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.”