I think the rub for most Missourians at the time, was the obvious manufactured confrontation at Camp Jackson that included illegally raised and armed "Blair's Militia", and the subsequent violation of the Harney/Price neutrality agreement by Lyon. Don't get me wrong as I stated earlier Missouri would have eventually been wrapped up in the war but the clear trend of the day in early 1861 was the state was in legislative control of the Unionist Democrats and was clearly not headed to immediate seccesion. Lyon and Blair took action where none was needed and did so by deciet, pulling political strings to get Harney called to Washington DC and acting alone to replace the Major in charge of the arsenal and taking the action at Camp Jackson while Harney was out of pocket. All as a rather junior and inexperienced Captain no less. Was Claiborne Jackson itching for a fight, maybe, (M. Jeff Thompson clearly was) but more likely Jackson was looking for an excuse to lead the state to seccesion. He had failed and failed badly in that endeavor when the constitutional convention had returned the decision to not secede. Lyon and Blair (and I blame both because Lyon used Blair's political ties) in their actions served up the perfect excuse for Jackson to yell "See I told you so!" to many Missourians and the subsequent battles between the state militia and Union troops in the next 14 months or so were the result. This of course became the fodder for an article of secesion that was passed by the Missouri Legislature in Neosho MO. For years and I mean a century or more the act of seccesion was denied by many historians and called illegal and other names, but the finding of the Missouri Senate Journal that recorded the activity in the Wilson's Creek historic document holdings of all places, pretty much secures the accuracy of the claim as well as the mindset and change of heart many of the legislators had as the result of Lyon's actions.

Events can't be undone for sure, but IMHO Lyon has been martyred to some extent and his back-room politicing to get his generalship is glossed over too frequently. Price was clearly taken aback by the way he was approached in St. Louis. He and Harney had an agreement which Price felt was appropriate between the Federal Army and the very legal (and common for the day in many states) state militia of which he was commander. Both men recognized it was centrist in nature and would make both extremes unhappy. It should be pointed out that it was the Radical Republicans that pulled the trigger on the first shot, not southern sympathizers, Moderate Republicans, Whigs, or Democrat Unionists and to them the blame lies, not unlike that that falls on PGT Beauregard at Sumter.

My ascertion still remains that if cooler and more mature heads had prevailed in St. Louis much of the conflict in Missouri would have been considerably different.

I highly suggest "General Sterling Price and the Confederacy" and of course the OR has many of the letters back and forth between Cameron and Blair and others pulling strings to get Lyon in command of the arsenal even though Major Hagner had things in hand. See the correspondence begining about page 653 of Chapter VIII in Series I Volume I. Phillips "Missouri's Confederate: Claiborne Fox Jackson" is an excellent read. The Price/Harney agreement is found in OR Series 1, Part III pg 374-375 along with several other telling documents written at the time that indicate how radical Lyon and Blair's approach was. Lyon and Blair did use ethnic discord between the Irish and Germans to further their arguments which Harney tried to stop.

I also quote from Cole County History

"1861. PRE-WAR ATMOSPHERE/ATTITUDES/POLITICS Cole County gave Lincoln less than one vote in ten in the presidential election of 1860, which was more support than he received in Miller, Moniteau, Boone and Callaway counties. In fact, Lincoln carried only Gasconade County and St. Louis in the whole state of Missouri.

Nevertheless, the majority of the folks in our county, and throughout Missouri, wanted Missouri to stay in the Union. This attitude prevailed primarily for business and economic reasons, as was clearly reflected by the vote of the 99 delegates (all Democrats) to the Missouri Convention in March 1861.

While we wanted to stay in the Union, we did not want to physically oppose any state that wanted its independence from the Union. This attitude too was clearly reflected by the electorate in their opposition to Frank Blair.s Republican Party and his German immigrant supporters that were largely in St. Louis.

Again, we wanted to support and stay in the Union, but we did not want to go to war on the issue. Although there were efforts at both extremes to get us to go to war for one side or the other, the majority sentiment in Cole County and in Missouri was to stay neutral, to compromise, to avoid confrontation.

To this end, and after the debacle at Camp Jackson in St. Louis in May of 1861, the Neutrality Agreement between the federal government and the State of Missouri was worked out and signed by both parties. Sterling Price, head of the State Guard, acted for Missouri and General William S. Harney, Commander of all Union troops in Missouri and Department of the West, acted for the Federal government. The gist of the agreement would keep Missouri neutral, hold the Federal troops in place, and disband Sterling Price.s State Guard. So much for good intentions!

Frank Blair opposed this agreement and wanted Missouri to provide troops to the Union army. Frank was a strong supporter of Lincoln and had a brother in Lincoln.s cabinet. He convinced Lincoln to fire General Harney, nullify the Neutrality Agreement, and promote his friend Captain Lyon to Brigadier General. (Special note on General Harney: He would be reinstated.too late for the 27,000 Missourians that lost their lives in the WAR.and resume his very distinguished career until 1874).

JUNE 1861. With the Harney Agreement destroyed, General Sterling Price and Governor Claiborne Jackson tried once again to get an agreement with the federal government. This time the two of them set up a meeting in St. Louis with Frank Blair and the newly promoted General Lyon. The meeting failed, along with Missouri.s objective of neutrality. General Lyon is quoted as saying, .This means war.., and three days later, June 15, 1861, Lyon is in the City of Jefferson with his troops, taking down the Missouri Flag at the capitol and hoisting the USA Flag in its place. The fat was in the fire now.

(Note: At this point the mood in Missouri and Cole County changed significantly for many of the citizens who saw these actions as acts of war perpetrated by the Federal government on a state that was as much a part of the Union as was Illinois or New York).

In a matter of days, the federally imposed state .provisional. government was established in Jefferson City and federal provost marshals were installed throughout the state to enforce martial law that Missouri would remain under until the end of the War. In 1865, martial law would be replaced by the Drake Constitution which would deny rights to a large portion of our citizens until partially repealed in 1870."

See: http://www.colecohistsoc.org/civilwar2.html

Perhaps I'm a bit sensitive but even today Missourian's are proud of their hertiage and independence and many look at Blair and Lyon's actions as an affront to the integrity of the state and the people in it. Many have not forgotten the suprise and anger generated by the Federal military literally throwing out the constitutional government after being manipulated by a handful of politicians. The lesson in history remains fresh in the mind.

Thanks
John R.