Contents
List of Illustrations xiii Series Editors’ Preface xv Preface xvii Acknowledgments xxi Introduction 1 One Slavery in Missouri 6 A Proslavery Speech on the Admission of Missouri 10 A Girl Named Mourning 11 The Freedom Law, 1824 12 “Yesterday was the . . . Sale of my darkeys” 14 “The girl I shall not warrant sound” 15 “Rachel is free” 16 “All hands at work at the peaches” 16 Statutory Restrictions on the Rights and Liberties of Free Black People 19 Charles Peabody Describes Slavery in Lexington, Missouri 20 Dred Scott Sues for His Freedom 21 Bond for a Free Black Woman 23 William Wells Brown Remembers His Life as a Slave 23 “Emancipation . . . would convert this vast region . . . into a howling wilderness” 26 Two Missouri Divides 31 The Squatter Sovereign Proclaims: “Kansas declared in favor of Slavery” 37 A Republican Newspaper Editor Comments Favorably on the High Price of Missouri Slaves 38 A St. Louis Newspaper Laments the “fratricidal strife on the soil of Kansas” 39 William B. Napton Deplores the Possibility of Emancipation in Missouri 40 Democratic and Constitutional Union Newspaper Editorials on the 1860 Presidential Election 42 Missouri! Bright Land of the West! 48
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Missouri Democrats Proclaim Their Loyalty 49 Minerva Blow’s Flag Is Still Waving for the Union 52 “Peace . . . should be maintained in our State” 54 “The attempt to overthrow an established government is the plainest treason” 56
Three Missourians Confront War 58 Missouri’s Minute Men Join the Southern Cause 62 Lieutenant Colonel John S. Bowen Reports on Jayhawkers to Governor Claiborne F. Jackson 64 General Daniel M. Frost and Captain Nathaniel Lyon Argue over the Fate of Camp Jackson 66 Alice Cayton Believes St. Louis Will Be Cleared of Germans 68 Governor Jackson Condemns the “bloody and revolutionary schemes” of the U.S. Government 69 “I Goes to Fight mit Sigel” 71 German Ladies Present a Union Flag 73 “You may be assured that she talks Southern” 74 The Ladies Union Aid Society Visits Benton Barracks 75 Stephan Werly Refuses to Serve under a Colonel Who “does not seem to know any religion” 76 The Ladies Union Aid Society Raises Funds for the Cause 78 Confederate Soldiers Exhort Pro-Southern Women to Stand Firm 80 This War amongst Neighbors and Brothers 81
Four Missouri’s Battles 84 Remembering Boonville: The First Battle on the Soil of Missouri 88 Union Soldiers Are Spoiling for a Fight 90 “I feel any thing but lonesome when I get among the St. Louis Boys” 93 “They were ever seen in the thickest of the fight, cheering on their men”: The Battle of Wilson’s Creek 95 The Ray Children Witness the Battle of Wilson’s Creek 100 General John C. Frémont Declares Martial Law and Frees Slaves 102 “We are engaged in war with an army of desperate adventurers” 103 Private Henry Voelkner Complains about the Army’s Lack of Information 105 Contents ix
Edward Bates Discusses Gunboats and Politics with His Son 107 A Senate in Exile 108 Rebel Soldiers Declare, “Our cause is as sure to triumph as God reigns in Heaven” 112 David Monlux Tells His Father, “We have a first rate time in our tent” 113 A Jesuit Chaplain Suffers alongside His Soldiers 114 A Confederate Soldier at the Siege of Vicksburg 115 Sergeant Albert Allen Wants to Emigrate to Mexico to Get away from Germans 118
Five Civilians Cope with War 121 “Fashionable Secesh Ladies” Write Their Friends in the Army 125 A St. Louis “she-devil” Promises Revenge 126 Elvira Scott Laments That Her Home Is “no longer a safe asylum” 129 Lucy Thurman Asks Her Cousin to Come Home if He Can “get out of old Abe’s clutches” 131 “Let us see if we can’t have a ‘raid’ ourselves” 133 Willard Mendenhall Is Harassed by Federals 134 Steamers and Ships on the Mississippi River 135 Henry Crawford Describes the Execution of a Bushwhacker 137 Private David Allan Cares Little for Suffering Farmers in Southeast Missouri 138 Sarah Jane Hill Helps Nurse Wounded Union Soldiers 140 Cordelia Harvey Cares for Wounded and Sick Soldiers at Cape Girardeau 142 A Woman’s Secret Code 144 William Kesterson Writes Home from an Army Hospital 144 Are Partisan Rangers Confederate Soldiers? 147 The St. Louis Union Club “will no longer dally with treason nor compromise with traitors” 149 How I Robbed a Young Couple 150 Adair County Provides for Widows and Orphans 151 Refugee Children 152
Six Bushwhackers, Jayhawkers, and Prisoners 155 Mary Ann Cordry Takes the Oath of Loyalty 157 General Order No. 11 158 x Contents
General Schofield Copes with the Aftermath of General Order No. 11 159 “There are strict orders against taking any more prisoners that is found . . . as bushwhackers” 161 A Missouri Soldier Burns Homes in Tennessee 164 “I had nothing much to [lose] and what I had is gone” 166 “Bloody Bill” Anderson Threatens the Women of Western Missouri 167 Cyrus Russell Is Taken Prisoner during the Battle of Pilot Knob 171 “The military force looked miserably insufficient to successfully cope with the enemy” 174 They Received Confederate Friends with Smiles and Tears 176 “Strange to say—we did not feel afraid” 177 The Suffering Condition of the People 179 The Journal of Western Commerce Reports Rising Prices in Missouri 180 Dr. Holmes Cares for His Fellow Prisoners 186 How a Young Lady Got into Gratiot Street Prison 187 Only Eight in the Guard House 188
Seven First Steps toward Emancipation 190 Henry T. Blow Asks President Abraham Lincoln to Pass an Emancipation Edict 194 A Missouri Lady Dreads Winter among “insolent negroes” 194 Edward Bates Warns Provisional Governor Hamilton Gamble of Political Intrigues 195 “He talks of nothing but Emancipation” 196 Missourians React to the Emancipation Proclamation 198 Deed of Emancipation 200 A Union Soldier Deplores Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation 201 Private William R. Donaldson Criticizes the Recruitment of Black Soldiers 202 “If they want any of their family, they can arm themselves . . . and take them” 203 Missouri State Representatives Argue about Emancipation 204 Republican Isidor Bush Implores the People of Missouri to Take a Stand on Slavery 208 Negro Hunting 210 Recruiting Soldiers of African Descent 211 An Ambush at Poison Springs 213 Contents xi
Eight Reconciliation and Promises 215 “The ruinous . . . conservative war policy” 220 “Freedom as the watchword of our new life” 221 Private Solomon B. Childress Swears Vengeance on Columbia 223 William B. Napton Fears the Control of Radical Republicans 225 The Daily Missouri Democrat Celebrates the End of Slavery in Missouri 225 Cousin Jimmie Describes Emancipation on the Farm 226 George Cruzen Musters Out of the Confederate Service and Emigrates to Mexico 227 William Murphy Pleads for Release from Gratiot Street Prison 229 To All Who Were Rebels, Traitors, Sympathizers and Their Friends 229 W. R. Dyer Fears That the Country Is Drifting into Civil War Again 231 John Mercer Langston Demands Equality before the Law 232 This Great Problem of Reconstruction 236 Freedman’s Bank Records 237 Martyrdom in Missouri 239 An Ex-Confederate Soldier Applies for a Pension 241
Timeline 243 Discussion Questions 253 Notes 257 Selected Bibliography 268 Index 269