Was Missouri Northern or Southern?

One question always comes up in history classes about Missouri: what side was Missouri on in the Civil War? Was it a Northern state? Was it a Southern state? Actually, the shortest answer is both.

Missouri is a very complicated state during the Civil War: it sent 110,000 troops to the north and 40,000 troops to the south.Missouri was a slave state prior to the Civil War, but when war broke out in 1861, Missouri considered to leave the Union in favor of the south. After all, since it was a slave state, it had more in common with the south. The governor at the time Claiborne Jackson wanted to join the south, but military men sided with the north wanted to prevent the south from taking over the state. So what happens when the politicians side with the South, and the military men side with the North?

The short story is that Gov. Jackson and his people left Jefferson City and eventually setup camp in Neosho, MO. The official government (most likely referred to in history as the official government because it was the side that one) in Jefferson City was taken over after Jackson's departure. But Jackson, while in exile in Neosho, posted an Ordinance of Secession from the Union to join the South. However, in Missouri, a plebiscite (a direct vote where an entire electorate is asked to accept or reject a proposal) must be made, and since this wasn't done, most look at the actions in Neosho as renegade and not legitimate.

So most look at the existing system in Jefferson City as the real government, and the Neosho government as the illegitimate one. The story is much longer and most complicated than this, but basically Capt. Lyon chased Gov. Jackson through Missouri, which if you visit the sites for the Battle of Boonville and the Battle of Carthage, you will learn of this chase.

One more piece of trivia: Missouri, as well as, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware were considered Border States. Border states were slave states that didn't secede from the Union. Each one has its own unique history during the Civil War (Maryland had marshall law induced to keep it from seceding, West Virginia broke off of Virginia in 1863, etc.). The Border States were deeply divided and were very scary places to be in that time.

Bet you didn't know that!