This wood engraving, entitled “Terrible Tragedy at St. Louis, Mo.,” was originally published in the New York Illustrated News on May 25, 1861. The Newspaper was published from 1859 to 1864 in New York, N.Y.
In early May 1861, a portion of the Missouri Volunteer Militia assembled at Camp Jackson on the edge of St. Louis, under the command of Brigadier General Daniel M. Frost. The militia had been mobilized for training by the order of Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson.
Fearing the militia was going to attack the St. Louis Arsenal, Union forces under the command of Captain Nathaniel Lyon surrounded the camp. Lyon sent a note to Frost demanding his surrender. Frost complied, his men were disarmed, and preparations were made to march them away from the camp.
During the march to the arsenal, violence flared between the crowd that had gathered and the Union troops; a number of shots were fired and 28 civilians were killed. The Camp Jackson “Massacre” forcibly consolidated the Union position in St. Louis and subdued the Secessionist movement, but also drove thousands of Missourians throughout the state into the secessionist ranks.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Library Collection
