Liberty Arsenal

Coordinates: 39°11′57″N 94°24′23″W / 39.19906°N 94.4065°W / 39.19906; -94.4065

"Old Sacramento Cannon" captured by U.S. during the Mexican-American War in 1847 and taken to the Liberty Arsenal. The cannon was seized by pro-slavery forces in 1856 and fired during the Sacking of Lawrence in 1856. The cannon was damaged in 1896 when it was loaded with clay and straw and fired.

The Liberty Arsenal was an United States Army arsenal at Liberty, Missouri in Clay County, Missouri, that was seized by Confederate sympathizers on April 20, 1861, being an early occurrence in a sequence of skirmishes and battles that was to define Missouri in the American Civil War. It has sometimes been called the "Missouri Fort Sumter." It was located generally west of the junction of Missouri Route 291 and old 210 Highway.

After states began seceding from the Union, the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1861 voted 98-1 on March 21, 1861 to stay in the Union but not to supply men or money to either side.^[1] On April 12, 1861, the Civil War officially began with the firing on Fort Sumter.

In the earlier Bleeding Kansas skirmishes and battles, western Missouri around Kansas City, Missouri showed it had strong Southern leanings. On April 20, about 200 men from Clay and Jackson County, Missouri seized the lightly guarded arsenal leaving the St. Louis Arsenal as the only other military arsenal in the entire state.

The Southern sympathizers captured about one thousand muskets, four brass field pieces and a small amount of ammunition.^[2] but this was small compared to the 37,000 muskets and rifles believed to have been kept at St. Louis.^[3]

The munitions were to be hidden at the home of Henry Lewis Routt near what is now William Jewell College. Routt was eventually captured and tried for treason and sentenced to hang but was pardoned by Lincoln.^[4] Instead, a large proportion of the arms were shipped upriver to the charge of St. Joseph mayor M. Jeff Thompson. The arms were distributed to Missouri Militiamen and later to the Missouri State Guard. The four brass field pieces became Capt. Henry Guibor's State Guard battery.

Union General Nathaniel Lyon, fearing that the much larger St. Louis Arsenal could also fall, seized the St. Louis Arsenal on April 29 and began sending most of its munitions safely to Illinois.

References

v t e Missouri in the American Civil War Pre-war History of slavery in Missouri Missouri Compromise Dred Scott Decision Bleeding Kansas Armed Neutrality Secession crisis and divided government Missouri secession Missouri Constitutional Convention Camp Jackson Affair Gamble's Provisional Government Liberty Arsenal St. Louis Arsenal Missouri State Guard Price–Harney Truce Governor on the Run List of Missouri Civil War Confederate units 1861 Grant's First Command Battle of Boonville Battle of Cole Camp Battle of Carthage Battle of Athens Battle of Wilson's Creek Frémont Martial Law Battle of Dry Wood Creek Platte Bridge Railroad Tragedy Sacking of Osceola Battle of Liberty Battle of Lexington I Battle of Fredericktown First Battle of Springfield Department of the Missouri Battle of Belmont Gratiot Street Prison Burning of Platte City Blackwater/Milford Battle of Mount Zion Church 1862 Army of the West Battle of Roan's Tan Yard Battle of Island Number Ten Battle of Moore's Mill Battle of Kirksville First Battle of Independence Battle of Lone Jack First Battle of Newtonia Palmyra Massacre Skirmish at Island Mound Battle of Clark's Mill 1863 Second Battle of Springfield Battle of Hartville Battle of Cape Girardeau Battle of Chalk Bluff General Order No. 11 Shelby's Raid 1864 Centralia Massacre Army of Missouri Price's Raid Battle of Fort Davidson Battle of Glasgow Battle of Albany Second Battle of Lexington Battle of Little Blue River Battle of Byram's Ford Second Battle of Independence Battle of Westport Battle of Marmiton River 2nd Newtonia 1865 Lincoln's Vaughn Pardon Reconstruction James-Younger Gang Bald Knobbers