Claiborne Fox Jackson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Claiborne Fox Jackson (April 4, 1806 – December 6, 1862) was a lawyer, soldier, politician. He was Governor of Missouri in 1861, then governor-in-exile for the Confederacy during the American Civil War.
[edit] Early life
Jackson was born in Fleming County, Kentucky. Son of Dempsey Carroll and Mary Orea "Molly" (Pickett) Jackson. 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.
[edit] Jackson as governor
Jackson assumed the governor's office on January 2, 1861, and vowed to continue the policy of his predecessor Robert M. Stewart whereby Missouri would be "armed neutral," refusing to give arms or men to either side in the approaching American Civil War, even though Jackson personally favored joining the South.
The flash point that threatened this 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 seized by the Union armies. However, on April 26, 1861, Captain Nathaniel Lyon, an aide to General William S. Harney, the Federal commander in Missouri, seized the arsenal and moved the supplies across the river to Springfield, Illinois.
Refusing to recognize the state's neutrality, President Abraham Lincoln ordered Jackson to provide Missouri troops to help fight the Civil War. An irritated 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. Governor Jackson's order was legal according to the Missouri state constitution. He appointed pro-secessionists to command various the State Guard units and allegedly received arms from Confederate President Jefferson Davis (supposedly discovered by Lyon when visiting the camp disguised as a woman wearing bombazine skirts).
On May 10, 1861, Captain Lyon surrounded the militia's camp with pro-Union volunteers from the German community in St. Louis. The State Guard was forced to surrender. The prisoners were then paraded through the streets of St. Louis, where some 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 newly organized Missouri State Guard to resist a Union invasion of Missouri. The following day, Price and Harney agreed to Price-Harney Truce, which permitted Missouri to remain at least temporarily neutral. However, Lincoln promptly replaced Harney with the aggressive Lyon, who was promoted to brigadier general.
On June 11, 1861, Jackson tried to get Lyon to agree to the earlier terms, but Lyon stubbornly refused. Lyon walked out of the meeting, saying there was going to be war, and had the governor escorted out of St. Louis. Lyon then began a series of battles with Price to capture Jefferson City and arrest the state government. The state government fled to Boonville, Missouri, prompting the Battle of Boonville on June 17, followed by the more serious Battle of Carthage in Jasper County on July 5.
On July 22, 1861, after occupying Jefferson City, Missouri, Lyon called a special Missouri State Convention to vote on secession. Not surprisingly, with only Unionists present, it voted to stay in the Union. On July 27, Lyon's convention declared the governor's office vacant and on July 28 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 southwest of Springfield, Missouri, which is considered the first major engagement west of the Mississippi River and the second major battle of the Civil War. Lyon's army was defeated and Lyon himself was killed along with over 500 Union and Confederate soldiers. While a Union defeat, the Battle of Wilson's Creek failed to pay any long term dividends for the Confederacy since Confederate troupes failed to follow the retreating Union army back to Springfield. The Union victory at The Battle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas in 1862 solidified Union control of Missouri for the remainder of the war.
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, made up of elected members of the state legislature, took place outside Jefferson City because the state capital was still occupied by Union troops. The results of the vote were accepted by the Confederate Government and Missouri was admitted as the 12th state of the Confederacy. Jackson would continue serving as the governor in the Confederate held portions of the state. But by the end of the year, the Union forces would occupy almost all of Missouri and Jackson took refuge in Arkansas.
In late 1862, Jackson died from stomach cancer at age 56 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is buried in the Sappington Cemetery in Arrow Rock, Missouri.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Robert Marcellus Stewart |
Governor of Missouri 1861 |
Succeeded by Hamilton Rowan Gamble |
|
|||||||
