Lyon Leads the Charge

When Pro-South Governor Jackson of Missouri tried to strike a deal with Pro-Union Captain Nathaniel Lyon who defended St. Louis, he didn't get the results he wanted.  Jackson proposed that if Lyon would call off his Union troops, Jackson would declare the state of Missouri neutral in the Civil War.  To that compromise, Lyon replied, "Rather than concede the state of Missouri, the right to dictate to my government, I will see you and every man, woman and child in this state, dead and buried."  As the governor prepared his departure from the meeting, Lyon added, "This means war!"

In early June 1861, Lyon began to secure all Missouri for the Union by pushing up the Missouri River toward the capital of Jefferson City.  After the defenders fled, the city fell without resistance.  On to Boonville where Lyon was joined by troops from Iowa and the state militia was routed.  On August 10, 1861, Lyon and his 5000 troops met up with 10,000 Confederate troops at Wilson's Creek.  Lyon was killed in the battle and his successor, Major Samuel Sturgis ordered a retreat.  Federal reinforcements arrived and kept Missouri officially in Union hands. 

In the spring of 1862 Union forces moved into Indian territory.  The Union hold on much of the Midwest was tenuous.  Outlaw bands  of small detachments roamed the countryside subjecting residents to continuous looting, arson, murder and torture.  Bleeding Kansas on a grander scale.  No man, woman or child was safe whether slave owner or abolitionist until the Civil War was over.

Next time:  Quantrill's Raiders
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On October 30,  1864, the town of Helena, Montana, is founded by four gold miners who struck it rich at the appropriately named “Last Chance Gulch.”

Bleeding Heart Kansas

The stage was set in the West for the first direct confrontation between the North and the South in 1854.  In Missouri, the pro-slavery senator, David Atchinson, took up the challenge and urged his constituents to "send 500 of your young men (from Kansas) who will vote in favor of your institutions."  He issued the invitation to stuff the ballot boxes, and then led a gang of Missouri supporters into Kansas in November 1854 to vote in the territory's first election.  Meanwhile, scores of northerners from the Old Northwest were also heading west to match the Missouri "border ruffian" votes.

Most of the pioneers who flocked to Kansas between 1854 and 1860 were more interested in securing good land than the politics of slavery.  Inevitably, however, they had to choose allegiance to one side or the other for protection.  As the split grew wider, each side tried to claim all of Kansas - conducting separate elections for legislatures and constitutions.  Free and fair elections were tried but failed with even the help of the pro-South President of the United States!

Political confrontation finally resulted in bloodshed on May 21, 1856 when 800 pro-slavers met in Lawrence, the anti-slavery center.  They destroyed two newspapers, looted stores and wound up by burning the Free State Hotel and the Governor's house.  Reaction was swift...just three days later fanatical  John Brown led six of his followers to a pro-slavery settlement at Pottawatomie Creek, then watched as his men hacked five residents to death. 

Next time...Fanatical John Brown
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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 9, 1868, the 14th Amendment was adopted, guaranteeing to African Americans citizenship and all its privileges.

Pioneer Pieces: The Cosmopolis of the West

In the space of a few weeks in the early 1850s, Virginia City grew from a flophouse and saloon to a bustling community of  5000-15,000 people.  Like any mining town, it was a rough sort.  Most legends involve a character of sorts in the Old West.  With Virginia City however, there was a group of characters that have made their mark in Nevada mining history.

In Virginia City, the fire companies were thought of as a "aristocratic group" that was part military, part social, and part political.  In this case, the fire company of Virginia City was a great asset to the Union Army during the Civil War.  Their job? To keep the residents of Virginia City from developing any southern sympathies to the Confederacy.  They secured the loyalties to the Union of all of Virginia City's population - at least that's the legend that survived.

More about Virginia City next time...

Civil War on the Frontier

Kansas was a battle of free or slave rights unlike any place in the West with lawlessness such as tar and feathering.

Nevada offered resources to the Union that give it it statehood regardless of the population (1/6 of the required population to become a state).

Lincoln said "It is easier to admit Nevada that it is to raise a million dollars for the Union cause."