Although the conflict in Virginia has commanded the lion’s share of attention and scholarship, Missouri and Kansas witnessed a tremendous amount of fighting during the American Civil War. Only two states, Virginia and Tennessee, had more actions fought on their soil during the Civil War than Missouri. Missouri was a strategically vital state for President Abraham Lincoln and the federal government’s war effort, and a case can be made that the Civil War started on the Missouri-Kansas border in the 1850s, during “Bleeding Kansas.” Missouri was split in its sentiments, and many Missourians fought on both sides of the war. By contrast, Kansans overwhelmingly fought for the Union.
Willard Preble Hall was a lawyer, Democratic politician, soldier, and crucial figure in Missouri politics during the tumultuous Civil War era. He served as United States congressman, general in the state militia during the Civil War, provisional lieutenant governor between 1861 and 1864, and 17th governor of the state in 1864-65.
Claiborne Fox Jackson, the pro-Confederate governor of Missouri at the outset of the Civil War, was born in rural Fleming County, Kentucky on April 4, 1806. The son of a moderately prosperous tobacco farmer and slaveholder, Jackson received only slight formal education before migrating with three older brothers in 1826 to Franklin, Missouri, where he engaged in business.
The city of Neosho, Missouri briefly served as a provisional capital of Missouri's secessionist government, which was formed by the deposed governor Claiborne Fox Jackson and secessionist legislators.
After being driven out of Jefferson City and Boonville, the deposed secessionist members of the Missouri state government retreated to the city of Carthage in southwestern Missouri.
Claiborne Fox Jackson, exiled Missouri state governor, dies of stomach cancer in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is replaced by Lieutenant Governor Thomas C. Reynolds.
