John Charles Frémont or Fremont was an explorer of the Western United States, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California, and in 1856 was the first Republican nominee for President of the United States and founder of the California Republican Party when he was nominated.
Francis Preston Blair Jr. was an United States Senator, a United States Congressman and a Union Major General during the Civil War. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and was active in preventing the State of Missouri from being absorbed into the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War.
Action at Springfield, also known as the Battle of First Springfield, was a battle of the American Civil War that took place on October 25, 1861, in Greene County, Missouri. It was the only Union victory in southwestern Missouri in 1861.
The Missouri State Guard (MSG) was a military force established by the Missouri General Assembly on May 11, 1861. While not a formation of the Confederate States Army, the Missouri State Guard fought alongside Confederate troops and, at various times, served under Confederate officers.
The Jefferson Barracks Military Post is located on the Mississippi River at Lemay, Missouri, south of St. Louis. It was an important and active U.S. Army installation from 1826 through 1946. It is the oldest operating U.S. military installation west of the Mississippi River, and it is now used as a base for the Army and Air National Guard. A Veterans Affairs healthcare system campus is located on the southern portion of the base and is also the headquarters for the Veterans Canteen Service.
Jessie Ann Benton Frémont was an American writer and political activist. She was the daughter of Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and the wife of military officer, explorer, and politician John C. Frémont. She wrote many stories that were printed in popular magazines of the time as well as several books of historical value. Her writings, which helped support her family during times of financial difficulty, were memoirs of her time in the American West. A strong supporter of her husband, who was one of the first two Senators of the new U.S. state of California and a Governor of the Territory of Arizona, she was outspoken on political issues and a determined opponent of slavery, which was excluded in the formation of California.
The city of St. Louis was a strategic location during the American Civil War, holding significant value for both Union and Confederate forces. As the largest city in the fiercely divided border state of Missouri and the most important economic hub on the upper Mississippi River, St. Louis was a major launching point and supply depot for campaigns in the Western and Trans-Mississippi Theaters.
During the American Civil War, Missouri was a hotly contested border state populated by both Union and Confederate sympathizers. It sent armies, generals, and supplies to both sides, was represented with a star on both flags, maintained dual governments, and endured a bloody neighbor-against-neighbor intrastate war within the larger national war.
USS Red Rover (1859) was a 650-ton Confederate States of America steamer that the United States Navy captured. After refitting the vessel, the Union used it as a hospital ship during the American Civil War.
The 66th Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment originally known as Birge's Western Sharpshooters and later as the "Western Sharpshooters-14th Missouri Volunteers", was a specialized regiment of infantry sharpshooters that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was intended, raised, and mustered into Federal service as the Western Theater counterpart to Army of the Potomac's 1st and 2nd United States Volunteer Sharpshooters.
Theophilus Parsons (1797–1882) was Dane Professor of Law at Harvard from 1848 to 1870.
Fairground Park is a municipal park that opened in 1908 in St. Louis, Missouri. It was originally a privately owned facility, first used by the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association for the St. Louis Exposition from 1856 through 1902. However, the Civil War interrupted the annual fair when the Fairgrounds were used as a Union encampment known as Benton Barracks. The annual exposition ceased in 1902 as preparations for the 1904 World's Fair began.
The 2nd Missouri Cavalry Regiment, also known officially as Merrill's Horse, was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The regiment was one of only a handful of Missouri regiments to be officially named as well as numbered.
The Western Sanitary Commission was a private agency based in St. Louis that was a rival of the larger U.S. Sanitary Commission. It operated in the west during the American Civil War to help the U.S. Army deal with sick and wounded soldiers. It was led by abolitionists and focused on the needs of Freedmen.
The 1st Missouri Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment with three battalions that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865.
Emily Elizabeth Parsons was an American Civil War nurse, hospital administrator, and founder of Mount Auburn Hospital in Massachusetts. Her posthumous memoir, Fearless Purpose: Memoir of Emily Elizabeth Parsons, gives a rare glimpse of the American Civil War from a nurse's perspective as she describes her work tending to Union soldiers and managing the nursing staff at Benton Barracks Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
Spottswood Rice was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church and a private in the Union Army during the US Civil War. Rice is most famous for a pair of forcefully written letters to the owner of his wife and children during the war while he was stationed in St. Louis and they were enslaved in Howard County, Missouri. The letters expressed his desire to be reunited with his family and his anger at his wife's owners. Later, he was ordained a minister in the AME church and served congregations in Missouri, New Mexico, and Colorado. In 1882, he founded the first AME church in New Mexico.
Lucy Kaiser was a volunteer Union nurse during the American Civil War. Kaiser's service began in April 1861 as she left for St. Louis, Missouri. She soon after witnessed the battle of Carthage and felt inspired to get involved in the war effort. Kaiser soon found a service opportunity at the United States Post Hospital where she left her name to be called upon if needed. In the meantime, she remained in St. Louis to help the soldiers as she could. For example, Kaiser often wrote letters to prominent community members asking for supplies. During this time, Kaiser stayed at a hotel in St. Louis and served out of her own good will and expense.
Arabella Letitia Graham Tannehill Coddington was a teacher in Iowa, and a nurse during the American Civil War.
Lucius Read House, the site of the Byron Museum of History, was an Underground Railroad station along a network of stations to the Northern states and Canada. Located in Byron, Illinois, it was one of three stations in the strongly anti-slavery town from 1850 to 1862. Refugees received fresh clothing, food, shelter, and transportation to the next station. Lucius Read's stepsons and stepdaughter are notable for their roles in the events leading up to and during the American Civil War.
