, 397, 408.]

[Footnote 96:--Ibid., 428.]

the other from Congressmen John S. Phelps and Francis P. Blair junior,
who addressed Lincoln upon the subject of enlisting Missouri troops
for an invasion of Arkansas in order to ward off any contemplated
attack upon southwestern Missouri and to keep the Indians west of
Arkansas in subjection.[97] On August 10 came the disastrous Federal
defeat at Wilson's Creek. It was immediately subsequent to that event
and in anticipation of a Kansas invasion by Price and McCulloch that
Lane resolved to take position at Fort Scott.[98]

The Battle of Wilson's Creek, lost to the Federals largely because of
Fremont's failure to support Lyon, was an unmitigated disaster in more
than one sense. The death of Lyon, which the battle caused, was of
itself a severe blow to the Union side as represented in Missouri; but
the moral effect of the Federal defeat upon the Indians was equally
worthy of note. It was instantaneous and striking. It rallied the
wavering Cherokees for the Confederacy[99] and their defection was
something that could not be easily counterbalanced and was certainly
not counterbalanced by the almost coincident, cheap, disreputable, and
very general Osage offer, made towards the end of August, of services
to the United States in exchange for flour and whiskey.[100]

The disaster in its effect upon Lane was, however, little short of
exhilarating. It brought him sympathy, understanding, and a fair
measure of support from people who, not until the eleventh hour, had
really comprehended their own danger and it inspired him to redouble
his efforts to organize a brigade that should

[Footnote 97: _Official Records_, vol. iii, 430.]

[Footnote 98:--Ibid., 446.]

[Footnote 99: The Daily Conservative (Leavenworth), October 5, 1861.]

[Footnote 100:--Ibid., August 30, 1861, quoting from the Fort
Scott _Democrat_.]

adequately protect Kansas and recover ground lost. Prior to the
battle, "scarcely a battalion had been recruited for each" of the five
regiments, the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Kansas, which
he had been empowered by the War Department to raise.[101] It was in
the days of gathering reinforcements, for which he made an earnest
plea on August 29,[102] that he developed a disposition to utilize the
loyal Indians in his undertaking. The Indians, in their turn, were
looking to him for much needed assistance. About a month previous to
the disaster of August 10, Ag