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| View of Saint Louis (Source: Library of Congress) |
"The Convention
(Missouri State Convention 1861) was fully informed how matters stood
in St Louis for on the 20th of March Isidore Bush stated on behalf of
the thousands of German citizens whom I have the honor to represent
that should a conflict be inevitable your German fellow citizens will
stand by the Government and by the Union." (Source: The Union
Cause in St. Louis in 1861: An Historical Sketch, Robert Julius
Rombauer, p 172)
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| Arsenal at St Louis
Link |
The secessionist element
was in the majority in practically all parts of the interior of the
State. St Louis was an exception. This determined the then Governor
Claiborne F Jackson, a sympathizer with the slave owners, to strike a
blow to capture St Louis, as this would put him in possession of the
St Louis arsenal. The first step of the secessionists in this
direction was the erection of Camp Jackson.
Camp Jackson
This plan was frustrated
through the vigilance of General Nathaniel Lyon who had but recently
been transferred from Fort Riley to St Louis, in command of the small
garrison holding the arsenal. The officers in command of the first
four regiments on the side of the Union were among the members of the
St Louis Turn Union, located at Tenth street between Market and
Walnut streets. Four companies of Turners had assembled early in the
night at the St Louis arsenal and placed themselves at the
disposition of General Lyon. A constant stream of German volunteers
added to the regiments and were provided with arms by the commander.
There were approximately 800 men, of whom nine tenths were of direct
German descent. This was the situation on May 10, 1861. A council of
war was held by General Lyon Blair Sigel and the others and General
Lyon decided to anticipate the rebels by striking a blow before the
opposition was ready to act.
The volunteers were
assigned to their posts during the night. By 10 o'clock the next
morning, Camp Jackson was surrounded and General Lyon demanded its
surrender. Seeing no way out, all the hate and rage of the rebels
turned against the loyal Germans. As they were being marched to the
arsenal, as prisoners street riots broke out at many places along the
line, and the Germans were assailed on every hand with cries of dirty
Dutch and other insulting names. (Source: Issues and Events, Volume
8, Vital Issue Company, 1918, p. 312)
This eventually led to
gunfire. Exactly what provoked the shooting remains unclear, but the
most common explanation is that a drunkard stumbled into the path of
the marching soldiers, and fired a pistol into their ranks, fatally
wounding Captain Constantin Blandowski of the 3rd
Missouri Volunteer Infantry.(Source: The Role of German Immigrants in
Civil War Missouri, Link)
The Volunteers, in reaction, fired over the heads of the crowd, and
then into the crowd. Some 28 civilians were killed, including women
and children; more than 75 were wounded.(Source: Jefferson
Barracks, Sandie Grassino and Art Schuermann,
(2011), p.33)
Naturally St Louis was
thrown into a great deal of excitement by the events of the day. The
Missouri Republican in its issue of the next day (May,11)
gave full account of what had happened the day before. Regarding the
excitement that prevailed during evening it said, "It is almost
impossible to describe the intense exhibition of feeling which was
manifested last evening the city. All the most frequented streets and
avenues were thronged with citizens in the highest state of
excitement and loud huzzas and occasional shots were heard in various
localities. There was very little congregating on the street corners.
Everybody was on the move and banished from their thoughts. Crowds of
men rushed through the principal bearing banners and devices suited
to their fancies and by turns cheering or groaning. Some armed and
others were not armed, and all seemed to be at work." A charge
was made on a gun store, HE Dimick, on Main Street, the door was
broken and the crowd secured fifteen or twenty guns before sufficient
number of police could be collected to arrest proceedings. Chief
McDonough marched down about twenty policemen armed with muskets and
in dispersing the mob, and protecting the from further molestation.
Squads of armed were stationed at several of the most public corners
the offices of the Missouri Democrat and the Anzeiger Westetts were
placed under guard for protection.
As the evening wore on
quiet was restored and the 2 streets became cleared of people. Order
prevailed during the next day until early in the evening, when
another street skirmish occurred between a regiment of Home Guards
made up largely of Germans and a band of Southern sympathizers. The
Home Guards were attacked while on their way from the arsenal where
they had been armed. Six men were killed in the fray four of whom
belonged to the Home Guards, and several innocent passersby were
wounded. The incident served to stir anew the passions of the people
and to deepen the gulf between the two factions. The climax was
reached on Sunday the second day 3 after the capture of the camp.
Terrible fear came upon the people, especially the Southern
sympathizers. Many felt that the Germans were going to overrun the
city and put to death all the Southerners. Early that morning some of
the prominent citizens of St Louis went to General Harney, who had
returned the day before, and implored him to protect the city against
the attack which they thought the Germans were planning to make.
General Harney assured them that there was no danger, but to quiet
their fears he sent out detachments of soldiers from the arsenal to
those parts of the city that were thought to be the most exposed to
attack, and he had posted a proclamation declaring there was no
ground for fear and appealing to the people to be calm. These acts of
Harney however had exactly the opposite effect from what he intended,
instead of quieting the people, they excited them still more, instead
of allaying, they intensified their alarm. By early afternoon a great
host of people were fleeing terror stricken and in great haste from
the city. Carriages and wagons filled with trunks valises hastily
made bundles and frightened men, women, and children were flying
along the streets toward every point of the compass. Some scared
souls unable to obtain a vehicle of any kind were walking or running
with breathless haste, carrying all sorts of bundles in their hands,
under their arms, or on their shoulders. All these were fleeing from
imaginary danger. But the fancied conflagration and slaughter which
they believed themselves to be escaping were to them awful realities,
enacted with all their attendant horrors over and over again within
their minds. Some of the panic stricken people fled into the country
and found shelter in the villages and farmhouses. Many crossed the
river in ferries and sought refuge in Illinois notwithstanding the
fact that it was a strong Union state. Others took passage in
steamboats and went either up or down the river. Those who did not
flee from the city barricaded themselves in their homes and awaited
the coming of the enemy with guns loaded. The dreaded calamity
however did not come and in a day or two the refugees began to come
back to their homes and places of business. (Source:A History of
Missouri, Eugene Morrow Violette,p
346-348)
Civil
courts remained open in
St.
Louis
throughout the Civil
War,
but martial
law
trumped civil law from August, 1861 (Link)
until General John Pope rescinded it in March, 1865. (Source: Cities
in American Political History, edited by Richard Dilworth, SAGE
Publications, Sep 13, 2011, p.
231) Also see Civil War fortifications in St Louis. Link
