Desoto Joe/The Record Man ----- Original Message ----- From: Elbert Hoard To: Bill Lay ; Desoto Joe Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 3:47 PM Subject: A Civil War Article Thought you guys might be interested in this article, Elbert Thursday, 10 June 1926, Vol 40 No. 6, pg. 4, Col 5&6--THIS WEEK IN MISSOURI > HISTORY--Compiled by The State Historical Society of Missouri. Floyd Shoemaker, > Secretary, Columbia, Mo.--Sixty-five years ago on June 12, Governor Claiborne F. > Jackson issued his proclamation calling 50,000 militia into active service "to protect the > state." > This action was his reply to Lincoln's call for four regiments, and the immediate > reply to Lyon's words, "This means war," uttered at the famous Planters House > conference the day before. > With the hounds of war snarling at the leash, Missouri's best representatives of > both causes halted in instant to parley. Francis P. Blair, Jr., who believed that Missouri > belonged with the North, had led the fight, and had been successful at every point. > They had foiled the Southern sympathizers in the control of the invaluable arsenal > at St. Louis. They had organized 10,000 soldiers at St. Louis; they had captured Camp > Jackson and disarmed the militia; and they had displaced the conservative General > Harney with Lyon himself as commander of the Department of the West. They had won > President Lincoln to their plans, and had so managed that Kansas and United States > troops at Ft. Leavenworth, Iowa regiments on the northern border, and Illinois troops at > Cairo, Alton, and Quincy were ready to strike. > Governor Jackson realized the military helplessness of Missouri. Material > destruction would ensue to the state, if any movement were made to help the South. > As the hope of armed neutrality dissolved, men were drawn to opposite poles. > Relatively few Missourians fought either for slavery or for abolition. There were those > whose conviction lay with the preservation of the Union; those whose belief was in > taking a stand with their Southern kinsmen, and those who, doubly torn by these > considerations, thought it best to save the state from invasion and internal war by staying > in the Union. > Increasingly these latter were called upon to make their decisions. Sterling Price > presided over the state convention which declared against secession in March; he became > major-general of the state militia and went with Jackson to St. Louis to confer with Blair > and Lyon. > They met at the Planters' House under the Stars and Stripes. Thomas L. Snead, > aide-de-camp of the governor, describes the close of the conference thus: > "Finally, when the conference had lasted four or five hours, Lyon closed it as he > opened it. "Rather," said he, (he was still seated and spoke deliberately, slowly, and with > a peculiar emphasis) "rather than concede to the State of Missouri the right to demand > that my government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or bring troops into the State > whenever it pleased, or move its troops at its own will into, out of, or through the State; > rather than to concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to > my Government in any matter however unimportant, I would' (rising as he said this, and > pointing in turn to every one in the room) "see you, and you, and you, and you, and every > man, woman and child in the State, dead and buried." Then turning to the Governor, he > said: "This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you > out of my lines." > Gov. Jackson burned the bridges behind him as he went back to Jefferson City > that night. By daybreak, on June 12, his proclamation was going to press. > "A series of unprovoked and unparalleled outrages have been inflicted upon the > peace and dignity of this Commonwealth and upon the rights and liberties of its people > by wicked and unprincipled men, professing to act under the authority of the United > States Government. The solemn enactment's of your Legislature have been nullified; > your volunteer soldiers have been taken prisoners; your commerce with your sister States > has been suspended; your trade with your own fellow citizens has been, and is, subjected > to the harassing control of an armed soldiery; peaceful citizens have been imprisoned > without warrant of law; unoffending and defenseless men, women and children have > been ruthlessly shot down and murdered; and other unbearable indignities have been > heaped upon your State and yourselves." > The proclamation then takes up the Price-Harney agreement; the conference with > Blair and Lyon; and the proposals offered by both sides. "Nothing but the most earnest > desire to avert the horrors of civil war from our state, could have tempted me to propose > these humiliating terms. Fellow-citizens, all our effort toward conciliation have failed.... > "Now, therefore, I, Claiborne F. Jackson, Governor of the State of Missouri, do, > in view of the foregoing facts and by virtue of the powers vested in me by the > Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth, issue this my proclamation, calling the > militia of the state to the number of 50,000 into the active service of the State, for the > purpose of repelling said invasion, and for the protection of the lives, liberties and > property of the citizens of the State....." > In Missouri was there actual civil war. Sixty percent of her men capable of > bearing arms participated, a higher percent than that of any other state. It is estimated > that 110, 000 fought for the union; and between 30,000 and 40,000 for the Confederacy. >