Claiborne Fox Jackson

Claiborne Fox Jackson

Claiborne Fox Jackson (born April 4, 1806 in Fleming County , Kentucky , † December 6, 1862 in Little Rock , Arkansas ) was an American politician and 1861 governor of Missouri . When the American Civil War broke out , he was in the Confederate camp . However, his attempt to split Missouri from the Union was violently foiled and he had to flee to Arkansas.

Early life

Jackson was born in Kentucky to Dempsey Carroll Jackson and Mary Orea Jackson (née Pickett). In 1822 Jackson moved to Missouri, where he and his father ran a thriving law firm. He left Missouri briefly to take part in the Black Hawk War as a captain . Back again, he was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives for a total of twelve years , and he was its speaker from 1844 to 1846 as the successor to Sterling Price . In 1848 he was elected to the Missouri Senate. As leader of the slavery-friendly wing of the Democratic Party in Missouri, he mainly fought against slavery Senator Thomas H. Benton .

Jackson as governor

On January 2, 1861, Jackson took office as governor of Missouri. First he tried to maintain the policy of his predecessor Robert M. Stewart , who, in view of the looming conflict between the northern and southern states , had embarked on a course of armed neutrality in Missouri and neither wanted to provide troops or weapons. Personally, however, Jackson felt connected to the Confederate cause and was in favor of Missouri's union with the southern states.

Conflict with the union government

Soon it came to a conflict with the Union troops stationed in Missouri , since US President Abraham Lincoln did not want to tolerate the armed neutrality of Missouri and ordered Jackson to raise troops for the Union in Missouri. When asked by Lincoln, Jackson responded as follows:

Sir: Your message, dated the 15th of this month, urging Missouri to immediately prepare men for four regiments for service in the Army, has been received. There can be no doubt, as I understand it, that the men should form part of the president's army to be used in the war against the people of the fallen states. Your request, in my judgment, is illegal, unconstitutional, and seditious, and its aim is inhuman and diabolical; so that it cannot be met. The state of Missouri will not provide a single man to carry out an unholy crusade.

In the meantime, Union troops under Captain Nathaniel Lyon had taken the arsenal of St. Louis on April 26, 1861 and carried the 60,000 muskets and 90,000 pounds of gunpowder located there across the Mississippi to Springfield , Illinois .

First fighting

In May 1861, Jackson, who served as governor, ordered a six-day maneuver for the Missouri State Guard at the gates of St. Louis. On that occasion he appointed some Confederate sympathizers to command various sub-units of the State Guard. In addition, the State Guard is said to have been supplied with weapons by Confederate President Jefferson Davis , which Lyon did not go unnoticed.

On May 10, 1861, Lyon had the State Guard camp surrounded by unionist volunteers from the German community of St. Louis. The State Guard under Daniel M. Frost was forced to surrender and the men were led through St. Louis as prisoners by Lyon's forces. During the parade through town, which displeased many St. Louis residents, attacks on Lyon's men resulted in what became known as the St. Louis Massacre .

Negotiations with the Union

A day later, Jackson appointed Sterling Price major general of the reorganized State Guard and tasked him with opposing the invasion of Missouri by Union forces. On May 12, Price and the Commander-in-Chief of Union Forces in Missouri, William S. Harney , agreed on a ceasefire that would allow Missouri to remain neutral at least temporarily. Harney, however, was immediately deposed by Lincoln and replaced by the more aggressive Lyon, whom Lincoln promoted to brigadier general.

On June 11, 1861, Jackson and Lyon met for a conversation in the course of which Jackson attempted to obtain Lyon's approval of the terms of the truce with Harney. Lyon stubbornly refused to give his consent, however, and had Jackson escorted from the room, having previously announced that there would now be war.

Task of the capital

Lyon now marched against Jefferson City to arrest Jackson and the state government. This fled to Boonville , Missouri and it came on June 17, 1861 to the battle at Boonville and on July 5, 1861 to the battle at Carthage .

After taking Jefferson City, Lyon convened an extraordinary state assembly on July 22, 1861 to vote on Missouri's secession. Since only Unionists belonged to this assembly, the vote was clearly in favor of Missouri remaining in the Union. On July 27, 1861, the assembly then declared the office of governor vacant and a day later appointed Hamilton Rowan Gamble in place of Jackson's as the new governor.

Then on August 10, 1861, southwest of Springfield , Missouri, the Battle of Wilson's Creek , the first major armed conflict in the western theater of the Civil War. Lyon's troops were defeated. He himself fell in the battle, as did around 500 men on both sides. The Confederates could not take advantage of their victory in the long term, however, as they did not pursue the defeated Union troops, which retreated to Springfield. These were able to reorganize and finally consolidate their position in Missouri in the spring of 1862 after the battle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas and hold it until the end of the war.

Separation of Missouri and escape to Arkansas

On October 28, 1861, the Missouri General Assembly passed the secession of Missouri in Neosho , Missouri, rather than Jefferson, which was still under the control of Union forces. Jackson was present for the vote. The Confederate government recognized the vote as legitimate and accepted Missouri as the twelfth state in the Confederation . Jackson continued to serve as governor of the Confederate-held parts of Missouri. But when the Union troops had conquered almost the entire state of Missouri towards the end of 1861, he had to go to Arkansas.

Jackson died of stomach cancer on December 6, 1862, at the age of 56 in Little Rock, Arkansas . He was buried in Sappington Cemetery in Arrow Rock , Missouri.

Web links

• Claiborne Fox Jackson in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Claiborne Fox Jackson in the database of the National Association Govervors (English)