Description
Carte view of colonel and brevet Brigadier General Peter Hagner. Selected to command of the strategic St. Louis Arsenal at the outbreak of the war. The arsenal at the time was sought by both Union and Confederate sympathizers for its valuable contents, and during the early days of the war both legitimate and partisan guerrilla military units from both sides schemed to obtain control. Hagner used his authority to restrict Union Army Captain Nathaniel Lyon’s access to the arsenal. Lyon sought access to the arsenal for the purpose of arming pro-Union military units to fight against the seceding states. Lyon, enraged that his commander had denied him the arsenal’s contents, then wrote of Hagner, making a threat to “pitch him in the river.” Lyon sought to have Hagner relieved of the arsenal command and elevate himself as the replacement. He was subsequently removed from that position and served as inspector of factories manufacturing small arms for the government until late 1863, when Hagner was promoted lieutenant colonel and held command of the Watervliet Arsenal until war’s end. Back marked out of Washington.
