rail. It consisted
of two towns, Old and New Lexington, about a mile apart, having
altogether about 5,000 people. It had some manufactories and two or
three colleges, one of which, the Masonic College, situated on high
ground between Old and New Lexington, a half mile from the river, was
taken by Col. Mulligan for his position, which he proceeded to fortify
with high, substantial works to accommodate 10,000 men, inclosing about
15 acres on the summit of the bluffs. Between 2,000 and 3,000 horses and
other animals of the trains were gathered inside this inclosure.

A week before Col. Mulligan's arrival, on Sept. 9, Gov. Jackson had
briefly set up his Capital there, and held a session of that portion
of the Legislature which adhered to him. The approach of Col. Pea-body
caused a precipitate adjournment, and there was left behind $800,000 in
coin, which was buried in the cellar of the college, with the great seal
of the State of Missouri.

At dawn on Sept. 12, Gen. Price, riding with his advance, Rains's
Division, struck the Union pickets stretching through the cornfields
outside of Lexington, but though he brought up all his infantry within
reach, and McDonald's, Guibor's, and Clark's batteries, his heads of
columns were beaten back everywhere by the stubborn Union soldiers, who
had been waiting three days for him, and he wisely decided to withdraw
two or three miles and wait for the rest of his forces and ammunition
wagons to come up.

208

Col. Mulligan telegraphed to Col. Jeff C. Davis, at Jefferson City--120
miles away--the fact of Price's advance and his need for help, and Davis
sent the news to Fremont, who ordered forward three regiments and two
batteries to Davis, and directed him to reinforce Mulligan, which he
could do by rail and river. Fremont also sent orders to Pope and Sturgis
to help Mulligan out, but there was not much urgency in the orders, and
each of his subordinates seems to have taken his own time and way of
obeying or not obeying.

Jeff C. Davis had at that time something over 5,000 men at Jefferson
City, and subsequent reinforcements raised this number, it was claimed,
to 11,000--certainly to 8,000. Davis afterward became a valuable
division and corps commander, but he certainly did not show up well in
this transaction. He, also, had too much of the "Regular" in him. He
complained of a lack of wagons and harness, commissary supplies and
ammunition, to enable him to make a forward movement.