| Date |
Excerpt |
| January 3, 1861 |
Claiborne Fox Jackson was inaugurated Governor of Missouri, and was one of three men who dominated the Missouri Confederacy in the years 1861-1865; the other two being Sterling Price and Thomas Caute Reynolds. |
| December 6, 1862 |
Governor Jackson led Missouri's Government-in-Exile until his death; and Sterling Price, as Commander of the Missouri State Guard, became the rallying figure for Missouri's Confederates, but Thomas Reynolds, who succeeded to the Governorship, became the symbol of the Constitutional Confederate Government of Missouri during the War's final years. Throughout his tenure as Governor, Reynolds stressed the need for cooperation between Missouri and the Confederacy and the need to have Missouri become a member of the Confederate States of America. Gov. Reynolds gained the confidence and respect of President Jefferson Davis, a trust never extended to Gov. Jackson or to Gen. Price. Actively participating in the military and civil affairs of the Trans-Mississippi Department, he became the principal civilian adviser to Gen. E. Kirby Smith, Commander of that Department. |
| 1863 |
Gov. Reynolds became intolerant of the vacillating policies of Gen. Theophilus H. Holmes and his poor performance handling the resources of the Trans-Mississippi Department, and had him removed from command. |
| March 11, 1863 |
Gen. Kirby Smith accepted Gen. Holmes' resignation. |
| July, 1863 |
The debacle at Helena had damaged Gen. Price's reputation and was unpopular with Departmental authorities. |
| September, 1863 |
Gen. Price was further criticized for his poor defense at Little Rock, Arkansas. |
| March 16, 1864 |
Gov. Reynolds had confidence in Gen. Price, and so Price received command of the District of Arkansas. Gov. Reynolds was advised to appoint Gen. Price as Missouri Senator in the Confederacy but felt that his presence would strengthen the opposition to Pres. Davis; besides, he said that Gen. Price could not be spared from the Army. |
| April 27, 1864 |
Gov. Reynolds commissioned Col. L.M. Lewis as Senator. |
| May, 1864 |
Gov. Reynolds ordered a registration of voters for election of Senators, and Thomas L. Snead and John B. Clark gained seats in the Second Confederate Congress. Snead and Trusten Polk claimed that Missouri's Constitution required that a special election should have been called after Gov. Jackson's death and challenged Gov. Reynolds' position as Governor of Missouri's Government-in-Exile. Because the Federal troops were in control of most of Missouri's townships, Gov. Reynolds refused to call an election but agreed to resign a soon as legally he could do so. |
| May 13, 1864 |
Gov. Reynolds suggested that the Trans-Mississippi Department be empowered to act independently of Richmond and organized with Gen. Simon B. Buckner as a quasi-Secretary of State, but Richmond decided against the idea. |
| July 13, 1864 |
Gen. Kirby Smith proposed a conference of the four Trans-Mississippi Governors to discuss defensive measures. |
| August 15, 1864 |
Political
leaders from the several States met at Marshall, Texas for the First
Confederate Governors' Conference and selected Gov. Reynolds as Chairman
of the Committee on Public Safety. Gov. Reynolds and Gen. Price felt that the War could not be won without the recovery of Missouri from Federal control, and as they had a functional Government, they pressed for an invasion to recover the State. |
| August, 1864 |
Gov.
Reynolds doubted the ability of Gen. Price to lead the invasion, but,
meeting in Shreveport, Louisiana, Gen. Kirby Smith was instrumental in
deciding upon Gen. Price as leader of the invasion. Gov.
Reynolds joined the invasion as an aide to Gen. Shelby. The raid was a total failure; the Army retreated to Indian Territory. Gov. Reynolds held Gen. Price responsible and felt Price should be punished for his conduct. |
| January, 1865 |
Gov. Reynolds pushed for the removal of Gen. Price from his command of the District of Arkansas. |
| April 25, 1865 |
Gen. Price demanded a Court Martial, but, at a Court of Inquiry at Shreveport, Gov. Reynolds refused to testify, and instead published a blistering attack on Gen. Price. |
| May 9, 1865 |
Gen. Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, but Gov. Reynolds counseled continuing resistance. |
| May 29, 1865 |
Gov. Reynolds stated that Missouri would accept whatever the authorities decreed but refused to sign the surrender document, because he was fearful of the treatment of any ex-confederates in the United States. |
| June 15, 1865 |
After the surrender, Gov. Reynolds took flight with other Confederate exiles to Mexico and went at San Antonio, Texas to join a group of Generals. |
| July, 1865 |
Gov. Reynolds joined Gen. Kirby Smith's Brigade at Eagle Pass, in Texas, and proceeded to Mexico City. Gen. Smith and other Generals went on to Havana, Cuba, but Gov. Reynolds returned to Mexico City. |
| September, 1865 |
Thomas Reynolds was politically active in Mexico, becoming general superintendent of two small railroads; and Emperor Maximilian appointed him to a commission headed by ex-Confederate Commander Matthew F. Maury, which promoted colonization of Mexico with leading Southern families. But Reynolds and Maury were unsuited to each other, so Reynolds left the colonization group to establish a Law practice in Mexico City. |
| March, 1867 |
The French occupation collapsed, but Reynolds advised Maximilian to persevere. |
| June 21, 1867 |
When Maximilian surrendered to Benito Juarez, Reynolds was kept on by the new Government because of his diplomatic expertise. |
| September 7, 1867 |
When President Andrew Johnson granted amnesty to ex-Confederates, Reynolds expected to return to Missouri as a member of the ruling class. |
| April 14, 1869 |
Gov. Reynolds returned Missouri's Great Seal to Missouri Gov. John W. McClung. The Seal had been in his possession since its capture of Lexington, Missouri in September, 1861. Reynolds worked hard to restore normal relations between the former Confederates and the United States; and he accepted several Federal Commission assignments. |
| March 30, 1887 |
Gov. Reynolds, fearing loss of his mental and physical powers, committed suicide. |