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Free Traveling Guides » States » Missouri History of Missouri
Missouri, the eighteenth most populous state in the United States, is situated in the Midwestern region and is bordered by many other areas like Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, Kentucky, Iowa, Illinois, and Tennessee. Missouri was originally bought from France in 1803, as a part of the Louisiana Purchase. Later, in 1821, a portion of the Missouri Territory was included in the union as the 24th state as per the Missouri Compromise. Since the State of Missouri served as a departure point for settlers moving to the west, it popularly came to be known as the “Gateway to the West”. Missouri was also the starting point and the returning destination of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. The major economic activity in the State until the late 1800s was river traffic and trade along the Mississippi River. Nearly 140 miles (225.3 km) of levees were constructed on the Mississippi by 1860 in order to control flooding. The Missouri River was made the border north of the Kansas River after the northwest corner of the State was purchased from the native tribes and the Platte Purchase was added to it in 1835. Missouri, the largest state in the Union, became even larger after this addition. In 1830, several Mormon migrants from the northern states and Canada began settling near Independence and areas to its north. Frequent conflicts over religion and slavery arose between the old settlers and the Mormons and ultimately led to the Mormon war. The Mormons were finally expelled from the State of Missouri in 1839. In 1838-1839, other important events in the history of the State were a border dispute with Iowa over the so-called Honey Lands and a border war with Kansas. As per the historians, majority of the people in the State has fewer than 5 slaves each. People who held more than 20 slaves were concentrated in the counties called the “Little Dixie” and were known as the ‘Planters’. A turning point in the history was the “St. Louis Massacre” when soldiers, largely non-English speaking German immigrants, were directed by Union General Nathaniel Lyon to march the prisoners through the streets and open fire on the hostile crowds of civilians gathered around them. This incident happened after Pro-Southern Governor Claiborne F. Jackson ordered the mobilization of several hundred members of the state militia. A number of men, women, children, and unarmed prisoners were killed at St. Louis in the Massacre. Following the Massacre, a secession ordinance was enacted by Sterling Price and Governor Jackson in the town of Neosho, Missouri. This ordinance was recognized by the Confederacy on October 30, 1861. In the meanwhile, the Union Forces elected Hamilton Gamble as the provisional governor of a pro-Union provisional government. This led to tensions between Union forces and a combined army of General Price's Missouri State Guard and Confederate troops from Arkansas and Texas under General Ben McCulloch. The fighting in the State for the next three years included mainly the guerilla warfare, which continued for many years even after the official Civil War was over. |
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