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.