The Setting

The threat to the union in Missouri was particularly acute in 1861. Its position on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and its manpower and natural resources made this western state vital to the Union. Most Missourians wished to remain neutral, but the governor, Claiborne F. Jackson, was a Southern sympathizer who planned to cooperate with the Confederacy’s struggle for independence.

Within months of Abraham Lincoln's election, rival militias had formed in the state. Into this explosive situation stepped Nathaniel Lyon, a Union Army Captain and stern abolitionist assigned to the Federal Arsenal in St. Louis. Quickly promoted to Brigadier General, Lyon easily secured the surrender of a pro-Confederate Missouri militia unit just outside the city at Camp Jackson. He then led an army into Jefferson City and installed a pro-Union government. The battle for Missouri was beginning to boil. In June, Lyon began his campaign to secure Missouri for the Union and drive the newly created pro-Confederate Missouri State Guard out of the state. Tension mounted and the agony of civil war weighed heavily on the people of Missouri.