CHAPTER X.

SEPTEMBER, 1861.

FALL OF LEXINGTON-FREMONT BLAMED FOR IT-CHARGES AGAINST HIMATTITUDE OF KENTUCKY-ITS LEGISLATURE ORDERS THE REBEL FORCES TO LEAVE THE STATE-MAGOFFIN-GENERAL LEE SENT TO WESTERN VIRGINIAFIGHT AT CHEAT MOUNTAIN PASS-DEFEAT OF LEE AT ELK WATER-DEATH OF JOHN WASHINGTON-POSITION OF THE ARMIES ON THE POTOMAC-OCCUPATION OF MUNSON'S HILL-OBSERVANCE OF THE NATIONAL FAST.

SOON

JOON after this brilliant exploit, the national heart was saddened by the news of the fall of Lexington, Missouri, and the capture of Colonel Mulligan (who held the place), with his entire command. On the first of the month, Colonel Mulligan, in his intrenched camp at Jefferson City, received orders to proceed with his Irish brigade to Lexington, a hundred and sixty miles up the river, and reinforce the few troops already there. He reached the place on the ninth, swelling the force to about three thousand five hundred men. He had, however, been there only three days at work, when the driving in of his pickets announced the near approach of the enemy. After the battle of Wilson's Creek, Price chased Lane and Montgomery from the state, and then turned his steps towards Warrenburg, where, he heard, there was a Federal force. The latter fled at his approach, and he continued his march to Lexington, with an army variously estimated at from fifteen to thirty thousand men.

Midway between the towns of old and new Lexington,— situated about a mile apart,-Mulligan took his position, and commenced throwing up a breast-work ten feet high, surrounded by a broad ditch, but had time only partially to complete it when the arrival of the enemy compelled him to suspend operations. A large, brick building used as a col