There are also several articles about the Camp Jackson incident and "riot" that occured after the incident. Without getting too deep and convoluted, my personal feeling is the "border wars" of between Kansas / Missouri in the 1850s had a lot to do with setting the stage for a lot of the angst in Missouri in 1860-61. I share the belief that the 1850s along the border with Kansas was in fact a proxy fight between "abolitionists" and "states righters" that certainly presaged what war in the west would be like in the 1860s. Many in Missouri felt that radical abolitionists from the Northeast had turned into thugs that freely "invaded" Missouri and stole property / slaves during the prelude to the war. They had also seen a corrupt and ineffective Federal response to the border incursion problem and were in a frame of mind to remain "neutral" but "protectionist". There is no doubt in most peoples mind today that men like Jim Brown, Lane, Jennison, et al were violent to the core. The common folk of their day recognized the same. There is no doubt that men like Anderson, Quantrill, Todd, Holtzclaw, and Hilderbrand were just as violent. The real sadness is that if cooler heads had prevailed in St. Louis in 1861, it is likely that a goodly amount of blood shed would have been saved, particularly early in the war. Would the war have spilled over into Missouri, absolutely, but the anger and vicicousness borne onto a hapless civillian population by both sides may have been averted, at least for a while.
IMHO
John R.