John C. Fremont

By Russell S. Perkins, University of Saint Mary

Henry Wager Halleck was one of the most prominent Union generals in the American Civil War. Though primarily remembered for his bureaucratic leadership, poor handling of troops in the field, and often prickly relationships with subordinate army commanders, Halleck had a first-class mind that affected the course of the Civil War based on his first experience of large-scale command in Missouri.

By Zach Garrison, University of Cincinnati

John Charles Frémont became a popular national figure after leading a series of expeditions intended to survey the Far West in the 1840s. The newly formed Republican Party chose Frémont, an outspoken critic of slavery, as their first presidential candidate in 1856. During the first year of the Civil War, Frémont fervently and controversially attacked slavery and slaveholders in Missouri, culminating in his declaration of martial law, which directed that the property of any individual acting against the United States would be confiscated, including slaves. The order engendered outrage, causing President Lincoln to overturn it and relieve Frémont of his command.

By Christopher Phillips, University of Cincinnati

When the elected governor and clandestine secessionist Claiborne Fox Jackson and pro-secession legislators were driven from Jefferson City by a federal foray under Nathaniel Lyon, the state's renewed constitutional convention declared the governor’s seat vacant and on August 1, 1861, chose Hamilton R. Gamble as the state’s provisional governor. As a wartime governor, Gamble found himself and his government caught between pressures of loyalty and disloyalty, national and state authority, military and civil imperatives, and unionist factions in his home state.

First Battle of Lexington

Thu, 09/12/1861

The First Battle of Lexington, also known as the Battle of the Hemp Bales because of the hemp bales that Missouri State Guard troops use as a rolling shield during their attack on Union barricades, is the second major defeat of Union forces in the region.

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