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The Flames of War: Nathaniel Lyon, Part V

© Perry Cuskey

An American Conflict

By April of 1861 the United States was at war for the second time in less than fifteen years. The opponent this time, rather than a foreign country, would be itself.

The election of Abraham Lincoln on an anti-slavery platform in November of 1860 soon drove the seven slave states of the Deep South out of the Union. The following April had witnessed the attack on Fort Sumter, quickly followed by Lincoln's call for volunteers to suppress what he referred to as a rebellion.

This in turn caused four of the remaining eight slave states, all in the Upper South, to break away and join their sister states of the Deep South in the newly formed Confederacy.

One of the four slave states that lagged behind was Missouri.

With a pro-southern governor and legislature, Missouri's hesitation at first seems a bit surprising. As was the case in most of the Upper South however, and especially in border states such as Maryland and Kentucky, the citizens of border-state Missouri found themselves divided on the emotionally charged issue of secession. Most, it seems, did not believe the situation called for leaving the Union.

So when a state convention elected by the citizens met to determine Missouri's choice on the issue of secession, their decision reflected the majority opinion - Politically complex Missouri would remain in the Union. At least for now.

Which is not what the governor had had in mind.

Not One Man

Fifty-five year old Claiborne Fox Jackson had been governor of Missouri for a little over one year when war broke out in April 1861. The Kentucky native's strong pro-southern feelings were made clear when he defiantly refused President Lincoln's call for volunteers following Fort Sumter. "Not one man," the governor proclaimed, "will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on any unholy crusade."

Jackson also called for the state militia to be assembled, ostensibly to defend Missouri from a possible Union invasion. This, it will be noted, from the governor of a state that did not secede.

But Jackson had bigger plans for his state than simply defending itself from a possible attack. He intended to do all within his power to take Missouri out of the Union and into the Confederacy. If that meant bending the rules a little - or maybe even breaking them - then so be it.

Accomplishing his goal would be easier for Jackson if he could gain the upper hand militarily before opposition could organize to block him. To do this he would need two things - guns and men. The men came in the form of the pro-southern state militia. The guns he hoped to obtain from the lightly guarded federal arsenal located in St. Louis.