Claiborne Fox Jackson

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Claiborne Fox Jackson
15th Governor of Missouri
In office January 3, 1861 – July 31, 1861 In exile July 31, 1861 – December 6, 1862
Lieutenant	Thomas C. Reynolds
Preceded by	Robert M. Stewart
Succeeded by	Hamilton R. Gamble
Member of the Missouri Senate
In office 1848 – 1852
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives from Saline County
In office 1836 – 1848
Personal details
Born	(1806-04-04)April 4, 1806 Fleming County, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	December 6, 1862(1862-12-06) (aged 56) Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Resting place	Sappington Cemetery State Historic Site 39°01′58″N 93°00′27″W / 39.03278°N 93.00750°W / 39.03278; -93.00750
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Jane Breathhitt Sappington ​ ​ (m. 1831; died 1831)​ Louisa Catherine Sappington ​ ​ (m. 1833; died 1838)​ Elza Sappington ​ ​ (m. 1838⁠–⁠1862)​
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Volunteers
Years of service	1832
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	American Indian Wars Black Hawk War

Claiborne Fox Jackson (April 4, 1806 – December 6, 1862) was an American politician of the Democratic Party in Missouri. He was elected as the 15th Governor of Missouri, serving from January 3, 1861, until July 31, 1861, when he was forced out by the Unionist majority in the Missouri General Assembly after planning to force the secession of the state.

Before the war, Jackson worked with his father-in-law, John Sappington, to manufacture and sell patent medicines, in the form of quinine pills, to treat and prevent malaria.

He became quite wealthy and politically influential, deeply involved in the Democratic party in Saline County and central Missouri. He served twelve years in the Missouri House of Representatives, twice as Speaker. In 1848 he was elected to the State Senate. During the 1860 election, Jackson professed to be a Unionist. However, in 1861, after the Missouri Convention rejected secession, Jackson secretly planned a secessionist coup in league with the Confederate government.^{[citation needed]}

In 1860 Jackson successfully ran for governor as a moderate on the issue of secession. During his inaugural speech of January 3, 1861, however, he declared that Missouri would resist any Union coercion by force of arms. He then called for a convention to pass a secession ordinance, but that body, dominated by Unionists, defeated the measure. After the fall of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April 1861, Jackson denounced President Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers and began plotting to seize the U.S. Arsenal in St. Louis. To that end he dispatched secret emissaries to Confederate president Jefferson Davis and received four large cannon.

But Jackson's scheme was defeated by the prompt actions of Cap. Nathaniel Lyon, who attacked and scattered Jackson's “State Guard” at Camp Jackson on May 10, 1861. Jackson fled the state capital, Jefferson City, as Lyon's forces approached and established a rump legislature at Neosho; this body formally voted to secede the following October. However, continuing Union successes under Gen. Samuel R. Curtis sent the secessionist governor and his followers fleeing again, this time into Arkansas, where they erected a temporary capital at Camden.

Jackson died of pneumonia, resulting from complications from stomach cancer on December 7, 1862, in Little Rock, Arkansas.

He was replaced by Lieutenant Governor Thomas C. Reynolds.

The exile government continued, setting up shop in Shreveport, Louisiana and then Marshall, Texas. The government took part in and sent representatives to the Confederate government. The exile government was formally disbanded at the conclusion of the Civil War