Date
|
Excerpt
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1861
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In
his inauguration address, Governor Claiborne Jackson urged Missouri to
issue a declaration of her determination to stand by her sister
slave-holding states, but a State Convention that was to decide the
matter turned out to be heavily pro-Union and voted to remain in the
Union and follow a neutral path. |
June, 1861
|
Nathaniel
Lyon, newly named commander of Federal forces in Missouri, refused to
extend the Harvey-Price Agreement, a shaky truce recently made between
pro-Union and pro-Secessionist factions in the State. At the Planter's House meeting in St. Louis, Lyon also demanded that the
Missouri Guard be put under his command, and when Gov. Jackson and
State Guard Commander Gen. Sterling Price demurred, Gen. Lyon immediately
declared that refusal an act of war. Jackson and Price hurried to
Jefferson City to mobilize the State Guard, but Gen. Lyon pursued them
and drove the Jackson-Price entourage into southwest Missouri, near
Neosho. Union forces controlled access to the Missouri River; and Jefferson City, the Missouri State Capital, was in Federal hands, along with the prosperous northern
and central sections of the State. But Gov. Jackson and Gen. Price did not give in; while in Neosho, they could draw on Confederate support in
Arkansas and the Indian Nation (Oklahoma.) They also controlled
Granby, Missouri and its lead mines. They were close to the
Military Road which reached Rolla, Missouri, a station on the Pacific
Railroad, which ran to St. Louis. Jackson and Price realized that
control of St. Louis was essential to establishing a Confederate
Missouri and that Missouri would need assistance, so Jackson sought help
from the Confederacy, which soon provided funds to assist the Missourians. |
August 5, 1861
|
Although a State Convention had established a
Provisional Government with Hamilton Gamble serving as Governor, Gov.
Jackson issued a proclamation of Missouri's independence from the Union. |
August 10, 1861
|
While
Gov. Jackson was away, Gen. Price reorganized the Confederate troops
from Arkansas and defeated the Union forces under Gen. Lyon, who was
killed in the battle. |
September 20, 1861
|
After
the Neosho victory, Gen. Price's augmented forces advanced Northwest and
defeated Col. James Mulligan's forces at the Battle of Lexington,
Missouri. |
October 21, 1861
|
These
victories by Gov. Jackson were deceptive, and "the sentiments of
Missouri were not in harmony with the Secession Movement," but Gov.
Jackson optimistically summoned the Missouri Legislature to an extra
session at Neosho, the new State capital, and the few members of the
legislature who had attended, mostly Rebels, voted that the Jackson
government was the "legally elected and regularly constituted Government
of the people and the State of Missouri." By the end of the week,
an Ordinance of Secession had been passed by this Legislature, and Senators
and Representatives to the Confederate Congress had been elected.
|
November 28, 1861
|
Controversy continued as to the validity
of this Secession Ordinance, but Missouri was soon accepted into the
Confederacy by the Confederate Government in
Richmond, Virginia.
|
March, 1862
|
The
Secessionists, Gov. Jackson and Sterling Price, lacked the military
capabilities to bring all of Missouri into the Confederacy, and a Union
victory forced Jackson to move his Capital from
Neosho to Little Rock, Arkansas, ending the Jacksonian dream to
return to Jefferson City. |
December, 1862
|
Governor Claiborne Jackson died of cancer in Arkansas. |