In 1854 Dred Scott, his wife Harriet, and a group of lawyers stood before the federal court in St. Louis, where their claim for freedom was rejected. Four years earlier, Dred and Harriet had sued for their freedom at the Old Courthouse and won, but the Missouri Supreme Court reversed that decision in 1852. The Scott family appealed the verdict of the trial held here to the Supreme Court in Washington, DC, but they were again denied freedom. A few months later, the Peter Blow family, descendants of Dred Scott's former owner, purchased the Scott family and gave them their freedom. First heard in St. Louis, this famous case fueled the fire that would ignite the Civil War. The timeline of the case began in 1846, when the Scotts first sued for their freedom in St. Louis at the Old Courthouse. In 1847 they lost on a technicality, but the court allowed another trial. In 1850 a jury in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County set the Scott family free, and in 1852 the Missouri Supreme Court reversed that lower court decision. In 1854 a jury in the Federal Circuit Court District of Missouri denied freedom to the Scott family at the Papin Building. In March 18577 the United States Supreme Court upheld the lower federal court decision, and in May 1857 the Blow family purchased the Scott family and gave them their freedom.