle, and earnestly engaged 
 in close conversation. 
 
 " Great times make great men," remarked one 
 of the trio, in a suppressed, yet emphatic, voice. 
 " We must not let slip the golden ball of oppor- 
 tunity," added he ; " what say you, Macqueen?" 
 
 " I am growing less sanguine," responded the 
 individual addressed. " Our plans have, so far, 
 turned out miserable failures." 
 
 "And are you about to recant?" 
 
 ^'That is, perhaps, too late. But if it were 
 within my power to recall the past, I would take 
 not another step on the fearful path of seces- 
 sion. We vainly hoped the revolution would be 
 bloodless; but that silly delusion has already 
 fc§en dispelled from our minds." 
 
 " Nonsense ! " impatiently replied the other ; 
 *' blood will fatten the soil, let it flow. But we'll 
 be careful of our own." 
 
 " When sanguinary revolutions begin, there's 
 no telling where they'll end" 
 
26 TEE STAES AND BAES ; 
 
 " Too irresolute, — want the nerve, I take it." 
 
 " I must confess, Ryan, that I've no thirst for 
 blood, but a great horror of human slaughter. 
 Already have we had enough of it." 
 
 " What has so changed your purpose ? In the 
 beginning, you were resolute, determined, and 
 ready to hazard everything in the cause of se- 
 cession, and even willing to sacrifice your best 
 friends rather than faU." 
 
 " I was then drunk on vain hopes and a mad 
 ambition, but recent events have made me 
 sober and sick at heart. 'Twas but yesterday, 
 my nearest neighbor, a good and valuable citi- 
 zen, was assassinated, — shot like a dog ! and by 
 a member of our Order ! " 
 
 " His death was decreed by the Castle, and 
 the honorable Knight who put a bullet in his 
 brain was, by high authority, appointed his exe- 
 cutioner." 
 
 " All the worse." 
 
 " How dare you say so ? You are a member 
 of the Order, and belong to the Inner Temple 
 of the Knights of the Golden Circle." 
 
 " Say, rather. Knights of the Bloody Circle, — 
 
27 
 
 since we have become a band of assassins, whose 
 chief business it is to murder our political ene- 
 mies." 
 
 " Have you so soon forgotten your oath ? " 
 
 " No. I but too well remember it. God for- 
 give me that I have kept it so well." 
 
 " You have a sickly conscience ; it needs 
 physic." 
 
 " So it does ; a medicine that can take away 
 the stains of blood." 
 
 " This squeamishness comes of your Uglier-law 
 proclivities. I have sometimes observed that 
 these higher-law men, all have tender-footed, 
 weak-kneed consciences." 
 
 "Is there no danger of eavesdroppers here?" 
 inquired the third individual, who, up to this 
 time had kept silent. " If I mistake not," added 
 he, " I've thrice seen a shadow pass the window. 
 It looked like the figure of a woman, closely 
 hooded and mantled." 
 
 " A servant, perhaps," said Macqueen ; " it can 
 be no one else. My wife is from home, — gone 
 to spend the night with a neighbor in the coun- 
 try. Had she not been absent, we should have 
 met elsewhere." 
 
28 THE STAES AND BARS) 
 
 "And is she opposed to secession?" asked 
 Ryan, with surprise. 
 
 " Uncompromisingly," replied Macqueen in a 
 low voice ; "let us talk softly," he added ; " walls 
 have been known to have ears. Our room 
 being dark, no one can see us from without. 
 And none of the servants, I'm sure, saw us 
 when we came in. Some of them may be idly 
 passing about, but will not likely overhear us." 
 
 "Then, resuming the subject," remarked 
 Ryan, " let us come at once to the point. This 
 attack on Fort Sumter will no little favor our 
 designs by fanning the flame of excitement, 
 which is preparing the pro-slavery part of the 
 community, in this section, to make a clean 
 sweep of the Dutch and abolition Missourians. 
 We can do anything, you know, with the white 
 trash when once we get them properly excited. 
 They'd run their heads full-tilt against a stone 
 wall if we were but to tell them to. The poor 
 devils want no higher honor than to be our 
 tools. And they hate abolitionists a great sight 
 worse than we do. For they know, if the nig- 
 gers get free, they'll soon have competition for 
 
OE, THE REIGN OP TEEEOE. 29 
 
 menial employment. So you see, as we've got 
 to use these ragamuffins in putting down Union 
 men, it's expedient that we lay hold of every 
 event calculated to inflame their passions." 
 
 " And what do you propose to do with our 
 Union neighbors ? " 
 
 " Every mother's son among them has got to 
 do one of three things, — renounce their Union 
 doctrine, leave the country, or swing upon a 
 halter. Between these three things they will 
 be forced to choose." 
 
 " That is madness." 
 
 " He is a madman who calls it madness." 
 
 " These Union men have the same right to 
 the country we have, and the same right to their 
 opinions that we have to ours. Their homes 
 are sacred ; their families are dear to them, and 
 rightfully look to them for protection. We 
 have no more right to molest them than they 
 have to molest us." 
 
 "If that kind of doctrine is to be preached, 
 we may as well abandon the cause at once ; the 
 whole scheme falls to the ground ; secession is 
 a failure, and we have our trouble for our pains. 
 
 3* 
 
30 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 According to our oath and obligation, as Knights 
 of the Golden Circle, we are bound to go for- 
 ward at all hazards, and at whatever cost, in 
 achieving the independence of the Slave States. 
 To accomplish our purpose, we are bound to 
 stop at nothing. No man's life is to be a stum- 
 bling-block in the way of ultimate success. 
 And, as Knights of the Inner Temple, we are 
 pledged to take Missouri out of the Union or 
 take her to perdition." 
 
 " To do the latter may be found easier than 
 the former." 
 
 " Have you no ambition ? " 
 
 " Too much, alas ! unless it were of a better 
 quality. Ambition burns like fire in my bones, 
 and, to gratify it, I am ready to do almost any- 
 thing but commit murder." 
 
 " A man of ambition can never have a better 
 opportunity than the present. If secession shall 
 accomplish its mission, a thing most certain, each 
 State, in the end, will likely set up for itself, and 
 choose its own form of government. As to Mis- 
 souri, we contemplate nothing short of an em- 
 pire, — an empire, of which slavery is to be the 
 
OE, THE REIGH OP TEEEOE. 31 
 
 chief corner-stone. When that happens, then 
 will be our chance to chmb." 
 
 " That is all very fine ; but there's no use de- 
 ceiving ourselves, and building castles in the air. 
 The revolution may indeed succeed, and you 
 and I may gain seats of power, but only 
 through blood." 
 
 " There's Banquo's ghost again, — blood ! 
 blood ! You can't endure the thought of 
 blood." 
 
 " I confess the weakness." 
 
 " Then talk not of ambition ; dream not of 
 reaching dizzy heights in this world. No man 
 need hope to grasp a sceptre, wear purple robes, 
 or place a crown upon his brow, till he can say 
 to Conscience and pale-faced Fear, — Avaunt!" 
 
 While this conversation was going on, a slight 
 click in the lock of the outer door might have 
 been heard by an acute listener ; directly after 
 which, the door softly opened, and in glided a 
 female figure, with the stealthy movement of a 
 ghost. Gently closing the door behind her, she 
 passed cautiously across the floor to the oppo- 
 
32 THE STAGS AM) BAES ; 
 
 site side of the drawing-room, and, bending her 
 ear close to the great folding-doors, which sepa- 
 rated the front from the back parlor, stood for 
 some moments in a listening attitude ; then, 
 gliding back to the centre of the apartment, lit 
 a great silver chandelier which hung suspended 
 from the ceiling. In a moment, the room was 
 brilliantly illuminated. But the occupants of 
 the adjoining apartment, who were sitting in 
 profound darkness, perceived it not. For in the 
 folding doors there was not even so much as a 
 keyhole to admit a single stray beam. 
 
 Now the mysterious shadow that had thrice 
 passed the window of the conspirators tiirned 
 out a veritable woman ; and, throwing off her 
 disguise, she stood forth the proud mistress of 
 the mansion. 
 
 But the gentle, sunny smile she was wont to 
 •wear had disappeared ; her sweet expression 
 was gone ; and her ruby lips, turning ashy 
 Avhite, pressed tightly against her firm-set teeth, 
 her bosom heaved with violent emotion, and her 
 large, lustrous eyes flashed fire. 
 
 After a pause, as if to regain self-possession. 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TEBEOE. 33 
 
 she tiptoed to the folding-doors, and, slyly re- 
 moving a fastening, gave them a vigorous and 
 sudden shove, at the same time gliding back 
 underneath the flaring chandelier. 
 
 The folding-doors parting in the centre, each 
 wing swung back upon its hinges, allowing a 
 sudden flood of dazzling light to be poured into 
 the faces of the conspirators. 
 
 Never were men more astonished, nor worse 
 confounded. If a thunderbolt had fallen 
 through the roof, or the earth yawned beneath 
 their feet, they could not have manifested more 
 surprise. 
 
 On recovering a little from the effect of the 
 first burst of light upon their overpowered vis- 
 ion, they were greatly abashed and confused by 
 the withering, petrifying glance of the majestic 
 woman who stood before them like an avenging 
 angel. 
 
 Never did an indignant woman assume an at- 
 titude more haughty and commanding. Tall of 
 stature, beautiful in figure, handsome of feature, 
 and fired as was her soul with intense excite- 
 ment, she looked august and terrific as an angry 
 goddess. 
 
34 THE STARS AND BARS J 
 
 After hurling upon the plotting trio, for a 
 moment, the fierce lightning of her eye, she 
 strode proudly across the chamber, mingling a 
 look of ineffable scorn with an air of lofty 
 disdain and bitter indignation ; then, turning 
 about, again bent her eagle gaze upon the dum- 
 founded traitors, especially on him whose 
 treason touched her deepest, — her husband, — 
 and said : — 
 
 " Has it come to this, — our house the resort 
 of rebels ? " 
 
 " Rebels ! Rebels ! " echoed the disloyal as- 
 sociates of her husband, exchanging sharp 
 glances, and putting on an air of insulted 
 dignity. 
 
 " And you, Mr. Macqueen, their boon com- 
 panion ! " continued the indignant woman. 
 " Such being your affinities, the same roof can- 
 not much longer shelter us." 
 
 "Madam, what mean you?" 'demanded the 
 trembling husband, rising to his feet, and mak- 
 ing an awkward, but desperate, effort to put on 
 an air of authority. 
 
 " My words are plain," answered she, with a 
 
35 
 
 peculiar stress of voice, and again strode haugh- 
 tily across the apartment. 
 
 " In Heaven's name, consider what you say," 
 rejoined Macqueen ; " insult not these gentle- 
 men." 
 
 " Drive them hence ! " said she, with startling 
 emphasis and sweeping gesture. 
 
 " This is disgraceful ! " muttered the confused 
 husband, with downcast look and faltering voice. 
 
 " Disgraceful ? Ay, so it is, — having made 
 your house a den of thieves ! Away ! all of 
 you, away ! " 
 
 " Let us withdraw," whispered Eyan to his 
 companion ; " she's bent on raising Beelzebub." 
 
 " Agreed ! " gasped the other; " lead the way ; 
 let us vanish before we're annihilated. I 
 wouldn't be her husband for a kingdom." 
 
 Saying which, they slid out at a back-door, 
 and quickly disappeared in the darkness of the 
 night. 
 
 There was now silence for a space, save the 
 emphatic footfall of Mrs. Macqueen, who con- 
 tinued to walk up and down the apartment, as 
 if nursing her indignation to keep it warm. 
 
36 THE STAE8 AND BAES ; 
 
 Meanwhile, her husband stood in a sulky mood, 
 dejected and speechless, looking like a criminal 
 at the bar of justice. 
 
 " I've no patience," at length said she, " with 
 the black-hearted knaves engaged in this foul 
 conspiracy." 
 
 " Am I no longer master of my own house ? " 
 stammered Macqueen, seeming at a loss what 
 to say for himself, yet compelled to say some- 
 thing. 
 
 " The willing slave of Satan, and the abettor 
 of secession," replied she, in a tone of defiance, 
 " shall not be my master." 
 
 " The viper's tongue hath a deadly poison," 
 returned he, with half-averted face, and in a 
 hissing, bitter voice. 
 
 "If with mine I could slay vile men and 
 traitors," quickly answered she, "then might I 
 hope to serve my country, and rid the world of 
 wretches not worthy to live in it." 
 
 " And can such malice nestle in a heart that's 
 wont to be so gentle?" said Macqueen, half 
 aside and half audibly, while he walked to the 
 opposite side of the chamber, manifestly much 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TEEROE. 37 
 
 overcome with emotion. After a short silence, 
 he turned to his wife and feelingly said, " For 
 years, Florence, we've together lived and loved, 
 while not an unkind word ever passed thy lips 
 or mine to mar our peace." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; for, until now, you were true to 
 your wife and loyal to your country ; but you 
 have at length, and at once, proved false to the 
 one and a traitor to the other." 
 
 " A traitor ! Do you say traitor ? " cried he, 
 with sudden passion and in terrific accents ; at 
 the same time wheeling round, and dashing from 
 one side of the house to the other like a ma- 
 niac. 
 
 " Ay, traitor ! " she repeated with emphasis. 
 " What else should I call the man who plots in 
 secret the downfall of the government that pro- 
 tects him, and to which he owes everything he 
 counts dear ? " 
 
 " You wrong me." 
 
 " No ; I've rightly named you, — traitor." 
 
 " You wrong me, Florence," he repeated in a 
 faltering voice, the tremulous and melancholy 
 
38 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 intonations of which betrayed a deep-felt an- 
 guish of mind. 
 
 " How can I wrong the man who associates 
 himself with vile conspirators, heartless assassins, 
 and cold-blooded murderers? If these paen, 
 themselves, do not rob and kill, they encourage 
 the cut-throats who do. Wrong you? Had I 
 the poison of asps under my tongue, and were 
 my words barbed arrows, dipped in the venom 
 of perdition, I could not wrong such a man." 
 
 ""But hear me ! " 
 
 « Go on." 
 
 " If I seek to destroy the Union, 'tis only that 
 I might see erected upon its ruins a great 
 Southern Empire." 
 
 " Oh, I dare say ! Or rather, perhaps, an oli- 
 garchy, wherein the rich might lord it over the 
 poor. Mark my words ; you are about to leap 
 from a precipice, — a steep and frightful preci- 
 pice." 
 
 " Groundless apprehensions ! you torment 
 yourself to no purpose." Saying which, he 
 withdrew from the apartment, leaving his wife 
 in tears. 
 
OB, THE BEIGN OF TBEROB. 
 
 39 
 
 CHAPTER III, 
 
 " There is some soul of goodness in things evil, 
 Would men ohservingly distil it out." 
 
 iN obscure village in North- 
 western Arkansas, or, more prop- 
 erly, Arkansaw, was the birth- 
 place of Adrian Malvin, the 
 youthful patriot introduced in 
 the beginning of our story. 
 The veritable Arkansaw trav- 
 eller, of whom everybody has heard, out of 
 derision, while temporarily sojourning there, 
 called the place, Scallawagville ; which name 
 it has never been able to shake ofi^ and by 
 which it is now more widely known than by 
 any other. Its inhabitants, for the most part, 
 are made up of a rude, dissipated, and lawless 
 class of people ; yet some progress has been 
 made, on the part of missionaries, in civiHzing 
 and Christianizing the population. 
 
40 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 The most successful and indefatigable among 
 the heralds of the cross at Scallawagville, up to 
 the breaking out of the rebellion, was Rev. Dr. 
 Elmore, a native of Old Virginia. For many 
 long years this gospel veteran had labored there 
 to build up religion, morality, "and virtue among 
 the people. A goodly number, through his 
 instrumentality, had been led to the cross, and 
 became valuable members of society. But the 
 multitude remained hard, impenitent, and reck- 
 less. To all intents and purposes they were 
 barbarians, — unthinking, unfeeling barbarians 
 and reprobates, scarcely more civilized than 
 the wild Indians that roam over the plains and 
 through the forests. 
 
 The savage disposition of a portion of the 
 population displayed itself in the most shock- 
 ing manner, a few years ago, in their treatment 
 of a Yankee book-pedler, against .whom, without 
 any just cause or provocation, they had become 
 enraged. The circumstance is almost too hor- 
 rible to record ; yet it may serve to show us 
 how deeply depraved bad men are capable of 
 becoming when they surrender themselves to 
 passion and prejudice. 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TEEEOE. 41 
 
 The crime of which the poor book-pedler was 
 accused and found guilty was that of having 
 three copies of " Uncle Tom's Cabin" among his 
 stock. A mob of three or four hundred men 
 took the unfortunate man a mile or two out of 
 the village, chained him to his wagon, and 
 burned him to death by a fire made chiefly of 
 his own books. 
 
 In vain did the victim of their cruelty plead 
 that these obnoxious books were not intended 
 for their slaves, — whom they all knew could 
 not read, — but for free white men. With insults, 
 cursing, and savage yells, they drowned his voice 
 till he perished amid the devouring flames. 
 
 When the present rebellion came up, such 
 heartless wretches as these were of course 
 ready to play a conspicuous part, and to enact 
 deeds of fiendish cruelty. Their conduct in the 
 beginning of the rebellion is dimly shadowed 
 forth in the following sketch : — 
 
 It was Sabbath morning. The church-bells 
 of Scallawagville were ringing loud and clear. 
 Saints and sinners filled the streets, and all 
 seemed hurrying on in one direction, — ^ evi- 
 
42 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 dently drawn by some exciting cause to one 
 common point of attraction. 
 
 It had been whispered about, during the pre- 
 ceding weeli, that Parson Elmore, the pastor of 
 the principal church in the village, and the only 
 loyal minister, perhaps, in all Arkansas, was to 
 be mobbed the next attempt he made to preach 
 a Union sermon. The rumor had created no 
 little sensation; and, as the Sabbath drew on, 
 the excitement increased, and at length had be- 
 come intense. 
 
 At an early hour, the meeting-house, a spa- 
 cious building, was densely packed ; while the 
 other places of- worship were almost entirely 
 deserted, — everybody being eager to witness 
 the expected riot. Scores of rufl&ans, blacklegs, 
 rumsellers, and loafers, who rarely ever had 
 seen the inside of a church, were on hand, 
 ready and anxious to take a hand in mob- 
 bing the minister. The crowd awaited with 
 great impatience the arrival of the obnoxious 
 preacher. By and by, a venerable-looking 
 man, with snowy locks, solemn countenance, 
 and thoughtful expression, made his appearance, 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TERROE. 43 
 
 leaning upon bis staff, and slowly wending his 
 way to the house of God. His air was calm, 
 meek, and gentle ; yet there was something of 
 sorrow and sadness mingled with the heavenly 
 radiance that beamed from his eye and lit up 
 his intelligent face. 
 
 The venerable pastor was met at the thresh- 
 old by a committee, who informed him that 
 he' would not be allowed to preach unless he 
 agreed to renounce his political opinions, give 
 up his Union sentiments, ^nd publicly apologize 
 for what he had said in the pulpit against seces- 
 sion the previous Sabbath. 
 
 "Would you have me so dishonor my gray 
 hairs?" replied the hoary-headed minister. 
 "In my youth, and through my manhood's 
 prime," continued he, " I have loved my coun- 
 try, and been proud to prove myself a patriot ; 
 and think you, I can now consent, in the 
 evening of my days, and while my head is blos- 
 soming for the grave, to become a traitor? 
 Heaven forbid ! " 
 
 The committee, not entirely lost to all sense 
 of shame, seemed much confused, and, after 
 
44 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 some hesitancy, proposed that the services 
 might proceed, on condition that nothing be 
 said from the pulpit against secession, nor in 
 favor of the Union. To this the minister made 
 no answer, but, turning about, pressed his way 
 along the crowded aisle to the pulpit. 
 
 A murmur of dissatisfaction was now heard 
 among the rabble who hung round the doors 
 and filled the windows and aisles. And rebel 
 professors, as well as disloyal worldlings, mutr 
 tered, gnashed their teeth, and looked daggers. 
 
 Adrian Malvin, with a few reliable friends by 
 his side, had planted himself near the pulpit, 
 and stood with his right hand upon his revol- 
 ver, resolved, at all hazards, to defend his 
 loyal pastor, ay, even if it cost him the last 
 drop of blood in his veins. 
 
 Calmly, and apparently with the utmost com- 
 posure, the man of God commenced the solemn 
 services of the sanctuary. 
 
 After reading an impressive Scripture lesson, 
 he offered up a most fervent and patriotic 
 prayer to the great Euler of the universe, in 
 behalf of the country, and for the upholding of 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TBEEOE, 45 
 
 the government and the preservation of the 
 Union. 
 
 A gang of turbulent fellows, near the door, 
 had the indecency to hiss and groan several 
 times during the prayer. 
 
 Soon as the minister closed his address to the 
 throne of grace, three stalwart ruffians came 
 rudely pushing their way down the aisle, swear- 
 ing vengeance against the Union preacher, and 
 evidently bent on violence. 
 
 As they neared the pulpit, they were unex- 
 pectedly confronted by Malvin, who, drawing 
 his pistol, assured the foremost man that an- 
 other step would cost him his life. 
 
 The villains halted ; for they plainly saw in 
 Malvin's eye unfaltering courage, deep earnest- 
 ness, and cool determination. 
 
 In vain did the brutal herd on the outskirts 
 of the congregation urge them forward ; the 
 courage of the bullies had oozed out; nor could 
 all the goading and spurring of the mob rally it 
 again. 
 
 The minister now began, kindly and mildly, to 
 expostulate with the turbulent and disorderly 
 
46 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 part of the multitude ; but his voice was directly 
 drowned by the hootings and bowlings of the 
 rabble. 
 
 " Order ! order ! " cried a respectable citizen 
 in the midst of the assembly. "Let us have 
 some resjoect, at least, for gray hairs, and not 
 forget that this venerable minister has preached 
 to us twenty years. Besides, no man should be 
 condemned unheard." 
 
 But still the rabble continued yelling, hoot- 
 ing, and howling, and calling the man of God 
 everything they considered reproachful, — a 
 black . republican, abolitionist, a devil, &c. 
 
 "Bear in mind," said the citizen, again rais- 
 ing his voice above the turn alt, "that Parson 
 Elmore is not a foreigner ; neither is he a Yan- 
 kee that you should be prejudiced against him. 
 He is a Southern man, a native of Virginia ; an 
 early settler in Arkansas, and an old citizen 
 among us. The best of his life has been spent 
 in trying to make us a better and happier peo- 
 ple. He was here, a pioneer in the wilds of the 
 West, enduring the hardships and privations of 
 border-life long before these brainless, hissing 
 goslings were hatched." 
 
OE, THE EEIGX OP TERROB. 47 
 
 This appeal had the desired effect. The ruf- 
 fians were shamed into silencCj at least for a 
 time. 
 
 " Fellow-citizens, Christian brethren, neighbors 
 and friends," began the good man, seeming to 
 forget that he had just been calumniated, 
 mocked, and derided, " who, among you, looks 
 upon me as an enemy? Where is the man, 
 woman, or child, that I have wronged ? During 
 a long series of years have I not proved myself 
 the friend of this community ? If I have re- 
 proved, rebuked, admonished, and exhorted you, 
 it has been because I loved you, wished you well, 
 and sought to lead you into the way of life and 
 salvation. Besides, am I not the friend of this 
 country ? Am I not the friend and lover of the 
 South, and especially of the great Southwest? 
 Am I not the firm friend, the lon^tried friend, 
 of Arkansas? If any of you dare say other- 
 wise, I challenge you to speak. My country- 
 men, whatever my faults and imperfections may 
 be, you know that I am true to this country 
 and true to you. Then it is because I am yoiar 
 friend, and the friend of our common country, 
 
48 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 that I am also the friend and defender of the 
 Unmi, — our ever-glorious and heaven-blessed 
 Union!" 
 
 Thi; closing of the sentence, which should 
 have elicited hearty applause, brought only 
 another storm of hisses and bowlings. 
 
 But, quailing not, nor in the least losing his 
 perfect self-possession, the patriotic servant of 
 God and of his country went on : " Believe 
 me, fellow-citizens and friends, no greater ca- 
 lamity could befall the South — certainly none 
 greater could happen to Arkansas — than a dis- 
 solution of the Union." 
 
 Now again, the brainless, brutal mob raged, 
 raved, and rent the air with hideous yells, vul- 
 gar epithets, and cursing. 
 
 " You excite my sympathies rather than my 
 indignation," calmly remarked the speaker, soon 
 as the tumult had sufficiently subsided. " Igno- 
 rance," he added, "is more to be pitied than 
 blamed." 
 
 "He insults your intelligence, gentlemen," 
 cried out a secesh clergyman, who had followed 
 his congregation from their own place of wor- 
 ship to see the Union preacher mobbed. 
 
OH, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 49 
 
 With this encouragement from a pulpit man, 
 the ruffians began anew to threaten vengeance, 
 and to call for tar and feathers, 
 
 '•I wouldn't blame you," said the disloyal 
 parson, again lifting up his hypocritical voice, 
 " if you were to treat the old sinner to a cra- 
 vat, made of hemp. Such a neck-tie, I imagine, 
 would well become a Union preacher's com- 
 plexion." 
 
 "■ Yes, let us hang him ! " said a blackleg, in 
 the midst of the disorderly throng, and who 
 seemed to be the chief centre of attraction for 
 the riotous, indecent, and turbulent part of the 
 excited concourse. 
 
 * Hang him ! hang him ! " shouted a score of 
 voices, taking their cue from the blackleg. 
 
 Still calm as a summer evening, the gray- 
 haired patriot, casting a look of sorrow upon 
 the disorderly rabble, said, — 
 
 " Misguided men, however unseemly this con- 
 duct may be, I pity you. Yes, down deep in 
 my heart I pity you. Nor is there one among 
 you whom I pity more than this poor traitor, 
 who professes to be a gospel minister." 
 
50 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 While uttering the last sentence, he pointed 
 his finger directly at the shameless clergyman, 
 who had just sought to instigate the mob to acts 
 of violence. This sharp rebuke so incensed and 
 kindled the ire of the reverend traitor that he 
 went into a diabolical rage most shocking to 
 behold. It seemed he would certainly^ explode ! 
 — indeed, did explode in a tornado of wrathful 
 words, vulgar slang, and opprobrious epithets. 
 ■ As soon as order was partially restored again, 
 the speaker said, — 
 
 " Why are the services of the sanctuary inter- 
 rupted to-day ? Why have I not been allowed 
 to proceed as usual in my ministrations ? Why 
 am I threatened with mob-violence ? And why 
 have I been told this morning, by a committee 
 of professedly Christian men, that I must change 
 my sentiments, renounce my opinions, or cease 
 to occupy the pulpit? Yes, I am to be turned 
 out of the pulpit, in which I have so long la- 
 bored to promote the cause of Christ, the cause 
 of truth and virtue, to build up society, and 
 elevate humanity. What is my offence ? " 
 
 " Preaching politics ! " cried out a political 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TEEROB. 51 
 
 demagogue, standing up before the minister 
 ■with a beet-red nose, and so drunk he could 
 scarcely see. . 
 
 " Ministers of the gospel," chimed in the rebel 
 clergyman, who had just been boiling over with 
 fury, "have no business taking anything into 
 the pulpit but religion." 
 
 " The heaven-appointed watchman on Zion's 
 walls, if true to his trust," replied the speaker, 
 " is ever vigilant to guard and defend, not only 
 the interests of religion and of the Church, but 
 also the interests of his government and coun- 
 try. For, while he is a minister of Christ, he is 
 likewise a patriot. While he is a herald of the 
 cross, he is at the same time a citizen, sharing 
 the benefits, and enjoying the protection, of civil 
 government 
 
 " Put him down ! put him down ! " shouted a 
 stentorian voice. 
 
 "Drag him out! drag him out!" bawled 
 another. 
 
 "Damn the Yankee Government!" cried a 
 third. 
 
 " Hurrah for the Southern Confederacy ! " 
 shouted the red-nosed political demagogue. 
 
52 THE STAE3 AND BARS ; 
 
 "Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" -went up like a 
 tempest from the loud-mouthed rabble. 
 
 Paying no attention to this interruption, fur- 
 ther than to wait for a chance to be heard, the 
 speaker went on : — 
 
 " It is, I grant," said he, mildly, " the chief 
 duty of the minister to preach the gospel of 
 the Son of God, and call sinners to repentance ; 
 but has he, therefore, nothing to do with tem- 
 poral affairs ? Why should he be thought less 
 interested than other men in the salvation of 
 the republic, and in the prosperity of the com- 
 monwealth ? " 
 
 " We must keep politics out of the pulpit ! " 
 spake another tory clergyman. 
 
 " Nothing is foreign to the pulpit," responded 
 the occupant of the desk, " which belongs to 
 humanity. Nor should any topic be excluded 
 therefrom that is calculated to honor God, ele- 
 vate and enlighten mankind." 
 
 " All that's but sophistry ! sheer sophistry ! " 
 exclaimed the tory parson, anxious to annoy 
 and interrupt the speaker. 
 
 '' The minister of Jesus," continued Rev. El- 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TEEEOR. 53 
 
 more, " lives and labors to make the world bet- 
 ter, wiser, and happier. He seizes with avidity 
 every opportunity for doing good, whether 
 spiritual or temporal. He is ready to lay hold 
 of any plan, to exhaust every scheme, to seek 
 out and perfect any contrivance, whereby the 
 interests of humanity, the interests of religion, 
 the interests of truth and virtue, may be sub- 
 served." 
 
 " We've heard enough ! " exclaimed the blear- 
 eyed, red-nosed politician, impatiently ; " we've 
 heard enough ! " he repeated, adding a profane 
 oath, which we prefer to omit. 
 
 " It is the duty of the incumbent of the pul- 
 pit," said the speaker, heeding not the vaporing 
 of the demagogue toper, " to make himself felt 
 in all the relations of life; throughout all the 
 ramifications of society, and in every laudable 
 enterprise looking to the amelioration of our 
 race." 
 
 " He has enough to do to preach the gos- 
 pel," observed one of the secesh clergymen, 
 with affected gravity, and a look of hypocritical 
 piety. 
 
 6» 
 
54 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 "While he contends earnestly for the faith 
 once delivered to the saints," responded the 
 speaker, " he should plead with no less zeal for 
 the principles of liberty, justice, and humanity." 
 
 " There, — listen at that ! " cried out a fire- 
 eater ; " liberty, he says. Aha ! he means that 
 the niggers are to be free ! He's nothing but 
 an abolitionist." 
 
 " Hang him ! shoot him ! tar and feather 
 him ! " cried the mob. And now another rush 
 was made toward the pulpit, by the infuriated 
 ruffians ; whereupon, Malvin again drew his 
 revolver. 
 
 One of the secesh preachers, who stood near 
 him, the same who recommended hemp for the 
 Union minister, seized the weapon in Malvin's 
 hand, and attempted to wrench it from his 
 grasp ; in so doing he caused the pistol to go 
 off. The ball passed through the Eev. traitor's 
 hand, and, thence glancing along the side of his 
 head, took one of his ears nearly off, and, pass- 
 ing on in an upward direction, lodged in the 
 body of the blackleg, who had just mounted 
 on a pew behind the secesh preacher, taking 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 55 
 
 him, as a sailor would say, between wind and 
 water. 
 
 This tragical affair produced an indescribable 
 scene of confusion. Wonfen shrieked, men were 
 terrified, and a general stampede straightway 
 ensued. Nor could anything have been more 
 ludicrous to look upon. Many rushed for the 
 doors, whUe others, in their great haste to es- 
 cape, went heels over head out at the win- 
 dows. 
 
 The church was soon cleared ; and the people, 
 haviag got a thorough panic, ran in every di- 
 rection, like a frightened herd of wild cattle. 
 The blackleg, who carried off the lead, went out 
 crying " Murder" as loud as he could bellow. 
 And the unlucky clergyman, making sure he 
 had received a mortal wound, made aU possible 
 speed toward home, calUng on God at every 
 jump to have mercy on his poor soul. 
 
 Malvin took his aged pastor by the arm and 
 proposed to accompany him home. 
 
 " Have you another pistol, my boy ? " in- 
 quired the hoary-headed patriot j " we may be 
 attacked on our way." 
 
56 
 
 " A capital one ; " answered Malvin, taking 
 from his bosom a splendid revolver, which the 
 minister took, saying, — 
 
 " There is a time fo!- praying, there is a time 
 for preaching, and there has now come a time for 
 shooting." 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OF TEEROB. 
 
 57 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "How wisdom and folly meet, mix, and unite; 
 How Tirtue and ylce blend their black and white I " 
 
 ^OD never intended men to be 
 equal. There must be an aris- 
 tocracy," said Macqueen, ad- 
 dressing his wife, and patting 
 on an air and tone of ostenta- 
 tion. 
 "Aristocracy ! " answered she, 
 scornfully ; " I can respect aristocracy of intel- 
 lect ; and I admire aristocracy in virtue, in ami- 
 ability, in nobility of nature j but an aristoc- 
 racy built on dollars and dimes, or on slaves, 
 houses, and lands, which any dunce, born to 
 good luck, may possess, I hate, loathe, and ab- 
 hor!" 
 
 " I'm in no mood for argument. You delight 
 to dash my highest hopes and brightest dreams 
 
58 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 to the ground. I cherisli but a laudable am- 
 bition, and, but for you, would mount up to dis- 
 tinction." 
 
 "Wondrous pity that I should pull you back ! 
 I count not that a laudable ambition, my hus- 
 band, which aims at sheer selfish ends. To 
 achieve personal aggrandizement, you would 
 not hesitate to bring wretchedness and misery 
 upon milUons of our race. For your own glory, 
 you would spill seas of blood! Such an am- 
 bition is unworthy a true man, unworthy of a 
 noble-lnind ; it is even Satanic, and merits only 
 scorn and contempt." 
 
 " Of what avail is aU this raillery ?" 
 
 " Call it raillery if you like. A just indigna- 
 tion deserves a better name." 
 
 "When I see its justice, I will then christen 
 it something else." 
 
 " The blackness of the treason that would de- 
 stroy a government like this, and sunder our 
 glorious Union, no tongue can tell, no pencil 
 can paint. The arch apostate, that rebelled in 
 heaven, conspiring against the Almighty, and 
 who, in reckless malice, would fain have de- 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TBEEOE. 59 
 
 throned the Most High, scarce exceeded in 
 wickedness this nefarious treason ! " . 
 
 "And still you rail!" 
 
 " Suppose you succeed in laying in ruins the 
 fair fabric of this mighty Republic, how much 
 better oflf will you be than Milton's fallen 
 angels when they had reached the depths of 
 perdition ? But, like them, perhaps, you'd 
 ' rather reign in hell than serve in heaven.' " 
 
 " Come, say no more." 
 
 " To call such men disloyal is not enough ; 
 they are a brotherhood of fiends ! And may 
 perdition enlarge itself to give them room ! " 
 
 " How strangely to my ears sound such words 
 from you, Florence ! " 
 
 "Why should I not feel indignant and ag- 
 grieved ? Who are your accomplices in this 
 Satanic work ? Herds of vicious, idle, dissipated 
 men, and profligate wretches, who have nothing 
 to lose by change and revolution. These, led 
 on by disappointed politicians and unprincipled 
 demagogues, are your chief abettors in sowing 
 the seeds of sedition, kindling the fires of civil 
 war, and rolling on the dark and desolating 
 wave of revolution." 
 
60 THE STARS AND BAES ; 
 
 "Why will you thus go on hurling bitter 
 words ? You have ceased to be yourself, 
 Florence." 
 
 "Little wonder!" 
 
 " I pray you put by that frown, and speak to 
 me in gentler tones. Remember that ' words 
 fitly spoken are like apples of gold in pictures 
 of silver.'" 
 
 "My husband, had I loved you less, your 
 fault in this could not have grieved me so. The 
 light of your eye hfes ever been the sunshine of 
 my heart. But I cannot be .blind to your ter- 
 rible sin. Oh, let me persuade you, by all that's 
 sacred, by all we each hold dear, to abandon this 
 wicked, reckless project of revolution. Oh, I 
 entreat you, be not partaker in the guilt of 
 those who are insanely kindling a fire which all 
 the waters of the deep seas cannot quench ! — a 
 fire which will surely devour this fair land, and 
 make it a desert waste ! " 
 
 "She may predict the truth," said the hus- 
 band to himself, turning away dejected; "but to 
 retract is now impossible," he added, mentally. 
 Directly turning again to his wife, and putting 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TEEBOE. 61 
 
 on a look of utter wretchedness, he said, " To 
 own the truth, Florence, so far have I committed, 
 myself in this affair, I cannot now recede from 
 the unfortunate position I occupy. Revolution 
 is determined on ; I am sworn, and cannot re- 
 cant." 
 
 " Merciful Heaven ! " exclaimed the wife, 
 clasping her hands convulsively, and in the 
 agony of grief. 
 
 " To do otherwise, at this juncture, than go 
 forward," said he, " would cost me my life." 
 
 " Oh, tell me not so, my husband ! Oh, it 
 cannot be that you are involved in a scheme of 
 treason so dreadful, so deep and dark, that 
 you cannot extricate yourself!" 
 
 " Peace, Florence ! I pray you, peace ! " 
 
 "At all hazards abandon the conspiracy at 
 once and forever ! " 
 
 " The nature and extent of this revolutionary 
 plot you little comprehend, Florence. Nor have 
 you dreamed of the reckless determination with 
 which it is to be carried out. Rather than 
 fail, the most desperate measures are to be re- 
 sorted to," 
 
 6 
 
62 THE STARS AND BARS J 
 
 "Alas, and I have not known the worst ! " 
 "Let us hope for the best," said the husband, 
 evidently much moved, yet striving to ap- 
 pear composed. 
 
 " Hope ? there is no hope ! " exclaimed the 
 weeping wife ; " all is darkness and despair." 
 
 Macqueen, in character, was a real Southern* 
 er, — a Southerner of the higher class. He was 
 a man of hot blood, quick temper, and ungov- 
 erned passions. He was kind and cruel ; polite 
 and rude ; magnanimous and supercilious ; 
 chivalric and pusillanimous. 
 
 A being of impulse, he seldom paused to re- 
 flect, and rarely looked before he leaped. By 
 nature rash and precipitant, had he possessed a 
 lower grade of intellect, his life would have 
 been one of broils and combat. And, notwith- 
 standing his fair mental capacity, and his re- 
 spectable literary attainments, his animal pas- 
 sions were dominant, and, for the most part, 
 controlled his actions. 
 
 With a hearty good-will he would either bless 
 or curse you as the humor might take him. He 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 63 
 
 cherished a keen sense of honor ; but had a 
 very blunt perception as to what true honor 
 consisted in. He respected rehgion, but pro- 
 faned the name of God. Feared hell, but loved 
 to serve the devil. He worshipped a fine horse ; 
 liked dogs ; was deferential to ministers ; polite 
 to ladies ; and always had an eye for the cream- 
 colored Creole in crinoline. 
 
 Mrs. Macqueen was a native of Alabama, and 
 altogether Southern in her manners and educa- 
 tion, but had become something more than the 
 real Southern lady. She was a woman of 
 thought and reflection. Yet, at the same time, 
 was not without the fire peculiar to Southern 
 blood. She was quick, ardent, sensitive, and 
 sometimes fearfully impetuous. When un- 
 excited, few women or few men exercised more 
 philosophy. And with a strong intellect she 
 united a warm and generous heart. 
 
 To her husband's whims and wayward inclina- 
 tions she had been habitually indulgent, — even 
 to a fault. But touching the question of the 
 Union, she was iflflexible from the beginning, 
 
64 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 and utterly abhorred the madness of secession 
 This brought their proud spirits and fiery na 
 tures into frequent and sometimes terrible col 
 lision. 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TEEROB. 
 
 65 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, 
 Xbe post of honor is a private station." 
 
 lANGUINARY revolutions seldom 
 fail to bring to the surface the vil- 
 est, most reckless, and abandoned 
 class of men. This was particular- 
 ly exemplified at Platte City, in the 
 infamous career of a despicable 
 wretch, whose name was Ironsides, 
 but more commonly called Ironheart, on account 
 of his great cruelty to his slaves. He was a 
 man of colossal stature, stooping figure, and 
 by no means comely features. Skin, swarthy ; 
 hair, coarse and grizzled ; eyes, black as night, 
 and almost hidden beneath a heavy, shaggy 
 brow, such as pirates are wont to wear. 
 
 No man could have been more universally 
 despised than was Ironsides. Black and white, 
 
 6» 
 
66 THE STARS AND BAES ; 
 
 male and female, rich and poor, held him in 
 great detestation and utter abhorrence. By 
 those who knew him best, he was said to be 
 without a redeeming trait. 
 
 That humanity is capable of such depravity, 
 we may feel some reluctance to admit; for ir 
 certainly would be comforting to think that 
 there is something good in every man. But if 
 there was any mixture of the angel in the soul 
 of this human brute, no one, it seems, had ever 
 found it out. 
 
 Yet, reprobate as he was, depraved and vile 
 as everybody admitted him to be, in the com- 
 motions of the country he was directly brought 
 to the surface, — and even lifted above it, — ex- 
 alted to an eminence, where he soon gained 
 sufficient influence, by the help of the Devil, to 
 wield despotic power for a time, and rule the 
 people with a rod of iron. 
 
 " For desperate times we need desperate men" said 
 the plotting rebels who pulled the wires behind 
 the curtain. " Let us give Ironsides the reins, 
 at least while the storm lasts. Rest assured 
 he'll quickly rid the country of Union men and 
 abolitionists." 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TEEEOB. 67 
 
 A Vigilant Committee had already been ap- 
 pointed ; but as they had only hung and shot 
 some half-dozen Union men within a fortnight, 
 they were reckoned, by the impatient chivalry, 
 as quite too lenient. Secession was moving too 
 tardily. To remedy this matter, it was now 
 deemed expedient to make Ironsides the " Head 
 Chief" of the vigilant committee. 
 
 Soon after his appointment to this post of 
 honor, over the Border-ruffian Sanhedrim, the 
 names of several prominent citizens were writ- 
 ten down for ostracism, and among them was 
 the name of a descendant of the New York 
 Knickerbockers, — an eccentric bachelor, slightly 
 turned upon the shady side of life. He was a 
 man of lofty bearing and decidedly aristocratic 
 mould, a fine scholar, possessed rare scientific 
 attainments, and was by profession a lawyer. 
 Highly-organized, and made out of Natm-e's 
 finest material, he was consequently sensitive 
 and excitable. Thus constituted, he was quick 
 to resent gross insults and injuries, although 
 habitually kind and conciliatory. 
 
 His utter scorn of the brutal mob, the vulgar 
 
68 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 herd, and unwashed rabble, he seldom cared to 
 disguise. You should have seen him, one day, 
 as he stood upon the curbstone, a few paces 
 from the threshold of his office, gazing with 
 kindling ire upon an armed band of marauding 
 rebels who were ostentatiously parading up 
 and down the streets. As appears the sky 
 when it gathers blackness and tempest, so 
 looked Knickerbocker's face, darkened with 
 wrath. And as the lightning leaps from the 
 fretted bosom of the thunder-cloud, so flashed, 
 the fires of indignation from his blazing eye. 
 Manifestly the spirit of the hurricane and of 
 the whirlwind was there, and with difficulty 
 held in restraint ; but the storm was not yet 
 allowed to burst forth. At length, turning 
 about, he walked into his office, resolving in his 
 mind to keep a bridle upon his tongue, if not a 
 padlock on his mouth. 
 
 Upon his table had just been laid an unsealed 
 letter by an unobserved messenger. 
 
 "A missive, eh!" said he to himself; "from 
 what quarter, I wonder?" 
 
 Taking up, and opening the note, he began 
 to read audibly : — 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OF TEREOE. 69 
 
 " ' Mr. Knickerbocker, — Sir : as chairman of 
 the Vigilant Committee of Platte City,' " — 
 Here, suddenly pausing, he indignantly ex- 
 claimed, " Viligant Committee ! An infernal 
 banditti, who take it upon themselves to say 
 who shall be hanged j who banished the coun- 
 try; who tarred and feathered; or who jay- 
 hawked ! Heavens ! I'm highly honored ! What 
 have such cut-throats to do with me ? " 
 
 While thus exploding, he dashed some two or 
 three times across the floor, from one side of his 
 office to the other, seemingly unconscious of 
 where he was or what he did. After a -^hile, 
 calming himself a little, he again read, " ' It is 
 made my duty to acquaint you with the senti- 
 ments of the Committee, touching your posi- 
 tion, and what is required of you.' " Again 
 abruptly breaking off and kindling into a pas- 
 sion, he wheeled round and began striding the 
 floor, reiterating, in the most excited manner, 
 the last read sentence, — "'Touching your po- 
 sition, and what is required of you ! ' 
 
 " The impudent hounds ! The unhung assas- 
 sins and thieves ! The hell-deserving fiends ! 
 
70 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 Oh, there's no use hunting epithets, — I can't 
 do the demons justice!" 
 
 Again he paused to read : — 
 
 "'Permit me, sir, to say, that your queer, 
 uneuphonious name has led to tlae suspi- 
 cion' — Queer, uneuphonious name?" he iter- 
 ated, with astonishment and disgust; "what 
 miserable taste the fellow has! — Knick — er 
 — bock — er, — was there ever a better sound- 
 ing name than that ? " 
 
 Again reading: "'Has led to the suspicion 
 that your political faith may not be entirely 
 orthodox.' 
 
 "Prodigious! Have I lived to see the day 
 when a man's name may place him under 
 ban ? " Then again reading : " ' We are every 
 day the more convinced that the foreign popu- 
 lation in our midst constitute a dangerous ele- 
 ment of society.' 
 
 " Oh, ho ! they've set me down for a foreigner, 
 because, forsooth, my name's Knickerbocker ! — 
 The blockheads ! " 
 
 m 
 
 Still perusing the letter: "'And it is now 
 deemed expedient to test their loyalty to the 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TERROR. 71 
 
 South, by requiring them to take up arms 
 against the North.' 
 
 " magnanimous Committee ! This is some- 
 thing worthy of Southern chivalry," he ex- 
 claimed with bitter irony ; then went on with 
 the letter : " ' Now, sir, to come at once io an 
 ultimatum, you must straightway join the army 
 of the South ; or forthwith make tracks for the 
 North.' 
 
 "The Devil!" he exclaimed, unable to re- 
 strain his wrath any longer; and, tearing the 
 offensive letter to pieces, flung the fragments to 
 the winds, sa3dng, — 
 
 " Let the dog-star rage ! Let the caldron 
 boil, froth, and foam! Stir in foul treason, 
 treachery, lechery, and all vileness and all 
 villany ! Satan admire me, if the infernal clan 
 haven't kindled a fire that will smoke their own 
 eyes! Heaven grant them good speed hell- 
 wards! By Saint Paul, perdition shall hold 
 them all ! For sure as old Hangie wears horns, 
 they are the Devil's own ! " 
 
 At this juncture, an intimate acquaintance, 
 Mr. Clifton Clifford, entered the office, and, 
 seeing Jtiis friend in a fume, said, — 
 
72 THE STAES AND BAES ; 
 
 "Pray, what has happened, Mr. Knicker- 
 bocker ? " * 
 
 " Oh, these provoking rebels, instigated by a 
 legion of devils, have just struck a lucifer match 
 against the saltpetre of my combustible na- 
 ture ! So, of course, I went off, throwing shot 
 and shell into the air frightfully; and the 
 only pity is, that I've killed nobody." 
 
 " But Tjvhat, in the name of wonder, has tran- 
 spired to set you in such a flutter ? " 
 
 " Why, sir, I've just been honored with a note 
 from the Great Moguls of this part of Rebel- 
 dom, — devildom, — coolly informing me that 
 I've got to leave the country, or join the secesh 
 army ! " 
 
 "And is that all?" 
 
 « All ? Count you that a small affair ? Who 
 ever heard before of such an outrage ? " 
 
 "Be comforted, my dear fellow; I've just 
 received a missive of the same kind." 
 
 "There's a vast deal of comfort in that! 
 And what do you propose to do about it ? " 
 
 " Oh, we must- bend a little to the wind ; wear 
 a nose of wax for convenience, — incline it 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TEEROB. 73 
 
 toward tlie South; put on a make-believe face, 
 — and talk secesh." 
 
 • "Would I be forced to seem the thing I 
 scora ? " • 
 
 «0h, that's but strategy. When the Moguls 
 take snuff, you and I must sneeze." 
 
 « I'll be shot first!" 
 
 "Have your choice, Mr. Knickerbocker. A 
 man of my complexion never dies a martyr." 
 
 " Our murdered patriots shall be avenged ! — 
 Blood for blood ! I've sworn it ! " 
 
 " My dear sir, forget not where you are." 
 
 " Let traitors do their worst ; I'U fight them 
 while I've life and breath ! " 
 
 " Keep cool, — I entreat you, keep cool." 
 
 " Talk to a volcano about keeping cool, — the 
 red-mouthed volcano ! " 
 
 " The fellow's going mad ! " said Clifford, 
 aside ; " I fear he'll get himself into trouble." 
 
 " Would to God I were another Vesuvius ! " 
 continued the excited patriot, "and that the 
 "whole generation of vile traitors were packed 
 and cribbed in Charleston. I'd belch a torrent 
 of consuming, hissing, liquid fire on that Sodom, 
 
74 THE STARS AND BARS J 
 
 till it was buried a thousand fathoms deeper 
 than Pompeii or Herculaneum ! " 
 
 " Hold, sir, I pray you, hold ! " 
 
 "The last traitor should perish, — miserably 
 perish! Blistering cinders, lurid flames, and 
 rolling, quivering waves of dire combustion 
 should overwhelm and fry every treacherous 
 rascal of them to a crackling ! " 
 
 " Misery and death ! " whispered ClifiFord to 
 himself; "he'll surely be shot before he's done 
 raving." 
 
 "Not one of all the God-forgotten and 
 heaven-abhorred reprobates should escape ! 
 'Neath melted rocks, and the crisped, spewed-up 
 earth and ore, I'd entomb them beyond the hope 
 of a resurrection." 
 
 " My dear sir, you rage like the sea." 
 
 " Let me be the raging sea, or another 
 Noah's flood, that I may drown the whole rebel 
 brood ! " And, wheeling about, he dashed out 
 upon the street like a madman. 
 
 " Wild as the wind ! " exclaimed his friend. 
 " I, too, love my country ; but am not over-anx- 
 ious to prove it by putting my head into a lion's 
 mouth, or pulling the Devil by the tail." 
 
75 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " O God, what mischiefs work the wicked ones; 
 Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby I " 
 
 ' N a sequestered part of Platte City, 
 or rather in the suburbs of the 
 town, there was a verdant spot, 
 where nestled a pretty little vine- 
 clad cottage, embowered 'neath um- 
 brageous forest trees, luxuriantly 
 clothed with deep-green glossy 
 leaves. Around the window casements, and 
 about the eaves, I have seen creeping the ivy- 
 green and honeysuckle. What a tempting, ruby 
 cup of nectar the latter offered to the hum- 
 ming-bird ! a feathered beauty of exquisite 
 plumage, dyed in the hues of the rainbow. 
 How oft with delight I've gazed upon it, while 
 poised in air upon its delicate wings, and sipping 
 delicious wine from the blushing blossom gob- 
 
76 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 let, which seemed formed and fashioned for it 
 alone. 
 
 About the door, on either side, and overhead, 
 you might have seen the morning-glory unfold 
 its beauty, — pink and purple, sky-blue and 
 purest white, giving an air of taste, sweetness, 
 and comfort to the humble dwelKng. This was 
 the domicile of Parson Southdown, the only 
 loyal minister then in the community, or in all 
 the region round. 
 
 The day of which I am about to speak was 
 one of tumult and excitement in Platte City. 
 Companies of armed men, gangs of ruffians, 
 gentlemen and scallawags, women and children, 
 old men and boys, white trash and black trash, 
 were pouring into town from every quarter. 
 
 Mrs. Southdown was sitting alone at her front 
 window, and looking out with a sad heart and 
 melancholy expression upon the swelling throng, 
 thinking of her far-off New-England home, and 
 rueing the day on which she had consented to 
 go to the land of the oppressed. 
 
 " Alas ! " said she, " what's to become of us 
 in this lawless country, where the mob rules and 
 vilest men bear sway ? " 
 
OE, THE REIGN OP TEEEOB. 77 
 
 Just at this moment, Knickerbocker ente/ed 
 the gate-way. 
 
 " Good-morning, Uncle ! " said Mrs. South- 
 doA^ra, speaking from the open window, "I've 
 been wishing you'd come ; I'm so lonesome to- 
 day." 
 
 "You may soon wish me gone again," re- 
 sponded he, and comiag in with a twinkle of 
 himior in his eye ; " for I've got old Nick in me 
 to-day, big as a lion and savage as a regiment 
 of tigers." 
 
 "Oh, I hope not. Pray, who has crossed 
 you?" 
 
 " Who ? Just look at these Border-ruffians, 
 pouring down like driftwood and floating trash 
 on a swollen stream, just after a deluging rain. 
 One might think purgatory had taken a vomit. 
 Such a generation of vipers is enough to cross 
 St. Peter." 
 
 "What we cannot cure we must endure, 
 Uncle." 
 
 "I have endured everything, and held my 
 tongue and temper marvellously. But now to 
 see those ragamuffins coming in to disturb the 
 
 7* 
 
78 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 peace of society provokes me. Well, well, 'tis 
 said, ' Every dog must have his day ; ' and I 
 suppose every day must have its dog. This one 
 has a good many, and all sorts. Where is Par- 
 son Southdown ? " 
 
 « Gone to the post-ofBce, I think." 
 
 '' The mail of late lags behind. An overload 
 of bad report, mixed up with rebel hes, perhaps, 
 makes it stick in the mud." 
 
 "If rebel lies had weight. Uncle, Missouri 
 mail-coaches, these unblessed days, would sure 
 break down." 
 
 " Ha ! the very earth would reel, crack, and 
 cave in." 
 
 " I dread to hear the news that's next to sa- 
 lute our ears." 
 
 " To borrow trouble is but to tickle the devil. 
 Come good, come ill, fortune's wheel turn which 
 way it will, keep you a cheerful heart, Amelia." 
 
 " Did you hear the uproar on the street last 
 night, Uncle ? " 
 
 "Hear it? My ears are not made of lead, 
 nor quite deaf to what might wake the dead. 
 Such an everlasting din was kept up the live- 
 
OE, THE EEIGX OF TERROR. 79 
 
 long night, I thought surely hell was empty, 
 and that all the yeUing demons were here in 
 Platte City." 
 
 " What could it mean, — have you any con- 
 jecture ?" 
 
 " Why, it meant that His Majesty, Auld Nick- 
 aben, had some special business on hand, and 
 must needs marshal his Border-ruffian clans." 
 " They whooped and howled most hideously." 
 " Just like any other gang of prowling beasts, 
 hungry wolves, or hooting owls. That horrid 
 yell, which split the ear of midnight, was in 
 honor, I imagine, of the Swamp Angels, who 
 came into town at a late hour in the evening, 
 for the purpose of being organized into a guer- 
 rilla band." 
 
 " Swamp Angels 1 Pray, what are they ? " 
 "Animals with two legs and no feathers." 
 " Not flying angels, then, it would seem ? " 
 " Unfledged as yet ; though in the wind you'd 
 think them winged, their tattered garments, 
 many-colored rags, and dishevelled hair such a 
 strange fluttering make. A herd of miserable 
 creatures they are that inhabit a pestiferous 
 
80 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 region in a bend of the river among dismal 
 swamps. 
 
 ' Their only wish and their only prayer, 
 Their only hope, and their only care. 
 For the present world, or the world to come, 
 Is a string of fish and a jug of rum.' 
 
 "Admirable material for guerrillas! Of such 
 stuf^ I suppose, they should be made." 
 
 " Your husband is returning." 
 
 " Has the paper, I perceive." 
 
 " If I read his face aright, there's something 
 more in the wind than the perfume of sweet 
 flowers. There's a cloud upon his brow and 
 displeasure in his eye." 
 
 " Good-morning, Mr. Knickerbocker ! " said 
 Southdown, as he approached the threshold, 
 making an effort to maintain his usual air, and 
 accustomed cheerful greeting. 
 
 " We've already read the news, parson," face- 
 tiously remarked Knickerbocker, " in your speak- 
 ing eye and tell-tale face, ere your lips could 
 part, or your tongue wag to tell us what it is." 
 
 " Say, then, if you can divine, what news do I 
 bring?" 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TERROE. 81 
 
 " Nothing, I ween, to provoke our laughter. 
 I'll guess the devil has broke his halter." 
 
 " Right for once, Mr. Knickerbocker." 
 
 " Pray, let us hear," said Mrs. Southdown, 
 impatiently. 
 
 « Fort Sumter has fallen ! " 
 
 " Alas ! and what will happen next ? " ex- 
 claimed the lady, raising her hands in conster- 
 nation, as if expecting, the next moment, to feel 
 the nation's convulsions, as well she might after 
 such an event. 
 
 Knickerbocker assumed a similar attitude, and 
 stood for some moments profoundly silent, and 
 without the sign of motion or the movement of 
 a muscle. 
 
 " A sad affair ! " observed the parson. " The 
 infatuated beings know not what they do." 
 
 " Perdition take the whole traitor crew ! " said 
 Knickerbocker, with emphasis; and, becoming 
 much excited, began to promenade to and fro 
 across the floor with nervous and rapid strides. 
 
 " Patience, Uncle, patience ! " insisted Mrs. 
 Southdown. "It is a time for humility and 
 prayer." 
 
82 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 " If there ever was a time to curse and 
 swear," whispered Knickerbocker to himself, " it 
 strikes me that it's about now." Then turning 
 to Mrs. Southdown, he said, " Well, well ; I'll take 
 it patiently, since you advise me so, Amelia." 
 
 " We may now look for the transpiring of 
 startling events," remarked Southdown. " By 
 this time," continued he, " the Northern heart's 
 on fire ! Yankee blood boils in Yankee veins ! " 
 
 " So it does," said Knickerbocker aside ; 
 "mine boils me out of my boots, — almost!" 
 
 " At the same time," continued the parson, 
 " all Dixie's in a flame, — a consuming, wide- 
 wasting flame ! Southern blood goes galloping 
 through Southern veins, scalding hot ! " 
 
 " From blind passion and bad whiskey," re- 
 sponded Knickerbocker dryly. 
 
 " Here comes my colored friend," said Parson 
 Southdown, looking toward the door. " Walk 
 in. Uncle Ned." 
 
 "Black outside, but not so dark within as 
 many a man of fairer skin," soliloquized Knick- 
 erbocker, mentally, as the slave entered, hat in 
 hand, and bowing at every step with all the 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OF TEEROE. 83 
 
 politeness, if not with all the grace of a French 
 dancing-master. 
 
 " Massa Soufdown," began the colored man, 
 "I's actily furd you's gwien to ave tribulation- 
 some times. For I tells ye what, de Ole Boy's 
 onhobbled ! You jist orter see de white trash 
 dat's crowdin' 'bout de taverns, and fillin' de 
 rum-holes, an swearin' like de bery heathens ! " 
 
 "A bad set of fellows, I dare say. Uncle Ned," 
 replied the parson. 
 
 " De wustest men dis side of de bad place ! " 
 continued the slave; "an' de streets am chock- 
 full ob dem. All de unhung, an' all what de 
 Debil hain't kotch, hab come to town ! I pray 
 de Lor A'mighty dat de yarth may open an' 
 swaller dem up as Jonah did de whale ! " 
 
 " What are they going to do. Uncle Ned ? " 
 
 " Why, Massa, der's nuffin bad an' bomnable 
 dat da won't do. An' dat ole sarvant ob de 
 Debil, what da call Ironheart, he say dat Parson 
 Soufdown ab no business comin' down Souf no 
 'ow. An' furdermore, he sweared by all dat's 
 good, an' all dat's bad, and all dat's wus an' 
 more wusser, dat da'U hang Parson Soufdown, 
 
84 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 an' all de dam Yankees whomsumebber, dat dar 
 stan up for de star an' stripes." 
 
 " The miserable traitor ! " 
 
 "An' jis den, dat ole Judas, preacher Snooks, 
 who am de Debil's own mouf-piece, steps right 
 up an' said, says he, 'We'll hang dat Union 
 preacher higher nor Haman ! ' How high da 
 hung dat gent'man dis darky can't 'zactly say, 
 sar. But I kinder 'spect it wor purty well up 
 in de ar." 
 
 " Ah, Uncle Ned, bad men will get their de- 
 serts, by and by," remarked the parson ; " but 
 don't be alarmed about me. Depend upon it, I 
 wasn't born to be hung." 
 
 " Oh, ho ! Massa, but dat doesn't signify nuffin ; 
 dem ar grillers nebber stops for dat. Da nebber 
 'quires who am born for de gallus, or who for de 
 tar an' fedders. De bestest peoples am what da 
 sarve de wustest." 
 
 " Uncle Ned understands the reprobates," 
 observed Southdown to Knickerbocker. " He 
 gives them their true character." 
 
 " May de good Lor A'mighty 'ave mercy on 
 us pour critters!" added the slave; "for de 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 85 
 
 great red Dragon 'ave shuck off him chain, an's 
 gwien 'bout killin' an' debowerin ! It make de 
 berry hair ob my head stan' straight on eand ! " 
 
 " What ! your kinky wool stand on end, Uncle 
 Ned ? " questioned the parson, humorously. 
 
 " Oh, but you doesn't comprehension me. I 
 speaks diabolical." 
 
 " Diabolical ! Mercy on us ! " exclaimed Knick- 
 erbocker mischievously. 
 
 " Uncle Ned means parabolical," explained the 
 parson. 
 
 " Parzactly ! dat am de word. I couldn't jist 
 git him by de right name. Well, den, I's 'bout 
 done dischargin' my duty. And now I prays de 
 good Lor A'mighty dat we all mout be saved, 
 'spacially from de jay-hawkers and de swamp 
 angels, an' from de everlastin' clutches ob de Ole 
 Boy, who am gwien 'bout seekin to debower! 
 An' furdermore, may de good bein' 'bove de sky 
 bless an' marcifully presarve you an' me an' all 
 de dam Yankees ebrywhur on de face ob de 
 wide yearth, world widout eand." 
 
 Saying which, the good-hearted slave bowed 
 adieu, and turned about to depart. 
 
86 THE STAES AND BARS; 
 
 " We are greatly obliged to you, Uncle Ned," 
 said the parson ; " call whenever you can." 
 
 "You's de fust white man dat eber say dat 
 much to dis poor darky, — ' Bleige to ye, Uncle 
 Ned.' Oh, dat am music to my yur, sweeter 
 dan de sound of de bugle horn ! " 
 
 Again bowing adieu, he advanced toward the 
 door, when another thought struck him. Turn- 
 ing round, he said, " Now you isn't gwien to tell 
 Massa or Misses bout what I's been tellin ye, is 
 ye?" 
 
 "By no means. Uncle Ned," replied Parson 
 Southdown ; " rest easy on that score." 
 
 " But I's kinder jubersom ob dis ar gentman." 
 
 " What, of me ? " said Knickerbocker ; " how 
 is that?". 
 
 " I tells you case wh}^. I 'members one day 
 as dis darky you wor passin by, ye kinder snuff 
 de win', an say ' De odor ob de gentman ob color 
 ar mighty undegreable.' " 
 
 "Ah, Uncle Ned, I'm quite over that now. In 
 my nostrils the poor slave smells so much better 
 than his traitor master that I begin to relish the 
 odor amazingly." 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TEREOE. 87 
 
 " When dis darky you de better knows, he'll 
 all de better smell in your nose." 
 
 Now, making his last bow, Uncle Ned with- 
 drew, doubtless blessed with a sense of duty 
 done. 
 
 The concourse upon the streets, already im- 
 mense, was every moment increasing. Though 
 a busy season of the year, yet almost all busi- 
 ness was laid aside and neglected. The blood 
 of the Border-ruffian chivalry was up ; war was 
 in their hearts, and whiskey running down their 
 throats. News of the fall of Sumter had rapidly 
 spread, and was now on every tongue. As cups 
 and canteens went round, enthusiasm kindled ; 
 blood waxed warmer, and tongues grew longer. 
 
 " Only see," said Mrs. Southdown, " how the 
 armed ruffians are still coming into town ; what 
 do they mean ? " 
 
 " They are brought together to-day by various 
 motives," replied her husband ; " one is, to re- 
 joice over the fall of Sumter. Another is, to 
 organize more jay-hawking and guerrilla com- 
 
88 THE STAES AND BAES ; 
 
 panies. Still another object, and, perhaps, the 
 leading one, is to get up a new furor in favor of 
 secession, and to deter loyal citizens from ex- 
 pressing their sentiments, and opposing their 
 project of taking Missouri out of the Union." 
 
 " While these desperate men," said Mrs. South- 
 down, "are every day robbing and murdering 
 loyal citizens, wherever they find them, what 
 security have we ? " 
 
 "I must admit, we are not safe. But how 
 shall we help ourselves ? I see no remedy un- 
 less we leave the country, and there is hazard 
 in that. Every family that have yet attempted 
 to leave the State, and carry with them their 
 personal property, have been robbed, either by 
 their disloyal neighbors, or by the roving bands 
 of jay-hawkers that are infesting every part of 
 the country." 
 
 "I've just bethought me what we'd better 
 do," said the eccentric Knickerbocker; "all 
 things, you know, are honorable in war." 
 
 " Not all things. Uncle ; " objected Mrs. South- 
 down. 
 
 " I mean honorable, as the world goes. This, 
 
OR, THE BEIGN OF TERROR. 89 
 
 then, I propose : that we, for a time, dissemble, 
 turn secesh, and pretend to be on the side of 
 the traitors. Thus we may not only make our- 
 selves safe in person and property, but, mean- 
 while, play spy upon the disloyal rascals. And 
 when the government sends troops into the 
 State to protect loyal citizens and crush the re- 
 bellion, which no doubt will be done after a 
 whUe, then we can show our colors, and come 
 out upon the black-hearted traitors." 
 
 " Oh, but that would be deception ! " exclaimed 
 Mrs. Southdown, chidingly. 
 
 " Knaves are only fit to be deceived," rejoined 
 Knickerbocker. 
 
 " Say not so. Uncle." 
 
 " To be honest with these rogues, conspirators, 
 and assassins is but to cast pearls before swine." 
 
 " Let us be honest, Uncle, if the stars fall." 
 
 " First, let us be honest to ourselves, Amelia, 
 whUe we're among wolves." 
 
 " How differently you talk. Uncle, from what 
 you ever did before. Why, it was but yester- 
 day you were ready to die for your principles." 
 
 "So I was; but to-day I'm not quite so much 
 
 8* 
 
90 THE STARS AJTO BARS; 
 
 in the spirit of dying as I am of killing some- 
 body. I must live to be the death of some of 
 these assassins who have murdered their loyal 
 neighbors." 
 
 " Heaven help us ! I know not what we'd 
 better do." 
 
 « There are dark plots at work, perfidious de- 
 signs and infernal machinations going on; we 
 must find them out, and, if possible, expose and 
 defeat them." 
 
 " If such a course were justifiable," observed 
 the parson, "it would certainly be hazardous, 
 surrounded as we are by treacherous and reck- 
 less men, who scruple not at anything." 
 
 " I wiU press neither of you into the scheme ; 
 but I'm bound to try my hand, for the first time 
 in my life, at a game of duplicity." 
 
 " Surely, Uncle, you cannot be serious." 
 
 "Rest assured I am. Say no more. I'll go 
 mingle with the mob; pat the dogs on the back, 
 and be the fiercest hound in the pack ! " 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 
 
 91 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 " If I'm designed yon lordling's slave, - 
 By Nature's law designed, 
 Why was an independent wish 
 E'er planted in my mind ! " 
 
 'E recur again to the persecutions 
 of the youthful patriot, Adrian 
 Malvin, and his venerable pas- 
 tor, Eev. Elmore. And here we 
 resume a leading-thread of our 
 narrative, which, the reader may 
 remember, we dropped at the 
 conclusion of the third chapter. 
 
 The mob, not satisfied with their disgraceful 
 conduct at the house of God on Sabbath morn- 
 ing, renewed the riot in the evening, about sun- 
 set, by surrounding the parsonage, and hurling 
 stones, brickbats, and other miss'iles against the 
 windows and doors, and, meanwhile, pouring 
 forth torrents of curses and profane oaths, 
 
92 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 swearing vengeance against all Union men and 
 opposers of secession. 
 
 Anticipating an assault upon his dwelling, the 
 parson had taken the precaution to send his 
 family away during the afternoon ; but deter- 
 mined, himself, to resist as long as he could any 
 attempt on the part of the mob to enter his 
 house. Malvin pledged himself to stand by 
 and render him all the assistance within his 
 power. 
 
 On seeing the rioters coming, they had hast- 
 ened to barricade the doors and windows as best 
 they could, then, seizing their weapons, had 
 taken their positions, bravely resolved, if the 
 ruflRans broke in, to make it cost them dearly. 
 
 The assault was terrific ; and in a few minutes 
 the windows were demolished, and the front- 
 door wellnigh battered down. After showering 
 missiles of everj?- description upon the house till 
 they were tired, the mob desisted for a time, 
 and went off to a drinking-saloon. Taking ad- 
 vantage of the suspension of hostilities, Malvin 
 and the parson went vigorously to work to 
 strengthen their barricade, by piling up furni- 
 ture against the doors and windows. 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 93 
 
 Three-quarters of an hour had scarcely 
 elapsed when the vile clan returned, and more 
 turbulent, profane, and boisterous than before. 
 This time, the mob was led by a notorious guer- 
 rilla chief, who, with his murderous band, had 
 just arrived from a marauding expedition, and 
 the same who, but a few days before, had pur- 
 sued Malvin into the mountains with the design 
 of taking his life. 
 
 The attack was now made with much greater 
 violence than at first, and the door and barri- 
 cade directly gave way. 
 
 The guerrilla chief, ambitious to display his 
 bravery, and eager to wreak vengeance upon 
 Malvin, whom he hated, no less for his amiabili- 
 ty and refinement of manners than for his pa- 
 triotism, rushed in, but scarcely had passed the 
 threshold, when a ball from Malvin's revolver 
 brought the reckless wretch sprawling upon the 
 floor, bleeding like a slaughtered bullock. 
 
 Parson Elmore, following suit, put a bullet in 
 the brain of the next man. Other ruffians, who 
 were crowding in, now took the hint, and, quick- 
 ly wheeling about, began to retreat ; but some 
 
94 THE STARS AND BAES ; 
 
 of them were a little too late to get out of 
 harm's way ; bang ! bang ! bang ! went the six- 
 shooters, and at each fire, a rascal came down, or 
 else went off howling. 
 
 While this was transpiring, a gun was acci- 
 dentally discharged in the midst of the throng 
 outside, the contents of which lodged in the 
 neck of one of the secesh clergymen who had 
 come to see the fun. The Rev. traitor, taken 
 on surprise, and hit in a tender spot, bellowed 
 like a bull, and went off floundering through 
 the crowd like a wounded buffalo in a bog. 
 
 At this juncture, amid such terrible disasters, 
 a sudden panic seized the rabble, and a precipi- 
 tant flight ensued. 
 
 " We are victorious, my brave boy ! " said 
 Parson Elmore ; " and now is our time to decamp, 
 while we are sure of our laurels as well as our 
 lives." 
 
 "Decamp? — what, right at the moment of 
 triumph ? " questioned Malvin, in great aston- 
 ishment. 
 
 " Know you not," replied the parson, " that 
 these brutal wretches will directly rally again, 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 95 
 
 and burn the house over our heads if we re- 
 main ? and, perhaps, murder us in the most bar- 
 barous manner ? " 
 
 " Ah, you are right, Parson," returned Malvin ; 
 "no doubt they will be more desperate than 
 before." 
 
 " We ought not to throw away our lives," 
 added the parson ; " our country may need our 
 services in the crisis through which it is now 
 destined to pass." 
 
 They immediately set about making prepara- 
 tions for a flight into the hill-country adjacent 
 to the village. Gathering up a roll of blankets, 
 and filling a basket with provisions, they passed 
 out through the back-yard under cover of the 
 darkness, which had just set in, and made their 
 escape iTnobserved. 
 
 It was doubtless fortunate for them that the 
 mob delayed their attack till so near nightfall, 
 for in open daylight they could by no possibil- 
 ity have made thdr escape, and would certainly 
 have been brutany'! murdered. 
 
 After the persecuted men had got a little out 
 of the village, a mUe or more, they all at once 
 
96 THE 8TAES AND BiES ; 
 
 perceived a bright light shining on the tree-topa 
 before them ; on looking round to see where it 
 proceeded from, they beheld the parsonage 
 wrapped in flames. 
 
 " Ah, just as I expected," remarked the par- 
 son, calmly; " the fiends have applied the torch ! 
 Well, let it burn ; we've reason to be thankful 
 for having escaped with our lives." 
 
 Knowing that it would be utterly unsafe to 
 stop anywhere within the State, after what had 
 happened, they concluded to make their way to 
 Kansas, and so turned their course in a north- 
 westerly direction, through an almost unin- 
 habited region. 
 
 * After travelling till about midnight, having 
 reached the mountain wilds, they found them- 
 selves weary, and, calling a halt, spread their 
 blankets, and laid themselves down to rest. 
 
 The uiob, after burning the parsonage, and 
 getting their destructive propensities fully ex- 
 cited, continued their work of malice and de- 
 vastation to a frightful extejaP They burnt the 
 houses of all the Germans and free negroes for 
 several miles round, and killed and crippled a 
 
97 
 
 number of the inmates. And, not content with 
 even that, they hung two of the more moderate 
 secessionists for opposing their madness. Such 
 is the recklessness of brainless herds of men 
 when once they begin the work of violence. 
 
 The refugees, who had fled to the hill-country 
 in the direction of Kansas, rose up at dawn, re- 
 freshed and resolute, to resume their journey. 
 Avoiding every human habitation, they kept in 
 the dark forests and in the wilds of the moun- 
 tains, stUl bearing to the northwest. About 
 high noon they began to think about trying 
 the contents of their basket. The better to 
 relish their repast, they thought to seek out 
 somf spring or riyulet that would afford them 
 'the "delioious beverage of clear, cold water. 
 Tuming*down a deep ravine, in search of the 
 sparkling fountain, they came suddenly upon a 
 family of fugitive slaves, — a mulatto man and 
 woman, with two little children. The fugitives 
 were sitting upon the ground by a brooklet, 
 dividing among wlmselves their last crust of 
 
 bread. 
 
 -A ■ 
 At sight of the white ii.cn, the parents of tlio 
 
98 
 
 children sprang wildly to their feet, and, taking 
 an attitude of bold defiance, each brandished a 
 gleaming blade of steel. Every look, attitude, 
 and motion, evinced their readiness and deter- 
 mination to engage in a death-struggle. 
 
 " Pardon us ! " cried the parson ; " we are no 
 slave-hunters." 
 
 " Thank God ! " exclaimed the colored man ; 
 " ah ! I now perceive you are not. Your gentle, 
 kindly look and tone assure me that you have 
 too much heart, too great a soul, to betray the 
 poor slave who pants for liberty." 
 
 "And what have you to eat?" inquired the 
 parson. 
 
 "This bit of crust you see here is between 
 "US and starvation ; " answered the fugitive, 
 " As for myself, I have not tasted food «for three 
 days ; as you came up, I was about to put a few 
 crumbs into my mouth, and let my wife and 
 children eat the rest, and trust to Providence 
 for the next meal." 
 
 "Well, you trusted not|*ih vain," said the 
 parson; "here comes Providence," pointing to 
 the basket, as Malvin brought it forward, and 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TERROE. 99 
 
 began to spread out the delicious viands before 
 the half-starved creatures. 
 
 " God is good, Simon," sobbed the woman, as 
 she gazed upon this unexpected bounty; "I told 
 you," added she, " Heaven wouldn't let our 
 children starve." And tears of gratitude 
 coursed their way down her dusky cheeks. 
 
 After all had satisfied their hunger, Simon 
 entered into a recital of the circumstances con- 
 nected with their escape. 
 
 "I," said he, "ran away from slavery more 
 than a year ago, and have been ever since plan- 
 ning to get Hannah and the children away. 
 
 In Kansas, I rented a piece of land, and hired 
 a horse and plough, and raised a crop, and then 
 I built me a nice little cabin on the land ; and 
 soon as I'd got that donQ, I began to pray to 
 the good Lord to guide me in getting my poor 
 wife and children out of bondage. Pretty soon 
 I started, trusting in God that I'd have success. 
 I filled my knapsack with provisions enough to 
 have supplied us all till we could have reached 
 Kansas; but I had to hide it in the woods till I 
 could find Hannah and the children; and I 
 
100 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 could only venture to look after theia late at 
 night. On my first attempt, I found out where 
 she was, and got sight of her ; but it was not 
 until the next night that I secured a chance to 
 speak with her. The whole thing was then 
 soon arranged, and we on our way to Kansas; 
 but when we reached the woods where I had 
 buried my knapsack of provisions, I found that 
 the wolves had dug it up, and devoured it all 
 but that miserable crust we were about to eat 
 when you came up. But we both felt confident 
 that God would not let us perish." 
 
 "But your confidence wavered a little," re- 
 marked Malvin, " when you first got a glimpse 
 of us." 
 
 " Yes, " returned Simon, pensively ; " I was 
 sure the blood-hounds .were upon us." 
 
 " What would you have done," inquired Mal- 
 vin, " if, instead of us, it had been a gang of 
 slave-hunters ? " 
 
 " Hannah and I had made up our minds, at 
 the very outset, that if we were pursued, we'd 
 never be taken alive. Before leaving Kansas, 
 I procured these weapons, which you saw in our 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OF TEEEOR. 101 
 
 hands. We were resolved, if attacked, circum- 
 stances be what they might, to fight to the very- 
 death. And we had further agreed, that if the 
 odds should be greatly against us, and there 
 should seem an utter impossibility for us to 
 defend ourselves, that we would, right at .the 
 outset, take the lives of our dear children, — 
 that they might be saved, at all events, from 
 dragging out a miserable existence in a state of 
 slavery." 
 
 " Do you think that would have been right, 
 Simon ? " asked Parson Elmore. 
 
 " Yes," said the fugitive, firmly ; " I think it 
 would have been right, and but doing our 
 duty to our children. I know what slavery is ; 
 death is to be preferred before it. It is only 
 the very ignorant who can patiently endure the 
 sufferings and degradation of slavery." 
 
 It might be here observed, that Simon and 
 Hannah were altogether more intelligent than a 
 majority of slaves, and far more intelligent than 
 a large majority of " the white trash " of the 
 Slave States. They used none of the low lan- 
 
 9* 
 
102 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 guage nor barbarous pronunciation, peculiar to 
 the lower grade of slaves and ignorant whites. 
 
 "Hannah had a very hard lot," continued 
 Simon ; " she has always been sickly ; yet she 
 was kept constantly at the hardest kind of 
 work, and always hired out to wash and 
 drudge, black boots and harness horses, winter 
 and summer, and night and day, if occasion 
 required; and that, to support two lazy, idle, 
 dissipated young men. Hannah was the only 
 slave the family ever owned. And for the last 
 three years, all the family have been dead, but 
 these two lounging, drunken loafers. What she 
 earns has been for years their entire depen- 
 dence for support. And they were already 
 talking of selling her children, because of being 
 hard pressed for spending-money. I only wish 
 we could have got their two horses ; they have 
 a good horse apiece to spree round on, which is 
 the only property they now own. 
 
 Just at this moment, a gruff, coarse voice 
 called out from the top of the hill, — 
 
 " By jing ! there they are now ! " 
 
 Instantly looking up, Simon recognized the 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 103 
 
 two profligate young men, of whom he had just 
 been speaking. They were mounted on their 
 horses, and each was carrying a rifle. 
 
 Simon instinctively clutched his weapon, but 
 the next instant looked at the parson, as if for 
 counsel. 
 
 " There," exclaimed Hannah, in a suppressed 
 voice, " are the wretches who call themselves 
 my masters. Have we to fight our own battle, 
 Simon ? If so, let us be ready." 
 
 " Look you here," whispered the parson, show- 
 ing the pistol in his bosom; "you keep perfectly 
 still, and let this young man and myself man- 
 age it. Malvin, now let us put on as much 
 of a swaggering air and tone as we can, and 
 they will readily conclude that we have caught 
 the fugitives ; and thus may we get into close 
 quarters with them, so that their guns will have 
 no advantage over our pistols." 
 
 "The first nigger that runs," said Tom Bol- 
 ton, the older one of the two slave-hunters, 
 " ril blow his brains out ! " 
 
 "There's Hannah's husband," said the other 
 with an oath; "we'll get at least a hundred 
 dollars for taking him back." 
 
104 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 "But there are two white men! who can 
 they be ? " said the older to the younger. 
 
 Malvin, now rising to his feet, said, — 
 
 " What are you going to give us for finding 
 your niggers ? " 
 
 " Oho ! you caught them, eh ? " responded 
 Tom Bolton. " Well, we'll reward you, of course." 
 
 And at once dismounting and hitching their 
 horses, they came forward, and, setting down 
 their guns, took out a rope to tie the fugitives. 
 
 " Ah, ha, you jade ! " said Tom, in a most tan- 
 talizing manner; "you got caught, did you? 
 How many hundred lashes do you think it will 
 take to pay you for this ? Never mind, you 
 black wench ! we'll have a settlement when we 
 get home. And as to these brats of yours, I've 
 sold them to a man who will take them far 
 enough out of, your way; and as to this nig- 
 ger, your adorable husband, his master has long 
 been itching to give him a thousand lashes." 
 
 By this time Malvin was between the slave- 
 hunters and their guns, and had his hand on 
 his revolver. The parson was also in a suitable 
 position, and ready for action. 
 
OB, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 105 
 
 "Get up here and be tied, you scoundrel," 
 said Tom Bolton to Simon, at the same time 
 kicking him. 
 
 Like lightning, the latter sprang to his feet, 
 and, drawing back, struck the insolent wretch 
 a blow that felled him like a dead man ; and, 
 before the other recovered from his surprise, he 
 knocked him down, also. 
 
 The first one scrambled up and made for his 
 gun ; but, to his astonishment again, he found a 
 pistol pointing at his breast, accompanied with 
 the command to cross his hands and be tied. 
 
 In a few seconds, they were both tied with the 
 same rope they had brought to tie poor Han- 
 nah with; and Simon had the satisfaction of 
 tying one, and Hannah the other. 
 
 "Now, Hannah," said Parson Elmore, "you 
 have a horse to ride to your new home in Kan- 
 sas; and your husband will have two elegant 
 farin-horses to drive business after you get 
 there. But what will these nice young men 
 do for spending-money, for egg-nog, oyster-sup- 
 pers, mint-juleps, &c., when they no longer get 
 your wages ? " 
 
106 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 This was too much for Tom Bolton ; his chiv- 
 alric blood boiled over. Never was any living 
 animal seen to go into such a diabolical rage. 
 He swore, stamped, and raved, pitched and 
 tore, tried to break the rope with which he 
 was bound, gnashed his teeth, and foamed at the 
 mouth like a hard-ridden steed. 
 
 Hannah had noticed, when Tom first came 
 up, that, besides his gun, he carried in his hand 
 a keen, long, wiry hickory, something like an 
 ox-goad ; and she made no doubt that he had 
 selected it in his rambles through the wilds for 
 her special benefit. While the fellow was yet 
 raving, she chanced to put her eye on this 
 nicely-trimmed rod ; and, obeying an impulse 
 which suddenly awoke in her bosom, from a 
 vivid recollection which flashed across her mind, 
 of the deep wrongs she had suffered at the 
 hands of the beast who was then raging because 
 of being foiled in his Satanic purpose of venting 
 his malice upon her, she snatched up the rod, 
 and, flying at him like an enraged tigress, made 
 the welkin ring with the sharp, keen lashes she 
 laid on his back. Malvin and Parson Elmore 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEEROR. 107 
 
 thought the rascal deserved a flogging, and that, 
 if anybody had a special right to administer it 
 to him, it was Hannah ; so they said nothing. 
 And as for Simon, he enjoyed the scene im- 
 measurably. 
 
 ■ The hickory-storm that so unexpectedly burst 
 upon the villain's back and shoulders surprised 
 and confounded him to such a degree that he 
 instantly gave up his raving, and stood stock- 
 still, as if transfixed to the earth. 
 
 After linting him keenly for a few moments, 
 Hannah paused, and, looking the guilty wretch 
 in the eye, asked him if he remembered tying 
 her, as he was then tied, and cutting her back 
 to pieces with a cowhide, and for no other 
 offence than having gone, without liberty, to see 
 her husband, whom she had not seen for months. 
 "And do you recollect," said she, " how you used 
 to beat me when I failed to finish the heavy 
 tasks you put upon me ? You have never 
 known before what it was to be lashed like a 
 slave. Can you blame me for giving you a little 
 taste of the sweets of slavery ? " 
 
 Tom could make no reply, but stood in sullen 
 
108 THE STABS AND BARS J 
 
 silence ; yet plainly showed that the Devil was 
 in him, big as a bull-dog. 
 
 " Slaves always have to beg before they are 
 spared," continued Hannah ; " and many times 
 that doesn't save them till they are almost 
 killed. And now, you miserable sinner, I'll teach 
 you what it is to beg." And, stepping back and 
 taking hold of the rod with both hands, she 
 made it fairly talk round his shoulders. At 
 first, he thought to grin and bear it ; but the 
 agony was too great ; the unfeeling tyrant had 
 to beg, — ay, to beg at the feet of a slave, — to 
 ask mercy of one to whom he had shown no 
 mercy! This was, indeed, humiliating for a 
 slave-driving tyrant ; but the smart of the lash 
 soon brought down his lofty air, his arrogant 
 looks, and inflated self-esteem. Having humbled 
 him to her satisfaction, Hannah threw down the 
 rod and turned away, saying, " Tom, I hope this 
 lesson will profit you all your life, and teach 
 you at least to feel for others." 
 
 The party now made preparations to travel 
 on. It was deemed expedient to take the slave- 
 hunters with them a day's journey or more, lest 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TEEROE. 109 
 
 they should hurry home and put the guerrilla 
 bands on their track. 
 
 Hannah and her children were mounted on 
 Tom Bolton's big, strong horse, but now no 
 longer his. Parson Elmore mounted the other 
 horse, with their luggage, leaving Malvin and 
 Simon to bring the prisoners on foot. 
 
 About noon, the day following, the parson 
 thought it safe to turn the prisoners loose ; so, 
 calling a halt, Malvin divided with them a ven- 
 ison he had killed on the way with one of their 
 guns; after which, the parson gave them a good 
 piece of advice, to which they listened with sad 
 looks, and then bade them farewell. 
 
 The next day, just before sundown, the party 
 safely arrived at Simon's cabin in Kansas. 
 
 The reader can better imagine, than I can 
 describe, the joy of Hannah and her husband 
 when they came fully to realize that they were 
 forever free from the shackles of slavery, and 
 had a home on Freedom's soU. 
 
 10 
 
110 
 
 THE STABS AND BARS ; 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " Thus may we gather honey from the weed, 
 And make a moral of the Devil himself." 
 
 N answer to the prayers, earnest en- 
 treaties, and pressing importunities, 
 of many loyal citizens of Missouri, 
 the Federal Government, after long 
 delays, and the most tardy move- 
 )T ments, as it seemed, of the "War De- 
 partment, at last sent forward into 
 certain northern sections of the State, detach- 
 mgnts of Union troops to assist Union men in 
 maintaining the laws, and putting down mob- 
 violence. The first Federal forces that made 
 their appearance in Border-ruffian Eebeldom 
 were altogether insufficient, and could afford 
 very little protection either to the lives or prop- 
 erty of the loyal party. Secessionists continued 
 to maltreat, and, in many instances, murder their 
 Union'loving neighbors. But the Federal forces 
 
OE, THE EEIGX OP TERROE. Ill 
 
 at length began to be strengthened, and serious- 
 ly to threaten the armed bands of reckless 
 rebels that had broken up the peace of the 
 country and inaugurated a reign of terror. 
 
 This menace created no little stir among se- 
 cessionists; they lustily cried out, '■Invasion." 
 And, wiping their mouths most sanctimoniously 
 ■with their Slood-stained hands and putting on 
 a make-believe face and a lamb-hke tone of in- 
 nocence, appealed to the world, whether it was 
 not a sin and a shame that a country, fiUed with 
 such immaculate and unoffending people, should 
 be invaded by government troops ? And this 
 hypocritical cry of invasion was echoed by the 
 tones of the North from State to State, and 
 from precinct to precinct. Yes ; the willing tools 
 of a Southern oligarchy caught this deceitful 
 cry, fresh from the lips of perjured rebels and 
 assassins, and have kept it resounding in dis- 
 loyal sections of the Free States ever since. 
 
 Thus encouraged by hosts of copperheads at 
 the North, the traitors of the southwest, espe- 
 cially of Missouri, made great noise of prepara- 
 tion for war. They met almost daily in great 
 
112 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 crowds to listen to their stump-orators, and 
 lying demagogues, and to muster and drill, to 
 drink whiskey, wrangle, and carouse. Platte 
 City was often the scene of these tumultuous 
 gatherings and grand carousals. The most not- 
 able assemblage of this sort took place there 
 directly after the first Federal troops made their 
 appearance at St. Joseph, some forfy miles north 
 of Platte €ity. The whole country had been 
 invited to turn out, for the purpose of raising a 
 secesh flag, and of more effectually organizing 
 and equipping a rebel force, to meet and van- 
 quish the Union army. 
 
 The demagogues and nabobs were brave in 
 words, but had no intention of being valorous 
 in deeds ; it was well understood among them 
 that the white trash were to do the fighting, 
 while they did the talking, vaunting, and blow- 
 ing of trumpets. 
 
 On the occasion alluded to above, Platte City 
 was crowded to overflowing at an early hour, 
 and all the ragamuffins of the land were on 
 hind for a new suit of butternut, which, it was 
 expected, the wealthy slave-holders would fur- 
 
OB, THE BEIGN OF TEREOE. 113 
 
 nisb, in view of the military services they were 
 ready to render. 
 
 In the midst of the excitement, the attention 
 of the multitude was all at once arrested by the 
 sudden and imposing appearance of a coach and 
 four coming down Main Street. The horses 
 were richly caparisoned, and gayly bedecked 
 about the ears with little flaunting banners, dis- 
 playing the stars and bars, which had recently 
 been substituted for the " rattlesnake flag," — the 
 first chosen ensign of the Southern Confedera- 
 cy. A well-dressed negro, whose sable skin 
 glistened like a newly-polished boot, sat pom- 
 pously perched upon the box, reining, with more 
 than princely pride, his prancing steeds, whose 
 gorgeous trappings dazzled aU eyes. Sambo 
 flourished a new and superb whip, with a snap- 
 per on the end of the lash, which ever and anon 
 he made pop like a pocket-pistol. This was ac- 
 cording to the instructions of his master, who 
 deemed it a modest way of announcing his ad- 
 vent, and was certainly less ostentatious than 
 sounding a trumpet before him. 
 
 10* 
 
114 THE STAES AND BARS; 
 
 " There comes Dr. Puff! " was whispered with 
 enthusiasm in various groups. 
 
 "Dr. Puff! Dr. Puff!" went from lip to lip, 
 and echoed from mouth to mouth through the 
 restless, stirring multitude, as the glittering 
 vehicle rolled by. 
 
 Driving on to the most fashionable inn, the 
 ebony postilion pulled up ; and a portly-bellied 
 landlord waddled forth, and, opening the car- 
 riage-door, assisted a bloated specimen of hu- 
 manity, like himself, to roll out. 
 
 One* might have thought Jack Falstaff had 
 again come to life, and was expecting a jolly 
 greeting from " The Merry Wives of Windsor." 
 On the obsequious crowd that gathered round, 
 the nabob smiled a broad grin, and even deigned 
 to shake by the hand, not only the upper ten, 
 but also the lower million. To his white me- 
 nials, and wealth-worshipping minions, this 
 seemed a wondrous condescension. 
 
 Dr. Puff, though less burdened with brains 
 than with some other things, well knew that in 
 such times of commotion, the groundlings, and 
 the low of station, had a chance for sudden ele- 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 115 
 
 vation. He saw that His Majesty, the mob, 
 already ruled the land ; and deemed it, there- 
 fore, expedient that he should due homage pay 
 to the populace. Men, whom he had never 
 stooped to greet before, were now in ecstasies 
 because the man of wealth deigned them the 
 notice of his eye. Little did their dull brains 
 perceive the inward thought of his scheming 
 mind, while he said within his heart, — 
 
 " These human cattle, during the coming 
 struggle, are to form the ramparts, behind which 
 we aristocrats, with our slaves, are to hide our- 
 selves." 
 
 The excitement among the rabble, occasioned 
 by Dr. Puff's arrival, had scarcely subsided, when 
 another nabob rolled up in similar style, and to 
 whom all attention was at once turned. 
 
 Now Mr. Skedaddle had his day, and, for a 
 time, was the lion in his turn. 
 
 Being the largest slave-holder in that part of 
 the State, and of course interested in the slave- 
 holders' rebellion, and disposed to help it on 
 with his purse, his arrival produced a sensation 
 amounting to a furor ; and the glory which, but 
 
116 THE STARS AND BAES ; 
 
 a moment before, hovered around Dr. Pufl) was 
 at once totally eclipsed by the new celebrity, to 
 the infinite mortification of the doctor. 
 
 The presence of these distinguished civilians 
 on the occasion was well-calculated to promote 
 the cause of secession, bolster treason, and give 
 countenance to the rebellion ; not, however, 
 because of possessing either mental force or 
 moral worth, for these celebrities could boast of 
 neither ; yet they had what was better, in the 
 estimation of the vulgar herd, — money and 
 slaves. 
 
 Dr. Puff, warm in the cause of disunion, and 
 anxious to see sufficient means raised to arm 
 and equip the rabble, felt inclined to urge upon 
 his wealthy friend, Mr. Skedaddle, whom he 
 thought rather penurious, to give largely in 
 support of the enterprise ; so he signified to the 
 latter, as soon as an opportunity presented, his 
 wish to speak with him aside. They walked off 
 out of the bustle a few rods, and paused for 
 conversation. 
 
 In personal appearance the two aristocrats 
 presented a striking contrast. Skedaddle was 
 
OE, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 117 
 
 lean and slender, nervous and excitable, and 
 only lacked brain to be a man of thought and 
 discernment. Dr. Puff was corpulent, lymphatic, 
 tardy in his movements, and slow of speech. 
 Like an elephant, he was hard to excite, but, 
 when once fairly aroused, moved like a steam- 
 engine, and, if angry, grew ferocious. He was 
 especially capable of being wrought up to a 
 high pitch of excitement upon any question af- 
 fecting the safety of the peculiar institution. 
 
 Though very dissimilar in almost every re- 
 spect, yet these swell-head rebels, at one point, 
 were alike. They each attached great impor- 
 tance to the aristocracy of wealth, while men- 
 tal and moral culture, wisdom and learning, 
 had little or no value in their estimation. Like 
 most ignorant men, they were full of vain con- 
 ceit, and piqued themselves greatly upon their 
 aristocracy; yet certain vulgar habits perpetu- 
 ally betrayed their low breeding. 
 
 Dr. Puff had the very odious habit of enfor- 
 cing his remarks, whenever he made a point, by 
 a chuck with his elbow into the short ribs of 
 hia listener, while Skedaddle had acquired the 
 
118 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 scarcely less disagreeable habit of echoing the 
 last words of the individual in conversation 
 with him, and, also, of forever repeating a 
 couple of stereotyped exclamations. At every 
 little surprise he would cry out, " RemarJcable ! " 
 with a peculiar stress of voice ; and, at every 
 declaration made by his companion, he would 
 exclaim, with great emphasis, " Just so ! " 
 
 With this brief description of the two most 
 wealthy aristocrats in Border-rufl&an Rebeldom, 
 I proceed to relate their private conversation. 
 
 After a very emphatic gesture, accompanied 
 with a special effort to look wise. Dr. Puff thus 
 began : — 
 
 « Now, Mr. Skedaddle," — 
 
 "Just so. Dr. Puff," responded his nervous 
 friend, anticipating him. 
 
 " You and I," — 
 
 "Just so!" 
 
 At this juncture a loud hurrah was heard up 
 street. 
 
 " Eemarkable ! " exclaimed Skedaddle, wheel- 
 ing quickly round, and looking wildly in the di- 
 rection of the shouting multitude. 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OF TEEEOR. 119 
 
 "'Tis but the parading of the rabble," ex- 
 plained Dr. PuiF. 
 
 " Just so ! the parading of the rabble," it- 
 erated the excited man, turning again, with a 
 patronizing air, to his confidential friend. 
 
 " I say rahUe ; perhaps I should say, citizens" 
 remarked the doctor with a knowing wink, and, 
 at the same time, chucking Skedaddle with his 
 elbow in the side. 
 
 " Eemarkable ! " cried the lean-ribbed nabob, 
 jumping almost out of his boots ; but in a mo- 
 ment recovered himself, and, afiecting the ut- 
 most composure, replied, " Just so, citizens ! " 
 
 Now came hurrying on, amid loud huzzas 
 and the stirring drum, a grand procession of 
 flaunting banners and ragged ruffians, with here 
 and there a decent-looking man, whose eye 
 seemed to say, " Tm in for bunJcum." 
 
 The procession was led by Mr. Scallawag, who 
 carried a secesh flag, and ever and anon broke 
 forth in a two-line song : — 
 
 " Under the stars and bars, 
 We're going to the wars — Oho 1 " 
 
120 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 "Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" shouted the mob, 
 waving hats and caps, or wildly flinging them 
 high in air. 
 
 " Remarliable ! " cried Mr. Skedaddle. 
 
 Next came Knickerbocker, with a wink and a 
 blink, waving his hat in mock gesture; and then, 
 in a stentorian voice, sang the following lines: — 
 
 " I swear by tte great Palmetto Nation, 
 We'll lick the Yankees like all tarnation I " 
 
 Then, suddenly dropping his voice into an un- 
 dertone, added, " In a horn ! " 
 
 "Hurrah! hurrah!" again shouted the rabble. 
 
 " Remarkable ! " still exclaimed the excitable 
 Skedaddle. 
 
 As soon as the noisy tumult had passed by, 
 Dr. Puflf resumed the conversation. 
 
 "As I was about to say, Mr. Skedaddle," — 
 
 « Just so ! " 
 
 " You and I have property, and that property 
 consists mainly in niggers." 
 
 " Just so ! mainly in niggers." 
 
 "And niggers, you know, have legs ; " at the 
 same time chucking him in the ribs. 
 
OE, THE EEIGK OF TEEEOE. 121 
 
 " Remarkable ! " squalled the persecuted Ske- 
 daddle, jumping up and springing round like a 
 jaybird on a swinging limb. But directly check- 
 ing himself np, said, — 
 
 " Just so ! niggers have legs." 
 
 "And the black rascals only want a chance to 
 use them," added Dr. Puff. 
 
 " Just so ! a chance to use them." 
 
 " Then only think what might happen to you 
 and me if the Lincoln troops are allowed to in- 
 vade Missouri ; first thing we know," — 
 
 " Just so ! first thing we know," — 
 
 "We'll be left niggerless!" again hunching 
 him. 
 
 " Remarkable ! " bellowed Skedaddle, whirling 
 round, and clapping his hand on his side as if 
 feeling for a broken rib ; then, again, as before, 
 suddenly calming down, reiterates the last words 
 of the imperturbable Dr. Pufi^ "just so! — left 
 niggerless ! " 
 
 "And what a fix that would be for aristocrats 
 like you and me ! " 
 
 " Just so ! — aristocrats like you and me." 
 
 " Brought down upon a level with every poor 
 11 
 
122 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 white devil, who is now glad to be our me- 
 nial ! " 
 
 " Just so ! — glad to be our menial. " 
 
 " Only look at it, sir ; such a thought is ab- 
 solutely startling ! " 
 
 Simultaneously with the utterance of the word 
 startling, he planted his ill-mannered elbow with 
 startling emphasis, yet all-unconscious of what 
 he did, about the tender region of the poor fel- 
 low's fifth rib. 
 
 " Remarkable ! " bawled Skedaddle, as if he'd 
 been stabbed with a bowie-knife. But as soon as 
 he recovered his breath, he smothered his wrath, 
 and graciously sent back the echo, — " Just so ! 
 — startling ! " 
 
 " You and I well understand what it is that 
 keeps the upper ten above the lower million I " 
 
 " Just so ! the upper ten above the lower mil- 
 lion!" 
 
 " In this country it's niggers that lifts a man 
 up ! " With the word tip, went another dig of 
 the elbow into the dominion of ribs. 
 
 "Remarkable ! — Plague take his elbow ! That's 
 enough to lift a man up out of his boots," solilo- 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 123 
 
 quized Skedaddle with almost' exhausted pa- 
 tience. But, perceiving that his friend was whol- 
 ly unconscious of the pain and annoyance it 
 gave him, he concluded to put on fortitude and 
 bear it. 
 
 " Just so ! It's niggers that lifts a man up." 
 
 "And the want of niggers lets him down." 
 
 " Just so ! lets him down ! " 
 
 " How would you feel, sir, aristocrat as you 
 are, to have a poor man come along-side of you, 
 and, presuming himself your equal, chuck you 
 in the ribs, as I do ? " And again the everlast- 
 ing elbow came in collision with lean ribs. 
 
 "Eemarkable! May Old Eingtail fancy me 
 if I like to have any man punch me in the ribs 
 at such a rate, — rich or poor ! " These side- 
 remarks of poor, tormented Skedaddle were not 
 all uttered in an undertone ; they only went 
 unheeded by Dr. Pufi^ on account of his being 
 so absorbingly occupied with what he himself 
 was saying. 
 
 " Now, Mr. Skedaddle," remarked the doctor, 
 with great earnestness, "you and I, and all 
 Missouri slave-holders, will find it to our interest 
 
124 THE STARS AKD BARS; 
 
 to lean to the South and kick against the 
 North." 
 
 "Just so! to lean to the South and kick 
 against the North." 
 
 " But to come at once to the point, Mr. Ske- 
 daddle, let me tell you, sir, we've got to fight ; " 
 said Dr. PufF, laying particular stress on the last 
 word, and the usual emphasis on the poor fel- 
 low's ribs. 
 
 " Remarkable ! Just so ! No, no ! Fight ? 
 Not while my name's Skedaddle ! " And, wheel- 
 ing about, began to make oK 
 
 " Hold ! hold ! I pray you, hold, sir," cried 
 Dr. PufF; " let me explain." 
 
 Pausing as if to reflect, Skedaddle said to 
 himself, — 
 
 " When I'm fool enough to knock my head 
 against cold lead, may I be shot ! " 
 
 " Your pardon, sir ; you comprehend me not. 
 I mean we must see that fighting's done." 
 
 " Just so ! Oh, ho ! see that fighting's done ! " 
 said the cowardly nabob, brightening up, and 
 coming back. 
 
 " Pray, sir, what have you and I to dread ? r 
 Aristocrat blood ne'er was made to be shed." 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TEREOE. 125 
 
 " Just SO ! ne'er was made to be shed." 
 
 " Of danger we'll be well aware. Sure there's 
 'plebeian Mood to spare." 
 
 " Just so, plebeian blood to spare " • 
 
 " Now, as to fighting, you know, 'tis easy to 
 make some show, and, at the same time, manage 
 to keep ourselves out of harm's way." 
 
 " Just so ! out of harm's way." 
 
 " This, then, I only need suggest, — while we 
 are sparing of our blood, we must be lavish of 
 our cash. It may cost us a nigger or two, but 
 what of that?" 
 
 « Just so ! what of that?" 
 
 " Ah, ha ! they are already hoisting the Confed- 
 erate flag. Let us go mix in, shout, and wave 
 our hats for bunkum!" And, with the inflec- 
 tion of the voice on the word bunkum, the doc- 
 tor's impertinent elbow again took his martyred 
 listener in the short ribs. 
 
 " Remarkable ! " cried Skedaddle ; " my ribs 
 
 should be made of iron ! " Then, turning to 
 
 follow the doctor, who had already put his 
 
 ponderous body in motion, said, — " Just so ! go 
 
 mix in, shout, and wave our hats for bunkum ! " 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " The best laid plans o' mice and me 
 Gang aft agley." 
 
 ^UST as the ensign of the Palmetto 
 Nation was flung to the breeze, Dr. 
 Puff and Skedaddle made their ap- 
 pearance upon the ground. 
 
 " Hail to the stars and bars ! " 
 cried Dr. Puff, waving his hat with 
 great enthusiasm. 
 " Just so ! hail to the stars and bars ! " echoed 
 Skedaddle, flourishing his hat in like manner. 
 
 "Three cheers for Jeff. Davis, Beauregard, 
 and the Southern Confederacy!" shouted a 
 guerrilla chief 
 
 " The Devil's trinity ! " added Knickerbocker, 
 aside. 
 
 " Hurrah ! hurrah ! hurrah ! " went up from 
 the rabble. At which. Skedaddle said, "Re- 
 markable ! " 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 127 
 
 At this juncture, two very genteel-looking 
 merf came up, stopping on the outskirts of the 
 tatterdemalion crowd. 
 
 " Just listen to these infernal rebels ! " said 
 one to the other. 
 
 " Again ! " shouted the guerrilla chief, waving 
 his hat. The multitude followed, and a second 
 loud hurrah went up for the stars and bars. 
 
 " Perdition overtake them ! " said one of the 
 two outside gentlemen just alluded to. 
 
 " A vile clan ! " responded his companion. 
 
 " I could see every rascal of them swing 
 upon a limb ! " remarked the former ; " what say 
 you, Mr. Rupert ? " 
 
 " Ah, let them yell ! " was the indifferent 
 response ; " empty heads wUl be loud-mouthed." 
 
 "Again!" shouted the guerrilla chief; and 
 now a third wild hurrah rent the air around the 
 rebel flag. 
 
 The excited gentleman outside the tumult 
 still grew warmer. '• Confound the gallows-look- 
 ing traitors ! " said he ; " how well their necks 
 would become halters ! " 
 
 " I pray you keep cool, Mr. Haller," 
 
128 THE STARS AND BARS ;■ 
 
 " Leave these blockheads to the foolkiller," 
 rejoined his companion. 
 
 " Perhaps them demure-looking gentlemen in 
 white shirts don't like it," observed a leading 
 demagogue, looking toward Rupert and Haller. 
 
 " By their looks they seem to say so," re- 
 marked Knickerbocker, putting on a make-be- 
 lieve face. 
 
 "Who cares?" growled the demagogue; 
 " they'd better make tracks if they don't want 
 a shower of brickbats." 
 
 " I trust the hangman may soon find employ- 
 ment, and we market for our hemp," observed 
 Haller to Rupert, as they turned about to with- 
 draw. 
 
 " Three groans for the old stars and stripes ! " 
 said the guerrilla chief, at the top of his voice. 
 
 " And three times three for yourselves, poor 
 devils," rejoined Knickerbocker, aside. 
 
 Three hideous groans were straightway given 
 in response to the chief's request. At the end 
 of each groan, Skedaddle solemnly uttered his 
 oft-repeated exclamation, " Remarkable ! " 
 
OE, THE DEIGN OP TERROR. 129 
 
 In the midst of this farcical scene, a mkn 
 came running down the street in breathless 
 haste, crying, at the top of his voice, " The Fed- 
 erals ! the Federals ! the Federals ! " 
 
 " Remarkable ! " exclaimed Skedaddle, taking 
 a flying attitude. 
 
 "Heaven save us!" cried Eoiickerbocker, af' 
 fecting great consternation. "We're gone up," 
 added he ; " pull the flag down." 
 
 " Just so ! " said Skedaddle, starting to run ; 
 " pull the flag down." 
 
 Great confusion ensued, which directly be- 
 came a general stampede. Helter-skelter they 
 went, the cowardly renegades flying in every 
 direction, and hiding themselves in every con- 
 ceivable place. 
 
 An Irishman, who just came upon the ground 
 in time to witness the flight of the panic-stricken 
 rabble, and who had learned that it was a false 
 alarm, cried out, — 
 
 "St. Pater! what ligs thejr've goot! Brave 
 min ! they outroon the wind ! Coom bock ! 
 coom bock, ivery frightened divil of ye ! 
 There's niver a bit o' truth in what they say ! 
 
130 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 " By jabers ! ond ait's mysilf thot wouldn't 
 roon leik thot af all the divils in the pit were 
 at my hales ! Proper stoof for sooldiers ! the 
 viery odd boy couldn't kitch them ! " 
 
 Dr. PufF, having run himself out of breath, 
 finally undertook to hide behind a tree which 
 was too small, by half, to conceal his enormous 
 bulk; his waistband showed conspicuously on 
 either side of it. " Heavens ! " said he, in his 
 perplexity ; " I wish this tree were larger, or else 
 myself were gaunter. Surely, my dimensions 
 never were so great before ! " 
 
 It soon became known that the stampede was 
 caused by a false alarm ; and the dismayed and 
 scattered chivalry, one by one, began to return. 
 
 Knickerbocker, who had but little exhausted 
 himself in flight, was the first to get back. 
 
 " A weak invention of the enemy," said he to 
 Patrick, the Irishman, with great seeming mor- 
 tification. 
 
 "May the Divil take the waked sinner that 
 meiks a brave mon show the white fither," said 
 Patrick, with a leer. 
 
 "Upon my word, Pat," remarked Knicker- 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TERROR. 131 
 
 bocker, with apparent seriousness, " I cannot 
 help having a secret admiration for the Irish 
 soldier who saved his life by buckling his breast- 
 plate on behind." 
 
 " Faith ! ond thot Irishmon moost o' been boorn 
 in Amiriky." 
 
 Now back came Dr. Puflf and Mr. Skedaddle ; 
 the latter, looking somewhat chop-fallen, said, 
 « Remarkable ! " 
 
 "A Black Republican fabrication ! " exclaimed 
 the former, ill-naturedly. 
 
 "And only meant for our vexation," chimed 
 in Knickerbocker. 
 
 "By jabers! I seed 'em mysilf," said Pat; 
 " bad luck to them ! but not Fiderals, — our 
 own min they were ; ond rigular jay-hookers ! " 
 
 " Is that so, Patrick ? " demanded Dr. Puff. 
 
 " Sure's the DivU's a sinner, yer honor," an- 
 swered Pat, with great earnestness. 
 
 " Why, in the deuce, did we run ? " muttered 
 the doctor, half audibly, and as if out of humor 
 with himself for betraying such cowardice. 
 
 " Faith ! ond yer honest ligs wouldn't stand ; 
 and aisn't that rason enoof ?" Then, to himself, 
 
132 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 said, " Sooldiers are made of daferent stoof. 
 Upon my sowl, thase blusterin' rebels brag and 
 roon, roon and brag. 'Taise a tight race 'twaixt 
 ligs ond toongue ; the viry Divil can't till 
 whaich'll wun ! " 
 
 Dr. Puff, anxious to put the best possible face 
 on the disgraceful affair, looked up at the flag, 
 and, waving his hat, said, — 
 
 " Wave on, gallant banner, wave ! " 
 
 " Wave over the sons of the brave ! " added 
 Knickerbocker, in an ironical tone, and waving 
 his hat with mock gesture. 
 
 " Just so ! " said Skedaddle ; " over the sons of 
 the brave ! " 
 
 Patrick thought it was time for him to chime 
 in J so, taking off his torn and tattered beaver 
 and waving it in circles round his head, 
 shouted, — 
 
 " Long lave Master Skedaddle ! waith a joomp 
 ond a spraddle he daistanced the foe ! " 
 
 " Plague take the Irishman ! " said Dr. Puff, 
 aside, to Skedaddle ; " he's impudent." 
 
 " Just so ! — impudent." 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TEEEOE. 133 
 
 The day was spent, as many others had been 
 before it, in noise and bustle, empty words and 
 vaporing, and ended in a general spree, all going 
 home drunk. 
 
 12 
 
134 
 
 THE STAE8 AND BAB3 ; 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " Krm in his loyalty he stood, 
 And prompt to seal it with his blood." 
 
 HERE resided in the country, a 
 short distance from Platte City, an 
 old citizen of Missouri, whom the 
 secessionists had sought hard to 
 win over to their disloyal cause 
 on account of his wealth and in- 
 fluence. He was a man of few 
 words, but of sound judgment, wisdom, and 
 discretion. Attentive to his own business, he 
 had kept himself at home, avoiding crowds, 
 town-meetings, and all scenes of tumult and 
 excitement, until the work of violence, house- 
 burning, robbery, and assassination had com- 
 menced in terrible earnest. 
 
 His first step in taking an open stand against 
 secession was to hang out the star-spangled 
 
OB, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 135 
 
 banner over his own door. The flag was a 
 magnificent one, — ample in its folds, of finest 
 tissue, and surmounted by a large eagle j and 
 also a beautiful picture of the Goddess of Lib- 
 erty putting her foot upon the head of a coiled 
 rattlesnake. 
 
 A few days after it was flung to the breeze, a 
 band of armed ruffians made their appearance 
 at the old man's gate. 
 
 "Mr. Marlow," said the captain of the com- 
 pany, " what means this display of the old Yan- 
 kee flag?" 
 
 " Who taught you, sir, thus to stigmatize our 
 nation's ensign, — the glorious old flag of the 
 Union ? " responded the patriot. 
 
 " No matter," returned the captain ; " it must 
 straightway come down." 
 
 " Be not too positive." 
 
 " My orders must be promptly obeyed." 
 
 " Your words and manner have too much of 
 the crack of the overseer's whip; from being 
 accustomed, perhaps, to giving orders at negro 
 quarters. If 1 mistake not, you were a hireling 
 in that business before you entered upon your 
 present occupation of jay-hawking." 
 
136 THE STARS AND BAES ; 
 
 " I've neither time nor patience to argue with 
 any Black Republican. The decree has gone 
 forth that the old stars and stripes can no longer 
 float over Missouri soil." 
 
 "Heaven grant I may not live to see that 
 day ! " 
 
 " If your prayer is answered, 'tis time your 
 grave was dug." 
 
 The old patriot, lifting his eyes to the ban- 
 ner, and gazing upon it in silence for a few mo- 
 ments as it floated gracefully upon the breeze, 
 said, — 
 
 " I love that flag, — that good old flag, — and 
 have entwined each thread of the glorious tissue 
 about my heart-strings." 
 
 " I'd much rather hear of some hemp being 
 entwined round your neck, you infernal aboli- 
 tionist ! " muttered one of the ruffians. 
 
 " Hemp is for the necks of traitors," retorted 
 Marlow, calmly; and, looking up again at the 
 flag, said, " The stars and stripes have floated 
 over my cradle, aiid it is my prayer that they 
 may float over my grave." 
 
 " You'd better die, then, in some other coun- 
 try than this," answered the captain, morosely. 
 
OK, THE EEIGN OP TEEEOE. 137 
 
 " It matters little where, so I but fill a patriot's 
 grave," returned Marlow, calmly. 
 
 "You've heard my orders; take down the flag." 
 
 "That banner, sirs," said the old man, with 
 deep feeling, and with spontaneous and impres- 
 sive eloquence, " is, in my eyes, an emblem of 
 all that is grand in human history, and of all 
 that is transporting in human hope. And if it 
 is to be sacrificed on the altars of a Satanic 
 ambition, and disappear forever amid the night 
 and tempest of revolution, then may I feel that 
 the sun has been stricken from the sky of my 
 life ; and that henceforth I am to be but a wan- 
 derer and an outcast, with nought but the bread 
 of sorrow and of penury for my lips, and with 
 hands ever outstretched in feebleness and sup- 
 plication, on which, in any hour, a military 
 tyrant may rivet the fetters of a despairing 
 bondage. May God, in his infinite mercy, save 
 you and me, and the land we so much love, 
 from such a degradation J" 
 
 " Our business is to see that this flag is taken 
 down," said the captain, impatiently, and in a 
 tone of anger. 
 
 12» 
 
138 THE STARS AND BAES ; 
 
 " I want us to gaze upon that flag, that per- 
 adventure we may catch the spirit that breathes 
 upon us from the battle-fields of our fathers. I 
 am resolved that, come weal or woe, I will, in 
 life and in death, now and forever, stand by the 
 stars and stripes." 
 
 " Then must you leave the State of Missouri, 
 and follow that emblem of Black Republicanism 
 in some other part of the earth." 
 
 " This country is my home, and the home of 
 those who are near and dear to me. Here our 
 children were born, and here is our all; and 
 here have we the right to remain unmolested." 
 
 " Not if you're opposed to secession." 
 
 " As free men, we are wont to boast of civil 
 and religious liberty ; and we have gloried in 
 the freedom of speech, and in the freedom of 
 the press. Can we any longer glory in these, or 
 boast that ours is a land of freedom, if we are 
 disallowed to speak freely our political opinions, 
 and disallowed to sit beneath the ensign that 
 our fathers were proud of, and which all nations 
 respect ? Great God ! has it come to this, that 
 our country, that liberty, rights of conscience, 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 139 
 
 and everything sacred, is to be sacrificed to the 
 institution of slavery ? " 
 
 " We've heard enough. That flag must come 
 down." 
 
 " And are you Americans ? the sons of sires 
 who, in 'the days that tried men's souls,' fol- 
 lowed the stars and stripes over ensanguined 
 fields, and through many a storm of leaden hail 
 where fierce battle raged ? The descendants of 
 patriots who helped plant the tree of liberty, 
 and who watered it with their blood, can you 
 find it in your hearts to pull down and trample 
 upon that flag? Can you. dishonor our coun- 
 try's banner, — that banner which has been un- 
 furled from the snows of Canada to the plains 
 of New Orleans, and to the halls of the Monte- 
 zumas, and amid the solitudes of every sea ? 
 And everywhere, as the luminous symbol of 
 resistless and beneficent power, it has led the 
 brave and the free to victory and to glory ! " 
 
 "We'll hear no more. Take down the ac- 
 cursed flag ! " 
 
 "J take down that flag ? No, never ! It has 
 been my fortune to look upon the stars and 
 
140 THE STAES AKD BARS; 
 
 stripes in foreign lands, and amid the gloom of 
 an Oriental despotism, and right well do I know, 
 by contrast, how bright are those stars, and how 
 sublime are their inspirations ! I cannot take 
 down that glorious banner." 
 
 " Then we will do it for you," said the cap- 
 tain, advancing with drawn sword, and followed 
 by his men. 
 
 " Not while I am able to defend it," said 
 the brave patriot, presenting a pistol. " Back ! 
 villains, back! Traitors, emissaries of hell, 
 avaunt ! " 
 
 The audacious miscreants beat a hasty re- 
 treat. When fairly out of harm's way, they 
 halted to look back, and just in time to hear the 
 patriot's apostrophe to the waving stars and 
 stripes. 
 
 " Float on, my country's banner ! no coward 
 hand shall grapple, nor traitor fingers defile or 
 trail thee in the dust, while I have an arm to 
 strike and a soul to dare." 
 
 "Upon my word, there's danger in the fel- 
 low," said the captain ; " perhaps we'd better let 
 him alone for the present." 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEHEOE. 141 
 
 " So I think," said a subaltern, " and take him 
 on surprise some dark night when he's asleep." 
 
 This was agreed upon, and the wretches left 
 the loyal man's premises, but with deadly malice 
 in their hearts, and determined on revenge at 
 no distant day. 
 
142 
 
 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " Thy head at price, thy steps waylaid." 
 
 HE day following the affair related 
 in the preceding chapter, Mr. 
 Rupert, a Union man of Platte 
 City, hastened to the house of 
 Mr. Marlow, and, in a fever of 
 excitement, said to the brave 
 patriot, — 
 
 " My friend, I am alarmed for your safety. 
 Men are losing their senses ; the secession fever 
 is raging ; the whole country's in a passion ; ra- 
 pine and murder have come to be the order of 
 the day. Believe me, we cannot breast the 
 storm, and had as well give it up." 
 
 "Give it up?" replied Marlow, — "and what 
 then?" 
 
 " Why, if need be, float with the tide, at 
 least, till the excitement's over." 
 
OB, THE REIGN OF TEBBOE. 143 
 
 "I know the peril," responded the patriot, 
 " and I linow my duty too. Darls is the hour ; 
 the howl of the storm is in our ears, and the 
 lightning's red glare is painting terror on the 
 sky. But all the more imperious is our call to 
 duty." 
 
 " At such a time, what can we do ? Law and 
 order are set aside, and a reign of terror is now 
 inaugurated." 
 
 " Can we be idle spectators of the scene, while 
 the ship of State pitches and rolls under the 
 lashings of the waves, and is in constant danger 
 of going down ? " 
 
 " Ah, but I entreat you, consider the terrible 
 crisis through which we are passing, and the 
 reckless determination of the revolutionists. 
 To oppose them is to be overwhelmed. De- 
 liberately ask yourself what course wisdom and 
 prudence would dictate under such fearful cir- 
 cumstances." 
 
 " That have I already done. Besides, I've 
 considered the machinations by which this 
 national tragedy has been brought upon us. 
 And, when I look upon thie bright land, a few 
 
144 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 months since so prosperous, so tranquil, and now 
 behold it plunged into a state of anarchy, con- 
 flict, and bloody strife, and being darkened and 
 desolated, and the hearts of millions bleeding 
 and wrung with anguish, and know, as I do, that 
 all this is the work of a score or two of men, 
 who, over all this national ruin and despair, 
 are preparing to carve with the sword their way 
 to seats of permanent power, I cannot but feel 
 an irrepressible and burning indignation ; and 
 that I have a duty to perform in opposing theu- 
 wicked scheme." 
 
 " I grant you, the authors of our great trouble 
 will have much to answer for." 
 
 " Ah, they are accumulating upon their souls 
 an amount of guilt hardly equalled in all the 
 atrocities of treason and of homicide that have 
 degraded the annals of our race from the foun- 
 dations of the world." 
 
 "But pray, what can you and I do by op- 
 posing the madness of the people ? Or what 
 can all the Union men in the community accom- 
 plish ? Men have lost their reason, and are 
 being transformed to brutish beasts. And in 
 
OE, THE REIGN OF TERROB. 145 
 
 vain may we appeal to the understandings or 
 the consciences of the excited populace; they 
 have had a taste of blood, and, like tigers, they 
 rage and are mad for more." 
 
 " 'Tis even so. But forget not that among 
 the most powerful instrumentalities relied on for 
 reestablishing the authority of the government, 
 is that of the Union sentiment of the South, 
 sustained by a liberated press. It is now trod- 
 den to the earth, but rest assured we shall not 
 long be left to battle alone against the mob; 
 the Federal Government will send us aid ; then 
 will loyal men, in dark sections like this, begin 
 to look their oppressors in the face." 
 
 " Ah, but we may yet see it here, as it now is 
 in the seceded States ; there, no man expresses 
 an opinion opposed *to the revolution but at the 
 imminent hazard of life and property. The 
 only light which is admitted into political dis- 
 cussion is that which flashes from the sword or 
 gleams from glistening bayonets. And seces- 
 sionists are doing all that within them lies to 
 bring on the same state of things in Missouri." 
 ■" I trust a darkness so deep, dismal, and imper- 
 
 18 
 
146 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 vious will never gather over us. The ordeal 
 through which we are^ passing, doubtless, will 
 involve immense suffering and losses for us all ; 
 but the expenditure, however great, will be well 
 made if the result shall be the preservation of 
 our institutions." 
 
 " That I admit, but certainly the result is du- 
 bious. Think of the fearful odds, against which 
 we must contend if the Federal Government 
 delays sending us help." 
 
 " Let us not despair that help will come. No 
 contest so momentous as this has ever be- 
 fore arisen in human history; for, amid all the 
 conflicts of men and nations, the existence of no 
 such a government as ours has ever been at 
 stake." 
 
 " True, most true." • 
 
 " Our fathers won our independence by the 
 blood and sacrifice of a seven-years' war ; and 
 we have maintained it against the assaults of 
 the greatest power upon the earth ; and the 
 question now is, whether we are to perish by 
 our own hands, and have the epitaph of suicide 
 written ipon our tomb ! " 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OF TERROR. ' 147 
 
 " The force of your argument I grant; but the 
 perplexing question still returns, What can 
 we do?" 
 
 " Be not troubled about that ; we can all do 
 something in this noble struggle." 
 
 " I see not how." 
 
 " It is a contest between right and wrong ; 
 between loyal men and traitors, and between 
 freedom and slavery. A great work is to be 
 done, and each one of us can take a part. The 
 remorseless agitators at the South, who made 
 the revolution, and now hold its reins, must 
 be discarded alike from the public confidence 
 and the public service. The country, in its 
 agofiy, is feeling their power ; and, although it 
 may be difficult to overthrow the ascendancy 
 they have secured, yet it must be done." 
 
 " But can they be overthrown ? " 
 
 " If the Union men of the Slave States would 
 but rise up with one accord, they'd find them- 
 selves fully equal to the emergency." 
 
 " Uncertain. Treason has its emissaries, and the 
 rebellion its secret agents, going forth night and 
 day, lighting the fires, and fanning the flames of 
 civil war." 
 
148 
 
 " Let such emissaries and agitators perish po- 
 litically and forever. 'A breath can unmake 
 them as a breath has made ; ' but destroy this 
 Republic, and, 'where is that promethean art 
 that can its light relume ? ' Once entombed, 
 when will the angel of the resurrection descend 
 to the portals of its sepulchre ? There's not a 
 voice which comes to us from the cemetery of 
 nations that does not answer, Never ! never ! " 
 
 " Said a great French statesman to an Ameri- 
 can citizen, a few months since, '^ Your Republic 
 is dead ; and it is probably the last the world 
 will ever see. You will have a reign of terror, 
 and, afteif that, two or three monarchies.' " 
 
 " Should this revolution succeed, his words may 
 be verified. But it must not succeed. There is 
 loyalty enough in the land to arrest it ; it surely 
 will be arrested." 
 
 "Heaven grant it may," said Rupert; and took 
 his departure without having accomplished the 
 object of his visit. 
 
 Though undecided as to what might be the 
 best policy, Rupert belonged not to that class of 
 men who wavered between union and secession. 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 149 
 
 He had no temptation to espouse the rebel cause; 
 but seemed to think himself justifiable in tak- 
 ing a neutral position for the sake of being 
 more secure in person and property. This 
 course, under some circumstances, was certainly 
 justifiable. While a true patriot is ready and 
 willing to make sacrifices, at the same time, he 
 should place too much value on his life to 
 hazard it when nothing beneficial to his country 
 is likely to be achieved thereby. The most 
 despicable class of men we had in Missouri were 
 those who were ready to be bought and sold, 
 and who, for money, would fight on either side. 
 The majority of these unprincipled wretches ul- 
 timately went into guerrilla bands ; professed to 
 be the champions of Southern rights and de- 
 fenders of the people, yet they would rob or 
 murder friend or foe as interest or passion 
 prompted. 
 
 In less than a fortnight from the time the 
 band of ruffians went to Marlow's to take down 
 the stars and stripes, the good old patriot was 
 surprised at dead of night, dragged frona his 
 
 IS* 
 
150 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 pillow, and assassinated in the presence of his 
 wife and children. 
 
 After this bloody deed, — this most atrocious 
 and savage murder, — the assassins drove out the 
 surviving members of the family, without even 
 giving them time to attire themselves decently, 
 and then dismantled the house and set it on fire, 
 — reducing to ashes what they could not carry 
 off, — and, with the dwelling, consumed the 
 body of their murdered victim. 
 
OE, THE BEIGN OF TEEROE. 
 
 151 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " This Is the crisis of my fate." 
 
 ACQUEEN, returning at a late 
 hour one night from the Castle, 
 after a clandestine meeting with 
 the Knights of the Golden Circle, 
 thus discoursed to himself: — 
 
 "Why do I hesitate? The 
 spice of danger but gives relish 
 to great achievements, and sweetens the wine of 
 success. Give me something to win, something 
 to lose, else life grows tame, and its best joys 
 stale. 
 
 " God has given me ambition ; and for what, 
 if not to climb, to shine, to soar ? " 
 
 Macqueen, though by no means a good man, 
 yet was far from being the worst man in the 
 world. He possessed a nature that easily as- 
 similated itself to surroundings, and readily took 
 
152 THE STAE9 AND BAES ; 
 
 on the moral tone and coloring of minds and 
 hearts with which he was brought into contact. 
 The good and the evil within him were alike 
 easily excited and brought into play. His con- 
 science, though elastic, was not seared ; fre- 
 quently seized with qualms, it gave him much 
 trouble ; consequently he was always sinning 
 and repenting. His wife, who had a powerful 
 influence over him, had repeatedly brought him 
 almost to the point of abandoning secession and 
 discarding his rebel associates ; but as soon as 
 he came in contact again with vile traitors and 
 cunning, intriguing politicians, he was at once 
 imbued with their spirit and sentiments, and, 
 thereby, lost the more wholesome and salutary 
 influence which his wife had exerted upon him. 
 This frailty, together with an inordinate ambi- 
 tion for distinction, had much to do in making 
 him disloyal to his country. Besides this, being 
 a member of the Inner Temple of the Knights 
 of the Golden Circle, he was bound by treacher- 
 ous and disloyal oaths to aid treason and pro- 
 mote the cause of secession. Yet his better nar 
 ture frequently revolted at measures of cruelty 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEKROE. 153 
 
 and injustice advocated in the Castle, and some- 
 times adopted by the Order. 
 
 On the occasion alluded to above, he had 
 been promoted to the highest office in the In- 
 ner Temple, which vastly inflated his vanity, 
 and spurred anew his vaulting ambition. When 
 the Castle adjourned, which was sometime after 
 midnight, he repaired homeward with his mind 
 full of golden dreams and magnificent air-cas- 
 tles. 
 
 As the clock struck twelve, Mrs. Macqueen 
 had risen from her sleepless pillow and seated 
 herself at the window of her chamber to look 
 on the waning moon and think about her absent 
 husband. 
 
 "Oh, this is terrible!" exclaimed she, while 
 conversing with her own heart. " My husband 
 disloyal! the father of my children guilty of 
 treason, and leagued with conspirators and the 
 enemies of his country ! Kind Heaven, how 
 shall I endure it ? Oh, what fiend could have 
 put this madness into his brain 1 " 
 
 While these painful thoughts were revolving 
 in her mind, and escaping her hps in words 
 
154 THE STARS AJSfD BAES ; 
 
 softly and sadly uttered, Macqueen entered her 
 chamber, manifestly so occupied with his own 
 imaginings as to be oblivious of everything else. 
 
 "How strange you have grown of late, Mr. 
 Macqueen ! " observed his wife, after waiting in 
 vain for him to speak first. 
 
 "Strange, — how strange?" replied he, as if 
 scarcely conscious of where he was or what he 
 said. 
 
 "You look and act," said she, "like one asleep 
 and dreaming strange dreams." 
 
 " Truly, I've been dreaming," returned he, — 
 "have had a magnificent dream." 
 
 "I hope it was an honest dream," returned 
 she. 
 
 "I only wish I could describe to you, my 
 dear," said the husband, with animation, "the 
 sparkling, gorgeous visions that have to-night 
 been floating before my mind's eye in such daz- 
 zling splendor! — visions of thrones, crowns, and 
 sceptres ! visions of royalty, — of purple robes, 
 flashing diamonds, and a brilliant retinue ! ay, 
 and a new race of nobles, princes, and prin- 
 cesses ! " 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 155 
 
 "I sadly fear there's lunacy working on his 
 brain," said his wife to herself, gazing upon him 
 with anxiety and amazement. 
 
 "And I've been pondering," continued he, 
 "the' lessons of history, — ruminating upon what 
 has been, and speculating on what might be. 
 I've called to mind how ancient republics have 
 fallen, and how from their ruins kingdoms, em- 
 pires, and monarchies have risen up." 
 
 " On what vagaries he feeds his vain hope ! " 
 said Mrs.' Macqueen, mentally, while the dark- 
 ness of despair gathered about her heart. 
 
 " And, not all forgetful of my humble origin," 
 he yet continued, " I've recounted instances in 
 which intrepid, daring spirits have, from obscu- 
 rity, suddenly emerged, and, bravely mounting 
 up the shppery steeps of Fame, stood upon her 
 very pinnacle ! " 
 
 "What is all this harangue about?" demanded 
 his wife ; at the same time seizing hold of and 
 shaking him violently, as if to rouse him from a 
 deep sleep. "Wake up to your right senses!" 
 cried she ; " surely, you are going mad ! " 
 
 "Mad!" echoed the husband, peevishly j "that's 
 
156 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 just like a woman ; you've no appreciation of 
 my great ideas ! " 
 
 "Like the sun-painted clouds of a summer 
 evening, your gaudy visions will soon wear a 
 leaden hue, fade, and disappear." 
 
 " Prophesy against me, if you will ; nothing 
 can change my purpose ; I'm bent on mounting 
 upward." 
 
 " Think not to take away the curse by mak- 
 ing vile treachery and foul treason wear a gloss." 
 
 "Revolutions give opportunity to the aspir- 
 ing, the ambitious, and men of great souls." 
 
 "Revolutions also give rare opportunities to 
 knaves, who are ready to seize upon the misfor- 
 tunes of their country to benefit themselves." 
 
 " Madam, you have no conception of my aspi- 
 rations." 
 
 " Ah, lofty, I dare say ; but I'll venture to 
 guess just what they are : You anticipate the 
 triumph of the slave-power, and imagine, when 
 despotism is ready to distribute the rewards of 
 treason, by putting sceptres into the hands of a 
 swarm of petty kings, that you will find your- 
 self on a throne. This is the length and breadth 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TEEEOR. 157 
 
 of your ambition and the height of your tower- 
 ing aspirations. And this accounts for your 
 waking dream, which, I predict, will turn out 
 but the baseless fabric of a vision." 
 
 At a subsequent meeting of the Castle, Mac- 
 queen was deeply afflicted by a decree of the 
 Order, which sealed the fate of a young man, 
 who had left the fraternity and divulged some 
 of the secrets of the Inner Temple. He op- 
 posed the decree of death, but it was passed over 
 his head. 
 
 A committee of three were appointed to exe- 
 cute the bloody decree. 
 
 The offender resided a short distance in the 
 country, and the day following he walked into 
 town on an errand, just after nightfall, pur- 
 chased some goods, and, taking the bundle on 
 his shoulder, started immediately homeward. 
 
 The committee of assassins, being on the 
 alert, followed him. Leaving the main road, 
 the young man, to save distance, took a narrow 
 path, which led through a lonely grove. Think- 
 ing of no danger, and carrying a bundle on his 
 shoulder, he looked not back, but slowly walked 
 
 14 
 
158 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 on, whistling all the while to keep himself com- 
 pany. In the midst of the solitary way, the 
 assassin whose lot it was to strike the first blow 
 might have been seen softly treading at his vic- 
 tim's heels, with a drawn dagger, which gleamed 
 fearfully bright in the light of the moon. 
 
 Macqueen, whose conscience had been tor- 
 turing him terribly, and whose mind had become 
 almost frantic, thinking of the foul and bloody 
 deed which he knew was in contemplation, had 
 observed the assassins following the doomed 
 man out of the village. Upon the impulse of 
 the moment, he pencilled a line of warning, and, 
 putting it into the hand of a slave, sent it after 
 the young man; the servant Avas charged to 
 make haste, and to deliver the note without a 
 word of explanation, or telling who sent it. 
 Unfortunately, the slave took the wrong road, 
 and, going to the young man's home, gave the 
 mysterious note to his father. 
 
 In the mean time, Macqueen, fearing the slave 
 would fail to overtake the young man in time, 
 had followed the parties himself, and with all 
 possible speed ; and, but for losing his breath in 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 159 
 
 making such haste, so as to be unable at once 
 to speak, he would have saved the poor man's 
 life. He had got in full view of the assassins 
 and their victim, and in time to see the fatal 
 blow struck. The murderers, seeing Macqueen 
 coming, and not knowing who he was, imme- 
 diately fled. On approaching the murdered 
 man, who was just breathing his last breath, 
 Macqueen so gave way to feelings of pity and 
 remorse that he almost lost his reason. After 
 gazing for a few moments with unspeakable 
 agony upon the face of the dead man, he turned 
 about and retraced his steps homeward, weeping 
 as he went, and ever and anon incoherently 
 talking to himself like a maniac. As he neared 
 the village, he met the father of the unfortu- 
 nate young man, hunting his son, and in great 
 distress of mind, caused by the mysterious note 
 he had received, which dimly hinted at assassina- 
 tion, but explained nothing satisfactorily. The 
 fears of the disconsolate father were greatly in- 
 creased when he discovered the frantic state of 
 mind Macqueen was in. 
 
 After being phed with sundry questions, the 
 
160 THE STARS AND BAR3 ; 
 
 latter said, "My hands are unstained, but my 
 tongue is tied. What I know I dare not re- 
 veal." 
 
 But after being much urged by the unhappy 
 man to tell what he knew, he looked away, 
 saying, — 
 
 " I will talk into the air ; 
 What I say let no man hear." 
 
 Then in solemn tones he gave utterance to the 
 following words : — 
 
 " 'Twas on the road, the lonely road, 
 
 Under the still white moon, — 
 Under the silent trees he strode. 
 
 He whistled and shifted his weary load, — 
 He whistled a foolish tune. 
 
 Another's step timed with his own, 
 A figure that stooped and bowed ; 
 
 And a keen white blade that gleamed and shone 
 Like a splinter of daylight downward thrown ; 
 
 And the moon behind a cloud 
 Then came out so broad and good, 
 
 The barn-fowl woke and crowed ; 
 He ruffled his feathers in drowsy mood. 
 While the brown owl called out to his mate in the wood, 
 
 That a dead man lay in the road." 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 161 
 
 '■' Great God ! they have murdered him ! " ex- 
 claimed the old man, and at once hurried on 
 in the direction which Macqueen mysteriously 
 pointed, as he closed his strangely-told story. 
 
 The reader may be curious to know whether 
 proper efforts were made to bring the assassins 
 to justice. What would have been the use ? 
 Law was set aside, justice trampled under foot, 
 and courts of judicature entirely set aside. Be- 
 sides, nobody dared, at that time, to call to an 
 account, for murder or any other crime, a 
 Knight of the Golden Circle. Not only so, as- 
 sassinations were so common that nobody was 
 surprised when a murder occurred ; nor was it 
 expected that the mnrderer would be brought 
 to justice, unless some friend of the slain should 
 take vengeance into his own hands, and shoot 
 or stab the guilty wretch at an unexpected mo- 
 ment. 
 
162 
 
 THE STAE3 AND BAE8 J 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " The wicked flee when no tnnti pursueth." 
 
 *HE reader must expect but a dis- 
 jointed story, since the author is 
 bound to confine his narrative 
 mainly to the actual events that 
 transpired around him, and at 
 a period when the times were 
 out of joint, and everything in 
 a state of sad confusion and wild disorder. 
 The characters already introduced are by ho 
 means dismissed ; but, while following them, in 
 their various careers, through troublous times 
 and the fortunes of war, it is deemed proper 
 and expedient to give some of the most promi- 
 nent incidents and scenes, whether of a serious 
 or ludicrous character, that happened in the in- 
 terim. 
 
 In a work of imagination 'merely, the reader 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 163 
 
 has ttie right to expect a harmonious plot, a 
 well-connected story, and a happy denouement ; 
 but, in a narrative of facts, no such thing can be 
 reasonably looked for. 
 
 In the midst of our troubles in Missouri, we 
 occasionally had something to laugh at, as well 
 as a great deal to cry about. 
 
 In the latter part of the summer of '61, we 
 had for our entertainment, every few days, 
 more or less of tragi-comedy. Nothing could 
 have been more comical, farcical, and ludicrous 
 than some of our stampedes. And but for the 
 terrible tragedies that were often enacted in 
 such close connection with the stampedes, they 
 would have set the whole world in a roar. 
 - Rumors of the coming of Federal troops 
 were perpetually on the wing for at least a 
 fortnight before any were seen. And, during 
 that time, the dashing of guerrilla bands to 
 and fro. over the country, who were not unfre- 
 quently mistaken, in the ' night-time, for Federal 
 soldiers, caused frequent panics among seces- 
 sionists. 
 
 To .see a scared rebel — who had been fright- 
 
164 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 ened out of his wits at sight of a dozen guer- 
 rillas, whom he had taken for a whole regiment 
 of Union troops — coming into town, under whip 
 and spur, with his hat off, and his hair and coat- 
 tail streaming wildly in the air, his face pale as 
 a ghost, and his eyes glaring like Macbeth's 
 when Banquo's bloody apparition shook his 
 gory locks at him, — and then to see him rise 
 in his stirrups, as he neared the village, and cry, 
 " Federals ! Federals ! Federals ! " at the top 
 of his voice, to the no little danger of splitting 
 his throat, — was certainly ludicrous beyond the 
 power of language to describe. And then to 
 see the villagers run, — breaking full speed in 
 every direction for the woods, the cornfields, and 
 hempfields, — even the most vivid imagination, 
 without having witnessed such a scene, cannot 
 conceive the laughable appearance it really has. 
 Oh that some great artist, some master painter, 
 had looked upon one of those scenes and made 
 a picture for future generations ! 
 
 I will here attempt a brief description of the 
 seventh stampede we had at Platte City. 
 
 The busy tongue of report had somehow set 
 
OR, THE KEIGfN OP TERROR. 16| 
 
 on foot the startling rumor, after many false 
 alarms and needless flights, that a regiment of 
 Union soldiers were really coming from St. 
 Joseph, to take the town. 
 
 A rebel company of fifty men, called the 
 Tigers, who made Platte City their headquar- 
 ters, mounted their Mexican ponies, swearing 
 vengeance against the Yankees, and set out, 
 with great show of bravery, to meet and drive 
 back the invaders. 
 
 Near the same time, another rebel company, 
 called the Lions, who made New Market their 
 rallying place, hearing the same report, seized 
 their guns, mounted their horses, and started 
 for Platte City, expecting there to join the 
 Tigers, and make a stand against the Yankees. 
 
 Now New Market was twelve miles north of 
 Platte City on the St. Joseph road ; conse- 
 quently, these companies had to meet some- 
 where on the way. Yet each squad was igno- 
 rant of the movements and intentions of the 
 other. 
 
 About half-way between the places, the Lions 
 and Tigers came in sight of one another. 
 
166 THE STARS AND BABS ; 
 
 The road being dry and the sun hot, an im- 
 mense cloud of dust, of course, enveloped each 
 squadron, which afforded a fine opportunity 
 for the imagination to work ; which easily mag- 
 nified a small body of horsemen, dimly seen, 
 into an army of gigantic proportions. 
 
 The Tigers, or Platte City Braves, as they 
 were sometimes called, making sure they had 
 met the enemy, wheeled quickly about, and, 
 plunging their shanghai spurs into the sides of 
 their ponies, made straight skirts and horizontal 
 tails back toward Platte City. 
 
 The Lions, or New Market boys, had them- 
 selves pulled up, and were upon the point of 
 flying, a moment before the Tigers took to their 
 heels ; but now, taking the hint who the other 
 party were, and what had caused their panic, 
 and well pleased to see the Tigers run, they 
 concluded to follow on and make the most of 
 the fun ; so, plying whip and spur, they gave 
 chase to the flying braves, who, the more ter- 
 rified at finding themselves hotly pursued, at 
 once threw their guns and every cumbrous 
 thing to the winds, that, thus unencumbered, 
 they might make the greater speed. 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 167 
 
 This so amused the Lions that they pressed 
 on the faster, and directly raised a hideous yell 
 that almost frightened the poor fugitives out of 
 their wits. 
 
 Now, convinced that it was life or death, the 
 panic-stricken Tigers resolved not to spare horsg- 
 flesh. Leaning forward, as if anxious to out- 
 travel their scudding ponies, they plied, with 
 might and main, their cruel heels to the reek- 
 ing, gory flanks of their poor animals. So fast 
 they went, the wind took off their hats and 
 seemed seriously to threaten their streaming 
 locks. Such a flight, spurred on by such fright, 
 perhaps never before was seen. 
 
 While all this was transpiring, a large armed 
 force of rebels, jay-hawkers, and guerrillas had 
 gathered into Platte City, and were about fol- 
 lowing in the wake of the brave Tigers, to help 
 drive back the invading Yankees. Before tak- 
 ing up their line of march, however, they 
 deemed it expedient to call on John Barleycorn, 
 prime their pans, and take a snort of red-eye. 
 
 About one-half of the army dismounted op- 
 posite the drinking-saloon, leaving the other 
 
168 THE STARS ANB BARS J 
 
 half to hold their horses, while they, with pitch- 
 ers, pint-Clips, and glass tumblers, passed round 
 the courage-inspiring beverage, — first to those 
 still in their saddles. 
 
 All the inhabitants of the town were out, of 
 course, to see and cheer the chivalrous defenders 
 of Southern rights. 
 
 Right in the midst of this oh-be-joyful scene, 
 as fortune would have it, the retreating Tigers, 
 in breathless haste, came tearing down the 
 dusty road, with the roaring Lions at their 
 heels. 
 
 The valorous chivalry before John Barley- 
 corn's saloon, hearing the sudden clatter of a 
 hundred horses' feet, turned at once to look and 
 listen. 
 
 The commander-in-chief, seated on his stately 
 steed, feather in hat and sword by his side, had 
 just received from the hand of a subaltern a 
 brimming glass, which he held beneath his nose, 
 while he paused to gaze and wonder at what he 
 heard and saw. 
 
 The sparkling beverage, yet untasted, trem- 
 bled in his grasp. For once, though a drunkard, 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 169 
 
 he forgot to drink. His dilating eyes looked 
 wildly out ixpon a huge cloud of dust, while his 
 astonished ears drank in the startling chorus of 
 loud-resounding hoofs, which swelled upon the 
 circumambient air like the hoarse murmur of 
 ocean's rolling billows, as nearer and more near 
 the thunder sounded. 
 
 On, on, came the flying cavalcade, as if the 
 very De'il was bringing up the rear. 
 
 Wildly, and more wildly the chieftain stared ; 
 nor did he stare alone : all stared, stared with 
 all their eyes. 
 
 Now, while wonder and amazement stood tip- 
 toe, a mighty cry arose amid the waving throng 
 that crowded around John Barleycorn; and from 
 lip to lip it flew : " The tarnal Yankees are com- 
 ing!" 
 
 At this the chief grew deadly pale ; the brim- 
 ming cup fell from his palsied hand; and his 
 unmoistened lips were heard to utter the omi- 
 nous word, — '^Skedaddie 1 " 
 
 What followed, gentle reader, you should have 
 been there to see. Jingling glasses and broken 
 |i)itchers made merry music on the rocky pave- 
 
 15 
 
170 THE STAES AND BARS; 
 
 ment. And there was mounting in hot haste ; 
 nor did all get mounted ; riderless horses and 
 horseless riders might have been seen scamper- 
 ing away in dire confusion. 
 
 In all the hurly-burly, nothing, perhaps, was 
 more noticeable than the dexterity of a guer- 
 rilla chief, who, in his great haste to turn his 
 back upon the advancing foe, as he supposed, 
 mounted his war-horse, facing the wrong way, 
 and, before discovering his mistake, spurred his 
 charger, at the same time clutching at his tail 
 for the bridle-rein. By the time the poor fellow 
 discovered his mistake, he found himself being 
 carried backward, at full speed, into the very 
 face of danger. 
 
 All in all, it was a scene, the like of which a 
 man may not expect to look upon more than 
 once in a lifetime. 
 
 It was a real tragi-comedy, and, though 
 laughable, turned out altogether a disastrous 
 stampede. Frightened men and horses, sadly 
 mixed, plunging and floundering, went helter- 
 skelter, running over white and black, big and 
 little, men and women. 
 
OR. THE REIGN OF TERROR. 171 
 
 The town was soon cleared, except by the 
 unfortunate creatures who were trampled under 
 foot and too badly crippled to get away. 
 
 Scarcely was the village emptied of one set of 
 frightened rebels when it was filled by another, 
 no less terrified. As soldiers and citizens went 
 out like a whirlwind at one end of the town, 
 the dismayed Tigers and yelling Lions came in 
 like an earthquake at the other. 
 
 The Tigers, finding their friends gone and the 
 village deserted, concluded, in their despair, to 
 surrender. Calling a halt, they gave themselves 
 up to their pursuers, doubting not that they 
 were falling into the hands of the merciless 
 Yankees, of whom they had heard so much. 
 
 When th^y came to look their captors fairly 
 in the face, to their great astonishment they 
 recognized them as their rebel associates, with 
 whom they had long been "hail, fellows, well 
 met ! " 
 
 The report turned out, in the end, to be a 
 false alarm, — no Federal troops having at all 
 left St. Joseph on such an expedition. 
 
172 
 
 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ""When tha hurly-burly 's done, 
 When the battle's lost and won." 
 
 ^HILE the rebels of Platte City 
 and Platte County were in con- 
 stant fear and expectation of 
 being visited by Federal troops, 
 they conducted themselves much 
 better than they had done pre- 
 viously. They, for a time, 
 ceased mobbing, murdering, and persecuting 
 Union men. But, after so many false alarms 
 about the coming of Federal soldiers, 'they 
 began to think they vrouldn't come at all, and 
 directly commenced their work of violence 
 again. 
 
 Near a week after the stampede, described in 
 the preceding chapter, several hundred armed 
 traitors were in Platte City, drilling and mus- 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 173 
 
 tering. Late in the afternoon a runner oame 
 in, stating that a thousand Union soldiers were 
 marching upon Platte City, and were already 
 within a few miles of the place. 
 
 " The rascal wants to get up another stam- 
 pede," said one of the rebel officers ; " these 
 fellows that are always coming in from the coun- 
 try to alarm us are abolitionists and deserve to 
 be gibbeted." 
 
 " Hang him ! hang him ! " cried the rabble. 
 And the excitement finally grew so high against 
 the poor fellow that they actually seized him, 
 put a rope round his neck, and were really upon 
 the point of hanging him, when the Federal 
 pickets made their appearance. In less than ten 
 minutes the village was entirely deserted, ex- 
 cept by some of the more intelligent slaves. 
 Union citizens, for fear of being accused of 
 turning informants, left also. 
 
 The Federals took possession of the deserted 
 village, and lodged in the forsaken habitations 
 of the fugitives. 
 
 The disloyal inhabitants supposed that the 
 object of the expedition was to make arrests, 
 
 15* 
 
174 THE STABS AND BAES ; 
 
 and, consequently, made sure they would send 
 out soldiers in every direction to hunt them up. 
 
 The weather being warm, and a full, round 
 moon in the sky, no very great inconvenience 
 could be anticipated from lying out. 
 
 A large number of the fugitives made for a 
 wild, hilly region, a few miles north of Platte 
 City. In the midst of these hills and ravines 
 lived a very kind family in a neat little cottage 
 perched on an eminence. This habitation was 
 made the first rallying point for the portion of 
 villagers who took their flight northward. The 
 little domicile, however, was insufficient to accom- 
 modate one-tenth of the fugitives that collected 
 around it. 
 
 There was but one Union man among them, 
 and he, to his great astonishment, found himself 
 marvellously popular all at once, after having 
 been persecuted for months, mobbed at sundry 
 times, and robbed of half his property, and that, 
 too, by the same men who were now hanging 
 on his skirts for protection. 
 
 The proprietor of the cottage finally proposed, 
 as Mr. Eupert was a Union man, and likely to 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROiR. 175 
 
 have the most influence with the Yankee sol- 
 diers, by whom they were momentarily expect- 
 ing to be pursued, that he should stay at the 
 cottage and take care of the ladies, while the 
 men who were in danger of being arrested, 
 should go and hide themselves. 
 
 This was agreed to ; and the men, all except 
 Eupert, made for a deep ravine not far from the 
 house. About half-way down the steep declivi- 
 ty, on the hiUside, grew a dense papaw thicket ; 
 in this dark place the cowardly rascals ensconced 
 themselves. 
 
 By and by, one of their number, a young 
 lawyer, who haJ great dread of the Yankees, 
 began to feel some misgiving about the safety 
 of their position ; and, leaving his companions, 
 he ascended the declivity to a point where a 
 cornfield came to the brink, and, climbing over 
 the fence, crouched in a corner among the weeds, 
 where he was shaded from the light of the 
 moon by tall green corn that grew near. 
 
 In the course of a few hours, the proprietor 
 of the cottage, who was hid in the papaw thick- 
 et with the rest, concluded to reconnoitre in the 
 
176 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 direction of his dwelling, and ascertain, if possi- 
 ble, whether the Yankees had yet captured Ru- 
 pert and his regiment of women. 
 
 In making his reconnoissance, he had necessa- 
 rily to pass this fellow in the fence-corner. 
 White, fleecy clouds were gliding like a proces- 
 sion of ghosts along the blue pavement of the 
 skies, ever and anon obscuring the light of 
 the moon. Taking advantage of these flying 
 shadows, the reconnoiti-er would glide along 
 for a few paces, then patising whenever the 
 queen of night came out broad and bright. 
 Under the feathery clouds, in a stooping posture, 
 and with stealthy step, he moved along, holding 
 his breath, and keeping a sharp lookout for the 
 dreaded Yankees. 
 
 The cowardly lawyer, in the fence-corner, 
 hearing a rustle in the leaves, lifted his head to 
 look ; and lo ! within a few paces of him was 
 the figure of a man, whose bent attitude and 
 sly movement struck our knight of the bar as 
 very suspicious. In a moment, the moon came 
 out with her full, broad light, at which the 
 reconnoitrer suddenly paused and squatted. 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 177 
 
 This movement mstantly confirmed the terrible 
 suspicious of the lawyer, that a bloody-minded 
 Yankee sought his hfe, and was just then stoop- 
 ing to take aim. 
 
 With a yelp and a bound, the fellow left his 
 hiding-place, and through the corn he dashed 
 like a friojhtened buffalo, makin;j; the stalks and 
 blades crack and rattle at a terrible rate. 
 
 The party in the papaw thicket, hearing the 
 crashing in the cornfield, pricked up their ears 
 in amazement. Some conjectured it was one 
 thing and some another ; but the most current 
 suspicion seemed to be, that a cavalry charge 
 was being made across the cornfield. 
 
 Meanwhile, the reconnoitrer, who had been 
 the innocent cause of this new panic, stood 
 dumfounded, not knowing whether he had 
 raised a ghost, man, or demon. 
 
 The young lawyer ran, first in one direction, 
 then in another; but finally made back for his 
 friends in the papaw thicket. By this time the 
 reconnoitrer had begun to retreat in the same 
 direction ; but, before he had advanced far down 
 the declivity, the frightened fellow in the corn- 
 
178 
 
 field, coining full drive, reached the fence right 
 opposite him, and, pausing not, in his terror, to 
 consider ways or means, made a lunge ! Over 
 the fence he went with a tear, taking several 
 rails along, which came down with a rattlety- 
 bang ! But on went the gallant knight, adown 
 the frightful steep, first one end up, th/sn the 
 other, and, finally overtaking our retreating re- 
 connoitrer, uptripped and forced him to join 
 in a heels-over-head tumble to the neighborhood 
 of the papaw thicket, — the party there con- 
 cealed making sure, if the Devil hadn't broke 
 loose, that at least a half-regiment of Yankees 
 had. At all events, they deemed it inexpedient 
 to await the result, or stop to ask any imperti- 
 nent questions, but, taking to their heels, crossed 
 the ravine in a trice, and through the forest 
 they ran like a gang of wild horses. 
 
 Rupert and the women, hearing the noise and 
 confusion, had sought a position where they had 
 a fair chance of witnessing the whole perform- 
 ance. An Irish girl in the group cried out, " St. 
 Pater ! what ligs they've goot ! " 
 
 Beheving themselves pursued, they continued 
 their stampede several miles. 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TEEEOE. 179 
 
 Scenes no less farcical were transpiring at the 
 same time in a valley south of the village, 
 vrhither, also, many of the citizens had fled. 
 Most of the valley was covered thickly with 
 large trees, the foliage of which almost entirely 
 shut out the light of the moon. Here the 
 frightened rebels hid themselves, some in one 
 place, and some in another ; and, all night long, 
 individuals and groups were passing from place 
 to place, and frequently frightening one an- 
 other, producing panics and causing stampedes, 
 by being mistaken for Union soldiers. A group 
 nearest the village, early in the night, took 
 fright at a herd of cattle and immediately took 
 to their heels, running in the direction where 
 most of the fugitives were concealed ; at every 
 jump skulking rebels started up, who' mistook 
 them for Yankees ; and these, in their turn, 
 while running for dear life, would, at every 
 bound, start up others, who, in their turn, would 
 run and frighten yet others, until a general 
 stampede ensued. 
 
 The most laughable scene, during the night, 
 took place between Dr. Muggins and Capt. Cock- 
 
180 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 robin. Each was groping through the dark val- 
 ley hunting his wife, from whom he had been 
 separated in the last stampede. They chanced 
 to meet ; and each, taking the other for a 
 Yankee, bounded off to get behind a tree. 
 
 " There's one of them," said Muggins to him- 
 self, " peeping from behind a sturdy oak." 
 
 " Thunder and Mars ! " exclaimed Cockrobin, 
 looking cautiously from behind a black walnut ; 
 "that infernal Yankee's bent on shooting me, 
 else he wouldn't have taken a tree." 
 
 " Plague take the Federal ! " added Muggins, 
 mentally ; " he's trying to get a crack at me." 
 
 And there they stooped, peeped, and dodged, 
 each expecting from the other a bullet every 
 moment. 
 
 " I guess I'd better surrender," said Cockrobin 
 to himself; "I'd better be taken prisoner than 
 be shot here in the dark like a wolf" 
 
 " My Lord ! " exclaimed Muggins to himself, 
 " it's terrible to think of being murdered right 
 here in the wild woods! I'd better give myself 
 up to the confounded Yankee." 
 
 " Pray, don't shoot, stranger," cried Cock- 
 robin; "I'U surrender." 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TEREOK. 181 
 
 "Zounds! just what I was going to propose 
 to him," said the other to himself. " Then lay 
 down your arms," demanded Muggins. 
 
 " I've got none," answered Cockrobin. 
 
 " Neither have I," confessed the other. " Who 
 are you ? " 
 
 " They call me Captain Cockrobin." 
 
 " Ha, ha ! is that you, Cock ? My name's 
 Muggins." 
 
 " Good gracious, Dr. Mug. I took you for a 
 tamal Yankee. Have you seen anything of my 
 wife?" 
 
 " No. Have you seen anything of mine ? " 
 
 " Not a thing ; nor wouldn't know her from 
 a nigger if I should, in such a dungeon as 
 this." 
 
 Just at this moment, a bevy of female rebels, 
 having taken fright at a scared calf, came run- 
 ning toward them as fast as crinoline and bal- 
 moral would permit. 
 
 " Heaven save us ! " cried Cockrobin, " the 
 cavalry's coming ! " and, wheeling about, they 
 trusted to their heels to carry them out of 
 harm's way. 
 
 16 
 
182 THE STAES AJSTD BAES ; 
 
 The Union troops all this time, instead of be- 
 ing out scouting, were reposing on downy pil- 
 lows in the village. And the next morning, at 
 an early hour, they were on the march for 
 Lexington. 
 
183 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " All are not men that wear the human form." 
 
 ^HE commotions of the country oc- 
 casioned among secessionists a novel 
 mixture of the elements of society. 
 Men who had never mingled be- 
 fore as equals suddenly felt re- 
 markable affinities and wonderful 
 sympathies. The swellheq,d and 
 the groundling, the nabob and the ragamuffin, 
 to their mutual astonishment, all at once found 
 themselves brethren and hail fellows, well met ! 
 This was strikingly exemplified on the Fourth 
 of July, at one of the saloons in Platte City. 
 Surrounding a circular table, laden with cups 
 and bottles, sat, cheek-by-jowl, Scallawag and 
 Skedaddle, Dr. Puff and Patrick the scullion ! 
 
 "Byjabers," said Pat, " ond it's mysilf that don't 
 want the nagers free — niver a bit! Now, Master 
 
184 THE STAHS AND BARS; 
 
 Skadaddle, af yer nagers roon away, jist coom 
 for Patrick, the Irishmon, ond it's mysilf thot'U 
 kotch em for ye, chaip as onybody;" saying 
 which, he familiarly slapped Skedaddle on the 
 back, and with as much emphasis as if he was 
 killing rats. 
 
 " Remarkable ! " exclaimed the nabob, spring- 
 ing up and down ou his seat with great nervous 
 agitation. 
 
 " What can detain Knickerbocker?" said Scal- 
 lawag ; "he was to have taken a bumper with 
 us to-day, and so was Captain Si Gorden." 
 
 "No matter; let us drink ! " responded Dr. Puff, 
 at the same time taking up one of the bottles, 
 and filling Skedaddle's goblet. 
 
 "Just so!" said the latter; "let us drink!" and, 
 waiting not for the filling of the other cups, 
 greedily emptied his own. 
 
 " Oh, ho ! in good time ! " exclaimed Knicker- 
 bocker, just coming in. 
 
 "After a long delay," said Scallawag. " Come, 
 sit you down, my fine fellow, and try the flavor 
 of our beverage." 
 
 " That I will," answered Knickerbocker, taking 
 
OK, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 185 
 
 a seat in the tippling-circle. " What have you, 
 my chums ? anything to make a poor devil for- 
 get his sins ? " 
 
 '•A sprinkle of the sparkling catawba and mel- 
 low champagne. I dare say, a gcfbd heavy po- 
 tation will give you an easy conscience and a 
 limber tongue, if not weak knees and a limber 
 neck." 
 
 " You fill to the brim;' 
 
 " Why not ? — 'tis our heyday ! " 
 
 " Then let us be jolly while we may." 
 
 " Just so ! while we may ! " said Skedaddle, 
 turning off his second glass. 
 
 " Right ! " remarked Dr. Puff; " for a man catf t 
 live always." 
 
 " Not even a secessionist," added Knicker- 
 bocker. 
 
 "Men of our political creed ought never to 
 die," rejoined Riff 
 
 '" Indeed, that's so," said Knickerbocker ; " for 
 the Lord only knows where they'll go ! " 
 
 Scallawag, who had taken it upon himself to 
 be the master of ceremonies, — though innocent 
 of any intention to pay for the wine, — having 
 
 16* 
 
186 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 by this time filled the cups all round, said, " Now 
 we lift our glasses and drink good health to all 
 the i^retty lasses." 
 
 "And grief to all Union lads and Black Re- 
 publicans," Elided Dr. Puff 
 
 " So mote it be ! " said Scallawag. 
 
 " Just so ! mote it be ! " echoed Skedaddle, 
 who, by this time, was getting pretty well elat- 
 ed. And now jingling their glasses together, 
 one against another, in token of good fellowship, 
 they all drank at once, and with as much pre- 
 cision as a platoon could have let off a volley 
 at the word Fire ! 
 
 "You're a lucky dog, Knickerbocker," ob- 
 served Scallawag, good-humoredly. 
 
 " So it would seem ; else old Ringtail would 
 have got me long ago for keeping bad com- 
 pany." 
 
 " By jabers ! " said Pat, half-aside ; " I count 
 thot no dacent observation." 
 
 " The old man's death brought you a precious 
 windfall, I understand. Heaven send I might 
 be so fortunate ; but certain 1 never will." 
 
 " Poor devil ! have you no father to die ? " 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 187 
 
 " Not one whose exit to kingdom-corae is 
 likely to turn out for me a windfall." 
 
 " Then let it be called a fall of wind." 
 
 "Upon my sowl," soliloquized Pat, " thase 
 waked heritics jist aboot dith as af the fear o' 
 the Divel was niver before their eyes." 
 
 "I thought your famous guerrilla chief, Si 
 Gorden, was to have been with us on this oc- 
 casion," remarked Knickerbocker. 
 
 " So he is," replied Dr. Puflf; " at least, we 
 expect him." 
 
 " Then I may yet hope to make, his acquaint- 
 ance." 
 
 " Come, let us prime our pans, prick our flints, 
 and fire again," said Scallawag, at the same 
 time filling the glasses. 
 
 " Wine, like woman's ruby lips, woos to kiss 
 and come again," said Knickerbocker, as they 
 all drank again. 
 
 " Ah, here comes the chief now ! " exclaimed 
 Dr. Puff, rising to his feet to greet the distin- 
 guished banditti leader. 
 
 " Your most obedient ! " said the chief, 
 coming forward loaded down with savage- 
 
188 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 looking weapons. A huge sword, awkwardly 
 buckled to his girdle, hung dangling between 
 his legs, and occasionally tripping him as he 
 walked. His feet were ornamented with an 
 enormous pair of shanghai spurs, to which were 
 attached chains that clanked most barbarously 
 as he walked. 
 
 After receiving an introduction to Knicker- 
 bocker, and making a very condescending bow, 
 the chieftain seated himself; and, without wait- 
 ing for ceremonies, seized the nearest bottle, 
 filled a glass, and drank it down in a trice. 
 
 A Scotchman by the name of Crookshanks, 
 who had been, but a few days before, robbed 
 of a fine horse by this same guerrilla chief, 
 chanced to see the scoundrel enter the saloon, 
 and, eager to embrace the first opportunity of 
 calling him to an account, followed him in. 
 
 By the time the chief was fairly in his chair, 
 Crookshanks had planted himself just behind 
 him, with his hand on the hilt of a short Scotch 
 broadsword. 
 
 " You have a brave band, I understand. Cap- 
 tain Gorden," remarked Knickerbocker. 
 
OK, THE EEIGN OP TEEROR. 189 
 
 ^ You are right, sir," replied the captain ; 
 " my men are not afraid to face the Devil !" 
 
 " You intend joining General Price's army, I 
 imagine ? " 
 
 " Not I, by Jupiter ! No, sir, no ! Mine is 
 an independent company; I've sot out on ray 
 own bottom." 
 
 " Oh, yes ! " thundered the Scotchman at his 
 back ; " you've set out on your own bottom, but 
 on my horse." 
 
 The astonished chief sprang to his feet ; but 
 in an instant Crookshanks had him by the 
 throat. 
 
 "Villain! robber! cu1>throat! fiend!" said 
 the enraged Scotchman, " where's my horse ? " 
 
 " Spare me ! spare me ! " cried the surprised 
 and terrified wretch, most piteously. 
 
 " Eemarkable ! " exclaimed Skedaddle. 
 
 " Murther ! murther ! " cried Pat. 
 
 "You infernal marauder! thief! assassin!" 
 continued the Scotchman, " where's my horse ? 
 Where's Widow Bedott's mules ? Where's Miss 
 Juniper's gold watch and diamond breastpin ? 
 Toll me, you robber." 
 
190 THE STABS AM) BAES ; 
 
 " Spare, spare, oh, spare ! " still cried the guilty 
 wretch, gazing wildly at the gleaming blade 
 thiit waved in fiery circles above his head. 
 
 « Call for the police ! " bawled Dr. Puflfl 
 
 " Just so, — for the police ! " echoed Skedaddle. 
 
 " Bravo ! it's good as a show ! " said Knicker- 
 bocker, who evidently enjoyed the scene im- 
 measurably. 
 
 " My horse — I demand my horse," still thun- 
 dered Crookshanks. 
 
 "I — I — I'll give him up, sir! I — I — I'll give 
 him up ! " stuttered the confused and frightened 
 chief, backing, meanwhile, toward the door, 
 and struggling to break from the strong grasp 
 of his assailant, who held him as with a lion's 
 paw. 
 
 In the midst of the confusion, Patrick slipped 
 up to the table, and, turning his back on the 
 company, emptied one of the bottles, then, 
 wiping his mouth, cried, " Murther ! murther ! " 
 
 " Satisfied he had not been observed, and still 
 feeling thirsty, as an Irishman will, he went 
 slyly back to the table and emptied the other 
 bottle. Then, wiping his mouth, as before, cried, 
 — "Murther! murther!" 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OF TEEEOE. 191 
 
 " Just SO, — murder ! " echoed Skedaddle. 
 
 Persistently Crookshanks held on to the rob- 
 ber's throat, and still waved the threatening 
 blade above the cowering villain's head. 
 
 Dr. PuflF kept saying, " Call for the police ! " 
 
 While Scallawag, petrified with fear, did noth- 
 ing but wildly stare. 
 
 Skedaddle, getting a little over his first ex- 
 citement, happened to think that it would be a 
 good time, amid the noise and confusion, to 
 take a little more wine ; so back he slyly glided 
 to the table, and, taking up a bottle, peeped 
 round to make sure that no one observed him, 
 then, clapping it to his mouth, turned it up, up, 
 up, tUl it reached the perpendicular ; forced to 
 believe it empty, he set it down, saying, — " Just 
 so !" But, fully determined not to be altogether 
 baffled, he now seized the other bottle, and, pul^ 
 ting it to his mouth, turned it up, up, iip, till it 
 also reached the perpendicular ; setting it down 
 with unmoistened lips, an expression of wonder, 
 and a look of melancholy disappointment, he 
 said, " Eemarkable ! " 
 
 By this time, Crookshanks and the guerrilla 
 
192 THE STAES AND BARS; 
 
 chief were in the street, and still struggling. 
 The drawn blade, yet bloodless, glittered in the 
 sunlight. The strong hand that bore it aloft 
 was unaccustomed to deeds of violence ; and to 
 this alone the wretch, who deserved a thousand 
 deaths, now owed his life. 
 
 Eebel policemen at length interfered, and 
 the guerrilla chief was protected. 
 
 It may look almost too much to be believed, 
 that this brigand should have been tolerated 
 in Platte City, and allowed to go at liberty, 
 when it was known to everybody that he was a 
 robber and murderer. But a few days before 
 the occurrence related above, he was guilty of 
 one of the most barbarous deeds in the cata- 
 logue of crimes. Two young men belonging to 
 a Union regiment, then at St. Joseph, having 
 wandered out unarmed, on Sabbath day, a mile 
 or two from the town, were captured by -a 
 scouting party of rebels, and taken to Platte 
 City. This guerrilla chief. Si Gorden, hearing 
 of the arrival of the prisoners, came dashing in 
 with thirty armed men at his back, and de- 
 manded the young men. The writer of these 
 
OK, THE EEIGN OP TEEEOE. 193 
 
 pages, being present, protested against the pris- 
 oners' being put into the hands of the guerrillas ; 
 but what could one man do in opposing thirty ? 
 And what is argument, what reason and kind 
 entreaty, to men who have neither hearts to 
 feel nor brains to think ? 
 
 The prisoners were taken just a little way 
 out of the village, tied to a tree, and made tar- 
 gets of by these white-skinned savages. One 
 of the young men, a youth scarce seventeen, 
 upon his knees asked for time but to write a 
 line to his widowed mother. He was answered 
 with curses, and low, vulgar jests, more wicked 
 than curses ; and, while yet making the request, 
 was mangled with bullets. 
 
 Incredible as it may appear, these murderers, 
 the very next day, were given a sumptuous din- 
 ner by certain citizens of Platte City. 
 
 Note. — The antbor is willing to be sworn to the truth of the 
 above statement. He has in no wise colored or exaggerated the 
 facts. Si Gorden has since been shot. 
 It 
 
194 
 
 THE STABS AND BAE3 ; 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 ** See stem Oppression's iron grip, 
 Or mad Ambition's gory hand, 
 Sending, like blood-hounds fi'om the slip, 
 Woe, want, and murder o'er the land I " 
 
 'E here resume the story of the 
 errmg and unhappy Macqueen. 
 The assassination he witnessed, 
 as related in the twelfth chap- 
 ter of this work, quite unbal- 
 anced his mind for a time; his 
 insanity, however, was, fortu- 
 nately, but temporary. On the same night of 
 the assassination, after the shocking occurrence, 
 he visited the Castle-room, where the Knights 
 of the Golden Circle were in session ; and, being 
 wild with excitement, owing to the bloody scene 
 he had just gazed tipon, he furiously denounced 
 the Order, calling them conspirators, murderers, 
 demons, and everything that was vile and exe- 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEEROE. 195 
 
 crable. This bold and unlooked-for attack exas- 
 perated no less than it astounded the secret 
 conclave of heartless assassins. They seized 
 the offender at once, and, putting a gfj,g in his 
 mouth, cast him into a dungeon connected with 
 the same building, which they called "The Place 
 of Outer Darkness," and there kept him, unable 
 to speak, and shut out from every ray of light, 
 till their next meeting, which was the following 
 night. 
 
 Knickerbocker, having obtained the password 
 and some of the secret signs of the Order from 
 an intoxicated Knight, whom he made believe 
 that, during a recent visit to a neighboring 
 town, he had joined the fraternity, was able to 
 work himself into the Castle at Platte City 
 without taking any oath or obligation. He was, 
 therefore, present when Macqueen was gagged 
 and cast into the dungeon. And, although he 
 abhorred the barbarity of the treatment, dared 
 not oppose the measure, for fear of being 
 doomed himself to a similar fate. Nor did he 
 dare, the next day, to lisp the affair into the 
 public ear, knowing as he did that there were 
 
196 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 not enough of honest, law-abiding men in the 
 whole county either to protect him or to res- 
 cue Macqueen from any punishment which the 
 fiendish clan might be disposed to inflict upon 
 him. 
 
 Mrs. Macqueen, supposing her husband was 
 ofif on some sudden emergency to aid the wicked 
 rebellion and plot treason, had made up her 
 mind to discard him forever. 
 
 The following night, the members of the 
 Order, Knickerbocker among the rest, met to 
 determine the fate of the offender. 
 
 It was argued on the occasion that, if Mac- 
 queen was set at liberty, he would certainly do 
 great injury to the Order, as well as harm to 
 the cause of secession ; and that to keep him 
 imprisoned was equally unsafe. This view of 
 the subject seemed to commend itself to the 
 members generally. Knickerbocker, however, 
 ventured to lift up his voice against it ; but his 
 effort to turn the scale and urge considerations 
 of clemency was utterly unavailing ; by an 
 overwhelming vote, the unfortunate man was 
 sentenced to die. He was then brought out of 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 197 
 
 the dungeon, after having the gag removed 
 from his mouth, and, in the presence of the 
 whole circle, informed that he had but ten min- 
 utes to live, and that he could choose, if he 
 wished, the manner of his death. 
 
 The delirium that had seized his brain the 
 previous day was now gone ; and he seemed in 
 his right mind, but greatly exhausted, pale, and 
 dejected. 
 
 " Only permit me to see my wife and chil- 
 dren," said he, " and I wiU ask no more." 
 
 "Your request we cannot grant," responded 
 the Chief of the Castle ; " for the reason that 
 such a permission would be unsafe for^ us, and 
 might be highly prejudicial to the cause we 
 seek to promote." 
 
 "I must see my wife and children," insisted 
 the doomed man ; " when that is over, I shall 
 have lived long enough. I pledge my honor to 
 return. Nor will I tell any one that I am to 
 die by a decree of the Castle." 
 
 " We cannot risk you out of our hands," re- 
 joined the Chief 
 
 " He is a man of honor," said Knickerbocker ; 
 
198 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 " I am not afraid to trust him, and will freely 
 pledge my own life for his return. Allow him 
 one hour to go and take leave of his wife and 
 children ; if he does not return, I will die in his 
 stead. But I know he will redeem his promise, 
 especially when to do otherwise would forfeit 
 the life of a friend who takes such a risk in his 
 behalf" 
 
 " Sooner would I die a thousand deaths than 
 betray such a friend," said Macqueen ; " I ask 
 but one hour ; let me go and embrace for the 
 last time those who are far dearer to me than 
 life, and invoke Heaven's blessing upon them. 
 Confide in me, my friend ; you shall not die in 
 my stead." 
 
 '' I do not fear it," replied Knickerbocker ; " I 
 beg that his request be granted. Humanity can- 
 not do less." 
 
 The proposition was finally agreed to ; Knick- 
 erbocker was placed under guard, and Macqueen 
 given liberty to visit his family. 
 
 The hour was late ; Mrs. Macqueen, after put- 
 ting her little children to sleep, had thrown her- 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TEEEOE. 199 
 
 self upon her couch, weary and wretched, to 
 WOO, if possible, " Nature's sweet restorer, balmy- 
 sleep." After a short and painful slumber, she 
 started suddenly from her pillow, and began 
 uneasily to walk the chamber-floor, saying, — 
 
 " From terrible dreams I wake to more terrible 
 and distracting thougMs. Every joy is withered ; 
 every prospect faded. All that's fair and bright 
 upon the earth doth lose its beauty and sweet- 
 ness." Now suddenly pausing, and ceasing a 
 moment to breathe, she listened, — " Hark ! 'tis 
 his footstep ; can it be he ? I shall lose my 
 breath ; I must not speak to him. A trait(fr to 
 his country, and the associate of black-hearted 
 conspirators, I must learn to despise him." 
 
 With a look of unutterable anguish Macqueen 
 entered the chamber. His wife turned scorn- 
 fully from him. 
 
 "Florence" — said he, in a most touching 
 and deeply-melancholy tone ; his voice faltered, 
 and he could proceed no further. 
 
 " Leave me ! " said she, with a choked utter- 
 ance and difficult breath, — "leave me, that I 
 may utter no reproaches, — leave me,- that you 
 
200- THE STAES AND BARS; 
 
 may be left alone to the judgments of Heaven 
 and the accusations of your own conscience." 
 
 " I will, I will ! " replied he, with heart-break- 
 ing emotion. 
 
 "Then go at once that my blood may not 
 congeal in my veins." 
 
 " Ah, I perceive that my presence is a pesti- 
 lence to you." 
 
 " An incubus, rather, producing that strange 
 sensation we call the nightmare." 
 
 " It was not always so, Florence." 
 
 " Pray let me forget that it ever was other- 
 wise." 
 
 " Would to Heaven we could each grow ob- 
 livious of happier days, or else blot from recol- 
 lection that which has marred their joys and 
 dimmed their brightness forever. I am about 
 to leave you, Florence, and forever. I have 
 come to take a final leave of you and our dear 
 children." 
 
 " What mean you ? " 
 
 " Question me not ; my time is short." 
 
 " You are mad, and surely know not what 
 you say." 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TEBROR. 20l 
 
 " Too well I know my fate, which is a sad 
 one. I deserve to die ; yet fain would I live to 
 win back the lost love you once cherished for 
 me, and to prove to you that, amid scenes of 
 trial and misfortune, I have grown wiser and 
 better." " 
 
 " My husband, why do you look and talk so 
 strange ? " 
 
 " Let me see my dear children. This night I 
 am to die ; ask me not by whose hands. My 
 honor is pledged ; I must speedily return." 
 
 " You shall not go, my husband ! you shall 
 not go ! " cried the frantic wife, seizing hold of 
 him. 
 
 "I pray you, detain me not; a friend has 
 pledged his life for my return ; should I fail, he 
 must die in my stead. I know you would not 
 have me prove so treacherous." 
 
 " Heaven ! what can this mean ? " cried 
 the frantic woman, so bewildered in mind she 
 scarcely knew whether it was a dream or a 
 reality. 
 
 " Heaven give you fortitude, Florence. And 
 now I crave that you may forget my follies and 
 
202 THE STAES AND BARS; 
 
 forgive my errors. And, above all, I pray you, 
 teach our children to fear God, love their coun- 
 try, and practise virtue. Now let me see and 
 embrace my sleeping babes." 
 
 "Merciful Heaven! I cannot endure this," 
 exclaimed the distracted woman, wringing her 
 hands in heart-broken anguish. 
 
 At this juncture, Knickerbocker abruptly en- 
 tered the apartment. 
 
 " My God ! " exclaimed Macqueen, in over- 
 whelming surprise ; " what means this, Knicker- 
 bocker ? How does it happen you are here ? " 
 
 " As Heaven would have it, a detachment of 
 Federal cavalry just now came dashing into 
 town. Our infernal conclave being seized with 
 a panic, every man was left to take care of him- 
 self, and I among the rest. God be praised ! 
 we shall both live to see these accursed traitors 
 hung." 
 
 The effect of the tidings upon Mrs. Macqueen 
 can be better imagined than described. 
 
 The Federal soldiers, that night and during 
 the next day, made thirty-nine arrests, a major- 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TEEEOE. 203 
 
 ity of whotn were Knights of the Golden Circle. 
 The prisoners were taken to St. Joseph, per- 
 suaded to take the oath of allegiance, and then 
 turned loose, murderers and all. 
 
 As soon as these wretches got home, they 
 were tenfold worse, if possible, than before j 
 robbery, house-burning, and murder were car- 
 ried on with an unsparing hand. 
 
 The extreme clemency of our Federal officers 
 was a great mistake. The reckless rebels con- 
 strued it into cowardice; and, invariably, the 
 more kindly they were treated, the more un- 
 grateful, daring, and treacherous they became. 
 
 Macqiieen and family, Knickerbocker, Parson 
 Southdown and lady, with several other Union 
 families, left Platte City in company with the 
 Federal soldiers, and went, some into Iowa, 
 some to Illinois, and others to Indiana. 
 
 No sooner had the released rebel prisoners 
 got home from St. Joseph than they burnt the 
 houses of Macqueen, Southdown, and other 
 loyal citizens who had left the country to save 
 their lives. 
 
204 
 
 THE STABS AND BARS J 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 * Our eagle shall rise 'mid the whirlwinds of war, 
 And spread hia wide wings o'er the tempest afar." 
 
 *HE reader will hardly need to be 
 reminded where we left our youth- 
 ful hero, Adrian Malvin. Though 
 on freedom's soil, and out of the 
 reach of his enemies, who thirsted 
 for his blood, he was not long con- 
 tent to remain an idle spectator 
 of events at such an eventful period. Begin- 
 ning to comprehend more fully the nature of 
 the strife, and to see that it was a deadly strug- 
 gle between civilization and barbarism, freedom 
 and slavery, republicanism and aristocracy, loy- 
 alty and treason, his anxiety to take part in the 
 conflict became intense. And scarcely less pa- 
 triotic than himself was Simon, the fugitive 
 slave whom he had assisted to rescue his wife 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TEEBOR. 205 
 
 and children from bondage. Especially was 
 Simon fired with an ambition to have a hand 
 in striking a telling blow for freedom in behalf 
 of his own down-trodden race. He had fre- 
 quent interviews with Malvin on the subject, 
 who deeply sympathized with him in his noble 
 and philanthropic aspirations. All the while 
 they were but biding their time ; each kept 
 steadily before his mind the great pufpose, and 
 anxiously awaited an opportunity to play their 
 part in the fearful tragedy. 
 
 Simon had two brothers and a sister still in 
 slavery ; and now, having tasted the sweets of 
 freedom himself, and learned to appreciate the 
 boon, he began to meditate the daring project 
 of rescuing them also from the hell of slavery. 
 
 He laid his scheme before Malvin, who, after 
 due deliberation, approved, and agreed to aid 
 him in it. They immediately went to work, 
 and made up a company of seventy-nine col- 
 ored men, most of whom had been slaves. 
 
 About this time, Gen. James Lane, with a 
 considerable force of Kansas men, was prepar- 
 ing to make a dash into southwestern Missouri, 
 
206 THE STARS AND BAES ; 
 
 to avenge outrages upon Union citizens there, 
 who had suffered more than tongue can tell, 
 and to chastise certain guerrilla bands, whose 
 barbarity had been incredible and revolting. 
 
 Malvin, who was the chosen leader of the 
 seventy-nine colored men, deemed it expedient 
 to move at the same time Gen. Lane did, and to 
 keep in reach of his army so long as he went in 
 the righif direction. There was wisdom in this 
 policy ; for Lane's name was a terror to aU the 
 rebels of Missouri ; everywhere he went they 
 fled before him. To follow in his wake, there- 
 fore, was to secure protection against over- 
 whelming numbers. 
 
 Lane's march was rapid. Malvin kept within 
 a few miles of him till they got as far into 
 southwestern Missouri as Lane chose to pene- 
 trate, which was within a day's march of the 
 Arkansas line. 
 
 Malvin's expedition may look rather rash, if 
 not altogether reckless j but we must bear in 
 mind that he had good reason to suppose the 
 fighting rebels on his route would be chiefly 
 occupied in rallying at some given point to 
 
OK, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 207 
 
 meet Lane, and, consequently, that no very 
 strong force could be collected to oppose him 
 in his rapid march through the country. After 
 getting fairly out from under Lane's protects 
 ing wing, he sent Simon a mile or more in 
 advance of the main body of his little army, 
 with the instruction, whenever he came in sight 
 of anybody, to dash forward as if flying for his 
 life, and at the top of his voice shout, "Jim 
 Lane ! Jim Lane ! " 
 
 This worked like a charm ; the name of Jim 
 Lane was more terrifying than " an army with 
 banners." The inhabitants of the country ev- 
 erywhere fled in dismay. Malvin's seventy-nine 
 men, in the eyes of frightened and guilty rebels, 
 looked at least a force ten thousand strong, 
 esj»ecially while the name of Jim Lane was ring- 
 ing in their ears. 
 
 Near the Arkansas line, at an abrupt turn of 
 the road, and descending a deep declivity into a 
 narrow valley, Simon came suddenly upon a 
 camp of Texan rangers, accompanied by sev- 
 eral hundred Indians. At once he raised his 
 voice to its highest pitch, and cried, "Jim 
 
208 THE STAES AND BAES : 
 
 Lane ! Jim Lane ! Ten thousand men ! teti 
 thousand men! Right upon you! right upon 
 you ! " 
 
 He halted, pointing with outstretched arm 
 and ominous look in the direction he had come. 
 A deathlike stillness for a moment reigned 
 throughout the encampment; and, while the 
 astonished warriors j^et held their breath, lo ! 
 the heavy tread of many horses' feet was heard 
 over the hills and jutting cliflf! 
 
 " Hark ! they come ! they come I " cried Si- 
 mon. " Fly ! fly for your lives, my countrymen ! " 
 
 That was sufficient ; the panic was complete ; 
 and the stampede was like the sudden rush of 
 noisy waters when a milldam breaks, or a 
 swollen river overleaps its banks. Down the 
 valley they went, red savages and white sava- 
 ges, leaving everything behind, — guns, ammuni- 
 tion, horses, provisions, and all their equipage. 
 
 Malvin and his men, hearing the racket, rode 
 hastily to the bluff, and had the satisfaction of 
 witnessing the stampede. 
 
 Taking possession of the horses which the 
 enemy had left behind, and whatever else they 
 
OR, THE BEIGN OF TERROR. 209 
 
 could make serviceable and were able to carry 
 with them, they hastened on, still using the 
 formidable name of Jim Lane wherever it 
 was deemed necessary. And thus they were 
 able to proceed, without fighting a battle and 
 without opposition, to Scallawagville, which they 
 reached in the night-time, just before day, — 
 and captured without firing a gun. 
 
 In the vicinity of the place, and before reach- 
 ing the town, they came upon a guerrilla camp, 
 and surprised and captured the whole band. 
 Among them was Tom Bolton, the former mas- 
 ter of Simon's wife. This was particularly grat- 
 ifying to Simon, who knew the villain well, and 
 had a vivid recollection of his inhumanity to 
 slaves. 
 
 Malvin also knew most of the guerrillas, as 
 many of them were in the mob that so mal- 
 treated him and Parson Elmore. 
 
 Seven of the band were accused by some 
 respectable citizens in the community of mur- 
 dering Union men in the neighborhood, and 
 also of having killed, in the most cruel manner, 
 several free negroes, without any provocation. 
 
 18* 
 
210 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 After a fair trial, the seven were convicted, 
 upon undoubted testimony, not only of wilful 
 murder, but of torturing some of their victims 
 in the most savage and brutal manner. Within 
 a few hours after their conviction and sentence, 
 they were hung. Among the number was Tom 
 Bolton. 
 
 The men who gave testimony against the 
 assassins well knew that their own lives were 
 insecure if they remained in the country after 
 the departure of Malvin and his soldiers; so 
 they made up their minds at once to go with 
 them to Kansas. 
 
 Upon taking possession of the place, Mal- 
 vin, of course, proclaimed martial law, and 
 threw out pickets in every direction, both to 
 guard against being surprised, and to prevent 
 the inhabitants of the village from leaving. 
 
 The first day was mainly consumed trying 
 and executing the guerrillas. In the morning of 
 the following day, Malvin learned that a con- 
 siderable rebel force was being collected a short 
 distance from the village for the purpose of at- 
 tacking him; and, fearing his retreat would be 
 
211 
 
 cut ofl^ he began to make hasty preparationts for 
 a departure. He had already proclaimed to the 
 slaves, in the town and vicinity, that all who 
 wished for freedom might find protection under 
 the stars and stripes if they would consent to 
 go with him to Kansas. This proclamation at 
 once added upwards of fifty able-bodied men 
 to his force ; and, being abundantly supplied 
 with horses, arms, and ammunition, which they 
 had taken from the Texan rangers and Indians, 
 he was prepared, not only to equip and mount 
 these recruits, but also to furnish horses, wagons, 
 and provision, for near a hundred slave women 
 and children, who were also begging to be taken 
 to the land of freedom. 
 
 Simon was now thrown into great perplexity 
 about his sister, who was three miles out of the 
 village, and in the vicinity where the rebels 
 were concentrating. He had found and armed 
 his two brothers ; but his anxiety to rescue his 
 sister from the miseries and degradation of 
 slavery was intense ; and the only and last op- 
 portunity was now passing. The time set to 
 leave the place was within one hoiu: of expiring. 
 
212 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 He had learned where his sister was, but the 
 chances seemed ten to one a,gainst him in any 
 attempt to get her away; yet he could not 
 make up his mind to leave without making the 
 trial, though it was certain it would be at the 
 peril of his life. Mounting his horse, he dashed 
 away at full speed ; a few minutes brought him 
 in sight of her master's residence. He dis- 
 covered several armed men standing at the gate- 
 way, and felt sure that one of two things would 
 certainly happen, — that he would either fright- 
 en those men into a precipitate flight, or else be- 
 come their prisoner if not a dead man at their 
 feet. Putting spurs to his horse, he dashed on at 
 full speed, and as soon as he was in hearing, rose 
 in his stirrups, and at the top of his voice 
 cried, " They're coming ! they're coming ! " 
 
 " Heavens and earth ! we're goners ! " ex- 
 claimed Remington, the master of the slave-girl 
 that Simon was after ; " nothing but our legs 
 can save us." And off he went as if old Split- 
 foot had been at his heels ; and after him fol- 
 lowed the rest, on the double-quick. 
 
 As Simon drew near, Rachel, his sister, recog- 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 213 
 
 nized and ran out to meet him. He dismount- 
 ed and clasped her in his arms. 
 
 " Now is your time, sister," said he, " to go to 
 the land of freedom." 
 
 " Praise the good Lord ! " exclaimed Rachel, 
 "with difficult utterance, so overcome was she 
 with emotion. " Let us hurry, then," added she ; 
 « they'U be after us." 
 
 " Whose horse and buggy is this ? " inquired 
 Simon, at the same time seizing the rein of an 
 elegant gelding that stood ready harnessed to a 
 fine,' new vehicle. 
 
 " It is master's," replied Eachel. 
 
 " Jump in, quick ! " said Simon. And in a 
 trice the two were in the carriage and going 
 like the wind ! 
 
 Remington and his companions, having paused 
 to look back when they reached the hemp-field 
 fence, saw Simon embrace Rachel. This awak- 
 ened their suspicions that the alarm-cry was 
 but a ruse ; and when they looked and listened 
 in vain for the enemy, this suspicion was greatly 
 strengthened. By the time Simon and his sister 
 were fairly seated in the buggy. Remington and 
 
214 THE STAES AM) BARS; 
 
 his armed companions were making the best 
 time they could toward the contrabands, swear- 
 ing like pirates, and with loud yells commanding 
 them to stop. 
 
 " Hold on there ! — hold on there ! " shrieked 
 Eemington, as if catching his last breath; at 
 the same time making his long legs go like 
 winding blades, or rather like the ungainly 
 wings of a windmill in a stiff breeze. 
 
 " Halt ! or be shot ! " cried a savage-looking 
 rascal, pointing his gun at the fugitives. They 
 might as well have talked to the winds or raved 
 at the clouds. On went the sable hero and 
 heroine, for they were in high glee, drove an ex- 
 cellent horse, and rode in a splendid carriage. 
 
 Remington's eyes being riveted upon his fast- 
 receding horse, buggy, and slave, he left his fly- 
 ing feet and winding legs to take care of them- 
 selves; but, having no organs of vision, they 
 came very abruptly in collision with an awk- 
 ward stump, that evidently had very little re- 
 spect for Southern chivalry, and certainly no 
 heart to feel for a distressed man who had just 
 lost a slave. This collision which happened to 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OF TEEEOR. 215 
 
 the lower extremities, suddenly brought about 
 a collision of the upper extremity with old 
 mother earth. It was funny to see the fellow on 
 his head, while his legs, up in the air, seemed to 
 imagine they were still running, and ke^t on in 
 vigorous motion. 
 
 " Shoot ! shoot ! " he shouted to his compan- 
 ions, before he had fairly recovered his feet. 
 Immediately, several guns were fired at the fugi- 
 tives, who, by that time, were quite out of 
 harm's way. The discharge of the guns only 
 served to frighten Simon's saddle-horse, which 
 he had left standing in the road. The animal, 
 seeming to take the hint that he was among 
 enemies, now scampered away after his master, 
 and followed him into town. Simon and Rachel 
 just got in in good time to march out with the 
 company. As they came up, full drive, in front 
 of the ranks of mounted men; the soldiers doffed 
 their caps, and, swingmg them round and^round, 
 sent up a shout that made the welkin ring. 
 
 Having take;i possession of all the arms and 
 ammunition they could find in town, Malvin 
 felt confident that the rebels of the place could 
 
216 THE STAfta AND BARS; 
 
 not equip themselves in time to follow and give 
 him battle ; yet he entertained some apprehen- 
 sions from another quarter. 
 
 Their march was rapid, and continued till 
 after midnight. Coming to a good watering- 
 place, they halted, took refreshment, rested till 
 morning light, and, by the time the orb of day 
 flung his mantling splendors o'er the dewy hills, 
 the cavalcade was in motion. 
 
 About noon that day, Malvin learned that he 
 was pursued by a rebel force of three or four 
 hundred mounted men. This news quickened 
 their steps. Malvin, knowing that his new re- 
 cruits were entirely undisciplined and knew al- 
 most nothing about the use of fire-arms, deter- 
 mined to avoid a battle if possible. 
 
 By the time he reached Missouri, he found 
 that the enemy was close upon his heels. 
 Placing the women and children in front and 
 his best disciplined men in*the rear, he ordered 
 a rapid movement. Knowing that General Lane 
 was still in southwestern Missouri, and inferring 
 tl^t the inhabitants of the country were in a 
 state of great confusion, he had but little fear 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEEBOE. 217 
 
 of being attacked in front ; all his attention, 
 therefore, was directed to the enemy that hung 
 upon his rear. 
 
 At length, discovering that the foe was fast 
 gaining upon him, he began to look out for a 
 suitable spot to make a stand and give battle 
 to his pursuers. Pretty soon, they approached 
 a hill, or rather a succession of hills, rising one 
 above another, — something like terraced grounds, 
 or embankments, ascending in regular grada- 
 tions ; after reaching the summit, Malvin ordered 
 a halt, selected a few men to accompany the 
 women and children, who were to continue their 
 march as long as they were able to hold out be- 
 fore encamping, and then commanded his sol- 
 diers to form a line of battle. 
 
 By this time, the enemy was in full view in 
 the valley below, and presented a formidable 
 appearance compared to Malvin's little army. 
 
 Near the chosen battle-ground, a round-topped 
 mound reared its lofty head, overlooking all the 
 region in the direction of the *enemy. Malvin 
 ordered the fairest-complexioned of his m«n 
 to form a procession and march round and 
 
 19 
 
218 THE STARS AND BARS) 
 
 round that mound, that the enemy might be 
 led to think they were being reinforced. In 
 order that the deception might be more certain 
 and complete, they hastily prepared a variety 
 of banners, that every time they came round in 
 sight of the enemy they might display a differ- 
 ent-shaped or different-sized flag. 
 
 The procession soon commenced, and, as they 
 came round in sight of the enemy, the black 
 negroes, who remained in line of battle, raised 
 a tremendous shout, as they were directed to 
 do, to give the impression that they were ex- 
 ulting over the arrival of reinforcements. 
 Round and round the procession went, first car- 
 rying one banner and then another ; and some- 
 times on horseback, appearing to be cavalry, and 
 sometimes on foot, representing infantry. 
 
 While this was going on, a battery was erected 
 on top of the mound, and mounted with black 
 logs resembling cannon. 
 
 No sooner had these counterfeit cannon made 
 their appearance than the rebels in the valley 
 began to turn their faces toward Arkansas. In 
 a very short space of time they entirely disap- 
 
OE, THE BEIGN OF TERROR. 219 
 
 peared. No doubt their imaginations smelt 
 General Jim Lane in the wind. 
 
 Well pleased with the success of this strata- 
 gem, Malvin again moved on. At two other 
 points only, in his progress through the country 
 to Kansas, was he threatened with an >attack, 
 and at each of these, the enemy was put to 
 flight by Simon's trick of riding ahead in a gal- 
 lop, and crying, " Jim Lane ! Jim Lane." 
 
 Upon reaching the free soil of Kansas, these 
 sable men and women, and brave adventurers, 
 raised such a shout as never before was heard in 
 the wilds of the West. Parson Elmore, who had 
 been on a recruiting expedition in Iowa, had 
 just returned, and was the first to greet and con- 
 gratulate the brave men who had imperilled their 
 lives for the good of their country and the free- 
 dom of the oppressed. 
 
?,20 
 
 THE STARS AND BARS J 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 "And the brute crowd, whose envious zeal 
 Huzzas each turn of Fortune's wheel, 
 And loudest shouts when lowest lie 
 Exalted worth and station high," 
 
 ARSON Southdown, having fled 
 from Missouri to southern Illinois, 
 found directly that he had but got 
 out of the frying-pan into the fire. 
 In the vicinity where he tempo- 
 rarily stopped, the torieswere raak- 
 ing up a regiment to help the 
 rebels. And their abuse and persecution of 
 loyal men who enlisted under the stars and 
 stripes, so far as vile tongues could go, exceeded 
 anj'thing the parson had met with among the 
 Border-ruffians of Missouri. To be sure, the 
 tories of Illinois did not murder Union men, as 
 did the Missouri rebels, but, manifestly, it was 
 only for the want of courage that they did not. 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 221 
 
 They openly justified the assassinations, rob- 
 beries, and house-burnings, committed by the 
 marauders and guerrilla bands of Missouri. 
 
 Parson Southdown, for proposing to address 
 the people on the state of- the country, and to 
 give a narrative of vrhat he had seen and ex- 
 perienced among the rebels, was threatened with 
 tar and feathers. Yet these same tories made 
 a loud profession of being peace men, and in 
 favor of free speech. 
 
 It was not until Mr. Douglas made his famous 
 loyal speech, at Springfield, Illinois, putting an 
 extinguisher on the treasonable project of send- 
 ing regiments from Illinois to help the South 
 fight against the Union, that any man dared 
 make a loyal speech in that region of country. 
 
 Mr. Douglas's utterances had long been law 
 and gospel throughout southern Illinois, and, 
 as soon as it was known that he was for putting 
 down the rebellion, the party-leaders imder him 
 said to the mustering tories, " Disband ! " and 
 they disbanded. They said to the loud-mouthed, 
 brainless rabble, " HoM your tongues ! " and 
 they suddenly became dumb dogs. 
 
 IB* 
 
222 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 Not that their principles were changed in the 
 least ; but they had been accustomed to follow 
 their leaders, and fear no danger. 
 
 Parson Southdown at length ventured to pub- 
 lish that he would lecture, in the village where 
 he was stopping, on the subject of the rebellion. 
 The disloyal citizens were somewhat divided as 
 to the propriety of allowing him to speak ; after 
 a good deal of contention, however, they con- 
 cluded to let him address the people, provided 
 he would go for the Union and the Constitution. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact, that traitors and 
 tories who think it expedient to disguise their 
 disloyalty, at once begin to glorify the Union as 
 it was, and the Constitution as it is. And when 
 they want an excuse to rail against the govern- 
 ment, they dwell upon the cruelty of the war 
 and the immense loss of life and property at- 
 tendant upon it. But they are careful to say 
 nothing of the barbarity and fiendishness of the 
 rebels. Let any one mention a great crime, or 
 a shocking murder, committed by traitors or 
 slave-driving demons, and the class of men just 
 mentioned are ready in a moment to find an 
 
223 
 
 excuse for the inhumanity. If the Union 
 troops burn a town, through military necessity, 
 they are called vandals, thieves, incendiaries. 
 But when it is said that a gang of rebels sur- 
 prised a Union family at dead of night, and 
 murdered the head of the house in the presence 
 of his family, then robbed and burnt the dwell- 
 ing, or when it is told, that a neighborhood or 
 village has been surprised, pillaged, burn% and 
 the inhabitants indiscriminately massacred, these 
 tories, straightway, begin to make excuses for 
 them. " They were exasperated. The aboli- 
 tionists have made them mad. Their niggers 
 have been stolen or persuaded away, and that's 
 vastly provoking." Thus they go on. Is it 
 not plain whose side they are on? 
 
 The author of these pages has beard this 
 class of men, even in New England, apologizing 
 for the late terrible massacre at Lawrence, Kan- 
 sas. " The fanatical abolitionists were the cause 
 of it," say they. " The people of Missouri have 
 been imposed upon By the Kansas Yankees; 
 they can't expect anything better." 
 
 To hear such an outrage excused, to hear 
 
224 THE STARS AND BARS j 
 
 such cowardly murderers apologized for, is 
 enough to set any honest man's heart on fire, 
 and send his hot blood tingling through every 
 vein. 
 
 Only think of it ! eight hundred armed ruffians 
 and assassins, going stealthily, and in the dead of 
 night, upon an unarmed, unwatched, and sleep- 
 ing village, and with fire and sword spreading 
 death and destruction in every direction; rush- 
 ing into private houses, butchering liusbtmds and 
 brothers in the presence of wife, children, moth- 
 er, sisters, — an inhumanity, a savage cruelty, 
 too horrid to think about. Yet men there are 
 in our midst, and not a few, who are fain to 
 apologize for this barbarity. " These men have 
 lost their niggers, and are provoked." Oh, spe- 
 cious excuse for indiscriminate butchery! ^'Tori/, 
 traitor, copperhead" are names too mild for such 
 disloyal wretches, — quite too mild, no matter 
 where they belong, or in what country they 
 may live. 
 
 The evening at length came round for Parson 
 Southdown's lecture. The hall was crowded 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 225 
 
 with all sorts of people ; and mixed in with the 
 throng were scores of the most gallows-looking 
 reprobates that ever escaped the gibbet. 
 
 '• Now," muttered some of these unwashed, 
 uncombed groundlings, " if he says anything in 
 favor of the niggers, we'll howl him down, or 
 else take him out and hang him." 
 
 It is remarkable how mean men detest the 
 colored race. It is true, the world over, that the 
 lower and more degraded a white man is, the 
 worse he hates a black man. 
 
 The parson, without any apologies, thus be- 
 gan:— 
 
 " Men of Illinois ! it is a dark hour for our 
 country; -there is treason at the South and 
 treachery in the North. You know something 
 of what has happened in the Slave States : the 
 people, in their madness, have pulled down 
 upon their own heads the direst calamities. 
 Alas, what bloodshed and desolation I have 
 witnessed there ! And what sorrows ! what 
 heart-breaking! And the end is not yet. De- 
 signing men are struggling for power; and 
 dull -brained and malignant-hearted creatures — 
 
226 IHB STARS AND BAES ; 
 
 hardly to be called men — are made their tools. 
 And these soulless, brutal miscreants, delighting 
 to do mischief, rush headlong and remorse- 
 lessly into the fearful tragedy. We have seen 
 the ruin which tracks their progress. 
 
 " Believe me, the same elements exist in the 
 free North. You, here, are hanging upon the 
 brink of a volcano, — a volcano, swelling, seeth- 
 ing, quivering, for its upheaval ! Should the 
 eruption come, woe to this laud ! All that is 
 now fair and beautiful will be quickly effaced 
 and speedily blotted out. And who will be to 
 blame but yourselves? It is for you to say 
 whether you will have peace and prosperity in 
 this bright land, or war and desolation. 
 
 " You have among you many reckless men 
 who are utter strangers to any feeling or sen- 
 timent of patriotism J and have never taken 
 thought about what it is to have a country, — 
 a free country, — who have no appreciation of a 
 government, and who know not how to prize 
 good and wholesome laws. This class of men 
 readily become the tools of unscrupulous poli- 
 tician.-^, demagogues, and partisans. 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 227 
 
 "If there is any difference between Southern 
 traitors and Northern tories, that difference is 
 in favor of the former; for they are greatly 
 blinded by their hot blood and fiery passions, 
 and by what they think their interests ; while 
 the disloyal men of the North are cool, calcu- 
 lating knaves, snakes in the grass, and very 
 appropriately called " Copperheads." 
 
 At this, the great umvashed began to hiss. 
 
 " There they are now ! " exclaimed the par- 
 son ; " don't you hear them hiss ? According to 
 natural history, there are but two creatures that 
 hiss, — the goose and the serpent. The latter 
 hisses from malice, and the former for the want 
 of sense. I shall leave it for the hissing bipeds 
 of the present assembly to determine for them- 
 selves as to which class they belong. 
 
 " Conspiracies and conspirators are not all at 
 the South; plotting villany is at work in the 
 North ; intrigue is busy and sedition rife ! " 
 
 Now again the ruffians got up an interrup- 
 tion, — groaned and howled, and behaved in the 
 most unseemly manner. But the parson, ele- 
 vating his strong, trumpet-toned voice, went on : 
 
"Secret conclaves, bent on direst mischief, 
 and aiming at the overthrow of the govern- 
 ment, infest almost every precinct in this coun- 
 try." 
 
 A politician in the audience, a vaporing dem- 
 agogue, who stood at the head of a Castle, or 
 fraternity of the Golden Circle, that held their 
 secret meetings in the place, taking the parson's 
 last sentence for a fling at their Order, poured 
 forth a torrent of oaths, low slang, and disgrace- 
 ful billingsgate, which, though highly offensive 
 to ears polite, yet seemed exactly to the taste 
 of that portion of the crowd which belonged to 
 the great unwashed. They applauded the black- 
 guard to the echo, while they cursed Parson 
 Southdown for an abolition refugee, whom the 
 slave-holders should have shot or hung. 
 
 Heeding little their furious threats and dem- 
 onstrations, the speaker said, — 
 
 " Do you ask me what motive men can have 
 at the North for turning traitors, acting a dis- 
 loyal part, and trying to trammel the wheels 
 of the government? I can readily tell you. 
 Chiefly are they actuated by party rancor. 
 
229 
 
 They "would even punish themselve;? for the 
 sake of gratifying their malice against a party, 
 which, to their infinite mortification, has, in a 
 fair race, gained a victory over them. Besides, 
 the only hope the disloyal party can have of 
 ever again coming into power is that of joining 
 hands with the rebels. The traitors north of 
 Mason and Dixon's line may profess to be 
 Union men, but they mean, all the while, a 
 union with the slave-holding power. The dis- 
 appointed office-seekers of this country are the 
 ringleaders in the disloyal movement which is 
 making so much trouble. They are unscru- 
 pulous, time-serving men, who, for the sake of 
 office, would unhesitatingly make an agreement 
 with hell, and enter into compact with Satan 
 himself" Here the rabble howled and hissed 
 again. 
 
 "I tell you plainly," continued the parson, 
 "from north to south, from east to west, the 
 sworn enemies of freedom, the sworn enemies of 
 law and order, of right, truth, justice, are mar- 
 shalling their clans, and banding themselves to- 
 gether for the most diabolical purpose tha^ ever 
 
 20 
 
230 TIip STARS AND BARS; 
 
 actuated depraved men. Their determination 
 is to rule or ruin. If they cannot control the 
 government, they want to break it up. If they 
 cannot hold the helm of the ship of state, they 
 want to see it dashed upon the rocks. 
 
 "Think me no fanatic. I know these men, 
 and I am acquainted with their brethren in 
 Eebeldom. They are of the same spirit; they 
 have the same howl, the same hiss, and the 
 same growl; and they are aiming at the same 
 end, — why should they not sympathize? 
 
 " This combination against the government, 
 on the part of the traitors of the South and the 
 tories of the North, should suggest to loyal men 
 and patriots the necessity of joining hand to 
 hand, and standing shoulder to shoulder, in the 
 great conflict, which is now inevitable and al- 
 ready begun, and the result of which is destined 
 to tell upon future ages, and to settle, it may 
 be, certain important and vexed questions for 
 all time to come. 
 
 " It shocks me, fellow-citizens, to hear so many 
 of you talk as though it mattered little whether 
 the government should stand or fall. Civilized 
 
OR, THE EBIGN OF TEREOE. 231 
 
 and Christianized as we claira to be, if we 
 should be left without a government, a very- 
 few years would suffice to see us lapsed into 
 barbarism. 
 
 " It is a time for patriots to do their duty and 
 stand by tlieir suffering country. We are pass- 
 ing through a fearful crisis. Everything is 
 imperilled, — liberty, religion, and all we hold 
 sacred are imperilled. Can we be silent or inac- 
 tive at such a time ? Shall we sleep at our 
 posts, or resign ourselves to indifference, while 
 tyrants are upon the alert, while conspirators 
 are stealing forth with foul intent, and while 
 the political incendiary, torch in hand, enters 
 the citadel which we, as patriots, are set to de- 
 fend ? Forbid it. Almighty God ! 
 
 " The wise and good of all nations have ever 
 reckoned patriotism among the highest and 
 brightest of human virtues; and very justly; 
 for, without this virtue, governments, whether 
 good or bad, could have no stability, nor the 
 best institutions of a country the least security. 
 A patriot may, I grant, seek to improve or to 
 reform the government under which he lives by 
 
232 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 an appeal to enlightened reason and to the 
 principles of truth and justice. But he will 
 not, for a light cause, desire revolution, much 
 less to kindle the terrible fires of civil war. 
 Rebellion can only be justified in cases of great 
 oppression, injustice, and tyranny, on the part of 
 a government; because rebellion and revolution 
 seldom occur without fearfid disaster and an 
 immense cost of blood and treasure, and, if suc- 
 cessful, generally result in rending, upheaving 
 the foundations, and overturning the whole 
 superstructure of a government, thereby de- 
 stroying much, if not all, that's good and valua- 
 ble connected with it, besides wrecking private 
 fortunes and causing a vast destruction of pub- 
 lic and private property, as well as loss of life, 
 depraving of manners, and serious detriment to 
 morality and religion. As long as evils are at 
 all bearable, rebellion is scarcely justifiable, even 
 in a had government, owing to the dire calami- 
 ties and untold suffering it never fails to bring 
 with it. What, then, should be thought of the 
 men who, from motives of ambition and self-a "■- 
 grandizement, can enter into conspiracy again.st 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 233 
 
 a good government, — treacherously attempt its 
 overthrow, and recklessly precipitate their coun- 
 try into bloody revolution ? 
 
 " What should be thought of American citi- 
 zens who, not content with the God-given heri- 
 tage of peace and plenty, not content with our 
 national greatness and prosperity, not content 
 with our glorions Union, not content with the 
 best government upon the face of the whole 
 earth, and not satisfied with having been pam- 
 pered, petted, and flattered by a too indulgent 
 government, not satisfied with having' been al- 
 lowed to monopolize the fairest portion of our 
 fair land, not satisfied with having grown rich 
 by piracy and kidnapping, — ay, not satisfied 
 with having enslaved millions of human beings, 
 wringing from their weary hand;-;, year after 
 year, unpaid toil, and holding them in a state 
 of the most abject and cruel bondage, — what, 
 I repeat, should be thought of American citi- 
 zens who, not content, not satisfied, with all 
 these advantages, and being indulged in the 
 practice of all these enormities, yet seek to ruin 
 the government that has built them iip, and 
 
 20» 
 
234 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 that has honored, shielded, and protected them? 
 Ay, and who, to compass that ruin, have been 
 guilty of perjury, treachery, plunder, and mur- 
 der! What, I ask, should be thought of such 
 American citizens ? 
 
 " The men who made this revolution, who in- 
 augurated the disastrous civil war that is upon 
 us, have long received unmerited honors at the 
 hands of the government they are now trying 
 to destroy ; they have had lavished upon them far 
 more than their share of Federal patronage and 
 Federal offices. Instead of being grateful for 
 undeserved favors, they, meanwhile, only grew 
 the more insolent, arrogant, overbearing, and 
 dictatorial. And, at last, because, forsooth, the 
 slave-power was not allowed to continue domi- 
 nant at Washington, — after having almost ruined 
 the government, — these vile and unprincipled 
 men, flying into a passion, began at once to set 
 mischief on foot, and to lay plans for the rend- 
 ing and utter subversion of the Union. And it 
 comes out that to rule or ruin has been their 
 secret motto for years ; and that, while pretend- 
 ing to serve the government, they were, even 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 235 
 
 then, but a secret conclave of black-hearted trai- 
 tors, plotting the disruption of the Union and 
 the overthrow of the government. 
 
 "And only think of the means resorted to in 
 order to make the revolution a succqss, — ho-w 
 diabolical ! Equally abhorrent to religion and 
 humanity, and calculated to kindle feelings of 
 irrepressible indignation in every feeling heart. 
 
 "A mode of warfare has been sanctioned by 
 the leaders in this war for the destruction of the 
 Union that will stamp eternal disgrace upon 
 Southern character,* and justly excite the world's 
 abhorrence ! 
 
 " But cruelty, brutality, selfishness, and fiend- 
 .ishness, belong not exclusively to the South. 
 Northern men, who take sides with such wretches, 
 excuse their barbarity, give countenance to and 
 manifest sympathy for them in their career of 
 crime, are no better than they. 
 
 " ^len of Illinois, those of you who are seek- 
 ing to throw obstacles in the way of the admin- 
 istration, while struggling to roll back the dark 
 and desolating wave of revolution, quell insur- 
 rection, crush the wicked rebellion, restore law 
 
233 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 and order, and give peace to the country, are 
 traitors of the worst type, and deserve to hang 
 by the neck ! " 
 
 At this, the politician again began to swear, 
 rant, and rave. The groundlings, who looked to 
 him as their leader, immediately joined in, milk- 
 ing a tremendous uproar. 
 
 Being well armed, and knowing how to use 
 revolvers in cases of emergency, the parson had 
 but little fear of bodily injury. Amid the con- 
 fusion he still kept on : — 
 
 "To my certain knowle(%e. Northern tories, 
 and especially disloyal editors, in this and other 
 non-slave-holding States, have done and are still 
 doing much to prolong the terrible, sanguinary 
 strife in which we are engaged. Many young men 
 of Missouri, now in the rebel army, were induced 
 to enlist under the stars and bars, in opposition 
 to the stars and stripes, by reading a class of dis- 
 loyal Northern papers, with which Missouri is in- 
 undated. These incendiary and seditious sheets 
 are full of lying invective and inflammatory 
 denunciation against the administration, the na- 
 tional currency, and the Federal army. The war, 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEEEOE. 237 
 
 which is purely one of self-defence on the part 
 of the government, and waged but to preserve 
 the existence and save the life of the nation, is 
 called a Lincoln war, a Black-Republican war. an 
 abolition war, &c. And they are continually 
 telUng the armed traitors, that great meetings 
 are being held all over the Northern States for 
 the purpose of putting a stop to the war. They 
 tell the rebels of the South, that their country 
 is invaded by vandal hordes from the North, who 
 seek to trample upon their rights and reduce 
 them to slavery. And, all the while, they ignore 
 the fact that the slave-holders of the South began 
 the war, and that the Federal government has 
 only met this appeal to arms, by the arbitrament 
 of the sword and the stern process of war, for 
 the purpose of vindicating the supremacy of 
 the laws and putting down a causeless rebellion. 
 " The effect of these disloyal newspapers is to 
 induce the belief, in the minds of the rebels, 
 that there is a large and growing party at the 
 North in sympathy with them, and whose influ- 
 ence will soon be sufficient to paralyze the arm 
 of the Federal government, and so cripple the 
 
238 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 power of the administration as to insure success 
 to the revolution. 
 
 "And these reprobates are the more wicked 
 in thus sowing the seeds of sedition and en- 
 couraging rebelHon, because of their hypocrisy. 
 They really have no wish for the ultimate suc- 
 cess of the rebel arms and a division of the 
 country; no! their hope is to have the war con- 
 tinue, while they seem to oppose it, till the next 
 presidential election, in order to have a chance 
 to reproach and displace the party in power. 
 Then they expect to take the Southern traitors 
 in their arms, saying, — 
 
 " ' We have been your friends all the while ; 
 now, just come back into the Union and help us 
 beat the Republicans, and we'll make slavery 
 the chief corner-stone of the government.' " 
 
 As to a majority of his hearers, the parson 
 was but " casting pearls before swine ; " they had 
 neither the honesty to receive the truth, nor 
 minds to comprehend and feel the force of 
 argument. 
 
 And right here lies the great danger, — dai 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TERROR. 239 
 
 ger to our country and its free institutions, dan- 
 ger to the Republic, — the ignorance and vicious- 
 ness of a very large class, both of foreigners 
 and native-born Americans. To carry this un- 
 cultured, unreflecting herd, and make them 
 their tools, designing men have only to appeal 
 to their prejudices and inflame their passions. 
 And when such appeals are made, these brutal 
 men are ready either to vote or to nioh, as the 
 knaves who play upon their passions and preju- 
 dices may dictate. 
 
 The truth of this has been abundantly exem- 
 plified of late, at New York, Boston^ Detroit, 
 and in various localities throughout Indiana, 
 Ohio, and Illinois. 
 
 In New York, fifty thousand of these degraded 
 human beings were set on by the disloyal press 
 of that city, and by certain copperhead politi- 
 cians, to trample down law and order, burn pub- 
 lic property, pillage, rob, and murder. And this 
 barbarous conduct their apologists, who had 
 cunningly instigated them to commit such bru- 
 tal outrages, called resisting the draft. " These 
 poor men don't want to go fight against tlliir 
 
240 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 brethren at the South," say the copperheads. 
 Yet these same " poor men " think no hardship 
 of killing innocent people in the streets of New- 
 York, — and people, too, no more to blame for 
 the draft than the inhabitants of another j)ltinet. 
 The negroes they murdered were just as liable 
 to the draft as themselves. To kill these harm- 
 less black men was rather a strange way of 
 resisting the draft. 
 
 The truth is, plunder was the main object ; 
 and the wire-workers behind the curtain hoped 
 to have their political enemies robbed and mur- 
 dered. 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 
 
 241 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. • 
 
 " But endless is the list of human ills ; 
 And sighs might sooner cease than cause to sigh." 
 
 WEARY, haggard-looking man 
 made his appearance, one day, 
 at Parson Southdown's cabin ; 
 his abrupt salutation, on enter- 
 ing the house, was the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 " I've hurn that you're a 
 preacher from Missouri, an' a refugee; now 
 I'm from Missouri, too; come from way down 
 the lower eand of the State, whur it jines on to 
 Arkansaw. I wur run off by them 'bom'nable 
 grillers, case I kind o' stuck up for the ole 
 Union. The blasted critters wanted to hang 
 me, whether or no ; so my nighest neighbor, 
 Jim Cooly, found out what was gwien on, an' 
 he steps in, an' jist in time. Oh dear! it riles 
 me when I think about it As I was gwien to 
 
 21 
 
242 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 say. one minute later, and I'd been strung up 
 by the neck, with nothin' to stand on but the 
 naked air ; an' wouldn't that 'ave been a purty 
 sight for my poar wife an' children ? But what 
 would them tarnal grillers have kured for that ? 
 — the savage heathens! But as I was sayin', 
 Jim Cooly steps in, jist in the nick of time, an' 
 pulls out a bottle of whiskey from his pocket, 
 an' hands it to the rascal who wus jist gwien to 
 tie the rope round my neck. You may depend 
 on it, stranger, I felt mighty quare. Well, you 
 see, the hangman, he kotch hold of the bottle ; 
 an' while he wus swollerin' the licker, an' the 
 rest wur crowdin' up to take their turn, Cooly, 
 he hunched me, an' whispered in my yur what 
 I'll never forgit ef I live to be as old as Jerusa- 
 lem. He said, says he, ' What's your legs made 
 for?' Depend on it, I took the hint quicker 
 nor lightning. Then says he, 'Cut stick, you 
 fool ! nor don't stop tell you git t'other side of 
 the north pole.' Jehosophat ! you orter seen 
 me run across the turnip-patch. I fairly split 
 the wind ; an' wust of all, I didn't have time to 
 say farewell to Sally an' the children. An' so, 
 
£43 
 
 you see, I've kept gwien tell I've got bur ; and 
 as you're a refugee from Missouri, I kind o' feel 
 a feller-feelin' for you; an' ef you've no objec- 
 tions, I'm powerful weak and hungry, and 
 wouldn't care to have a little morsel to eat." 
 
 " Certainly, -^ most certainly, my friend," re- 
 plied the parson ; " though poor, we still have 
 something to satisfy hunger." 
 
 Mrs. Southdown by this time was on her feet, 
 and making the dishes rattle. Ludicrous as the 
 poor fellow's story was, it had touched a tender 
 chord in her heart and awakened the liveliest 
 sympathies. 
 
 "I was so hungry," resumed the refugee, 
 " that I stopped on the road a mile or so back, 
 an' tried to git some dinner. When I tole 'em 
 I wus druve out of Missouri, they said, says 
 they, ' You must a-been an abolitionist, or you 
 wouldn't 'ave been druve off that way.' Now, 
 ye see, that kind o' riled me all over, 'case 
 I jist as live be called a hos-thief as an abolition- 
 ist. One a'n't no better 'an tother. I've alers 
 been furnents abolition, ever sense I wus horned. 
 So them folks told me I might go amongst the 
 
244 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 Black Republicans to git my dinner. Woll, ye 
 see, the more I denied bein' an abolitionist, the 
 more they stuck to it I wus. Plague take sich 
 a set ! I wus mad enough to 'ave font 'em." 
 
 " You will find plenty of such people in this 
 country," responded the parson. 
 
 '^ They'd better mind how they 'cuse me of 
 bein' an abolitionist," continued the fellow*; 
 "nothin' riles me like that. An' spacially when 
 I'm parted from my pracious wife an' chil- 
 dren. Oh, jist to think of it ! how this awful 
 war's separatin' husban' an' wife, parents an' chil- 
 dren, brothers an' sisters ! Oh, it's shockin' to 
 human natur ! " 
 
 " True, that is very hard, my friend," observed 
 Parson Southdown ; " but, after all, some good 
 may come of it. Some of us need to be taught 
 what it is to be separated from nearest and 
 dearest friends. I have met with a great many 
 slave-holders in this State and Iowa, who, for 
 their love of the Union, had to fly from Missouri 
 and Arkansas; they make a wonderful ado 
 about being forced to separate from their 
 friends ; husbands complain of being sundered 
 
245 
 
 from their wives aud children, and the wives 
 and children left behind complain as bitterly, 
 no doubt, that husband and father have been 
 cruelly compelled to part from them. But let 
 US only think of the infinitely more cruel sepa- 
 rations that have been common and of daily 
 occurrence at the South for generations. Moth- 
 ers and fathers have been sold from their chil- 
 dren; children sold from their parents; hus- 
 bands sold from their wives, and wives from 
 their husbands, — and parted, in many instances, 
 forever. Yet all that is thought nothing of" 
 
 " Case why ! they are niggers," said the ref- 
 ugee. 
 
 " That makes it none the less cruel and un- 
 just," responded the parson ; " they have feeling 
 and affection the sa.ne as we have." 
 
 " S'pose they have, a'n't they niggers ? " 
 
 " Ah, I perceive you have the unanswerable, 
 stereotyped, pro-slavery argument. They are 
 niggers ; that's what confounds us. And it is 
 the sum and substance of all the arguments 
 used by the champions of slavery. North jind 
 South. The argument is formidable and irrefut- 
 
246 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 able, simply because it is pointless and sense- 
 less ; to refute it would be to refute an empty 
 sound." 
 
 " I don't boast of bavin' no great larnin', but 
 I'm edecated enough to know that niggers wur 
 made fur slaves." 
 
 " But let us go back to this complaint you 
 make about being separated from your wife and 
 children. You do not expect this separation to 
 last ; when the war is over, if not sooner, you 
 expect to return to your home and family. I 
 have seen slave-fathers, of as fine feelings, and 
 as warm affections as yourself, and no less in- 
 telligent, sold in Missouri, and taken to Alabama 
 and Louisiana, and elsewhere in the South, — 
 taken from wife and children without the proba- 
 bility or hope of ever meeting again in this 
 world. The friends of slavery, who are now 
 scattered and sundered, through the operations 
 of civil war, should think of the thousands and 
 tens of thousands of poor slaves, who have been 
 treated as .if they were beasts, incapable of 
 feeling and affection, — and they should think 
 of the parents and children, husbands and wives, 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEREOE. 247 
 
 they themselves have been the means of part- 
 ing forever." 
 
 " Well, rally ! Shor'es my name's Piper, I 
 never in all my born days burn anybody talk 
 np for niggers that way." 
 
 At this juncture, a mulatto man rapped at the 
 threshold. 
 
 " Walk in," said the parson, rising and offering 
 a chair to the stranger. 
 
 " Excuse me, sir," said the colored man, timid- 
 ly ; "1 am travelling, and am without money ; 
 though not accustomed to beg, I am compelled 
 to ask for something to eat." 
 
 " Please be seated, sir," answered the parson ; 
 " you will be welcome to such as we have." 
 
 " Whur you from, and whur are you gwien 
 to ? " impertinently demanded Piper. 
 
 " I am from the State of Missouri, sir," replied 
 the mulatto, civilly, yet in a tone of rebuke. 
 Manifestly, he at once perceived that the ques- 
 tioner was an impertinent clown. 
 
 "I guess you're a runaway slave," persisted. 
 Piper, in his impertinence. 
 
 "I have been a slave, sir," said the fugitive, 
 
248 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 frankly ; " but Fortune's wheel, which now L)w- 
 ers the proud oppressor, has elevated me. And 
 I hope, before it's done turning, it will raise 
 and make free all my down-trodden race." 
 
 " Hi ho ! you talk as impudent as any free 
 nigger I ever come across. I 'spect you cal- 
 kilate on doin' big things in this free country. 
 You'd be enough sight better off with your 
 moster." 
 
 " My place is vacant, sir ; if you think it a 
 desirable situation, you shall be quite welcome 
 to it." 
 
 " I a'n't a nigger." 
 
 " There are plenty of slaves whiter than you, 
 sir." 
 
 By this time dinner was ready, and the hun- 
 gry men were both invited to take seats at the 
 table. Piper rushed forward, and, seating him- 
 self, seized his knife and fork, and went to work 
 like a starved hound. The fugitive modestly 
 approached the table, and was about to take 
 a seat, when Piper said, — 
 
 " I guess you'll wait till I'm done." 
 
 " I've no predjudice against color, sir," re- 
 
on, THE REIGBT OP TBRROE. 249 
 
 plied the mulatto, with a mischievous twinkle in 
 hiM eye. Yet he hesitated a moment ; but as 
 soon as he glanced at Mrs. Southdown, he per- 
 ceived he had her approbation, which was all he 
 wanted, and proceeded to take a seat at the 
 table. 
 
 " Get away from here, you impudent nigger ! " 
 bawled Piper, in the most ruffian-like manner. 
 
 " If you expect to eat at my table, sir," said 
 the parson, " you must conduct yourself more 
 like a gentleman." 
 
 "I wusn't fotch up to eat with slaves; and 
 I'm not gwien to be imposed on." 
 
 "If I've imposed on anybody, it's upon this 
 colored gentleman, in asking him to eat with 
 such a scavenger-looking fellow as you." 
 
 Jumping up from the table in a rage, Piper 
 began walking the floor to and fro, puffing and 
 blowing considerably. 
 
 Now Mrs. Southdown brought in a dish of 
 nice fried ham and eggs, and set it before the 
 fugitive. To this new dish Piper's longing eyes 
 turned wistfully. There was now a struggle 
 between appetite and dignity ; between pride 
 
250 THE STARS AND BARS J 
 
 and an empty stomach. The fugitive observed 
 this internal conflict, and secretly hoped that 
 pride would prevail ; but very soon he per- 
 ceived that ravenous appetite was about to 
 gain the ascendency; as Piper sullenly drew 
 up to the table, the contraband appropriated 
 the ham and eggs by sweeping the contents of 
 the dish into his own plate. At this, Piper 
 looked daggers, and could hardly restrain him- 
 self from going into another diabolical rage ; 
 but he wisely concluded to fill his mouth with 
 cabbage rather than angry words. After all, 
 he made a hearty meal; but got no ham and 
 eggs. 
 
 Ascertaining that the fugitive slave had been 
 in the habit of preaching occasionally to his 
 fellow-bondmen. Parson Southdown jDroposed 
 that he should make a public discourse to the 
 citizens of the village, on slavery and the re- 
 bellion ; to which he consented. The appoint- 
 ment was made ; and when the time came 
 round, a great crowd convened to hear him. 
 More were Ihere, however, from bad intent than 
 from good motives. 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TERROR. 251 
 
 With simple, but impressive and touching, 
 eloquence, the fugitive pleaded the cause of his 
 ignored and persecuted race. In the midst of 
 his powerful appeals, an Irishman, standing in 
 the crowd, cried out, " Oh, wonderful ! who ever 
 heard the leik from a nager ! " 
 
 " Poh ! " said a tory, standing near him, — 
 " Flanna O'Larkin, don't be humbugged by that 
 fellow ; he's only half nigger." 
 
 ''Only half nager, ond can do sooch woon- 
 ders ! by jabers, what thin could he do af he 
 were all nager ? " 
 
 At the conclusion of his speech, a copperhead 
 politician said to his clan, in a loud voice, that 
 he guessed the fugitive slave law was still in 
 force, and that, being a law-abiding man, he felt 
 disposed, if he could get assistance, to return 
 this runaway slave to his master. 
 
 A score or more of the baser sort at once 
 rallied round the p.olitician, proflfering to assist 
 him in taking the negro. Parson Southdown, 
 anticipating the possibility of such a demonstra- 
 tion, had slipped a couple of revolvers into his 
 pocket. 
 
2o2 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 " This man is my guest," said the parson ; " I 
 will protect him at the risk of my life." 
 
 The politician, with a gang of villains at his 
 heels, made at the fugitive. But luckily. Parson 
 Southdown was already between the parties; 
 quickly drawing his revolvers, and taking one 
 in each hand, he declared his intention to kill 
 as many of them as he could. The wretches 
 stood back. 
 
 The mob soon dispersed, but evidently with 
 the intention of arming themselves, the mom 
 safely to carry out their villanous designs. 
 
 There happened to be an officer present, who 
 had a company of new recruits encamped with- 
 in a few miles of the place. Seeing that the 
 mob was bent on violence, he hastened back to 
 camp, and speedily as possible brought his men 
 into the copperhead village, and just in time to 
 quell what, evidently, would have proved a seri- 
 ous riot. The mob had surrounded Parson South- 
 down's domicile, threatening violence if the 
 negro was not given up. Not knowing thut 
 there were any Federal soldiers in the neigh- 
 borhood, the ruffians were taken greatly by sur- 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 253 
 
 prise when they found themselves surrounded 
 by armed men. 
 
 The captain of the company arrested the 
 whole tatterdemalion crew, and kept them un- 
 der guard two days, allowing them only bread 
 and water for their rations. During which time, 
 the parson took his family and the fugitive to 
 ■an adjoining county, where there was more 
 loyalty, and a better and more intelligent class 
 of people. 
 
 The day after the parson's renaoval to his new 
 home, lo ! and who should make his appearance 
 but Uncle Ned of Platte City. 
 
 " Ho, ho ! Massa Soufdown," cried the good 
 old darky, while his faded and sunken eyes 
 kindled and sparkled with new life and fire; 
 " ho, ho ! I's kotch up wid you at last ! " 
 
 " Bless your soul. Uncle Ned ! " exclaimed 
 the parson ; "what in the world has brought 
 you here ? " 
 
 " Why, dese free legs ; praise be to de good 
 Lor A'mighty ! " 
 
 " Pray, what's happened. Uncle Ned ?" sai J Mrs. 
 
 22 
 
254 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 Southdown, clasping the old man's hand with 
 ecstasy. 
 
 " Why, de yur ob jubelo am come ! " answered 
 he ; "but de rebels, dey say de Debil's to pay. So, 
 as dis darky don't owe dat ole chap nufin, he 
 leave de secesh to foot de bill, while he footed 
 up de hill an down de valley." 
 
 " But how did you get away ?" 
 
 "Why, you see de Union soldiers come dare one 
 day mighty onexpected, an massa — dat is to say, 
 him dat wus my massa, — took a mighty skur, an 
 runs like a wile turkey gobbler. I kind o' spect 
 he's gwien yit ; an ef de good Lord please, may 
 de Debil help 'im on! He's gwien de right course." 
 
 " Which way did he travel ? " 
 
 " Right straight for Arkansaw, I'm shore de 
 bad place a'n't fur from dar. Den thinks I, ef 
 massa's gwien Souf, I'se gwien Norf, an' de more 
 miles we put 'tween us de better." 
 
 " And how did you manage to find out where 
 we lived ? " 
 
 " You see. I stops las' night at a tavern, an' I 
 overhurs 'em talkin' 'bout some abolition preach- 
 er. Den I 'quires ef his name wur Soufdown. 
 
255 
 
 'I'blieve dat's what da call de rascal,' ray de 
 lan'lord. Den, thinks I, de good Lord have been 
 guidin' my poor feet de right way. So I keeps 
 on 'quirin' till I fin's you, thank de Lor' 
 A'mighty." 
 
 '•And how do you like this free country, 
 TJncle Ned ? " 
 
 '' Oh, I likes de country, case it's de land ob 
 freedom ; an' I likes de air ; it smack ob liberty, 
 an' smell ob de blossoms ob freedom. But dis 
 darky kind o' don't like de peoples 'bout hur 
 da ar' too much like de white trash down Souf 
 Da most all am gwien in for secesh. One gent 
 man at de tavern called 'em copperheads. Now. 
 dat's jist de bestest name I knows ob for dem 
 I's 'quainted wid dat snake, what da call cop 
 perhead ; 'tis de meanest snake dat eber crawled 
 Its head am flat, an' jist de color ob a new cop- 
 per cent. An' den it's so sly dat you neber sees 
 him till he bites you. An nuffin's pisiner dan de 
 bite ob de copperhead. Now, dese ar' secesh in 
 dis land ob freedom belong to de same genera- 
 tion ob serpents. An' it's mighty easy to tell 
 who da ar', when ye gits de nack ob it. I 
 
256 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 knows dese copperheads politicianers from de 
 wink ob de eye. All dem ar' kind ob men what 
 foller de blackleg business, an' hos-racin' an' 
 gittin' drunk, and sich like thing, am de copper- 
 head', ebery one ob dem." 
 
 "^How are the people doing at Platte City, 
 Uncle Ned ? " inquired Mrs. Southdown. 
 
 " Da ar' all gwien to de Debil fast as da kin. 
 De slave-holders am allers talkin' 'bout dar 
 rights ; neber mind ; I tells ye, da'll git dar rights 
 one ob dese days, when de Ole Boy flies 'way wid 
 'em. Da'll fin' out dat ole Hornie hab some 
 rights, too." 
 
 "It's hard to tell. Uncle Ned, what will be- 
 come of them," remarked the parson. 
 
 " I s'pose de good Book don't say nuffin' 'bout 
 dem ; bu+. it tells what come ob some rebels jist 
 like 'em. Da say dar wus a rebellion in heben 
 once. De secesh angels, widout any cause, jist 
 like de secesh at de Souf, not bearin' in mind 
 dat da had all dat heart could wish, an' plenty 
 ob glory, still all dat didn't satisfy 'em; da kicked 
 up a muss, jist like Souf Carliner;.den we see 
 "what foUered ; da wur all tumbled out ob heben 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 257 
 
 into dat deep pit what bab no bottom. Da wui 
 nine days falbn' afore da reached de lake ob fire 
 an' brimstone. Now, dat's what come ob de 
 fust rebels, Massa Soufdown." 
 
 After the flower of the country, from every 
 section throughout the State of Illinois, had left 
 their homes to give their lives, if need be, for 
 the life of the nation, the disloyal men of the 
 State, finding themselves in the majority, grew 
 bold in their treason, and ever since have done 
 all within their power to hinder the putting 
 down of the rebellion. 
 
 22* 
 
258 
 
 THE STAES AHD BAES ; 
 
 CHAPTEK XX. 
 
 ' Thoughts Bhat up want air, 
 And spoil like bales unopened to the sun." 
 
 |H, Mr. Southdomi," said a swag- 
 gering politician, while in con- 
 versation with the parson on the 
 state of the country, " the fa- 
 natics of the North brought on 
 this war. Nobody else is to 
 blame." 
 
 "And do you state that for a fact, Mr. 
 Squib?" 
 
 " Of course I do, sir ; a notorious fact." 
 " Did the fanatics of the North begin the 
 war ? " 
 
 " They began the agitation of the slavery 
 question, which led, as I always knew it would, 
 to civil war. The fact is, sir, the South has 
 been shamefully imposed upon; the rights of 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TERROR. 259 
 
 the slave-holder have been disregarded. The 
 Southern States have good reason for breaking 
 up the Union and throwing ofF the iron yoke 
 of the old Yankee government." 
 
 "Such being not only your own sentiments, 
 Mr. Squib, but also the teaching of your party, 
 I beg leave to call your attention to a few 
 declarations made by Alexander H. Stephens, 
 Vice President of the Southern Confederacy, on 
 the floor of the convention called to vote Geor- 
 gia out of the Union." 
 
 " What care I for what Stephens said ? " 
 
 "He is a Southern man, and a secessionist, 
 and, besides, one of their very brightest, best, 
 and most influential men. His opinions, there- 
 fore, touching national aflFairs, and especially 
 Southern rights, ought certainly to be entitled 
 to some weight." 
 
 " It is enough for me to know that the South- 
 ern States have been robbed of their rights, and 
 that the abolitionists have been the cause of the 
 war." 
 
 " But hear what this Southern statesman says 
 to a convention of slave-holders : — 
 
260 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 "' This step once taken can never be recalled/ 
 — I give you his exact words, — 'and all the 
 baleful and withering consequences that must 
 follow will rest on the convention for all coming 
 time. 
 
 " ' When we and our posterity,' said he ' shall 
 see our lovely South desolated by the demon 
 of war, which this act of yours will inevitably 
 call forth, when our green fields and waving 
 harvests shall be trodden down, and all the hor- 
 rors and desolations of civil war upon us, — who 
 but this convention will be responsible for it? 
 And who but he who shall have given his vote 
 for this unwise and ill-timed measure shall be 
 held to strict account for this suicidal act by the 
 present generation, and cursed and execrated 
 by posterity for all coming time ? 
 
 " ' Pause, I entreat you,' continued he, with 
 all the energy and in all the earnestness of his 
 soul, ' and consider-, for a moment, what reasons 
 yoif can give to your fellow-sufferers in the 
 calamity that it will bring upon us ? What 
 reason can you give to the nations of the earth 
 to justify it ? To what cause can you point, or 
 
OE, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 261 
 
 what single overt act can you name, on which 
 to rest the plea of justification ? What right 
 has the North assailed ? What interest of the 
 South has been invaded ? What justice has 
 been denied ? And what claim, founded in jus- 
 tice and right, has been withheld ? ' " 
 
 "Well, well, what did all that signify?" de- 
 manded the politician, contemptuously. 
 
 " A great deal," responded Southdown ; " and 
 further, said Mr. Stephens, 'Can either of you, 
 to-day, name one governmental act of wron^, 
 deliberately and purposely done by the gov- 
 ernment at Washington, of which the South 
 has a right to complain? I challenge the an- 
 swer ! ' " 
 
 " If I'd been there,- 1 could have answered 
 him," said the ^conceited blockhead. 
 
 "Then you could have done more than any 
 member of the Georgia convention felt compe- 
 tent to do ; for not one among them attempted 
 to answer him, notwithstanding his bold chal- 
 lenge. But hear him still further ; I have a dis- 
 tinct recollection, not only of the^ general drift 
 and scope of his argument, but also of his very 
 
262 
 
 words : ' While on the other haBd,' said he, ' let 
 me show the facts. You know, gentlemen, I 
 am not here the advocate of the North ; but I 
 am here the friend, — the fii'm friend and lover 
 of the South; and for this reason I speak thus 
 plainly, uttering only words of truth and sober- 
 ness. Let me, then, state a few facts which are 
 clear and undeniable, and which now stand as 
 records authentic in the history of our country. 
 
 "'When we demanded the slave-trade, or the 
 importation of Africans for the cultivation of 
 our lands, did they not yield the right for 
 twenty years ? When we asked and demanded 
 the return of our fugitive slaves, was it not 
 granted in the passage of the fugitive slave law 
 of 1850? 
 
 "'Whatever individuals may have done, the 
 government has always been true to Southern 
 interests.' " 
 
 "Ah, but he wouldn't say that now," re- 
 marked the politician, ill-naturedly. 
 
 '• I presume not, indeed, for he has since been 
 bought over, to secession. The offer of the 
 Vice Presidency was too great a temptation. 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 263 
 
 He has sold himself to the Devil, just as all 
 you traitors have." ' 
 
 " Intend you to insult me, sir ? " 
 
 "The honest truth should insult no man. 
 But let me tell you something more of what 
 Mr. Stephens said on the floor of the Georgia 
 convention. 
 
 " ' Look,' said he, ' at another fact : when we 
 have asked that more territory should be added, 
 that we might spread the institution of slavery, 
 have they not yielded to our demands in giving 
 us Louisiana, Florida, and Texas, out of which 
 four States have been carved, and ample terri- 
 tory for four more to be added in due time, 
 if you by this mad act do not destroy this 
 hope, and perhaps by it, lose all, and have your 
 last slave wrenched from you by stern military 
 rule, or by a decree of universal emancipation, 
 which may reasonably be expected to follow?'" 
 
 " Did he say that ? " demanded the politician, 
 looking surprised. 
 
 " Such were his words; and how prophetic ! I 
 must give you still more of his language : — 
 
 "'What have we to gain,' said he, 'by this 
 
26-1 THE STARS AND BARS J 
 
 proposed change of our relation to the general 
 government? "We have always had the con- 
 trol of it, and can yet if we remain in it and are 
 as united as we have been. 
 
 " ' We have had a majority of the presidents 
 chosen from the South, as well as the control 
 and management of most of those chosen from 
 the North.' 
 
 " In making these declarations, Mr. Stephens 
 but stated plain, obvious facts, which every well- 
 read man in the history of his country ought to 
 know." 
 
 In reply to this, the politician commenced 
 cursing the abolitionists and eulogizing the in- 
 stitution of slavery. 
 
 "All our great and good men," remarked the 
 parson, " have uniformly regarded slavery as de- 
 praving in its tendency; calculated to blight 
 the heart and darken the mind. 1 remember 
 Mr. Jefferson says, in his Notes on Virginia : — 
 
 " ' There must, doubtless, be an unhappy influ- 
 -ence on the manners of our people, produced 
 by the existence of slavery among us. The 
 whole commerce between master and slave is a 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 265 
 
 perpetual exercise of the most boisterous pas- 
 sions, — the most unrelenting despotism on the 
 one part, and degrading submission on the other. 
 Our children see this and learn to imitate it. 
 The parent storms ; the child looks on, catches 
 the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs 
 in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose rein 
 to the worst passions, and thus - nursed, edu- 
 cated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot 
 but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. 
 The man must be a prodigy who can retain his 
 manners and morals undepraved by such cir- 
 cumstances,' " 
 
 " Poh ! poh 1 " said the politician. " Tom Jef- 
 ferson was a visionary man ; full of new ideas 
 and strange theories that nobody but himself 
 ever believed." 
 
 " As to the vitiating tendency of slavery, Mr. 
 Madison was of the same opinion. I can give 
 you his language upon that very point, — at least, 
 a sentence : — 
 
 •' ' Let us save our country,' said he, ' from re- 
 proaches, and our posterity from the imbecility 
 ever attendant on a country filled with slaves.' 
 
266 THE STAES AND BAES ; 
 
 "And the greatrminded Patrick Henry holds 
 language still stronger : — 
 
 " ' Is it not a little surprising,' says he, ' that 
 professors of Christianity, whose chief excellence 
 consists in softening the human heart, in cherish- 
 ing and improving its finer feelings, should en- 
 courage a practice so totally repugnant to the 
 first impressions of right and wrong ? ' 
 
 "Washington expressed similar opinions, and 
 evidently was fully persuaded in his own mind 
 that slavery was destined to be speedily abol- 
 ished." 
 
 "And these very men you summon as wit- 
 nesses against slavery, themselves held slaves." 
 
 "Ah, but do you not perceive that that very 
 circumstance gives the more weight to their tes- 
 timony ? It was but yesterday I heard you 
 say that the rabid Northern abolitionists would 
 all be in favor of slavery if they owned slaves. 
 Their testimony has no weight with you be- 
 cause they have no interest in the institution. 
 Jefferson, Madison, Henry, and Washington are 
 set aside by you because they had an interest 
 in the institution. The sincerity of these great 
 
267 
 
 statesmen is the dearer, since their testimony 
 went against their own interest. 
 
 " Besides, there was an apology, and there still 
 is an apology, for a good man's owning slaves 
 until the black laws are changed or the institu- 
 tion abolished. Both the Slave States and a 
 number of the Free States have laws that op- 
 press and work great injustice to free blacks. 
 Illinois and Indiana are sadly disgraced by their 
 black laws. 
 
 " But a few years ago, a drunken legislative 
 body in Missouri passed an act reducing to 
 slavery all free negroes who did not leave the 
 State within a given time. It was known to 
 that body, at the same time, that the adjoining 
 Free States had laws that prohibited free colored 
 people from coming within their borders. But 
 for the magnanimity of the then governor of 
 Missouri, who vetoed the bill, the free negroes 
 of the State would have had no alternative but 
 slavery. 
 
 " The men who composed that legislative 
 body shovild have been born in the dark ages, 
 when humanity was lost in brutality. 
 
268 Till 
 
 "But a word more in reference to the insti- 
 tution you so much admire. Only compare the 
 Northern States with the Southern. How strik- 
 ing is the contrast ! What has made the dif- 
 ference ? This is a question that needs no an- 
 swer. In the pestilential atmosphere of slavery 
 nothing succeeds ; progress and prosperity are 
 unknown ; supineness and slothfulness ensue ; 
 wretchedness and desolation run riot throughout 
 the land, and an aspect of most melancholy in- 
 activity and dilapidation broods over every city 
 and town; ignorance and prejudice sit enthroned 
 over the minds of the people \ usurping despots 
 wield the sceptre of power ; — everywhere and 
 in everything, throughout the South, the multi- 
 tudinous evils of slavery are apparent. 
 
 " Going from the South to the North, we 
 see the condemnation of slavery written upon 
 everything, — improvements, inventions, and 
 whatever displays enterprise, taste, genius; — 
 ay, and literature, learning, science, and phi- 
 losophy, at the North, all rise up to condemn 
 slavery." 
 
 But the parson was again casting pearl be- 
 
OR, THE REIGX OF TERROR. 269 
 
 fore swine. Words of truth and wisdora are 
 thrown away when addressed to men who love 
 falsehood and are wedded to folly. 
 
 How little the politician profited by the re(t- 
 sonirig of Rev. Southdown may be seen in the 
 following incident, which happened but a few 
 hours after his conversation with the parson -.^ 
 
 A man of silvery hair, and bearing many a 
 scar, had just returned from the war. He sat 
 with his head bowed in sorrow, and leaning 
 upon his staff; his wife and children wei'e weep- 
 ing around him ; for he had brought back, not 
 only a mutilated body, but the sad intelligence 
 that his youngest son had fallen in battle. 
 
 In the midst of this touching scene, the poli- 
 tician came in, and, abruptly addressing the 
 weary, heart-stricken soldier, said, — 
 
 "Well, old man, you are back, it seems, from 
 the abolition war, and minus an arm I per- 
 ceive, and got a few awkward hacks and ugly 
 scratches, besides. The chivalry must have been 
 after you right sharp when you got that fright- 
 ful gash on the side of your face. Ha. ha ! I 
 reckon you're beginning to find out that fightr 
 
 23* 
 
270 THE STARS AJiD BARS ; 
 
 ing for niggers don't pay. And 1 understand 
 you got one of your boys killed down there. 
 Don't you think you'd both been better off at 
 home, eh ? " 
 
 The soldier slowly raised his drooping head, 
 wiped the tears from his bronzed and furrowed 
 cheek, bent a look of proud scorn and manly 
 indignation upon the pusillanimous wretch who 
 stood before him ; then, rising deliberately to 
 his feet, said, — 
 
 " True, sir, I have lost a son in the bloody con- 
 flict, and, in addition to receiving many wounds, 
 have lost an arm ; but, rather than be a 
 traitor, or have any one near and dear to me 
 play a traitor's part, I would freely lose another 
 arm and another son, and be covered with 
 wounds and bruises from the crown of my head 
 to the soles of my feet ! We live not for self 
 alone ; we owe duties to God, to humanity, and 
 to our country; we owe duties to posterity. 
 This war is not for the present generation only; 
 it is for unborn millions; it is for the perpe- 
 tuity of a republican form of government, 
 the perpetuity of our free institutions; it is a 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEEROK. 271 
 
 war against despotism and oppression ; it is a 
 war against a race of petty tyrants who glory 
 in loading with chains both the minds and the 
 bodies of men ; it is a war for the upholding of 
 a great government, and the suppression of the 
 most causeless and diabolical rebellion ever 
 known upon the face of the earth. There have 
 been justifiable rebellions, — rebellions against 
 tyranny, and for progress and liberty; but this 
 is a rebellion to turn the tide of progress back- 
 ward, and to crush the very spirit of liberty. 
 "When I think what is at stake in this war, 
 and consider the imperilled condition of the 
 government, and when I call to mind the sacri- 
 fices that loyal men are making for their coun- 
 try, and knowing at the same time, as I do, that 
 the struggle is being prolonged, the war pro- 
 tracted, and the terrible conflict made more san- 
 guinary, by the encouragement which disloyal 
 men here at home are giving armed traitors at 
 the South, — when I thinJs: of these things," re- 
 peated the gray-haired soldier, while the fires of 
 true patriotism and a just indignation kindled 
 in his noble eye, " and remember," continued he, 
 
272 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 "what toils and suffering our patriotic brethren 
 are enduring, separated from their families and 
 homes, and constantly in the midst of danger 
 and death, and then listen to the pratings of 
 such contemptible tories as you, who have will- 
 ingly done nothing for j^our country, while you 
 ernjoy the protection of its laws, I must confess 
 it stirs my blood, — at least, what little I have 
 left. Thank God, I have one arm yet; and with 
 that I perhaps cannot serve my country better 
 than by breaking the pate of a copperhead;" 
 »and whack! he gtruck the intruder with his 
 cane, making a telling impression upon a skull 
 which arguments had been hurled at in vain. 
 " Take that, you serpent ! " said he, — " and that ! 
 you vile traitor ! " hitting him again, — " and 
 that, you unhung tory ! " whacking him over 
 the head a third time. The last blow brought 
 the impertinent politician to the floor, lustilj 
 crying for quarter. 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TBBBOB. 
 
 273 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " First a shadow, then a sorrow- 
 Till the air is dark with anguish." 
 
 'ELL, parson," said an avowed in- 
 || fidel to Southdown, ■' you are a 
 believer in a divine providence ; 
 tell me how you reconcile your 
 doctrine with this war, and the 
 distress, calamities, and blood- 
 shed it is causing." 
 "While I believe in a divine providence, Mr. 
 Dudley," replied the parson, " I also believe 
 in free moral ability ; or, in other words, that 
 man is a free agent, having power to do good 
 or evil, — and destined, under God's overruling 
 providence to take the consequences. In the 
 abuse of their free agency, evil-minded men 
 have broudit this <Treat tro-.'.blc upon the coun- 
 try." 
 
274 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 " But why did not God, in his providence, pre- 
 vent the dire results which have grown out of 
 their treasonable' acts? Without interfering 
 with their free agency, could he not have turned 
 aside the fatal blow, and saved us from bloody 
 strife, and the sunny South from desolation ? " 
 
 " Unquestionably ; but we must take into 
 consideration the fact that we had become a 
 very wicked nation, — and besides, that we 
 have long cherished, and still are fostering in 
 the bosom of the nation, a most wicked insti- 
 tution, — a system of injustice and oppression, 
 which is utterly incompatible with Christianity, 
 and a vile abomination in the sight of God." 
 
 " Ah, but how does that help your side of the 
 question ? " 
 
 "Thus: we need humbling; and God sees 
 that nothing but fearful national calamities, 
 sorrow, and suffering, will answer the purpose, 
 bring down our pride and beget a spirit of re- 
 pentance that will work reformation. There- 
 fore, he has permitted us to bring upon our- 
 selves the terrible scourge of civil war ; and, 
 while we deserve all we are suffering, and ten- 
 
215 
 
 fold more, yet I doubt not, that in God's prov- 
 idence it will be for the nation's greatest good 
 in the end. However blind we may be to it, 
 future generations will clearly see the hand of 
 God in this war. And while they may bedew 
 with tears the pages of history that shall tell of 
 our sufferings, yet they will perceive that no 
 milder remedy could have saved us." 
 
 "At the present crisis, there appears to my 
 mind a better prospect for being destroyed 
 than saved. The remedy is likely to be worse 
 than the malady." 
 
 " The whole head is sick, and the whole heart 
 is faint ; there is no soundness in the nation. 
 And, worst of all, we are unwilling to acknowl- 
 edge the desperate state we are in, and to con- 
 fess we need a remedy. Sordid interest stands 
 in the way of justice and humanity ; yet man- 
 ifestly Heaven intends that oppression shall 
 cease ; and, if nothing but war and desolation 
 can break the tyrant's power and strike the 
 chains of slavery from the limbs of the bond- 
 man, why, then war and desolation must come." 
 
 " I cannot see that we deserve such a scourge, 
 or that we are so great sinners after all." 
 
276 THE STARS AND BARS J 
 
 "No nation, perhaps, has been blessed I'ke 
 ours ; and none has been more ungrticefal^ 
 Jnst before the dark and stormy night cf dis- 
 union and civil war gathered over us, we were 
 glorying in our strength, and boasting of our 
 wisdom, 'wealth, and prosperity. We thought 
 ' the race was to the swift and the battle to the 
 strong ; ' and we had forgotten the divine 
 declaration, ' Righteousness exalteth a nation.' 
 Contemning the weak, and despising the poor 
 and helpless, we delighted in tyranny, cruelty, 
 and oppression. Ignoring the higher law, and 
 disregarding Heaven's plainest mandates, we 
 trampled down trvith, justice, and mercy." 
 
 " In these respects, have we been worse than 
 other nations ? " 
 
 " V/e have been worse, in that we have been 
 more highly favored. Looking over our broad 
 land, contemplating its vastness and its immense 
 resources, and considering the rapid strides it 
 had made and was making in wealth and 
 power, — surveying its rich valleys and its 
 golden mountains, its fruitful fields and its 
 exhaustless mines, we grew proud, haughty, and 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERriOR. 277 
 
 ungrateful, even insolent and defiant. We al- 
 most ceased to fear Crod or to regard man ; and 
 said in our hearts, ' Wlro shall try swords 
 with such a nation as this ? or, who presume to 
 measure arms with these United States ? ' " 
 
 " I grant you, we have been too boastful." 
 
 '^A.y; pluming ourselves upon national great- 
 ness, we dreamed not that there was weakness 
 in our strength. Nor remembered the prov- 
 erb, 'A haughty spirit goeth before a fall' 
 Heaven ordains that the high-headed and stiff- 
 necked shall be brought low; and that the 
 pride of nations, as well as of individuals, shall 
 be humbled." 
 
 " Be that as it may, the American people are 
 now in a fair way to experience hiimility." 
 
 " Yes ; she that boasteth herself ' the queen of 
 the world and the child of the skies' is des- 
 tined to come down and sit in the dust. Al- 
 ready, distraction and dismay have suddenly 
 taken the place of peace and prosperity. Our 
 Sim went down at noon; and an appallin* night 
 is now upon us, — an almost rayless, moonless, 
 starless, night ! The nation's sky is overcast by 
 
 21 
 
278 THE STAE3 AM) BARS ; 
 
 tempest clouds of frightful aspect, through 
 which grim-visaged War with desperate fury- 
 drives his fiery steeds and gory chariot." 
 
 "Yet how hard to realize that it is so, — to 
 realize that war is raging, and that bloody bat- 
 tles are being fought in our own country, — our 
 once happy country, so long accustomed to 
 peace." 
 
 " True ; it almost staggers belief; especially 
 when we think of the magnitude and extent of 
 the conflict, having a sweep of scarcely less 
 than ten thousand miles. Only let your mind's 
 eye range the length and breadth of our ensan- 
 guined plains, — almost the entire land of sla- 
 very may be regarded as one great field of bat- 
 tle. In the world's history such a battle-field 
 never before was known." 
 
 . "Alas ! what desolation is being wrought ! 
 Oh the blood and treasure it has already cost!" 
 
 " 'Tis fearful to think of. But that it is so, 
 why should we marvel ? Ts there not a God of 
 justice ? Can we be surprised at his righteous 
 judgments ? Ts it strange that a day of reckon- 
 ing has at last come ? " 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 279 
 
 " If it be a providence, I m ust confess that to 
 me it is a mystei'ious, inexplicable providence." 
 
 '•'Why should we marvel that the Almighty, 
 in righteous indignation, has allowed the wicked 
 men, whom the people, in their blindness and 
 perverseness, so long exalted to power, to kindle 
 a consuming fire in the bosom of the nation ? " 
 
 - " That may be orthodox theology, but, to my 
 mind, it is utterly incomprehensible." 
 
 " Just Heaven sometimes makes use of wicked 
 men to scourge the wicked." 
 
 " Why, then, is it not done in all cases, and 
 more thoroughly ? " 
 
 " God's dealings with men must necessarily be 
 such as not to interfere with their free moral 
 ability. If the Almighty governed the moral 
 world as he does the physical, by laws of force 
 and stern necessity, then would man be robbed 
 of his most exalted attribfttes and highest honor, 
 
 — free-will, power of choice, responsibility ; he 
 "would be nothing more than a machine, and no 
 more accountable for his conduct than the riv- 
 ers, the tides, the^vrinds;, t'le clouds." 
 
 " It seems to me that finite, erring man is an 
 
280 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 object of pity and commiseration rather than of 
 blame and animadversion. Pie is limited in 
 knowledge, weak in his faculties, and blinded by 
 his passions. Temptation assails him, and he has 
 no power to resist its force ; evil comes upon 
 him, and he foresees it not. Who is wise enough 
 to have anticipated our present trouble? It 
 came like the sudden bursting of a tempesd: 
 upon the land, or a startling thunder-peal to the 
 unsheltered traveller, when he thought the sky 
 ■was clear." 
 
 "Ah, but not exactly so. For more than a 
 generation this storm was brewing. Low mut- 
 terings, thunders, were long heard in the dis- 
 tance, and frowning clouds, for years, hung darkly 
 about our national horizon ; but a crooked and 
 perverse generation was strangely blind and 
 deaf to the warning." 
 
 "Perhaps strangely, but not culpably, blind 
 and deaf?" 
 
 " Yes, culpably ; for we would not believe our- 
 selves in danger, though sages foretold and 
 statesmen predicted — long predicted — disaster 
 to the country aud the coming of national earth- 
 
OR, Till:; i£t:iG.\ or tvmhor. 281 
 
 quakes, ^^'hirlwind^, and tempests. It was only 
 the wilfully and stubbornly blind who could not 
 see years ago the foreshadowing of our present 
 trouble and national distress." 
 
 '■ To be sure, we have had political prophets, 
 fiinatics, and alarmists, but we believed them 
 not." 
 
 ""We should at least have heeded the signs of 
 the times, paused in our mad career, and called 
 upon God to save us from our national sins. But, 
 ' On with the dance ! ' said a million voices ; 
 'let joy be unconfined ! ' President and cabinet, 
 senators and representatives, led in the giddy 
 whirl, while the upper-ten and lower-million fol- 
 lowed in their wake. Washington City spent 
 the day and shared the night ,in banqueting, 
 revelry, and dissipation ; ay, and in vile debauch 
 and lewd wantonness." 
 
 ''A bad set they were there, in Pierce's time 
 and through Buchanan's reign. The old dotard, 
 and his more treacherous predecessor, committed 
 sin enough to damn a nation." 
 
 " Moral pestilence, as well as physical, is con- 
 tagious ; almost all the cities in the land, copy- 
 
 24* 
 
282 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 ing the example of the Federal capital, did, nearly 
 as they could, the same things that were done 
 at Washington. For many years prior, and up 
 to the time of this nightfall upon the nation, 
 we have had, especially in political circles and 
 amongst our office-holders, all over the length 
 and breadth of the land, disgraceful profligacy, 
 miserable demagoguism, villanous plots, coffee- 
 house caucusing, wire-working, trickery, and 
 secret conclaves, where conspiracies, knavery, 
 and all kinds of treasonable schemes and dark 
 designs have been carried on." 
 
 ''I fain would persuade myself, parson, that 
 your imagination has colored the picture ; 
 yet I must own that recent developments have 
 proved to me that the class of men you speak 
 of, and especially the disloj^al wretches who, 
 while in office, were plotting treason against the 
 government they were pretending to serve, are 
 even worse — more heartless and treacherous 
 than language can describe." 
 
 " Besides, among such men, party rancor has 
 known no bounds ; truth and honesty have been 
 laughed at, while cunning intrigue and shrewd 
 
OR, THE REIGX OF TERROR. 283 
 
 rascality were praised. Political corruption has 
 been rife ; principle accounted nothing ; party, 
 everything. The perpetual aim of demagogues 
 has been to keep the political furnace red-hot, 
 by blowing the bellows of party, and fanning 
 the flames of passion. A professional politician 
 cares not whose house gets on fire, so his own 
 pot boils." 
 
 "Alas for any country in which dishonesty is 
 rewarded ! For then integrity, truth, and vir- 
 tue retire in disgust from the pubUc walks of 
 life." 
 
 "Ay; leaving rogues and traitors to manage the 
 affairs of the government. And I must own, how- 
 ever much it may reflect upon my own profes- 
 sion, that dishonesty, in many sections, has 
 been scarcely less rewarded in Church than in 
 State. Hence, time-serving incumbents of the 
 pulpit, as well as office-seekers, have lent them- 
 selves to the cause of injustice, aristocracy, and 
 oppression. 
 
 " With this state of things long existing, and 
 constantly growing worse, what could we have 
 expected ? — what but that our national sky 
 
284 THE STABS AND BARS ; 
 
 « 
 
 would gather blackness and tempest, and pour 
 down upon our heads a deluge of wrath ? 
 
 "After a long forbearance, is it strange that 
 divine venoieance has at last kindled to a de- 
 vourin;)- flame ? Is it strange that fire and sword 
 ai'e now doing their fearful work of slaughter 
 and devastation in the fairest portion of our 
 guilty land ? 
 
 " Through ihe wicked persistency of the slave- 
 driving tyrants who inaiigui-ated civil war for 
 the purpose of augmenting their despotic power, 
 the soil of every slave-holding State has already 
 been drenched with blood, and its rivers made red 
 by the purple tide of the slain. And still the din 
 of arms is heard above the groans of the dying 
 and the wail of the widow and the orphan ? 
 While the nation has been ripening for this 
 dreadful scourge, while sin has been added to 
 sin, iniquity heaped on iniquity, and while the 
 enemies of the Union and the foes of freedom 
 have been hatching their foul treason and dia- 
 bolical conspiracies, Zion's watchmen, as well 
 as our statesmen, for the most part, have slept ! 
 — slept, or waking, cried, ' Peace ! peace ! when 
 there was no peace.' 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 285 
 
 " True, indeed, a few faithful men there v, ere, 
 who, lifting up their voices, cried aloud in the 
 ears of all the people, warning them of the 
 coming storm, warning them of the nearness 
 of .a day of retribution and an impending 
 revelation of wrath and fiery indignation that 
 should sweep as a whirlwind, overwhelming the 
 proud, the wicked, and the oppressor. And 
 these true and faithful men were bitterly de- 
 nounced as false prophets, fanatics, and agitators, 
 who deserved only scorn, derision, persecution, 
 or the gibbet ; and not a few of their number, 
 to the great disgrace of our boasted Republic," 
 died martyrs to the cause of freedom, — were 
 cruelly murdered by pro-slavery mobs, — and 
 the government winked at it. Should we, there- 
 fore, complain when the vials of divine wrath 
 are poured out upon so guilty a nation ? Can 
 we marvel at what is now befalling that portion 
 of this great country desecrated by slavery, and 
 wliere God is forgotten, religion made a mockery, 
 and humanity outraged ? 
 
 "A people clinging to an institution which is 
 but the barbarous relic of a barbarous age, and 
 
286 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 that, in spite of the world's progress, and in the 
 face of better light and knowledge, surely de- 
 serve the judgments and calamities that wilful 
 blindness fails not, sooner or later, to bring. 
 
 " What are the woes which the slave-holders 
 of the South are now suffering, — what the terror 
 and despair that seize upon the heartless ty- 
 rants, but a just retribution for the magnitude 
 of their sins, the blackness and enormity of their 
 crimes ? Profligacy, licentiousness, kidnapping, 
 robbery, mobocracy, murder, and treason, are 
 meeting with their appropriate rewards. The 
 •day of vengeance — of terrible vengeance — has 
 come ! Violence, carnage, and death wave their 
 black banner in awful triumph where the slave, 
 unpitied, so long clanked his chains." 
 
 "It seems retribution, indeed ! Nor can I say 
 but what it is just." 
 
 "Divine justice and judgment never were 
 more clearly seen than in the events now tran- 
 spiring in the Slave States. Only look at the 
 sunny South, and see what is happening to the 
 haughty, domineering chivalry of Dixie land ! 
 Wild confusion, dire dismay and consternation, 
 everywhere reign. Treachery, distrust, and an- 
 
287 
 
 archy prevail ; and starvation, too, will soon be 
 at the threshold of the nabob as well as at the 
 door of his menial, and in the cabin of his slave. 
 Turn which Avay they will, the sword, pestilence, 
 and famine stare the pampered chivalry in the 
 face. Multitudes have already been smitten 
 with iron hail; and their mangled bodies or 
 bleaching bones lie scattered on hill and vale. 
 Their fields are laid waste ; their dwellings dis- 
 mantled, and their ill-gotten gain, through un- 
 paid toil, has taken to itself- wings and flown." 
 
 " If the judgments of Heaven are to fall upon 
 the Southern slave-holder, why shoxild pro-slavery 
 men of the North escape ? Their principles are 
 the same ; they give countenance to the insti- 
 tution, and by their votes and voices help to up- 
 hold and perpetuate it." 
 
 " They will not escape ; the curse of God is 
 upon them, and his vengeance will sooner or 
 later overtake them. In fact, they are already 
 upon the rack, writhing under the mortification 
 of defeat and the miscarriage of their treasona- 
 ble plots. They plainly see, that unless they 
 can break up the government, their political 
 graves are dug." 
 
288 
 
 THE STARS AND BARS j 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 ** 'Mid cries and clashing arms, there came 
 The hollow sound of rushing flame 1 " 
 
 ''T was in Platte City, and on the 20th 
 of August, 1863 ; the king of day 
 was dipping behind the western hills, 
 while his yellow locks still sti-eatned 
 out upon the horizon, burnishing as 
 with gold a palace of clouds that 
 hung in gorgeous splendor about 
 him. At that hour a young man, with pale and 
 thoughtful face, might have been seen on the 
 summit of a green hill, a little way south of the 
 village, poising a telescope, and looking toward 
 the fast-declining i<un; by his side stood a biight 
 boy, perhaps somewhere in his teens. In the 
 valley below, as the evening shades drew on, a 
 company of horsemen made their appearance, 
 and halted as if they had reached an appointed 
 place of rendezvous. At the same time, in the 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 289 
 
 village, hard by, there was hurrying to and fro, 
 and with a slyness of movement calculated at 
 once to awaken curiosity and suspicion. A noise- 
 less but intense excitement prevailed ; men 
 walked stealthily, and talked only in whispers ; 
 while women sallied forth, ever and anon, here 
 and there, and with white lips and trembling 
 nerves inquired what was brewing. They were 
 answered by mysterious looks, and with finger 
 on the lip ; for a deed that night was to be 
 done they dared not name j ay, — such a deed, 
 the very thought of which might turn the cheek 
 of darkness pale. 
 
 A score or two of men, armed with guns, 
 bowie-knives, and revolvers, in a very few 
 minutes were mounted and moving off like 
 a funeral procession, slowly and softly, in the 
 direction of the valley, to the place of ren- 
 dezvous. 
 
 Many citizens stared and wondered ; others 
 looked wise, gave knowing winks, and nodded 
 their heads significantly. 
 
 From various places along the border, similar 
 bands set out about the same hour, and all, con- 
 
 2S 
 
290 
 
 verging to one point, came together at midnight 
 upon the banks of the Missouri River, where 
 ample preparations had been made for a speedy 
 crossing into Kansas. 
 
 We will here return, for a space, to our 
 astronomer and his pupil, whom we left at even- 
 tide on the summit of the green hill adjacent to 
 Platte City. The sun, which had made a golden 
 set, was the object of their gaze till he sunk be- 
 low the horizon and disappeared. Then, watch- 
 ing the stars as thej came out one by one, and 
 pointing their telescope to various quarters of 
 the heavens, they viewed several of the planets 
 and some of the fixed stars. 
 
 "Now, Alonzo," said the astronomer, "here, 
 take a peep at Uranus through the telescope, — 
 more commonly called Herschel. This planet 
 was discovered in 1781 by Dr. William Herschel. 
 It is eighty times larger than the eaiih." 
 
 " Eighty times the size of this world we're on, 
 Mr. Lioni ? " inquired the lad, in a tone of sur- 
 prise and incredulity. 
 
 " Yes, eighty times." 
 
 " What a world it is ! " 
 
OE, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 291 
 
 " Now let US lower the instrument a little, and 
 take a view of Venus, — beautiful Venus, — the 
 most brilliant of all the planets, and the second 
 in order of distance from the sun. There, now, 
 — that's a charming view." 
 
 " Oh, dear ! It looks lilie the sun itself, Mr. 
 Lioni." 
 
 "It is very bright. Let us swing round a 
 little now, and get a glimpse of Saturn before 
 that fleecy cloud gets over it. There's a world 
 for you, my boy. You were surprised to hear 
 me say that Herschel was eighty times larger 
 than the earth ; but what will you think when 
 I tell you that Saturn is a thousand times 
 larger ? " 
 
 "A thousand times the size of the earth, Mr. 
 Lioni ? I declare ! Well, well ; I'm getting 
 out of conceit with this little world of 6urs. Oh, 
 I see that great belt, that glittering ring I've 
 read about ; how beautiful it looks ! " 
 
 " Do you see any moons ? " 
 
 « Moons ? Oh, now I do ! Two, — three ! " 
 
 " There are eight ; but you cannot see them 
 all. It is growing somewhat late, and the air is 
 
292 THE STAES AND BAES ; 
 
 a little chilly ; we'll take a peep at Jupiter, and 
 let that suffice for to-night. Jupiter is the 
 largest planet in the solar system. It would 
 make twelve hundred and eighty such worlds as 
 this we inhabit." 
 
 " That almost staggers my power of belief, 
 Mr. Lioni. Oh, it has a belt, too ! That's grand !" 
 
 " Do you see any moons ? " 
 
 " One, — yes, two." 
 
 " The other two are behind the planet." 
 
 "What's the reason our world couldn't have 
 had a few more moons, Mr. Lioni ? " 
 
 "Its rank among worlds is not of sufficient 
 importance. The Creator has given us one more 
 than we deserve, at any rate." 
 
 "Do you suppose the inhabitants of those 
 great and beautiful worlds are better than the 
 people here on this little jalanet ? " 
 
 "If they are not, some huge comet ought to 
 dash along, and knock them back into chaos." 
 
 " Do you think this world will ever get any 
 better, Mr. Lioni ? " 
 
 " It has taken a spell of getting worse lately. 
 Yet I believe in progress, and look hopefully 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TEEHOB. 293 
 
 opon humanity, notwithstanding the Tileness 
 and brutalit}'' we have seen so much of lately. 
 The heartless rebels, who are causing so much 
 distress, are no worse in principle than they 
 were in times of peace ; they now find opportu- 
 nity of giving full play to the savage disposition 
 within them, which, before, was onl}^ held in 
 check by the fear of punishment. From that 
 class we have nothing to hope. Among reason- 
 ing men the car of progress is always advan- 
 cing ; but the unreflecting, human animals, who 
 are governed only by their passions, are just 
 where the vulgar herd were a thousand years 
 ago. Outwardly they may seem superior to the 
 barbarians and ignorant herds of past ages, and 
 to be in advance of the heathen of our own 
 time, but inwardly they are the same, the very 
 same. The wild Indian, with his tomahavrk and 
 scalping-knife, never, to my knowledge, were 
 guilty of anything more barbarous than what 
 these rebel guerrillas are guilty of every day. 
 Yet the wretches who compose our guerrilla 
 bands are called civilized men ; and, outwardly, 
 as to form, feature, complexion, and apparel, 
 
 25* 
 
294 THE STABS AKD BAES ; 
 
 seem to be such ; but that which makes a man 
 a savage is witliin him ; and we can only tell 
 what is within the heart and mind of a man by 
 his acts. By this rule of judgment, we must 
 class a large number of our fellow-citizens with 
 heathen. Their conduct proves them imfit to 
 take rank even among ordinary savages; such 
 deeds as they commit would disgrace the most 
 warlike tribes of Indians. This ruffian band we 
 saw collecting in the vaUey, a little after sun- 
 down, I doubt not, has gone on a marauding ex- 
 pedition. God only knows how many innocent 
 people they may rob or murder before day- 
 light. But enough of this now; let us go to 
 our respective lodgings. I will call at your room 
 to-morrow morning at about nine o'clock, and 
 give you another lesson in astronomy." 
 
 "• If you please." 
 
 " I have nothing now to do ; and it's some re- 
 lief to my mind, these distressing times, to turn 
 aside to the quiet, peaceful paths of science ; 
 and, if I can be of some use to you, my time 
 will not be thrown away." 
 
 "I shall be greatly indebted to you, Mr. 
 Lioni." 
 
OB, THE EEIGN OP TERROE. 295 
 
 " The thought that I have been of some hdp 
 to you in climbing the hill of science will amply 
 reward me for any pains I may take. Good- 
 night." 
 
 " Good-night, Mr. Lioni." 
 
 About the time the banditti crossed into Kan- 
 sas, intelligence reached the -Union troops at 
 Kansas City, Mo., that Quantrell, with near a 
 thousand Border-ruffians, was marching upon 
 Lawrence, intending to murder the inhabitants, 
 pillage and burn the town, and then proceed to 
 Baldwin City and Prairie City, and treat them 
 in the same way. 
 
 There were but three hundred Union soldiers 
 at Kansas City ; but, without a moment's delay, 
 or the least hesitation, they mounted their 
 horses and set out for Lawrence with all possi- 
 ble speed. Among these three hundred were 
 Adrian Malvin, Parson Elmore, and Knicker- 
 bocker. But the cut-throats had too much the 
 start ; the soldiers were yet thirteen miles from 
 Lawrence, when they saw the nocturnal heavens 
 above the doomed village lighted with lurid 
 flames. 
 
296 THE STARS AND BARS ; . 
 
 This exciting scene, together with the thought 
 of the terrible massacre, which they had reason 
 to believe was going on, caused them to urge 
 on their jaded horses to the utmost of their 
 speed. Several noble animals fell dead, under 
 their riders, on the way. Before the troops 
 reached the burning town, the fiends had done 
 their work of slaughter and robbery, and were 
 on their way to Prairie City, robbing . and burn- 
 ing as they went. The pursuing soldiers weye 
 able to follow in their track by the light of the 
 burning buildings the miscreants fired on their 
 way. Fortunately for Prairie City, Baldwin City, 
 and other towns, which the vile wretches intend- 
 ed serving as they did Lawrence, the troops 
 overtook and gave them battle. The banditti, 
 however, stood the fire of the brave soldiers bat 
 a few minutes. Leaving some twenty of their 
 number on the ground, who were shot from 
 their horses, they fled, still going in the direc- 
 tion of Prairie City. It was now daylight ; and, 
 as they neared the town they next expected to 
 sack and burn, they discovered several hundrecf 
 armed citizens advancing to meet them. At this 
 
OB, THE EEIGX OP TERBOE. 297 
 
 they were seized with a panic, and fled in every 
 direction. Many of them failed to make good 
 their escape from Kansas; and those that suc- 
 ceeded in re-crossing the river were pursued 
 into Missouri, and near a hundred of them killed. 
 
 What a scene Lawrence presented next morn- 
 ing to the face of day ! The great Free-State 
 Hotel showed, among its smouldering ruins, em- 
 bers, and ashes, many charred human bodies, 
 while heaps of the dead lay in front of the 
 smoking pile who had been shot while making 
 their escape from the burning building. Amid 
 the ashes of many private buildings, also, uncon- 
 sumed portions of human bodies were to be 
 seen, while dead men and boys, in their night- 
 clothes, lay scattered up and down the streets, 
 and over the Common, in every direction. 
 
 To look upon this horrid scene, and to see the 
 crowds of distracted friends and relatives hunt- 
 ing out the marred and mangled forms of loved 
 ones, and listen to the wail of mothers, sisters, 
 wives, and children, were enough to move a 
 heart of stone. 
 
 The actors in this shocking massacre, the 
 
-iyo THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 monsters who perpetrated the hellish crime, had 
 mostly professed loyalty, and passed themselves 
 at home for Union men ; and, besides, had gen- 
 erally^ taken the oath of allegiance to the Fed- 
 eral Government, thereby adding perjury and 
 hypocrisy to barbarity and fiendish cruelty. 
 
OR. THE REIGN OF TERROR. 
 
 299 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 'Tis the mind that makes the man," 
 
 ,OOD-MORNING, Alonzo ! Now 
 for another lesson in astrono- 
 my," said Lioni, entering the 
 study of the lad who had spent 
 a portion of the previous night 
 with him upon the green hill 
 viewing the planets through a 
 telescope, and studying the laws that govern 
 them. 
 
 " Good-morning, Mr. Lioni ! I hope you didn't 
 take cold last night, while trying to put new 
 ideas into my dull brain." 
 
 "My blood's too hot, in these times of treason, 
 violence, and foul murder, to be affected by a 
 nipping air." 
 
 " Have you heard anything from the banditti 
 we saw rendezvous in the valley last night ? " 
 
300 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 " Not a word yet. Indeed, I so dread to hear, 
 that I have avoided speaking to any one on the 
 street. I'm sure we are soon to have terrible 
 tidings ; I feel it all over me. But let us divert 
 our minds from this painful subject, and talk 
 about astronomy." 
 
 " My Uncle Thaddeus, from the country, called 
 on me a little while this morning. He laughs 
 at me about studying astronomy ; says it's all 
 ridiculous nonsense ! " 
 
 " Oh, ho ! poor old man ! he'll never break his 
 neck climbing amongst the stars, I dare say." 
 
 « He says, ' What's the use of it ? ' " 
 
 " Poll ! a silly question. What's the use of 
 anything ? We may as well ask, What's the use 
 of thinking ? What's the use of living ? What's 
 th e use of aspiring to aught above a brute ? " 
 
 " He says if there are any other worlds than 
 this, they are too far off to do us any ggod." 
 
 "I imagine he could take no interest in a 
 world that's not likely to grow cabbage and po- 
 tatoes for his own special benefit. ■ - 
 
 " Whatever elevates and happifies man, is of 
 use, Alonzo. The study of astronomy exalts and 
 
301 
 
 sublimates our thoughts ; enlarges, brightens, 
 and invigorates our minds. Besides, while we 
 gaze on the broad page of astronomical glory, 
 we cannot but be impressed with a sense of the 
 majesty, the power, wisdom, and goodness of the 
 great Creator. While the study of astronomy 
 unfolds the mind, it enlarges, chastens, and jJU- 
 rifies the heart; makes us unselfish, promotes 
 magnanimity of soul, and insj)ires generous and 
 delicious sentiments. None but a supremely 
 selfish man wants to believe that the world he 
 inhabits is the chief part of creation and the 
 centre of the universe, and that the sun, moon, 
 and stars were created only for him and his 
 raca ' Yet there are plenty of such men ; they 
 have no thought, care, nor sympathy for any- 
 thing outside of themselves and the narrow 
 circle in which they move. We see this exem- 
 plifi.ed right here in our midst ; the people of 
 Platte City think the cackle of their berg the 
 bustle of the world ! For them the earth stands, 
 the sup shines, rises, and sets; for them the stars 
 twinkle, and for them the Almighty sits upon 
 
 the throne of the universe night and day." 
 2e 
 
302 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 "That makes me think of Elder Snooks'a 
 prayer, Mr. Lioni; he always prays as if he 
 thought everything was made for him." 
 
 "No doubt he considers himself the but-end 
 of all that God has made. The flea in his stock- 
 ing might with much more reason say, This man 
 was made for me. Parson Snooks's great won- 
 der is, that the sun doesn't stand still when he 
 preaches. When I heard him, — a sin I've been 
 guilty of but once, — it seemed to me the sun of 
 his knowledge was standing still, if not going 
 back a little." 
 
 "I've not heard him often, except at a dis- 
 tance. He's gifted with a loud voice." 
 
 "So is your donkey. But, to change the. sub- 
 ject, let me say to you, Alonzo, education makes 
 as much difference between men as Nature has 
 made betAveen a man and a beast ; even more. 
 I have seen dogs that evinced more considera- 
 tion, more refinement, more tenderness and af- 
 fection, than many men." 
 
 " But are there not educated men, Mr. Lioni, 
 who are very wicked ? " 
 
 " Undeniably ; but when I speak of the dif- 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TERROB. 303 
 
 ference that education makes between men, I do 
 pot mean intellectual attainments merely ; it is 
 indispensable that moral culture and the educa- 
 tion of the heart should be looked after. In the 
 true sense of education, Alonzo, you will some- 
 times meet with men that cannot read, who are 
 better educated than many of our scientific 
 men. Not only better educated morally, but 
 better educated intellectually ; they reason more 
 clearly, think more profoundly, comprehend prin- 
 ciples and the various relations of things more 
 readily. They have learned to exercise a com- 
 mon sense which anticipates the logic of the 
 schools. I could tell you of slaves who have a 
 much clearer perception of moral principles and 
 moral obligation than some of our learned di- 
 vines. So you see, I mean by education the un- 
 folding, brightening, and invigorating of our 
 faculties, no matter how or where it is done, or 
 ■whether with the aid of books and teachers or 
 without them." 
 
 " I now understand you. Men may have 
 learnino- without beini^f thinkers." 
 
 " That is the great trouble ; men do not think 
 
304 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 enough, nor do they feel enough. Acti\ity of 
 thoudit and feeling intensifies life, and enhances 
 the value of existence. Does that man truly 
 live whose heart and brain have the nightmare? 
 What to him is existence ? Little better than a 
 melancholy blank. What to him are the charms 
 of science, the beauties and sublimities of na- 
 ture, the glories of creation ? To such men life 
 has no significance, the universe no meaning. 
 Ah, but this is not our lesson in astronomy." 
 
 " No matter, Mr. Lioni ; I like to hear you 
 talk on this subject of thinking." 
 
 '■Well, then, I will dwell upon it a little longer; 
 and let me impress you, Alonzo, especially, with 
 the importance of mental industry and activity. 
 While indolence weakens the intellect, it strength- 
 ens the passions ; while it undermines virtue, it 
 o'onerates vice. The uncultured soul, like un- 
 ploughed fields, brings forth that only which is 
 vile, noxious, and unseemly. Inactivity cankers 
 the mind, corrodes the heai't, darkens and de- 
 praves all the powers of the soul ; while industry 
 and habitual exertion burnish the intellect, illu- 
 min3 the heart, vivify the affections, and invig- 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 305 
 
 orate the entire energies of our diviner nature. 
 Let me illustrate the thought I wish to fasten 
 upon you by a figure : you have seen the stag- 
 nant pool covered with its slimy scum, which 
 constantly breathes forth miasma to laden every 
 passing breeze with disease, pestilence, and death ; 
 you have also seen the crystal brook, whose 
 pure, bright waters go dancing merrily over beds 
 of Avhite pebble ; you instinctively loathe the 
 stagnant pool, but delight to look upon the crys- 
 tal brook. The former, being pent up, generates 
 noxious vaporsj and becomes the abode of veno- 
 mous reptiles ; the latter, full of activity, and 
 leaping along its winding way, is rendered pure, 
 healthful, musical, and beautiful. Do you get 
 my idea ? " 
 
 " Yes ; the idle mind is the stagnant pool." 
 
 " Ay ; in which vice hatches its miserable 
 brood. The active spirit " — 
 
 " Is the crystal brook." 
 
 "Ay ; gliding sweetly and cheerily over the 
 golden sands of life, reflecting celestial beauty, 
 and pouring the light of joy on all sides round." 
 
 26* 
 
306 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 " I like figures and comparisons ; they make 
 vivid and lasting impressions on my mind." 
 
 " Let me then amplify a little, in your favor- 
 ite style, since you like it. We will compare a 
 turbid, sluggish stream with the bounding, whirl- 
 ing, foaming cascade. The former has no charm 
 for your eye, is altogether unbeautiful and un- 
 attractive. But how enchanting the latter! — 
 rippling, gurgling to the brink, then, with a 
 mighty leap, flinging its wild waves upon the 
 silvery air to whiten in the wind." 
 
 "Ah, I see ! " 
 
 " The turbid, sluggish stream is a fit type of 
 the unthinking brain and unfeeling heart; while 
 the sublime cascade, no less appropriately, typi- 
 fies the active, energetic mind, busy thought, 
 'and the stirring, bounding soul." 
 
 "I see." 
 
 "Again ; compare the dark waters of the Dead 
 Sea with the rushing, thundering catai-act of Ni- 
 agara. The former presents a melancholy pic- 
 ture of death and desolation ; the latter you 
 gaze upon with ravished eyes and profoundest 
 emotions of sublimity as it pours its eternal wa- 
 
OB, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 307 
 
 ters, "with resistless force, from stupendous heights, 
 adown frightful steeps, dashing against trembling 
 rocks, turning dark huge waves to snow-white, 
 feathery foam and clouds of winged spray that 
 glitter in the sunlight with the inimitable hues 
 of the rainbow. Now, there are human minds 
 that, like the Dead Sea, present only a dismal 
 picture of moral darkness and desolation ; while 
 others remind you, in the might and majesty of 
 their career, of that wonder in nature, the cata- 
 ract of Niagara, whose bold, sweeping, booming, 
 torrent awes creation round with its gigantic 
 leap, deep-toned thunder, and earthquake-en- 
 ergy."' 
 
 « Oh, I see ! " 
 
 "And what makes the strikirtg difference be- 
 tween the Dead Sea and Niagai;^, Falls ? " 
 
 "Activity." 
 
 " Yes ; motion, friction, velocity. Vf hat makes 
 the difference between the minds of men ? " 
 
 "Activity." 
 
 " Yes ; action, energy, intensity. The proper 
 and legitimate exercise of the naind develops 
 strength, gives power and elasticity. Besides, 
 
308 TUB STAES AJSD BARS; 
 
 action refines and beautifies in mind as well as 
 in matter." 
 
 " I shall try to hold on to that idea, and make 
 it profitable to me." 
 
 " Let me illustrate yet further : take a lump 
 of gold from the mine ; it is a shapeless mass, 
 and has but little beauty to the eye ; but now 
 see it in the hands of the goldsmith, and watch 
 the process of melting and working it; his fire 
 and hammer directly change that shapeless mass 
 to a glittering chain that is to encircle and 
 adorn the neck of beauty. Wliat a transforma- 
 tion ! A yet greater and more wonderful trans- 
 formation may, by proper influences and right 
 appliances, be wrought on the human mind and 
 heart." 
 
 ''That gives, me better light on the subject 
 still." 
 
 "Just one more illustration, and I'll wind up. 
 Take the rough diamond from its dark bed ; it 
 has to your eye but little indication of possess- 
 ing qualities that give it rare value ; but only 
 wait till it is shaped and polished — what a 
 polish ! Now see it sparkle on the bosom of 
 
OR, THE REIGN OP TERROR. 309 
 
 beauty, you begin to appreciate its qualities 
 and estimate its worth. The undeveloped mind 
 is the rough diamond, whose value does not yet 
 appear ; but wait till education does its work ; 
 wait until the bright images of truth, virtue, and 
 religion are engraven on the tablets of the mind 
 and heart, then see how the soul will shine ! " 
 
 " Now we're going to be interrupted ; yonder 
 comes Parson Long-face." 
 
 " Prodigious ! Well, we may make up our 
 minds to be bored without mercy, or else treat 
 him uncivilly. He's the man who owns that 
 crazy negro woman, isn't he ? " 
 
 " Yes ; he sold her child — a little, bright, yel- 
 low boy — to a man who lived in Alabama, and 
 she went deranged about it. He treats her now 
 very cruelly, they say." 
 
 " Yet he pretends to be a minister ! " 
 
 A rap at the door now called Alonzo to his 
 feet, who coolly invited the clergyman in and 
 offered him a seat. Lioni frigidly bowed with- 
 out rising. 
 
 " I am round collecting money for the Bible 
 cause, and for missionary purposes," remarked 
 
310 THE STARS AND BARS; 
 
 Parson Longface, gravely, and in long-drawn, 
 solemn tones. 
 
 " I profess, parson," responded Lioni, " to be a 
 friend to both the causes you mention ; and 
 have ever esteemed it a privilege to contribute 
 something to aid in the good work of circulating 
 the Scriptures among the destitute in our own 
 country, and of sending the gospel to the 
 heathen in foreign lands ; but when solicited by 
 you to contribute, either to the missionary or Bi- 
 ble cause, I find a serious difficulty in the way." 
 
 " How can that be ? " 
 
 "While you profess to believe it necessary 
 for men to read the Scriptures in order to ob- 
 tain a knowledge of the way of life and salva- 
 tion, you at the same time favor a system which 
 deprives a large class of down-trodden people at 
 home of the privilege of reading the Word of 
 'God." 
 
 " You mean the slaves, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Yes ; I mean the ignored and vmfortunate 
 race among us, whom we are so careful to keep 
 in ignorance." 
 
 " Surely I had nothing to do in making the 
 
OR, THE EEIGN OF TERROR. 311 
 
 laws that prohibit them from being taught t6 
 read." 
 
 "Are you not the man who entered complaint, 
 at the last term of our circuit court, against one 
 of our cleverest citizens, for teaching his slaves 
 to read the Bible ? " 
 
 " He was violating the law." 
 
 "And are you as careful to see that violations 
 of the law are punished in other cases ? One of 
 your neighbors, and a member of your church, 
 recently, v/hile in a passion, mutilated one of his 
 slaves in a most shocking manner, and in pal- 
 pable violation of the law; yet no one thinks 
 of entering complaint against him. Tliat, I 
 imagine, is not reckoned so serious an offence 
 against the dignity of the law." 
 
 " If slaves were taught to read the Bible, why, 
 then, they could read other books, too, and you 
 know that wouldn't do. Everj'body can see 
 that it is dangerous to enlighten slaves." 
 
 "Ah ; yet you are going round begging money 
 to enlighten the far-off heathen. ' Oh, consistency, 
 thou art a jewel ! ' " 
 
 "I haven't come for argument, but for help, in 
 
312 THE STAES AND BARS ; 
 
 the caiise of sending the Bible to the destitute, 
 and the gospel to the heathen." 
 
 " I will no more be guilty of the inconsistency 
 of putting money for such a purpose into the 
 hands of men whose acts give the lie to their 
 professions. In your missionary speeches you 
 tell us of the degraded condition of the heathen ; 
 you talk of the polygamy and other vices prac- 
 tised amongst them ; you mention their wars, 
 their barbarity, and their ignorance ; and from this 
 state of depravity you propose to redeem them 
 if we will but furnish the funds. How can we 
 believe you sincere in jonv professions of pity 
 for the heathen you have never seen, when there 
 are four millions of benighted beings in your 
 own country no less degraded, for whom you 
 manifest no concern? Worse than that: from 
 these four millions you are careful to with- 
 hold the means and opportunity of enlighten- 
 ment and elevation. And how much worse is 
 polygamy than a certain vice which is common 
 in this country, and which your slaves are en- 
 couraged if not compelled to practise ? And 
 do you not teach and often force them to disre- 
 gard their marriage vows ? " 
 
OE, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 313 
 
 "I am not here to discuss subjects of that 
 sort." 
 
 " If you are laboring to promote the cause of 
 missions, you should by no means overlook the 
 considerations to which I am calling your at- 
 tention. To show the degraded condition of the 
 heathen, you lay great stress on their habit of 
 selling their captives taken in battle. Is it any 
 better to sell persons who have never been at 
 war with you ? Kegardless of parental and 
 filial ties as well as of marriage vows, you sell 
 parent or child, husband or wife, brother or sis- 
 ter, and even mothers from their tender babes ; 
 and not a few of you sell your own children 
 when the mother happens to be a slave. Slave- 
 holders do things that would bring a blush of 
 shame to the cheek of a decent savage." 
 
 " Yes, yes ; I see your drift. With half an 
 eye, it's easy to see that you're an abolitionist." 
 
 " Call me what you choose ; I will show you 
 your inconsistency. Another thing : while you 
 profess to be shocked at the warlike disposition 
 of the heathen, you, as well as other pro-slavery 
 preachers, urged the organization of the guer- 
 
 27 
 
314 THE STARS AND BARS ; 
 
 rilla bands, here in our midst, who are now rob- 
 bing and murdering loyal citizens all over the 
 country." 
 
 " I hope they'll soon put a rope round your 
 neck, you Black Republican abolitionist." Say- 
 ing which, Parson Longface made long strides to- 
 ward the door, looking back as he went, evi- 
 dently a little suspicious that Lioni's boot might 
 follow him. 
 
 "The borer got bored this time," remarked 
 Alonzo, as soon as the parson was out of hearing. 
 
 " Well, my dear boy, our lesson in astronomy 
 is not likely to amount to much, this morning." 
 
 " I must tell you a dream I had just before I 
 awoke this morning, Mr. Lioni, which seems to 
 have been caused by my looking at the stars so 
 long last night. Yet a part of the dream ap- 
 pears to have originated in the serious reflec- 
 tions I've lately had about the slaves my bache- 
 lor uncle willed me at his death. I've been 
 trying some time to persuade myself that it 
 would be no sin to sell them and put the money 
 in my pocket; yet I've had some scruples of 
 conscience about it." 
 
OB, THE REIGN OF TERROR. 315 
 
 " I'm in hopes then your dream had a whole- 
 some moral to it." 
 
 "Methought that beautiful planet, Saturn, 
 which you told me was a thousand times as 
 large as the earth, came whirling through, the 
 vast regions of space toward our planet till it 
 seemed to fill the whole heavens. You and I 
 were together, looking alternately through the 
 telescope at the great planet while it rapidly 
 approximated our globe, and could distinctly 
 see, not only towns and cities on its surface, but 
 also their inhabitants. Near us stood father and 
 mother, and my little sister and brother. The 
 mulatto boy my uncle willed to me was also in 
 the group. You said a collision of the two 
 worlds was inevitable. Then methought we 
 were greatly alarmed, and made sure doomsday 
 had come. The thought of being crushed to 
 atoms between two worlds petrified me almost ; 
 but you consoled us all by saying that such a 
 death was to be coveted in preference to being 
 butchered by the cut-throat guerrillas ; and then 
 you mentioned, as an additional consolation, that 
 the wicked rebels would all be caught under 
 the dead-fall." 
 
.316 THE STAES AND BAES ; 
 
 "Ha! ha! I was vastly comforting in my 
 suggestions." 
 
 "You had scarce done speaking, when the 
 earth began to tremble ; and the sun, which was 
 almost down, suddenly rolled back up the heav- 
 ens. ' Here we go,' said you ; ' the earth has 
 forsaken its orbit, and we are going in a straight 
 line toward Skturn.' Directly, the sun disap- 
 peared ; but, for the loss of his light, we were 
 more than compensated by the splendor of 
 Saturn's rings." 
 
 " I almost envy you the luxury of such a 
 dream, Alonzo." 
 
 '■ Oh, but I was in the utmost terror all the 
 while ; yet the grandeur of the scene impressed 
 me deeply. At last the collision came ; but 
 very unaccountably, and to our joyful surprise, 
 the planets came softly in contact, almost with- 
 out a jar. Methought the outer ring and tall 
 mountains of Saturn prevented the bodies of 
 the globes from coming in close contact." 
 
 "A very fortunate circumstance ! " 
 
 " It gave me great relief, I assure you. Then, 
 while we stood gazing and wondering, lo! a 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TEREOE. 317 
 
 great air-ship, grandly constructed, and with 
 Avintrs as "white as a swan's, and of vast dimen- 
 sions, came gUding out from Saturn, and alight- 
 ed close by where Ave were- standing. To our 
 still greater astonisJiment, a bevy of angelic- 
 looking beings sallied forth from the aerial ship 
 and suri'ounded us. They were so exceedingly 
 beautiful, and arrayed in such splendid attire 
 that we had no fear of them. While in ecstasies 
 of admiration, and almost ready to worship the 
 celestial beings, as they seemed, they all at once 
 closed in and made us prisoners." 
 
 " Now you were in trouble again." 
 
 " Binding us with strong cords, they put us 
 on board the ship and sailed off. By and by, we 
 found ourselves in the midst of a splendid city, 
 the like of which I had never before conceived. 
 We were unbound, and brought out of the ship to 
 be gazed upon by the inhabitants. What crowds 
 gathered about us! — and oh, what beautiful wo- 
 men I saw ! Their forms were elegant ; features 
 symmetrical and finely moulded ; and oh, what 
 complexions! — ^skin white as snow; lips ruby; 
 eyes a clear sky-blue ; cheeks damask and deli- 
 
318 THE STABS AKD B4.E3 
 
 cately tinted as the peach-blossom ; and their ap- 
 parel was of the most brilliant tissue. Both males 
 and females appeared vastly superior to our race, 
 not only physically, but likewise mentally. It 
 took them but a few moments to comprehend and 
 speak our language." 
 
 " You must have felt a spirit of adoration for 
 such superior beings." 
 
 " Alas ! all my enthusiasm over their angelic 
 appearance soon oozed out at the ends of my 
 fingers and toesj for it directly became evident 
 that our kidnappers intended to sell us for 
 slaves." 
 
 « Horrible ! " 
 
 " Indeed, I've hardly recovered yet from the 
 terrible sensations I had while standing on the 
 block to be sold into perpetual slavery." 
 
 " Ho, ho ! you now have some idea how a 
 poor darky feels when he's snatched away 
 from his native country and sold into hopeless 
 bondage." 
 
 " One at a time we were compelled, methought, 
 to stand on a block till knocked off" to the high- 
 est bidder. The rascals felt of my muscles and 
 
OR, THE REIGN OF TEBEOE. 319 
 
 examined ray limbs to determine how much hard 
 work I was able to endure. They opened my 
 mouth, looked at my teeth, punched me in the 
 ribs, pulled ray ears, .twitched my nose, and hit 
 me with their canes to see how sprightly I could 
 move round; and what a deal of fun they made 
 over my clumsy gait and swarthy complexion ! 
 But I stood it all like a philosopher till they 
 put my mother on the block and treated* her in 
 the same manner ; then, methought, my blood 
 boiled like lava in the heart of Vesuvius !" 
 
 " No wonder. Oh, what a fearful dream you 
 had ! And how thankful you felt, when on 
 waking you found it but a dream ! But how 
 many poor black men have passed through simi- 
 lar scenes, — and that without the joy of waking 
 to find it all a-dream." 
 
 " ' Have you no regard,' said I, ' for the prin- 
 ciples of justice? "We have wronged you not; 
 how can you thus deprive us of liberty and 
 make us your slaves ? Surely your hearts are 
 not made of stone ; you will yet be moved by 
 a touch of pity, if not a sense of justice, and set 
 us at liberty. Oh, ye noble sons of Saturn, it is 
 
320 
 
 impossible yo\i should delight in oppression and 
 remorselessly trample on our rights to liberty 
 and the pursuit of happiness.' ' Men of your 
 complexion/ replied he, 'have no rights which 
 ihe fair-skinned inhabitants of Saturn are bound 
 to respect. Instead of complaining of your lot, 
 you ought to be profoundly thankful for having 
 been brought from the dark, degraded condition, 
 and the miserable world in which you were born, 
 to such a sphere as this. Your race is always 
 at war, and take a diabolical delight in torment- 
 ing, butchering, and devouring one another. Be- 
 sides, your natural inferiority gives us the un- 
 doubted right to make slaves of you. This yel- 
 low man by your side was a slave to .you until 
 you yourself became a slave. Is he further 
 below you than you are below me ? The differ- 
 ence between your color and his is very slight, 
 while the contrast between my complexion and 
 yours is very great. If j^ou had the right to 
 make a slave of him on the ground of color, or 
 upon the plea of inferiority of form or feature, 
 or of intellect, then, on any or all of these 
 grounds I have the right to make a slave of 
 you.'" 
 
OE, THE EEIGN OP TEEEOR. 321 
 
 '• He rather had yon there, Alonzo. Hovr did 
 you reply to that ? " 
 
 " Said I, ' He was not kidnapped as I have been.' 
 'Ah, but his ancestors were/ replied he ; ' your 
 descendants, too, will be slaves without having 
 been kidnapped. If his ancestors were wrongly 
 enslaved, then has he been wrongly enslaved.' 
 ' But I had nothing to do,' said I, ' in first intro- 
 ducing slavery.' ' Neither had I,' returned he ; 
 ' the kidnappers brought you here, and I've paid 
 my money for you ; so you see nothing can be 
 more plain than that I am your rightful owner, 
 and that you are justly my property.' " 
 
 " There he had you again. And how did you 
 get round that ? " 
 
 "My conscience so condemned me, I could 
 make no answer ; but only begged that, though 
 doomed to hopeless servitude, we might not be 
 separated so as to be entirely deprived of each 
 other's society." 
 
 "And what said he, then ?" 
 
 " ' The interests of the master,' he coolly re- 
 sponded, 'and not of the slave, must be con- 
 sulted as to that.' And there I was confounded 
 again ; for I remembered that was my father's 
 
322 THE STARS AND BATuS ) 
 
 creed, and the doctrine of slave-holders gener- 
 ally. I, too, had imbibed the siime sentinient to 
 some extent. JHow I wondered that I never be- 
 fore had seen the palpable injustice of it." 
 
 "Ah, it was then brought home to you, and 
 you saw it in a new light. Plow difficult it is 
 for us to learn that Christian precept of doing 
 unto others as we'd have them do unto us." 
 
 " Methought our masters allowed us a few mo- 
 ments only to embrace and take jfinal leave of 
 one another. The parting scene threw me into 
 such an agony of mind I instantly awoke." 
 
 At this moment a neighbor came running in 
 to tell the terrible news of the massacre at Law- 
 rence ; whereupon Lioni and Alonzo rushed out 
 upon the street where a crowd was gathering 
 round a few of the returned banditti. Dr. Puff 
 and Skedaddle mixed in the throng, and were 
 jubilant over the burning of Lawrence and the 
 murder of the inhabitants. The cut-throats be- 
 gan to express some fear of being pursued by 
 Jim Lane, and the possibility that their com- 
 panions, who lingered behind, had been over- 
 taken by the avengers of blood. At this juncture 
 the stragglers, of whom they were just speak- 
 
OE, TttE EEIGN OF TEEROR. 323 
 
 ing, came into town under whip and spur, with 
 a detachment of Lane's men led by Knicker- 
 bocker, hard after them. 
 
 "Remarkable!" cried Skedaddle, and, wheel- 
 ing about, trusted once more to his legs. Dr. 
 PuflT, no less terrified, followed in his wake ; but, 
 having more beef to carry, failed to keep up with 
 the slim-shanked, lean-ribbed Skednddle. They 
 fled in the same direction with the flying ban- 
 ditti. The Union troops loaded and fired as they 
 went, bringing down two or three of the cut- 
 throats every round. Overtaking Dr. Puff, Knick- 
 erbocker couldn't resist the temptation of stick- 
 ing his bayonet in his back for old acquaintance' 
 sake. The Dr. bellowed lustily, but on rode 
 Knickerbocker, still pursuing and shooting at the 
 banditti. A few jumps brought him alongside 
 the other excited nabob ; of course, he felt in 
 duty bound to pay his respects to him, also ; a 
 quick and vigorous thrust with the bayonet cut 
 short the half-uttered " Remarkable ! " 
 
 Knickerbocker is confident there are two trai- 
 tors less in Platte County besides the thinning 
 out of the cut4hroats, in which he and his de- 
 
3'24 THE STAES AND BAES. 
 
 tachinent did a thriving business the day after 
 the Lawrence massacre. 
 
 "Alonao, my brain is on fire! " said Lioni; "my 
 blood is boiling in my veins ! The thought — oh, 
 the terrible thought — of that massacre at Law- 
 rence ! " 
 
 "I hope these soldiers will get the last one of 
 the fiends that did it," responded the lad. 
 
 "But Missouri is full of just such men, if men 
 they may be called. My mind is now made up to 
 join the army, and, if need be, spill my last drop 
 of blood in defence of the Union, and in sweep- 
 ing from the face of the earth these lawless des- 
 peradoes. And I will go at once." 
 
 " So soon ? " 
 
 " Yes ; right away. Alonzo, I may see you 
 no more ! — God bless you ! — Farewell ! Let 
 your aim be high, your purpose noble ; live for 
 heaven, for your coim try, and for humanity. 
 
 " Remember, — 
 
 ' We lire in deeds, not years, — in thouglits, not breaths; 
 In feelings, — not in figures on a dial. 
 We should count time by heart-throbs. He most Uvea 
 Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.' "