But I have treated of the movements of troops and the acts of the general government only in so far as they immediately affected the life and experiences of those within our city. My sole object in all that I have written has been to portray as clearly and vividly as I could what transpired among us from 1860 to 1865; to note some events that preceded the war and were the harbingers of it; to reveal the currents of thought and feeling in St. Louis during the whole fratricidal struggle, and especially to point out what was peculiar to us as a community made up of the loyal and disloyal. To my own mind it is clear that our great Civil War can never be fully understood without a knowledge of the unique experiences of a border city, and especially of St. Louis, for the possession of which both parties to our great national conflict so earnestly contended. During the long and bloody battle for the Union, my home was there, and this book is simply “an unvarnished tale” of what I saw and of work in which I shared. As a testimony I trust that it may be of some worth. And since I intended it to be only a simple testimony, it has not been written to make out a case. I have tried to divest myself of the spirit of a partisan, and to present in an unbiased manner what I personally observed. I have endeavored to write, as the martyred President did, “with malice toward none, with charity for all.” GALUSHA ANDERSON. NEWTON CENTRE, MASS. _April, 1908._ For the originals of several of the illustrations in this volume the author is indebted to Miss Mary Louise Dalton, the late Librarian of the Missouri Historical Society, whose many kindnesses will always be held in grateful remembrance. CONTENTS