Camp Jackson

Camp Jackson. The Civil War in St. Louis. 1861 was a year of divided loyalties in St. Louis. Despite a Unionist vote at a state convention, Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson favored the secession of Missouri. To obtain this goal, the Governor ordered some members of the Missouri Volunteer Militia to establish a camp just outside St. Louis near this spot., General Nathaniel Lyon of the Union Army learned that members of the camp were preparing to seize the federal arsenal at St. Louis and lead Missouri into the Confederacy., In response, General Lyon mobilized thousands of local soldiers, mostly ethnic German volunteers, to march against the camp on May 10, 1861., After a short but intense standoff, the camp surrendered. Jackson's militia, now prisoners, were marched through the streets of St. Louis to the Arsenal., As the prisoners were marched through the streets, tensions with the pro-secession residents began to rise. Much of the ire was directed at the German volunteers. Rocks were thrown, insults were yelled and the situation deteriorated until a blaze of gunfire erupted from the Union controlled troops., When the smoke cleared, 28 people were dead or wounded including a few children; the prisoners were marched to the arsenal and paroled., As a result of the Camp Jackson, St. Louis was under firm Union control and Missouri remained in the Union.