(4 of 7)
The planners of the federal operation had deliberately concentrated the main force of marshals at the Lyceum to divert any violence from. Meredith, who was actually dozing fitfully on a cot in Baxter Hall. The stratagem worked. Although the mob, screaming, smashing and burning, surged all over the campus during the long night, the central and decisive contest was the siege of the Lyceum. The attackers used a deadly arsenal—stones, clubs, iron bars, bricks from construction sites, jagged hunks of concrete from smashed-up campus benches, gasoline bombs made of Coca-Cola bottles and paper wicks shotguns, pistols; and rifles. :
"The defending marshals used only tear gas. Many of them had concealed pistols or riot guns, but Deputy Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach, No. 2 man in the Justice Department and the man in command inside the Lyceum, ordered the marshals not to shoot so long as tear gas held the attackers, off Only once, did the marshals" fire bullets. When a group of 'students drove the campus fire truck up close and loosed a stream of water at the Lyceum, a band of marshals charged the truck and fired pistol bullets into the hose.
Around 11 p.m., the attackers brought up a bulldozer, attempted to batter their way into the Lyceum. On the first try it struck a tree and stalled. When it charged again, Marshal Albert Taylor of Chula Vista, Calif., led a counterattack, and a well-placed canister of tear gas forced the bulldozer's crew to abandon the machine.
Fighting valiantly beside the marshals all the while was Captain Falkner's Troop
E. As Mississippi men, the guardsmen could hardly have felt much sympathy with the federal cause. But they did their duty unflinchingly, and before the night was out, 16 of them were wounded or injured, including Captain Falkner, who suffered two broken bones when a flying brick struck his arm.
Tense Vigil. Throughout the night, the defenders in the Lyceum remained in continuous telephone contact with Washington, where the President, his brother and a cluster of aides kept a tense vigil. Toward midnight, Katzenbach warned Washington that the defenders could not hold out much longer. But effective military help at last was on the way. At the Memphis Naval Air Station, Able Company of the 503rd Military Police Battalion boarded Oxford-bound helicopters, and other MP detachments left the base by truck. At 2 a.m., Able Company rolled onto the campus in airlifted Jeeps. On the way to the Lyceum, attackers bombarded them with rocks and gasoline bombs, and they arrived with scorched vehicles and smashed windshields. The MPs lined up in front of the Lyceum, bayonets pointed skyward. The besiegers pushed toward them, hurling gasoline bombs, then fell back. Up ahead, in the eerie light of a burning automobile, a band of attackers went into a sort of war dance, emitting hysterical rebel yells. Slowly, silently, the MPs started pushing forward.