National

Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, effectively ending the official Civil War. Guerilla warfare and looting in the border counties, particularly south of Jackson County, continue through the end of the year. While tensions remain in the border region, by 1866 refugees from the “Burnt District” in southern Jackson, Cass, and Bates Counties begin to return and rebuild their communities.

President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, which frees all slaves in areas under rebellion. This does not include Missouri, where slavery will remain legal for another two years.

The Pony Express, a mail service that started in St. Joseph, Missouri, and extended to Sacramento, California, closes after the completion of the Pacific Telegraph line makes it obsolete. The service operated for less than two years, but was important early in the Civil War for allowing faster transmission of information to the western United States.

Confederate forces fire on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and the Civil War officially begins. Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson refuses to provide the 3,000 Missouri soldiers requested by President Abraham Lincoln.

In February 1861, the Confederate States of America forms at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama. By late May, 11 states total will secede and join the Confederacy.

Lincoln is unpopular in northwestern Missouri, where counties like Clay do not yield him even a single vote. The state ultimately chooses northern Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, reflecting a generally moderate electorate and loyalty to the Union. Missouri Democratic Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson begins calling for secession.