een, in favor of the establishment of
an independent Southern Government. Few of them desired an appeal to
arms, as they well knew the Border States would form the front of the
Confederacy, and thus become the battle-field of the Rebellion. The
greater part of the population of those States was radically opposed
to the secession movement, but became powerless under the noisy,
political leaders who assumed the control. Many of these men, who were
Unionists in the beginning, were drawn into the Rebel ranks on
the plea that it would be treason to refuse to do what their State
Government had decided upon.

The delegates to the Missouri State Convention were elected in
February, 1861, and assembled at St. Louis in the following April.
Sterling Price, afterward a Rebel general, was president of this
Convention, and spoke in favor of keeping the State in the Union. The
Convention thought it injudicious for Missouri to secede, at least at
that time, and therefore she was not taken out. This discomfited the
prime movers of the secession schemes, as they had counted upon the
Convention doing the desired work. In the language of one of their
own number, "they had called a Convention to take the State out of the
Union, and she must be taken out at all hazards." Therefore a new line
of policy was adopted.

The Governor of Missouri was one of the most active and unscrupulous
Secessionists. After the failure of the Convention to unite Missouri
with the Confederacy, Governor Jackson overhauled the militia laws,
and, under their sanction, issued a call for a muster of militia near
St. Louis. This militia assembled at Lindell Grove, in the suburbs
of St. Louis, and a military camp was established, under the name of
"Camp Jackson." Though ostensibly an innocent affair, this camp was
intended to be the nucleus of the army to hoist the Rebel flag in the
State. The officers in command were known Secessionists, and every
thing about the place was indicative of its character.

The Governor of Louisiana sent, from the arsenal at Baton Rouge, a
quantity of guns and munitions of war, to be used by the insurgent
forces in Missouri. These reached St. Louis without hinderance, and
were promptly conveyed to the embryonic Rebel camp. Captain Lyon, in
command of the St. Louis Arsenal, was informed that he must confine
his men to the limits of the United States property, under penalty of
the arrest of all who stepped outside. Governor Jackson several