1861 September 17 Passengers in the train from Jefferson City last night bring a report that Gen. S. Price has entered Warrensburg, Missouri and taken possession of the town.

Mattoon Gazette Mattoon, Illinois
Thursday, October 10, 1861

Jefferson City, October 7, 1861.--General Fremont left this morning, accompanied by his staff and bodyguard, and followed by long cavalcades of baggage wagons and camp equipage.  General McKinstry leaves this afternoon. We have new from Sedalia to Saturday night 

--Scout's Report-- 

Price still moving southward from Warrensburg, Missouri. Mr. Cumming a member of the Convention from Jackson County, on his way to St. Louis, was stopped near Warrensburg by (General Sterling) Price and detained until the army passed through.  He says that they have an immense force, and are steering for the Arkansas border.

Nashville Union and American
Tuesday, September 17, 1861

Nashville Union, Tuesday 17 September 1861

Affairs in the Interior--Passengers in the train from Jefferson City last night bring a report that Gen. S. Price has entered Warrensburg, Missouri and taken possession of the town. We are clearly of opinion that this wants confirmation.

Two respectable citizens of Boone County, informed Col. A. P. Richardson of Jefferson City, that 1,000 mounted men are stationed at Kinkead's mills fourteen miles north of Columbia; that Martin Green was between the junction of Hannibal and St. Joseph and North Missouri roads, with 3,000 men; and that "Military Bill" Harris was to join Green and take Columbia, then night of the 11th inst. Pickets were seen three miles north of Columbia. A bank is located in that town. Mr. Smith, a Government agent for the purchase of horses was taken prisoner by Harris and $1,200 and all his horses taken from him. St. Louis Republican, Sept. 13.

General Sterling Price, entered Warrensburg, Missouri
September 12, 1861

Gen. John C. Fremont

by
Kennedy Hickman 
Updated March 06, 2017

John C. Frémont - Early Life:

Born January 21, 1813, John C. Frémont was the illegitimate son of Charles Fremon (formerly Louis-René Frémont) and Anne B. Whiting. The daughter of a socially prominent Virginia family, Whiting began an affair with Fremon while she was married to Major John Pryor. Leaving her husband, Whiting and Fremon ultimately settled in Savannah. Though Pryor sought a divorce, it was not granted by the Virginia House of Delegates. As a result, Whiting and Fremon were never able to marry. Raised in Savannah, their son pursued a classical education and began attending the College of Charleston in the late 1820s.

John C. Frémont - Going West:

In 1835, he received an appointment to serve as a teacher of mathematics aboard USS Natchez. Remaining on board for two years, he left to pursue a career in civil engineering. Appointed a second lieutenant in the US Army's Corps of Topographical Engineers, he began taking part in surveying expeditions in 1838. Working with Joseph Nicollet, he aided in mapping the lands between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Having gained experience, he was tasked with charting the Des Moines River in 1841. That same year, Frémont married Jessie Benton, the daughter of powerful Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton.

The following year, Frémont was ordered to prepare an expedition to South Pass (in present-day Wyoming). In planning the expedition, he met noted frontiersman Kit Carson and contracted him to guide the party. This marked the first of several collaborations between the two men. The expedition to South Pass proved a success and over the next four years Frémont and Carson explored the Sierra Nevadas and other lands along the Oregon Trail. Earning some fame for his exploits in the west, Frémont was given the nickname The Pathfinder

John C. Frémont - Mexican-American War:

In June 1845, Frémont and Carson departed St. Louis, MO with 55 men for an expedition up the Arkansas River. Rather than follow the expedition's stated goals, Frémont diverted the group and marched directly to California. Arriving in the Sacramento Valley, he worked to agitate American settlers against the Mexican government. When this nearly led to a clash with Mexican troops under General José Castro, he withdrew north to Klamath Lake in Oregon. Alerted to the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, he moved south and worked with American settlers to form the California Battalion (US Mounted Rifles).

Serving as its commander, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, Frémont worked with Commodore Robert Stockton, commander of the US Pacific Squadron, to wrest the coastal towns of California away from the Mexicans. During the campaign, his men captured Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. On January 13, 1847, Frémont concluded the Treaty of Cahuenga with Governor Andres Pico which terminated the fighting in California. Three days later, Stockton appointed him the military governor of California. His rule proved short-lived as the recently arrived Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny asserted that the post was rightly his.

John C. Frémont - Entering Politics:

Initially refusing to yield the governorship, Frémont was court-martialed by Kearny and convicted of mutiny and disobedience. Though quickly pardoned by President James K. Polk, Frémont resigned his commission and settled in California at Rancho Las Mariposas. In 1848-1849, he conducted a failed expedition to scout a route for a railroad from St. Louis to San Francisco along the 38th Parallel. Returning to California, he was appointed one of the state's first US senators in 1850. Serving for a year, he soon became involved with the newly-formed Republican Party.

An opponent to the expansion of slavery, Frémont became prominent within the party and was nominated as its first presidential candidate in 1856. Running against Democrat James Buchanan and American Party candidate Millard Fillmore, Frémont campaigned against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the growth of slavery. Though defeated by Buchanan, he finished second and showed that the party could achieve an electoral victory in 1860 with the support of two more states. Returning to private life, he was in Europe when the Civil War began in April 1861.

John C. Frémont - The Civil War:

Eager to aid the Union, he purchased a large amount of arms before returning to the United States. In May 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Frémont a major general. Though largely done for political reasons, Frémont was soon dispatched to St. Louis to command the Department of the West. Arriving in St. Louis, he began fortifying the city and quickly moved to bring Missouri into the Union camp. While his forces campaigned in the state with mixed results, he remained in St. Louis. Following a defeat at Wilson's Creek in August, he declared martial law in the state.

Acting without authorization, he began confiscating property belonging to secessionists as well as issued an order emancipating slaves. Stunned by Frémont's actions and concerned they would hand Missouri to the South, Lincoln immediately directed him to revoke his orders. Refusing, he dispatched his wife to Washington, DC to argue his case. Ignoring her arguments, Lincoln relieved Frémont on November 2, 1861. Though the War Department issued a report detailing Frémont's failings as a commander, Lincoln was politically pressured into giving him another command.

As a result, Frémont was appointed to lead the Mountain Department, which comprised parts of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, in March 1862. In this role, he conducted operations against Major General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. Through the late spring of 1862, Frémont's men were beaten at McDowell (May 8) and he was personally defeated at Cross Keys (June 8). In late June, Frémont's command was slated to join Major General John Pope's newly-formed Army of Virginia. As he was senior to Pope, Frémont refused this assignment and returned to his home in New York to await another command. None was forthcoming.

John C. Frémont - 1864 Election & Later Life:

Still noteworthy within the Republican Party, Frémont was approached in 1864 by hard-line Radical Republicans who disagreed with Lincoln's lenient positions on postwar reconstruction of the South. Nominated for president by this group, his candidacy threatened to split the party. In September 1864, Frémont abandoned his bid after negotiating the removal of Postmaster General Montgomery Blair. Following the war, he purchased the Pacific Railroad from the state of Missouri. Reorganizing it as the Southwest Pacific Railroad in August 1866, he lost it the following year when he was unable to make payments on the purchase debt.

Having lost most of his fortune, Frémont returned to public service in 1878 when he was appointed governor of the Arizona Territory. Holding his position until 1881, he was largely dependent on income from his wife's writing career. Retiring to Staten Island, NY, he died in New York City on July 13, 1890.

Justus McKinstry

Justus McKinstry (July 6, 1814 – December 11, 1897) was a United States Army officer who served in the Second Seminole War and with merit in the Mexican–American War and in the Third Seminole War. He was appointed a brigadier general and assistant quartermaster in the Union Army in the early days of the American Civil War but his appointment expired without being confirmed by the United States Senate. His actual highest rank was major. He was suspended from his appointment and held under arrest starting November 13, 1861, although his confinement was expanded to the city limits of St. Louis, Missouri after February 22, 1862, in anticipation of a court-martial in October 1862. He was convicted of graft, corruption, and fraud in the quartermaster's department in the Department of the West. The court recommended his dismissal from the army. On January 28, 1863, after being held in arrest for more than a year, McKinstry was cashiered "for neglect and violation of duty to the prejudice of good order and military discipline." Despite the expiration of his brigadier general appointment without Senate confirmation, some sources, such as Ezra Warner, list McKinstry as a brigadier general. If so regarded, he was one of three Union Army generals who was cashiered. After his dismissal from the Union Army, McKinstry was a speculator and stockbroker in New York City, 1864–1867, and land agent in Rolla, Missouri, 1867 – c. 1870, although he spent most of the rest of his life in reduced circumstances in St. Louis.