USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 78
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114
The convention was composed of ninety-nine delegates. It was said that fifty- three of the members were of Virginia or Kentucky descent. All but seventeen were natives of slave states. Thirteen were from the North. There were three Germans and one Irishman. The convention met in Jefferson City, but almost immediately adjourned to meet in St. Louis. The adjournment to St. Louis was taken, it was freely stated, because of the secession atmosphere of the state capital. In the election of president of the convention the issue of southern rights was raised. Nathaniel W. Watkins, a half brother of Henry Clay, was nominated by the southern rights delegates. He received only fifteen votes. Sterling Price was supported by the Unionists of varying opinions and received seventy-five votes. William Hyde said :
-
716
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
"It reads strangely, now, that the name of the gentleman who, for his stanch Unionism as well as his commanding influence, his unquestioned integrity, his familiarity with public affairs and his experience among large bodies of men, captured the enthusiastic support of the convention as its president was-Sterling Price. In those days any cause was honored in its being followed by that personally magnificent man. As member of Congress and as governor, he had 'done the state some service, and they knew it.' Missouri was fond of him; the people were delighted with him."
Minute Men Plan a Surprise.
The effect of the election of Union delegates was felt at once at Jefferson City. It paralyzed for the time proposed legislation by the southern rights fol- lowing. Talk of an immediate attack on the arsenal ceased suddenly for a few days. The Minute Men began to lay new plans. They hinted at a demonstration on the 4th of March, the day of Lincoln's inauguration. Blair and Lyon agreed the situation was very dangerous, although the state had elected Union delegates. Blair went to Springfield to see Lincoln who was about starting for Washington and to tell him plainly that the faction which got control of the arsenal would hold Missouri, convention or no convention. From Springfield Blair hurried to Washington and urged President Buchanan to give Lyon command of the arsenal. On the 25th of February, Lyon wrote to Blair at Washington, telling of Hagner's refusal to strengthen the defenses of the arsenal, notwithstanding the expected demonstration of the Minute Men, and said: "This is either imbecility or damned villainy." Buchanan and General Scott refused Blair's plea. Hagner remained in command.
"The convention met in St. Louis on the 4th of March, the day of Lincoln's inauguration. The place was Mercantile Library hall, just two blocks north of the Berthold mansion, where the Minute Men had hung out that day a secession flag and were inviting an attack by Blair's Home Guards. Snead has explained the purpose :
"During the preceding night some of the Minute Men (Duke, Greene, Quinlan, Cham- pion, and McCoy) raised the flag of Missouri over the dome of the court-house and hoisted above their own headquarters a nondescript banner, which was intended to represent the flag of the Confederate states. The custodian of the court-house removed the state flag from that building early in the morning; but the secession flag still floated audaciously and defiantly above the Minute Men's headquarters, in the very face of the submissionists' con- vention, of the republican mayor and his German police, of the department commander, and of Lyon and his Home Guards; and under its fold there was gathered as daring a set of young fellows as ever did a bold, or a reckless deed. They were about a score at first, but when an excited crowd began to threaten their quarters, and the rumor to fly that the Home Guards were coming to tear down the flag, the number of defenders grew to - about one hundred. They all had muskets of the latest and best pattern. On the floors of the upper rooms were heaps of hand grenades. In the wide hall was a swivel, double-shotted, and so planted as to rake the main entrance if any one should be brave enough to try to force it. At every window there were determined men, with loaded muskets, and fixed bayonets; behind them were others, ready to take the place of any that might fall; and in all the building there was not a man who was not ready to fight to the death, rather than submit to the rule of Abraham Lincoln; nor one who would have quailed in the presence of a thousand foes, nor one of them who survives today, who would not fight just as willingly and just as bravely for the flag of the Union. Outside, too, throughout the ever growing crowd, other Minute Men were stationed to act as the emergency might require.
"Before the hour of noon had come all the streets, in the vicinity were thronged with
717
MISSOURI IN 1861
excited men, some drawn hither by curiosity and by that strange magnetism which mobs always exert; some to take part with the Minute Men, if 'the Dutch' should attack then; some to tear down 'the rebel flag,' and to hang 'the traitors,' who had dared to raise it on the day of Lincoln's inauguration.
"Everything betokened a terrible riot and a bloody fight. The civil authorities were powerless. It was to no purpose that they implored the crowd to disperse; in vain that they begged the Minute Men to haul down their flag. The police could do nothing. The Home Guards did not dare attack, for their leaders knew that the first shot that was fired would bring Frost's brigade, which was largely composed of Minute Men, to the aid of their friends, and that they would also be reinforced by the Irish, between whom and the German Home Guards there was the antipathy of both race and religion. Only once did any one venture to approach the well-guarded portals of the stronghold. The rash fools who did it were hurled back in the street, amid the jeers and laughter of the crowd. Blair and the republican leaders, unwilling to provoke a conflict, kept their followers quiet, and finally towards midnight the crowd dispersed. The next day's sun shone upon the rebel flag still flying above the roof of the Minute Men's quarters. But Duke and Greene were unhappy, for they had hoped to bring on a fight, in which they would have been reinforced by Frost's brigade, and the Irish and many Americans, and in the confusion to seize the arsenal, and hold it till the secessionists of the state could come to their aid. They were, nevertheless, greatly elated because the people believed more than ever that there were thousands of Minute Men, instead of hundreds."
Another Move at Jefferson City.
On the 5th of March, the day after Lincoln's inauguration, the southern rights members of the legislature made another effort to pass the military bill. They mustered their full strength. They made use of the riotous scenes in front of the headquarters of the Minute Men on Fifth and Pine streets in St. Louis the day previous. The Union men met the appeals of the secessionists. The youngest member of the House, a native Missourian, L. M. Lawson of Platte, was one of the leaders against the bill. He said it would place dangerous power in the hands of the governor. It would bring upon the people of Missouri "the horrors of fratricidal strife." He urged that Missouri had no reason to secede, to arm her- self against the federal government. "Let her be loyal to the Union and the Union would still protect her as it had always done," Lawson said. The southern rights leaders, Claiborne, Harris and others, quoted from Lincoln's inaugural of the previous day and demanded the passage of the bill. The House again re- fused. "In this," said Snead, "the South sustained a defeat more disastrous to its independence than any which thereafter befell its arms, down to the fall of Vicksburg."
Blair used the 4th of March incident with telling effect on the war depart- ment. Lincoln was in the White House. On the 13th of March, Lyon was as- signed to command of the arsenal, but was not given control of the arms.
Convention Spirit and Conclusions.
Uriel Wright made an anti-secession speech in the convention. He was the great advocate who moved juries as did no other Missourian of that day. He referred to the southern rights flag hanging in front of the headquarters of the Minute Men :
"I looked one day toward the southern skies, toward that sunny land which constitutes our southern possessions, and I saw a banner floating in the air. I am not skilled in heraldry, and I may mistake the sign, but as it first rose it presented a single dim and
718
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
melancholy star, set in a field of blue, representing, I suppose, a lost pleiad floating through space. A young moon, a crescent moon, was by her side, appropriately plucked from our planetary system, as the most changeable of all representatives known to it, a satellite to signify the vicissitudes which must attend its career. The sad spectacle wound up with the appropriate emblem of the cross, denoting the tribulation and sorrow which must attend its going. I could not favor any such banner."
No time was wasted by the convention in discussion. Hamilton Gamble was made chairman of the principal committee-that on "Federal Relations." James O. Broadhead was the floor leader of the Unconditional Union men. John B. Henderson was, perhaps, the most outspoken against secession. Price, Gamble, Broadhead and Henderson were Virginians.
On the 9th the formal report on Federal Relations was ready. It was a dignified declaration : "To involve Missouri in revolution, under the present circumstances, is certainly not demanded by the magnitude of the grievances of which we complain ; nor by the certainty that they cannot be otherwise and more peaceably remedied, nor by the hope that they would be remedied, or even dimin- ished by such revolution. The position of Missouri in relation to adjacent states, which would continue in the Union, would necessarily expose her, if she became a member of a new Confederacy, to utter destruction whenever any rupture might take place between the different republics. In a military aspect secession and connection with a Southern Confederacy is annihilation for Missouri."
The report pledged the convention to do all in its power to bring back the southern states by a compromise through amendments to the constitution, but repeated the conviction that Missouri could not join the southern states in seces- sion : "To go with those states-to leave the government our fathers builded- to blot out the star of Missouri from the constellation of the Union is to ruin ourselves without doing them any good."
One of the declarations was, "That while Missouri cannot leave the Union to join the southern states, we will do all in our power to induce them to again take their places with us in the family from which they have attempted to separate themselves. For this purpose we will not only recommend a compromise with which they ought to be satisfied, but we will endeavor to procure an as- sembly of the whole family of states in order that in a general convention such amendments to the constitution may be agreed upon as shall permanently restore harmony to the whole nation."
William A. Hall pointed out the geographical impossibility of Missouri's seces- sion : "The geographical position of Missouri makes her essential to the North and even if the North should consent to the secession of every other slave- holding state, it will never consent to the secession of Missouri. She lies in its pathway to the West. She commands the navigation of the Missouri and all its tributaries, of the Upper Mississippi, the Illinois, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland. Never will the North and the Northwest permit the naviga- tion of these great rivers to be controlled by a powerful foreign nation, for their free navigation is essential to the prosperity of these regions. They might let the mouths of the Mississippi be held by a weak confederacy of cotton states, but never by a powerful people of which Missouri would form a part. Our feelings and our sympathies strongly incline us to go with the South in the event of a
719
MISSOURI IN 1861
separation ; but passion and feeling are temporary, interest is permanent. The influence of geographical position will continue so long as the face of the earth remains as it is, and the position of Missouri and the navigation of the Mississippi will be great and important interests long ages after the feelings and passions which now dominate the country shall have passed away and been forgotten."
The Convention Firm Against Secession.
The great majority of the convention accepted the report of the committee. Mr. Bast offered an amendment that if the proposed compromise failed and the. other border states seceded Missouri would go with them. Twenty-three voted for this proposition, among them Sterling Price, Robert A. Hatcher, Prince L. Hudgins. John T. Redd and Nathaniel W. Watkins.
John H. Moss, a Union man, wanted the convention to declare that Missouri would "never furnish men or money for the purpose of aiding the general govern- ยท ment in any attempt to coerce a seceding state." The resolution was voted down. In supporting his resolution, Mr. Moss said: "I submit to every man of common sense in this assembly to tell me whether Missouri will ever furnish a regiment to invade a southern state for the purpose of coercion. Never! Never! And, gentlemen, Missouri expects this convention to say so." In con- clusion Mr. Moss declared it was the duty of Missouri "to stand by the gallant men of Southern Illinois, who have declared that they will never suffer a north- ern army to pass the southern boundary of Illinois for the purpose of invading a southern state." But Fort Sumter had not been fired upon at that time. In a few weeks Mr. Moss was to raise and command a Missouri regiment in the Union army. There were others whose views were to undergo sudden reversal on the subject of coercing a sovereign state. John B. Henderson opposed the Moss resolution because it was entirely unnecessary. "Does any man suppose," he asked, "that the President of the United States will so far disregard his duties under the Constitution, or forget the obligation of his oath, as to undertake the subjugation of the southern states by force? Will the abstract principle of the enforcement of the laws ever be carried by the President to the extent of military subjugation? If so, this government is at an end. Will you tell me that Mr. Lincoln will send Don Quixotes into the southern states with military force to subjugate those states? Certainly not."
Hyde said : "A profound impression was made by a speech by Colonel Broad- head, in which he declared, as though he knew whereof he spoke, that the state had 'not the power to go out of the Union' if she wanted to." Broadhead was a member of the Committee of Public Safety.
In his reminiscences, given before the Missouri Historical Society in 1901. Thomas Shackelford told some of the unpublished history of the time :
"I now wish to mention an incident not heretofore published, in relation to the action of General Price. After the passage of the original resolution, a member introduced a resolution to the effect that if all of the border states, meaning Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland, seceded from the Union, then Missouri would take her position with her sister southern states. Judge William A. Hall and myself voted no to this resolution, and General Price, who voted last, voted yea. That evening, after the adjournment of the convention, he took me by the arm and led me to the extreme south end of the hall in the Planters' House, and said to me: 'You were surprised at my vote to-day.' I told him
720
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
I was. He said to me: 'It is now inevitable that the general government will attempt the coercion of the southern states. War will ensue. I am a military man, a southern man, and, if we have to fight, will do so on the part of the South.' His subsequent acts are matters of history.
"I must here mention the treatment to which I was subjected, by reason of my vote on the above resolution. On my return home from the convention to Howard county, I found printed placards, calling a meeting of the people at Fayette, to condemn Judge Hall and myself for our vote on this resolution. I attended the meeting, and asked to be heard, but was denied with hisses and shoutings. I asked the privilege of speaking on the steps of the yard to all who wished to hear me; this was denied. Just at this juncture a man with whom I was intimate, whom I knew to be raising a company to go South, came with a number of armed men, took position by my side, and said that I should have the privilege of speaking. I did so, and appealed to the Missourians present, and said: 'This resolution does not propose that Missouri shall go out of the Union on principle, but will abjectly follow the other border states. Now,' I asked, 'is there a Missourian present who would desire me to vote for such a cowardly resolution?' The brave Missourians present gave me a rousing cheer, and voted to approve my vote." .
Denounced by the Legislature.
On the 22d of March the legislature received from the convention which had so disappointed the southern rights element the resolution proposing that a con- vention of all the states be called to frame constitutional amendments in the interest of peace. How resentful the southern rights men felt was shown in the treatment of the resolution. Mr. Vest made the report of the committee to which the matter was referred. That report declared it was inexpedient to take any steps toward calling a national convention. "Going into council with our oppressors, before we have agreed among ourselves, can never result in good. It is not the North that has been wronged but the South, and the South can alone determine what securities in the future will be sufficient."
In the discussion on the report, Mr. Vest said: "The convention has been guilty of falsehood and deceit. It says there is no cause for separation. If this be so, why call a convention? In declaring that if the other border slave states seceded Missouri would still remain within the Union, these wiseacres have per- petrated a libel upon Missouri. So help me God! if the day ever comes when Missouri shall prove so recreant to herself, so recreant to the memories of the past and to the hopes of the future, as to submit tamely to these northern Phili- stines, I will take up my household goods and leave the state."
The convention adjourned on the 22d of March. The legislature adjourned about one week later. "Submissionist" was added to the political nomeclature of Missouri. As soon as it was evident that the convention was in the control of the anti-secession delegates, the southern rights men dubbed these delegates "submissionists," and thus referred to them in the fiery denunciations on the floor of the legislature and in the columns of the secession newspapers.
Home Rule Taken from St. Louis.
One of the legislative measures of the southern rights members of the gen- eral assembly took away from St. Louis home rule in police. The bill was in- troduced early in the session. It was not passed until March. St. Louis had a Union mayor, Oliver D. Filley. Up to that time the police had been a city department, controlled by the city government. The legislature passed an act
-
.
721
MISSOURI IN 1861
creating a board of four police commissioners to be appointed by the governor. The mayor was a fifth member, ex-officio. This board was given "absolute control of the police, of the volunteer militia of St. Louis, of the sheriff, and of all other conservators of the peace." Snead said: "This act took away from the republican mayor and transferred to the governor, through his appointees, the whole police power of the City of St. Louis. This 'was its expressed inten- tion. It had other and more important purposes which were carefully concealed." Basil W. Duke was one of the police commissioners appointed under this act. He had been active in the organization of the Minute Men and commanded one of the companies.
The other members of the new police board were J. H. Carlisle, Charles McLaren and John A. Brownlee. Brownlee was a northern man, in favor of peace and against forcible coercion of the South. The others were sympathizers with the South and in favor of the secession of Missouri if war came. The use which could be made of the police force under state control was shown when Lyon, for the better defense of the arsenal, posted some of his men outside of the walls to give warning of an approach. The police commissioners protested against this use of United States soldiers. Lyon was compelled to recall his men within the arsenal. Rumors that the arsenal was to be seized by the state were renewed with the reorganization of the police force. Sentiment in St. Louis about the end of March shifted as the municipal election approached. It became strongly antagonistic to Blair and the Home Guards, most of whom were still without arms.
In the first week of April was held the municipal election. John How was the candidate of the Unconditional Union men. The leaders of the movement which had carried the city by 5,000 against the southern rights men in Febru- ary supported How. Daniel G. Taylor, a popular democrat, but not a secession- ist, was elected by 2,600 majority.
Vol. I-46
1
CHAPTER XXII
CAMP JACKSON
Warlike Preparations-William Selby Harney-Plans to Capture the Arsenal-Lyon Patrols Streets-Muskets "to Arm Loyal Citizens"-Four Regiments of Home Guards Brigaded -Lincoln's Call for Soldiers-Governor Jackson's Defiance-Blair Grasps a Great Opportunity-State Militia Seise Liberty Arsenal-Washington Warned-The Com- missioners to Montgomery-General Frost's Suggestion-Jefferson Davis Sends Siege Guns-Midnight Trip of the City of Alton-Lyon's Ruse with the Flintlocks-Gov- ernor , Jackson Buys Ammunition-"Armed Neutrality"-Editorial Strategy-Champ Clark's Comments-A Pike County Mass Meeting-Confidential Letter from Jackson -Washington Recognizes the Committee of Public Safety-Police Assert State Sover- eignty-Camp Jackson-Forms of Loyalty -- Arrival of Confederate Siege Guns- "Tamaroa Marble"-Lyon in Disguise-Night Session of the Committee-General Frost Protests-March on the Camp-The Surrender-Baptism of Blood-Mob Demonstra- tions-More Loss of Life-Sunday's Panic-The Legislature Acts-Passage of Military Bill-Peace Agreement-Harney Removed-President Lincoln's Doubt of the Pro- priety-A Pathetic Letter-What Capture of Camp Jackson Meant-Frank Blair's Foresight-Vest, Rassieur and Broadhead on the Consequences.
This capture of Camp Jackson was the first really aggressive blow at secession that was struck any- where in the United States .- John Fiske. The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War.
Camp Jackson is slurred over with an occasional paragraph in the history of books, but it was the turning point in the war west of the Mississippi, and it was the work of Frank Blair, the Kentuckian, the Missourian, the slave owner, the patrician, the leonine soldier, the patriotic statesman .- Champ Clark.
In April began the moves of Missouri's game of civil war. The state was the stake. The playing was fast. The legislators had gone home at the end of March. Governor Jackson came to St. Louis and held conferences with the southern rights leaders. Blair traveled and telegraphed between St. Louis and Washington. Lyon fretted at the arsenal. The Minute Men chafed when they thought of those sixty thousand muskets. The Home Guards stolidly drilled at night on sawdust deadened floors and with blanketed windows. John McElroy, the northern writer said :
"A man to be reckoned with in those days was the commander of the department of the west, which included all that immense territory stretching from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, except Texas, New Mexico, and Utah. This man was the embodiment of the regular army as it was developed after the war of 1812. At this time that army was a very small one-two regiments of dragoons, two of cavalry, one of mounted riflemen, four of artillery, and ten of infantry, making with engineers, ordnance and staff, a total of only 12,698 officers and men-but its personnel and discipline were unsurpassed in the world. Among its 1,040 commissioned officers there was no finer soldier than William Selby Harney. A better colonel no army ever had. A form of commanding height, physique equal to any test of activity or endurance, a natural leader of men through superiority of
723
724
CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI
courage and ability, William Selby Harney had for forty-three years made an unsurpassed record as a commander of soldiers. He had served in the Everglades of Florida, on the boundless plains west of the Mississippi, and in Mexico during the brilliantly spectacular war. which ended with our 'reveling in the Halls of the Montezumas.' He it was, who eager for his country's advancement, had, while the diplomats were disputing with Great Britain, pounced down upon and seized the debatable island of San Juan in Vancouver waters. For this he was recalled, but the island remained American territory. He was soon assigned to the department of the west, with headquarters at St. Louis. He had been for twelve years the colonel of the crack Second U. S. Dragoons, and for three years one of the three brigadier-generals in the regular army."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.