We start for the railroad—Arrive at Centerville—Arrival of a courier from Sturgis—March to Plattsburg—Orders from Sturgis—Turn towards Kansas City—Night at Smithville—March resumed towards Liberty—Sturgis retreats three days from an enemy who does not pursue—We think his pursuers turn against us, and turn to the west to elude them—Strike the Missouri at Parkville, and prepare to cross on a rickety flatboat—A steamboat arrives and conveys us to Leavenworth—We return next day to Wyandott—Our stay at Wyandott—Move to Kansas City—Arrival of Lane's brigade—Comparison between Lane and Sturgis—They quarrel about precedence in rank—Lane moves out of town—Hospitality of the citizens.

On the morning of the 18th, Colonel Scott sent Lieut. Call, with most of his command to Cameron as an escort to about fifty wounded and sick conveyed in wagons. The following day, having succeeded in impressing an additional number of conveyances, he took up the march for the same place at 6 P.M., in pursuance of Colonel Smith's orders, leaving the rest of the wounded, those who were unable to ride in wagons, to be conveyed by steamboat to Fort Leavenworth, with Lieutenant Crosley in charge, and Sergeant Moe acting as hospital steward.

A cool evening march brought us to Centerville, where we halted for the night. It rained heavily during the forepart of the night; but most of us found shelter in buildings and rested well. Colonel Scott's orders from Smith were to take Plattsburg in his route to Cameron; but as the Colonel wished to send his sick and wounded to the railroad with as little delay as possible, he chose to come out of his way with them as far as Centerville; and from this point in the morning; he sent them forward under a small escort of convalescents.

While he was preparing to do this, a courier arrived from Sturgis, with a dispatch for Colonel Smith whom he had expected to find at Liberty. Not finding him there, he had followed, and mistaking his route, had overtaken Colonel Scott. His representations induced the latter to open the dispatch. In it, Sturgis represented himself as being pressed by overwhelming numbers and without artillery, and ordered Smith to come to his support. Scott forwarded the dispatch to Smith who was then flying in all haste to St. Joseph. Not knowing where to find Sturgis, or what the result would be, he did not feel authorized to turn back with his small force, now less than four hundred men. He accordingly sent a dispatch to Sturgis that he would proceed to Plattsburg, and there await orders from him.

Meanwhile, vague rumors of the arrival and character of this dispatch spread among the men. Here there was but one voice: "Let us march to join Sturgis; let us not hesitate while our comrades are in peril." If any felt otherwise they cloaked their feelings in silence. We imagined that being under Smith's command, such an order should govern us as though it came from him. We thought that it should have been enough to be satisfied that had Sturgis known our situation, a similar order would have been sent to us, and that to move on the strength of this dispatch would meet his approbation. We thought we should not take into consideration our own danger, when it was our duty to relieve our comrades. Nor could we believe there was much danger in such a movement. We thought we could march south upon Sturgis' line of retreat, and join him without interruption from the enemy. But we did not understand the situation as Colonel Scott understood it, and knew nothing of the nature of the dispatch; and for these reasons were unable to appreciate the considerations which induced the Colonel to continue his march to Plattsburg. But we know now that his conduct throughout met the approbation of General Sturgis, and that there always existed between them the kindest relations.

Nevertheless when we turned our faces toward the northwest, and our officers assured us that it was the design to reinforce Sturgis, we could not understand the manner of accomplishing this by marching directly away from them; and murmurs arose in the ranks which nothing less than the great confidence we had in our colonel could have quieted. The day was cloudy and cool, and the roads free from dust on account of the previous night's rain. The balking of the artillery horses caused two or three short halts. Otherwise there were no delays. The columns moved rapidly and steadily. Colonel Scott knew how to march men. He never got them out of breath. About 9 P.M., we arrived at Plattsburg, and took quarters in a large college building.

About sunrise next morning Scott received orders from Sturgis to march to join him at Kansas City, and, at eight o'clock, the column took up the march southward toward Liberty. Murmurs again rose in the ranks. To the enlisted men, who knew nothing of the orders under which Colonel Scott acted, it looked as though he was vacillating or pursuing unsteady counsels. The sun shone clear, and the roads grew dusty; but the march was not slackened. When men became too lame or foot-sore to march, wagons were impressed to haul them. Usually these impressments were made for a day or for the trip, the owner commonly sending a driver, who would return with the team when we were through with it. We halted for dinner on a small stream, and in an hour resumed the march.

About eight o'clock in the evening we crossed Platte river and took quarters for the night in the little town of Smithville. Here Colonel Smith had bivouacked on the night of the 15th, the rebels he was pursuing having done so the night before. It was less than twenty-five miles to Liberty. What excuse, then, can he make for consuming two days in this march? We found an unfinished letter which represented the rebel force as numbering five thousand, and stating that Smith's soldiers behaved very badly, outraging the citizens in many ways. We quartered in houses, and, it is to be regretted that there was some plundering done, notwithstanding Colonel Scott's efforts to prevent it. Citizens, however, had little reason to complain of our presence.

At an early hour the march was resumed in the direction of Liberty, and pushed at a rapid pace. Toward noon rumor placed us in the vicinity of a large rebel force.

Here let us pause and look at the situation. While the events narrated in the two last chapters were transpiring, Price had driven Mulligan from Warrensburg and besieged him at Lexington. Sturgis, with his column of fifteen companies, arrived before that place to find the enemy in possession of the boats on which he had expected to cross to the relief of the garrison. Price immediately sent Parsons across the river with a strong force to drive off Sturgis and cover the siege. The latter retreated precipitately toward Liberty, where he expected to join Smith, abandoning to the enemy his tents and a part of his baggage to facilitate his flight. Parsons did not pursue far with his main force, but kept up such a demonstration as led Sturgis to believe he was close upon him. After securing the property Sturgis had thrown away, Parsons was almost immediately recalled. But the former continued to retreat in haste, camping the first night at Camden, and reaching Liberty at four o'clock of the next. Here he dispatched a messenger to Kansas City for a boat, and when this arrived the following forenoon, so little had his sense of the danger abated, that he consumed only an hour in moving from the town four miles to the landing, and in getting his men and baggage aboard. He moved twelve miles up the river, and landed his troops at Kansas City on the opposite side.

He was thus embarking this morning, while we, thinking him in great peril, were hurrying forward to reinforce him. And now, very reliable information came to Colonel Scott, that the force which had pursued Sturgis had arrived, and camped in the fair grounds at Liberty. Thus he supposed his way blocked, and the road, on which he expected to reach the landing where he would embark for Kansas City, in possession of the enemy. There was left him but one alternative, either to retreat or turn to the right and evade them. He boldly chose the latter; and when about ten miles from Liberty, we turned to the west, and at 3 P.M., reached the town of Parkville on the Missouri river, having accomplished since starting nineteen miles.

Here the Colonel expected to find two flatboats on which to cross; but he found only one, the other having been moved to a point up the river. He caused the artillery to be planted on a ridge commanding the approaches to the town, and left Companies F and H to support it, while, with the remainder of his command, he proceeded to the river, and prepared to cross on this. The rearguard in the meantime quietly commenced cooking their dinners. We had thus waited about half an hour, expecting every moment the enemy, hardly hoping for friends, when to our great joy, a steamboat hove in sight, rounded the point and landed. It was the Majors, bound for Fort Leavenworth, and had on board General Sturgis. We were soon aboard, and the boat resumed its course up the river.

When we awoke the following morning we found ourselves at Fort Leavenworth. We marched to the barracks and rested till about noon, sauntering about the grounds, looking at the artillery, and talking with the regulars. This day, reports came that Mulligan had surrendered. We took the matter very coolly; for it was what we had been expecting. Still it was easy to see a gloom on every countenance. The citizens of Leavenworth were thoroughly aroused, and a thousand of them were drilling each day.

Toward evening, the Majors again took us aboard and dropped down to the town three miles below the Fort. After a short while, it again moved down the river and landed us at Wyandott, Kansas, where we bivouacked on the river bank for the night. The next day we took quarters in vacant buildings. Three miles below us, Gen. Sturgis with his previous force occupied Kansas City. There also was a hospital containing some of our wounded comrades. A hospital was likewise established at Wyandott, to which a number of men were removed. The citizens of Liberty had manifested great kindness to our comrades while in their hands. Their generosity was really chivalrous. Though they bitterly hated us and our cause, they forgot for the time that these were enemies and invaders, but looked upon us only as unfortunate brave men, cast in a measure upon the hospitalities of their city. I have the testimony of Sergeant Moe, that the ladies nursed them night and day, and that they were fed entirely upon delicacies brought by them to the hospital. Their conduct in this respect merits our highest regard for them as a people, not less than our warmest gratitude. The citizens of Wyandott, though friends, and feeling that they could scarcely do enough, hardly succeeded in doing more.

And now on the soil of a State made free by the blood of our brethren; at rest and at peace after some months of watching and disquietude; after some toilsome marches, retreats and pursuits; and after a battle which, for the numbers engaged, was by no means contemptible; breathing once more the air of freedom, and enjoying the hospitalities of friends, we felt as though we had been transported to another world.

The citizens of Liberty gave us great praise for our conduct at Blue Mills, and especially for our modesty(!); since, sulky after our defeat, we said little. We spent four or five days at Wyandott, doing what soldiers expressively call, "lying around." But we experienced no ennui. It was the season of ripe fruits, and we spent much time in rambles through the woods and pleasant intercourse with citizens. But we did not remain here long. Towards the evening of September 28th, news came that General Sturgis' pickets had been attacked beyond Kansas City. We moved without delay to reinforce him, and reached Kansas City at 8 o'clock in the evening. Finding that the General had dismissed apprehensions of an attack, we took quarters in vacant buildings.

We remained here about three weeks, without clothing and tents, and with but a single blanket to the man; and as the season advanced, we suffered some from cold. But in the midst of these discouragements, we had much matter for contentment. We had nothing to do but to feed ourselves and keep clean. The latter was the most difficult task. In the former the hospitable citizens assisted us in a manner which merits our warmest remembrance. We had but to carry our rations to them, and they entertained us free of charge at the best their tables afforded. We had not been here long, when Colonel Scott managed to procure from a bank sufficient money to pay the enlisted men ten dollars each. In the absence of our clothing this was most fortunate. I need not speak of the feeling such acts of kindness created towards him.

But the principal event of interest which took place during our stay here was the arrival of Jim Lane and his celebrated brigade. His coming was noised before him, and when he was expected to arrive, all flocked to get a sight of the great "jayhawker," "the Father of Kansas." At length he appeared at the head of a part of his troops. The citizens said it was Lane, and we needed their assurance; for he was the last man we would have taken for a general. He had on citizen's pants, a soldier's blouse, and a dilapidated white hat. He rolled under his dark brows a pair of piercing eyes, and between his jaws a huge quid of tobacco. A general so unostentatious, so like his men, and yet so terrible to the rebels; the boys were struck with profound admiration of him.

His men seemed to partake of the character of their general. In such small matters as dress, every one seemed to consult his own taste. Few among them wore the prescribed uniform, and many were dressed entirely in citizen's clothing, who did not ask them where or how they obtained such articles of dress. But they entertained us with enormous stories, which we were not displeased to hear, and sold us rebel caps at ten cents apiece.

In personal appearance there was as much difference between Lane and Sturgis, as between a wolf and a bear. Everybody knows how Jim Lane looks; for everybody has seen either the man or his picture, or some one that has seen him. The eye of an eagle and the visage of a wolf, thin and lean; this tells it. Gen. Sturgis, in respect to his personnel was precisely his opposite. He was thick, heavy-set and muscular. There are no angles in his face; it is broad and round. His forehead arching and heavy at the brows, retreats in all directions, and is covered with a mass of jet-black, wavy hair.

There was as much difference between the character of the men as between their countenances. Sturgis followed the army regulations and the doctrines of West Point. He kept the business of confiscation out of the hands of his soldiers, and left it, where it ought to be, in the hands of the Government. He protected all citizens, loyal and disloyal. His only line of distinction was drawn between those who were in arms and those who were not. While marching to join Lyon in the summer, he ordered some Kansas soldiers tied to a cannon and flogged for stealing chickens! He followed law and forgot equity. His rules of warfare had this absurdity, that he treated traitors in arms and traitorous citizens with the giving them aid and comfort and plotting the assassination of his soldiers with the same consideration he would have shown to a rightful enemy. Nothing can be more ridiculous than to suppose that a nation fighting its own citizens for its own existence, should pursue the same course of policy toward them that it would pursue toward an enemy with whom it was contending on a mere question of international policy. By pursuing this course, he gave aid to traitors and protected spies. Though he was doubtless honest in all this, it is no wonder that his own soldiers denounced him as a secessionist and a friend of the enemy. I am inclined to think, that his retreat from Lexington deserves less censure than it may have received; and that it was owing chiefly to a lack of proper information, and of a proper system of scouts, and not to any lack of courage.

Lane, on the other hand, recognized military rules only so far as they were adapted to the present situation. He recognized the rebels as traitors, not as belligerents. He moreover failed to see the difference between the traitor whom he met in battle, and the one who gave him bread and powder, except that the former being the braver man was entitled to the more consideration. He had no mercy for bushwhackers, nor for men who to him were for the Government, and to his back for the enemy. He knew no such thing as neutrality on the part of citizens. All were for their country or against it. Those who were for it must give and sacrifice for its support. There was no such thing with him as enjoying the rights and privileges of citizenship without supporting its obligations and facing its liabilities. Those who were against it, must feel or shun his blows. He did not halt before small obstacles; or delay for decisions from Washington. When the West Point clique at Leavenworth refused him supplies, the enemy had to furnish them. He would make the war support itself. The traitors who were responsible for the contest must pay for it. Every thing must be done which would paralyze the enemy and strengthen the government. Whatever opposed the restoration of our Union must fall, and those who did not like it must stand from under. True to his friends, his country and Liberty; hating bitterly and scourging without remorse, his friends', his country's and Liberty's foes; such was Jim Lane. The doctrines he applied to the present exigencies could be reduced to the simple maxim: Crush the rebellion by the quickest method, and in so doing neglect not to punish the rebels. Whatever may be said of these doctrines, the soldiers of the army of the west believed in them with a faith which was enthusiastic, and without reference to previous political distinctions. Nor did they believe less in the man himself. They idolized him, as soldiers will idolize only the general, who, they believe, will surely lead them to success.

It is said that Lane and Sturgis could not agree as to which was entitled to the command. Of course the soldiers knew little about this. We only knew that, for a time, citizens going out of town obtained passes from both Generals, and, that Lane, as soon as he had drawn his supplies, moved away from the city like a man who is getting away from the cholera.

Jemison's celebrated mounted infantry regiment, the 7th Kansas (jayhawkers) was at this time here completing its organization. This regiment was composed of splendid men, many of whom had come from other States to join it. Lieut. Colonel Anthony was provost marshal of the city. No one would have believed, looking into the youthful countenance of Major Lee, as he sat about the Union Hotel, that a little over a year would make him a general.