Chapters

Introduction
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Seeds of Discontent
The 12th Confederate State
Missouri’s Provisional Union Government
Post War Politics

At first appearance the Camp Jackson Massacre was exactly the moment Governor Claiborne Jackson had been waiting for. Missourians were outraged by the bloodshed in St. Louis and Confederate sentiment spread throughout the state. It seemed now was the time to make Missouri the twelfth Confederate state. Jackson however, had been plotting Missouri’s secession for months, and he moved with careful deliberation, especially after the federals made peace overtures.

General William Harney, a well known conservative, returned from Washington, just in time to wittiness the aftermath of Camp Jackson. Harney was appalled by the situation in St. Louis and knew Nathaniel Lyon bore at least some responsibility for it. He nevertheless publically approved Lyon’s decision to break up the militia encampment, and he condemned the state’s preparations for war.1 Unlike Lyon however, Harney made concessions. His proclamation on May 12 declared, “I shall carefully abstain from the exercise of any unnecessary powers and from all interference with the proper functions of the public officers of the State and city.”2 Harney understood the German volunteers inflamed the situation and he ordered U.S. Regulars (except Lyon’s company) to monitor their neighborhoods. German troops would not be used on Harney’s watch, and if local authorities needed assistance from the army, they would get it from the less controversial regulars.3

While the situation was still volatile, Jackson realized General Harney’s calming presence threatened to undermine support for secession in Missouri. Still, he sent Sterling Price, commander of the Missouri State Guard, to St. Louis for a meeting with Harney to discuss peace. The two generals reached an agreement on May 21 that tried to pull Missouri back from the brink of war. Harney pledged the federal government’s neutrality, if Price and the State Guard kept order in Missouri. Federal troops would not act alone, but rather assist state troops in quelling disturbances.4

Jackson’s endorsement of the Harney/Price Agreement had important consequences for his Confederate aspirations. Most importantly, it gave him more time to prepare for war, but it cost him support among those who were ready for conflict. This included Lieutenant Governor Thomas Caute Reynolds, who traveled alone to Richmond where he asked for Confederate troops to defend Missouri. Only moderates approved of the Harney/Price Agreement, radicals on both sides denounced the agreement and warned it just delayed the inevitable.5

The Harney/Price Agreement was short lived, and it did not prevent the public display of secession sympathy, even in southwest Missouri. In Springfield, the “American flag floating over the post-office was to-day [May 21] taken down by a mob . . . and the States rights flag hoisted in its place.” The American flag was then destroyed by the crowd.6 Despite this and other similar reports, Price discouraged Harney from sending federal troops into the interior of the state. Price warned it would make matters worse, and Harney apparently agreed. Harney’s refusal however, hurt his reputation in Washington, as President Abraham Lincoln strongly believed federal troops had to move beyond St. Louis. Still, Harney refused. Largely through the influence of U.S. Congressman Frank Blair, who supplied the administration with a steady stream of information about Missouri, Harney was relieved of his command on May 30. He was replaced by Nathaniel Lyon.7

One last effort at peace came on June 11, when Lyon met with Missouri leaders, including Governor Jackson, at the Planters House Hotel in St. Louis. In sharp contrast to Harney, Lyon refused to concede anything and the meeting ended abruptly when he declared war on Missouri and stormed out of the room. Lyon immediately led troops on Jefferson City, which was evacuated by the governor and the legislature before his arrival. Missouri’s legally elected government was replaced by a pro-Union administration, the Provisional Government, with Hamilton Gamble as governor.

After elements of the Missouri State Guard were routed by Lyon’s command at Boonville on June 15, Jackson fled to southwest Missouri where he reunited with Sterling Price. Jackson also secured the services of former senator David Rice Atchison as his aide. While Price molded the State Guard into a capable fighting force, Jackson and Atchison embarked on a diplomatic mission to secure Confederate support. They traveled to Little Rock where they met with Arkansas Governor Henry Rector, and then on to Memphis for a visit with Confederate General Leonidas Polk. At their urging, Polk sent a small Confederate force into southeast Missouri. The Missourians then traveled to Richmond for meetings with Confederate President Jefferson Davis.8

Davis sent three cannons to Missouri in May, but they were captured by Lyon, and it was uncertain if the Confederate president would be more, or even as generous. Jackson’s apparent cooperation with Union authorities after the Camp Jackson Massacre led Davis to question the governor’s devotion to the Confederacy. There was also the fact that Missouri remained in the Union. Davis would not commit valuable resources on a state which would not join the Confederacy, a fact Jackson knew. Davis wrote the governor on June 5, that Missouri had to secede before the Confederate government provided any aid. While Reynolds pled Missouri’s case to Davis on his earlier visit, the lieutenant governor was discouraged by Jackson’s response to the violence in St. Louis. Jackson may have sensed this and realized he should see the president personally.9

Atchison’s support greatly increased the governor’s chances. Davis and Atchison had served together in the U.S. Senate, and Davis was fiercely loyal to his friends. This friendship paid off for Jackson and Confederate hopes in Missouri. Davis still worried about Missouri’s commitment to the Confederacy, but he convinced Congress to appropriate $1 million for Missouri, as soon as the state passed an ordinance of secession.10

Jackson made an impassioned speech to an enthusiastic crowd in Richmond before he returned to Missouri. His speech clearly demonstrated the governor had lost none of his zeal for the Confederate cause. Acknowledging the generous applause, Jackson declared, “I take it, however, as no compliment to myself personally. I think I understand very well this demonstration and all other welcomes that have greeted me on my way hither. It is but the expression of the profound earnestness of the Southern men in the glorious cause in which we are all engaged, to which my energies are pledged, and in which my life, fortune, and honor is forever enlisted.”11

Jackson did not rely solely on fiery rhetoric to make Missouri’s case. Geography, Jackson declared, made both Missouri and Virginia indispensible to Southern hopes. Missouri, he said was on the left flank of the South, and if Missouri fell, the Confederacy was doomed. Likewise, Virginia was on the right flank of the South. Securing Missouri and Virginia then, was a matter of absolute military necessity. Thus, Jackson told his audience, “I have everywhere, from the time I entered the State of Arkansas until I reached this place, invoked my fellow-citizens to rally to the rescue; if they did not want see their own homes in flames, their own firesides desolated, they must march forthwith, either to Virginia or Missouri, meet the invader face to face, and drive him from the soil, or die in the noble endeavor.”12

Returning to Missouri, Jackson and Atchison arrived at New Madrid, in the southeast corner of the state. Here they found Reynolds and a small Confederate force under General Gideon Pillow. By this time, Jackson was a governor without a state. Union authorities had already deposed the chief executive and the legislature. At least according to the United States, the new Provisional Government ruled Missouri. With Confederate cooperation secured, Jackson realized now was the time to publically embrace secession. The state legislature gave the governor virtually unlimited power in the aftermath of Camp Jackson and he used it now. Written by Reynolds, Jackson issued a “Proclamation of Independence,” on August 5, which declared Missouri was a sovereign and independent state. This action was necessary because Union forces had repeatedly violated Missouri’s rights and liberties. Now, Jackson simply exercised the power given to him by Missouri’s legally elected legislature.13

Davis’ reaction to Jackson’s proclamation confirmed the Confederate president had lost none of his interest in Missouri. The act was clearly unconstitutional, yet Davis enthusiastically accepted it. Davis’ commitment to strict legal procedures is well known, but he overlooked the irregularities for the sake of getting Missouri into the Confederacy. Two weeks after Jackson’s proclamation, the Confederate Congress passed a resolution admitting Missouri.14

The secession of Missouri did not rest entirely on such a shaky legal foundation. Jackson issued another proclamation in September, which called the General Assembly into session again. The legislators were to gather at the Newton County Courthouse in Neosho on October 21. Here, in extreme southwest Missouri, they would solidify Missouri’s future with the Confederacy, starting with formal secession from the Union.15

The gathering at Neosho came at the peak of Missouri’s Southern fortunes. Confederate General Ben McCulloch and Sterling Price defeated Lyon’s army at Wilson’s Creek on August 10. Lyon was also killed in the battle. Despite the victory, Price and McCulloch were unable to work together. McCulloch led his troops back into Arkansas, while Price moved north and won a small battle at Lexington, on the Missouri River. Although Union reinforcements forced Price to return to southwest Missouri, the victories greatly encouraged Missouri’s Confederate sympathizers. The legislators took up their business under the protection of Price’s Missouri State Guard.

Like the secession convention which created the provisional government, the Neosho Convention has been controversial. The legality of the assembly, and thus, its resolutions, hinges on the presence of a quorum. The debate cannot be resolved conclusively with the conflicting evidence available. Only the Senate Journal survives, and it does not include a roll of members present. Certainly it is unlikely a quorum was present on October 21. The legislature spent a full week organizing itself, no doubt trying to assemble enough members to make their proceedings legal. Their success; or failure remains unknown, depending on one’s sympathies. John W. Fisher, a soldier in Price’s Missouri State Guard at Neosho wrote in his diary the legislators had a quorum on October 25. Confederate Military History declared, in 1899, “In every particular it [the legislature] complied with the forms of law . . . There was a quorum of each house present . . . The ordinance [secession] was passed strictly in accordance with law and parliamentary usage . . .”16 In the eyes of the United States government, the Neosho legislature was a non-issue. The legislature had been dissolved and the governor removed from office. They had no legal standing and could pass any resolutions they pleased, though it must be remembered the Confederate Congress ultimately accepted its authority.17 Noticeably absent of course, was a vote of the people. Neither the Provisional Government, nor the Neosho Secession Ordinance was approved by Missourians at the ballot box.

The most important task facing the legislature was passing an ordinance of secession. This was accomplished on October 28. The senate listed many constitutional violations committed by Union authorities which made secession necessary:

Men, women and children, in open day and in the public thoroughfares, were shot down and murdered by a brutal soldiery with the connivance of Government officers. Our citizen soldiers were arrested and imprisoned, State property was seized and confiscated without warrant of law, private citizens were insecure in there persons and property; the writ of Habeas Corpus had been nullified and the brave Judges who had attempted to protect by it, the liberties of the citizens had been insulted and threatened and a tyrant president revealing in unencumbered powers had crowned all these acts of unconstitutional aggression by declaring war against a number of the States comprising the former Union.

Union actions made reconciliation impossible, but the legislators were determined to take Missouri into the Confederacy. The senate declared, “It is in vain to hope for a restoration of amicable relations between Missouri and the other United States of America under the same government, and it is not desirable if it could be accomplished.” The legislature also elected representatives to the Confederate Congress before it adjourned. The paperwork was quickly sent to Richmond, and on November 28, Missouri formally became the twelfth state to enter the Confederacy. Jackson’s efforts had paid off and upon he hearing the news he declared, “God be praised. This is the happiest moment of my life.”18

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1. Christopher Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate: Claiborne Fox Jackson and the Creation of Southern Identity in the Border West (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2000), 255.
2. Louis S. Gerteis, Civil War St. Louis (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001), 115-16.
3. Gerteis, Civil War St. Louis, 115-16.
4. Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate, 255.
5. Gerteis, Civil War St. Louis, 119, 123; Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate, 255-56.
6. Gerteis, Civil War St. Louis, 121.
7. Gerteis, Civil War St. Louis, 121-22.
8. Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate, 261-64.
9. Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate, 255, 264.
10. William E. Parrish, “David Rice Atchison,” in Dictionary of Missouri Biography (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1999), 18; William J. Cooper, Jr., Jefferson Davis, American (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 2000. Reprint. New York: Vintage Books, 2000), 385-86.
11. “Speech of Gov. Jackson, of Missouri,” Richmond (Virginia) Daily Dispatch, July 29, 1861, http://dlxs.richmond.edu/d/ddr/
12. “Speech of Gov. Jackson, of Missouri,” Richmond (Virginia) Daily Dispatch, July 29, 1861, http://dlxs.richmond.edu/d/ddr/
13. Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate, 264-65.
14. William C. Davis, Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour (New York: Harper Collins, 1991. Reprint. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1996), 381.
15. Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate, 266.
16. Clement A. Evans, ed., Confederate Military History: a Library of Confederate States History, written by Distinguished Men of the South, Vol. IX (Atlanta, Georgia: Confederate Publishing Company, 1899), 69.
17. Arthur Roy Kirkpatrick, “The Admission of Missouri to the Confederacy,” Missouri Historical Review 55 (July 1961): 383-84.
18. Phillips, Missouri’s Confederate, 269.