Claiborne Fox Jackson

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Claiborne Fox Jackson (April 4, 1806 – December 6, 1862) was a lawyer, soldier, politician, and Governor of Missouri in 1861, then governor-in-exile for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

Jackson was born in Fleming County, Kentucky. In 1822, he moved to Missouri, where he practiced law. Jackson and his father together owned a very profitable business. He served as an infantry captain in the Black Hawk War. Returning to Missouri, he was elected to the state legislature, serving twelve years including a term as Speaker from 1844 until 1846. Jackson was elected to the state senate in 1848. As the leader of the pro-slavery Democrats, he led efforts to defeat the powerful and pro-Union Sen. Thomas H. Benton. In 1857, Jackson served as Banking Commissioner for the state.

Jackson assumed the governor's office on January 2, 1861, and vowed to continue the policy of his predecessor Robert M. Stewart that Missouri would be "armed neutral," refusing to give arms or men to either side even though Jackson personally favored joining the South.

The flash point in the neutrality was the St. Louis Arsenal which contained 60,000 muskets, 90,000 pounds of powder and 1,500,000 ball cartridges. Jackson did not want the arsenal to be used by the Union armies.

On April 26, 1861, Capt. Nathaniel Lyon, an aide to General William S. Harney, the Federal commander in Missouri, seized the arsenal and moved the supplies to Springfield, Illinois.

Further Lincoln ordered Jackson to deploy troops in the Union cause. Jackson responded.

Sir: Your dispatch of the 15th instant, making a call on Missouri for four regiments of men for immediate service, as been received. There can be, I apprehend, no doubt that the men are intended to form a part of the President's army to make war upon the people of the seceded states. Your requisition, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, and revolutionary in its object, inhuman, and diabolical and cannot be complied with. Not one man will the State of Missouri furnish to carry on any unholy crusade.

In May, 1861, Jackson ordered the state militia to assemble outside St. Louis for six days of training at what is now called Camp Jackson. Jackson's order was legal according to the Missouri state constitution. He appointed secessionists to command various home guard units and received arms from Confederate President Jefferson Davis (allegedly discovered by Lyon when visiting the camp disguised as a woman wearing bombazine skirts).

On May 10, 1861, Lyon surrounded the militia's camp, forcing their surrender. The prisoners were then paraded through the streets of St. Louis where they were shot along with other unarmed men, women, and children sparking the St. Louis massacre riot.

On May 11, 1861, Jackson appointed Sterling Price to be Major General of the freshly organized Missouri State Guard to resist a Union invasion of Missouri.

On May 12, 1861, Price and Harney agreed to Price-Harney Truce that permitted Missouri to remain neutral. But Lincoln replaced Harney with Lyon.

On June 11, 1861, Jackson tried to get Lyon to agree to the earlier terms but Lyon refused in a meeting in St. Louis. Jackson left the meeting with Lyon saying it was going to be war and had Jackson escorted out. Lyon began a series of battles with Price to capture Jefferson City and the state government. The state government fled to Boonville, Missouri prompting the Battle of Boonville on June 17 followed by the Battle of Carthage on July 5, 1861.

On July 22, 1861, following the capture of Jefferson City, Missouri by Lyon a special Missouri State Convention was called to vote on secession. Not surprisingly it voted to stay with the Union. On July 27, it declared the governor's office vacated and on July 28 it appointed Hamilton Gamble as provisional governor in Jackson's place.

The defining battle of the campaign was the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861 at Springfield, Missouri which is considered the first big battle west of the Mississippi River

On October 28, 1861, in Neosho, Missouri, Jackson was present during a session of the Missouri General Assembly that passed an ordinance of secession. The session, took place outside Jefferson City because of the threat of a death for those opposed to remaining in the Union. Jefferson City at the time was occupied by General Lyon, infamous architect of the St. Louis Massacre. The results of the vote were accepted by the Confederate Government though, and Jackson would serve as the governor-in-exile.

Jackson died from stomach cancer in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried in the Sappington Cemetery in Arrow Rock, Missouri.