The governor/colonel was Thomas Clement Fletcher. John W. Fletcher was his brother. Governor Thomas Fletcher was Colonel of the 47th Missouri Infantry, which he raised in the summer of 1864, immediately prior to the Battle of Pilot Knob. Prior to that he was colonel of the 31st Missouri Infantry from autumn 1862 until the spring of 1864. In that role he commanded a brigade under Sherman at one point. Gamble was a Whig prior to the war, an Unconditional Unionist during the earliest months of the war, and a Conservative Unionist during his term of office as governor. Willard P. Hall was a Democrat prior to the war, and was a Unionist during the war. Neither man was a member of the Republican Party (Missouri Conservative Unionists were more closely associated with the Democratic Party, Radical Unionists were more closely associated with the Republican Party). Neither Gamble or Hall were ever considered to be Radicals or Republicans during their terms of office.