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Missouri History

The first Europeans to reach the area that is today Missouri, were Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet who explored the Mississippi River in canoes in 1673. The area was claimed for France, as part of the Louisiana Territory in 1682 by Robert Cavalier.

In the early 18th century, European immigrants accompanied by black slaves began to arrive in the area. The French constructed a fort, Fort Orleans in 1724 on Missouri River. Spain gained control of the region in 1762 by the Treaty of Fontainebleau, but did not assume control until 1770. The territory was however returned to France in 1800, who then sold it the United States in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase.

In 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition set out to map the region, and in 1805 the Louisiana Territory was organized. When Louisiana became a state in 1812, the remaing Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory. In 1818, Missouri requested admission to the Union as a slave state. This was a difficult political problem because of the delicate balance between free and slave states. However the 1820 Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri's admission along with Maine's (the latter as a free state), and Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1821.

When Missouri was admitted to the Union, its western border was a straight line, however in 1836, additional land was acquired from Native American tribes (the Platte Purchase) which added additional land to the Northwest corner of the state.

Joseph Smith, Jr. leader of the LDS ("Mormons") claimed to have received a revelation that western Missouri would become Zion, a place of gathering. Many Mormons came to the area, but were resented by other state's existing inhabitants who, unlike the Mormons, were slaveholders. There was considerable friction during this time, including violence and Smith being jailed, and in 1839 Smith and the LDS moved to Illinois.

In 1848, when the California Gold Rush begun, Missouri became an important departure point to the West, gaining the nickname "Gateway to the West".

At the start of the American Civil War (1861), Missouri voted against seceding from the Union. However, there sympathies for both sides within the state, and secessionists did try to form their own state government. There were many battles in the state, and in 1865 Missouri abolished slavery, doing so before the US adopted the 13th Amendment (abolishing slavery throughout the United States of America).

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A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri: With Numerous Sketches, Anecdotes, Adventures, Etc;, Relating to Early Days in Missouri (Classic Reprint)

By Wm; S. Bryan

Forgotten Books
Released: 2016-11-16
Paperback (596 pages)

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Excerpt from A History of the Pioneer Families of Missouri: With Numerous Sketches, Anecdotes, Adventures, Etc;, Relating to Early Days in Missouri

This book has been written in the midst of tribulation. When the authors began their work, two years ago, they had no adequate idea of the magnitude of the task which lay before them; but they know very well now. The histories of more than eight hundred pioneer families of the five counties embraced in this work are given, with the names of their children, and other matters of interest. We have endeavored to have every name and incident correct, but of course there are some errors. There are many obstacles in the way of obtaining information of this kind members of the same family frequently giving entirely different accounts of important events in their history. Mr. Rose has personally visited one or more members of each family whose history is given, and from his notes thus obtained the histories have been written. Where differences occurred in the statements of different members of the same family, we have carefully compared them and endeavored to sift the facts from each; and we feel confident that this book is as near correct as it is possible for any work of the kind to be.

The delay in issuing the book has been unavoidable; first owing to the time spent in gathering the materials, and then to numerous unavoidable delays in the printing office. But the matter is just as fresh and entertaining as though it had been issued a year ago.

We do not expect the reader to believe all the remarkable yams related under Anecdotes and Adventures. Some of them were given to us merely as caricatures of early times, and they can easily be distinguished from the real adventures.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

Myths and Mysteries of Missouri: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained (Myths and Mysteries Series)

By Josh Young

Globe Pequot Press
Paperback (208 pages)

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Myths and Mysteries of Missouri dispels any notion that the Show Me State is a boring place harboring little unknown. Thirteen diverse chapters, each a story unto itself, probe dark secrets, unexplained phenomena, legendary individuals and actual events which leave people incredulous to this day. Much in this well-researched book has been largely forgotten, but the author's lively and amusing style will awaken curiosity in lifelong residents and armchair visitors alike

Weird Missouri: Your Travel Guide to Missouri's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets

By James Strait

Brand: Sterling
Hardcover (256 pages)

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What's WEIRD around here?

“Best Travel Series of The Year 2006”—Booklist

That’s a question Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman have enjoyed asking for years—and their offbeat sense of curiosity led them to create the bestselling phenomenon,Weird N.J. Now the weirdness has spread throughout the U.S.! Each fun and intriguing volume offers more than 250 illustrated pages of places where tourists usually don’t venture: it’s chock-full of oddball curiosities, ghostly places, local legends, crazy characters, cursed roads, and peculiar roadside attractions. What’s NOT shockingly odd here: that every previously publishedWeird book has become a bestseller in its region.

Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites: Exploring Our Legacy, Second Edition

By Susan Flader

University of Missouri
Hardcover (400 pages)

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THIS BOOK IS PUBLISHED BY MISSOURI LIFE MAGAZINE AND DISTIBUTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS.

In this stunning book, four accomplished writers and lifelong conservationists team up with keen-eyed photographers to capture the compelling history, beauty, and recreational value of Missouri’s unique state park system, one that has been ranked among the top four in the nation. The book features hundreds of photographs and includes information on all 88 state parks and historic sites, including the longest developed rails-to-trail project in the nation, homes of famous Missourians, Civil War battlefields, and other reminders of the past such as mills and covered bridges. The authors tell the complete story of the park system, from its inception in 1917 to the newest state park created in 2015, encompassing much of Missouri’s history as well as its scenic and varied landscape.

The Ozarks in Missouri History: Discoveries in an American Region

University of Missouri
Released: 2013-12-29
Kindle Edition (318 pages)

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Interest in scholarly study of the Ozarks has grown steadily in recent years, and The Ozarks in Missouri History: Discoveries in an American Region will be welcomed by historians and Ozark enthusiasts alike. This lively collection gathers fifteen essays, many of them pioneering efforts in the field, that originally appeared in the Missouri Historical Review, the journal of the State Historical Society.

In his introduction, editor Lynn Morrow gives the reader background on the interest in and the study of the Ozarks. The scope of the collection reflects the diversity of the region. Micro-studies by such well-known contributors as John Bradbury, Roger Grant, Gary Kremer, Stephen Limbaugh Sr., and Milton Rafferty explore the history, culture, and geography of this unique region. They trace the evolution of the Ozarks, examine the sometimes-conflicting influences exerted by St. Louis and Kansas City, and consider the sometimes highly charged struggle by federal, state, and local governments to define conservation and the future of Current River.

A History of Missouri (V1): Volume I, 1673 to 1820

By William E. Foley

Brand: University of Missouri
Paperback (264 pages)

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Including a completely revised and updated bibliography, A History of Missouri: Volume I, 1673 to 1820 covers the pre-statehood history of Missouri, beginning with the arrival in 1673 of the first Europeans in the area, Louis Jolliet and Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, and continuing through the development and growth of the region, to the final campaign for statehood in 1820. In tracing the broad outlines of Missouri's development through the formative years, the author examines the origins of Missouri's diverse heritage as the region passed under the control of French, Spanish, and American authorities.

The Civil War Missouri Compendium: Almost Unabridged (Civil War Series)

By Joseph W. McCoskrie Jr. & Brian Warren

The History Press
Released: 2017-11-13
Kindle Edition (160 pages)

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During the Civil War, only Virginia and Tennessee saw more action than Missouri. Ulysses S. Grant first proved his ability there. Sterling Price, a former governor of Missouri, sided with the Confederacy, raised an army and led it in battle all over the state. Notorious guerrilla warriors "Bloody" Bill Anderson and William Quantrill terrorized communities and confounded Union military commanders. Brian Warren and Joseph "Whit" McCoskrie provide a chronological overview of more than three hundred of the documented engagements that took place within Missouri's borders, furnishing photos, maps, biographical sketches and military tactics.

A History of Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas: Being an Account of the Early Settlements, the Civil War, the Ku-Klux, and Times of Peace (The Civil War in the West)

By William Monks

University of Arkansas Press
Paperback (262 pages)

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Originally published in 1907 and now reprinted for the first time, this is the only account published by a Union guerrilla in the border region of the central Ozarks, where political and civil violence lasted from the Civil War well into the 1880s. There were probably many people who wanted to shoot Billy Monks. He was a Union patriot and skilled guerrilla fighter to some, but others called him a bushwhacker, a murderer, and a thief. His was a very personal combat: he commanded, rallied, arrested, killed, quarreled with, and sued people he knew. His life provides a striking example of the cliché that the war did not end in 1865, but continued fiercely on several fronts for another decade as partisan factions settled old scores and battled for local political control. This memoir was Monks’s last salvo at his old foes, by turns self-defense and an uncompromising affirmation of the Radical Union cause in the Ozarks. The editors include a new biographical sketch of the author, fill in gaps in his narrative, identify all the people and places to which he refers, and offer a detailed index. Monks himself illustrated the volume with staged photographs of key events re-created by aged comrades who appear to have been just barely able to hoist the muskets they hold as props.

Missouri Caves in History and Legend (Missouri Heritage Readers)

By H. Dwight Weaver

Brand: University of Missouri
Paperback (176 pages)

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Missouri has been likened to a “cave factory” because its limestone bedrock can be slowly dissolved by groundwater to form caverns, and the state boasts more than six thousand caves in an unbelievable variety of sizes, lengths, and shapes. Dwight Weaver has been fascinated by Missouri’s caves since boyhood and now distills a lifetime of exploration and research in a book that will equally fascinate readers of all ages.

Missouri Caves in History and Legend records a cultural heritage stretching from the end of the ice age to the twenty-first century. In a grand tour of the state’s darkest places, Weaver takes readers deep underground to shed light on the historical significance of caves, correct misinformation about them, and describe the ways in which people have used and abused these resources.

Weaver tells how these underground places have enriched our knowledge of extinct animals and early Native Americans. He explores the early uses of caves: for the mining of saltpeter, onyx, and guano; as sources of water; for cold storage; and as livestock shelters. And he tells how caves were used for burial sites and moonshine stills, as hideouts for Civil War soldiers and outlaws—revealing how Jesse James became associated with Missouri caves—and even as venues for underground dance parties in the late nineteenth century.

Bringing caves into the modern era, Weaver relates the history of Missouri’s “show caves” over a hundred years—from the opening of Mark Twain Cave in 1886 to that of Onyx Mountain Caverns in 1990—and tells of the men and women who played a major role in expanding the state’s tourism industry. He also tracks the hunt for the buried treasure and uranium ore that have captivated cave explorers, documents the emergence of organized caving, and explains how caves now play a role in wildlife management by providing a sanctuary for endangered bats and other creatures.

Included in the book is an overview of cave resources in twelve regions, covering all the counties that currently have recorded caves, as well as a superb selection of photos from the author’s extensive collection, depicting the history and natural features of these underground wonders. Missouri Caves in History and Legend is a riveting account that marks an important contribution to the state’s heritage and brings this world of darkness into the light of day.

The Civil War in Missouri: A Military History (Shades of Blue and Gray)

By Louis S. Gerteis

University of Missouri
Paperback (256 pages)

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Guerrilla warfare, border fights, and unorganized skirmishes are all too often the only battles associated with Missouri during the Civil War. Combined with the state’s distance from both sides’ capitals, this misguided impression paints Missouri as an insignificant player in the nation’s struggle to define itself. Such notions, however, are far from an accurate picture of the Midwest state’s contributions to the war’s outcome. Though traditionally cast in a peripheral role, the conventional warfare of Missouri was integral in the Civil War’s development and ultimate conclusion. The strategic battles fought by organized armies are often lost amidst the stories of guerrilla tactics and bloody combat, but in The Civil War in Missouri, Louis S. Gerteis explores the state’s conventional warfare and its effects on the unfolding of national history.

Both the Union and the Confederacy had a vested interest in Missouri throughout the war. The state offered control of both the lower Mississippi valley and the Missouri River, strategic areas that could greatly factor into either side’s success or failure. Control of St. Louis and mid-Missouri were vital for controlling the West, and rail lines leading across the state offered an important connection between eastern states and the communities out west. The Confederacy sought to maintain the Ozark Mountains as a northern border, which allowed concentrations of rebel troops to build in the Mississippi valley. With such valuable stock at risk, Lincoln registered the importance of keeping rebel troops out of Missouri, and so began the conventional battles investigated by Gerteis.

The first book-length examination of its kind, The Civil War in Missouri: A Military History dares to challenge the prevailing opinion that Missouri battles made only minor contributions to the war. Gerteis specifically focuses not only on the principal conventional battles in the state but also on the effects these battles had on both sides’ national aspirations. This work broadens the scope of traditional Civil War studies to include the losses and wins of Missouri, in turn creating a more accurate and encompassing narrative of the nation’s history.

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