command in Missouri. The agreement known as "the Price-Harney truce"
was immediately made. Under an assurance from Governor Jackson that
the State troops should be disbanded, General Harney promised that no
hostilities should be undertaken, and attempted to cause the dispersal
of the Union volunteers. The status of the latter had been so fixed
that General Harney was not empowered to disarm them, and he so
informed, the State authorities. His message announcing this read
nearly as follows:--

"I have ascertained that I have no control over the Home Guards.
"W. S. HARNEY, _Brig.-Gen_."

This message was received at the Police Head-Quarters in St. Louis, on
the morning of Sunday, May 15th. It was misunderstood by the parties
who read it. They inferred, from the tenor of the dispatch, that
General Harney was unable to restrain the Union volunteers.

The most frightful stories had been circulated concerning the
blood-thirsty character of these soldiers, particularly the German
portion. Visions of murder, pillage, house-burning, and all the
accompanying outrages committed by an unrestrained army, flitted
through the minds of the Secessionists. The story spread, and gained
intensity with each repetition. "The Dutch are rising; we shall all
be slain in cold blood!" was the cry, echoed from house to house. Not
less than five thousand people fled from the city on that day, and as
many more within the succeeding twenty-four hours. Carriages,
wagons, drays, every thing that could transport persons or valuables,
commanded exorbitant prices. Steamboats were chartered as ferries to
the Illinois shore or to go to points of safety, either up or down the
river. Many persons abandoned their houses, taking with them only a