The New International Encyclopædia/Lexington (Missouri)

LEXINGTON. A city and the county-seat of Lafayette County, Mo., 40 miles east of Kansas City, on the south bank of the Missouri River, and on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé and the Missouri Pacific railroads (Map: Missouri, C 2). It has the Wentworth Military Academy, Central Female College, and Baptist Female College. The city is the centre of a hemp-growing region; and coal is mined in the vicinity and extensively shipped. The government is administered under a charter of 1848, subsequently amended, by a mayor, elected biennially, and a unicameral council. Lexington was settled in 1825, and incorporated about five years later. Population, in 1890, 4537; in 1900, 4190. There is a hill to the northeast of the city, where in September, 1861, 3000 Union soldiers, under Col. James Mulligan, sustained a siege against 18,000 Confederates under Gen. Sterling Price, at last surrendering the town and garrison on the 20th. A few days later Price withdrew, leaving only a small garrison, and on October 16th, a Union force of about 230 under Major J. White released the Union prisoners here and captured about 70 of the Confederates.