MAY 10, 1861:
Following
the April 25th raid on the St. Louis arsenal by Union forces,
pro-Confederate Missouri Governor
Claiborne Fox Jackson asks Confederate President Jefferson Davis for heavy
artillery with which to attack the St. Louis Arsenal.
On May 1, Jackson calls out the pro-Confederate Missouri
Volunteer Militia for maneuvers which take place about 4.5 miles northwest of
the arsenal at an encampment christened “Camp Jackson” by the militiamen.
On May 9, the militiamen receive from Jefferson Davis two
12-pound howitzers, two 32-pound siege guns, 500 muskets, and ammunition. The
munitions had been captured by Confederates when they seized the Federal
arsenal at Baton Rouge. Alerted to the
presence of the Baton Rouge cargo, Union Captain Nathaniel Lyon began enlisting and arming St. Louis
Unionist volunteers, most of whom (80%) were German immigrants, and very
unpopular with many native-born Southron Missourians.
Lyon’s 6000 Federals forced the surrender of 669 members of the Missouri Volunteer
Militia. The militiamen, however, refused to swear allegiance to the United
States. Lyon placed them under arrest and marched them to the arsenal through
downtown St. Louis. There, he provided them with a parole and ordered them to
disperse.
The lengthy march was viewed as a
public humiliation for the State forces, and pro-Confederate citizens hurled
rocks, paving stones, and insults at Lyon’s troops. The heavily German Missouri
Volunteer units were particularly targeted by the mob and shouts of “Damn the
Dutch” were hurled at them from the crowd.
After a Federal officer is killed, the
Union troops fire into the crowd, killing some 28 people, some of whom are
women and children, and wounding as many as 50 more. The incident sparks
several days of rioting and anti-German animosity in St. Louis.
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