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10 To Aid Our Friends in Missouri The news stretched belief. Richmond had appointed Leonidas Polk to command the Western Department. Pillow knew Polk, of course, but, although the same age and born of families so much alike, their paths had diverged in boyhood. When Pillow had gone to Pulaski and the University of Nashville for his education, Polk, who spent his boyhood in North Carolina, had attended the University of North Carolina for a short time and then entered West Point, where he was much admired and made a number of close friends, among them his roommate, Albert SidneyJohnston, and underclassman Jefferson Davis. Polk had undergone a dramatic religious conversion at West Point, and upon graduation he resigned his commission and entered 10 To Aid Our Friends in Missouri The news stretched belief. Richmond had appointed Leonidas Polk to command the Western Department. Pillow knew Polk, of course, but, although the same age and born of families so much alike, their paths had diverged in boyhood. When Pillow had gone to Pulaski and the University of Nashville for his education, Polk, who spent his boyhood in North Carolina, had attended the University of North Carolina for a short time and then entered West Point, where he was much admired and made a number of close friends, among them his roommate, Albert Sidney Johnston, and underclassman Jefferson Davis. Polk had undergone a dramatic religious conversion at West Point, and upon graduation he resigned his commission and entered the Episcopal priesthood. He was well educated, well traveled, and propertied by the time he came to Maury County in the early 1830S to manage lands he had inherited. He established his home, Ashwood, and developed his plantation on the Columbia-Mount Pleasant Pike close to the site where Pillow's Clifton would be built. In 1838, however , the General Convention of the Episcopal church chose him to be missionary bishop of the Southwest. Henceforward Polk's activities and interests would be tied to Louisiana and the Mississippi Valley as he built a wide network offriends and acquaintances and a reputation for energy and effectiveness. Davis pressed the popular bishop in June 1861 to accept responsibility for the defense ofthe Mississippi Valley and a commission in the Confederate army. Other friends and Confederate leaders supported Davis's appeal. Polk hesitated and only after great reflection agreed. On June 25 he accepted appointment as major general commanding northern Alabama and Mississippi, northeastern Arkansas, and western Tennessee. His primary responsibility was defense of the upper Mississippi.1 Polk and Pillow saw things differently. On his way to Memphis to assume command, Polk surveyed conditions in East Tennessee and reported to Davis, "No time is to be lost." He advocated enlarging the Confederate presence there from 2,000 to 10,000 troops and placing Felix Zollicoffer in command. Isham G. Harris agreed. He worried more each month about that section. His policy of conciliation and caution had failed, it seemed; troops should be stationed there. Pillow , however, felt Harris and Polk overestimated the problem. East Tennessee "only sulked."2 Perhaps Pillow was blinded by economic self-interest. Quick punches down the Mississippi by the Union army and fleet gathering at Cairo, however, would have been disastrous to the Confederate cause, as Pillow quite rightly understood. He also disagreed with Polk and Harris over East Tennessee because it meant the transfer of manpower from the Mississippi, from his command. Pillow had a plan, and to implement it would require every Confederate soldier available. M. Jeff Thompson seems to have been the catalyst. This personable and persuasive Missourian had come to MemphisJune 15 and had several meetings with Pillow and his staffat the Gayoso Hotel. These two visionaries seem to have fed upon each other's enthusiasm, as a result of which Pillow ordered all Missourians who had enlisted in his army discharged so that they could join Thompson.3 Of wider import was the idea to invade Missouri, which Thompson appears to have generated.4 There had been some appreOur Friends in Missouri : 17& the Episcopal priesthood. He was well educated, well traveled, and propertied by the time he came to Maury County in the early 1830S to manage lands he had inherited. He established his home, Ashwood, and developed his plantation on the Columbia-Mount Pleasant Pike close to the site where Pillow's Clifton would be built. In 1838, however , the General Convention of the Episcopal church chose him to be missionary bishop of the Southwest. Henceforward...

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