Civil War's First Blood Missouri 1854-1861

The disagreements over states' rights and slavery gradually sharpened across the nation before the Civil War. In Missouri, due in part to the famous "compromise" that bore the state's name, those issues reached the boiling point during the 1850s. As a border state and a slave state surrounded by free, neighbors, Missouri became one of the most hotly contested regions in the country. Missourians had strong loyalties to both the North and the South. When the conflict began, families, friends, and neighbors frequently found themselves on opposite sides. Governor Claiborne Jackson championed secessionism but never convinced a majority of Missourians to follow his lead. He wound up on the run and without support from the Confederacy, chased by U.S. forces directed by General Nathaniel Lyon and U.S. Representative Frank Blair, men determined to secure Missouri for the Union. In the process, military leaders who came to be known nationally for their role in the Civil War made their debuts across Missouri's prairies, hills, and river valleys. Contributing to an unfolding disaster, Kansas Jayhawkers raided towns up and down the Kansas-Missouri border, and Confederate forces ventured north sporadically from Arkansas but never made a lasting commitment to Missouri due to its fickle interest in the Southern cause. Where the Civil War Began describes the political atmosphere in the state leading up to war and the conflicting loyalties of its citizens. James Denny and John Bradbury provide a clear look at the complicated role Missouri played during the first year of the Civil War. They introduce the key political and military players, explain military operations throughout the state, and explore thewar's effects on Missourians through the first year of the tortuous struggle to determine the state's allegiance. Instead of compromise, Missouri hosted some of the most violent conflicts of the Civil War and came to epitomize the tragedy of the nation's internecine struggle.Denny, James is the author of 'Civil War's First Blood Missouri 1854-1861', published 2007 under ISBN 9780974934129 and ISBN 0974934127.