Gallery: 12th Confederate State
Claiborne Fox Jackson
Missouri’s pro-secessionist governor, Claiborne Jackson, was born on April 4, 1806. He moved to Missouri from Kentucky in June 1826. Living in Howard County, Jackson began several businesses before entering politics. In 1836, he served one term in the Missouri House before accepting a position in the State Bank of Missouri. Jackson ran for public office again in 1842, being elected to the state legislature and eventually serving as the Speaker of the House. Jackson also served in the Missouri Senate, and in 1860 he ran for governor, winning a narrow victory.
In his inaugural speech in January 1861, Jackson declared that Missouri’s destiny lay with the Southern states and warned that Missouri would secede if the North attempted to coerce the South. In April 1861, he declared President Lincoln’s call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the rebellion “illegal, unconstitutional and revolutionary.” Jackson called a portion of the Missouri militia to training in May 1861 outside of St. Louis. The camp’s proximity to the Federal arsenal in St. Louis caused concerns that the militia would capture the arsenal’s 36,000 arms. Captain Nathaniel Lyon seized the pro-secession troops in camp, leading to a civilian riot in which 28 persons were killed. Jackson appointed Sterling Price as the commander of the newly created Missouri State Guard, and tried to work out an agreement with recently promoted General Lyon to find a peaceful solution to the crisis; failing to do so, he returned to Jefferson City where he called for 50,000 volunteers to defend Missouri against Federal invasion. Jackson and his forces abandoned the capitol, were defeated by Lyon at Boonville, then moved to the southwestern corner of the state to regroup.
In mid-July 1861, Jackson traveled to Richmond, Virginia to consult with Jefferson Davis, and on his return learned that a new, pro-Union provisional government had deposed him.
On October 28, 1861, Jackson called the pro-Southern members of the legislature to meet in Neosho, where the assembly passed an ordinance of secession; one month later, the Confederate Congress accepted Missouri as the twelfth Confederate state. After the Battle of Pea Ridge in 1862 ended Confederate hopes for retaking Missouri, Jackson established a temporary capitol in Camden, Arkansas.
Suffering from stomach cancer and tuberculosis, Jackson died of pneumonia in Little Rock on December 7, 1862.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 11499
