Camp Jackson Affair, St. Louis, Missouri – Legends of America
Okay, picture this: It’s 1861. The Civil War is just kicking off, and things are tense. Really tense. Missouri, right in the middle of the country, is caught in the middle of it all, too. It’s a state with divided loyalties, and St. Louis is a powder keg about to blow. One of the first sparks? The Camp Jackson Affair.
Missouri’s Split Personality
Missouri was in a tricky spot. On one hand, there was the whole slavery thing and the Mississippi River trade, which tied them to the soon-to-be Confederate states. On the other hand, booming industries, railroads, and waves of immigrants linked them to the North.
Enter Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson. He leaned Confederate and wanted to talk secession. A state convention was held in February 1861, and guess what? They voted against leaving the Union (98 to 1!). But here’s the kicker: they also decided not to help either side if war broke out. Basically, Missouri was trying to play Switzerland.
But Jackson wasn’t giving up. He started scheming to get Missouri into the Confederacy, even if it meant bending the rules a bit.
The Arsenal Up for Grabs
After Fort Sumter was fired upon, President Lincoln asked Missouri for troops. Jackson basically said, "Thanks, but no thanks." Instead, he started building up the Missouri State Guard, a militia full of secessionists.
Then, a pro-Confederate mob grabbed the Liberty Arsenal in Liberty, Missouri, snagging about 1,000 rifles. This made everyone nervous about the big daddy of arsenals: the St. Louis Arsenal. It had almost 40,000 rifles – the biggest stash in any slave state! If the Confederates got their hands on that, it would be a game-changer.
Jackson didn’t help matters. He pushed a bill to put the St. Louis police under state control, which would have made it easier to snatch the arsenal. The Missouri State Guard even set up camp just outside St. Louis, named "Camp Jackson" after their governor. Subtle, right?
Enter the Union Guys
General William Harney was in charge of the federal troops in St. Louis. Under him was Captain Nathaniel Lyon, a fiery guy determined to defend that arsenal. He teamed up with Frank Blair, a powerful U.S. Congressman from St. Louis.
These guys started building their own pro-Union militia, many of them German immigrants. Blair used his influence to get the Lincoln administration to officially recognize them.
Even Ulysses S. Grant (yep, that Grant) was in the area, helping to gather troops in nearby Illinois. He wrote to his wife, Julia, about the situation:
"There are two armies now occupying the city, hostile to each other, and I fear there is great danger of a conflict which, if commenced, must terminate in great bloodshed and destruction of property without advancing the cause of either party."
To make sure the arsenal’s weapons were safe, Lyon secretly shipped some of them over to Illinois.
Showdown at Camp Jackson
Grant was right – a clash was coming. Lyon heard that Camp Jackson had received cannons that the Confederates had captured at the Baton Rouge arsenal. That was the last straw.
On May 10th, Lyon and Blair led 6,500 troops to Camp Jackson to force the 700-man garrison to surrender. Before the march, Grant stopped by to chat with Lyon and Blair, wishing them luck. The march went off without a hitch, and Camp Jackson surrendered.
The "Massacre"
Here’s where things get really messy. As Lyon marched the prisoners through the streets of St. Louis, a crowd gathered. Many of them were secessionists, and they were NOT happy. They started heckling the Union soldiers, especially the German immigrants. The insults turned into throwing things, and then someone pulled a knife and a gun.
A shot rang out (it’s still debated who fired it), and Lyon’s men opened fire on the crowd. At least 28 civilians were killed, including women and children, and many more were injured.
This event became known as the "Camp Jackson Massacre." It set off days of rioting in St. Louis, and the violence only stopped when martial law was declared.
Grant’s Take
Grant, who was heading back to the arsenal to congratulate Lyon and Blair, witnessed the aftermath. He even had a conversation with a die-hard secessionist who told him that back home, anyone who supported the Union would be hanged. Grant’s response? "After all, we are not so intolerant in St. Louis as we might be; I had not seen a single rebel hung yet, nor heard of one; there were plenty of them who ought to be, however." Ouch.
Aftermath and "This Means War"
After the Camp Jackson Affair, General Harney tried to keep the peace, but it wasn’t working. He made a deal with Confederate General Sterling Price that basically gave the secessionists control of Missouri.
Lyon and Blair were furious and got Harney replaced with Lyon. Lyon then met with Governor Jackson, Sterling Price, and Frank Blair. Price wanted to continue the agreement with Harney, but Lyon wouldn’t budge.
Lyon stood up, and in a fit of anger, declared, "Rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my Government in any matter however unimportant… I would see you and every man, woman, and child in the State, dead and buried."
Then, turning to Governor Jackson, he said, "This means war."
And with that, the Civil War officially began in Missouri.
The Rest of the Story
Governor Jackson fled to Jefferson City. Lyon chased after him, and the Union troops occupied the capital without a fight. Jackson and his State Guard retreated further west, and Lyon’s men routed them at the Battle of Boonville.
The Missouri Constitutional Convention declared Jackson’s office vacant and appointed Hamilton Rowan Gamble as the new governor.
Tragically, Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon didn’t live to see the end of the war. He was killed at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in August 1861.
Grant, in his memoirs, praised Lyon and Blair for their actions at Camp Jackson, saying that if they hadn’t acted, St. Louis and its arsenal would have fallen into Confederate hands.
Meanwhile, ex-Governor Jackson died of pneumonia in Arkansas in 1862.
The Legacy
The Camp Jackson Affair was a pivotal moment in Missouri’s Civil War history. It was a messy, violent event that showed just how divided the state was. It also set the stage for years of conflict to come.
See Also:
- Control Missouri Campaign
- Civil War
- Civil War Timeline & Leading Events
- Missouri Civil War Battles
Sources:
- National Park Service
- Wikipedia