St. Louis Civil War Sites and the Fight for Freedom

by Peter Downs

Overview

The Monuments of a Divided State

St. Louis was at the center of several key Civil War events from the Dred Scott decision through the Mississippi Campaign that cut the Confederate States in two. Visit the site from which enslaved people tried to cross the Mississippi River to the free state of Illinois. Discover how hundreds of lawsuits by enslaved people set the stage for the Dred Scott decision that lit the fuse to the Civil War. See the military base that produced over 200 Civil War generals and the arsenal that secessionists and unionists fought to control. Author Peter Downs goes behind the monuments and historic sites to explore the people, relationships and events that influenced the course of civil war in St. Louis and the nation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439676202
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	09/19/2022
Series:	Civil War Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Peter Downs is a writer in St. Louis, Missouri. He lives with his wife in a 150-year-old house in the historic Soulard neighborhood, U.S. Grant's former neighborhood and the heart of the unionist Home Guard movement in the Civil War.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

I Prelude to War: Mary Meachum and Resistance to Slavery

1 Freedom Crossing 11

2 Sixth Street Jail 18

3 Moses Dickson and the Knights of Liberty 23

4 Lynch's Slave Pen Site 27

5 The Gateway Arch National Park Grounds Elijah Lovejoy Site 31

6 Suing for Freedom at the Circuit Court 36

7 The St. Louis Cathedral at the Gateway Arch National Park 45

8 The Old Federal Courthouse 49

9 Field House Museum 54

10 Legal Row 58

11 Edward Bates and Grape Hill 61

II War Begins: Frank Blair and the Contest for Missouri

12 Frank Blair Jr. 67

13 Berthold Mansion 70

14 Mercantile Library 74

15 Soulard 77

16 The Federal Arsenal 82

17 Camp Jackson / St. Louis University Campus 90

18 Olive Street 95

19 Walnut and Fifth Streets 99

20 The Planter's House Hotel 102

III Managing St. Louis during the War

21 Camp Ethiopia 107

22 St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and St. John the Apostle and Evangelist 110

23 Gratiot Street Prison / McDowell Medical College 115

24 Eads's Union Marine Works 118

25 Jefferson Barracks Historic Site 126

26 Benton Barracks 132

27 Hyde Park 135

IV Blair and St. Louis Generals

28 Ulysses S Grant 141

29 William T. Sherman 147

30 John S. Bowen 151

31 William Harney 155

32 John Frémont 158

33 Franz Sigel 166

34 John Schofield 169

Notes 175

Bibliography 195

Index 203

About the Author 208