The Camp Jackson Affair was an incident of civil unrest in the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 on May 10, 1861, when Union military forces

Union Army

The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 clashed with civilians on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, resulting in the deaths of at least 28 people and injuries to another 100. The highly publicized affair polarized the border state

Border states (Civil War)

In the context of the American Civil War, the border states were slave states that did not declare their secession from the United States before April 1861...

 of Missouri, leading some citizens to advocate secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

 and others to support the Union

Union (American Civil War)

During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...

, thus setting the stage for sustained violence between the opposing factions.

Background

In March 1861 the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1861 voted 98 to 1 to stay in the Union but not supply weapons or men to either side if war broke out. The security of a large munitions depot became an immediate flash point. On April 20, 1861, eight days after the start of the war at Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...

, a pro-Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 mob at Liberty, Missouri

Liberty, Missouri

Liberty is a city in Clay County, Missouri and is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. At the 2007 population estimate, the city population was 29,993...

, seized the Liberty Arsenal

Liberty Arsenal

The Liberty Arsenal was an United States Army arsenal at Liberty, Missouri in Clay County, Missouri, that was seized by Confederate sympathizers on April 20, 1861, being an early occurrence in a sequence of skirmishes and battles that was to define Missouri in the American Civil War...

 and made off with about 1,000 rifles and muskets. This set the stage for fears that Confederates would also seize the much larger St. Louis Arsenal

St. Louis Arsenal

The St. Louis Arsenal is a large complex of military weapons and ammunition storage buildings owned by the United States Army in St. Louis, Missouri. During the American Civil War, the St...

, which had nearly 40,000 rifles and muskets—the most of any slave state

Slave state

In the United States of America prior to the American Civil War, a slave state was a U.S. state in which slavery was legal, whereas a free state was one in which slavery was either prohibited from its entry into the Union or eliminated over time...

.

The January-April 1861 period was a period of furious military organization in Missouri. Pro-secessionists established Minutemen

Minutemen (Missouri Secessionist Paramilitaries)

The Minutemen was a secessionist paramilitary organization in St. Louis, Missouri in the early months of 1861. Many members joined the 2nd Regiment of the Missouri Volunteer Militia, and after May 10, 1861 the Missouri State Guard or the Confederate States Army....

 para-military groups, usually with the overt support of state authorities. In February 1861, the St. Louis area Minutemen were enrolled in the Missouri Volunteer Militia by Brigadier General Daniel Frost as companies in a new Second Regiment, MVM. Unionist activists were forced to organize in secret, as a February 1861 Missouri state law banned any militia activity outside the framework of the MVM.

On April 23, 1861, on orders of the War Department, Union Captain Nathaniel Lyon

Nathaniel Lyon

Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War and is noted for his actions in the state of Missouri at the beginning of the conflict....

 temporarily replaced Brigadier General William S. Harney as (acting) Commander of the U.S. Army's Western Department. Lyon also began enlisting and arming St. Louis Unionist volunteer, an action previously ordered by the Secretary of War, but not acted on by General Harney. The majority of Lyon's early recruit's were German immigrants

Forty-Eighters

The Forty-Eighters were Europeans who participated in or supported the revolutions of 1848 that swept Europe. In Germany, the Forty-Eighters favored unification of the German people, a more democratic government, and guarantees of human rights...

 and members of the Wide Awakes

Wide Awakes

The Wide Awakes was a paramilitary campaign organization affiliated with the Republican Party during the United States presidential election of 1860. Similar organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party were called the "Douglas Invincibles", "Young Hickories" or "Earthquakes"...

 political organization. According to one estimate, 80% of the volunteers in the first Missouri Volunteer regiments were Germans. The Germans in particular were unpopular with many native-born Missourians with Southern backgrounds, who deeply resented their anti-slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

 views.

On the orders of the War Department, in the early morning hours of April 26, U.S. Regulars, Illinois state troops, and Missouri volunteers loaded 21,000 of the Arsenal's 39,000 weapons on the steamer City of Alton, which carried them across the river to Illinois.

Around May 1, Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson

Claiborne Fox Jackson

Claiborne Fox Jackson was a lawyer, soldier, and Democratic politician from Missouri. He was the 15th Governor of Missouri in 1861, then governor-in-exile for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.-Early life:...

, who had been elected on the ticket of the (Unionist) Douglas faction of the Democratic party, but privately supported secession, called out the Missouri Volunteer Militia

Missouri State Militia (pre-Missouri State Guard)

The Missouri Volunteer Militia was the state militia organization of Missouri prior to the Missouri State Guard in the American Civil War.Prior to the Civil War, Missouri had an informal state militia that could be called up by the governor for emergencies or annual drill "in accordance with the...

 for "maneuvers" about 4.5 miles northwest of the arsenal at Lindell's Grove (the current campus of St. Louis University on Lindell Boulevard), then outside the city of St. Louis, at an encampment christened "Camp Jackson" by the militiamen

Previously in mid-April 1861, Governor Jackson had sent two pro-secessionist militia officers (Colton Green and Basil Wilson Duke) to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, with a letter asking for heavy artillery with which to attack the St. Louis Arsenal. On May 9, the steamer 'J.C. Swon' delivered the Confederate aid: two 12 pound Howitzers; two 32 pound siege guns; five hundred muskets; and ammunition in crates marked as Tamoroa marble. The munitions had been captured by the Confederates when they seized the Federal arsenal at Baton Rouge. MVM officers met the shipment at the St. Louis riverfront, and transported it to Camp Jackson, six miles inland.

Conflict

Based on the presence of the "stolen" U.S. artillery, and strong evidence of state militia conspiracy against the U.S. government, on May 10, Lyon marched on Camp Jackson with approximately 6,000 Federally enrolled Missouri Volunteers and U.S. Regulars, and forced the surrender of 669 members of the Missouri Volunteer Militia under General Daniel M. Frost

Daniel M. Frost

Daniel Marsh Frost was an antebellum officer in the United States Army and then a brigadier general in the Missouri Volunteer Militia and the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

. The militiamen refused to take the oath of allegiance

Oath of allegiance

An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to monarch or country. In republics, modern oaths specify allegiance to the country's constitution. For example, officials in the United States, a republic, take an oath of office that...

 to the Federal government. As a result, Lyon decided to place them under arrest and march the militia to the arsenal through downtown St. Louis before providing them with a parole and ordering them to disperse. This lengthy march was widely viewed as a public humiliation for the state forces, and angered citizens who had gathered to watch the commotion.

Tensions quickly mounted on the streets as civilians hurled rocks, paving stones, and insults at Lyon's troops. The heavily German Missouri Volunteer units were particularly targeted by the mob and shouts of "Damn the Dutch" were hurled at them from the crowd. Exactly what provoked the shooting remains unclear, but the most common explanation is that a drunkard stumbled into the path of the marching soldiers, and fired a pistol into their ranks, fatally wounding Captain Constantin Blandowski of the Third Missouri Volunteers. The volunteers, in reaction, fired over the heads of...and then into.... the crowd, killing some 28 people, some of whom were women and children, and wounding as many as 50 more.

The incident sparked several days of rioting and anti-German animosity in St. Louis. On May 11, another incident occurring at the intersection of 5th and Walnut streets saw German Volunteers fired at from windows and once again return fire into the mob. Col. Henry Boernstein

Henry Boernstein

Henry Boernstein [in Europe, Heinrich Börnstein] for many years published the Anzeiger des Westens in St. Louis, Missouri, the oldest German newspaper west of the Mississippi River...

, publisher of the Anzeiger des Westens

Anzeiger des Westens

The Anzeiger des Westens was the first German-language newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri, and, along with the Westliche Post and the Illinois Staats-Zeitung, one of the three most successful German-language papers in the United States Midwest serving the German-American population with news and...

a prominent German Language newspaper in St. Louis and commander of the 2nd Regiment of Missouri Volunteers, remarked in his memoirs that he gave several of his men leave to visit their families on the morning of May 11 and that, “Most of them did not return…until it grew dark, with clothing torn, faces beaten bloody, and all the signs of having suffered mistreatment…Two of them never returned and they were never heard of again.”

Rumors spread throughout the city that the Germans were planning to murder the American population of the city which caused many of the wealthy citizens of St. Louis to flee to either Illinois or the Missouri Interior.

Eventually the installation of martial law and the arrival of Federal Regulars to relieve the German volunteers would bring the situation to a conclusion but the impact of the Camp Jackson Affair left its mark on St. Louis permanently.

Aftermath

Nativism

Nativism (politics)

Nativism favors the interests of certain established inhabitants of an area or nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants. It may also include the re-establishment or perpetuation of such individuals or their culture....

, mistrust of the Federal government, slavery, and states rights issues all played roles in provoking the incident. The Affair polarized the state between Union and Confederate supporters. Previously most Missourians had advocated neutrality. However the Camp Jackson Affair forced most Missourians to take a side. Some former "Conditional Unionists", including former Governor Sterling Price

Sterling Price

Sterling Price was a lawyer, planter, and politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, who served as the 11th Governor of the state from 1853 to 1857. He also served as a United States Army brigadier general during the Mexican-American War, and a Confederate Army major general in the American Civil...

, now advocated secession. But ultimately the actions of Lyon and the St. Louis German community did much to ensure Missouri's continued loyalty to the Union. And in the years following the war, the Germans would gain a reputation as "saviors of Missouri."

Governor Jackson exploited the Affair to resubmit the stalled "Military Bill" which would put the state on a war footing, create a new state military force, and granted the Governor wide executive powers. On May 11, the Missouri General Assembly approved the measure, which created the Missouri State Guard

Missouri State Guard

The Missouri State Guard was a state militia organized in the state of Missouri during the early days of the American Civil War. While not initially a formal part of the Confederate States Army, the State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at times, under regular Confederate...

 to resist the Union invasion with Sterling Price as its Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

. Unionists described the bill as a "secession act in all but name". Critics also observed that since it stated that all adult men were to be considered to be reserves of the State Guard, and granted the Governor wide powers as commander of the Guard, it had the effect of making Governor Jackson dictator of the state. The following day, Major General Price and Brigadier General William S. Harney

William S. Harney

William Selby Harney was a cavalry officer in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War and the Indian Wars. He was born in what is today part of Nashville, Tennessee but at the time was known as Haysborough....

 (Commander of the Western District, which included Missouri) signed the Price-Harney Truce

Price-Harney Truce

The Price-Harney Truce was a document signed on May 21, 1861 between United States Army General William S. Harney and Missouri State Guard commander Sterling Price at the beginning of the American Civil War....

 leaving the Federal military in charge of St. Louis, and allowing state forces to maintain order in the rest of the state. Many Missouri unionists considered the agreement to be a capitulation to Jackson and the secessionist faction. Unionists outside of St. Louis reported harassment by secessionists, many fleeing to St. Louis for refuge. On May 30, Harney was relieved of command by Congressman/Colonel Francis P. Blair, Jr

Francis Preston Blair, Jr.

Francis Preston Blair, Jr. was an American politician and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and he was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President in 1868.-Early life and career:Blair was born in...

 who had previously been granted the right to do so at his discression by President Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...

. Lyon was promoted to Brigadier General

Brigadier General

Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

 of Volunteers and assigned command of all the Union forces in Missouri.

On June 11, in a face-to-face meeting at St. Louis' Planter's House hotel Brigadier General

Brigadier General

Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...

 Nathaniel Lyon

Nathaniel Lyon

Nathaniel Lyon was the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War and is noted for his actions in the state of Missouri at the beginning of the conflict....

 and Governor Jackson failed to reach a new agreement. After over four hours of argument (much of it over the powers claimed by Jackson in the Military Bill) Lyon abruptly ending the meeting declaring "This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call on you and conduct you out of my lines.

Jackson retreated to the state capitol at Jefferson City

Jefferson City, Missouri

Jefferson City is the capital of the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Cole County. Located in Callaway and Cole counties, it is the principal city of the Jefferson City metropolitan area, which encompasses the entirety of both counties. As of the 2010 census, the population was 43,079...

, and then evacuated the city on June 12, joining newly assembled State Guard troops near Boonville. Lyon occupied the capitol without resistance, and pursued Jackson with approximately 1,400 volunteers and U.S. Army regulars. Against the advice of his senior officers, Governor Jackson exercised his authority as Commander-in-Chief and ordered the State Guard to make a stand at Boonville. In the resulting battle

Battle of Boonville

The First Battle of Boonville was a minor skirmish of the American Civil War, occurring on June 17, 1861, near Boonville in Cooper County, Missouri. Although casualties were extremely light, the battle's strategic impact was far greater than one might assume from its limited nature...

 on June 17 Lyon's troops routed the State Guard. Jackson, the State Guard, and pro-secessionist members of the General Assembly retreated to southwest Missouri, near the Arkansas border, leaving most of the state under Federal control.

The Missouri Constitutional Convention

Missouri Constitutional Convention (1861-63)

The Missouri Constitutional Convention was a constitutional convention held in the state of Missouri during the American Civil War. The convention was elected in early 1861, and voted against secession...

, elected in February 1861 to amend the state constitution and decide the issue of secession, convened on July 22 and declared the office of Governor of Governor vacant due to Jackson's withdrawal from the state capitol (among other issues). The Convention then voted to appoint former Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court and conservative Unionist Hamilton Rowan Gamble

Hamilton Rowan Gamble

Hamilton Rowan Gamble was the chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court at the time of the Dred Scott Decision in 1852, when his colleagues voted to overturn the 28-year precedent in Misssouri of "once free always free". He wrote a dissenting opinion...

 as Governor of the Provisional Government of Missouri

Provisional Government of Missouri

The Provisional Government of Missouri was established on August 1, 1861 by the members of the Missouri Constitutional Convention after the evacuation of Missouri's pro-Secessionist Governor Clairborne Fox Jackson and elements of the Legislature to the southern part of the state...

. Gamble's government was recognized by the Lincoln administration, and controlled its own military force, the (new) Missouri State Militia

Missouri State Militia (Union)

The Missouri State Militia was a federally funded state militia organization of Missouri conceived in 1861 and beginning service in 1862 during the American Civil War...

 in battles against guerrillas and the State Guard.

Brigadier General Lyon, commanding an army of about 6,000 men (U.S. Regulars and volunteer troops from Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa) pursued Jackson and the State Guard as far as Springfield

Springfield, Missouri

Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...

 on August 1. By that time the Missouri State Guard had linked up with Arkansas State Troops and a Confederate army under General Ben McCulloch, creating a combined force of over 12,000 men. Lyon, decided to retreat to his rail head at Rolla, but attempted to deliver a preemptive attack to damage the secessionist force and allow his troops to withdraw unto safely. The resulting August 10 Battle of Wilson's Creek

Battle of Wilson's Creek

The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri, between Union forces and the Missouri State Guard, early in the American Civil War. It was the first major battle of the war west of the Mississippi River and is sometimes...

, fought ten miles south of Springfield, was a bloody affair, lasting over five hours. The battle ground down to a stalemate, with the outnumbered Federals holding off three charges on their position on Bloody Hill. The battle finally ended when Lyon was killed leading a charge, and his successor in command, Major Samuel Sturgis, concerned about his ammunition supplies ordered a withdrawal. The exhausted Confederates did not immediately pursue.

As a result of the battle, Price and Jackson were left in control of parts of south and southwestern Missouri until the Battle of Pea Ridge

Battle of Pea Ridge

The Battle of Pea Ridge was a land battle of the American Civil War, fought on March 6–8, 1862, at Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, near Garfield. In the battle, Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate troops under Maj. Gen. Earl Van Dorn. The outcome of the...

 on March 6–8, 1862.

In addition, the withdrawal of Federal troops allowed Jackson to establish a "government in exile" in the southwest Missouri town of Neosho

Neosho, Missouri

Neosho is the most populous city in and the county seat of Newton County, Missouri, United States. Neosho is an integral part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area....

. On October 28, 1861 pro-secession elements of the General Assembly met in the town's Masonic Hall and (reportedly) passed an Ordinance of Secession

Missouri secession

During the American Civil War, the secession of Missouri was controversial because of the disputed status of the state of Missouri . During the war, Missouri was claimed by both the Union and the Confederacy, had two competing state governments, and sent representatives to both the United States...

, making Missouri a short lived independent republic. On November 28, 1861 the Confederate Congress accepted the Jackson government's petition and admitted Missouri as the "twelfth Confederate state". The legality of the Neosho secession (even under Confederate law) has been questioned by many historians who: question whether a proper quorum of the General Assembly was present; note that the General Assembly had previously granted the power over secession action to the Constitutional Convention; and note that under Missouri state law an Ordinance of Secession required confirmation by a plebiscite of the state's voters (which never occurred).