Civil War Missourians

Missouri was the site of some of the most vicious internecine fighting during the Civil War, and this book introduces the reader to the 50 key men and women who created (and quelled) that chaos; stemmed (or exacerbated) the tide of secessionism; kept the state in the Union, and bloodied (or calmed) its streets and reputation.

Missouri became a focus of the issues involved in the Civil War long before it was fought. The 1820 Missouri Compromise was the first of several efforts to resolve sectional conflicts and divisions. But as would be seen, the addition of new territories from the Mexican War re-opened these contentious issues. Inevitably Missouri, a state where both abolitionists and slaveholders resided, would be a scene of significant conflict before, during, and after the Civil War. That in turn inexorably led to fighting by brother against brother throughout the war.

The formal decision by Missouri to stay in the Union was settled in 1861 after a few battles. But efforts by Confederates, including vicious nihilists like William Quantrill, Bill Anderson, and Sterling Price, to force the state into the rebellion continued. The result was a parallel state-wide and region-wide civil war complete with violence and guerrilla warfare perhaps unparalleled anywhere else.

The people described in this book all "rose to the occasion" of a period of conflict and crisis, though in many different ways. They are the people who made Missouri what it was for most of the 19th century, and their legacy continues. For all too many, like Quantrill and the James brothers, that legacy is of violence and evil. But men like Mark Twain and Dred Scott are memorable figures of renown and fame.