Francis P. Blair and Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon headed the unconditional-union faction. Blair, scion of the politically powerful Blair family (his brother Montgomery was Lincoln’s postmaster general), insisted on the full support of the Federal government and declared that any talk of secession was treason. Lyon, a pugnacious 43-year-old New Englander who had once declared, “I was born among the rocks,” commanded Jefferson Barracks, the Federal garrison at St. Louis, and was an ardent abolitionist. When word of Governor Jackson’s reply to Lincoln’s call for militia reached their ears, both men regarded it as the strongest sort of treason. Blair immediately set about organizing the “Home Guards” from St. Louis’ strong German immigrant population, while calling for reinforcements from Illinois, Iowa and Kansas. Lyon assisted by arming the groups with weapons from the arsenal. Jackson and Price, in turn, formed the Missouri State Guard. The stage was set for a violent clash; its focus would be the city of St. Louis.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in America's Civil War magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

Missouri contained two Federal arsenals, one at St. Louis and the other at Liberty, in the western part of the state. The small arsenal at Liberty had been seized almost immediately by pro-secession elements. The contents–1,000 muskets, four small brass cannons and a small amount of ammunition–were nothing to compare with the prize of the arsenal in St. Louis, which was said to contain 60,000 stands of arms and 25 fieldpieces. Price and Jackson immediately began plotting to seize the arsenal, and at the same time, Blair and Lyon took steps to defend it.

The rank and file composing the companies of the pro-Union and pro-secession camps within the city were divided by nationality as much as by ideology. For the most part, the Unionists were German immigrants. They had seen Germany suffer lawlessness and depredations for centuries because of the lack of a strong centralized government, and had no wish to endure the same in their adopted country. In their view, the absence of a strong central government put one at the whim of whatever petty prince had control of the area, with no recourse available for the common man. Accordingly, they recognized the value of a strong government. The city’s secessionists, for the most part, were composed of Irish immigrants. Long abused under English crown rule, they had an innate distrust and fear of strong central government; arbitrary use of political power had prompted their emigration.

Side by side with both militias, there existed shadowy political organizations. The pro-Union group was known as the “Wide-Awakes,” and the pro-secession men were known as the “Minutemen.” The secessionists believed they were fighting the second American Revolution against tyranny, and they took the name Minutemen from the Colonials at Lexington and Concord. The Unionists chose to be called Wide-Awakes to show that they were alert and ever vigilant in defense of the Federal government in Washington. The two groups spent most of their time attempting to win the hearts and minds of the local populace by organizing demonstrations, posting signs and publishing pamphlets extolling the virtues of their respective causes.

The first open clash between the two sides occurred on March 4, 1861, Lincoln’s inauguration day. Around midnight of the 3rd, the leaders of the Minutemen–Rock Champion, Basil W. Duke, Arthur McCoy, Colton Greene and James Quinlan–climbed the dome of the Federal courthouse on Market Street and removed the national flag, replacing it with the state flag. Above the Berthold mansion, headquarters of the Minutemen, a banner was raised that Greene described as “a nondescript conceit–a red field, emblazoned with a white cross, star and crescent–made by Arthur McCoy’s wife.”

Toward dawn on March 4, the official in charge of the courthouse lowered the state flag and replaced the national colors without incident. However, at the Berthold mansion the situation was quite different. At midmorning, a curious crowd began to gather around the mansion and the streets leading to it. Minutemen circulated among the crowd promoting their point of view. The Wide-Awakes lost no time in assessing the situation and determined not to allow this affront to the Federal government to go unchallenged. David Dickey, a native Pennsylvanian, led a band of militant Wide-Awakes toward the area. Minutemen guards spread the alarm, and soon 100 or more sympathizers assembled around the mansion. A small swivel gun was placed at the entrance, and men with muskets and fixed bayonets took up positions along the mansion wall fronting Fourth Street, with strict instructions to use their bayonets if violence should erupt.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to