THE CRISIS, Columbus, Ohio, May 16, 1861  

* Camp Jackson Affair - St. Louis, Missouri

This was an anti-war newspaper that insisted slavery should not be abolished, so consequently much content has an anti-North bias.The front page includes: "More Bloodshed in St. Louis "Capture of Camp Jackson ! " "Surrender of General Frost--800 Prisoners Taken--Twenty Citizens Killed--Terms of the Surrender" "Proclamation of General Harney". Inside pages include: "Slave Insurrection" "Another Paragraph for White Men to Read" "Rough Notes From A Knapsack" and so much more.Eight pages, very nice condition.

Background: The capture of Camp Jackson was highly significant because it effectively secured the state of Missouri and its massive federal arsenal for the Union at the very onset of the Civil War, while simultaneously polarizing the local population and igniting a brutal internal conflict. By aggressively dismantling the secessionist-leaning Missouri State Guard encampment, Captain Nathaniel Lyon prevented Governor Claiborne Jackson from seizing the St. Louis Arsenal's weapons, ensuring that the strategically vital Mississippi River port and manufacturing hub remained under federal control. However, the subsequent street riot and civilian bloodshed deeply alienated moderate Missourians, destroying any hope of state neutrality. This tragedy drove prominent figures like Sterling Price into active Confederate command and catalyzed a bitter, neighbor-against-neighbor guerrilla war that devastated the state for the next four years, transforming Missouri into one of the most violent and fractured battlegrounds of the entire war.

Described as "The Hottest Rebel Sheet to be found in the North or the South", this newspaper opposed the war and attracted the hatred of the Republicans and the Lincoln administration. It was denied circulation in some cities. In 1863 the press was raided by a hateful mob.