Accordingly, it proceeded to enact what was called an emancipation ordinance.  The trouble with it was that it emancipated nobody.  It provided for the liberation of part of the slaves at a distant future day, allowing the rest to remain as they were.  The Radicals simply laughed at the measure.  They pronounced it a snare and a fraud, and went right on with their work for unconditional freedom, and the slave-owners continued to hold their human property the same as before.

The Conservatives, however, had not exhausted their resources.  They sought to secure the military as well as the civil control.  On the assurance that he could maintain peace and order, Governor Gamble was given authority by the President to recruit an army of State troops, which, although equipped and paid out of the national treasury, he was to officer and direct.  The organization was entrusted to General John M. Scofield, a resident of Missouri, and one of the Governor’s friends.

The political advantage to the Conservatives of exercising military control at such a time is obvious enough.  But at first there was an obstruction in the person of General Samuel R. Curtis, the Federal commander of the district, who was not a man to waive his superior prerogative at a time when martial law prevailed, and who was, besides, openly in sympathy with the Radicals.  They got not only protection from him, but about all the patronage he had to give.  Pretty soon it was discovered that active efforts for the removal of Curtis were in progress.  Charges of irregularities—­afterwards shown to be without any foundation—­were circulated against him.  Indignant because of such injustice to their friend, the Radicals were further incensed when they learned that the scheme was to make Scofield his successor.

Against General Scofield, as a gentleman and soldier, they had nothing to say; but his affiliation with their opponents made him obnoxious to them, and they sent a vigorous protest against his appointment to the President.  The proposed change, however, was made, and the inevitable disagreement between the new commander and the Radicals quickly developed.

Scofield’s administration was not successful.  The principal cause of failure was the adoption of Governor Gamble’s policy of trying to run the State without the help of Federal troops.  They were pretty much all sent away, and an elaborate plan for substituting an “enrolled militia” was put in operation.  Here was an opportunity of which the Rebels were quick to take advantage.  They had a wholesome regard for United States soldiers, particularly under Curtis, who at Pea Ridge had given them the worst drubbing they ever received west of the Mississippi, but they cared little for “Gamble’s militia,” into which a good many of their friends were mustered, and when the pressure of Curtis’s strong hand was removed they at once aroused to pernicious activity.