While some parts of the nation were eager to fight at the beginning of the Civil War, Missouri was still trying to remain neutral. This effort was headed for failure. Missourians tried for peace in word and deed, but when the step was taken across the line, war came quickly. This isn’t to say people hadn’t chosen sides. The governor wanted secession. Those sides clashed across a conference table in St. Louis and Missouri went to war.
The First Woman
December 5, 2005 By
As she cared for soldiers wounded in the Civil War, Phoebe Couzins became convinced that women could do as much to avert war as they did to heal the wounds it caused. But, she felt, women had to have political power; they had to be legal equals of men. In her long struggle to give women equal rights, Phoebe Couzins achieved a number of notable firsts, although her career took a strange turn later in her life.
To Retreat Is To Lead
November 18, 2005 By
Franz Sigel was a German who chose the wrong side in the German Revolution. He was driven from his home country twice to Switzerland and finally even Switzerland attempted to ship him to America. Knowing the trouble Sigel had going where he was supposed to go, and holding his position once he arrived, his story as a Civil War general might be better understood.
Missouri Secedes
October 31, 2005 By
Missouri’s legislature by now was certainly on the run. At least one of the legislatures was. Although its members didn’t realize it, this day was the last day the Confederate legislature of Missouri met. Missouri on this day seceded from the Union.
Rebel Legislature
October 21, 2005 By
Several months earlier, Governor Jackson had fled from Jefferson City as General Lyon’s troops moved upstream on the Missouri River. Now it was fall. A federally supported interim government had taken over in Jefferson City with Hamilton Gamble as governor, but those who had been part of the Jackson government were still playing their roles. What was left of the legislature was about to meet in Neosho on the special call of the man they still regarded as their governor. About a week after the battle of Lexington, Governor Jackson ordered the legislature into special session. He took the action although he was no longer governor – the state convention of 99 having declared his seat vacant. Furthermore, the legislature he called couldn’t act because it was no longer the lawmaking body of the state.
