Hamilton Rowan Gamble, a former justice of the Missouri Supreme Court, is appointed provisional governor of Missouri by the Missouri Constitutional Convention.
At the insistence of Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, General Sterling Price, Nathaniel Lyon, and Frank Blair meet at the Planter's House Hotel in St. Louis to negotiate a peaceful settlement of Missouri's status during the secession crisis.
Missouri voters elect delegates to a state convention that will begin on February 28 to “consider the then existing relations between the Government of the United States…and the people of the State of Missouri.” Over 140,000 votes are cast, with nearly 110,000 of them in favor of staying in the Union either unconditionally or with conditions.
After Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and former Governor Sterling Price confiscate state records and relocate from Jefferson City to Boonville, they are soon forced by federal troops to move to southwest Missouri.
Marking the initial struggle for the state of Missouri, federal forces under command of General Nathaniel Lyon seize the Missouri Capitol at Jefferson City.
Claiborne Fox Jackson, a former Missouri banking commissioner, becomes the governor of Missouri after campaigning on an anti-secessionist platform. During the secession crisis, however, Jackson switches sides and promotes the secessionist cause.
