Questions about Missouri secession
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Did Missouri secede from the Union during the Civil War?
Missouri passed a secession ordinance on the 31st of October 1861, signed by Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson in the town of Neosho, and the Confederate Congress admitted Missouri as its 12th member state on the 28th of November 1861. However, the Union government had established permanent control of Missouri by 1862, and the Jackson government operated only as a government in exile from that point forward, eventually relocating to Marshall, Texas.
What was the Missouri Constitutional Convention vote on secession in 1861?
On the 19th of March 1861, the Missouri State Constitutional Convention voted 98 to 1 against secession. The convention was led by former governor Sterling Price, and no avowed secessionist delegates had been elected to it.
What was the Camp Jackson Affair in Missouri?
The Camp Jackson Affair occurred on the 10th of May 1861, when Captain Nathaniel Lyon arrested a Missouri State Militia encampment outside St. Louis after discovering Confederate artillery secretly delivered there to help the militia seize the St. Louis Arsenal. The arrest of the militia sparked a pro-secession riot when the captured soldiers were marched through St. Louis.
Who was Nathaniel Lyon and what role did he play in Missouri during the Civil War?
Nathaniel Lyon was a United States Army captain who arrived at the St. Louis Arsenal in early February 1861. He secretly trained and armed a pro-Union militia, secured the arsenal's weapons by shipping them to Illinois on the 21st of April 1861, arrested the Camp Jackson militia encampment in May, and captured Jefferson City on the 15th of June 1861 after Governor Jackson fled. His confrontational approach, backed politically by Congressman Frank Blair and Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, kept Missouri from falling to Confederate control.
Was the Neosho Secession Ordinance legally valid?
The legal validity of the Neosho Secession Ordinance remains disputed. Historians have questioned whether Jackson's legislature had a quorum present, a question complicated by the wartime disappearance of both legislative journals. The recently recovered House journal from the State Historical Society of Missouri records no roll call vote, while legislator Isaac N. Shambaugh of DeKalb County claimed in January 1862 that at best 39 House members and 10 senators were present, far below quorum.
How did Missouri end up with two state governments during the Civil War?
After Governor Jackson's forces were driven from Jefferson City in June 1861, the Missouri State Convention reconvened on the 30th of July 1861, declared all existing state offices vacant, and installed Hamilton R. Gamble as military governor. Jackson's government retreated southwest, passed a secession ordinance at Neosho in October 1861, and was recognized by the Confederate Congress in November. Both governments claimed legitimacy: Jackson's side pointed to popular election, while Gamble's side controlled the state capitol and had been installed by a body the state had elected to determine its relationship with the Union.