Our tour stop today is Missouri. Enjoy.
"The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend". Sometimes in the cause of freedom it seems like you have to make a deal with the devil. Such was the case with Missouri. The second of the Confederate States to join the cause of The West. True, in the first conflict the State was officially loyal to the Union, yet Southern sympathies were strong, and Governor Clairborne F. Jackson created a Confederate Government in Neosho.
Unconventional was the watchword in Missouri then and now. The field of battle in Missouri was that of the Guerrilla, and names such as William Quantrill, Frank and Jesse James, William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson and others have secured their place in Missouri Lore. In the lore of the West, allegiances are strange. Quantrill's daughter leads a new Raiders, aided by her second in command Katherine Anderson. The press has had a field day.
And then there is the James Gang. Frank and Jesse James bank and train robberies would make them Criminals to the United States, but to the Republic, for the moment at least, they are allies. The former Confederates strike out at mainly "Republican" targets, yet they are the allies of the "New Republican Party" of which most of the Ansdale High Command have become part of. As long as the gang behaves, they may remain useful. Once the war is over, they will be dealt with.
Fate intervened with the James Gang, and the Republic was spared the embarrassment. Midway through the war. Jesse was killed by one of his own and Frank "retired" without any charges being pursued against him. And the Republic won, so maybe it wasn't a deal with the devil after all.
Missouri was a Godsend. It gave the Republic control of the Mississippi and Missouri (Ansdale) Rivers as well as the Metropolitan area of St. Louis, which would provide much needed revenues to the war effort. And this time there would be no divided loyalties. There was no U.S. Government in exile, and a United House stood, and so did the Republic.
From the time Missouri joined the cause there was literally no turning back. Within a month Washington would declare war. Freedom always has a price.
"The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend". Sometimes in the cause of freedom it seems like you have to make a deal with the devil. Such was the case with Missouri. The second of the Confederate States to join the cause of The West. True, in the first conflict the State was officially loyal to the Union, yet Southern sympathies were strong, and Governor Clairborne F. Jackson created a Confederate Government in Neosho.
Unconventional was the watchword in Missouri then and now. The field of battle in Missouri was that of the Guerrilla, and names such as William Quantrill, Frank and Jesse James, William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson and others have secured their place in Missouri Lore. In the lore of the West, allegiances are strange. Quantrill's daughter leads a new Raiders, aided by her second in command Katherine Anderson. The press has had a field day.
And then there is the James Gang. Frank and Jesse James bank and train robberies would make them Criminals to the United States, but to the Republic, for the moment at least, they are allies. The former Confederates strike out at mainly "Republican" targets, yet they are the allies of the "New Republican Party" of which most of the Ansdale High Command have become part of. As long as the gang behaves, they may remain useful. Once the war is over, they will be dealt with.
Fate intervened with the James Gang, and the Republic was spared the embarrassment. Midway through the war. Jesse was killed by one of his own and Frank "retired" without any charges being pursued against him. And the Republic won, so maybe it wasn't a deal with the devil after all.
Missouri was a Godsend. It gave the Republic control of the Mississippi and Missouri (Ansdale) Rivers as well as the Metropolitan area of St. Louis, which would provide much needed revenues to the war effort. And this time there would be no divided loyalties. There was no U.S. Government in exile, and a United House stood, and so did the Republic.
From the time Missouri joined the cause there was literally no turning back. Within a month Washington would declare war. Freedom always has a price.
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